DIY Fabric Jewelery

I love jewelery, but often find that it looks better on others than on me. So, rather than invest a fortune in jewelery I won't end up wearing, I looked for some tutorials to make my own. Here are 2 great tutorials. I really like the finished pieces, and have actually worn them!

I found this necklace tutorial on Pretty Ditty. I made 3 colors and love them all.


I've seen these rolled flowers a lot, and I have to say, this was the best tutorial. And, she makes the flowers as a pin, so you can take it off or change it out depending on the outfit. So fun!



Need some new earrings? Try this tutorial over at Ginger, Boo and Pickles.

I made mine smaller and changed the shape slightly. I love that she uses recycled plastic. Chances are you've got everything you need to make these lying around the house.

Here's another beautiful necklace I saw recently.

Got a favorite fabric jewelery tute? Leave me a comment with the link and I'll add it to the post.

Recycled Storage Jars

I've been on a bit of a kick lately to get my sewing room (and my head) organized. It all started when I bought myself this

and my wonderful husband (hope he's reading this!) immediately hung it on the wall for me. Suddenly I had this major urge to clean out the closet and desk drawers in my sewing room. I have major "out of site out of mind" syndrome.

So, I had some jars sitting around that I've been collecting and decided to give them a little face-lift.

I LOVE these jars, and luckily, my kids love the jelly. Win, win.


There is nothing genius or overly creative here.....just took some acrylic paint and painted the lids. Used one of my favorite colors.


The end result is very satisfying.

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.

A New Toy...

Today we celebrated my mother in law's birthday by buying and decorating a bird tree. They don't have space in their house for a tree, and they are avid birders, so we decorate a tree with suet and birdseed and lights and bows and put it in their yard where they can enjoy it.

Where they live is fairly rural, and their yard is full of beautiful birds.


And we got the first snowfall of the year.


On the way, I made a stop to pick up my new toy.....

Hello new camera!

Bye bye old friend.

My New Favorite Dress

The girl who said she won't wear dresses......wore a dress! I've had an idea to do this peasant style dress with a tie neckband instead of elastic, but hadn't done it since my 4 year old says, she doesn't like dresses. But recently she's been more agreeable with clothing, so I gave it a shot.....

Sorry about the photo quality, I've been having issues with taking photos in low light lately....which will hopefully be resolved when I get my new digital-SLR this weekend. An early b-day present to myself!

I think it looks really cute. I did have to bribe her to get the photos, and she got a little upset putting it on....a little tight in the chest. But when she got to school this morning, there were many oohs and ahhs from her little friends.

This is my new favorite dress to sew, so.....we'll see how long I can keep the little one off the dress boycott.

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!