Portable Cupcakes

In addition to a very long week of daily pampering and gifts for Chloe's teacher we sent in some cupcakes for her this morning. For these portable cupcakes you just need a package of Wilton clear party bags, size 4 x 9.5 inches and a package of 9 oz. clear plastic cups. The 'Thank You' tags are the same ones I used last year. They were made by Skip To My Lou. You can find them on Tidy Mom's blog. Just bake your cupcakes in liners as usual. Then you can experiment. You can remove the cupcake from the liner and add  it to the cup and frost it or you can keep it in the liner and add it to the cup.  I added either tissue paper, decorative liners, or a regular liner to the outside of the cup and placed it in the bag. Tie the spoon on with a ribbon, add your tag with a bit of hot glue and your set!

 

Teacher Appreciation Cards

Believe it or not, I do not consider myself crafty or creative. I think I get by, but sometimes I get lucky and I turn out something wonderful. I share room mom duties and it was my turn to take the lead for Teacher Appreciation Week. We decided to do pretty much the same thing as I did last year. Instead of having the kids write a card, we decided on a fill in the blank card. Then I took it one step further and decided to make unique handmade cards. 27 of them. All different. I'm not a scrapbooker. I don't own a scrapbook. BUT, I do own buttons, paperclips, cardstock, ribbon and Swarovski crystals. I bought some paper flowers, apple stickers, and teacher motif cardstock at Michaels. Here's a sample of what we ended up with.

Under $5 Felt Pennant Bunting Banner Tutorial

Pennant Banners are all the rage. Are they called banners or bunting? What is bunting anyway? Regardless of their name, they are so darn cute. I've really wanted to make one, but I don't have any fancy tools like a Cricut machine and I wanted this to be a quick, simple, and inexpensive project. Since I am hosting Thanksgiving this year, I decided on a Thanksgiving theme, to add some extra festiveness to my dining room. Speaking of Thanksgiving, am I the only one who is so sick of walking into any store to find something Thanksgiving related only to be inundated with Christmas stuff? For God's sake, I was starting to think I missed Thanksgiving altogether. But I digress, here is what you will need to do.
Supplies:
Your supplies will ultimately depend on what size flags and lettering you choose.
I needed 3 squares of fancy felt and 1 square of felt that has a sticky side.
Good scissors, I used fabric scissors for the felt
Printer
Yarn or anything you want to use to hang it.
Embellishments (optional)

First, decide on what size you want your pennants to be. My pennant template was 6.5"x 4.5" with 1/2-3/4 inch space at the top if you want to fold it over. You can search online for different sizes and shapes of pennant templates. Then print it out and cut it.

Next, print out your lettering. I used a Word document and printed out the letters for the word "THANKFUL" in Beach Extended font in the font size of 200. After it's printed carefully cut out each letter.

Trace those letters onto the paper side of the sticky felt. Make sure you place the letters backward or upside down rather when you trace.

Now, cut the letter out of the felt using your fabric or really sharp scissors. Peel off the backing and invert it and stick to pennant.

Once all your letters are done you have to decide how you want to hang it. I wanted to sew mine for a more finished look. That's why I added the 3/4 inch flap at the top. I folded it over yarn and sewed it. That way the yarn can move freely and I can move the flags closer together or farther apart. You can sew this by hand if you don't have a machine. You can also use ribbon or raffia to hang it. You could glue it I suppose, or you could leave the flap off altogether and punch some brackets though.

After I hung it I added these flowers that were on clearance at Michael's.

This was sooo easy and I was perfectly happy with it's simplicity. I can't wait to make one for Christmas, but not until Thanksgiving is OVER!

How to Make a Wine Bottle Lamp-Photo Tutorial

Okay, so I've showed you all how to reuse your wine corks to make adorable ornaments, now I want to share how to put that bottle to further use. This is a fairly easy project and shouldn't take more than an hour. You can pick up a bottle lamp kit from Home Depot along with a glass drill bit if you don't already have one. Yes, you'll be drilling into the glass. Don't be scared, if I can do it you can too! Also, make sure to get a lamp shade that is designed like the one in the picture. You can find them at Walmart or Ross. Finally, if you want to decorate the shade, you can get some decorative fabric tasseled ribbon. I got mine from the fabric department at Walmart.

Safety First!!

Some safety rules before you start. Wear goggles, and good thick gloves while drilling. Cool your drill bit by dipping the tip into cool water every minute or so. Finally, when working on the electrical part of the lamp, always make sure it is unplugged! Place your bottle on a thick towel and gently but firmly hold the bottle steady and apply slight pressure when drilling. You must apply some pressure.

 

Clean dust and glass from bottle. This next photo is a series of four pictures showing how to put the pieces of the kit together. This is just quick sequence info, scroll down for the detailed instructions.

Detailed photo tutorial begins here:

Now we are back to this photo, as a recap:

Now put your lightbulb in to test. Plug in the lamp and turn it on. If it doesn't work, unplug and then go back and make sure your wires are securely fastened to the screws and the screws are tight.

Now, you can decorate your lampshade at this point if you want. Simply measure, cut, and hot glue your tassel ribbon.

Good luck and feel free to contact me should you have any questions. And yes, you will have some pieces left over from your kit.



Wine Cork Ornaments

Wine Cork Ornaments

{Printable Instructions}

Aren't these lovely and adorable? I'm so excited. I have been wanting to make these little ornaments since last fall. (I know, I know!) After searching for an answer for what to do with all my wine corks I remembered this. I can't quite remember where I saw it. This was way too easy and I'm looking forward to making tons of these and giving them in sets this Christmas. These guys were my first try at it, so I'm looking forward to what else I can do. I picked up all my supplies from Michael's including a mini hand drill and I paid $4 for the set of three key charms. Here's a simple photo turtorial, so you can make them too. Just don't forget to share your ideas with us after you've made some. Let's get started, shall we?

Some supplies (shown below) you'll need is a drill, small drill bit, cord ribbon (in the ribbon section), glue, scissors, 9mm split rings (they look like mini key rings), decorative charms with an attached split ring, & buttons with holes.

First, drill a hole through the center of the cork. From one side, through to the other. The hole has to be big enough to thread your cord ribbon through.

Next, attach the split ring (#1) onto the charm(#2). Cut a piece of cord ribbon to 12-18 inches in length. Slide your charm onto the ribbon as you would a necklace.

1.) Slide on the button. One end of the ribbon through one button hole and the other side of the ribbon in another button hole. 2.) Thread both ends of the ribbon through the hole in the cork. 3.) Add a little glue to the button and pull the ribbon so the cork and button are affixed. 4.) Add one or two more buttons as you did in step 1 and 2. Then glue those in place. You should now have something that looks like (from top to bottom) button, button, cork, button, slip ring, slip ring, charm. All held by the ribbon and glue.

To further secure your glued button, simply loop the ribbon one time as if you were going to tie your shoe. Just don't make a bow or not. Now towards the end of the length of your ribbon tie a double knot. Tight. Cut off any excess ribbon.

Wha-La!

ADDENDUM: Dec 27, 2010

I'm adding some more photos to this post, I have been experimenting with different charms, the crystals are expensive, but I really love them. I have also started using a different type of cord, I picked up in the jewelry making section. The cupcake one is perfect for the baker in me, and the ones with the crystal look great hanging from my rear view mirror, although I'm not sure if that's a safety hazard! If you choose to go that route, cut your cord extra long. I also experimented with beads and I started using larger slip rings :