Crafting/ Homemaking

Packing up from Christmas
I get tired of trying to fit the lights back in the tiny boxes they came in. They almost never fit, so I came up with a different cheap solution, boxes.

Basically I just cut the flaps off of an old box and used it to wrap the lights and garland around.

Cut little notches in the end to hold the string in place, then wrap it around the cardboard. 

This also keeps the strings from getting all tangled up.

Fits nicely in a bin. :-) (Mine look a little messy because they are icicle lights, but it keeps those from getting tangled as well).

 Popcorn pins are fun and great during the holidays, not only for their delicious goodies inside, but they are great for packing up Christmas nick knacks.

 I used them to store my scented pine cones (also the tin can preserves the scent)

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2013 Halloween Pumpkin

Ferris Wheel and Shooting Star. I think the stars turned out great! :-) Scott and I carved this together.

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Organizing fabric in the sewing room

I saw this idea on Pinterest and just loved it! You fold your fabric and "file it" using hanging files. Now I can see what I have and my fabric is now much more accessible. The only downer to this is if you have a big piece of fabric, it will not fit on the hangers. I still stored these pieces in the "file boxes", just not on the file hangers. Then all my scraps go in a separate "file box". It's working fantastically.

Some of my fabric, organized in "rainbow" order :-)

My scrap box, and under that is my "big pieces of fabric".

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Making the most of a small space

Our apartment is too tiny for all of our stuff, we have too many bins of storage that we simply do not have a place for. Our apartment is also too tiny for a "living room area/guest area" with a couch/tv. So this is the solution I came up with:

Storage bins

Converted into a couch using my old bed set from before I got married and cushioned with our extra bedding.

Perfect! It makes our lil' abode so much more inviting :-).


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Laundry Change Jar (made from a recycled sun dried tomato jar)

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Easy Centerpiece Idea

I was in need of a Christmas centerpiece for my dining room table and was on a budget so I took a candle I had and placed some scented pine cones (Scott loves that cinnamony Christmas smell) around it, some were  painted gold sparkly.  Worked very well I think! Also, another little trick to get your house to smell like Christmas and baking is just place some cinnamon on a cookie tray and let it bake in the oven for a few minuets. Works like a charm! 

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Nativity Scene

Scott brought home a surprise home one night for me because I was nagging him for a cute date (I was tired just doing movie dates and dinners, I know, I'm so mean). And so he came home with oven and air drying clay for an "art date night". I had so much fun! He is such a sweetheart. So I made a Nativity scene for our apartment and Scott made a cute little scene of a Christmas tree gobbling up gifts and ornaments (which I don't have a pic of cuz he didn't finish it yet).

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Toilet Paper Roll Wall Art:

This is cheap and a great way to recycle.

You can use toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, wrapping paper rolls, etc.

I noticed that my bedroom walls were quite gloomy and needed something to liven up the room, so I decided to make a piece for the wall (acting sort of as a headboard, since we just have our mattresses on the floor as of now). 

First you just cut the roll into even pieces (I start by cutting it in half, then cutting the half in half, etc). 

Then you paint each piece (hand paint or spray paint).

                 

                                             You can lay it out into a design you would like (there are so many options).

                       

                                    And glue the pieces together.


                                         I  kept the flowers separate to hang on the wall in the illusion of one piece.

BEFORE

AFTER (just a simple little touch)

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Beauty and The Beast Inspiration Decor:

I have this flower from my wedding (it is actually the rose we put on our honeymoon bed at General Lee's Inn). So I wanted to preserve it. I decided to recreate something like the rose in Beauty and the Beast.

All I used was one of the cylindrical "bridesmaid" vases from my wedding, some black acrylic paint, and styrofoam (which I cut into a circle). 

I put three coats of paint on the styrofoam, to ensure no streaking.

Then I simply slid the rose into the vase, upside down. Then popped in the styrofoam. I hot glued around the edges for extra seal because I wanted the rose to be protected ( It makes it look a little sloppier, though. If you're a perfectionist you can just cut the foam to exact size and pop in).  

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Christmas Stockings: 

I decided to make our own stockings to start of our first year of marriage, because they are more personal that way. 

We're going with a country theme, so each of us (adding chillins when we have them) will have a different colored plaid stocking.

I printed off our names then embroidered them onto the fabric. Would've been much easier if you have an embroidering loop, maybe I'll get one next Christmas ;-p.

Then I lined the stockings with quilt stuffing, sewed it all together and added white fuzzy material to the top. 

                                  

                                                               They turned out pretty good :-) 

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Christmas Cards/Jam gifts:

Making your own cards can save you quite a bit of money.

I spruced up my cards a little by gluing tiny gold
bows to the corner of the cards. (this ribbon was wire lined, so it held the bows' shape. 

I also made jam to go with the cards this year! My first time making regular jam, I usually make freezer jam. I hope they all turned out good~

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Carving Pumpkins:

Picking our our perfect pumpkins (we actually went two places: The Historic Round Barn, where we had our wedding reception, and the local Farm right next to our place).  

I found the most beautiful perfect pumpkin!

 Instead of carving just holes into the pumpkins try sculpting. When lit it gives of a neat affects. Scott did  this with his pumpkin this year, he carved the Avatar. 

I did a mixture of cutting holes and shaving the outside of the pumpkin down so I could get different shades.