Creative Guest: Pink Fig Patterns (friends forever t-shirts!)

My friend Aly shared this with me earlier this week and I instantly knew it was a project I would get behind. We all have seen the horrible images of Japan and are searching for ways to help. I have been a long-time fan of Pink Fig patterns and I think her idea is not only heartfelt, but perfect for a crafty mama like me.

Meet Chloe and Mieko

Pink Fig is sharing the tutorial with the crafty world so that we can make this shirt. It will then be HAND DELIVERED to a child in Japan. As a thank-you she is giving everyone a 50% off coupon for her upcoming rag doll pattern.

So grab some friends and have a t-shirt party (I'm planning one in a few weeks). If you can't sew find a friend who can and be the fabric cutter or provide appetizers for the party...this is a project we can all be a part of.

Creative Guest: Pink Fig Patterns (friends forever t-shirts!)

*Any Indy friends who want to contribute finished shirts or supplies please contact me. I will be sending a box the first week of May.

Wordless Wednesday-The Silly Face Edition

P.S. I love my new Instagram App on my iPhone...can't you tell???

Peep Mania-Peep Bunny Bunting

Apparently I have Peeps on the brain.

I saw this tutorial on MADE a few weeks ago and knew it would complement our Peep Sunflowers perfectly! The scary part is that I actually had all the materials I needed in my crafty closet...really who has yellow Peep colored felt on hand!?!?! I may need a fabric intervention VERY soon! I even mixed red and green paint to make brown for their faces...that's how this crafty girl rolls...we don't head to the crafty store with two children unless we absolutely have to!

This could easily be done without sewing using hot glue, but I like how it turned out with the stitching.It was a little tricky keeping everything from getting twisted in the sewing machine, but by the third Peep I got my rhythm down.

I just LOVE their little faces!!!

It's a Peep wonderland and it only took one afternoon to make!

Little Grow Peep

When I saw this adorable craft in the latest issue of Woman's Day I knew it would be at the top of our "To Do" list.

How could we not love it??? It had painting, gluing, messy grass and Peeps! Really Peeps! Those squishy, sugary, marshmallowly Peeps that come around every Easter.


Here is what you need to make 3 flowers (everything but the Peeps was purchased at Jo-ann's):

• 4 packages of 5-count yellow chick Peep marshmallow (4 will give you extra incase you have a gap AND give the kids some to snack on while being crafty)
• Decorative grass
• Three 6" embroidery hoops (I couldn't find 3 of the same kind so I used two wooden and painted them yellow and one yellow plastic, both worked equally well)
• Green flower foam
• Mini hot-glue gun and glue sticks (I would discourage using the larger hot-glue guns b/c they will just melt the Peeps instead of gluing them)
• Wooden dowels
• Paint 
• Mini flower pots. (I used terra cotta pots so that we could paint them the colors we wanted. You could easily use Easter-colored metal ones that are fairly easy to find this time of year)

First we painted our dowels green and our wooden hoops yellow.

We each picked out colors for the pots and I painted them with three coats of paint. Once dry, you need to glue the dowels to the hoops. This was the tricky part. For the wooden ones I removed the screws and hot glued the dowel in between the metal clasps.

The pins in the plastic hoop did not come out all the way so I glued the top of the dowel to the screw at the opening of the hoop. Don't worry if you use lots of glue, it will all be hidden by the Peeps. I was really surprised by how stable they were. Just use LOTS of glue.

While the hoops are drying you can put the green flower foam in each pot.

Now it's time to glue the Peeps to the hoops. Remove the Peeps from the package but do not separate them. Apply a thick line of glue to 1/3 of the front of the embroidery hoop. Gently press one group of five Peeps onto the glue with their beaks facing the center of the hoop, slightly bending them to cover the ring. Repeat with other two groups. Use your extra Peeps to fill in any gaps that you may have.

*Make sure to center the Peeps on the hoops so they don't flop around. My first hoop looked like this:

See how they are glued to close too the edge? I needed to pull them off and make them look more like this:

See the difference? This hoop was much more stable.

Finish gluing the Peeps to the remaining hoops.

Once all the glue is dry it is time to put the flowers together. First gently poke the sticking into the green flower foam. We wanted our flowers to be different heights so we varied how far we poked them down.

Next I removed the sticks so that I could put hot-glue down each hole. We also tucked grass around the sides of the green flower foam.

Put the sticks back in the hole and then put more hot glue on the top of the flower foam and place grass on top. You can spray the peeps lightly with a craft sealer to preserve them.

Display your beautiful garden for all to see!

Crafty Withdrawals Averted

So I had been home for approximately 4 hours when I got the itch...

Where does a crafty girl go after 7 days without paint, glue, thread, fabric and bargain shopping???

Jo-ann's and Goodwill of course!

Lo and I got some great supplies at Jo-ann's for an adorable Easter project that we'll be debuting tomorrow.

Look at the great treasure I picked up at Goodwill

We've been needing a fireplace screen for a LONG time. I am so tired of finding black soot marks all over our light wood floor. I swear it's like a child-magnet, anytime any child comes over they feel the urge to play in my fireplace. It's in great condition and is really heavy so I don't have to worry about it getting knocked over all the time.

Check out the price:

Such a great deal!

For now black will be fine, but you know me...the fun part of finding treasures at Goodwill is transforming them! I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can start "Spring" refurbishing! I have so many projects in my garage just waiting to be started, and I can't wait to share them with you. (I'm trying not to let the fact that it was 13 degrees this morning bring me down...spring WILL be here soon!)

Have a great Sunday and make sure to check back tomorrow for a crafty tutorial that includes Peeps!

Home Sweet Home

The hubby and I just returned from Valencia, Spain where we spent 7 glorious days brushing up on our Spanish, drinking Vino Tinto, eating wonderfully delicious paella and missing our girls.

In the next week I'll be sharing lots of stories and pictures about our wonderful adventures. Today we are catching up on sleep and most importantly cuddles!

Buenas noches!

Proud Mama Moment

Anyone with kids know that as much as you're not supposed to compare them to each other...it's inevitable...you just do it. Often without realizing it...

Our oldest tends to take after her Mama. A perfectionist, gets easily upset when things don't go as she planned and is always eager to show off her skills. She craves structure and organization.

In comparison, my youngest is much more easy going, very independent, marches to her own band and does NOT like to show how smart she is. If she even gets a hint that you are quizzing or testing her she automatically goes to silly mode.

When I wasn't looking she did this:

It's her name. N-O-A. I was so proud! We had no idea that she was even close being able to do it...that little stinker!

Of course I made the mistake of praising her for her hard work and she just laughed and said, "It says bootie" and ran off...

A Cut Above The Rest

So I finally did it. I broke down and bought a good pair of sewing scissors. Sure the breaking of my old ones pushed me into the purchase, but regardless IT WAS TIME! They happened to break at crafty night and I borrowed a pair of these wonderful shears from my friend Erin (she was lucky to get them back!) and it was love at first cut!

My new ones are lovely! They are AMAZING! I can't believe how I've been able to be crafty without them!

They have a lifetime warranty and the bent handle makes for easy cutting. Totally worth every penny!

Please meet my new baby:

You like? You can get your own {HERE}. Don't forget to use the weekly coupon for a pretty sweet deal!

...and please don't forget...SEWING SCISSORS ARE FOR FABRIC ONLY!

There's An App For That

As I've alluded to a few times...I'm totally addicted to my iPhone. Where I go, it goes. It's the first thing that greets me each morning (even before my beloved Diet Coke). I use it for texting, Facebooking, checking the weather, shopping on Craigslist, it's my phone, my camera, my internet...my everything!!!

We all know the commercial, "There's an app for that" and truly there is. There isn't much that this baby can't do. On of my favorite apps is the Hipstamatic Camera.

You start with the base camera and for a few dollars you can add different lenses, film and flash. It just makes your pictures so much fun!!!

There is black and white film

 Berry Pop Flash

Dreampop flash

Kaimal Mark II lense

Ina's 1969 Film

With each picture you can chose a different type of film, flash and lens. It saves all your pictures and makes it super easy to share them with your friends and family through email, Facebook and Flickr. Another cool aspect is that if you tap on a picture you like, it can change your camera's setting to match.

The girls and I have tons of fun trying out different settings and poses. Silly faces always look so much better on Hipstamatic!