How to Make Your Own Christmas Bows

 After a long blogging break, I'm really excited to be back sharing a fun tutorial today.  I've always loved dressing up packages and presents with a personal handmade touch, and this year, I learned how to make my own bows.  It's so much easier than you would imagine and quick, too- in fact, it took me longer to upload the photos for this post than it did to actually make a bow.

This tutorial will cover two different types of handmade bows:  felt and paper.

The photos in this post are from a felt bow-making project, but it's the same directions if you're using artwork or felt.

Let's start with supplies.

You will need:

• Felt or Children's Artwork.  A 12" x 9" square of felt is perfect or a comparable size of artwork.  The thicker the paper (if using artwork), the better.
• Rotary cutter and mat, or ruler and scissors
• Pen
• Hot glue gun for felt; tape or school glue if using artwork.

Cut your felt or paper into 1" strips.  I tried many different sizes of bows and found this size to be the most sturdy, easiest to assemble, and most beautiful bow.  

Cut the following strips from your felt or artwork:

• 3 - 1" x 12"
• 3 - 1" x 11"
• 2 - 1" x 10"
• 1 - 1" x 4"

Set the 4" piece aside.  

For the 12", 11" and 10" pieces, use a light colored pen or marker to mark the center of the strips.  Do this on all 8 strips.

Starting with the 12" pieces, fold the top to your left.

Then, flip the end under and bring it to the line in the middle of the strip.

This really is the hardest part of the entire project, and it's one of those things that easier to show you than to explain to you, so just follow the pictures please.  When I taught this craft at my church mom's group, I found it so much easier to go around and show everyone how to do it than to try and explain it.  Maybe I'm just not eloquent with words....

Then, put a small amount of hot glue on the red line.  

And glue the raw edge down on the red line.  

It helps to practice the turning part a few times before putting the glue on your felt or artwork.  But once you get the turning thing, you've got it and can pop out a hundred of these babies in no time!  :)

Okay, so then you're going to do the same thing to the other side of your strip.  Some people say it helps to flip your strip upside down, but I didn't find that helpful to me.  

So if you keep your strip in the same position, flip the other raw edge to your right.

Again, flip it under and meet up with the first raw edge on the red line.

Once you get the hang of the turning and flipping, you'll find that you can put one strip of hot glue and get both ends glued down pretty quickly.  But it takes practice, so don't get frustrated on your first bow!

Your two raw edges should meet perfectly together.

Repeat this with the other two 12" strips, until they all look like the photo below.  You'll know it's right when you see a continuous figure eight.  

Then grab your 11" and 10" strips and do the same thing.  Keep them separated by lengths.

Now find your 4" strip that you set aside earlier.  Put one small strip of hot glue on one end and make a loop, or an "O".

Now it's time to start assembling your bow!  Remember that several layers of felt can get thick quickly, so use just enough glue to stick and not too much!  

Grab your set of 3 12" figure eights.  

Put a small (pea-sized) amount of hot glue on the meeting point of the two raw edges.

Put the second 12" figure eight on top of the first one, but don't make it perpendicular (or an "X").  You have three to fit on this bottom layer, so stagger it accordingly.

See how there's enough room for the third 12" figure eight to fit in?

Add some glue (another pea-sized amount) to to the second figure eight and put the third one on top.

This is the bottom layer of your bow!  

Follow the same directions to put the three 11" strips on.  One by one, add a pea-sized amount of hot glue and stagger the figure eights on top.  Space them evenly so that the bow looks full and balanced.

Once the 12" and 11" figure eights are all glued together, glue the 10" figure eights on to the existing bow.  Since you only have two 10" figure eights, they will be perpendicular to each other.

This creates a perfect "pocket" or "bowl" for your little loop.  Glue the loop, raw edges down, into the bow.

And you're done!  

To affix your bow to a gift, I suggest tape for artwork bows and hot glue or ribbon for felt bows.  Artwork bows are a true treasure to grandparents, aunts, uncles and anyone who treasures your children's creations.  Felt bows can be used over and over again- much longer than store-bought bows.

A helpful link on making bows from magazine pages can be found here, but I haven't found these bows to be as durable.  

Here's to handmade bows this holiday season!

Baking Soda Air Freshners

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to make five gifts for five amazing friends.  I wanted to do something practical, yet frugal, so I chose this Baking Soda Air Freshener from Smashed Peas and Carrots website.

It's not only super-duper easy, but fun and you can customize it many ways.  You'll need baking soda and some sort of scent.

I used massage oil from Bath & Body Works, but you could use anything- I'm sure there's tons of options.  

I found my wide-mouth mason jars at Target, but you can find similar ones on Amazon.

It's so simple....  mix baking soda with the essential oil of your choice and add to jar.

Remove the circle lid part of your jar- not the ring- and add a  piece of scrapbook paper.  Punch holes in it with a tapestry needle.  I'm so sorry I forgot to take pics of this before I gave the jars away, but you can see the original post on Smashed Peas and Carrots for that part.

How amazing would it be to make some with a fall or Christmas scent?  My wheels are turning.....

Here's to good smelling homes!

Mustache Etched Glasses for Father's Day

This week I pulled out my glass etching cream and made a fun Father's Day gift.  Inspired by Red Currant Designs, this craft is quick, easy and fairly frugal.

I bought my glasses at the Dollar Tree, for $1 each, obviously.  The mustache templates found at LisaWelge.com were the easiest to trace and cut out, and were the cutest, in my opinion.  I think it'd be fun to do a set of eight glasses- each with a different type of mustache from her PDF template.

Although the glasses make a statement in and of themselves, I think I'll fill them with candy, nuts or some other kind of treat.  These particular glasses are for my husband, father-in-law, and brother-in-law.  I wanted to do one for my dad too, but couldn't ship it to him without fear of it breaking, so I'll give it to him in person when I see him in August.

I gave my husband his glass a little early because I needed his modeling skills!  Isn't he a great model?  :)

Happy Father's Day to all the amazing men in my life!  Love to you all.

Helpful Related Links:
My original glass etching post
Glass Etching Cream
Inspiration post from Red Currant Designs
Mustache Template

Make Your Own Kitchen Pantry

I'm linking up this post to IHeart Organizing today.... and although the theme this week has been closets, I think that creating your own "closet" in the kitchen counts, don't you?

Welcome to all the IHeart Organizing readers!

Notice anything new?

 When we bought our home in August 2010, I loved the kitchen.  I blogged about some simple updates here, although there are still many more things to do.  One of the things I wished for was a pantry, but I didn't have one, and there was no space for one.  I felt so amazingly blessed to be in our new home, that I couldn't find any room to lament the fact that I had no pantry.

So, we stored all our food in the cabinets under and above the bar area.  The cabinets are spacious, well placed, and deep, but it wasn't a pantry.

"Pantry" storage above the bar... notice how we throw chips and other items we don't want the kids to eat up there!

Previous pantry storage.... food mixed with crockpot.  Nice!  

I was trying hard each week to meal plan based on what we already had, but the problem was that I had no idea what was in our pantry because I couldn't see it!

Is that a bottle of ketchup back there?

I was constantly coming home from the grocery store and realizing I had purchased something we already had, but I couldn't see!  Ugh.  Not good for the budget or the family morale.  

The "secret space" that is going to change  my kitchen!

This space between the wall and refrigerator was perfect to implement the roll-out pantry storage idea I found via IHeartOrganizing.  I showed it to my husband, he was excited, and we went to Lowe's.  We built this amazing piece in one night- maybe about 6 hours???  

Our new pantry pulls out perfectly between the fridge and wall

We made a few adjustments to the original plans we found, but it fits our needs perfectly.  With the casters, it measures 62.5" high and 9.5" wide.  

We have five total shelves, which measures 8" deep.  The 7/16" dowel rods help to make sure no cans of spaghetti sauce fall on the floor!

Eight inches deep is the perfect depth to hold many cans, boxes of cake mix, pasta, and baskets or storage containers.

We designed it to be this depth so that my canisters of flour, sugar, oats, etc could fit inside the new pantry.

I love that I was able to incorporate storage in baskets and canisters in this space. 

We used 2" non-swivel casters x 4.  It's important that they don't swivel so your pantry can only roll two ways- forwards and backwards.  :)

The long, modern handle was from Ikea.  You can find similar handles on Amazon (link below) if you don't live near an Ikea.  

I could go on an on about this project!  I'm not only amazed that it was so easy, but also the amount of space it has added.  Meal planning is so much easier now, too, since I can see everything I have on hand before heading to the store.  I almost forgot to mention the obvious- I chose to paint the back panel a bright pop of yellow!  It adds a little fun element to this hidden storage secret!

Here's a few helpful links:
Inspiration Post with Plans
IHeartOrganizing Post with more details
Brushed Nickel Hardware on Amazon
More photos of my kitchen

Anyone else out there without a pantry?  How do you survive? What organizing solutions have you found?

Freezer Paper Onesies Baby Shower

This past weekend I flew to Alabama for a very special reason- to see my sister who is expecting her first baby this fall.  And, I couldn't just see her without a celebration, so I joined some friends of hers and we crafted, ate, shared, prayed and partied!

Freezer paper onesies are such a simple way to add a craft to a baby shower or even a way to add a no-sew handmade item to a baby gift.  I originally posted about freezer paper onesies here, which has become one of my most popular posts.  It has been featured on countless blogs and sites and I've enjoyed hearing your stories and feedback about your experiences.

You only need a few basic supplies for this project:

1. Onesies
2. Freezer Paper
3. Acrylic Paint
4. Paint Brushes
5. Posterboard
6. Iron
7. Washer and Dryer

Here's the short instructions, but read further if you want my details and tips.

1. Wash onesies.
2. Cut out shapes, images or words from freezer paper.  
3. Iron freezer paper onto onesies (no steam) shiny side down.
4. Insert posterboard into onesies.
5. Use acrylic paint to add color to onesies inside the stencil.
6. Let paint dry and remove stencil after it is dry.
7. Put onesies in the dryer.
8. Wash as usual.

Long Version with details tips and tricks:

Originally, I cut out the stencils by hand with an Exacto Knife, but this time, I chose an easier route.  I do not have a Cricut or Silhouette, so I began brainstorming ideas about how to cut out shapes without these helpful tools, and without doing them all by hand!  My sister had an amazing idea- an Ellison Press!

An Ellison Press is a tool that is owned by most schools, some libraries and teacher resource stores.  The main part is the press, and each facility purchases individual "dies" or "blocks" which contain shapes, letters, numbers or images.

I called my son's school and kindly asked if I could use the Ellison Press if I brought my own paper.  They graciously agreed, and I was able to cut nearly 50 images from freezer paper in less than 30 minutes.  It saved me so much time!

Once I got home, my husband and I ironed the freezer paper (shiny side down) onto the onesies to create the stencil.  I packed 30 onesies with freezer paper iron-ons into my suitcase and headed to Alabama, hoping that security wouldn't open my suitcase and wonder how crazy I must be!

Ironing tips:  Make sure to set your iron to no-steam.  Also make sure to move the iron slowly over the edges of the stencil.  It is super-important to get a good strong seal between the stencil and the onesie, particularly for where they meet.  This will help your paint to not run under the onesies and keep your image krisp.

I chose to use the negative space on some of the onesies, so I used a circle cutting tool to cut a large circle and placed the Ellison Press image inside the circle.  This was a nice twist on the onesies- so they weren't all just an image on a onesie.

At the baby celebration, I hung the onesies on a line of twine with clothespins and set out paint.

I did insert a piece of posterboard inside each onesie.  This is important because it keeps the paint from bleeding through to the back of the onesie.  Keep the paper in the onesie until the paint is fully dry.

I chose to put the paint in clear plastic cups.  Originally, I thought I would put it on paper plates but cups seemed to be a much better option for mess and clean-up.  I use acrylic paint, and although many sites suggest using textile medium, I do not use that.  I tried, but it made the paint very runny and honestly, my onesies are just as soft without the textile medium.

As guests arrived, they selected a onesie and a paint color.

My sister really wanted to know who painted each onesie, so I added a blue circle tag to each one for guests to write their name.

Using foam brushes, each guest painted inside the stencil.

Some painted with a single color, and others used more than one color.

Once all the onesies were painted, they were hung up on the line and left to dry while we socialized, ate and partied.

After we were done with the indoor festivities, I snuck back out onto the patio and started removing the stencils.  As people realized what I was doing, they were shocked at how amazing the onesies looked.  They couldn't believe they had painted such a great image onto baby clothes.  Most of all, my sister loved them and baby boy is so excited about his new onesie wardrobe!

Once we got home, I dried the onesies in the dryer, and then washed and dried them all.  The paint is soft, not stiff, and the colors are bright and vibrant.

Would you believe that 90% of these onesies started as white?  I dyed the orange, green and yellow onesies at my house prior to ironing on the stencils.  I'll share more about how I dyed them and some tips later this week.

Anyone else experimented with freezer paper stenciling?  What have you done and what are your tips?