Homemade lunch bags

I know the school year is almost over and we're not thinking ahead to next year quite yet, 

but I think  having a reusable lunch bag is a grand idea.  Seriously, how long does it take 

for your kids lunch kit to get so foul you have to go buy a new one,  

or the new one you bought doesn't last after you throw it in the washer! 

So bookmark this at Skip to My Lou and you'll be all ready for next year,
I can see a different one for each season!  Just thinking!!

Ruffled towel

I saw these at a friends house and thought they were cute, so I snapped a quick
 cellphone picture and filed it in my brain under "make some of these later",
  today was later. 

  

I bought a white hand towel at Marshall's and a 3 yd. package of seam binding at Walmart.

I started by sewing a stitch down either side of the seam binding to secure it,

 then sewed a long stitch down the middle that I would use to gather it with.

Before gathering I marked and cut the seam binding to make 3 of the same length, then I gathered each piece to match the width of the towel and pinned it them to the towel, spacing the rows evenly.

I sewed each row down the middle of the ruffle, backstitching at either end.

Boom, done!  Kinda cute huh?

Beautiful stone house

I want one of these, please, can I have just one?

This is such a beautiful home, it reminds of houses I would see growing up Toronto,
with the stone exterior and wooden architectural details.
It truly is beautiful, I found it on Willow Decor if you want to see the rest of it. 

Paper stars

Last Saturday I found these paper stars and I had to make some, so Sunday morning after I was all ready for church I quickly cut strips of paper to make some stars and started folding, 

ooooh! how fun they are to make.  It was all fine and good till I looked up and realized we were 10 minutes late for church!

Mine are okay but go to Nifty Thrifty to see how she makes them!

Royal Wedding

Just in case you haven't heard, the royal wedding will take place this Friday!  Prince William and Kate Middleton will become the "official" Royal Couple and it's all over the news so I thought I would bring you some royal ideas to help celebrate.

Here are some shortbread cookies to wow your friends with at 100 Layer Cake.

If it's a union jack pillow you really need then visit Jaimee Rose for ideas!

She also wants to know if "anyone has any antiques they're tired of" because she has an idea for them

...ba, ha, ha, ha!!!  (the ha, ha part is because she's asking for antiques we're tired of!)

But of course if you are really feeling crafty then you might be interested in this but get going now, it might take you a while!  

Linen pillows

  My sister saw some fabulous, old, linen, french mercantile sacs reproduced and made into pillow covers.  Of course they were quite expensive because they came from an expensive store!
 We had to have them because they had our maiden name on them, so you see, we had to have them.   

Today I came across these at DIY Design and... they're just as nice as the one 

I bought earlier!  DIY Judy said she made both bag and pillow for $6,

 I think I paid $40 way too much for my store bought one!

Treat boxes

I've found another cute idea for treats and scrapbook paper (two of my favorite things),

I've seen variations of how to close off the ends of this kind of packaging, some use a crimper but this was a new one for me, I like it.

You can find it on Nifty Thrifty Things, and it looks like she likes paper as much as I do!

Printable easter tags

I made some cute Easter tags if you feel the need.
After printing on card stock I use my 3"circle punch to cut them out, you can double mount them on a contrasting color, or not.

Happy Easter giving!

Paper snowflakes

What do origami paper, dental floss and tape have in common,

 snowflakes thats what! Just in case you were missing the snow, I miss the snow cause I live in Southern California and we don't get snow!  But just in case you were really missing the snow...

I found a pattern here at How About Orange to show you how to make a perfect snowflake.  

She uses them to adorn packages and as garlands, go have look and don't forget your dental floss!

Picture frames

I happened across a garage sale on Saturday, what a surprise, the surprise was I only went to one!  That's because none of my peeps could go with me, garage sale'ing' isn't as much fun when you go alone.  But, I did bring home a couple of fun things, first is the ceiling medallion that cost me .99, I turned it into a cute frame for my bathroom.

I spray painted it and distressed it by rubbing on a dark wood stain then wiping the extra off,  I added a hanger then taped an old picture frame glass over the opening, I taped a piece of scrapbook paper over the glass, easy and it turned out really cute.

Then I found an old frame for another .99, spray painted it black and distressed it some with my hand sander, I spent a while stapling chicken wire to the back, it was hard scary working with the chicken wire because it's quite sharp, make sure to use proper wire snips and gloves, it's much easier that way.  My chin won't scar, I'm pretty sure (don't even ask)!  So when it's done you just use clothes pins to attach whatever you want to hang on it, notes, jewelry, hair stuff.  Ta da!

Hand painted easter eggs

Oh...my...gosh...!  I hadn't thought about theses in years, my mom used to make these Ukrainian easter eggs when I was a kid,  I even made a few myself.  It was such an interesting process and they are definitely a piece of art when they're finished.  Have a look here at Susy's Sitcom to see how they're made, bet you can't guess!

My paper hydrangea ball that I promised

Yes, I did promise to show you the paper hydrangea ball I made thanks to Whipperberry, I sprayed it with some perfume which my son later thanked me for by the way, nice!  I was missing a candle in one of my chunky candle sticks so I plunked it down there and there it still sits, smelling really good too!

Cake plate

I've been feeling the need to make a cake plate for some odd reason.  My friend says "just go buy one", well I did, then I found some awesome cheap plates and some awesome cheap glass candle sticks, so then I had to make the cake plate!  Right?  I used E6000 to glue the two together and

voila, a cake plate!

Now I need to plan a party!

Clay easter eggs

I'm sure you've already see these, but if you haven't then here they are!  I found them on the Rachel Berry Blog with all the directions to make some of your own.  Soooo cute!  I will be making some for my girls and ladies at church.

Ruffles

Here at Lora Jean Magazine, I learned how to make ruffles from crepe paper streamers, I love the pastel colors she used and how soft everything looks on the page.  You guys are so creative,

 I think I will do up some Easter treats this way!

She also shows you how to make origami boxes from scrapbook paper, and we all know how fun doing anything with scrapbook paper is...!

Window pane

This I can do tomorrow, I have a few of these hanging around in my garage!   Delaney was asking just the other day for something to hang her things on in her room.  She opted for the over the door metal hanging thingy but this'll be so much cuter, don't you think?  I found this here at 

Amy Frilly Lilly but I think it would be cute even without the pretty fabric on the back 

(since I don't have any of that laying around).

Here's mine!

Mason jar and personalized soap pump

 I think everyone needs a mason jar soap pump!  This just jumped right off the page at me, 

you can see how to make it at The Blissfully Content Life.
  
Speaking of soap pumps, I made these for our Young Women, I think they are adorable and they were soooo easy to make, I later tied a bow around the middle to finish it off but you get the idea.  Check out the Idea Room for all the details.

   

Roasted and dipped peeps

Oooooo, those poor little peeps!  They actually look horrible but sound kind of good with the crystalized shell...!  I think I'll stock up on leftover Easter peeps and bring them to the cottage this summer, for a
"peep roast" so go to A Gluten Free Guide to see how it's done.
Sorry little peeps, speaking of which, we saw this movie today and it was really cute.

I found another "peep" idea, this time you dip them!
Thank you Idea Room,  I'm a fan!