temple picture gifts

Need an idea for Christmas gifts? I made these for my neighbors for Christmas this year.  And the fun part about it is that you can hand it on your tree and then hand it somewhere else to enjoy all year long. I also made them for my kiddos you hand in their rooms.

All you need

one 5x7 picture of the temple

one 5x5 block

Mod Podge

Black paint

Brush

Ribbon

Drill

Start by cutting your picture into a 5x5 square. Paint your block and dry. Once the block is painted Mod Podge your picture on to one side of the block.  Now that your picture is on and dried. Drill holes for your ribbon and lace the ribbon through.

For temple pictures visit my Blog. http://www.hollievansphotography.blogspot.com/  or my Etsy store HolliCycle and you can order them in many sizes. If ordering multiples in the same size I will give you 10% discount

paper beads

I remember making these when I was a little girl. So I thought that it would be great to teach my daughter how to make them. Better yet she loved them so much that we are making them for her American Girl Tea Party coming up this weekend. I think that the girls will fall in love with this fun craft. And they can go home and make many more.

Supplies                                

Paper (any kind)

Glue stick

toothpick

scissors

stretchy elastic

To begin you wan to cut your paper into small triangles as show in the picture. A 1/2in x 7 1/2in triangle. Keep in mind that the wider your triangle the  longer your bead and the longer your triangle the thicker your bead.  So it would be fun to have some bigger and smaller.  After you have cut your paper you begin with the fat end as you begin to roll it around the toothpick glue as you go. That will help your bead stay together. Pull it off of the toothpick and you will see that you have a nice hole to thread your bead on to your elastic.

Happy beading!

scrap paper jewelry

These little  necklace pendants are the perfect paper project to use up those little scraps of your favorite paper.  

Here are the supplies that you will need.  Most of them can be found at any craft store.  We are just starting on ours today.    

For our little girls I like the small accent gems that are more their size.  There are so many fun ideas with this project.  I followed a great step by step tutorial at Heartland Paper.
I also found so many other great ideas and patterns on their site.

Look how cute these little shoes are.  I would love to use them for a baby shower or a wedding shower.  The patterns are on their site on the left side.  The high heels would also be cute for fall in black as witches shoes.  

plenty of paperdolls

I love finding a really great toy. One that involves using kids imagination and creativity and one that they will play with for hours. After finding these Minime Paper Dolls paper dolls a couple of months ago, I finally ordered them.  They meet all the above specifications and my cute little ten year old has been busy ever since.

When ordering the doll I was able to customize it to look like her and have her name put on it.   I chose the "print it yourself" option,  received the pdf file the next day, and the fun began.   I love the cute vintage look of of the doll and outfits and my favorites are the fairy tale line and the girls in literature line.

 These dolls would be so cute as a gift and even more fun in a gift basket with one of the books (Little Women, The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, etc).  The paper doll party package offered on the website would make for a fabulous little birthday party/ tea party and the outfit of the month would be a happy little surprise at the beginning of each month. 
The website offer great tips and tricks.  We searched out the little "sticky strips" to hold the clothes on and are thinking about laminating the doll and clothes.  And thanks to the print it yourself option when we made a little mistake in creating the first doll (leaving her within toddlers reach) and were able to just reprint her.
If you have little girls, these dolls are definitely worth checking out.

simple birthday party decorations

These simple and adorable paper cupcake wrappers were featured on The Lovely Paper Blog...I absolutely LOVE them and because I seem to be obsessed with cupcakes lately, I had to try them out. All you need is some scrapbook paper, scissors and adhesive. You can download the cupcake paper template here.


Birthday decorations should be quick and easy and these paper birthday banners are perfect...you could create your own or if you don't have time you can order them already assembled or in a kit from My Emmie Cakes...love them!


And who doesn't love Martha Stewart's tissue pom-poms! The possibilities are endless...just choose your tissue paper and create...so simple!


How to Make the Pom-Poms
You'll need tissue paper and 24-gauge white cloth-covered floral wire.

Hanging Pom-Poms
1. Stack eight 20-by-30-inch sheets of tissue. Make 1 1/2-inchwide accordion folds, creasing with each fold.

2. Fold an 18-inch piece of floral wire in half, and slip over center of folded tissue; twist. With scissors, trim ends of tissue into rounded or pointy shapes.

3. Separate layers, pulling away from center one at a time.

4. Tie a length of monofilament to floral wire for hanging.

freedom wand

This cute little wand is a fun activity for kids at a 4th of July party. 

 

To make stars:

Cut out the star shapes from colored paper. 

For a free star pattern to print onto red, white and blue paper  click here.

Glue the stars together.  You will need two full stars for one wand.

Place a 12 inch dowel, chopstick, or popscicle stick between the two stars and glue together.

Add curling ribbon, glitter, star garland, etc.

i love daddy sign with 2x4s

This is a simple sign to celebrate father's day.  This is my version of one similar that I found on How Does She.  I created three 4x6 collage pictures in Picasa (Google photo organization and editing program) because we could not decide on just three.

I started with three boards two 2x4s and one 2x2 (this was a scrap I found to make it high enough to hang the pictures).  You could always just crop to smaller pictures and use two boards.  I applied scrap book paper with modge podge (I need to practice at this a little more because there are some bubbles but at least they are behind the pictures right).  I then sanded the sides, distressed the edges with some ink,  and applied the vinyl.

Then stack them up and tie a piece of ribbon around the top block and clip on some mini clothes pins with ribbon to hold your pictures.  We love our daddy!

father's day sweet thoughts

Found this fun idea on Love, Actually and decided to make my own. Sweet Thoughts Jar for Father's Day. What father wouldn't want to get this on Father's Day. The jar is full of fun thoughts and memories about him. Every time that daddy reaches in to take out one of his favorite candy bars for a sweet treat then he will be reminded of one sweet reason we love him.

Supplies that you will need: His favorite candy bars, jar, tape or glue, love notes, and scissors.  Cut up all the love notes and tape or glue them on the candy bars. Fill the jar.

To download a copy of this label for your jar, click here.

Have a Happy Father's Day!

welcome spring

It does not feel very much like spring in our neighborhood where we are still seeing snow on a regular basis. So I have been working on a few projects that will remind us that spring is coming even if it is only inside our house.
I got these blocks from Morrow Wood, added some paint and spring paper, and set them on a shelf in my office. I felt happier and more excited for the new season just by looking at them even though the world just outside the window was filled with huge fluffy snowflakes.

fun fall projects

FALL MONOGRAM WREATH


I love fall. It is the time of year I finally feel like baking after a hot summer and I love to make our home cozy for the coming cold. I found this fun wreath and I loved it so here is what our turned out like. I had a grape vine wreath and some orange berries already in my fall decor box so I just wired these together. I found a fall floral bush and just sniped it into individual pieces and stuck it into the wreath. I didn't glue anything because I then can take it apart and use it for other seasons. I found my "S" at Michaels for $1.99 and I painted it white and then sanded the edges and rubbed some stain over it. I didn't have any wide ribbon on hand to hang it with so I used a strip of fabric. I learned how to hang it over at the Nesting Place.
I usually have some kind of wreath on our door and thought this was a fun and different look. It was very easy and I loved out it turned out.

RUSTIC WOOD PUMPKINS

These cute wood pumpkins are made from a landscape timber. It was cut into 4, 5, and 6 inch lengths. These timbers are usually tinted a cherry color but I sanded these to make them smoother and then painted them orange. Going over them one more time with the sandpaper gives them an antiqued look. A hole drilled in the top allows space for a small piece of a branch to make the stem. Then they are finished off with a fun green ribbon or piece of fabric for the leaves. This simple project makes a great centerpiece or mantle decor for this fun fall season.

REVERSIBLE FALL BLOCKS

These cute fall blocks do double duty. They spell out fall on one side and boo on the other. They are made from a 2x4 cut into 5 inch lengths. They are actually 3X5 when finished. A coat of black paint, some scrapbook paper, and vinyl letters finish off the project. Easy and simple but so fun.

pickles to petals

Yes these use to be full of PICKLES. Our family loves pickles and on a pretty regular basis we buy this huge jar of pickles from Sam's Club, which are pretty inexpensive. These jars are nice big 1 gallon glass jars that I can't just throw away. A few of them sat in my pantry for a while until I thought of this idea. I needed a container for ribbon scraps and flowers petals.

I washed them good and then tore off the label. I found of piece of scrap paper and made labels and then glued them on with Mod Podge. I didn't keep the lid but if you wanted to I found a cute way to cover it with paper here. Here is what they ended up looking like.

a new pocket for polly

Before

The New Pocket

Have you noticed the many fun projects and toys are made with this clear plastic vinyl? Seeing so many, I also started to notice how many small items are packaged in it: socks, underpants, and many others. I bought these little mesh bags at the dollar store and I was about to throw the package away when I had this idea.

I covered the cardboard insert with scrapbook paper and then added a little handle with a hole punch and some ribbon. I thought that this would work great for all those little Polly Pockets, Playmobils, Legos, and any other treasure your little ones want to tote around.