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!