Mustache Bookmarks

I recently got Photoshop and I've been trying to learn how to work its magic. Inspired by these Valentines from Plum Adorable, I decided to make mustache bookmarks for my little sister's birthday. I started with photos of my baby nephew in Photoshop and then ran with it. It was worth it for the sheer amusement; I laughed out loud so many times (Ryan gave me the "you're weird" eyebrow lift). My nephew is just too cute, especially with a Mario Brothers' mustache.

I made the bookmarks to accompany the first two books of The Hunger Games trilogy in her birthday package. If you haven't yet, you should must read these books! They're pretty addicting.

To start, I used my sister's instagram photos of the baby, but any photo cropped down to a square will work. Then I googled "free mustache clip art." Here's a 'stache that I used. I used Photoshop to add the mustaches to the photos. If you don't have Photoshop, I'm pretty sure you can do the same thing with Pixlr for free!

I then came up with mustache-related sayings. Only one is actually related to reading...oh well! After printing the bookmarks off, I cut 'em out and glued 'em to cardstock in a contrasting color.

DIY Doll Beds and Tiny Quilts

Ryan's nieces love their American Girl dolls, so I wanted to make them something for Christmas that their dolls could use. Their dolls already have millions of outfits. Why not furniture? I came across lots of ideas including this picnic table, which I'm also dying to make. Ultimately, I decided on these farmhouse beds from Ana White. 

For our first wood project together, I would say that Ryan and I did a pretty rockin' job. And we did it for only $20 each! I'll break down the cost at the end of the post. I also made my first quilt ever. Actually, two. They may have been mini, but that's two mini victories for me.

One niece likes pink and the other likes purple. I spent a long time in the fabric store choosing fabrics to go together. So long in fact, that some woman asked me for help, because she thought I worked there.

 The beds fit 18" dolls.

The reverse side of the quilts are awfully cute too.

We used step by step instructions for the farmhouse bed from Ana White's blog. If you've never been to her site, you have got to check it out! She is incredibly talented, a lumber goddess really. The best part of it all is that she makes it easy for you to build beautiful things too. Go to her site, you'll see.

A couple of things we did differently from Ana White's instructions. We only used four panels in the headboard and foot board (with five slots it was wider than we needed). Also, to save money, we used thick cardboard (instead of plywood) to support the mattress.

The beds coming together.

My man hard at work. We realized that we desperately need a larger work space if we're going to do more projects like this in the future. Somehow he made it work with just the top of his tool chest and two not-so-sturdy sawhorses.

Once Ryan finished putting the beds together, I used wood filler on the screw holes then sanded the whole bed down. I then primed and painted the beds with some paint I had leftover from the antique dresser and hutch.

Now for the bedding. Remember I'm no expert. But I'll try to explain how I made the doll quilts.

Sexy Laughs for Crafty Ladies

Do you ever come across something that's so totally off the wall, but completely amazing? Something that doesn't serve a practical purpose, but makes your day that much better? Cue Handmade Ryan Gosling.

Have you seen those cheesy books in Barnes and Noble called Porn for Women? They're filled with pictures of sexy lumberjack men (mostly clothed) ironing clothes and doing the dishes while telling you how beautiful you are. Well this site is that, but for crafty chicks. Hilarious, sexy, purely awesome. If your day needs a pick-me-up, go check out all of the submissions.

Here are some of my favorites:

Merry Christmas to all of you crafty folks out there! And if you're like me and finishing up handmade gifts the day before Christmas Eve, good luck!

Thanks Handmade Ryan Gosling for making me laugh and for making me feel better about my crafting woes!

5 Days of Felt : Snowy Trees

I'm sorry I've been slacking on posting for the 5 Days of Felt. I have multiple felt projects started, but none finished. I also have my hands in about 10 different handmade gifts for Christmas. Sometimes I look around and think How am I going to get this all done? But as a lifelong procrastinator, I'm sure I'll pull it out. Last minute, that's just how I function.

Sometimes crafty ideas don't turn out quite the way you hope. I had high hopes for these snowy trees. They ended up looking not-so-fabulous. I spent way too long trying to make the tops of the trees look right and they still look funny. But I'm going to share them with you all anyway. Day 3 of 5 Days of Felt : snowy white felt trees.

I started with styrofoam cones. I bought the green cones since they were on sale (the white cones, of course, were not). I first covered the cones with a layer of white felt so that the green wouldn't show through.

DIY: Vintage Dictionary Flowers

I bought a dictionary from the '50s at the flea market for $3. I bought it with the intent to rip out the pages. Some of you might think that's a crime, and normally I would feel bad about ripping up a book, especially a really old book, but the binding was falling apart and I already have more dictionaries than I need. So I decided to show it a little love and give it new life as these beautiful origami flowers.

I found the tutorial for these flowers over at Folding Trees.

A bonus when making these flowers, you learn new words or come across definitions that are just plain funny (at least to me).

winker n. 1. one who or that which winks 2. Colloq. an eyelash or an eye
(who refers to an eyelash as a winker? "Ouch, I have a winker in my eye!")

fop n. a man who is excessively concerned about his manners and appearance
(Was this the 50's version of a man who's "metro" ?)

foppery n. the manners, actions, dress of a fop

......................................................................................................................................

Now here's my attempt at an origami photo tutorial. I'll try to explain the steps, but if you just follow the pictures you should be good. All of the steps and folds may seem daunting, but once you get the hang of it, it goes fairly quickly.

Start with a book page cut down to a 5" square. 

Bring two corners together to form a triangle. Bring the bottom right corner up to the top corner.

Now bring the left corner up to the top corner, which will leave you with a small diamond.

5 Days of Felt : Felt Gift Bows

It's Day Two of 5 Days of Felt and today I want to share how to make reusable felt bows. The beauty of these little guys is that they can't get crushed in the car, on the way to family gatherings, like paper bows do. And they cost around 50 cents each! These were inspired by How About Orange's magazine bow tutorial.

What you'll need :

   - 9"x12" sheets of felt

   - ruler

   - scissors or rotary cutter

   - hot glue gun and glue

5 Days of Felt : Ruffly Rosette Wreath

Ever since I made the felt dress up dolls, I have been so excited about felt! I hadn't used felt since I was a kid, but lately I've been searching for more adult ways to use it. With all of these great ideas, I've decided to do 5 Days of Felt. I can't promise that they will be five consecutive days, but there will be five days with five fun ways to use felt.

To kick off 5 Days of Felt, I'm sharing this ruffly rosette wreath that I made for my sister's house. I came across the tutorial for the rosette wreath at Domestifluff awhile ago and had been wanting to try it. I also wanted to decorate my sister's house for Christmas since my little nephew had just been born and she was a little busy with the whole newborn thing.

Please forgive the car seat backdrop. My car was the only place with good light. This is the wreath in route to my sister's house. You might be thinking pink?, that's not a traditional Christmas color. But my sister = not so traditional, just one of the many reasons I love her!

Now let me show you how to make it. You'll need: 

  - 12" styrofoam wreath

  - about 2 yards felt (maybe a little less)

  - a box of 200 straight pins

  - 3" circle template

  - pen

An Easy Way to Give Thanks

385 miles later and I am sitting in a little motel circa 1952 in Eugene, OR. I'm on my way back home to keep my very pregnant sister company until my little nephew arrives. I decided to stop halfway into the drive, because it is a loooong trip to do all at once...alone...especially if you have a tendency to get sleepy driving...even after three mochas. So here I am. I just got my laptop back after having the hard drive crash and losing all of my docs and photos. Sad times. Now I finally have a chance to share this little project I threw together a few days ago.

The Thanksgiving decorations are looking a little slim at my house this year. So I was super excited when I came across this freebie over at Sugartotdesigns that can be put together so easily. I think it took me about 10 minutes!

Remember this thrift store frame from the baby shower? This was a great new use for it.

You'll need:

- a large frame

- free printable from Sugartotdesigns

- cardstock in colors and patterns that suit your fancy

- scissors

- gluestick

- dry-erase marker

 How funny is this extreme gluestick? I like feeling extreme while crafting.

Print off the freebie in the color you like (Sugartotdesigns offers four colors to choose from). Back it with a solid-colored cardstock. Then arrange patterned papers behind and close frame. So easy!

 I hung the frame in our dining room. 

Simply use a dry-erase marker to fill in what you are grateful for. The beauty is that you can hang it up at the beginning of the month and then fill in something new every day counting down to Thanksgiving. It's a nice reminder each day of the blessings in your life. Here are a few of mine:

DIY Felt Dress Up Dolls

Ryan's twin nieces were turning six and I wanted to make them something special. I came across this idea for felt dress up dolls at Smile and Wave, which also led me to these extremely cute felt dresses by Olivia Mew. I absolutely love the way the dolls turned out! 

I couldn't wait to start cutting out the miniature fashionistas. I headed to Joann's and grabbed a bunch of felt. I hadn't done any crafts with felt in a loooong time. I was surprised to find they even had animal print felt. 

Of course, I had to throw in a little felt wiener dog. We had fun coming up with the accessories. Ryan made the cupcakes and cut the parrots freehand! He never ceases to amaze me.

Rachel was sweet enough to share a template for the dolls in her post. Use this as a jumping off point and then channel your inner fashion designer and run with it.

A hunt through my craft room turned up flower-shaped brads, mini pearls, ribbon, buttons, and lots of little bling. So I went to town adding the finishing touches to the clothes.

Meow! My attempt above at felt cat-eye glasses. Maybe if I had done them in black, they would have looked more like cat-eye glasses and less like a superhero mask.

I would have loved to make even more clothes and accessories. Ryan had to pull me away when I was still cutting out little hairdos and handbags ten minutes before the party was supposed to start. He reminded me that I could make them more wardrobe pieces as a Christmas gift (which is the perfect idea since I'm sure a few pieces will have been sucked up into the vacuum by then). 

Now I know that it's lame to give a dual gift to twins. But with the sandwich board they can each have their own side to dress up dolls. I personalized them with their names. Plus they have twice the wardrobe options so they can swap clothes with each other, doll clothes that is (one of the twins is much taller than the other).

You can choose a different color for the board felt. But I ended up following Rachel's lead and choosing a light gray. No other color worked as well. It's neutral and it allows the brightly colored clothes to pop.

Here's how to make the felt board :