Potato Print Valentines

Did you know you can make a stamp out of a potato?  Well, you can!  This craft is a wonderful family or group activity.  I made mine with my kids, and we had a lovely time cutting and stamping Valentines for one another.  

You need:

Large russet potatoes

Knife and cutting board

Cookie cutters

Tempra paint- Washable if you are making them with your little ones

brushes

Paper towels

bamboo skewers

lots and lots of wipes ;)

Card stock

You want to start by cutting a potato into 1/2" or so strips the long way.  Then, use your cookie cutters to cut the strips into shapes.  I used a few different heart cutters and I got these adorable alphabet cutters at the craft store.  You can use them to spell out cute sayings.  Just use a bamboo skewer to hold the letters together into word stamps.  

My kindergartner spelled out her name and stamped it on all her cards, so she wouldn't have to write it 25 times.  Smarty pants.  

Once you get your stamps made, blot off the excess potato water with a paper towel and paint it with any color you fancy.  Then, just stamp them onto a card!  Easy breezy!  

A few hints.  Brush on thin layers of paint rather than thick.  Press firmly and evenly.  make sure every part of the potato is making contact with the paper. You can reuse your potato stamp over and over.  Just wipe off the excess paint between colors.  You can even store them wrapped up in the fridge for a few days.  

Happy Valentine's day!!  

Be Mine Valentine - Vintage Inspired Homemade Valentines

I made these adorable vintage valentines by downloading royalty free Valentine images.  I googled "Royalty Free Vintage Valentines" and took the images from a few different sites.  Then, I enhanced them a bit in photo shop.  You don't have to do that, but that's what I did.  I printed them out on Matte photo paper and then spruced them up a bit with gold paint and glitter.  I cut out cute frames for them, and spray glued them onto card stock.  I used Martha Stewart's floral edge hole punch to make the frame here.  I also think a scalloped edge would be cute too.  Here are a few more pics.

Make your own Snow Globes

Snow globes have always intrigued my curiosity.  Ever since I was little, I've loved peaking in on little worlds through gingerbread house windows and tiny menageries. That's what makes this one of my favorite holiday crafts.  Unlike a snow globe, there is no water in the jars of these globes, leaving a world of crafting possibilities!  Epoxy and waterproof materials not necessary!  I like to think of them as Display globes.

You need:
A handful of glass jars - Whatever is in cupboard.  I used a jelly jar, a mason jar and a baby food jar. 
Gold spray paint or enamel paint for the lids
White felting wool or cotton balls
White glue
cardboard
scissors
glitter
Assorted figurines, small trees, little forest animals, small mirrors, jewelry - Whatever you want to display!

Start by painting the lids and let dry completely.  Overnight if necessary.
Start with one jar and 1 lid.  Practice setting up little scenes in the lid.  I did this over and over until I figured out what was going in each jar, on each lid.  Have fun!  Get detailed or stay simple! 
Once you have your scene, trace your lid onto the cardboard 3 times or more.  This is to build your scenes up a bit so you can see it nicely through the jar.  I learned this crucial step the hard way.  Cut your cardboard circles out about 1/4 - 1/2" smaller than your tracing.  You want them to fit in the bottom of the lid, leaving a generous space between cardboard and lid lip, so you can get your jar on with ease.  Another "learned the hard way" step.  Stack a few to reach the appropriate height for your particular scene and jar.

Make sure your jar fits over everything!  You don't want squashed tree tops.  Once again, learned the hard way.  Yeah, these were pretty much a big 'ole pain in the rear to figure out, I must admit.  Easy breezy now though!  Next, glue the cardboard stack in your lid.
Tip: Use white cardboard if you've got it, or paint your little cardboard stack white.  This will keep the snow nice and clean and will keep you from using too much. I learned this the... just kidding!
Now you can start reassembling your scene using lots of glue!  Hot glue works great if you've got a glue gun.  Take wisps of felting wool and layer over the cardboard.  Glue down and add another layer.  Start with just a little and build as you go. 

Tip: You can take the mirrors out of old makeup compacts for little lakes in you scenes ;).  I know you've got those lying around.  I sure did!  I used a little polar bear I found in my kids junk drawer, a red and white paper clip to make a candy cane, a little tree I glued glitter to, and compact mirror in one.  Then I let my 4 year old dump glitter over the whole thing.  So cute and sparkelly!  In another, I painted one single tree pink in honor of my daughter who practically insisted we get a pink flocked Christmas tree.  Sorry honey, but your momma's not that hip.  I finished it off with sequins and a scrapbooking embellishment for the top.

The little baby food jar I displayed one single piece. It's an old broach of my grandmothers.  It was the perfect tree shape and reminds me of her.

  Assemble your jars and that's it!  Enjoy!

How to Make Paper Snowflakes

 It's official!  Winter is here!  I'm celebrating winter by making paper snowflakes.  Want to join me?  These snowflakes are made from old book pages and finished with a vintage pin to give them a little vintage charm.  You can use an old book, colored paper, white paper or even an old Hymn book (dang!  I wish I would have done that!) to personalize them to you.  This is a great craft to do with your older kids over winter break to get them away from the television ;). 

You need:
6 book pages per flake cut down to 5" x 5"
scissors
ruler
pencil
glue- I used Yes! paste because that's what I had. I'm all about using what I've got.  A glue stick would have been better. Hot glue if you're doing these with out kids.
Stapler
A vintage pin if you've got a collection like I do.  If not, A pretty button hot glued in the center would do the trick.

Okay, let's start!  Take a 5x5 page and fold it diagonal so it makes a triangle.  Crease the edge well.   I'll refer to this edge as the "hard edge."

Fold your triangle in half to make a smaller triangle, but don't crease it too hard.  This is your "soft edge." Take your ruler and line it up on the bottom of your soft edge.  It should be 3 1/2".  The 3 1/2 mark on the ruler should be at your hard edge.  Mark 1", 2" and 3" off on the soft edge.

 Cut from your mark diagonally towards your hard edge, stopping about an 1/8" from the hard edge.  Don't cut all the way through!

Open your page and it should look like this.

Take the center small diamond shape and pull the edges up and glue together overlapping one on top of the other.  It helps to do this over a thin brush handle or pencil. 

Turn the whole page over and do the same to the next diamond.  Turn over again, and finish with the largest diamond. 

You should get a cute little paper swirly thing that looks like this:

Do this 5 more times, a total of 6 swirly things.
Stack all 6 of the bottom points together on top of each other and staple together.

It will open up into your snowflake.  To secure it together, glue the middle points together where they touch. 
Finish by pinning a pretty pin tn the center. 

Happy winter solstice!

How to make Glittered Christmas Trees

I was trying to figure out what to do with a leftover bag of corn husks I had from my Thanksgiving crafting.  Make tamales?  Sounds okay.  Make corn husk glittered trees?  Sounds great!  These actually turned out way cuter than my vision, and the best part is, they are super easy to make!  Here is what you'll need:

A bag of corn husks
Paper birthday hats
Scissors
Glue gun
Acryllic paint
Glitter to match your paint
White glue
Paint brush
Ruler

Start by disassembling a paper hat.  Then, reshape the cone to a thinner, taller cone, and hot glue shut.  I tried a tree with out thinning the cone, and it looked like a birthday hat tree. Not so great.  You can make smaller trees by disassembling a hat, lying flat and trimming the bottom edge staying with the curve.  I trimmed one down about an inch, and another about two inches.  If you want a taller tree, you can trim about 3" off one hat and glue it to the base of another hat.
Next, Cut up your corn husks into 2" x 1 1/2" rectangles with the grain of the husk running long. Then, round the bottom of the rectangles with scissors into a scallop shape.  Don't worry about being perfect.  They don't all have to match.  For the smaller trees, cut the rectangles a bit smaller.  about 1 1/2" x 1".
 Take one long corn husk strip and glue it around the base of your tree form, and trim off any extra so your tree sits upright properly.  This is to hide your hat once the tree is finished. I figured this out after the fact, that's why it isn't in the next photo.

Then, start at the base of your tree hot gluing corn husk strips so the scallops just touch the edge of the bottom.  Continue all the way around.  Next, start another circle up about 1/2 an inch up and stagger the strips like you are laying bricks.  Keep going until you reach the top! You can take a pencil and turn out the edges of your "boughs" just a bit if you'd like.  Your finished, unpainted tree should look like this:

Then, paint it whatever holiday color you fancy! I decided to go retro with white, hot pink and teal blue.  Let dry completely.  You may have to apply two layers, drying completely between coats.  Once your tree is colorful and dry, brush with a thin layer of white glue and sprinkle with glitter.  This will help hold the glitter in place extra well and sturdy up your tree a bit.  The glue will give your tree a glossy shine too.  If you are more of a matte kind of crafter, skip the glue step and apply the glitter directly too the wet paint. ;)  
Now, set your tree right up on the mantle where it belongs!  Enjoy!

Birch Tea Light Holders

The Birch tree is one of my favorite holiday crafting resource because there is just so much you can do with its gorgeous bark!  This time I made birch tea light holders to put down the center of my holiday table. Aren't they just beautiful?  This is one of many, many craft ideas if you can get a hold of some birch logs.  I was lucky enough to get these from my good friend Sonya who was going to cut them up into firewood!!  Shame on you, Sonya.  

This craft requires a bit of power tool know how, so novices, stand back... Or give your handyman neighbor a 6 pack of beer to cut the logs up for you ;)  

You need:

A couple of birch logs, no more then 6" in diameter

A 1 1/2" Spade drill bit

Sand paper

Gold leaf kit

Here is how to do it:

Start by cutting up the birch logs into different heights.  Mine varied between 3" and 12".  You'll need a Miter saw to do this.  Remember to wear those safety goggles!

Once you've got the logs cut up.  into varying heights, you'll need to drill a hole for the tea light to fit.  Use a 1 1/2" spade drill bit to drill down the center of each holder until the tea light sits level.  DON'T drill too far down, or the birch could catch fire.  so careful!  You will need some sort of clamp to hold the birch in place while you drill.  Otherwise they will spin all over the place.  Been there, done that!   I've got a workbench clamp I used.  If you don't have a work bench, I was thinking you could use a Christmas tree stand.  Tis' the season!

After the tea lights are drilled, I gold leafed the top of each holder to give them that extra special holiday charm.  And boy, did it work!  The gold leafing on the tops make the whole piece look so elegant.  Stunning, really.  Just follow the directions on the gold leafing kit.  Super easy.  I received so many compliments at my holiday party!  Soooo many!  I know you will too.  Good luck!!! Happy holidays!  

How to make an eerie ghost head

Wanna add a little spook to your season?  Try making this eerie ghost head.  Super, duper simple, and guaranteed to freak out the neighbors! I placed mine in the entry way of my home on the ground.  It looks like there is a ghost rising from the floor!  Super spooky.  This would also make a great centerpiece placed on a platter for a Halloween feast. 

You need:
A large sheet of cheesecloth.  24" x 24"
A foam head form.  You can find them online for about $4.
A can of heavy starch
Rubber gloves 


Place the cheesecloth loosely over the foam head.  In a well ventilated area, spray the heck out of the fabric so it's really saturated.  With rubber gloves smooth the cheesecloth over the face of the form.  Then "pile" the excess so it will stand properly when dry. 
Let dry completely.  Probably a few hours. 
Carefully remove the form from the cloth.  It's going to stick a bit, so easy does it.  Once it's loose, remove the form and you should have a floating ghost head.  If you look closely, you should be able to see the faint profile of a woman who died in a tragic house fire back in the year 1812.  Boo!

Upcycled Fringe Skirt

   

I'm a bit obsessed with fringe lately, and I'm putting it on everything!  (See my last post ;))  My daughter and I were cleaning out her closet and I found a drab, plain gray skirt she doesn't wear very often.  We decided to upscale it into something fab and fun!  Gives her a little spunk, don't 'cha think? 

You need:

An old, plain skirt.  A denim skirt wold work great.  I removed one outer pocket with a seam ripper. 
Fringe!  We used 4" Chainette Rayon Fringe in White, Sky blue and Gray from Dove Original Trim.  http://www.doveoriginalstrims.com/  I'm linking you because the gray was a bit hard to find.  You're welcome. 
Sewing machine, thread and pins.

Sort of self explanatory if you are already a sewer.  If not, it's super easy.  Here are a few helpful tips I learned along the way.  

Start with the bottom fringe 1st.  I let 2"s fall below the hem line and pinned all the way around. 
Don't pull off the bottom string off the fringe (you know, the one that holds it all together) until you are done!  Seems obvious, but was a big, big mistake with me.  I just couldn't help myself, and then all the fringe kept getting stuck in the machine.  Duh. 
Use a straight stitch.  Double it up if you want.  I did one pass, and it seems fine.
Place and pin your next layer 2" above the last hem. 
That's it! 
Go let your little one shake it!