Frameless Photos

First of all, how beautiful are my nieces? And how great are these photos (by Small Beginnings Photography)? Really, they need no embellishment. But when I was working on the Magnetic Grocery List yesterday I was left with just the back of a frame and it gave me an idea for displaying these pictures in a unique way.

I started with these supplies:

Flowers, buttons, velcro, ric rac, back of 2 frames, pictures (not shown: ribbon, hot glue gun)

I then began embellishing the outside of the photo. I started with some yellow ric rac and attached it to the corner just by just adding a dab of hot glue. When I got to the next corner I twisted and attached with more glue, continuing on until I had gone around the entire picture.

I then found some flowers and buttons that complimented each other and the colors in the picture {can I just say that I think the pink and yellow combo in the photo is so darling - don't even get me started on the polka dots!}. I hot glued the buttons to the centers of the flowers and then glued the flowers to the corners of the picture.

The last step involved cutting strips of Velcro and gluing them to the back piece of the frame as well as the back of the photo itself. Too simple!

The second photo was the same process only I used ribbon instead of ric rac for the border and just buttons on the corners.

These are probably going to be the inspiration for that empty third shelf in my hutch (see Printing Silhouettes and Glass Jars for what I did on the other two shelves). Couldn't ask for two more beautiful things to display!

Re-purposing formula cans into centerpieces

After nursing for 8 months straight our little guy up and  refused to nurse anymore so we have entered back into the world of formula. I can't help but think every time we finish a can that there is something more I could do with it than put it in the trash. When Nathan was a baby I made noise makers out of his formula cans but I wanted to do something more decorative this time around. So I searched around for a little bit of inspiration and found some at deWolde Daily and ISLY. Combining these two ideas I came up with a cute spring looking centerpiece. Those flowers may not be blooming outside yet but I sure can pretend spring is around the corner inside my house!

Here's what you need:

* Formula can (or other food/coffee can)
* Paper - I used wrapping paper but wallpaper, construction, scrapbook paper would work as well
* Mod Podge (or glue or tape)
* Wooden skewers
* Ribbon
* ruler
* scissors
* hot glue
* buttons

Ready to get started? Let me loosely walk you through it:

1. Remove label from can and clean out the inside.

2. Measure can and cut paper to match:

3. Stick paper to can using your preferred method. Let me say that Mod Podge on wrapping paper didn't work out as well as I hoped. It wasn't a totally smooth finished project. So a little tape or dab of hot glue on the ends might work best:

4. Now for the flowers, I didn't do a step by step so check out deWolde Daily for detailed instructions. I will say that I used a skewer instead of pipe cleaner and ribbon instead of paper. I didn't have to punch holes ahead of time because the pointy end of the skewer went right through the ribbon. I used hot glue to attach the button to the top of the flower (I still need to cut the little points off, I was waiting for them to dry completely):

5. Now you could stop here and plop them in the can but my can was pretty tall and I didn't want them resting against the edge so I used the empty ribbon spools, stacked them on top of each other and poked the skewer through the paper to create a stand:

6. Place the flowers and make shift stand into the can and you have a lovely centerpiece! I am planning to probably add 2 more flowers but I am trying to use only items I have on hand so I need to dig around for some more ribbon:

Don't be surprised if formula cans make several appearances in future craft projects...we've got a few more months of formula to go and I like to use what I've got!

Sophia's tutu

My sweet little niece is turning two soon so I spent some time trying to think of something fabulous to do for her birthday. So far I have made her something for every gift giving event in her life, including her baby showers, and I wanted to keep that going. It didn't take me long to find exactly what I was looking for...a homemade tutu!! Seeing as I have all boys, I crave girl crafts like you wouldn't believe. I feel so blessed that I get to make her these cute things and fulfill my need to create using pink and flowers and ribbons and glitter. Hopefully she doesn't grow tired of it as she gets older. But until the day that she has the words to tell me she wants something regular from the toy store, I'm going to keep on making her stuff!

So here is the finished product:

 I even made my boys try it on to make sure it would be a good fit, although that is a whole other blog post of its own! I wish I would have done step by step pictures so I could walk all of you who are interested through this project. It really was incredibly simple yet I felt so accomplished when I was done. I will share the site I used to get my ideas for this in case anyone is thinking of doing it themselves: Plumtickled  - I followed this one almost exactly except I used three pieces of tulle layered for each knot instead of the one recommended. This gave a much fluffier tutu and I was able to layer colors, like pink green pink for one knot and green pink green for another. I also added flowers at the end using colored brads.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask:)

A picture of Sophia in the tutu and flower hair clips I made her (isn't she a doll?):