I’ve wanted to do this Tea Lamp project for awhile now, ever since I saw this lamp at Anthropology but I didn’t want to drill through anything. Then I remembered seeing a no drill option in one of my magazines. So I went through my magazine drawer and sure enough I found it in the April 2009 issue of Country Living. It’s an easy three step process that uses clay instead of drilling. I had lots of fun making this lamp and I hope you guys try it. Please email me if you have any questions and send me pictures of your lamp if you do try it….Happy Crafting Everyone!

Total Cost: $21

Materials needed: Tea pot, tea cups, saucers, lamp kit, Amaco self-hardening clay, Super Glue Gel.

Step One: Gather the materials you would like to use.

Step Two: Arrange the tea cups and dishware in the way you would like your lamp to look. I suggest using a steady heavy bowl for your base.

Step Three: Fill the top tea cup with clay and set the already assembled lamp kit about an inch deep inside. Leave room so you are able to remove the harp if you want to. Let it set for 24 hours.

Step Four: Glue the remaining elements together with a thin line of Super Glue Gel. This glue is no joke so make sure you have the placement right before you set the dishware down. Let the glue dry for a minute before gluing on the next one.

Step Five: Glue on the top tea cup in 24 hour then wait a day for the lamp to set before adding a lamp shade….That’s it…Enjoy!

Tell mom how much you care for under $5. I do believe this will mean more to mom than any candle or flowers. This is truly the gift that keeps on giving all year round. You can make it as personal as you wish and getting the kids involved is an even greater bonus. Happy Mother’s Day to you all!

What you will need:

• Construction paper
• Scissors (scrapbooking shears if desired)
• Ink pen
• Glass jar (mason jar or any jar with a lid will work)
• Artificial beads and flowers
• Hot glue gun
• Glue sticks

Directions:

Cut out 365 random sizes and colors of construction paper. Write little messages on each one. Duplicate messages are ok. Be as creative or as simple as you wish.

 Fill the jar with 365 notes. Add some heart confetti.

Include a note telling the recipient that they are to take out one note each day until next Mother’s Day. Oh, and be sure to tell them you love them too!

When we were preparing for our “popsicle” week we came across this fantastic recipe for root beer float and cream sicle popsicles created by Jo from the sweetest blog, Smile Monsters! Root beer floats and creamsicles are some of the most delicous nostalgic treats, so what could be better than mixing them together to create one perfect popsicle!

Recipe by Smile Monsters!
For the root beer layer
1 12oz. root beer or 1 1/2 cups
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
For the cream sicle layer
1/3 cup whole milk
1 Tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Mix root beer and sweetened condensed milk together with a whisk. If it gets to foamy set it in the fridge for a bit to settle down. Pour 1/3 of the way into popsicle molds (Or dixie cups and popsicle sticks.) Freeze for about an hour.

Mix creamsicle ingredients together. Pour that in even amounts into your molds and freeze another hour. Then top off with remaining root beer mixture. Freeze again but don’t forget to insert your sticks once that top layer has gotten firm. This takes a little more work but they look super.

Here are a few tips that Jo gave to make the perfect popsicle!

School is almost out and I wanted to make something special for my Kindergartener’s teacher to wear on the last week of school! It thought that the Lemon Flower Stack would be the perfect “happy, spring” stack for this project!

I created a special badge that says “Best Teacher Ever” for Mrs. M to wear. It shows just how we feel about her!! The top was cut out with a Tim Holtz Sizzix Die….layered patterned paper and chipboard to make it a little sturdy.

Then I layered ribbon that matched the stack to jazz it up a little bit. This ribbon is sooo pretty!!

I hope she likes it! Troy is so excited to give it to her

Washi tape….love it!! We are sure you have heard of this fabulous Japanese, decorative tape that has taken over the craft world! It comes in so many amazing patterns and colors…some is even glittered! There are so many ways that it can be used from cupcake flags, to cake buntings to making packages pretty!!

Have you used it, if so what have you done with it? We just ordered a bunch of it…can’t wait to start using it!

Washi Tape is made from Washi Paper. The word Washi literally means WA (Japanese) and SHI (paper), Japanese paper, and is used in many traditional Japanese arts, such as origami paper folding. Tougher than wood pulp paper, Washi is commonly made from the bark of the gampi tree, mitsumata shrub, or paper mulberry, but also can be made using bamboo, hemp, rice, and wheat. Washi was originally developed from the traditional Chinese paper-making process.

Scrapbook paper can be used in all crafts, not just scrapbooking. Scrapbooking paper has fun designs and coordinating color sheets to use in your projects. In this project they used scrapbook paper for the front on a passport cover. Adorable!

I love this idea! Why shouldn’t your passport be so darling and personable?!

So, I have this cute little cookie book called, “The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook” by Elinor Klivans. It is filled with the cutest photos and recipes, all featuring the always popular…chocolate chip! Genius, right!?! I am such a sucker for meltaway cookies. So I decided to try the chocolate-chip filled melting moments recipe. They were so good, I had to share the recipe with you! And of course I had to share some cookies with Kellie!

 Cookies

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling

1/4 cup unsalted butter and room temp
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Supplies

Cookie baking sheets
Parchment Paper
Electric Mixer
Wide Metal Spatula
Wire cooling rack
Wooden spoon
Thin Metal Spatula

Position rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift both flours, cornstarch, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and powdered sugar until smooth and lightened slightly in color, about 1 minute. Scrap sides of bowl. Add vanilla. On low speed add the flour mixture, just mix until incorporated and a smooth dough ball forms.

Roll a level tablespoon of dough between palms to form a smooth ball. Place cookies on a prepared baking sheet, space 2 inches apart. Use a fork to flatten the cookies leaving an impression. (I rolled the dough and used a cookie cutter and pricked the cookies with a fork). Bake the cookies oven sheet at a time until the tops are firm and the cookie bottoms are just slightly browned, about 30 minutes. The tops of the cookies should not color. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 10 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

In medium bowl use a wooden spoon to stir the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla together. Add chocolate chips and stir.

Turn half of the cooled cookies bottom side up and use a thin metal spatula to spread a rounded teaspoon and filling evenly over each one. Place remaining cookies right side up on the filling and press gently.

*Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temp for up to 5 days*

I have a confession. I’m dreaming of writing a craft book. As much as I enjoy making finished products, I’m happiest when sitting at my craft table, dreaming up new projects. It must be the scientist in me but I just love experimenting. So I’m thinking of writing a book. Which means I am putting lots of extra time into craft experiments and tutorials. With that in mind, here is another one of my crafty experiments. Enjoy.

As you may know, I love playing with shrinky dink. I had so much fun dreaming up the woven shrinky dink bracelet. This time, I took it to the next level and incorporated another childhood favorite, Perler beads. To start, draw out the shape of an artist’s palette on white shrinky dink. You can freehand it if you feel confident, otherwise just print and trace.

Cut it out and then cut out the thumb hole. I used a hole punch and then scissors to enlarge the whole a bit. I also punched a whole to hang it from but later realized this was irrelevant; it melted away.

Bake your shrinky dink at 325 degrees F to shrink it.  Now take it out of the oven and crank the temperature up to 375 degrees F.  Arrange your Perler beads around the palette; these will be your paint blobs.

Okay. Now put it all back in the oven and be careful not to knock the Perler beads over. It took about 20min for my beads to melt into blobs. During this time, you will notice that your shrinky dink starts to melt around the edges. That’s fine. Shrinky dink can be cooked at a temperature of 450 degrees F to fuse the pieces together and that typically involves a little melting. [Note- I baked mine on parchment paper, but you may want to use a glass baking dish. According to the directions, shrinky dink needs to be fused on a glass dish. I noticed that my parchment paper baked into a nice tan color at 375 so I probably will try glass next time.]

Once melted, remove from oven and let cool. See what I mean about the small hole I punched melting away? That’s fine though because you can use your thumb hole to attach a chain with a jump ring.

That’s it!  All done.  Now put on your necklace and take some awkward modeling shots of yourself where your head is cut off.  Perfect.

Here is a tutorial for creating and using your own fabric stamp. The fabric stamp I made was carved out of an eraser. The only supplies you’ll need are an eraser, craft knife and fabric paint. I used an owl charm to help create my design, you can use a stencil or free-hand a drawing to stamp.

Start with an eraser. I chose to cut the stamp in half since I was making a smaller stamp.

Sketch out your design with a pencil. I traced an owl charm on mine. I kept it fairly basic so that it would be easy to carve.

Using whatever knife or carving tools you have, start cutting away at the eraser. I found it easy to slice down around the design and then into the side of the eraser.

Continue working until you have cut out the whole design. Now start stamping! Do a few practice ones on paper to start. I chose to stamp on some fabric bags I had on hand but it was challenging to stamp on the uneven surface.

 You can leave it like that or do what I did next and trace around your design. I wanted to add details and let the whole piece pop a bit more.

I am getting married in September to the most wonderful man ever. I am a typical bride and need to stretch my pennies as far as I can. I’ve been addicted to Pinterest since becoming engaged. While browsing Pinterest, I found a jar wrapped in twine. It was so simple, yet I loved the natural texture of it. I wanted to try it myself and make my own one-of-a-kind vase for a table centerpiece.

Items needed:

• Glue gun and glue
• Jar of any shape or size
• Jute or hemp twine (I used jute)
• Patience!

Recommended items:

• Wax paper
• Wood Craft stick

I gathered my materials, I happened to have a Pace Picante salsa jar on hand, so I used that. I liked the hour-glass shape. I then laid out a few pieces of wax paper. I didn’t want the glue to get stuck to my counter. Turn on and heat up the glue gun.

I then put an inch of hot glue around the base of the jar. I worked from the bottom up. I recommend starting as close to the bottom as possible. I glued an entire circle of glue around the bottom of the jar and laid the string around it and just kept circling up. I put a dab of glue about every 1/4″ or 1/2″ turn around the jar. Don’t use too much glue or it will ooze out. I just kept winding the jar around and around with dabs of glue every so often.

At one point I touched the hot glue and gave myself a nice blister on my finger- avoid that step Later I started using a wooden craft stick stick to hold the string to the glue for a second to give it a chance to adhere.

I did not cut the string at all. I didn’t want there to be any loose ends, I just kept unwinding it from the spool. My entire project was just one loooooooong strand.

The closer to the top of the jar that I got the more frequent I had to use glue as the jar tapered inwards, again, I just used a dab of hot glue. The biggest problem I had was getting the glue and the string to adhere to the top of the jar where the lid screws on.

This project took a lot more time than I expected, but I love how it turned out. I hope you like it too.

Today I want to share a tutorial from the DCWV & Blue Moon Beads CHA booth. Remember this gorgeous tree covered in butterflies, beads & jewelry? There were some gorgeous beaded butterflies mixed into the tree. I think these would be so fun and easy to make and mix into your spring & Easter decorations. You could use any color paper and really customize them to your space.

 Supplies & Tools:

• DCWV Brights Cardstock Stack
• DWC Butterfly Template
• Blue Moon Beads – Glass Beads
• Papercrafting adhesive
• Craft wire
• Bead Pliers
• Scissors
• Pencil

Directions:

1. Print and cut out the Butterfly template. Trace desired sizes onto your chosen shades of cardstock and cut them out. *Note: For every small butterfly, you will need a large one (and vise versa).

2. Adhere the body of one small butterfly onto the body of a larger one; repeat until you’ve glued your butterflies together.

3. String beads onto your craft wire and attach them to the body of the butterfly. Repeat until finished.

I know the template doesn’t include the intricate butterfly piece on the top layer. You could use a electronic cutting machine for that, use your Xacto knife to make your own pattern or simply just use a full wing piece on top. Or use a butterfly punch. It is still a beautiful, creative element!

Here is a sweet card you can use either for Spring or Easter and easy to make. Time to Complete: 10 minutes

What You’ll Need:

• Any Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page (I used Eyelet Lace)
• Martha Stewart Grass Punch
• Bunny Punch
• Hydrangea Punch
• Tulip Punch
• Fence Edger punch
• Fiskars 1/8″ circle punch
• EK Success Tri leaf punch
• Memory Box Puffy Clouds & Twiggy Tree dies
• Purple, Yellow, Brown, Pink, Green, Tan, White and Green & Gold glitter cardstock
• Spellbinders Grand Calibur
• Black pen
• Scissors
• Self-healing cutting mat
• Bone folder
• Rotary cutter
• Art Institute clear Glitter glue 
• Glue dots

Instructions:

Trim Purple cardstock with Rotary cutter to 8″x10″. Score the cardstock in the middle at the 5″ line and use a bone folder to crease the edge of paper to form 5″ x 8″ card.

Punch out the following:

• One brown bunny and glue a 1/8″ white tail and draw a black eye with a pen.
• One green grass strip & one yellow tulip edge strip each about 4.5″ long.
• Using White cardstock and the fence punch, punch two times which will get you a fence about 4.5″ long.
• Two Yellow Eyelet lace strips 5″ long.
• With Green glitter cardstock punch out 19 leaves for tree.
• You will need to punch six sets of Hydrangeas and six Gold glitter 1/8″ circles for center of flowers.

Run brown cardstock through die cutting machine using the Twiggy Tree die and White cardstock using the puffy Clouds die. (Note: if you don’t have Twiggy tree die or Clouds use a tree sticker instead and hand cut cloud shapes.)

Glue the Yellow Eyelet Lace pieces on the top and bottom of card.

Note: Glue these pieces to each other before gluing to card. Trim the Grass and Tulip strips to fit the fence. Glue the grass to front bottom of fence. Glue the tulips behind fence.

I made the flowers using the small Hydrangea punch gluing one flower on top of the other, slightly turning the one on top. I added a Gold glitter cardstock circle using the 1/8″ punch to the flower centers. Glue flowers to grass and bunny in place. Glue leaves to tree and attach tree behind fence close to the center. Now glue entire piece to front of card, add clouds to complete.

This activity is fun for all ages groups and can be incorporated into learning activities celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. The best part is that all of the materials needed can be found at CreateForLess. This cute and festive pin activity is fairly simple to create.

Materials Needed:

• Shamrock Template (click to open)
• Green buttons in various sizes, shapes
• Pin back
• Glue
• Tag or chipboard
• Scissors

Step 1. Print off the shamrock templates onto card stock. For my example, I glued the card stock piece onto a piece of tag board scrap to make the back more rigid. (You need the shamrock to be fairly sturdy to hold the weight of the buttons.)

Step 2. Using different sized green buttons, begin gluing onto the shamrock template. I used different kinds of buttons that I have had collected. I filled in the open spaces with really small buttons. (Be sure to supervise young children as some buttons can pose a choking hazard).

Step 3. After the buttons have been glued on, let dry. Depending on the type of glue you use, it may take a few hours for the glue to be completely dry. I used Tacky Glue for my example as it dries clear, and it also is stronger than glue sticks for long term use.

Step 4. Once the buttons are completely dry, you can then add the pin back. Let completely dry before wearing the pins.

What would a Holiday be without a craft? It is always fun to give a child a simple craft project that is easy and fun to make and this Easter chick can be used as decoration for the house, on a card, as a banner or a basket. The Easter Chick is a great way to get your child involved with different shapes, sizes, and colors not to mention you can use it to make your own very special card. Time to Complete: 5 minutes

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• Martha Stewart 1″ Heart punch
• EK Success Paper shapers 1¼” Scallop punch
• Uchida small Star punch
• Fiskars Shape Template – Ovals
• Yellow, Dark Orange & Light Orange cardstock
• Darice 10mm Wiggly eyes
• Scissors
• Self-healing cutting mat
• Art Institute clear Glitter glue or Glue Dots

INSTRUCTIONS

Punch one Dark Orange Heart, two Yellow Scallops and two Orange Stars. Trace and cut out one yellow oval 1.5″ X 2″ from Fiskars Oval template.

Glue one Yellow Scallop shape behind head. Cut the other Scallop in half and glue halves in the middle of body to create wings. Fold Heart over so point meets center of heart and trim off the side to form a beak and glue above the wings, then attach eyes. Glue Stars under body for feet to complete the Chick.

I love the card I included where I used the chick as the focal point.

Here’s something you could DIY as a Gift for anyone.

Material Needed:

• Fabric Paint
• A brush for painting ( I used a fine tipped brush)
• A T-shirt
• Cup of water for washing brush between colors

Time: About 20 minutes

Difficulty Level :Easy

Step 1: Place a sheet of paper or book inside the T shirt right beneath where you wish to draw. This helps prevent seeping of colors.

Step 2: Start with white paint. You can always add other colors on top of white, this gives a purer color. Or you could leave it as white.

Step 3: Draw freehand swirls and curved lines. Or you could try for straight lines, but these are harder to do at the start.

 Step 4: Wash your brush. Best to paint on a piece of paper or tissue to get rid of excess water.

Step 5: Choose a darker color similar to the T shirt color. I chose red.

Step 6: Paint some swirls or dots in red.

Inverted colors of the original for a different color combination.

Reminder:

Iron on reverse before washing.

I have used normal detergents and washed in normal machine wash(cold water) and the colors seem to last for quite a while.

For best colors, apply more than one coat of acrylic/fabric paint.

We can’t forget about Valentines Day! It’s one of my favorite days to craft for. I created a darling decoration this weekend using our Be Mine Stack.

 It is gorgeous and a timeless, classic, gorgeous Valentines line.

 Look how pretty a plaque of wood can be! I found this new easel and have decided to craft something for it for each season. I had my husband cut me a scrap piece of wood leftover from a project. It is about 10 inches wide and 12 inches tall. I painted it and then sanded & stained it.

I used doilies and paper from the Be Mine Stack to make a 3D decoration. I folded the hearts in half and hot glued them down right on the folded part. I hand cut the hearts with pinking sheers because I didn’t want them to be perfect! I love how it turned out. I painted the “love” but you could also add alphabet stickers instead. Something about Valentines and handmade things just make me smile

Remember your sweetie for Valentine’s Day on February 14th!

Time to Complete: 10 minutes

What You’ll need:

• Any Cuttlebug 5″ X 7″ embossing folder ( I used Kassie’s Brocade)
• Any Martha Stewart Edge Punch – (I used Embossed Trefoil Hearts)
• Any Fiskars 4-in-1 or 3-in-1 corner punch
• Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Hearts Die (Use #4 & #3)
• Spellbinders Heartfelt Creations- Layered Elegant Swirl Die
• Dark Pink, Black, Polka Dot and White cardstock
• Cuttlebug machine
• Spellbinders Grand Calibur
• Bone folder
• Rotary cutter
• Judikins Diamond Glaze or Sakura 3-D Crystal Lacquer Glaze
• Art Institute Transparent Glitter ( I used Pink)
• Art Institute Glitter Designer Dries Clear Glue, Ranger Inkssentials Wonder Tape Roll 1/8 or glue dots
• 3D glue dots
• Wax paper

Instructions:

Trim white cardstock with Rotary cutter to 8″x10″. Score the cardstock in the middle at the 5″ line and use a bone folder to crease the edge of paper to form card 5″ x 8″.

Trim Dark Pink cardstock 4 ¾” x 7 ¾” and Trim Polka cardstock 4 ½” x 7 ½” then attach Polka on top of Dark Pink and attach to front of card with Wonder Tape. Run Black cardstock with Layered Elegant Swirl die through Grand Calibur machine according to manufactures directions. (I place a small piece of wax paper down first, then die and finally cardstock so it does not stick to intricate details).

Trim a piece of Dark Pink cardstock to 4 ¾” X 2 ½” use edge punch on one side only. Place punched cardstock in embossing folder and run through machine.

The Heart dies come in 6 sizes: You only need the following two:

• 3: 2⅛” x 2¼”
• 4: 2¾” x 3″

Use Black cardstock for the largest Scalloped Heart die and run through machine using the Spellbinders instructions to cut & emboss the detail into the die shape. Take Dark Pink cardstock and remaining heart die and run through machine. Place Pink heart into Cuttlebug embossing folder and run through machine. Coat Dark Pink heart with Sakura 3-D Crystal Lacquer Glaze and sprinkle on Pink glitter set aside to dry.

Trim a piece of Pink cardstock to about 2 ¼” x 1 ½” for label, use corner punch on edges. Run the words Happy Valentine’s Day through your printer and trim to fit Pink label, punch corners glue in place. Glue Elegant Swirl piece slightly under Dark Pink embossed cardstock, center and glue on card. Use 3 D dots to attach Pink heart to front of Black heart. Attach to card. To complete card attach label to bottom right corner.

Here is a fun way to dress up your Valentine’s Day cupcakes! This is also a great treat for your little munchkins to help with! What could be better than getting to eat your cupcake and the topper!?!

Just make a regular batch of Rice Krispie treats. Then use a mini heart cookie cutter to cut out little hearts. Stick a lollipop stick into the center of them and leave the hearts out for a few hours to let them harden a bit. 

(If you dip them in the chocolate right away they will fall apart.) Melt some chocolate candy melts in the color of your choice and simply dip your mini hearts in and cover completely! Gently shake off the excess chocolate and set them on a piece of parchment paper…add some sprinkles to dress them up a bit. Let them dry and then stick them into your cupcakes!

How many sweaters do you have in your drawer that you really should toss but don’t because you think you might wear them again? My guess is at least three. Well, I’ve got a way to make more room in your dresser and put those sweaters to use. I guarantee these Sweeter Sweater Gloves, when made with girly sweaters in pretty colors and matching knit gloves, will not only be warm, but also very glamorous.

YOU’LL NEED:

• Sweater you’re about to toss
• Scissors (Fiskars are the BEST!)
• One pair of knit gloves
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine with matching thread (I love my BERNINA)

HERE’S HOW

Evenly cut off the sleeves of the sweater in a length you like. If you want your gloves to end at the elbow, then cut them off at the elbow. Pull the cutoff sleeves up your arms by the cuffs. The cuffs of the sweater should be tight enough to keep them in place on your upper arms. But, if they’re not, pinch them and see how much you will need to take in. Also see how much, if any, you will have to take in the sweater sleeves at the wrist. If you do need to take in the sleeves, do so by gathering the extra material along the seam of the sweater and stitching, and then cut off the excess.

Turn the sleeves inside out and place the gloves in the end that you cut off, matching up the openings (the fingers of the gloves should be pointed toward the sweater cuff end).

Place a couple of straight pins in the openings to hold the gloves in place.

Sew the raw edge of the sleeve to the opening of the glove using a 1/2″ seam allowance.

IMPORTANT: Make sure you stretch the fabric while you’re sewing so that the glove opening stretches when you put them on. Turn the sleeves right side out.

Not sure what it is, maybe it’s because Valentine’s Day is near, but we are loving all things wedding right now! Of course we love when brides incorporate DIY projects into their weddings, it makes things seem so personalized and special. We are just loving the idea of a fabric corsages! They are just as beautiful, if not more, than using real flowers. What a fashionable gift/keepsake to give your bridesmaids or flowergirl! If you are not a corsage person, wear it as a bracelet!

Here’s a tutorial to make your own Fabric Corsage!