Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Fabric {Flower} Tutorial

I've been meaning to make a few more flower clips for my girls out of the extra t-shirt material I have left from my sisters shirts. I made a memory quilt for her little girl {HERE} right after she passed away and couldn't get rid of the rest of it. My girls love their "Charish flowers" so I wanted to make some more. I thought I'd share how I do it.

T-shirt material is great fabric to use because it doesn't fray. I love it, but it also works well with other fabrics also. Not to mention fraying is sometimes really cute!
I'm going to apologize right now for two things . . . my lame, half polished nails, and my not so perfect pictures. My good camera is dead and the baby is being good. Didn't want to waste the opportunity to get it done so I used my junk camera. :-/
Cut out a few circles. For this one I used 6. They don't have to be perfect. I used a soda can as a template. Dr. Pepper is never far from me . . . so that was the most convenient thing. Maybe I have a problem?? ha
Cut a small circle out of felt to glue the pieces to.
Oh this picture is awful! So sorry. Fold the circle in half, and then in half-ish again. It ends quartered, but it's good to not make it perfectly quartered. I like to do it off center.
Put a dab of hot glue on the tips and glue them down onto the felt piece.
I know . . . really?! These pictures . . . sigh. I'm just trying to show them glued onto the felt circle.
Put some hot glue on top of the four already glued down . . . just in the center . . .
. . . then for your last two circles try to fold them an extra time . . . more like in half, and then thirds . . . just to give some extra swirls. Glue them down on top . . .
. . . then while the glue is still soft pinch the whole flower so that it sticks up instead of lays flat. {Does that even make sense?? My tired, new baby brain is fried.}

Once your flower is glued together, cut another felt circle . . . a little bigger than the first one so that it covers it completely. Clip your hair clip directly onto the felt circle before gluing it down. The felt in between the clip will help keep the flower from slipping in your little girls hair.
Cover the felt circle with hot glue and then center it on the back of the flower.
We love them. They're very easy and if you're not into sewing this is a great little project for you! Happy spring!!


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

{CREATE}

"The more you trust and rely upon the spirit, the greater your capacity to CREATE"
I have loved this since I first heard it, and I think of it often. Just wanted to share! Enjoy.

Monday, April 18, 2011

S'more {Peep} Casserole

First off . . . I'm alive. I know . . . it's been forEVER and I've probably lost every follower I had. So sorry!! I've hit a wall as far as crafting goes. I had a sweet baby boy in December and just haven't gotten back in the groove. I really need something like this . . . a "me" thing . . . so I'm going to work on bringing this poor blog back to life!

Okay! So I found this adorable idea on my friend, Heather's, blog. You can find her original post {HERE}. I fell in love with it . . . and anything that involves Peeps . . . LOVE.
Here's what you need:
1 sleeve graham crackers {crushed in a large baggie using a heavy rolling pin}
1/3 cup brown sugar {I like more brown sugar so I use 1/2 cup}
8 marshmallow Peeps
1 cup plain Easter M&M's
1 quart mason jar {I used a paper circle for the lid and some ribbon to decorate}
{to make you'll need to following}
1 stick butter {melted}
1 tsp vanilla extract
I went to Walmart looking for jars and found this box of 12 Mainstays brand for under $8. Can't beat that!!
I've made three of these now. The first time I had a hard time squeezing in all of the M&M's at the end, so the second time I mixed the M&M's with the graham cracker/brown sugar mixture . . . then it was hard to squeeze the Peeps in at the end. So the third time I decided to just layer everything. It turned out the cutest but still was hard to squeeze the Peeps in.

haha . . . slightly crazy, but I got them all in. NEXT time I'm going to pour in half of the graham cracker/brown sugar mixture, then M&M's, then Peeps, then I'm going to pour in the last half of the crumb mixture. I'm thinking this will work better . . . maybe?? haha
To make:
Dump all of the jar contents into a large bowl. Take out the Peeps and either cut them into small or large chunks or save and layer them whole on top of mixture before baking. Melt 1 stick of butter and add to bowl along with 1 tsp vanilla extract. Mix well until everything is coated evenly. Dump into a greased 8x8 baking dish {or whatever you have . . . I don't have one small enough so I used a pie pan} and, with greased fingers, firmly pat the mixture down.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Let it cool COMPLETELY before cutting into them so they don't crumble.

A perfect teacher gift or just to swing by a friends house to let them know you're thinking of them.

Happy Easter!!!