hearts

I haven't used my sewing machine in far too long. so with valentine's day coming up, I thought it would be fun to use a bunch of the leftover felt I had to make some little decorative hearts. I just cut out two hearts of the same size, sewed them together leaving a space at the bottom to turn them under. I stuffed them with batting & stuck in a wooden dowel that I colored with a gold sharpie. then I just threw a little glue gun on the bottom to seal them up. xoxo

mini mountains

I think my wrapping theme this year is going to be black + gold. I found a printable for these mini mountain tops & made a couple today. I think they'll look cute on top of my wrapped gifts this year.

get the free pdf here. 

dive, dip, duck, dodge and.... dive

is it possible that a first time dad-to-be would find any baby gift "cool"? our friend matt is an avid dodgeball player (he's even played again kesha... or is it ke$ha?) & can be found wearing shorts & a hoodie about 99% of the time. so I wanted to give him something a little more fun than the nipple covers that were on the registry. 

we stole this picture of matt from his facebook page & then just traced it onto freeze paper & painted it onto a onesie (I used this tutorial). paired with a soft baby hoodie from american apparel & it makes the perfect "cool dad" gift. 

inspired by pinterest week: pom pom bunting

my second "inspired by pinterest" craft is this pom pom name pennant, found on kojo designs blog. I was asked to make some shower decorations for my sweet friend's baby shower last month, so I thought I'd put a little extra time & effort into something that could then be used in the nursery as a more permanent decoration. this project was much more time intensive than the rest of the pinterest projects I'll be featuring, but it was definitely worth it. 

I bought some yarn, one of these pom pom makers, put on some downton abbey & went to town. making these cute little poms got kind of addictive. the only thing I did differently from the tutorial (found here) was that I used duck tape over the wire in order to help hold the shape of the letter (the wire itself wasn't staying in place for me). after that, just glue-gun all 80 poms down & you've got yourself some pretty adorable bunting (thanks heather for choosing a name with just 4 letters. I don't think I had the strength for "magnolia"). 

inspired by pinterest week: felt flower baby hair clips

pinning things on pinterest makes you feel like you're really doing something, am I right? you feel a little rush of accomplishment for finding an awesome idea & adding it to your board. but in reality, the motivation usually ends there. you rarely ever really do anything with these brilliant ideas ("not that there's anything wrong with that").

I have probably completed a mere 1% of the bajillion projects & recipes that I have pinned. I thought I would share those few projects this week, in case you missed them on pinterest.

the first project are these simple little hair clips for baby, from make it and love it. they are easy to make a require only a few things: some felt, hair clips, a needle + thread & a glue gun. download the template here & make your own. they're so adorable that I seriously considered making a set for myself. 

make a felt flower pin

my friend jenny had me over recently for a little craft day. we had all kinds of projects we planned to tackle, but got a bit distracted & then ran out of time (due to a much-needed trip for some red velvet frozen yogurt). however, we did manage to make these fun felt flowers. jenny first spotted the tutorial from jones design company. they only require few supplies & are easy to make.

here’s what you’ll need:

cardstock to make the flower template

a quarter (to trace for the base piece)

a sheet of felt

a pencil

scissors

glue gun

pin

draw a flower-shape onto cardstock to make a template. we just drew ours by hand; it doesn’t have to be perfect. cut out the template & trace onto a sheet of felt. i made six or seven felt flowers for each pin.

for your “base”, trace a quarter onto the felt & cut out.

once you have all your pieces cut & laid out, fold a flower over in half & then in half again.

add a bit of hot glue to the end & press onto the circle base. hold until dry.

keep adding the petals around the circle.

once you have added four petals, add glue to the center & add two or three more to make the flower look full.

when you’re finished adding the petals, flip the flower over & add a bit of hot glue to the back & add the pin.

easy as that! you have yourself an adorable little flower pin.

these pins look really cute on cardigans; try grouping multiple flowers together. you could also add these felt flowers onto packages, hot glue onto headbands, or even clip onto ballet flats. they make great gifts & would be perfect for easter!

annual ornament

I got a bunch of felt at an estate sale in atlanta last weekend for $1, so I thought I should probably make something with it. I found this diy post & decided to use the felt to make an ornament. my mom's friend used to make my sister & me a handmade ornament every year as kids & it has always been a sweet tradition. so I thought I'd start this year & attempt to make a make new ornament myself. knowing me, I'm sure I'll get around to making this new "tradition" happen every year...

metallic pumpkins

I love the look of these gold, silver & bronze metallic pumpkins spotted here. what a cheap & easy way to add a little pizazz to your ordinary fall decor.