Yo-Yo Flower Christmas Tree

Have you ever made a yo-yo flower?  I learned how to make one earlier this year thanks to this pin here.  It's so simple to make and super cute!  And who would have thought you can turn a bunch of yo-yo flowers into a christmas tree?  My friend's mom had one on her fireplace mantel and I just couldn't get over how cute it looked!  She was gracious enough to make me a pattern as well as give me some green fabric to make my very own.  

Here's what you'll need:

• 12 in diameter circle pattern
• Scrap fabric in shades of green or solid colors
• Empty thread spool (that will be the tree stump)
• Wooden stick (You can pick one up at your local craft store.  I got mine at Hobby Lobby)
• Scissors/thread/needle
• Polyester filling (optional)

Start by cutting out your pattern on your fabric.  My pattern paper was a little short of 12 inches so I worked with what I had and then rotated the pattern on the fabric since that's the beauty of a circle! 

Once you finished cutting out your 12 in fabric circle you can now cut/trim your pattern to the 11 in circle pattern.

Repeat the process of cutting the circle pattern.

Continue these steps until you reach your 3 inch circle.

Next make a yo-yo flower out of each circle.

Make a little snip at the bottom center so that you can place it on top of the wooden stick.  Put the wooden stick in through the center of the spool so that the spool supports the stick standing.  Stack largest to smallest to create the tree shape.  You can also stuff the yo-yo flowers with polyester filling to make it extra fully, but that's optional. 

Make a little star or find a trinket to put on top and then done!  It's the perfect little center piece for your holiday party!

Don't have time to make a whole tree?  Try this alternative mini yo-yo tree ornament.  String a jingle bell to the center of the lace or string to act as your stopper and then stack the yo-yo flowers through to make your own mini tree.

DIY Pillow Box

I'm making a lot of different little gifts this year for Christmas and thought that the best way to wrap them was to put them into a pillow box!  And I searched on Amazon and all over the internet for cute christmas themed pillow boxes and didn't find any so I hit myself on the forehead and thought why don't I just make my own??  I googled a DIY pillow box project and found it on ItryDIY.com here.  This was time consuming but I feel great about how each of the little boxes turned out!  I definitely recommend this if you need a small box to wrap up your gifts.

What you'll need:

• 1 pad of scrapbook paper of your choosing (Heavier cardstock works better)
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Dull edge (of scissors or butter knife)
• CD or something round
• Double sided tape or Zots 
• Pen

New Curtains!

I have new curtains!! Huge thanks to my friend for hooking me up with really nice curtain fabric!  It makes a world of a difference now.  I can actually sleep in in the morning and I have a lot more privacy at night now.

Before.... 

After!

Here are a few photos of how I sewed the curtains.  I didn't have a pattern but I did take a look at my friend's curtain and tried to reverse engineer it in my head and I think it turned out okay.  :)

Thanksgiving Pins Roundup

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving for us here in the US.  Are you guys ready for some serious grubbing??  I'll be at work but that doesn't break my festive spirit!  I didn't have time to do any Thanksgiving dedicated post this time around but thought I could do a round up for those looking for some easy last minute dinner and decoration ideas for the weekend.  I haven't tried these recipes/projects yet myself but here are a few of my favorite floating around on Pintrest.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to try them soon.  If you guys try them out let me know what you think of them!

Autumn Holiday Wreath by SimplyPinspirational 

Do you remember this from last year? ;)

Dressing Up My Dresser

So my home away from home calls for me to buy a few new "furniture" fixtures and I'm not about to go out and invest in a ton of money into a temporary home.  Moving cost a lot.  And I mean a lot!  Especially if you're making that initial move to rent a room.  You always have to think about the deposit and how you're going to move all of your stuff, or buy new furniture.  I ended up moving some of my stuff but mostly been furnishing my room with plastic and non permanent fixtures.  So my latest addition to my room is this plastic 3 tiered dresser.  I decided to use this as my socks, underwear, pj, pants etc drawer.  Since I didn't want my clothes to be showing straight through the dresser I decided to dress it up a bit.

What you'll need: 

• Plastic dresser drawer
• Scrapbooking paper (or wrapping paper)
• scissors
• Double sided tape
• Ruler
• Pen

DIY Circle "Minnie" Skirt

This was my first time working with elastic where it turned out elastic!  Most of the time I end up sewing the elastic and having end up with zero slack to even put it on!  Now after finding this pin and reading through the tutorial and following it step by step I've successfully made my first elastic skirt!

Original Pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/231724343298826745/

Pin Rating: 5

Last month I posted this photo of the a circle mini skirt that I made for the Color Me Rad and mentioned I was going to do a tutorial of it on the blog.  One month later and I'm sitting her writing my blogpost and I still don't have a blog tutorial!  I started making a Vine video as I was making my 2nd skirt and then realized I had made a mistake in my fabric measurements therefore throwing the whole video out the window.  So instead of holding off on this blogpost I decided to just post some photos of the finished product.  The original pin I gave a 5/5 pin rating so be sure to check out the original tutorial by Dana Made It.  She has great step by step instructions and even tells you how to make measurements for a pattern.  I did manage to make a vine on the pattern though, so enjoy it below!

As seen on my Instagram account.

Here's a head to toe shot.  I didn't really put on a dressy top, but thought this T-shirt was fitting. :)

Don't you just love the way the skirt ruffles at the bottom??

No Carve Lace Pumpkin

Pin rating: 4.5
Original Pin: www.pinterest.com/pin/241998179948381288/

Another Halloween related blogpost today!  I love love love Halloween.  Or maybe I just love the holidays.  I believe October kicks off the holiday season right?  Today's post is similar to last year's no carve pumpkin decorating I did.  Don't remember it?  Click the link to check out my Bedazzled pumpkin post.  I picked this no carve pumpkin design for a few of reasons.

DIY Map & Junk Mail Envelopes

I never paid attention to the inside of the junk mail envelope until I started working with EcoMonster.  She showed me the beauty of the inside of the junk mail letters and how to use them for scrapbooking paper or designs for cork coaster.  Today I'm posting some quick photos on how to convert your own junk mail into fun and beautiful envelopes.  I recently used this envelope to send to my pen pal.  :)  Yup, you heard me right, my pen pal.  I joined the Post Mark Society via www.postable.com earlier this summer and have been exchanging letters with my pen pal.  It basically a pen pal group for bloggers created by bloggers.  :)

One thing I love about pen pal letters is that you don't see too much of it anymore since we have the internet, emails, Facetime, etc.  Another thing is that you can let your personality shine through your letters and envelopes!  So after so many camping trips this summer I have a nice pile of park brochure maps stacking in my room.  The quality of the maps is pretty durable so I decided it would make the perfect envelope!

What you'll need:

• Junk mail envelope
• Park Maps (or any other sturdy scrap paper you have laying around)
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Pen

DIY Jewelry Holder

Pin Rating: 5
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Under $10
Original Pin Here

I've been looking for a quick and cute way to display my jewelry and earrings at the craft fairs and I've finally found it!  It's super cute and quick to make and I had all the materials already laying around the house.

• Picture frame to hang or stand on a table.  Remove the glass piece.
• Hot glue gun/hot glue
• Lace (the more holes in the design the better)

DIY Silver Polish

Pin Rating: 5

Original Pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/85849936619336091/ (www.simplifiedbee.com)

Cost: $0

Duration: 10-15 minutes (not including the time to boil water)

My boyfriend found some of his grandparent's old silver ware dining set in the back shed and they were all tarnished.  After he heard that I used a quick DIY home recipe for my jewelry he started asking me about it and was wondering if the same solution can be used for silver polish.  Of course I turned to Pintrest to help me answer that question.  :)  Turns out the two formulas aren't too different and it was just as affective in cleaning.  Also perfect timing to bring out the nice silverware for a mother's day brunch this weekend.  ;)

Ingredients:

Boiling water

Baking Soda

Salt

Foil (enough to cover the sink)

Objects that need polishing

Ecofriendly DIY Jewelry Cleaner

Pin Rating: 5

Original Pin: Centsible Chick

Cost: $0

Duration: 10-15 minutes

So one weekend while I was sitting across from my boyfriend eating lunch I saw him staring at me with such concentration.  I turned around me to see if he was looking past me, but there was nothing there. When I ask him what's going on he bluntly says: "You need to clean your earings."  Yikes!  If my boyfriend is noticing it then they must be dirty!  So right away I knew I had to find a DIY Jewelry cleaner on Pintrest.  I found one that had the most repins and seem to be quick and doable, and it turned out it was great and I love it!  Common household items that I already had so it didn't cost any money either!

• Small bowl
• 1 Table spoon Salt
• 1 Table spoon Baking Soda
• 1 Table spoon Dawn Soap detergent (Why Dawn? I'm not sure)
• 1 cup of water
• Foil

DIY Personalized Wire Hanger

It's good to be back everyone.  :)  Here's a mini update on my life after my adventure with SJ Made. I was whisked away on vacation with my mom to Washington DC.  (I'm going to create a pin board and write a blog post on that once I get my pictures off my camera).  Once home from vacation I had to deal with a dead graphic card on my computer.  Since I don't have the $300 (quote from the Apple store) to get a new one, I'm using my boyfriend's and sister's computer in the meantime.  Unfortunately my camera doesn't register on my boyfriend's computer so I can't get my photos off.....First world problems right?  Luckily I have a wifi camera so I was able to email myself a few photos to get this blog post done. However, I still don't have a permanent solution for my computer problem, but hopefully soon.  Now that everyone is caught up on my personal life, here's the DIY blog post you've all been patiently waiting for.

My friends are getting married in a couple of weeks and I couldn't help but make this hanger for the bride.  I love making these personalized hangers for my bride friends.  It's something that not too many people think about getting for their wedding day because most of them cost between $20-30 on Etsy and trying to keep within your wedding budget buying a wedding hanger might not be on the top of your list.  But little do people know, this is an easy do-it-yourself project you can do that adds an instant wow factor in photos of your hanger for your wedding dress (or any bridesmaid dress).  I don't have a pin for this, since I learned how to do this for my sister's wedding some months before I started my blog but hopefully you'll be inspired to pin it. :)

 

What you'll need:

•  1 wooden hanger (Bought @Target)
• Floral wire
• Pliers & cutter (scrap cloth)
• Print out of the words you want to have "written"
• Drill (for hole in hanger - not pictured)
•  Glue gun (not pictured)

 

Floral wire is super flexible and easy to work with which is perfect for this project.  The downside of that is that any bend you make in the wire leaves stress marks, and the pliers can be a little rough on the wire leaving nicks on the wires.  To fix this, I just wrapped some scrap cloth around the pliers in order to soften up the rough edges.  

A few things to keep in mind before you start:

• Getting the letters  to your liking will take some practice so cut off a small piece and bend and unbend it a couple of times to practice some hard letters 
• Layering up on the wire is okay because people will look at the hanger straight on
• The print out that you have will be a guideline so try to keep it as close as possible. But also keep in mind that a guide is just that - a guide.  So don't freak out if your letters aren't matching perfectly.  As long as you have the correct general size to fit in between the hanger, you're good to go

DIY My Little Pony Plush - Part 1

Pin Rating: 4

Difficulty: Intermediate to difficult

I LOVE My Little Pony.  I love the fact that they rebooted the series and I enjoy it just as much as I did while I was a kid.  When a friend posted a blog post featured on OffBeat Families on my Facebook page for a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic plush tutorial, I knew I had to make one for myself.  Despite there being a template and instructions - provided by Voodoo Tiki over at DeviantArt this project is more difficult than I expected.  I had made my R2D2 plushie a couple of months ago and didn't have too much difficulty so I thought since this one had a pattern it would be even easier - I was so wrong.  I think the most difficult part of this was being patient.  There are a lot of little details but it's well worth it as it all comes together in the end.  I decided to make my own DJ Pon3 with the fleece I had left over from the R2D2 plush.

Still up for the challenge?  Here's what you'll need.

• Sewing items (Scissors, needle, thread)
• Fleece 
• 2 shades of blue fleece
• White fleece
• Small piece of Black
• Small piece of purple
• Voodoo Tiki Template
• Polyester Fiber Fill
• Knowledge of how to do a backstitch - it's more secured compared to a single stitch when you flip the plush inside out.

DIY Bedazzled Bib Necklace

So what does one do with all their left over gems used to make the infinity gauntlet?  Make a bedazzled bib necklace, of course.  I found the original pin on I Spy DIY but didn't have any nail polish handy or any Stick It Craft felt so I went to Pintrest and found something that was just as dazzling but with items I already had on hand and I found this one which is pretty simple and quick to do.

Pin Rating: 5

Duration: 30-45 minutes

Materials:

• Acrylic gems
• Black ribbon
• Felt
• Hot Glue & Hot glue gun

Optional

• Tissue/napkin template of bib
• Needle & thread 

I have crazy glue in the picture but didn't use it.

The picture does no justice for the colors of these beads.

Game Night - Dice Cheese Blocks

The dice cheese blocks were pinspired by this pin here.  Unfortunately the pin link itself leads you to a blog round up which leads you to a dead source.  On the other hand, the pin image itself gives you the right idea just not the materials.  So here's my blog post on what I used an how I made it.

Pin Rating: 5

Ingredients:

• Frozen Grapes (I had grapes left over from the PB+Chicken salad wraps 
• Frozen grapes are easier to cut in my opinion and it also holds it's shape well.  You can also use olives but since I had left over grapes I used those instead.
• Cheese block (Or some sort of soft cheese that you can mold)
• Toothpicks 
• Crackers
• Dice (for a sample on where to place grapes if you care for accuracy)

More DIY Game Night Decor

At the beginning of the month I posted about a Game Day food table & decor and now I'm finally getting around to posting more details about the prep.  This blog post is going to be a few Fast & Simple projects put together.

Playing card box, Vase Decor & Card Cover for a Dip

What you'll need:

• Playing cards (2 decks for $1 @ Dollar Tree)  I am still using the same deck I used for the card banner.
• Cardboard box to height of your liking.  I just used an amazon cardboard box I had laying around.
• 2 short vases (Dollar Tree purchase)
• 1 pack of dice (Dollar Tree purchase)
• Hot glue & hot glue gun
• Tape

Infinity Gauntlet - Assembly & Completion

Alright, so after you have the LEDs wired up and ready to go you're ready for the next steps.  I don't have many pictures of this because I did it all in less than 24 hours to make sure I had it ready and wrapped in time for Christmas, but I'll try to walk you guys through the steps the best I can.

Now that you have your rivets, paper prototype, and LEDs ready to go the next step is to actually assemble the gauntlet using your metal....right?  Nope!  I did it with poster board and ArtEmboss Aluminum!  I don't have any pictures of a few of my products/materials I used for this process so I'm going to link them up here below.

• Poster board (.50 at Dollar Tree)
• Scissors
• Gauntlet Template
• Xacto blade
• Bag of assorted oval acrylic gems* 
• Hot glue sticks & hot glue gun
• Snap Fasteners
• Thin elastic cord

*Note*: For the Acrylic Gems I ended up buying 2 bags in store.  As the description in the link says, the bag includes assorted colors so you don't know what you'll end up with.  Purple was very hard to find so I sat there in the store trying to flip the gems around in the bag until I could get a clear view of what color they were.  I ended up buying 2 bags because 1 had purple and 1 had red.  

Also, since there is no yellow gem in that pack, I used a yellow fabric for the back of the white gem and a yellow highlighter....It'll be our little secret, okay?  I think yellow nail polish could have worked too.  The backside of the gems are silver metallic which I sanded off with sand paper.  I probably didn't need to do that since the LEDs are so bright they could have shown right through it, but I like how it turned out.

DIY Playing Cards Banner & Purple Cow Cutter Review

No decorated food table would be complete without a banner.  Or so that seems to be the trend now a days.  After looking around for some pinspiration I found a pin that had a few cool ideas.  I decided to also make a banner with playing cards but to make my own little twist.  I just got a Purple Cows paper cutter for Christmas so I was really excited to try it out.  My friend bought it to use for her wedding projects and I fell in love with it when I saw it.  I don't actually scrapbook or have any major use for the cutter so I never thought to get one for myself.  While Christmas shopping at Costco I saw the same product there for around $27 and stood there oooing and ahhing over it but didn't but it.  My boyfriend went back later without me and bought it for me.  ^_^  So here's a tutorial along with my own review of the product (I'm not in any way sponsored by Purple Cow).

• Purple Cows 12-Inch Two-In-One Scrapbook Combo Trimmer
• 3-pack Circle Hole Punches (Using the 1/8" for this project)
• String
• Deck of cards (Use an old deck with missing cards or purchase 2 for $1 at the Dollar tree)

One of the reasons I fell in love with this is because of the interchangeable blades/blade designs it comes with.  The Rotary Trimmer section snaps onto the Guillotine blade side to create one big piece which is what I preferred for storage to keep it all together.  But since the Rotary Trimmer also comes with a straight blade it's like buying 2 straight cutters in 1!

DIY Spray Painting for Rivets (or any small objects)

Happy New Year's Eve!  So for the next couple of post I'm probably going to mix it up with the Infinity Gauntlet building post & other random posts so that I don't bore everyone isn't interested in the Infinity Gauntlet building.  My boyfriend is having a New Year's Day board game get together tomorrow at his house and I decided it'll be the perfect opportunity to whip up some pinspired decoration and decorate with a Game Night theme so those blog post will also be scattered throughout the next couple of post.

For today's post I'm going to start out with a simple yet effective pin I saw (45 weeks ago!) on Pintrest but finally had a chance to try it out.  The original pin was for spray painting pinto beans for decorations  and when it came time to paint the rivets gold (since I couldn't find any cheap gold ones anywhere else) I knew this method would be perfect to paint the rivets....Or at least I had to try the method out since it seemed so simple - and it was!

Pin Rating: 4.5 (I'm sure it would have been a 5 if I was actually using pinto beans)

• Box
• Metallic Gold Spray paint
• Pack of 3/8" Nickel Rivets 
• Pack of 1/4" Nickel Rivets
• Mask or handkerchief to wear while painting

I bought everything, except the box, at Hobby Lobby.  I really wanted to look and feel the rivets for myself to test out the size.  You'll need the 1/4" rivets for the spots where you rivet two plates together (and only 2 plates). The 3/8" rivets are for spots where you need more reach to rivet through the glove and the plates of the gauntlet.  Note: Not all spots that you rivet through the glove will require the longer rivet.

What's nice is that they packaged the top and bottom pieces separately.