Gracious Giveaway…

Congratulations to our Gracious Giveaway Weekend Winner…

Tracy Jackson

of Orem, Utah

Tracy is the winner of our Crafty Copies Family Night Four Pack and the sheep!

Wahooo Tracy!

Merry Christmas…

Baby Flower Headbands & Clips

If there are babies or young girls on your gift list this year, these go together quick and easy–and are cute and trendy to boot!

Here’s what you need to get going:

  • Some double pronged salon clips. I bought mine at a local hair supply store, a box of 80 for about $6.

  • Glue Gun and glue sticks
  • 3/8″ ribbon. I used grosgrain because I like it. Twill tape works well too. Satin is a little hard to work with, and with organza, you’ll likely get burned with the glue coming through. If you’re like me you might get burned anyway.

  • Fake flowers. There are several ways to acquire these. Scrapbook stores sell them as embellishments, but make sure you’re getting fabric/felt ones, not paper. You can also buy stems of flowers at a craft store and take them apart. Finally, you can buy felt squares (they were 25 cents a piece at my local JoAnn’s) and cut out your own flowers.

  • Flower middles. These can be anything from buttons, to little rhinestones, to scrapbooking brads. Use your imagination. I like using brads to hold all the layers together, and then gluing buttons or rhinestones on top.

Here’s how to do it:

  • First, cover the alligator clip with ribbon. Using the glue gun, start on the underside of the clip (that’s the straight side, without any angles). Glue the edge of the ribbon down then fold it over to continue covering the clip. This gives a nice folded edge look, that won’t fray. Glue the ribbon all the way around the clip, stopping on the underside of the top set of prongs. The bottom set will remain exposed so that we can clip it to things later.
  • Assemble your flowers. Combine different sizes, colors, and shapes for visual interest. Also, keep in mind what colors are popular or favorites for children’s clothing. I had fun with mine and made some seasonal, even. Try to incorporate 3 or 4 layers so that the flower has some depth.

  • Put the layers together with a brad, or glue them together with your hot glue gun (careful, or your fingers will look like mine).

  • Add some flair by putting glitter, rhinestones, buttons, fuzzy yarn, or brads. I used some glitter glue on a few of the petals and it turned out really cute.

  • Glue the flower to the alligator clip you covered earlier. Try to align the clip over any brad prongs so that they don’t catch hair.

You’re done with the flowers, now on to the headbands. I use crocheted baby headbands that I bought online. I’ve also seen them in boutiques and even a grocery store or two.  They are cute, and stretchy and feminine, and the alligator clips can clip right into the fabric.

Alternately, you can make headbands out of knee-high nylons. Just take the nylon, cut off the toe and the ribbing at the top. Now, take the long middle part of the nylon and glue the two cut ends together, making a loop out of the remaining sock.  Then, you can make a loop (with the ribbing) to wrap around the area you just glued together. Leave part of it not glued down so that you can slip the alligator clip in, and voila! A cute, interchangeable headband!

P.S. If you’d like to scrap the headband idea and just make some cute flowers to clip in hair (these work better for older girls, not babies), you can always assemble the flowers as above, but instead of using alligator clips, use the spring loaded clips. Again, purchaseable at a well stocked craft store.

Happy headbanding!

~April~

Gingerbread Man and More…In Felt

Jiffy 2-18-08

It was a frosty 17 degrees today. Even Jif is needing a blanket.

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Gingerbread Man

This little guy was a last minute project for a Christmas party a few years back. A cookie cutter makes a great pattern. Trace it onto paper and cut it from light brown felt. The cheeks were cut with a single hole punch and the heart is just free hand. Sew the heart and cheeks and face on first. Then blanket stitch the back to the front and stuff with batting just before closing him up. It didn’t take too long–and hour and a half/two hours-ish. The hardest part was that the gold thread was really a pain to work with. It’s very tangley.

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Christmas Tree Cookie

Cookie cutter works here too. Cut a smaller one for the colored “frosting.” Sew the bead “sprinkles” or french knot “decos” on the frosting before blanket stitching them together with embroidery thread. Sew cookie pieces together and stuff with batting just before closing.

felt-001Christmas Star Cookie

The directions are the same as for the Tree…except that it’s…a star.

Clear Glass Ornaments Re-visited

Mary and Baby Jesus–on Velum

We have had so many suggestions of other ways to decorate or fill the glass ornaments that it has really inspired us. So, we’ve gathered pictures of some of the ideas and will show you how to do a couple others.

So brace yourself–

Marbleized Glass Ornaments

Rinse inside of ornament with a solution of 1 part water and 3 parts vinegar. Let dry.

Squeeze a quarter sized dollop of acrylic paint into ornament. Roll it around until paint begins to cover the inside.

Add a second color if you want to and roll it some more. Turn ornament upside-down in a paper cup or–onto a paper towel to drain excess paint. Allow to dry for a day or two.

The paint marbleizes as it dries. Now you can put the hanger back on.

Three More Filled Glass Ornaments

#1 Sea of Galilee Glass Ornament

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This one is filled with decorator sand and tiny shells…

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…and topped with this sweet inscription on a small piece of parchment.

#2 Scented Glass Ornament

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This one is filled with potpourri. As the room warms up the scent fills the air. Each year, refresh the fragrance with scented oil–anything from roses to evergreen trees.

#3 Popping Fresh Glass Ornament

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This one is my personal favorite…made by Sue Brandon or Orem. She took off the hanger and put 6 or 7 popcorn kernals in the small sized ornament…and then…she put it in the MICROWAVE! Can you believe it? She said she waited until she heard 2 or 3 pops and took it out. But you don’t have to tell the secret—let everyone wonder how you got that popcorn in there!