One Dollar Wednesday...Easter Wreath (revisited)

For some reason whenever I visit the Dollar Store, I can't help but pick up a couple bunches of the fake flowers they sell there. I am a sucker for flowers, and it has led to a rather large collection of random blooms. I finally decided to use some of them.



I found this simple wreath, also at Dollar Tree, and a cute Easter card in the Target Dollar Spot.



The colors of the card were my inspiration, and I sent my wreath out to The Spray paint place for a quick coat. It's beautiful and sunny here, so it dried really quickly.



I painted this little Dollar Tree frame a nice "spring green" color.



I framed my card, arranged my flowers, and glued it all together.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's been a long week. Here in Arizona, Spring Break always falls around St. Patrick's Day. We've been "Spring Breaking" all week long, and my Hubby took off for scout camp last night. So basically it's been non-stop kids for me all week. Phew! There hasn't been a lot of time to craft, but I wanted to put something together for the kiddos to commemorate this green holiday.

I picked up some...

for my rainbow.

Some....

for my treasure.

Then I typed up a quick label that said: You are my TREASURE at the end of the rainbow. I put my goodies in plastic bags, and topped them with the labels.



Super easy! What do you do to celebrate St. Patty's day?

Tidy Tips: Storing and Organizing Play Food

I have been a neglectful blogger lately, but in my defense we moved and I am 7 months pregnant, so yeah....  I have lots of great things coming, slowly, but surely, I have to get my husband graduated this April though!

My son has been way into birthdays lately.  Lots of family members have had birthdays and he really digs the birthday song and blowing out the candles.  I am glad he is into it since he will be 2 at the end of April.  Where did the time go!?

The other day while shopping at IKEA, I saw their play food and HAD to get the birthday cake.  Then the other food was way too cute to resist, so we ended up getting it all and he has been having so much fun with it!  We have a daily birthday party now, it is too cute.

 Once I got the food home, I wasn't sure how to organize it.  We don't have a play kitchen (yet...I am having a girl, I am sure we will soon enough!), and I didn't like this....

 I started thinking what the best way to organize play food would be.  I had 2 thoughts.  First, how do I store real food?  Second, I have an over abundance of Tupperware and you know how I love to use it for other things, here and here.

The solution was simple.  Here is the result.....

Before....

After....

 So much nicer!  All neatly put away in its home.

How do you store play food?

One dollar Wednesday...Shamrock hair clip~ tutorial

Well, February was here and gone before I knew it! We're already a week into March, and I haven't done any St. Patrick's Day crafts. I thought I make up for that today, with my One Dollar Wednesday project.

I googled "shamrock hair clip" and found tons of examples, but this is all I needed to do my clips!



I started by covering my clip, with the polka-dot side of my ribbon not showing.



I put a tiny dot of glue on my ribbon, and pinched it together.



Then, I brought the ends together, overlapping them, and secured with a dot of hot glue. Then I trimmed the excess off the ends. I did this three times, making 3 hearts~~ or shamrock leaves.



With the two side leaves, I put a tiny bit of glue in the "v" of the leaf, and secured the center point.



I glued the "top" of my shamrock on the clip, and then "stacked" the side leaves on top of that. Then I secured the point of my top leaf with a dot of glue on the end of my clip.


I added a little "lucky" bling, and this is what I ended up with...

Upcycle old sweaters by felting them in the washing machine

Frugal crafters have found a new use for old garments to create a versatile fabric for hats, mittens, electronics cases and many other projects. Felting is the process of turning knitted wool fabric into a dense, solid piece that's easy to craft without the danger of edges unraveling. While you can felt any wool garment, the easiest method is to use sweaters found in thrift stores or your own dresser drawers. Turn wool sweaters in solid colors or intricate patterns into attractive felt pieces, using a simple method with your washing machine.

Things you'll need:

• 100% wool sweaters
• Sharp scissors
• Old pillowcase
• Washing machine and dryer
• Laundry detergent

The process:

1. Turn the sweater inside out. Cut off all the seams from the body of the sweater. Seams and other pieces will felt, but not at the same rate as basic knitted fabric. Felting is a process of shrinking, so uneven shrinking can result in unattractive felted fabric.

2. Remove all the ribbing from around the bottom of the sweater, the end of the sleeves and around the neckline.

3. Cut off any decorative pieces that may be on the sweater, such as appliqued flowers, stitched-on bows, buttons, zippers or pockets.

4. Put all the pieces of knitted fabric into a pillowcase. If you want to experiment with felting the seam fabric and ribbing for decorative pieces, put them in the pillowcase along with the sweater fabric. Knot the pillowcase to keep all the pieces contained.

5. Place the pillowcase in the washing machine. Add half the amount of detergent you would normally use for a load of laundry. Wash the pillowcase with sweater pieces on hot for the longest time setting available.

6. Remove the pillowcase from the washer when the cycle is finished and inspect the fabric inside. If it is felted enough for your design plans, lay the fabric out flat and allow it to air dry. If you would like the fabric to felt further, making it tighter and thicker, place it back into the pillowcase, tie the case shut and place it in the dryer. Dry the fabric on a medium-heat setting.

7. If your fabric is still not felted to your liking, repeat the entire washing and drying process to create super thick and sturdy felted fabric.

Many crafters felt their fabrics by simply washing them in the washing machine and drying them. While this method works perfectly well, the process of felting creates a large amount of lint which can clog up your washer hoses and dryer vents. Place the pieces into the pillowcase and the large clumps of lint will accumulate at the bottom of the case.

Use your new felted fabric to create applique flowers to decorate outerwear, to make hats and mittens or to craft soft and protective pouches for cellphones, eBook readers, MP3 players and other personal electronic gear. Felt is soft, tough and easy to work with. Attractive handmade felt may become your favorite new fabric for crafting!

Danielle, who blogs on behalf of Sears and other prestigious brands, appreciates a good wool sweater on a cold, winter afternoon- even more so when it’s one she’s made on her own. Read her work ateatbreathblog.com.