A Few Of My Favorite Things

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Gift of the Handkerchief

My Mother-in-law has many handkerchiefs and she wanted to give each of her girls a few as gifts to remember her by. Thought I would share this poem and idea with you. Enjoy!


DIY Idea for Hankies

Sunday, March 22, 2015

A House For All Seasons ~ Gone to the Beach

This house was a lot of fun to make way back when. I added my own cross stitch embellishments of a beach theme. You can find the instruction book from Astor Place over at Amazon at the following link:

http://www.amazon.com/House-All-Seasons-Perforated-Stitch/dp/B002USFBLS

It's a pattern book from the eighties.

The "yard sign" is taken from the following pattern. I made the image smaller.

http://www.everythingcrossstitch.com/beach-huts-mrp-p36603.aspx?k2=e1

For your own printable cross stitch graph paper in any size you need you can go to this link.

http://www.stitchpoint.com/eng/tool/grid/_intro_graphpaper.php

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Fall Decor

Happy Fall Door Decor

This was fun putting together. I got the metal hanging sconce and fall decor at Hobby Lobby. Sorry about my finger in the lower right corner! Did not notice that. ;)

Gardenia and Double Delight Rose

I really don't have a green thumb when it comes to house plants or exotic plants such as the Gardenia. So by a miracle, this Gardenia tree by my front door has bloomed with the most beautiful flowers. I'm enjoying it while it lasts. :)

Here was our first Double Delight rose bush blooming at our new home earlier this year. Love the Double Delights!

Friday, August 22, 2014

Polymer Clay Wedding Cake Ornament

Polymer Clay Wedding Cake Decoration by Diana Rudolf

Wedding Cake for Fall Wedding

Created by Betty Roebuck

Roses and Leaves

by Karla Wadas Hickenbottom

This was so much fun to make. The polymer clay is easy to work with. Love that stuff! It was great in that I could make a piece, set it aside and come back a week later and still work with it. It doesn't dry out. I used the Sculpey brand clay. This is an ornament I made for my daughter and son-in-law for their tenth wedding anniversary. The actual cake was created by my daughter's mother-in-law, Betty Roebuck. She makes the most beautiful cakes.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

DIY Mod Podged Dispenser

Mod Podged Toilet Dispenser

This project is made using the flushable wipes dispenser you find in your grocer or Walmart. This was fun to make and went pretty quick. I got the idea from my daughter, Kristen. She made me one as a gift awhile back. This one goes great with our beach bathroom theme. You can design your own with any of your favorite scrapbook papers and embellishments.

I used The Paper Studio's Beach House scrapbook papers for my design on this box.

First, you will need a piece of paper to trace your top pattern to. Before you begin, place the flushable wipes in a zip-lock baggie so they won't dry out.

Cut a section of paper to fit over the top of the dispenser. Tape the paper to the top on both sides.

Using the side of the pencil lead, shade over the top around the lid. This will be your pattern piece. Shade that entire area of the lid.

Remove the paper from the lid and cut out your pattern on the lines you created with the pencil rub or shading. Place the pattern over the top to make sure your scrapbook piece will fit.

Next, place the pattern piece over your scrapbook paper. Tape it to the scrapbook paper and cut around the pattern piece. Set this piece aside.

I placed the scrapbook paper along the bottom edge of the dispenser and measured where to cut the strip of paper to fit on the front edge by pressing with my finger along the bottom to get the cut line as shown above. Cut out your strip.

Next, place the strip along the front of the dispenser and cut out a notch for the closing tab as shown above.

"Paint" on a layer of Mod Podge in the front of the dispenser with a brush or sponge and then lay your strip along that edge of the front as you see above. Try not to get too much of the Mod Podge onto the surface of the dispenser. You can see it has a smooth and shiny finish and too much Mod Podge will make it bubble.

If you need to, you can cut a tiny snip that may want to stick over the edge of the dispenser as shown.

Cut out any design(s) from your scrapbook paper that you desire to go on the sides and the lid at the top of the dispenser.

Using your Mod Podge like glue, glue each cut out in any way you desire onto your dispenser. Next, using your paint brush or sponge, cover the entire area of scrapbook paper. I'm fairly new to using Mod Podge, so if you know a better way of getting your paper onto an object with the Mod Podge, please share it with us. Thank you!!

Add any tiny embellishments you would like to your dispenser. Place it on the back of the toilet in your bathroom.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Cadance's Christening Gown

I made this Christening gown using McCall's Pattern 3063 for my granddaughter, Cadance. I enjoyed sewing this so much for her. I made the blanket using the shawl from her mommy's wedding gown as shown in the photo below. I had purchased extra fabric for the blanket out of the same fabric I chose for the Christening gown. I folded the shawl into a rectangle. I then cut a rectangle for the blanket to match the size of the folded shawl adding 1/2 an inch around the edge of the fabric rectangle for the hem. I folded the edges of the fabric twice creating a 1/4 inch hem. Press in place. You can machine or hand stitch the hem in place. I placed the shawl and blanket with their wrong sides together. Doing a slip stitch around the entire blanket with a very fine fishing line type thread makes the blanket look nice. You can then cut the fine line later to remove the shawl from the fabric if desired.