Lace? Yes please!

I have two little boys... and soon I will be having a little GIRL!!! I am so excited! I finally get to start trying out all these cute diy projects I see all over pinterest. The options are endless for little girls. And everything is adorable!

I have piles and piles of cute girly lace in my fabric box. So I thought it was time to start using it. It's amazing what a little piece of lace can add to an outfit!

I was inspired with a post by my talented friend over at "Sew Much Ado". She always amazes me with her sewing skills!

 

She of course sewed the shirt too... but I am not that good. So I bought a onesie. But check out her post here if you like to sew because I think the shirts are A-dorable!

Anyways,

To start, all you need is a baby onesie and some lace. (And a sewing machine and thread of course)

Start by folding the edge of the lace over the neck of the onesie and sew along the neck to secure it. Make sure it is tight . Your onesie will be inside out for this part.

Once you have the top of the lace secured, turn it rightside out. You can start pinning the rest of the lace down the onesie, cut to the legth you need and fold it under at the end. (at the bottom)

Originally I planned to sew it legthwise but that didnt work. Because the onsie is so small and you have to slip it over the end of the sewing machine (so you don't sew the frint and back together) it was easier to sew it width wise. I stitched it muitiple times across the width of the lace instead and it worked well.

 

I followed the pattern on the lace and stitched everytime there was a more solid part.

 

 

This is what it looks like from the inside.

 

And the final product! As you can see I am not the best at sewing and it isnt centered on the onesie. but maybe I meant to put it that way... anything goes these days!

 

 

So excited to start dressing this little GIRL!

No More Untied Shoelaces

I don't know about you, but bending over and tying up shoelaces is one thing I really don't like doing. With my 4yr old starting pre-K this year I thought I would do his teacher a favour and not make her tie them either.

All you need is:
- an old pair (or new pair) of shoes
-  a pair of scissors
- elastic

I had this elastic kicking around the house. I bought it at Walmart for like $2.00

Start by cutting a generous piece of elastic off. You can estimate how long it needs to be by feeding it through the shoe. Make sure you cut extra so you can tie the knot.

 

Tie the first knot on the inside of the bottom hole. This way it will be hidden. Weave it through and then tie another knot at the top on the inside.

 

You want to leave the elastic loose enough that it can stretch when the foot goes in but not too loose or it will look saggy.

Doesn't it look so much better than that ratty old shoe lace?

 

Your back will thank you!

Chalkboard Labels

I have been seeing these adorable chalkboard labels for jars on pintrest and etsy. So I thought I would make some for myself. I looked through my stash of "cute things I have bought but dont have a purpose" and found a couple cute jars that use to be filled with buttons. They are now filled with sugar!!

 

I printed the labels on my home computer on regular printer paper and then glued them onto the jars. You could also print them on sticker paper.

 

 

Leave your email below if you want me to send you the file of lables. I can change the words if you have other items you are wanting!

Recycled Farm Yard

By 8:15am this morning I was already out of ideas to entertain the two littles. So, we pulled out the recycling bin and gathered all the boxes we could find. Recycled farm yard here we come!

Ok, so maybe I got a little carried away decorating the buildings! But if you are going to build it, might as well make it cute!

 



 

 

We hit up the dollar store for farm animals.

 

He likes it! Really he does! haha

The Tea Party

I was asked to host a bridal shower for my amazing sister-in-law a few months ago. A tea party was decided as the theme and I was sooo excited about decorating! We had a lovely time hanging out with family and friends.

 I made the Welcome and Bridal Shower signs out of reclaimed barn wood. Super cute right!



 The  food table turned out exactly how I wanted it! With the help of my mother in law and my mom and lots of amazing thrift store finds, we were able to create the perfect table setting.

Our menu included:

Scones

Clotted Cream

Grandma Mary's homemade raspberry jam

Mini egg salad sandwiches

Chocolate dipped strawberries

Fruit Kabobs with homemade chocolate sauce

Mini tea cookies

I loved our tea table! So colorful with all the different tea cups. We used tetly herbal tea because they had a meaning for every flavour like warmth,  clarity, calm, relaxed etc. Made choosing your falvor a little more exciting!

The perfect party for the perfect bride to be!

a high tea BRIDAL SHOWER

My sister-in-law is getting married this year and I am SO excited for her! I am throwing a bridal shower at my house in a couple weeks. We will be having a tea party! It will be adorable. I can't wait to decorate and take pictures and share them with you. I designed this invite for the party.

Stay tuned for some amazingly cute tea party pictures!!

Washi Flags

You know those adorable washi flags you see everywhere nowadays? Well, I thought it was time I made some! They are really simple to make and take no time at all. All you need is:

- Washi tape
- scissors
- wooden sticks

I wanted to put them on cupcakes for my boys... but the place we were temporarily living at didnt have any muffin tins. So we made a cake instead!

I totally LOVE them! A fun way to decorate a boring old cake. The kids loved it too!

DIY Gift Tags

Lately I have been obsessed with cute packaging. The paper, the tape, the tags! I also have been caught up in the Washi Tape trend. It's amazing how a little piece of washi tape can make a card, envelope or tag look so darn cute!

My creative materials:

Gift tags - you can make your own or buy them

Washi Tape - purchased from Willow & Washi 

Bakers Twine - from Michaels

Rubber Letter stamp - similar one can be found at Wonderland Room on Etsy

Handmade Stamp and Ink - learn more about the stamp here

 

And then I just got creative! Oh, and I also pulled out some feathers I had in the craft box.

A little aztec

I love the floral washi tape, so cute!

I can't take all the credit for these tags I had a couple crafty creative friends helping me out.

Now all I need is a reason to use them... who has the next birthday coming up?? Comment and you might get a little something in the mail with one of these tags on it!

 

p.s. The quality on these is horrible. Only the first picture worked. Does anyone else use blogger and have troubles selecting the size of the picture?

Cardboard Box Playhouse

We have been moving every few months for the last year and a half (totally crazy). We always have boxes EVERYWHERE! So, today I decided to reuse, recycle and recreate!!

I stumbled upon a blog a while ago called Ambrosia Girl. She gives a tutorial for a playhouse made out of a cardboard box. Adorable! She will give detailed instructions on how you fold the boxes. You will need two boxes. I ended up stacking them to make it tall enough to stand in. You could also just use a really BIG box!

Of course I couldn't just leave it as a plain old brown house. Isn't it adorable!

I decided to add a door using parts of the extra box.

I sectioned off the door with painters tape and used white craft paint I had on hand.

I wanted it to look like an old fence so I roughly spread the paint so the brown would show through.

 Peal off the tape, cut the edges and voila!

A beautiful picket fence door!

You might notice that you end up with a hole on the back of the house. You can leave it as is or trace and cut more cardboard to close it up. OR ...make curtains! (it's a good thing I dont have any girls, or I would be going over board like this ALL the time)

I used a bit of twine and scrap fabric to make the curtains. Just poke a hole on either side of the cardboard and cut little holes through the fabric. Weave the twine through each piece and then tie on each end.

I also decided to add a little detailing to the roof of the house.

White printer paper and kid scissors... it works right?!

And of course I had to make one for the little guy too! They LOVED them!

Alley Treasures

One of my favourite past times is hunting for treasures in the alley! I remember as a little girl my parents would load all us kids into the van and we would drive up and down the alley's looking for something to reuse. It must have made a lasting impression because I do it with my own kids now.

Last year I found this gem under a bush in the alley. It had been there for so long it was molded into the dirt. I think at one point it might have been filled with a mirror. Maybe for a dresser. The wood had rotted in places and it was full of dirt.

BEFORE

(horrible picture  I know)

AFTER

I gave it a good cleaning and used whatever paint I had on hand. I think I must have painted it three or four times to get it right. I painted it once more after this picture was taken. It was a little too yellow and I wanted it to be more cream.

I added these adorable fabric brooches. You can change the color of brooch for each season. You can find similar broaches in my Flower Yourself etsy shop

Who knew alley shopping could be this beautiful! I also painted the floor rug. It started out as a bamboo style rug from JYSK. I was inspired by a wall stencil found at Jones Design Company. She stenciled her whole wall!... can you imagine? The rug too me long enough, but I totally LOVE it!

Valentine Cards made with LOVE!

Last year I made Valentine cards for those I love and care about. So I thought, why not make it a tradition! There is an unlimited amount of cute ideas out there. So let's start things off with a little bit of inspiration.

These lovely Fabric Window Valentines, found at The Purl Bee, are simple and creative. It's a great way to use up your scrap fabric and practise your stitching. The great thing is that even in you are not that good at sewing and mess up a bit it will just add to the sloppy cuteness of it!

Also found at The Purl Bee are these cute heart pins.You can find the full tutorial here. You could pin them to the top of a gift or wear it on your coat or scarf.

The brown paper bag and cupid arrow sold me! I love the natural look of the brown paper bag with the pink, white and red. You can find the full tutorial over at Creature Comforts.

Are you feeling inspired? I hope so. If not, here is the tutorial for my own crafty creative Valentine card. I decided to use kraft cards purchased at Micheals. I looked through my craft box and found some bakers twine, washi tape and buttons.

 

 

I bought one stamp from Micheals and then got the idea to make my own stamps. I bought a pack of four erasers and an exato knife from the dollar store. Sorry no tutorial on this. But you can find one here

 

 

Basically I just drew a simple shape on the eraser and then traced it with the knife and trimmed out everything I didn't want to show. I did one chevron print and one arrow. Super cute, right?!

 

 

This is the final product! Each cards was different and unique.

 

I used this amazing alphabet rubber stamp that my mother in law got me. She ordered it on Etsy. LOVE!

 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!