Oh the weather outside is frightful..... It's been a icy, cold day here in Texas. It was too icy to go into work so I used today to finish up all the Christmas gifts I've been working on. I even took a quick break from making gifts and whipped up some quick new pillows for my sofa: I LOVE this fabric and it has the colors of my home decor in it! Want to make some? It took me about an hour to make both! Here's how: You'll need 4 fat quarters total. 2 of the front fabric and 2 of the back fabric Polyfill stuffing for the inside I just took my fat quarters and made 18" squares with them. Pin a back and a front piece together … [Read more...]

I know it was just yesterday that we made yummy Krispy treats but here's another great, simple, quick gift. I asked my husband to help me name this tutorial and he suggested Merry Soaps: so here it is! I started with the $1 bottle of soap from Wal-mart. (For your project, any clear soap will do, as long as the label is easy to remove, and there's no printing on the actual plastic bottle. This had a sticker on the front and the back but they were easily removed.) Print out a few words onto a transparency with a laser printer. (Don't use your inkjet printer because the ink is NOT waterproof. Print out what you'd like and take it to … [Read more...]

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I had a LONG week last week so I was glad to get some relaxing and crafting done. I had a mini crisis when I realized Christmas is almost here! (Or at least, the time to send out all packages so that they get to family in time!) At work we use Photoshop a lot but I've been trying to use Illustrator a little more so today's tutorial I created for you in Adobe Illustrator! I hope you like it! This is a simple gift that would be great for neighbors or a stocking stuffer. It's also great for those that work. I've been taking it to work and it can be made in the microwave! It's a perfect single sized … [Read more...]

I wanted to post this earlier, but it took me a little longer than usual to write up this tutorial. Don't let the long list of instructions keep you from doing it, it's actually pretty easy and definitely worth it! Here's some examples of what you can make with this tutorial: Set of 4" tile coasters. (A little boutique store nearby sells a set similar to this for $40. Each tile only costs about .50 so you can make them MUCH cheaper yourself!) I made this tile for me to take to work. I have it sitting on my desk so anytime I want I can peek over and see my husband! It's a little more durable, and I think better looking than putting … [Read more...]

We had a church activity for some of the 11 year old boys this past weekend and I wanted to make a special treat to bring....so I decided to make little tie-shaped sugar cookies. (Let me go ahead and warn you, I am not and have never claimed to be a good icing decorator! Please don't laugh too hard at my icing technique! :) As my husband said "It's ok, everyone has a brown and green polka dot tie in the back of their closet somewhere!") Ok, back to the tutorial. Here's the finished product! Here's the main item you'll need. This is in the plumbing section at your local hardware store. It bends fairly easily and is ideal for more … [Read more...]

This is a really simple project also and GREAT for a handmade Christmas gift! You can very easily adapt it for different age levels as well. This one is a fairly simple match the pattern game. For a little more difficult version, try printing out upper and lowercase letters, or pictures and the matching words. Or even match the english word with the spanish or french word. (Told you it's easily adaptable!) Here's what you'll need: A few packages of these: -Wooden squares. I used two packages for the one I made. Originally I had wanted the squares to be larger than 1 1/4" square and was going to order some from here. At the last … [Read more...]

Straight from Random.org: Here are your random numbers: 1 Timestamp: 2008-11-09 02:20:50 UTCCongrats Emily! I'll email you and get the details of which papers and embossing you'd like! Thanks everyone for playing! I've been crafting lots today and will shortly post some new fall decor projects! … [Read more...]

The holidays will be here before we know it, and if you're like me, you might just wait until the last minute to make those holiday and Christmas cards. Here's a few ideas I whipped up that look great, but take a minimal amount of supplies and time to create! For all the embossing I used my Cuttlebug. If you don't have an embosser, try paper that is already embossed, or just a nice pattern will work great also. The sentiment on all say: may every day of this new year bring you a reason to celebrate. I just printed these directly onto the cardstock with my printer. That way, you can create any sentiment you want, and aren't just limited … [Read more...]

This is another super quick one! Supplies needed: Shadow Box (get these at pretty much any craft store, even Target and Wal-mart have them) Foam Tape Spooky Patterned Paper Instructions: Cut the patterned paper to fit into the back of your shadow box. Print from your photo editing program a spooky phrase. I used the Bleeding Cowboys font and printed it onto orange paper. Stack about 4 squares of foam tape to each other and tape your phrase to the back. You're finished! Try adding a spider to the front, or a few gravestones. You have lots of space to work with, so make sure you use things with different depths to take … [Read more...]