Dollar Store Chalkboard

Here's another quick and easy project, a dollar store chalkboard! The Dollarama I go to has self-adhesive chalkboard paper. I used this and an old picture frame I had bought awhile ago from a thrift store. I painted the frame and applied the chalkboard paper as directed on the package. That's it! I am so pleased with the results! I love how it looks in my kitchen too. Now, I can write love notes to my hubby to read before he leaves for work in the mornings! ...And he thinks my crafts are silly! HA! ;)

Chic Diaper Clutch

Today, I was shopping at the dollar store and saw this beautiful place mat. I instantly knew I wanted to do something crafty with it. When I got home and started toying with my options, it hit me, a diaper clutch!

Now, the rest of this post I'm almost embarrassed to write because of how easy it was to create. It literally took more time gathering my materials then it did to make it!
But, here it is anyway....

Pillow Case Shoulder Bag

I found a great tutorial on the Martha Stewart site on how to make an easy shoulder bag from a pillow case. I read the instructions and thought even with my limited sewing skills I could make this project, no problem. WRONG! It seems I am not able to cut in a straight line, let alone sew in a straight line! So, needless to say, my bag is a bit of a disaster. I'm displaying this project purely for those of you who could make use of an "easy" project like this! :p

So, without further ado, here is my "bag".....

Spring Inspiration

For the past week or so the weather here in London, Ontario has been warming up. Most of the snow was gone and the temperatures were in the pluses ... until TODAY! I woke up to a winter wonderland! To say I was disappointed is putting it mildly. I was truely looking forward to going to the park with my daughter, cleaning up our yard and all that other good stuff that goes along with Spring! So, in my attempt to stay positive and see the glass as half FULL, I painted a lovely Spring inspired painting. Aside from the weather, I also got my inspiration from a painting in the Pottery Barn's online catalogue. I really liked the colours and most of the design so I decided to not change it entirely.

Pottery Barn Painting

Headband with rosette flower - crocheted

So, as mentioned in my profile, I live in Ontario, Canada. Though, I'm in southern Ontario, our winters are still COLD!! And, being pregnant, I seem to be cold no matter if I'm inside or out! This has given me the motivation to crochet my own headband. I came across a tutorial for a crocheted rosette flower which I also added to my headband to give it a little pizzaz! I would love to share with you a tutorial for the headband, but because I made it up as I went along I don't have one! Maybe one day I'll sit down and recreate the pattern and write it down as I go! For now however, you'll have to settle for a  link to the rosette tutorial instead. What I can tell you about the headband is that it's pretty easy to do. Measure your head and figure out your desired width. I used double crochet throughout, except for the outer edge which I single crochet around the entire piece. That's it!  

Flower Clips

This was a cheap and easy project. I got most of the materials from the dollar store. The only thing I had to go elsewhere for was the actual clip. I went to Walmart for them and there were maybe 20 in the package and cost around $5. These would be cute clipped on to just about anything! Hair bands, bedroom decor... anything! =)

Here's the "How-to":

Cutie Cow Hat

Here's another animal hat I made without a specific pattern. Of course, it took some trial and error on some of the cow features. For example the ears! I must have tried them 10 times until I got it the way I wanted, but hey! I didn't have to pay for the pattern! =) I think it turned out pretty cute. I just wish I had a baby in the house to model it for me!

No-Sew Roll-up Pencil Caddy

Today I felt the urge to make something crafty. I wanted to do a sewing project but because my sewing machine is upstairs and would be too much work to bring it downstairs, with potty training still underway at our house, I decided to make the project NO-SEW!

Potty Training Day #1

Well, potty training is well underway at our house today. My daughter is nearly 22 months old and showing some key "readiness" signs. I figure, why not! I'm pregnant with our second so it would be nice to have Miss Ella trained by the time August rolls around ;)

This is how our day is going so far...

We woke up, took off her bottom clothes and took a seat on the potty. We had a successful pee and jumped for joy!! I set the timer for 15 minutes and let her walk around without any bottoms. I've been asking her a lot if she needs to "peepee" or "poopoo" and each time I get "NOoooo!" HAHA! (I think she's starting to get annoyed with me! lol). I started feeling uneasy with her not having any undies on, since she wants to still play and what not. After she tried riding her toy horsey I decided to put some panties back on! Then, it happened... "the accident!". All of a sudden she started peeing! On the floor and through her panties! She didn't quite know what to make of what was happening, and all I could do was laugh!! Since then we've had a couple more "accidents" but that's ok. It's only day one and still early in the day. I know as the day and week progress we'll have our ups and downs but the key (so I'm told) to all this is, "don't get discouraged!"

Fun With Freezer Paper!!

The other day I was "blog hopping" and came across a wonderful blog, Sweet and Lovely Crafts, that shared a fun project that I had to try out. The project is of course "freezer stencilling". I went out today and gathered my materials and got straight to work once I got home. For a small project it was a lot of work, since I had to cut the stencils by hand using an exacto knife. But, with all things in life, the things worth having are worth working for! So no complaints here because I am quite happy with the outcome.

Here's how it's done in case you're wondering...


Supplies:

• freezer paper (the plastic on the paper is needed to stick to the fabric so parchement paper will not work)
• fabric paint
• fabric (I used toddler t-shirts)
• exacto knife
• cutting board
• sponge, paint sponge, or paint brush (I used a sponge and cut it to the size I needed)
• stencil (I printed out an image on normal paper then traced the image onto the freezer paper)
• iron

• Place your already cut out stencil onto your fabric, shiny side down. Now iron your stencil in place. You're doing this so your stencil stays in place when you paint it and you won't get any bleeding of colours. Once you think you're done make sure the sides of your stencil are well in place.



• Place a piece of freezer paper inside your shirt or under your fabric.
• Now using your sponge or brush, paint your stencil. Be sure to get the sides really well. Add another coat in a couple minutes if you think you need it.

• Let your paint dry completely then peel off the freezer paper.
• Voila! You're done!!
  



I'm taking part in:

Toddler Headband - Crocheted

This headband, I made the other night, is simply adorable on my little girl (if I do say so myself - lol). I'm working on a few more in different colours and flower embellishments. One for every outfit! =)

Girly Message Board

This message board I whipped up today is super cute and very functional! It will surely be a great addition to my daughter's room (when I redecorate it using the same colour palette).


If you're interested to know how I did it, first know it was very easy. I used an old art canvas I had, some Walmart bought fabric ($2 - yes, that's right!), and some light pink satin ribbon I also had "laying" around. I first secured the fabric to the canvas neatly to the back using a staple gun. I believe a good quality white glue could also be used if painted on the front and sides of the canvas if you don't have a staple gun. Once that was completed I then added the ribbon. I placed the ribbon diagonally from the left and right, weaving the pieces as I went. I secured the ribbon again with staples to the back and sides. The staples are covered on the sides by another piece of ribbon. This ribbon is thicker as my canvas has deep sides. I secured this ribbon in place using iron heated adhesive, bought at Walmart. This is optional but because I used staples on the sides I wanted to cover them up. Finally, I added push pin embellishments. These are the ones used in scrapbooking where you split the back to secure it. I had to use a small screwdriver to break through the fabric and ribbon first then I was able to push them through. That's it! Easy!!

I'm participating in

Penguin Crochet Beanie

I created this penguin hat using a basic beanie pattern and adding on the necessary embellishments to make it ... penguin-esque =)
This particular beanie fits a baby 0-3 months old but of course can be altered to fit heads of all ages.

Wonderful world of crochet!

For the past year and a half I have been dabbling in the world of crochet. I started off self taught, learning different techniques from youtube videos and webpage articles. I must say, I've tried almost every art medium out there and crocheting is one that I find very satisfying. It's a great feeling when you've finished a project, knowing that it's not only pretty but functional!

I'm including in this post a link to a crochet site that teaches basic crochet skills. For anyone who hasn't tried it yet, try it!! It's a great creative AND stress outlet!!

http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/crochet/an_introduction_to_crocheting.php

Here's my blog...

...I hope you like it!