It's Oh "SO TWEET!" at WYLTC plus an extra little something...

Happy middle of the week! Hope it's shaping up to be a good one.

It's my day to shine over at Wood You Like to Craft?

Want to see what I'm sharing...

The theme this month is "LOVE" so I made a set of Love Birds and a tree for them to hang out by.

Jump on over to WYLTC to check out the particulars!

Do you like them? Do you want some of your own?

You're so in luck, cause I'm sharing the patterns.

**I cut my birds and the tree trunk from a pine 2 x 6 and the wings, feet, and tree leaves from 1/4 inch MDF. The detail pieces are all paper covered while the chunky stuff is painted.

**To create the round base for the leaves I traced a 9" dinner plate.

Just click on the image, save to your computer and then print!

Have fun and happy crafting.



 

Teacher Appreciation and Year End Gift Ideas (part 2)

All righty, here we go with:Album # 2...the School House! 

Here's what you'll need:

1/4 inch MDF or chipboard/thin card board

paint or paper to cover the school house, eaves, and bell

paper for the doors and name plate

Black ink pad

ribbon

2 buttons

fine tip sharpie

Glue dots

3 pieces of 12x12 inch scrapbook paper

*if you paper cover the school house you'll need mod Podge*

Finish the Covers...
Following the patterns, cut out all the pieces needed.SCHOOL HOUSE FRONT COVER PATTERNSCHOOL HOUSE BACK COVER PATTERNSCHOOL HOUSE DETAILS PATTERN* CLICK THE LINK. CLICK ON "FILE" ON THE FAR LEFT. CLICK PRINT.* Paint the front and back covers red, all sides.Paint the eaves, once dry, glue into place.(Refer to picture)Cut the bell, doors, and nameplate pieces. Distress edges with black ink, add additional details with the sharpie and glue into place.Add a bow to the top of the bell and the buttons to the door.Set the covers aside. Assemble Pages...

Just a little after thought...you could use the page folding technique for either album (the fold out here, or the accordion fold from the Crayon Album) the covers are about the same size, either would fit! So go with the one you like best.

Fold each of the 12x12 sheets into fourths. 

Then make 1 diagonal fold into each paper square. 

Unfold all three papers and lay them side by side so that the diagonal fold is running straight up and down.

Over lap the bottom right square of page one with the bottom left square of page two.

It doesn't matter which one is on top, pick the paper you want showing and then glue them together.

It should look like this:

Repeat those steps with the second and third pieces of paper, over-lapping and then gluing.

You will end up with one continuous piece of paper that looks like this:

Fold the Pages:

Start with the page furthest to your left.

Using the diagonal fold as your guide, push the fold (B) toward square A.

Repeat with the second fold (C) pushing it in toward square A.

All of page one should sit on the glued square of pages 1 & 2. See 3rd picture above.

Turn the entire piece over so that the square you just folded is face down and furthest to your left.

Repeat the steps above using the diagonal fold as your guide to push in the folds.

You should end with the folded pieces filling the glued square of pages 2 & 3.

Turn the piece over again and repeat the folds.

You should end with a 6x6 inch square.

Right side up = backside of page 1 face up, back of page 3 face down .

Open end of folded pages closest to you.
(See above picture) 

To unfold it, grab it by the bottom right corner and pull back.

To glue the pages into the covers, refold the pages.

Center the folded paper square onto the back cover, then glue into place.

Add glue to the top piece of folded paper and then place school house cover on top-

line up the covers to be sure everything is centered!

Decorate the Pages:

 You will have four 6x6 squares to fill, you can decorate the triangle folds too.My first square is a chubby little hand print and signature.

The second was a fun year-end picture.

Square #3 was their diploma.

And square #4 a class picture.

Wahoo! Two albums down, a few baskets to go. These really are pretty easy to put together-let me know if you get lost anywhere in the directions... Happy Crafting! 

Teacher Appreciation and Year End Gift Ideas...(part 1)

Once upon a time, I was a full time preschool teacher.

 One of my favorite times of the year was graduation. Okay, it was also one of the saddest, but I loved being able to look back and see the growth that my little buddies had made over the year.

I'm really big on making keepsakes with my little people, they are only little once! And graduation was no exception. I wanted something special that they could keep forever to remember the year that we had spent growing and learning and came up with these... School House Diploma/Fold Out Album

...and Crayon Diploma/Accordion Album

I'm going to walk you through the crayons first...keep in mind that for a teacher gift, you might only want a few pages with a class picture, maybe some fun pics from throughout the year and maybe a special note...

My covers are cut from 1/4 inch MDF but you could easily substitute chipboard or thin cardboard.
Trace out the pattern and cut your pieces, you'll need two.
If you use wood, give the edges a quick sanding.

 COVER PATTERN
DETAIL PIECES PATTERN
*click the link. click on the "file" tab on the far left. select print.*

Finish the covers...

Trace the covers onto colored card stock.

Cut out the images and adhere them to the cover bases, ink the edges.

Trace the detail pieces onto desired color card stock, cut out, ink edges, and adhere onto crayon cover.

Add name to center oval-I used stickers!

Repeat the same process for the back cover. You can add the detail pieces if you'd like.

Assemble the pages next...

Determine the number of pages you want in your book, mine has 8.

Cut your page card stock to 6 long x 7 inch wide.

 Make a one inch fold on each page so that your page measures 6 inches square + 1 inch fold...

Lay the pages out so that the fold is on your right hand side. Glue the left edge of the second page onto the fold of the first page, being sure to line up all the edges and that the fold is UNDER the second page.

Front side up

Looking at the back side

 Repeat this same step until all pages are glued together.

 Cut off the "fold" on the last page.

Fold the remaining pages in a fan-like pattern, forward, back, forward, back, etc. until you get to your last page.

Center the first page onto the back of the front cover and glue into place.

Glue the last page to the inside of the back cover-be sure to center it.

Decorate your pages!

My first page is an info page that I had them fill out in the fall.

The second was their hand print made in the spring:

Hello! My name is ____________

I write it like this:

I am ____ yrs old. My favorite color is _______.

I like to play __________.

This is a picture of me:

*they drew a self-portrait here

(date info was taken)

The third page is a spring picture, the 4th was the same info page re-done in the spring:

The 5th page is a class picture, and the 6th was their diploma:

And the 7th page was a letter written from me to them, and last a place for auto-graphs!

There you go! You did it!

One very cute, very sweet little crayon album.

Wouldn't you just LOVE getting one of these?

Or better yet, seeing the look on your teachers face when you give them one!

PLEASE!!! Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Happy Crafting...





Sweater Easter Basket...by Stuff by Ash!

Today, I'm passing the posting baton over to Ashlie.

 This gal is awesome, super nice, and SO creative! She has come up with a darling project you're not going to be disappointed with...

Hello my fellow Craft Goodies friends.  I am so excited (and lets be honest, a tad bit nervous) to be sharing on Wendy’s wonderful blog today.  I am always in awe of Wendy’s incredible creativity.  I have been an avid follower since she shared her adorable 2x4 turkeys.

My name is Ashlie, I can usually be found blogging over at Stuff by Ash. 

As the title of my blog implies, I blog about “stuff”, everything from kids crafts and sewing to recipes and power tools.  I love my Cricut and probably have permanent brain damage from inhaling too many Modge Podge fumes. 

I live in what is technically a dessert.  You think sun, heat, lots of sand, but no, we are still experiencing snow storms in the middle of March!  Most likely we will still be experiencing snow storms until May.  Needless to say, I am soo ready for spring!  So even though St. Patrick’s day is just around the corner, I decided to take the Easter route with my project today. 

Two of my most favorite crafting past times are, using things I already have to create something, also know as being frugal, also know as having a teeny tiny crafting budget.  My second most favorite crafting past time is sewing, it is great because mistakes are fixable.  If you mess up terribly, you just rip it out and try again.  (Just make sure you don’t cut something that’s not supposed to be cut, there’s no going back from that!)  With those two things in mind I ventured out to make an Easter basket for my little one out of an old sweater. 

This is what I came up with:

To make your own adorable cuddly Bunny Sweater Basket you will need:

White sweater (mine was a woman’s medium)

1/2 yard lining fabric

1/2 yard fusible fleece

Small scraps of double sided fusible interfacing

Pink and black felt scraps

21 ish inches of Baby Black Ric Rac

Wire hanger

Piece of cardboard

2 jumbo buttons

scissors, needle, thread, sewing machine, tape measure, pins, marking pen

Once you’ve gathered your supplies, you are ready to get started!

First step cut out all your pieces.

From your white sweater cut: 

(Please note, these are not exactly to scale . . . I’m not the most mathematical person in the world, but you get the gist.)

Helps to go slow and have some really sharp scissors.  Also to get a mostly perfect circle with the right circumference for the base of the basket I cut a piece of yarn that was 11 1/2 inches long (the length of the bottom of my basket) and started measuring round objects in my kitchen.  I ended up using a medium sized round Tupperware.  Really scientific huh.  My engineer husband was totally disgusted.

While you are in circle mode, cut a circle from a thin piece of cardboard (like say a Diet Mt. Dew 24 pack, not that I had an empty one lying around the house or anything . . .).  Make the cardboard circle about 1/2 inch smaller than your base so you won’t have to try to sew through your material and the cardboard. 

From your lining fabric cut:

From your fusible fleece and double sided fusible interfacing cut:

The fusible fleece is going to help the basket be a little more sturdy.  The fusible interfacing is going to help the inside of your ear not fray and stick to the ears. 

Take a quick break from all this cutting and go turn on your iron so you’ll be ready to jump right into ironing together your fusible stuff and your fabrics . . . . Continue cutting.

Last cut out the face details:

Next step is to iron on your fleece to your lining pieces.  Just follow the instructions that came with your fleece.  But if you can’t read them because your toddler has ripped them to smithereens, you could use these online instructions. 

I like to have all the extras and details mostly assembled so they are ready to put on when I’m ready to pull everything together.  So next I made some bunny ears.

You should have 4 ear pieces from your sweater.  To cut mine I just laid out my sweater and eyeballed it, cutting through both the front and the back.  Then moved it up and cut around it, cutting through two layers again.  And wha-la you have your four pieces. 

Now to make the ears a little sturdier I added some wire.  This step is optional.

I did not use my machine to sew in the wire or pinch the ears, the black lines are where there is stitching.  It should now be starting to look like a bunny ear . . . if not call me!  Set your ears aside.

Next to make, the handle for your basket.

Now we’re ready to construct the basket part.  We are going to make two baskets, one out of the sweater, and one out of the lining.  Both follow basically the same steps.

I added a piece of felt to my base because I ran out of fusible fleece.  I would highly recommend putting in a piece of cardboard to give your floppy sweater some stability.

Now that we have the outer part of the basket constructed, it is the perfect time to add a cute little face.  I sewed on the eyes with the sewing machine.  Sewed the two nose pieces of felt together with a little stuffing in the middle.  Last I sewed on by hand the nose and ric rac whiskers, each whisker is about 3 1/2 inches long.

This is also where I added my bunny tail, but didn’t take a picture of it til the end, sorry.  To make the bunny tail I hacked of the cuff of my sweater, about 2 inches from the end of the sleeve.  Then hand sewed like a little yo yo ruffly thing along the hacked edge.  This way the tail won’t fray, but I didn’t have to hem anything.  Then attached the tail on the back of the basket.

Now we are ready to move onto the lining of the basket.   

I choose to fold over the edge here to create a clean edge/hem for when I put my two pieces together.  I did this because in the past when I’ve tried make purses with straps it always takes me ten tries to get the lining facing the right way and the strap on the outside.  This way you can just put the two baskets inside each other and slip in the ears and add the strap. 

Last thing you are going to do is add the finishing touches, grab the handle and the ears that you made and the beginning.

And the finished basket:

My Little Miss has been carrying it around all day!  I can’t wait till Easter so we can fill it with lots of nummy goodies!  Finished it is about as tall as a 40 oz jar of peanut butter and will fit two jars side by side, made it nice and roomy to fit lots of candy “for the kiddo”.

Thank you ladies (and gentlemen if you are out there) for putting up with me today!  Easter and Spring stuff is already starting to pop up, I can’t wait to see what you all have created!

...amazing right?

Thanks Ashlie, so much for sharing this, I will infact be making 5 of these.

Love it...

Happy Crafting!