Blog Printing

Meg did a fabulous post back in January about blogging.  As an avid blogger and blog-to-booker, I figured I'd entice you even more to print those babies out!!  I started my blog shortly after my husband and I were married and haven't regretted it as it's become our journal of sorts.  I actually wish I would have started one earlier.  Don't get me wrong, I was an avid journal keeper and scrapbooker before, but blogging has made it possible to combine the two efforts in an easier, more organized, AND MORE COST-EFFECTIVE way.  Don't believe me?  That's okay, you don't have to...yet...  Here are the three individual posts I have posted on my family blog about the books I have printed (if you're interested).  If not, continue reading here and most of the information will be re-capped.

**Please accept this apology in advance for sounding like an infomercial.  Just know I wasn't paid a single red cent for this little "advert."**

My blog books have ranged anywhere from $130-$170 and that includes the shipping fees.  I receive them about a week after ordering and have never been disappointed.  EVER.  Back in my scrapbooking days, I decided to see how much one of my uber-cute-creative books was costing me.  I had worked at a summer camp, printed all my pictures, and was ready to scrapbook the three-month adventure.  When all was said and done, it was $350+!!!!!  That's right.  For a three-month scrapbook, I was out a load of cash and had one more 12x12 3-inch binder to store.  Granted, it's wonderful, way cute, and I love looking at it constantly.  But I'll be completely gutted if my home floods or burns down because it's the only copy I have.  Oh, and I have nearly twenty other scrapbook binders just like it.

Enter:  BLOG BOOKS!  I can digitally scrapbook my pictures if I want, but don't have to.  The pictures can be added to pages just as they are as well.  And the image can be as big or as small as I'd like.  For example, we took a trip to Europe last October.  Those pages look like a full-fledged travel book with the images taking up full pages.  So pretty.  Have I mentioned that I don't have to clean up the mess after scrapbooking as well?  It's glorious.  I can print a book at the end of each year for less than half the cost of my three-month camp scrapbook.  I can print another copy if the one I have is destroyed.  It takes up less than an inch of bookshelf space (and they're 200-350 pages).  Seriously, what's not to love?  There are many companies willing to print the blog for you (Meg listed a few in her post).  I use Blurb and love it.  My cousin uses Blog-2-Print and loves it.  I am also working on a book of our wedding pictures because to have a gorgeous hardbound wedding book done by your photographer can be nearly $600!!!  That's ridiculous.  I am also planning to print out my blogged recipes into a book so I can literally throw away all those other recipe books I have cluttering my kitchen.  Having one with all my favorites in it is all I need.

Anyway, if you have blog-to-book questions, just let me know.  I'd be more than happy to answer them!

Legit Paper Snowflakes

Cutting paper snowflakes is probably one of my very favorite winter crafts.  Even though most people only find it acceptable to hang snowflakes before Christmas, I feel as though they make great "winter" decor.  I've been doing it for years and I wont lie...I totally pride myself on them once finished. You'll need loads of blank 8.5x11" paper and a pair of nice, sharp scissors.

Step 1:  Place the paper in front of you, portrait-style.

Step 2:  Fold in half.  Be sure to crease your edges really tightly.  I pinch the paper between my fingernails, or rub the handle of my scissors over it.  The flatter your folds lay, the easier it is to cut later.

 Step 3:  Find the center of the FOLDED edge (just bring your folded corners together and pinch the center).

 Step 4:  This is the most difficult step and takes a few tries.  You need to fold the paper into triangular thirds from the center point you pinched earlier.

 Step 5:  This is the "finishing" to the triangular thirds step from above.  Be sure your edges match up.  If they don't, just re-fold it until you get it right.  You don't want any extra space between the folded edges.

 This is what the finished product looks like after being folded into triangular thirds.  I call it the fox head or pointy heart when teaching it to children.

Step 6:  Fold the fox head/pointy heart in half leaving the flap on the top.

 This is what your folded fox head/pointy heart should look like.

 Step 7:  Cut along the folded flap on the top; you're basically cutting off the fox ears here.

 Step 8:  Cut your snowflake!  The more paper you cut, the better your snowflake will turn out.  Remember to cut large shapes AND small shapes.

 Step 9:  Unfold your snowflake very carefully so it doesn't rip.  Folding your edges in the opposite direction also helps to lay the paper more flat.

 Step 10:  Hang them in your window and enjoy!

Now you can practice, practice, practice and be ready for next winter!

Interchangeable Hair Flowers Tutorial

I can't take credit for this wonderful genius idea. A friend of mine had one of these for her little girl. We were looking at it and decided that we could totally make our own! What's cool about them, is that they are totally versatile. You can make different pieces that match different outfits and totally mix and match them as you like. They are not that hard to make at all!

Here are the supplies you will need to make your own:

faux flowers or material to make your own flowers

felt

hole punch

hot glue or a strong glue of some type

tulle, faux flower leaves, accents to go with your flowers

buttons or something similar to make up the interchangeable flower centers (I made 3 center pieces, so I used 3 buttons)

plain hair clip

a plain stretchy headband (optional)

hardware

Here is some hardware you should get. I've labeled each piece so that you can see how they go together throughout the tutorial. Make sure that your B piece can fit around the C post. My A piece fit around the D screw. You will only need the A piece if you want a bigger center piece (button) for your flowers. 

Here's a closer look at pieces C and D. The D piece screws into the C piece. I found these pieces at a hardware store. They are super cheap. I think it was like $0.40 for the both of them.

Here are some flowers I used and a button I liked.

1. Putting together the hair-clip piece 

Put piece B over piece C and secure with glue, then glue this to the hair-clip like shown below.

2. Making the center pieces

Get your buttons that you will be using for the center pieces. Cut off the back piece that extends out on each button.

You will then glue piece D to the back of the buttons. If you are using a large button, you can glue piece D to piece A before you glue it onto the button. Each of these pieces will screw into the hair-clip piece. I ended up with a gold one, a pearl one, and a black one.

3. Putting together your flowers

Pull apart some faux flowers. I ended up with separate petals with holes in the center. Make sure that you match up the hole in the middle and just hot glue around the hole and stack up and glue the petals back together one-by-one. Choose as many flowers as you want!

Or you can make your own flower, like I did here. I almost felt like I was sinning as I cut apart an old book to get my petals--but it was totally the look that I was going for. I brushed the edges with some gold paint. I also cut up some tulle to go in between the petals.

I glued them all together one by one and punched a hole in the center.

4. Making the flower accents

Grab your piece of felt. I traced around a spool of thread to make my circles. You will need two circles of felt for each accent.

Punch a hole in the center of each piece of felt.

Put your accent piece, in this case--a feather, in between the pieces of felt and glue them together.

Make as many accent pieces as you want!

Here is the assortment of pieces I put together and ended up with.

Now all you have to do is pick out the pieces that you want on the hair-clip, stack them onto the hair-clip post, and screw on the center piece.

Check out all of the different looks that you can get out of this project! You can even clip them onto headbands for something different. The possibilities are endless :)

Linked up with:

Today's Creative Blog 

Christmas Tree Bows

My mom and grandmother decorated their Christmas trees with gorgeous bows and I felt the need to carry on the tradition. I have two sets of bows to accommodate different color schemes: white/silver/blue and sage/maroon/gold. They are super easy (just a bit time consuming) and make the tree look all sorts of fancy!Materials:

• ribbon
• floral wire (22-26 gauge works well)
• craft scissors

Step 1: Cut 10-12 inch piece of wire and have it ready.

Step 2: Leave 6-10 inches for one of the "tails" and then twist the ribbon 180 degrees. Pinch it tightly
Step 3: Loop the ribbon and then twist the ribbon 180 degrees again, bringing the twisted/pinched parts together. The "right" side of the ribbon should make a pretty loop.
Step 4: Take the piece of cut wire and wrap it around the twisted/pinched area.
Step 5: Make two more loops by twisting the ribbon like before, but lengthen the loop a bit so it sits to the left and then the right side of the original loop.

Step 6: Pull the wire around the new twists and wrap it around itself a few times to secure it.
Step 7: Continue making loops--remembering to twist the ribbon 180 degrees to keep the "right" side of the ribbon facing outward.
Step 8: When you're satisfied with the look and size of your bow, twist the ribbon off in the back.
Step 9: Then, cut the ribbon at an angle to add a pretty look to the tails.
Step 10: Secure the ribbon to a branch of your Christmas tree with a simple "criss-cross" of the wire (as shown secured to my finger). The easy part--they pull right off the tree when you un-decorate, but the wire holds it firmly in place.

**Tips**

• Use different widths and colors of ribbon to add more dimension to your decor.
• Ribbon with wired edges works best because after they are stored for a year, they are easy to form back to a "pretty" state rather than just looking smashed.
• Use green floral wire so the wire ends blend with your Christmas tree's bristles.
• Make the bows both large and small because the smaller bows look better toward the top where branches are smaller/shorter.
• Experiment with the length of the tails; long ones look really pretty dangling between branches.
• Make some extras to use on your gifts so the ribbons on the presents UNDER your tree match the ribbons ON your tree (just keep track of them when the unwrapping madness begins so they don't get thrown out).

Here are photos of my 2009 and 2008 Christmas trees (respectively):

2009, I used the white/silver/blue bows with white lights and 2008, I used the sage/maroon/gold ribbons with multi-colored lights. And yes, I also "wire" teddy bears to the more empty spots in my tree to cover up the lights' wires.

Kitchen Remodel

Ok so it's a kitchen remodel for a 2 year old but still!

Check out this cute little kitchen from the 1964

Sears Christmas catalog.

So cute right?!

Well fast forward to 2010 and that same kitchen

looks a little more like this:

NOT so cute!

I found the set at a thrift store a while back,

and after doing my research and realizing that

it was at one time SO cute, I decided I would try

to bring it back to life. I couldn't beat the $15

price tag, especially because it retailed for $27.99

almost 50 years ago!

Here it is, cleaned up, and about 6 or so cans of spray

paint later. The fridge needs to be stocked, and

cooking supplies need to be purchased, but I think

Santa will be taking care of that this year!

Linking up to Frugal Friday

Nursery Bird Lamp

I love that birds are being used more in home decor lately! This particular project was inspired by Serena & Lily's Sarah Bird Lamp.  

A friend of mine was due to have a baby girl and we had a fun time discussing the bird theme of her nursery. When I saw this lamp I totally thought of her. But...I didn't have $398 to spend on my friend, as much as I do like her. Another thing was that the bedding she had picked out had different pastel colored birds. So, I did my own twist from this on the bird lamp so that it would match the nursery better.  

I only have these two pictures to help you out with because I took only two pictures of it with just my point and shoot camera before I gave the lamp away to my friend. I have tried to zoom into these pictures and add some close-up pictures to help you understand what to do with some of the steps. Hope it helps!

You will need:

functioning lamp base

plain lamp shade

Mod Podge

a bunch of paper (the color you want

your tree trunk to be) or you can use newspaper... 

but you'll need to spray paint it the right color later

at least 1" wide ribbon, if you want in around the trunk base

thick ric-rac, for around the lamp shade

real sticks, the size you want your branches

hot glue gun and glue/ super glue

a pre made Styrofoam bird (I've seen them at Michaels, and Walmart)...

 OR 3" styrofoam sphere

 

I started out with a white lamp base that I got at a thrift store. It can be any color because you are going to cover the base up. But, the bottom of my lamp base was left exposed because I liked it white. I bought a lampshade at Walmart; I think it wasn't over ten dollars for both. One suggestion that I have is to get a lamp base that is straight, without a bunch of curves. I didn't, and I had to work hard to make it look smooth. 

1. First off, hot glue your sticks in the places that you want your branches to come out. You might have to build up some glue beneath the spots so it will hold it in place better by letting some glue dry, then putting more hot glue around that, etc. Super glue wouldn't hurt either. It can look as messy and unprofessional as you can handle because you are going to cover this up.

2. (Optional) One thing that I might do, if I made this lamp again, would be to add leaves. You could use false leaves with wires from the floral department at a craft store, or you could make your own. I would then hot glue the leaf wires to the sticks I just glued on, placing the leaves where I want them.

3. Here is the fun and messy part. I used pieces of newspaper and Mod Podge to decoupage around the lamp base to make a tree "trunk" shape. You just cover the piece of paper with the Mod Podge and stick it on there and repeat with the next piece. You put on your first layer, covering even the sticks, then wait for it to dry. (See step 4, for something to do while it's drying). Repeat. If any of you have ever made a pinata before, you know what I am talking about. For the easy way, use just a bunch of pieces of paper that are the color that you want your tree trunk to be, then you won't have to spray paint it later like I did. Funny, the people that do the project after me, always end up with the easy way to do things! 

Here is a close-up of the trunk:

4. One thing you can do while one layer is drying, is make your bird. I carved my bird out of a 3" styrofoam ball (I was feeling adventurous), but you can actually get a little bird pre made with feathers, etc. everything attached on it, if that is the look you are going for. You will want to decoupage your bird, if you didn't choose the pre made bird, just like you did to your lamp. I picked out cute little pastel scrapbook paper that matched my friend's nursery to use to for my bird. You only need enough layers to get the look you want.

5. When everything is dry and you are happy with the way your trunk looks, you can glue your bird on a branch. You can't afford to be messy here, so super glue may come in handier than hot glue. If you did use newspaper like I did instead of the color paper, don't put your bird on just yet! Do this first:

Tape off everything that you don't want sprayed the color of your trunk. Spray paint your trunk the color you want, and then let it dry. Then you can put your bird on.

6. Now take your ribbon and roll it horizontally and glue it around the bottom edge to give your trunk a finished look. Cut off any extra ribbon.

7. Now take your ric rac and glue it around the lamp shade. 

Add a lightbulb, attach the lampshade and Viola! A Nursery Bird Lamp!

Linked up with:

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