Burlap Heart Ornament Tutorial

I never leave Joann's without hitting the remnant bin and just recently scored this burlap remnant for $1.25!

I came up with this cute little ornament to give to friends and neighbors to go along with our annual gift of granola.  So, friends and neighbors, avert your eyes!

All you'll need to make some of these are:

• some scraps of fabric, I used knit since cut knits generally don't fray or unravel
• a little burlap, you could probably make 10 or more from half a yard
• some kind of string, I used a cream colored yarn
• fiberfill of some sort   
• pinking shears 

Cut a heart (or 6) out of the knit fabric.

Lay the heart on 2 layers of burlap that are about an inch larger than the heart.  Then cut a piece of string that's about 12 inches long.  Tuck the ends in between the 2 layers of burlap as shown, making sure it's tucked down under the knit heart. 

Sew the heart in place, through all 3 layers of fabric and making sure that the string gets secured as well.  Leave a small opening as shown by the arrows.

Fill the heart with a little fiberfill.  You can use a knitting needle or pencil to gently push the fill into the top of the heart. 

Pin the opening closed, making sure all the batting is tucked inside and none is hanging out.

Sew the opening closed.  I also sewed around the whole heart again, just because I like the look and I thought it might make it a bit more secure, but this is optional.

Now take your pinking shears and trim away the extra burlap.  When you get to the top center, make sure to move the string out of the way so you don't accidentally snip it.

If you need to, you can use regular scissors to trim away any extra in the center.

There you have it!

Make one, make six!

Who will you make yours for?

Ruffled Trees

I don't usually get too into decorating for holidays. I figure, no sooner do you put the decorations out but then it's time to put them away and get out new ones. But this year, I was feeling festive and decided we needed a few extra. I've seen a couple of variations on this cute ruffled tree here and here.

Both tutorials use a foam cone. I didn't have one and didn't feel like going to the store, so I dug into my plentiful stash of file folders. I work at a university and the ladies in the office call me whenever they have a box of file folders they're getting rid of. It's pretty amusing since I'm a research biologist to have the secretaries call me when they want to get rid of folders!

Anyway, I just rolled up a folder, ruffled my fabric and got out my glue gun. It was so easy and fun, I made 3.

Maple Almond Granola

A few years back I started making this granola as a holiday gift for friends and family. It was received with so much enthusiasm that I decided to make it our annual thing. This year, the kids were old enough to help out and I discovered that not only is this easy to make, fairly healthy and super tasty, but the kids can help too! An added bonus. Here's what I do, but the truth is, you can tailor this to your taste. If you don't like coconut, take it out and add walnuts or raisins instead. The possibilities are endless!


5 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pepitas (hulled pumkin seeds)


combine the above ingredients in a large bowl, then in another bowl (or cup), combine:

1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup water


pour over the oat mixture and stir until evenly moistened.

spray a large roasting pan with cooking spray and add oat mixture.

bake at 275F for 45 minutes, remove from oven and stir, then bake another 45 minutes until crisp and golden brown.

If you are going to add raisins or other dried fruit, wait until it's done cooking and add it at the end. Cool completely and store.


Pack it up, add a cute gift tag, and you've got a nice homemade gift for friends and family!

A Towel Set

This weekend when I was at my in-laws' house, I got an idea for a Christmas present.

They keep separate towels for drying hands, dishes, and fruits and veggies. Not sure why, any ideas? Anyway, it gave me an idea for an easy present.

I picked up this set of 5 towels for $4 at Target.

I happened to have some of this iron on transfer paper lying around. I typed up the words I wanted to use, made sure to "mirror" the image and printed it out. Then ironed it on to white fabric.

Used some fabric scraps to cover up the colored lines on the towels. There are tons of tutorials on embellishing towels with fabric, so I won't show you that here. Here are a few good links: Craftiness is Not Optional, Sutton Grace, Crafterhours, and my favorite....

Voila! A simple present in under an hour.

Christmas Ornament Bunting Tutorial

I've wanted to make an advent calendar for many years and have seen some amazing inspiration out there. Here's one on Purl Bee that I love and Homemade by Jill. But alas, it is December 1 (in a matter of hours) and it hasn't happened.

So instead, I came up with this ornament bunting, that has a similar feel, but much less work. What can I say, I'm lazy....

Here's what you need if you want to make your own:

• felt in various colors for ornaments
• felt scraps for decorations
• ribbon (to hang individual ornaments)
• ribbon or bias tape (to hang bunting)
  
• glue (I used a hot glue gun, but any fabric glue will work)

You can find my ornament template HERE, I hope (first time using googledocs)
Cut out ornaments, double layered. I made 10 ornaments with 3 different colors.


Cut a ribbon strip for each ornament about 12 inches long. Sandwich one end of the ribbon in between the felt layers, pin and sew around. Make sure the end is down far enough to be secured by your stitching.

Here are the ornaments with the ribbon attached.....

And with decorations glued on! This is the fun part where you get to be creative. I thought about colors and shapes that I like and about things I think about this time of year.....trees, mittens, mistletoe.....

Next, lay out your ornaments as you'd like them to hang....

.....and tape them to the floor. Yup, I said TAPE them to the floor. I found this the easiest way to get the height and spacing I wanted.

Next lay the ribbon (you could also use bias tape) you want the ornaments to hang from and pin them in place.

Carefully lift the tape off the floor (I had some little helping hands for this part), and sew along the top and bottom of the ribbon catching the ornament ribbon end on both sides.

All you have left to do is trim off the ribbon ends and hang up your bunting!





Maybe I'll do a an advent calendar next year.....or maybe another one of these!

Enjoy! Send me a pic if you do one, I'd love to see it!