Butterfly Stained Glass Craft Tutorial

My children love craft projects and recently my little boy was fascinated by all things related to butterflies...so we decided to make stained glass butterflies to put up in the kitchen windows. We made these just like the stained glass crosses we made back in March--which still are up in the windows and looking beautiful!

First I cut out an outline of a butterfly out of black construction paper and adhered it to clear contact paper--I taped that down (sticky side up!) to the kitchen table so that it wouldn't move while my son worked on his project.

He filled the butterfly with squares of tissue paper. When he was done, I put another black butterfly outline over the top (to hide the tissue paper edges) and then covered the top with another layer of contact paper. At this point the butterfly is sandwiched between the contact paper. Then I trimmed the excess contact paper off and the project was done!

His butterfly is a bright and colorful addition to our window--perfect for summer!

Craft shared at: No Time for Flashcards

Easy Paper Pennant Banner Tutorial

We recently celebrated my daughter's First Holy Communion and I wanted a simple "Congratulations" banner to hang for the occasion. I made this banner out of scrapbook paper and grosgrain ribbon in an afternoon. I opted to make a very simple banner, but it could be embellished to be as fancy as you would like it to be.

Supplies:

• scrapbook paper
  
• ribbon, twine or yarn
• adhesive
• hole punch

Step One:
Cut out your triangles--however many you need for your banner. I needed fifteen to spell out my word.

Step Two:
Cut out your letters. I used my Cricut to cut mine out, but you could use any sort of craft cutter or even use letter stickers (from the scrapbook section of the craft store), a stencil, or just use a marker.

Step Three:
Adhere your letters to the pennants. I used scrapbooking adhesive (a tape runner) for this step, but you could use a glue stick or whatever you have handy.

Step Four:
This step is skippable, but I'm addicted to my corner rounding punch, so I used that on the corners of each pennant. Here you can see that I used it on the "C" but hadn't yet used it on the "O". I think it just gives my simple banner a nice finishing touch. Very skippable though if you don't have this punch.

Step Five:
Punch two holes in the top of each of your triangles and thread your banner! Use ribbon, twine, yarn--whatever looks best!

Step Six:
Hang your banner and admire your creation!

Free Spring Crafts eBook

Allie from No Time for Flashcards recently invited me to have one of my crafts published in a great eBook full of spring crafts. Needless to say, I enthusiastically accepted her invitation! There are 25 crafts submitted by 15 bloggers in this great free ebook! Download your copy and get crafting!

Click here to download your free copy!

DIY Topiary

Look at this beauty I picked up for $4.99 at Goodwill awhile back! So springy and fresh--perfect for Easter!
Ha, ha! Really I just liked the container--it reminds me of tin ceiling tiles.

I quickly pulled off all the gnarly (never thought I'd use that word in a blog post!) faux flowers and revealed this anemic looking ball underneath. So much for using that for my sleek new topiary. It isn't exactly in scale with the base.

So I wrestled it off--and a few of the extra twig things came off too. At this point I shoved the whole thing in a corner and left it...for over a year. I picked it all up again this weekend and it came together really quickly--and cleared some stuff out of my craft area (which was my goal).

So, after my year+ long break, I took this styrofoam ball that I had in my craft supplies and jammed it onto the pointy stick that I had coming up out of my container. It went on pretty easily. I bought the faux boxwood garland a few weeks ago at Michaels Craft Store using a 40% off coupon and it cut apart very easily using regular scissors.

I dipped each cut end of boxwood into some tacky glue before sticking it into the styrofoam because I didn't want my topiary falling apart and becoming a craft fail after all this time. This was working pretty well for me, except I didn't like the glimpses of white you could see through the boxwood.

A quick an easy cure for the white styrofoam--paint it apple green! I got out my craft paint and one of my daughter's paint brushes and slapped a bunch of paint on my styrofoam ball. And by a bunch of paint I mean a bunch of paint. It went on easily but it sure did take a lot of paint. I probably should have used a green foam ball to begin with, but white was what I had.

I (mostly) let the paint dry and then kept on sticking the boxwood sprigs into my ball. It went pretty smoothly and dipping the sprigs in the tacky glue really made for a firm set for the sprigs. When I was done I checked my supplies to see what I could cover the base of my topiary with and I came up with some moss that I hot glued into place. I added a little bow and I was done!

I love it--and totally wish I hadn't taken a YEAR off midway through the project.
Right now I have it on my fireplace mantle, but I'm not sure where it will end up. I have some other plans for some Easter decor for my mantle, but for now this new topiary will do. Behind it you can see the wall decor I made with scrapbooking paper last spring.

And, since I'm not the first (or the last!) to fall in love with topiaries, here are some more ideas for you:

Miss Mustard Seed (a fluffy version of a boxwood topiary)
Tales and Trials (apparently we even like the same black and white ribbon!)
Scissors and Spatulas (find some premade boxwood balls and go from there!)


Linking to:

• Tutorials and Tips Tuesday at A2Z
• Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts
• Hookin' Up with HoH
• Look What I Found Friday at Vintage Revivals
• Weekend Wrapup Party at Tatertots and Jello
• Best DIY Projects of March at Beneath My Heart

Stained Glass Cross Craft Tutorial

Last week I was looking for a fun craft for both my children and decided to have them make stained glass crosses. We had all the supplies on hand--tissue paper (that I cut into squares), clear contact paper, and black paper (that I cut into two cross outlines per child).
I taped down a section of contact paper (sticky side up!) for each child and put down a cross outline. Each child also received an individual bowl of tissue paper squares. Taping down the contact paper helped keep their projects from moving.
My preschooler went for the random approach for his stained glass cross.
My second grader aimed to cover every exposed area of her cross.
When your child is done with their masterpiece, put the second cross outline on top of the first (to hide the spots where the tissue paper overlapped the first outline). Then put a second sheet of contact paper down--with the sticky side on top of the artwork to seal everything inside. The final step is to trim around the project.

Beautiful!

Visit Lenten Ideas for Kids at Catholic Icing, Someday Crafts, and Weekend Wrap at Tatertots and Jello!

Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

I love vintage mason jars and have posted about them several times. You can read about my decorating fascination here and here. Unfortunately most of the time my beautiful jars live in a a cupboard because I can't find a way to have them be functional but not be broken by my young children.

Then awhile back I came upon a wonderful tutorial by Heather Bullard on how to turn a vintage mason jar into a soap dispenser. I'm not going to repeat my steps because really I just followed hers--her tutorial is fantastic!
Look how pretty it is! It looks gorgeous in my white beadboard kitchen! MUCH better than the yucky "disposable" soap dispenser from Target that I've been using for five+ years! (Did you ever notice that in the "after" pictures of my kitchen that I don't have a soap dispenser? That is because the one I was using was so ugly that I didn't want it in the pictures of my pretty kitchen!)

I'm linking to Look What I Found Friday at Vintage Revivial!

Telephone Table Makeover

I've been half-heartedly searching for a telephone table -- or some call them gossip tables or gossip benches --for quite awhile now. Something about them just really appeals to me. I practically squealed with glee when I saw this one at my local Goodwill. It was marked $20-something, but I had a coupon for making a donation, so I ended up paying around $17 for it. The cashier was quite jealous!

The cushion easily came out as it just was screwed in from underneath. I simply recovered it with some toile upholstery fabric I had leftover from a different project--the fabric just is stapled onto the backside of the cushion. I really should have redone the cushion foam, but I was too impatient.

My next step was to paint the entire bench with an oil based primer because there was NO way I was dealing with sanding all of those spindles! Because I was doing this inside my house due to the cold and nasty weather outside, I did this with a brush, but it would have been much easier to do the spindles with a spray primer. I did three coats of primer.
Next it was two (maybe three...I can't remember!) coats of my favorite Benjamin Moore Decorator White paint. This is the same paint I used on my beadboard kitchen cabinet project. Then it was time to reattach the cushion.


I love it and so do my little ones--I often see them perched on the bench. Sometimes they both squeeze onto the seat together! I'm thinking about rubbing antiquing glaze onto it, but I haven't decided yet.

Linking to Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest and Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello and Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog--come check out all the fun projects at these great link-ups!

Easy Necklace Holder Tutorial

This is one of those projects I started months ago and last weekend I finally opted to take five minutes and finish it. I'm not sure why I procrastinated for so long! At any rate, this is an easy and inexpensive way to store and display your necklaces.
Prior to this, I was hanging my sturdier necklaces from some candleholders in the master bedroom. Functional but not exactly the look I'm going for in there!
I bought this picture frame (no glass in the frame windows) at JoAnn's for around $5 in their unfinished wood section. You can find the cuphooks and sawtooth picture hangers at a hardware store or at Target.
I used some craft paint from my stash and one of my children's paintbrushes and slapped some paint on the frame. My paintjob isn't perfect, but it looks fine. This step took me all of about five minutes standing at the kitchen counter.
After the paint was dry, I used the drill and made some small holes where I wanted my cuphooks to go. You could even tap in some small holes using a hammer and little nail. Then I screwed in my cuphooks.
Next you nail in your sawtooth picture hangers. Put two on the back--one at each of the top two corners...NOT just one in the middle...which I may or may not have done initially and which may or may not have caused the whole thing to tilt at a crazy angle when I may or may not have put my first necklace on the holder. You know, just in case you were thinking that might work...
Add in some pictures of your gorgeous little girl (or boy or husband or dog or whatever) and hang your holder on your wall and add your necklaces! Mine is on the wall in the master closet (thus the bad picture--no natural light in there!) and it makes me smile to see my beautiful little girl. I cannot believe how much she has changed over the years!!

Teacher Appreciation Day Pocket Tag Tutorial

After making a gift for my daughter's kindergarten teacher, I realized I wanted to make a little something for the auxiliary teachers at her school for teacher appreciation week. These water bottle pocket tags are all over the internet--I have no idea who was "the first" on this one! At any rate, these work well for a multitude of occasions and were easy to adapt to fit teacher appreciation week.
First I marked and cut my cardstock (use cardstock, not construction paper, because you need the stiffness) for the overall size I needed for the unfolded tag. This took a bit of trial and error, but ultimately I made them 8 1/2 x 3 1/4 inches.
Next I marked my folds and folded the tag. The top part (where you see the circle) will be the top of the tag that goes over the bottle top. The other folded part will become the pocket of the tag. My original plan was to adhere the blue circles (made from cardstock) and then use a different decorative hole punch to punch through the circle...but my second punch couldn't be centered properly. So for a couple of bottles I used a blade and hand-cut a hole through the circle...then I realized I could abandon the blue circle and just use a scallopy punch and it would look even better!

At any rate, I modified my folds based on whether or not I used the blue circle. For the ones without the circle, both folds were at the two inch mark--these are my favorite tags. Remember, you're folding one end down and one end up. It will look like a zig-zag.
Here you can see my hand-cut hole for the bottle lid...I don't recommend this approach! The light blue rectangle is 3 1/2 x 2 3/4 inches and is the background for the drink mix that I put in the pocket of the tag.
This tag has just a scallop punch for the bottle top to go through--much better looking than my hand-cut circles! I used the pokey tool to poke holes for the star shape brads. It is one of my favorite scrapbooking tools! Usually I use brads as decoration, but these are holding the pocket together. Here you can also see the note I added to the front of the tag. I printed the note onto cardstock so that the paper would match the rest of the tag.
I took the original labels off the bottles, added my tag and some Crystal Light, and that was it! I made these during my son's naptime. We gave them out on Monday and they were a hit!

Teacher Appreciation Week

Teacher Appreciation Week is this week! We have been so busy at our house and my brain is on overload--so I turned to the internet for teacher appreciation ideas and was not disappointed! Here are pictures of my version of an idea I found on eighteen25. I love this idea and it was fun to make! She has step by step instructions on her blog.

The box is a $5 embroidery floss divided plastic box I bought at JoAnn's--the black ribbon came from there too. The paper on the lid is from my stash, as are the black rub-on letters. I put my Cricut to use again (!!) to cut the flower for the lid. I did ink the edges of the paper on the lid--I thought it gave the paper a nice finished edge.
Inside the lid I did something a bit different than the original and had my kindergarten daughter write a note to her teacher. She did such a good job!
The box contains goodies for her desk--almost everything is from Staples. The mini hand-sanitizer is from my (rather large!) stash of sanitizer and the Hershey's nuggets are from Target. The rest is from Staples--mostly from their little "bulk" section.

I think our kindergarten teacher will like this and find it a nice change from coffee mugs and other typical teacher appreciation stuff...at least I hope she will!!

Easter Egg Felt Garland Tutorial

Looking for a last minute Easter project? Try my Puffy Easter Egg Garland! Remember the Puffy Heart Garland from Valentine's Day? Well, this is the Easter version! I made this using only supplies I had on hand--I love free projects!
Step one! Make an egg shape pattern and pin it on your felt (I made all pink eggs--do whatever colors you like!) and cut out your egg shapes. I cut two eggs shapes at a time because I wanted to stuff them and sew them together.
Decide how to decorate your eggs! I cut out strips of white felt with my pinking shears. When I did the Valentine garland, I decorated with buttons. Do whatever you want!
Stitch your decorations onto your eggs. I sewed mine by hand because I didn't feel like hauling out my sewing machine. Plus this way I could do it while I watched television. The pin is there to keep the back piece of the egg matched up with the front piece.
Stitch partway around the egg (by hand or machine, doesn't matter!) and stuff the egg with Polyfill or felt scraps or whatever you have on hand. Then sew the egg all the way closed.
I used embroidery floss to stitch everything on these eggs because I have a lot of it and I think it is sturdier than thread.
The final step is to stitch the backs of your eggs onto some grosgrain ribbon. I put the ribbon up on my fireplace and then pinned the eggs in place. Then I took down the pinned garland and handsewed the ribbon onto the eggs before rehanging my garland.
(That's my six year old as a newborn in the hospital--except both my babies looked identical as newborns, so I keep it up there as a reminder of both of them. This was my inspiration picture while nursing my firstborn--we had an extremely rough start to nursing, so I would look at this newborn picture with her face all shiny with mama milk and remember why I was doing what I was doing. We went on to nurse for two years. My second child nursed until he was almost four. I am so happy I toughed out an absolutely miserable start to nursing because it ended up being one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.)

So, there you have it! A last minute free Easter decoration that you can make while watching television. Crafting doesn't get much easier than that!