passport to imagination

I am excited to announce my partnership with Michaels craft store and their Passport to Imagination 7-week crafting camp for children ages 5 and up!

Michaels  thinks it is important to take the un-plugged summer pact, and cut back on at least 2 hours a day from any sort of time spent interacting with a technological screen.

This summer fun craft camp couldn't come soon enough!  Today is the first day of our summer break, and already my kids are complaining about being bored!  It could be a long summer.

I am excited for my children to attend and make some very fun crafts that explore the 7 continents of the world!  This will definitely help with summer boredom and keep them from being infront of the TV!

The classes start June 17th, are held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10am to noon at most Michaels stores, and are only $2 per session! (a steal!)   Hope to see you there!

To sign up and for more information, and stores near you, check out the Passport to Imagination page over on the Michaels Craft website.

[Disclosure: Michaels will be sponsoring my children to attend the passport to imagination camps in exchange for a sponsored post.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

DIY: christmas place cards / name cards...

i made another little christmas craft- some fun place cards for your holiday table.  although, you can use them for more than just christmas.

we usually have a fun brunch christmas morning with our little family after we open presents.  so, i thought it would be fun to add our own little place cards to spruce up the table a little bit.  but, these would be great idea for your christmas parties that are sure to be coming up! {p.s.- do you spy my holiday garland in these pictures?}

DIY christmas name / place cards  {here is a little run down on how i made them}:

• i was able to use my new die cut machine, from lifestyle crafts.  i used the nesting circles die to cut out the middle music sheet paper, then i used the nesting scalloped circles to cut out the gold poster paper scalloped paper. {all from their new basics release}
• i then printed out on white textured cardstock our names in the font that i liked, then cut out the names into strips.  
• i then glued the music sheet circle to the gold scallop, then bent/folded the name strips twice on each end so they were more 3-d and glued on the ends to the rest.
• the finishing touch was a cute little mini-clothes pin that i picked up at the craft store.
• i chose to put them in little succulent plant pots that i already had {inspired by this post}, but really, you could place them just about anywhere.

i hope this helps with your holiday planning!

craft closet...

i just love how clever people are.

this beautiful craft closet was planned and constructed by livy of a field journal.

she made the plans then made it real. i wish i was that good at planning.

see more pictures of the finished prodect here.

etched glass jars...

i've always wanted to try to do a project like this with etched glass. has anyone tried using etching cream before? i'm wondering how hard/easy it is?

i thought this was a cute little project from martha stewart. directions here.

{via apartment therapy}

kids art project...

i came across this little art project from sarah jane studios via ohdeedoh, and i just love it!

she made cute animals out of her childrens artwork and hung them in ikea frames.
what a cute idea, and a great way to save your childrens work!

i think i'll be doing this with my little z man soon!

for instructions, click here + here. and, click here for templates.

{images by sarah jane studios}

hearts on a string...

i haven't had a lot of time to put together any time consuming valentines crafts this year. [see last year here + here]

but, i did find these cute little paper hearts in the $1 bin at target, and i already had the mini-clothes pins and bakers twine. so, a minute later i had a little decoration! a few hearts strung on red bakers twine with clothes pins. couldn't be any easier than that..

oh, and if you are wondering where to buy bakers twine. i sell it in my shop. click here.

a few last minute things...

i finally have a chance to post about a few of the decorations i got around to making for christmas. it was very last minute, which is why they are still up to enjoy since the holidays went so fast.

first, a few friends of mine got together for a fun craft night! i ended up making a fun yarn wreath inspired by katie runnels. it was a lot of fun to make, but it took a lot longer than i expected. [about 4 hours start to finish] but, i was really happy with the end product. and, the best part is the merry christmas sign is removable, so you betcha i'll be putting this baby up for other holidays after all that work.

i also made a smaller one using white chenille yarn. this one was much easier since it was a lot smaller.

next, i was able to squeeze in a small snow village i made from paper mache houses like these ones.

i painted and glittered up a storm. i was going for a cody foster look, but soon ran out of time. so, i think next year i'll add a few more finishing touches, and perhaps start a little earlier on my christmas crafts.

{happy love day}

some of my valentines decorations i made..

i made the little ornaments on my valentines tree out of valentines paper, wooden hearts, pipe cleaners and a sprinkle of mica flakes. i thought they were kinda sweet.

happy valentines day!

{valentine craft}

some friends and i got together to make heather bailey's paper globes last night. i love the end result and they were fun to make, but i'll admit we were cursing heather bailey for making it look so easy and quick. ...no, these babies are a little time consuming as you have to cut a bunch of circles out, fold them, then glue them together. but, all in all it was worth it and now i do have a cute little valentines decoration. my first ever.. [and, i don't think it's my last..]

i was finally able to put the finishing touches on my paper globe while my little z-man was napping today. i opted to make a different heart, as heather bailey's was made out of felt which was really cute too!

a fun project, but if you want to try it out, be sure to have a little time...

{thanks martha}

:: thanks to miss martha stewart for helping to feed my addiction to ribbon + strings + for this lovely bakers twine ::

{stamp it up}

[photo via craft chi]

:: check out this cute tutorial on craft chi on how to make your own stamps out of a kneaded eraser ::

:: cleaver, very cleaver ::

More Booties!!

On the Martha Stewart show today, there was a crafter showing how to make some cute baby booties. Yet another style of the baby bootie! Yay!

Get the template here.

{Via Martha Stewart.com}

Tools and Materials

Baby bootie template

FeltFusible webbing tapeI

Iron Needle and thread

Sewing machine

Binder clips

Blanket stitch illustration, optionalSnaps

Baby Booties How-To

1. Download and print baby bootie template.
2. Cut pieces of felt.
3. Fuse together cuff pieces by sandwiching fusible webbing tape in between and ironing.
4. Fuse together the two main body pieces.
5. Fuse toe piece to main body piece.
6. Hand-stitch details around toe and cuffs.
7. Bring the two back edges together form into shoe.
8. Use sewing machine to sew back seam.
9. Fuse together the two layers of the sole pieces; you can also embellish sole.
10. Use binder clips to attach the sole to the main body of the bootie.
11. Blanket stitch to finish. Download blanket stitch illustration here.
12. Sew snaps onto cuffs.
ResourcesWool felt is from Magic Cabin. Reynold's freezer paper is available at your local supermarket. Fusible (iron-on) vinyl is by Therm-O-Web. Embroidery thread and snaps can be found at your local crafts store.

Special ThanksDawn Huntington, www.outoftheboxcalifornia.com

You Go Martha!

Ok, I had to check out the new Martha Stewart Crafts available at Micheals after I saw them on her show yesterday. Quite impressive. You can check them out here if you don't have a Micheals store nearby.

Also, I got my issue of Martha Stewart Living this month... such cute ideas. Here are a few of my favorites that I am definately going to try out!

Dressing up Paper Plates for your Barbeques this summer. Click here for instructions.

Decorate your books! Dress them up! Great for dressing up a gift! Click here for instructions. Fabric Covered Frames. Add some color to your drab frames. Click here for instructions.

So cute! Decorative jar lids! I'm going to make a bunch of these babies for my studio to dress up my jars of buttons etc.. Click here for instructions.