Crochet Heart Hair Clip

The other day I made some heart hair clips for my daughter and for an order in my shop.  They were so easy to make that I wanted to give you an easy tutorial.  These hair clips can be attached to any hat or directly in the hair.

Are you ready for a very easy tutorial?

Read more »

The Lone Red Heart

Do you need a fifteen minute-start to finish craft project?

Here's one that I made using things I had on hand.

Here's what you need:

Read more »

"Bee Mine" Valentine's Day Photo/Gift Card Holder

I love the way this photo holder turned out.

Believe it or not, it was SUPER easy to make.

Read more »

Cake Decorating Class

I have always wanted to take a cake decorating class.  I see all these amazing cakes on Cake Boss, Ace of Cakes, and Pinterest and I am envious of their talent.  Now, I don't plan on going profession with any newly learned decorating skills, but it would be nice to make some nice gifts or cakes for my children's birthdays.

I am taking the Wilton Basics class from our local Joann's store.  Yesterday was my first class.  I convinced my friend Jen to take the class with me.  We both have little ones and don't get out just to ourselves very often.  It is nice to just spend time with each other without little ones running around.  Jen has some experience decorating cakes, but she wanted to learn all the ins and outs.  I will have to convince her to send me some pictures of her cakes and a mini tutorial as they are amazing!

Let me share with you some of my first attempts at decorating and a great video tutorial on putting together clean icing bags.

Read more »

A Valentine's Day Decoration Using Scraps

This Valentine's Day craft was made entirely of scraps!

Here's a quick tutorial:

Read more »

Ear warmer or Headwrap

I added a new project to my Christmas list this year.  It is a beautiful ear warmer.  I made one for my husband's cousin's wife, Lana (follow that one?).  She looked through my pattern book and said she would love one of those.  I actually made her two.  One was just a basic ear warmer and the other one was a new stitch for me, the basket-weave or waffle stitch.  I preferred the new stitch.  I liked it so much that I made my best friend, Laura, one for Christmas as well.

If you don't like hats but want something cute to keep you warm, an ear warmer is a great accessory.  (It is hard to write about this when it is 70 today in Georgia on February 2!)

Check the ear warmers out.

Read more »

Cowls

I have a new fascination and love for cowls.  The problem is I haven't had time to make myself one!  I pinned a bunch of cowls on Pinterest so that I could pick the right one that I wanted to make for myself.  Well, my sister saw them and pinned her order for me.  I don't mind.  Making money is better than making something for myself right now.  I also made one for a friend.

All three of these cowls, I made before Christmas. People, I am telling you I was a crocheting fool before Christmas.  Never will I do that again!  I like to enjoy crocheting not feel like I am in mass production mode.  I felt like I was the only worker in a sweat shop!  Whew!

No matter the stress, I love the cowls that I created.  I have included the links to the patterns that I used as well.

Read more »

Last Year's Valentine's Day Post is Full of Great Ideas

It's Valentine's Day! I hope you all are having a wonderful one.  What does this mean to us?  Well, we're almost done with pink, red, and hearts and we'll be moving on to rainbows, leprechauns, and pots of gold.

I LOVE traditions.  I have many.  I really don't have any Valentine's Day traditions though.  Any suggestions?

I definitely try to spend the day letting others know how grateful I am for them. So, let me start with our followers.  I am so grateful for you.  You give our crafting addictions a purpose.

Speaking of crafting and cooking... I have a few more Valentine's Day things to share with you before we move on to the next holiday.

Do you remember the birthday door mat tutorial I did? http://www.oursevendwarfs.com/2011/01/happy-birthday-welcome-mat-tutorial.html Here's my Valentine's Day version.  We're conversation hearts.  I used regular acrylic paint on the mat and fabric paint to paint on our names.  I just free handed the hearts. Super easy and even cheaper.  This is one of those thirty minute crafts.  I LOVE quick crafting!

My friend Amy and I saw a great wreath on Oopsey Daisy http://oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/2011/02/3-dimensional-heart-wreath.html.  We were inspired.  As always, when we copy craft, we take their thing and do our own thing to it.  So, instead of copying the entire wreath with the hearts, we did a partial cover. I'll be honest, there were three reasons we did this. First, we bought two stores out of hearts.  Secondly, that would have taken a lot more time.  Finally, we really liked the look of the satin ribbon on the wreath so we wanted ot show some of it.  This is my wreath above.

This is Amy's wreath.  Amy claims to be noncrafty.  She's a crafty chick in denial.  Her wreath is gorgeous.  Also, if I'm going to be completely honest.  She made all of my wreath too.  The only thing I did was arrange the hearts, hot glue them on, and get a huge blister to prove I used a hot glue gun! Thanks, Amy!

Here's my entry way with the wreath and doormat.

After crafting, I did some cooking. I made these amazing meringue cookies.  I got the recipe from http://www.thestoriesofa2z.com/2010/02/meringue-ice-cream-cone-valentines.html she made them into adorable ice cream cones.  I decided not to do that.  First, my kids don't eat the cones. Secondly, my kids don't eat cake, just icing, and thirdly, meringue cookies, even with M & Ms are pretty low fat.  I'm thinking that's a great dessert to make.  These are delicious.  I used 1T of freshly squeezed lemon juice.  The chocolate and lemon combination are surprisingly amazing.  I will make this recipe again and again.  YUM!

I also made these Martha Stewart cookies.  http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/chocolate-cookie-cutouts-love-bug-cookies The first time I made these cookies was for my daughter's first birthday party.  It was ladybug themed and I made the cute ladybug cookies.  Well, this cookie base is simply delicious... cocoa and cinnamon...so good.  So, I've made them a couple of times since.  These aren't decorated yet but pretty soon they'll have Royal Icing and a varitey of sprinkles. 

...GraciAnn decorated these!  Cute, huh?

Then there's the homemade card I made my husband.  I used red felt to make the rosettes. http://www.oursevendwarfs.com/2011/02/valentines-day-celebrated-with-burlap.html Here's a tutorial for the rosettes I did on an earlier project.  It's simple, sweet, and special. I like it much better than any of the cards I looked at to buy.

Here's wishing you a lovely day on this Valentine's Day!