Paper Flowers part 2

So I went through a paper flower phase...or really anything fun and cute I could make from paper. I found this awesome inspiration from Intimate Weddings Blog, and I made a about 6 myself, but again, I was so excited I didn't take pictures and they now live at my mom's house about 6 hours away!

Image borrowed from Intimate Wedding Blog

These would be a great alternative to live flower center pieces at any function, or just to spruce up a table. These are especially awesome (well really all paper flowers) for those of us who are particularly sensitive to fragrant flowers and/or the pollen they produce.

So head over to Intimate Wedding blog and check out this tutorial here!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Eco Friendly Gift wraping

What if I told you, you never again have to buy bows, wraping paper, or gift bags again? You would be kinda excited right??

Well here is your solution.

How to make a gift bag out of junk mail here
Small gift box out of a dollar bill here
Cereal box to gift box here

Also don't forget that newspaper is your best friend for wrapping packages, stuffing for shipping boxes, etc. Also think about using multiple pages of a magazine to wrap your gifts. Your gift recipient will think "wow, how creative and unique!"

Now for my favorite part....Gift bows!! These are a delight to make, and the results are amazing!

Here are a few that I made out of a bridal magazine that was destine for the recycle bin...

They turned out much better than I had planned, and with a little practice I was making bows that were nearly perfect!!

Here is a list of supplies you will need:

The fabric box

Good evening!
My pharmacology test went well, in case you were wondering. I had planned to get this tutorial posted around 3pm, however it actually rained here in desert-like South Texas and the power was down for several hours. Which means no iron, sewing machine, computer, or internet. I ended up passing the time, cutting fabric for future projects. During my silent solitude of fabric cutting I started thinking how we as a culture have become so dependent on electricity. It almost made me want to get a foot pedal sewing machine--then it's like a work out and sewing all in one! That is an entirely different topic however....

Anyways back to the tutorial. A few days ago I put together the first tote depicted in the "sneek peek" post and I liked the out come, but the whole thing was kinda floppy looking. So I decided to install cardboard sides/bottom in the next one to see if that helped stiffen it up and if it was actually do-able.

The one on the left has cardboard, and the one on the right has just one layer of interfacing.

Cardboard is very unforgiving and I had quite a hard time lining everything up perfectly--If I ever make anymore, I'll just interface the outside and liner of the box. this should be plenty stiff to hold fabric, yarn and other various semi-light weight projects.

So here are the supplies:
- 1/2 yard of fabric for the outside
- 1/2 yard of fabric for the liner
- a little over 2 yards of 20 inch heavy fuse-able interfacing (if you want to interface liner & outside
- bias tape or materials to make double bias tape (1/2 inch or an inch, its your preference)
- approximately 3 cereal boxes, duct tape (optional)
- sewing machine, matching thread, scissors, ruler, fabric marker, bias tape maker, pins

Sneek Peek

I just wanted to give you a sneak peek of Wednesday's Tutorial. I have a pharmacology exam on Wednesday morning, so now I must stop crafting (sigh) and start studying.

Enjoy the sneak  peek...I'm very excited about this out come!

Fabric storage bin! YAY!!! I made this with the idea of it storing my current yarn project, but then to my surprise it fits perfectly in the throw all end table by the front door. Phoebe likes it too! She jumped up there and posed all on her own, promise--she is a ham like that.

Come back Wednesday afternoon for the full tutorial!! Until then you can make the cute newspaper box here and buy a pair of TOMS here

Paper flowers part 1

I've alluded to this project in some of my other posts, but I wanted to really show case it. Over the next few days I'm going to show you all the different types of paper flower's I've mastered--most of which I learned from other people's blogs/websites. No worries I'll give credit where credit is due :)

This is a great tutorial to use with old magazines, newspapers, old class notes (which I'm totally guilty of), junk mail, etc. Any source of paper, that is preferably in the "recycled" category. Plus I think they make great conversation pieces instead of folding these out of regular ole non-interesting-excessive tree killing paper.

20-Min Tunic

As some of you know, there is only one store here that sells fabric off the bolt in my town....with a very very limited selection. So I'm always looking for other ways to obtain fabric, through XL T-shirts, twin flat sheets, pillow cases, cloth shower curtains, table cloths, cloth napkins, etc.

So as I was strolling around HEB plus this afternoon I came across this

TWO pillow cases for a DOLLAR...yes that is $1.00-  just under 2 yards of fabric if you rip all the seams and lay them out flat. 

The first time I saw these, they had orange and white ones, but I was a little hesitant because I wasn't sure about how the fabric would actually hold up--so I just bought the orange ones, made a tunic and was so excited I forgot to take pictures for this tutorial! So I just HAD to go back and get the blue and green ones so you guys could learn this awesome and nifty skill. 

Here is how to turn a pillow case into a tunic in about twenty minutes:

Newspaper basket

Good morning all!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Today I'm going to share with you an awesome tutorial I discovered a while back. Its a great way to make something useful, recycled, and a definite conversation piece!

Supplies:

Newspaper, scissors, stapler, mod podge, and anything you may want to decorate your basket with: ribbon, gems, paint, etc.

The small "test" basket