Under $5.00 Dollar Flag Wreath

Well it's that time of year Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day so who would not want to be festive this time of year with a antique looking patriotic wreath on your front door. If you know me you know I'm always ready for the up coming holidays. So I seen these wreaths on line for over $40.00 bucks and that does not include shipping! I wanted one with out that price tag. So off to Pat Catan's (local craft store) they always have the best selection on grapevine wreaths and they always have metal stars. Lucky for me my old flag hanging outside was looking a little faded and worn so I bought a new one. I took the old flag and placed it in a bucket with instint coffee and water to give it a antique look. Ring out and hang to dry. Not to deface the flag I folded under the extra white and red section under the blue section with the white stars and tacked it with a few stitches. Then I made a running stick to gather the top part of the blue section with the stars used the extra thread to tie the flag to the left side of the grapevine wreath. Then wrap the Flag around the left side of the grapevine wreath. (hard to explain see picture) Now drape it crossed the font of wreath use thread or string to tie to the right side of the grapevine wreath. Attack your metal star over the gathered right side. That's it your done ...hang your flag wreath on your door and display proudly.
Using the American Flag in a craft can be tricky some people feel it's defacing the flag but this flag seen better days flying high outside but now it can continue to be displayed and represent the American pride and spirit. I love my country, my patriotic wreath and love displaying the flag on my wreath on my front door that's my patriotism, pride and spirit the first thing you see when entering my home. God Bless our Troops and the American people.

I love that worn look thanks Mother Nature.

The endless possibilities of homemade Pinwheels

I love when I find a new idea. Every child has had a pinwheel at one time or another. This is a very cute and creative idea for a mom on a budget and whom loves to accessories their little girl! It is so simple even a mom with little craft experience can make these cute Pinwheel hair barrette's. (P.S. These would be cute to make and give as a gift for a little girl. I would even wear a pinwheel hair barrette or a pinwheels on my flip flops see below)

Items needed: (based on a 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 square pinwheel)
1. 1/8 of a yard of fabric in 2 different matching but contrasting fabrics.
Price $1.00 to $8.00 bucks but remember fabric price is usually based on 1 yard. 1/8 of a yard is 1/8 of the price... buy on sale!!! 1/8 of a yard is about a 4" inch cut and as long as the fabric length mostly 45" inches.(that's 8-10 squares)
(Example: 1/8 of a yard of fabric in pink w/ white flowers and 1/8 of a yard of fabric in pink w/ white polka dots)
2. 1 pack of hair barrette's ( I like the metal clips 40 mm they just hold better in my daughter hair)
3. 1 yard of double sided heat n bond (you can get about a ton of squares out of that) Price $1.99 yard
(you can buy less) Also sold in a package but it's more expensive.
4. Odds and ends rhinestones, buttons, beads and sm. flowers etc. (get creative)
5. Option to use fray check on edges of complete pinwheel. I did not use fray check. My daughter had her on all day and even ran around in the ran and it got wet with very little fray. I just cut of the 2 strings.
Tools:
Iron & Ironing board
scissors
ruler (measuring)
hot glue gun

My daughter is 3 and almost a 1/2 so I made my squares 3 1/2 x 3 1/2  not because her age but because she is tall for her age and anything bigger would look funny, to big in her hair or on her feet (see below). I also like smaller  like 2 1/2 x 2 1/2. I'm going to attempt to make tiny ones and glue to a bobby pins. I'll keep you posted. For now lets move on.
1. Cut a 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch square out of the double sided heat n bond.
(heat n bond is like fabric w/ glue on each side. The iron heats up the glue and bonds it to the fabric. The paper helps keep the glue form sticking to the iron when ironing)
2. Iron the non paper side of the heat n bond to the wrong side of one of your fabrics.
3. Now cut out the fabric & heat n bond square.
4. Pill off the paper on the heat n bond.
5. Place the heat n bond side (the side you removed the paper from) on the wrong side of contrasting fabric and Iron.
6. Cut out square again. (material square now complete) 1/2 WAY DONE!!!
7. Using a ruler line up ruler corner to corner and draw a 1 1/2 inch  line at each corner.
8. Now cut the lines. (remember if you adjust the size sm. or lg. adjust the lines)
(also this is like making a fake X but only cutting 1 1/2 inches in from the corners)
9. Take one corner and glue to the middle doing the same to every other cut corner.
(to make the pinwheel effect)
10. Hot glue embellishment's like rhinestones, buttons, beads sm. flowers etc. (get creative) to the center of pinwheel.
11. Hot glue pinwheel to hair barrette.

These are the barrettes I use they come in different sizes but hold well in the hair.

ALL DONE!! THAT WAS NOT SO HARD??? WAS IT???

F.Y.I- After your a pro make 3 matching pinwheels one for your child's hair, then take a pair of flip flops ( 3x3 square for the flip flops if making for kids) and hot glue a piece of Velcro to the center of the flip flop strap and another piece of Velcro to the back of the pinwheel now you can make matching hair and shoe accessories to match all your daughter outfits for summer. (Remember on Velcro their is what's called a male and female side glue one side to flip flop and the other to the pinwheel. Just a FYI for non- crafter) I also though how cute to add some Velcro to the upper part of a shirt. (to explain better the heart area of a shirt) then you can make different sizes in pinwheels and attach to the shirt. (Velcro allows for you to remove the pinwheels for washing or to exchange out different colored pinwheels)Then you'll have a hair barrette that matches your shirt, that matches your shoes. Use the same concept for the curly bows (posted earlier) or with flowers. The flowers I have to post yet. Creative is endless. What are you waiting for... winter???? Make your daughters summer accessories today!!! Remember I'm always available for question or to help clear up any part of my direction.



Thanks cousin Garret for allowing me to use your Marvel Heroes flip flops for my demo. I have not made it to Jo Ann's for $1.99 white flip flops for Kaitlyn. Got to love the super hero's w girly purple pinwheels.



Birthday Party!

Kaitlyn attended her first friends Birthday Party today! She has not stopped talking about how much fun she had and all her friends at the Birthday Party! It's wonderful to see how much she has grown and the new found importance of friendship! The Birthday Party was adorable with a princess theme. All the girls got to dress up and come as a princess. They looked so cute! So here is a picture of Kaitlyn in her princess dress ready for the party! If you know me, then you know I can just about make anything I put my mind too but I have to say I found this adorable dress at Target for under $15.00 dollars (clearence) and could not pass it up on price and how well it was made. So all I had to do was make the matching assessories. So tiara, wings, wand, pearl neckless, long white gloves and glass slippers well not so much but white dress shoes I embellished.

Taken outside by my antique wagon and all the beautiful flowers!

Play- Magic Wand

I love making magic wands they can be made out of just about any kind of little trinkets. I always use a dowel rod and some ribbons and flowers. I made this magic wand to match the play dress up princess dress I bought Kaitlyn to wear to a up coming Birthday Party.

It's hard to see but I put 2 tulle flowers and 2 artifical flowers on top of the dowel with some ribbon hanging from the flowers and a dragonfly that is on a spring so it moves.

Play Tiara- for a Princess

Needed to make Kaitlyn a tiara to wear with her princess play dress. I always have trouble getting the tiara to stay in place or on my daughters head. So shopping I went! I also did not want to pay much for my tiara and figured they would have them at the dollar store but no luck. Then while shopping at hobby lobby I seen them 6 in a pack but they had a come attached to them which I thought it would help the tiara stay in or on her head. They also had no embellishments on them which was good for me because a open slate is a crafters dream. So I had to by the 6 pack for $2.49 but I will have extras if ever the need for another tiara arises. Picked up some cheap flower rhinestone embellishments and hot glued them on then a matching dragonfly.

It's hard to see but it's so darn cute and girly!!!

Costume/ Play Fairy Wings (I made for $1.00 dollar)

So I had a challenge ahead of me. My daughter wanted Fairy wings to wear with her princess dress she's wearing to the Birthday Party she's attending this up coming weekend. So in May fairy wings are just not available. I also need them in white. Found some blue/ teal wings, pink wings but no white. Thank God I'm just a little crafty. Now to make fairy wings and the web is the best place for inspiration and even some times direction.... I found several helpful sites... let's see if I can pull it off. They all used old wire hangers but I had some metal craft wire that would be perfect so I started bending not so bad made one small lop and a large lop then repeated 1 more small and large lop. Attach large lop and small lops with duct tape right and left sides. Cover with white pantyhose. The only thing I did not have was white pantyhose. Found them at goodwill new in package for .50 cents bought to packs. I made my wings for $1.00 dollar. I had ribbon, tulle flowers and glitter I mean pixie dust. So total cost $1.00 dollar.

Picture of my wire wings shaped and taped.



My finished wings. I added some tulle flowers and ribbon in the center to make them more fairy like.



My goal is to build a Lemonade Stand

So I think I found the perfect direction on how to build a lemonade stand. I thought that Kaitlyn and her cousin Garret would enjoy selling lemonade this summer or would even have fun just playing w/ a lemonade stand. Maybe they could sell lemonade at the garage sale I need to have. What I like about the lemonade stand is that it comes a part for storage. So in the next few weeks that is going to be the project to build a lemonade stand for the kids! I'll post some pictures of my completed project.

Hair Accessories for girls- Cruly Ribbon Barrettes

I love cute little hair bows but hate what retail wants u to pay for the finished project. So I set out to make my own cute bows for my daughter for a fraction of the cost. The web is the greatest source when looking for info to make something. I found a great You Tube Tutorial on how to make curly ribbon bows and it was simple.
Supplies needed to make:
1. Ribbon 1/4 to 3/8 wide (FYI- when buying ribbon pay attention to how much comes on the roll. You'll need 1 yards to make one bow. Also sometimes the ribbon is cheap because it only has a few inches on the roll.
2. Dowel rods 1/4 to 3/8 round.  At least 10 (Remember the smaller the dowel the tighter the curly)
3. 2 3/4 Wooden Clothespins (spring kind/ see: pic below)
4. 1- Pack contains 12 brarrettes 40mm or 50mm metal hair barrettes.(see pic below)
5. Needle & thread
FYI-my dowel rods where 36" long so I cut them in haft to 18 inches.

To make:
1. Place your ribbon at the top of the dowel with a clothespin to hold the ribbon, next now rap your ribbon tight side by side down the dowel then use a second clothespin to secure. Cut the ribbon repeat until you used all your ribbon or all your dowel rods. I rap about 10 dowel rods at a time.
2. Now take a long cookie sheet cover with foil.
3. You'll need to wet the ribbon and dowel rods so you can use a spray bottle but I just run my dowels under water until all wet.
4. Place dowels spread out on cookie sheet place in oven on 200 degrees and heat or cook until dowels are dry. The wood from the dowels does give off a wood smell when warming but will go away after the dowels cool.
5. You will heat the dowels & ribbon in oven until dry.
6. Remove tray and let cool.
7. When cooled completely then slowly unwrap the ribbon. Cut your new curly ribbon to desired length.
 I like 2"- 3" inches long.
8. Take a needle w/ thread and place your ribbon piece through the needed in the center of each ribbon then run the needle through the ribbon several times tie off. I like 10 pieces of ribbon together it makes a nice full curly ball.
You can mix and match ribbon color and and make them shorter or longer as you prefer. Last I hot glue the ribbon ball to a hair barrettes.

This is the curly ribbon hair pieces completed.

2 3/4 wooden spring clothespin

40mm or 50mm metal Hair Barrette (I use these hair barrettes they hold better in my daughters hair)

I will post my flower hair piece soon.

A True Friend...

A true friend, a friend for life is one who never judges you, you always just click, there is no question??... you'll have a blast when together and no matter how often you talk everyday, once a week, once a month or yearly your always on the same page and you pick up right where you left off. I'm blessed to have a true friend and a friend for life!

Double Post

So sorry about the double post. I'm having some tech issues with missing post that magically reappeared. I think I have the issue resolved.

Tutu Dance Bag

So this is one of my many post that was deleted. So a few months back I was shopping online for some cute dance wear for my daughter when I came acrossed these cute tutu bags for sale on Etsy. These bags are sold and made by stay at home Mother's like myself. I love the the tutu bags and had to have one for Kaitlyn's dance gear but I live by one rule: If I can make it...I will never buy it! When working on a project I can not find info for on the web (how to make) then my brain is continuously thinking on how they made it and how much it will cost to make compared to the asking price. A really nice tutu bag to me is in the 25.00 to 30.00 dollar price line on Etsy and I knew I could make the same bag for 1/4 of the cost because I never charge for my time. I also buy all the items I need on sale or use 40% coupons at the craft stores. Well my quest for a tutu bag is complete! I finally figured it out and made one for Kaitlyn. I'm always getting compliments and people want to know if I'm willing to make and sell. Well will save that for later discussion.


I love this bag it is so cute and stylish! We like to roll in style!!! LOL



My Lost Data...

So I figured out what went wrong with the missing post. I was working on my blog the other night when a thunderstorm came through and knocked out the power and turn off my computer and deleted some of my recent post. I'm working on getting them re posted. It is a little frustrating!!!!!

Couponing

I'm so into the new show Extreme couponing on TLC. I think that it is awesome that people can pay $30.00 bucks for $600.00 dollars in grocery's. I hate grocery shopping and the money I spent to eat. I how ever do think that some people are a little extreme like having 4,000 tubs of toothpaste or enough diaper for the first 1 1/2 years of a baby's life with out having any kids. How ever it is great to see how these people use the system to save them big bucks. I have started a little competition of my own against myself but have had some friends jump in as well. To see how much time I would have to spend to save and how much I would save in 1 month with using coupons. So I use coupons for local craft stores to save but not so much on food, personal care, pets and cleaning products so I thought why not give it a try. Well  to my surprise 13 days in I have to say it's going much better then planned with not to much effort on my part. As of 5-13-2011 I have saved a total 60.67.
First I get my coupons from my mom and friends from the Sunday paper. I browse quickly and only keep the coupons for product I will buy and use. I browse some coupon web sites and print coupons from their. I eclip to my Advantage Card I have with Giant Eagle. So I break my efforts up to varies days about 5- 10 minutes tops. Then the day before I go to the grocery store I look at the sales flyer plan my meals 7 days at a time, 5 lunches for me and Kaitlyn, husbands lunches, pet food, beverages and ect. Then I make my grocery list and after completed I pull out my coupons which from memory I already know what coupons I need and then I double check to make sure their is not any other coupons I can use in my coupon binder. Example: I know I have a $2.00 coupon for 2 lipton 12 pack teas which my husband likes to take to work to drink so I already know I need this coupon. I had a $2.00 coupon for 12 pack of mighty dog moist dog food and my dogs like this product so I use it. I also group coupons together with a paper clip if it's something I buy weekly to save time. I spend about 1/2 on my quest to saving a week which I feel is pretty reasonable. I have also received several coupons form dairy queen (buy one get one free) which me and my husband have been fine with using I mean buy a banana split get one free who's going to complain about that we saved our selves 3.69 on just this one fast food coupon. I also use a McD's one for a free Big Mac $3.39 savings. So I keep the fast food coupons in the car and pull them out and use them when we can. I never did this before. I love going to a craft store and saving 40% on one non-sale item so this is like doing the same thing. I'm thrilled with my savings so far this month. I love a deal and saving money. It makes me feel empowered and in control when at the grocery store.

Mad....

So some of my recent post have been lost and I'm not happy about that. I'll try to re-write and post.

Dance tutu bag

So I came across these tutu bags months ago when searching for cute dance gear for my daughter. These bags are so cute and made by stay at home mom's like me and they sell them on Esty for the extra cash. A good well made bag can run $25.00 to $30.00 bucks. So as always I had to have one but I'm never willing to pay the asking price and as always with any thing I like and know I can make I'll study it over and over, I'll fall asleep the next few night thinking about my game plan, draw up some plans, make my shopping list and will come up with a figure on what it will cost to make... which with every project I take on I always make it for 1/4 of the cost. I also always buy my needed items on sale to help me save. So here is my finished Tutu bag I made for Kaitlyn's dance items. Cute and stylish that's how we roll!!! LOL

Kaitlyn was invited to her First Birthday Party!

So one of the many cute little girls in Kaitlyn's dance class McKenna has invited Kaitlyn to her Birthday at the dance studio where they take classes together. Kaitlyn is so excite to be attending her first Birthday Party. We have been discussing what she wants to wear because they get to come dressed like little Princess. The parent's giving the party has asked each guest to bring a donation for the Akron Children's Hospital instead of a gift for the Birthday Girl. I really thought that this was a wonderful idea on the part of the parent's. So I started racking my brain to what would be a good gift to buy to donate. Well I just could not think of what would be the right gift to purchase and of all the years I have spent in health care the answer... is just to contact someone in patient relations. So this is exactly what I did. To my surprise they told me that the best donations are brand new stuffed animals the children love them and they never seem to have enough to go around. Well that was simple now this weekend we will be heading off to buy some stuffed animals to donate.
 I have seen and heard about parent's asking guest to donate items for a good cause instead of gifts. My new favorite show Quintuplets by Surprise on TLC just did their Quintuplets 2nd Birthday and asked their guest to donate a new coat instead of a gift for their children. It does teach children at a young age to think of others instead of them selves. My daughter sure does not go with out. She has more opportunities then I had at her age and definitely more toys. So a great lesson to learn and to teach your child is to look outside the box and think of others whom are 1. Less fortunate or 2. They have to over come hurdles in life like medical problems/ issues and 3. Helping others should be more rewarding then receiving.

New Recipe I have to share!!!

So my neighbor was telling me about a new recipe she just made with stove top stuffing, chicken and jumbo pasta shells with a cream chicken/ cream of mushroom sauce. Well a few days later I thought about her recipe something new to make for dinner sounded good. Well thank God for the web!!! Typed in a few key words and walla several recipes. So I went with this recipe and add a few of my own touches.
You will need: 1. 4- boneless skinless chicken breast (I buy frozen 3lb bag of boneless skinless chicken tenderloins at Giant Eagle when on sale for $5.97 I can get about 2-3 meals out of it.) 2. Twin box of stove top stuffing. 3. 1- box Jumbo large pasta shells. 3. 1- can of each cream of mushroom soup and cream of chicken soup. 4. 2- cups shredded mozzarella cheese. 5. 1- cup mayo 6. 1/2- can milk.

I place my frozen chicken in a baking/ casserole dish sprayed w/ pam to cook. (I like to add some Italian dressing and 2 tbsp of butter, 1 tbsp minced garlic and some seasonings.) Cook until chicken is fully cooked, then chop up in small pieces. Cook shells according to box directions. I cooked the hole box of shells but realized I only needed 1/2 box to fill a casserole dish 13 x 10. Cook the stove top stuffing according to box directions. I cooked both bags of stove top stuffing but really only needed a bag  & 1/2 of stove top stuffing. In a large bowl place 1 cup mayo, stove top stuffing when completely cooked and diced chicken along with (I add) 1 1/2- cups shredded mozzarella cheese. Add some seasoning and mix well. Have a casserole dish sprayed with pam. Take your cooked shells drained-rinsed and fill with the stove top/chicken/ mayo mix. Should be enough shells to fill a 13 x 10 casserole dish which my family of 3 only ate a 1/4 of. (They where great the next day for lunch!) Now mix/whisk your 1 can of  each cream of mushroom soup and cream of chicken soup with 1/2 can milk. When well mixed pour over stuffed shells and bake for 45 min. on 350 or until hot. Last add some mozzarella cheese on top place back in oven a few extra minutes until melted. This was easy to make, not bad on cost, if to much split and freeze 1/2 for a later time. You can make this meal in advanced then baked prior to dinner.

My creative ideas... and time!!!

I have a notebook of over 100 pages of creative ideas of crafts I want to make post/ share along with so many past projects I need to post/ share. My life has been so busy lately and I do not even have enough time to post but as soon as I get some time I'll get some craft ideas posted!