5 minute Luminary!

When I saw this luminary it was instant love! It's beautiful and simple yet elegant and trendy/

It is inspiring...think of the endless possibilities-Halloween, the Thanksgiving table, Christmas parties, romantic moments. Just imagine... Ok, now I can get on with the actual tutorial-Thank you to Jalinda for posting this creative project, We love it!

Luminary 1-2-3!

I picked up this awesome velum from Michaels.

Once I saw the swirls that was it, I had to have it!

I cut the velum to about 10" high. Then rolled up and simply stapled to keep it closed.

This velum looks great all on its own with it's foggy color, however, I added another thinner piece of velum to give it some additional color.

The second velum doesn't need to be stapled, just roll and drop inside of the first velum roll.

It's not too big of a difference just adds a hint of color.

And then I glued ribbon to the top and bottom ends. This is an extra but not necessary step. I kind of think it looks great without the ribbon, but it's nice to have that option. :)

I'd recommend to use an LED light for this luminary. But if you want a real candle, find a small candle and place inside of a glass holder to keep the flame away from the luminary.

Easy and fun!

Quick Easy how-to for hanging pictures-simply brilliant!

I must say that I think I have found the best helpful hint of the century so far!  I just keep wondering why I didn't know this before I started hanging things on the walls of my new home...I know you will find this helpful too, so we GRATEFULLY thank  Rachelle over at Adventures in Creating!

Quick and Easy Way to Hang Pictures

I was hanging some pictures in Con-Man's room and thought it might be a good technique to share. I learned this back in the day when I worked at the furniture store. We changed up the displays often; so we needed a quick way to hang the pictures that went with the furniture.


Do you hate those picture frames that have the 2 hooks on each end for the nails? I do, I never have picture wire and if I didn't know about this way to hang pictures, mine would come out crooked every time. So, try this next time instead:

Lay the picture you are hanging face down. Take some masking tape or painters tape (anything that is not very tacky so it won't peel the paint off the wall) and lay it over the hooks where the nails will go. Then use a pen to mark where the hooks are.

Close up shot of pen mark. Make the mark at the very upper point of the hook. Most are a triangle shape, you will want your nail to go at the most upper point.

Next peel the tape off the picture frame and tape it on the wall at the height you want your picture to hang. Use a level to make sure it is straight. 

Now just hammer 2 nails in at the points you marked on the tape. After you are finished peel the tape off the wall. You are left with 2 nails in the perfect position on which to hang your picture.

See, quick and easy!

 AMAZING!

Homemade Lip Balm

 Here is another fantastic gift idea, and so simple to do!  This would be a great craft project for a young women's group or girlfriends' sleep over...

Do you often get chapped or dry lips?  Don't reach for store bought products containing parabens and petroleum.  Mineral oils and additives dry out sensitive skin, they are temporarily soothing, but in the end, dry out the skin, leaving you needing more and more of the product to keep lips moisturized.  Instead mix up your own recipe at home.  Would make a nice little gift.

I will share a basic balm recipe and you may customize it to meet your own needs.  This recipe makes about 2 oz. (8-- 1/4oz. containers)

Hand made lip balm
Ingredients:

• 1 oz. (1 tablespoon) Sweet Almond Oil
• 1 oz. (1 tablespoon) Coconut oil or honey
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of beeswax- melted measure
• 1 vitamin E capsule
• 4 drops of lip balm flavoring or any of the following essential oils, sweet orange or peppermint (do not use fragrance oils)

You can find the ingredients at any cosmetic supply store or order online.

Melt oils (except vitamin E), and wax together over low medium heat.  Remove from  heat and add Vitamin E , flavoring and blend well.  Pour into lip balm containers.  Makes about 8- 1/4 oz. containers.

 Tip:

To add color to your balm, add a small piece of inexpensive lipstick to the mix.

 

And here is a link to purchase inexpensive jars...

1/4 .oz. lip balm jars 12ct.

HALLOWEEN DECOR IDEA'S-oh my gosh!

  Fall Festival Link

What an amazing post we found!  I want to make everything here!

Be sure to follow the links I've attached because other blogs are also posting unbelievably great stuff!

Visit the links to see full posts for these fall-lovin' bloggers:

Debbie Doos shares her fall decorating from last year to get you inspired...

 Ideas to embellish you pumpkins at Embellished Bayou...
 
And here are some of my projects from last year... 
Faux mercury glass pumpkins:
Dress up a candle:
Decoupage Letters & funkin:
House # pumpkins with glow in the dark numbers:
Nevermore Tree:

Powder room vignette:
Patio last autumn, decorating with free and natural outdoor treasures:
The dining room is undergoing a transformation at the moment but here it was last year...

Decorating the grape arbor:

Another flower tutorial

I've decided it is a really great idea to gather as many different flower tutorials as possible and make them available here!  I've just seen so many great designs and choices, and I couldn't make up my mind which one's I wanted to use, so I'm going to re-post them here at Peg's sister Sal!
This awesome Tutorial is from SOMEDAYCRAFTS.BLOGSPOT.COM. Wonderfully creative blog-be sure you stop by there.
Here you are:

Today, we are going to make this cute flower that is easy to make and uses up any leftover binding strips or jelly roll scraps (for all you sewers out there!). Mine is attached to my bag as you can see, and it looks so cute that I almost forget my bag is full of diapers and crumbled goldfish crackers. Now on the tutorial…

First you’ll need:

- 2.5” wide scraps of fabric in whatever colors your heart desires cut to various lengths. Mine were 3" long to 14" long. For fabric I used my leftover binding strips. My strips added up in length to about 2 yards, which made me a 5" flower. Add or take away strips or cut them shorter if you want a bigger or smaller flower. Shorter strips and more of them will make a more colorful flower.

- A sewing machine and a needle and thread.

-A piece of felt or other strong fabric, a hot glue gun, and a broach bracket.

Here are my various 2.5" wide strips. Put them in order from the color you want in the center of the flower, to the outside of the flower. Now sew them all together end to end, and press seams open.

Now folding your strip in half as you go, serge OR sew a zig zag stitch down the raw edges. Do the same on the ends.

With your sewing machine….increase the stitch length as high as it will go (a 4 on my machine) and increase the thread tension as high as it will go. Now sew down your strip again right along your sewn/serged edge. The strip should gather as you go. If it is gathering TOO much, lower the stitch length (see picture below for how much mine gathered)

**** I tried this gathering method on a computerized machine first and it would NOT work. When I switched to the older, manual machine it worked like a charm. So if this method isn’t working on your machine…you can either gather it by hand by folding and scrunching the sewn edge as you sew over it, or use a gathering foot. Because the strip is so long it won’t work to sew down it with a large stitch length and pull the bottom thread. 

This is what it should look like after its sewn:

Starting with the end you want as the center of the flower, fold the raw edge down and make the center of the flower by folding the strip around it. Sew in place either by hand or machine with a few stitches.

Continue to wrap the sewn/serged edges around the center, securing the edges to the center with your needle and thread. I put the needle and thread all the way through the center for the first few layers.

As you continue adding the layers the center will have a tendency to stick out, but try to keep the sewn edges lined up and flat. Also as you add more and more layers, you can secure the layers to the previous layers with a stitch every half inch or so. If you secure the layers loosely to the previous layer, you’ll get a better result.

This takes a little bit of practice, but I’m also quite possibly the worst hand sewer ever, so chances are you’ll do it perfectly the first time.

When you get to the end, or the flower is as big as you want it, cut off the end and tuck the end to the back. Secure it with a stitch and knot your thread off.

Make sure your flower is just right and poke the center down a little if its sticking up too much to make the back flat.

Cut a circle out of your felt, just big enough to cover all of the sewn / serged edges.

With your hot glue gun, cover the backside of your flower with glue, then press the felt onto the back.

Then hot glue your broach bracket to the felt. (think I used enough hot glue??? I’m paranoid)

And there you have it, your cute scrappy flower you can attach to just about anything.

To make the cute pillow below, make an extra long strip (about 7 ft. long…you can cut the length off if its too long) and sew it onto the pillow, pleating it as you go instead of gathering the strip on your machine.

See what we mean?  Too many wonderful creative flowers to choose from!