Throwback barrettes

These barrettes were inspired by an old Family fun magazine. When I saw them my 80’s childhood flashed through my mind, and I knew that the girls and I would have to make some. But we “blinged” ours up a bit.  It was really nice to share something with them that brought back so many good memories.

And this is how you do it.  First you’ll need some ribbon one or two colors. and a barrette like this one. 

Thread the ribbon to the back of the barrette.

Thread the ribbon over one side and then under the other side of the barrette. Continue till the end.

We just used a little hot glue on the end of the blue one to hold it all in place, we trimmed the extra ribbon and then we added a snowflake button.  On the red one we left some ribbon hanging down we also used hot glue to hold the ends in place.

Valentine Sun Catchers

When I saw this idea in a Family Fun magazine I knew my kids and I would have to make some.

First get your ice cube trays and make some colorful ice cubes by added whatever food coloring you like, then place them in the freezer until they are completely frozen.

After your ice cubes are frozen you fill a cake pan about 1/3 the way full with cold water.  Since it’s close to Valentines Day we made heart shaped sun catchers but you can use whatever cake pan you like.  You also need to add a glass with water in it to the pan.  This will make a hole in your ice so you can hang up your creation.

Add your colorful ice cubes and place in the freezer right away.

When it’s completely frozen, you can remove the cups from the ice and then remove your creation from pan.  You can set it on the counter for a bit until it melts enough to remove it, or you can try running warm water over the back of the cake pan BUT be careful if the water is too Hot it can cause your ice to crack. (and yes, we might have figured that out from experience) 

Add a ribbon and hang it outside.

They’re so cool, and it was a really fun project.  We’ll be doing this one again, next time I think we’ll try connecting more than one together.

FYI – Yes, they do melt and because it’s not very cold where we live, ours was completely melted in about 6 hours. (and no Tracy that wasn’t a stupid question)

Valentine for Him

I thought I would share with you the idea I had for my husbands Valentine this year.  It was super easy and fun to make and it was free –ish (it would be totally free if you didn’t frame it) First you need to create your crossword, I like to use puzzlemaker.com.  They have lots of puzzles you can make but I picked a crossword, so I could make it really personal to us. I just filled it with random facts from our lives together and a few inside jokes. After I made the crossword I copied and pasted it into my PrintMaster program and added all of the extra clip art. I printed two copies one for him to solve and one to frame.  The one in the frame I printed on photo paper, that’s why it’s so shiny.  Puzzle-maker (a different site) lets you print out a solved copy of your puzzle too if you wanted to frame the answered one.  

Then I found an old document frame that we weren’t using anymore. Forever ago I had painted it white so today I just added some black paint. Wondering how I made the design in the paint? I used a cupcake wrap kinda like a stencil and sponged some black paint over the top.  Cause nothing says Happy Valentines like black paint.

I’m very happy with how it turned out and I really hope he likes it too!

Train Scarf

This next project I LOVE!!! Mostly because it was inspired by a little incident at our home.  So last month I made my daughters some scrunchie scarfs for Christmas, then I loved them so much I made myself a scarf too.  When I was just finishing up my scarf my cute little 4 year old son (Mr. T) walked up to me with his sad little puppy dog eyes on and said, “Mommy, when are you going to make me a scarf?”  So of course I told him his scarf was next and I went to work on it right away.  I wanted it to be something special not just some fleece I sewed into a scarf shape.  So I thought about it and it didn’t take me long to come up with the train idea. They’re long, connected and kinda scarfy shaped.  Plus little boys love them (at least mine does).  And hence the train scarf was born, the beginning of the scarf was very fast and easy I found a train engine in my clip art that I like and modeled the engine after, the caboose I also found in my clip art and my caboose is very loosely modeled after that one the other cars are my own design. 

So after I got them all designed and cut out it was still missing something so I decided to add some top stitching.  And this is where it took the most time not because it was hard but because of a little story that goes like this.  Once upon a time I use to sit down, now I don’t…the end.  But we had a road trip recently that allowed me to sit for a while and finish this up so here it is in all of it finishedness.

As I’m looking at this picture I’m thinking “UGH! I forgot to sew on the buttons for the middle of the wheels!” Okay so there it was in it’s almost finishedness.

 

I’m linkin this project up.  Go check out my link up list to see all of the fabulous places to link up your projects too!
 

Valentine Frame

I fell in love with some fabric at first I only got 1 yard, but after the first day I knew that wouldn’t be enough so I went back and bought a whole lot more.  Big plans for this gorgeous stuff. Sorry I forgot to tell you that  I made my be mine printout on my computer with my PrintMaster clip art.

I’m linkin this project up.  Check out my link up list to see all of the fabulous places to link up your projects.

Button Headbands

Yes I make a lot of headbands (I have 3 daughters who love them). Here are some button inspired ones. 

Candy Stand

So here is my take on this project, I’m sure you’ve all seen. I used a bowl on the top of mine and I added some bling to the stem and I LOVE how it turned out and how fun & easy it was to make.   PLUS I would love to give credit to the awesome person who’s idea I borrowed but I can’t find the link.  I thought I saved it to my favorites but I didn’t so if you know who’s lovely original idea this was I’d love to sing their praises.  Thanks!