Felt Crown Tutorial



Today I am going to teach you to make a Felt Crown. They are super easy and so so cute. They are perfect for birthdays, Christmas or just for dress-ups!

Now I can't take the credit from this. I got the idea from Melissa Wood, who then emailed me instructions on how to put it together. But the embellishments are totally me :)
These crowns are great because they can look like how you want it!

Materials:
-8 1/2 x 11 Felt rectangles: 2 sheets for base, 1 sheet for 2nd smaller layer and/or additional sheets for embellishments. (You can have more layers or less, it's up to you and the look you want)
-Sewing machine - if you don't have a machine, I would imagine a hot glue gun would work for this.
-Matching Thread for machine
-Scissors
-Pencil
-Decorate cutting scissors, like scalloped or wavy (optional)
-Head-bonded Velcro
-2 small pieces of iron-safe fabric

Decide on colors you want for the crown. I got my felt from Michaels but I know they are at Hobby Lobby.

-Take your 2 base sheets and put them together so they match up.
-Sew up one of the short edges (8 1/2 side) and open it up.

-Fold it hot dog style so it creates a long piece of felt.

-Cut you crown how you want it to go. (I did 3 spikes and left the back flat because I later put on some velcro to adjust it and didn't want back spikes to not match up and look weird...but again, up to you.)
-Sew close all edges.

-Take a second layer sheet, fold it hot dog style and cut it in half.
-Then take one of those pieces, fold it Hamburger style and cut it in half again.
-Take those 2 pieces and put them on top of the other intact piece, line them up and sew both short edges together.
-Open up both sides so now you have a long, narrow piece of felt. If you are wondering why we didn't do the same thing as the base layer, it is because I didn't want the middle sewing line in the middle of the crown on both layers. This way, it's a smooth look.
-Lay that on your base crown piece, take a pencil and draw how you want the 2nd layer to line up. If you want the base layer to still be seen, you want to have it shorter.
-Once you have the pencil lines drawn, get your scissors and cut it out. ( I had a decorative roller cutter so I just cut it out with that, hence the wavy cut)
Once it's cut, pin it on the base crown and sew it on.
-If you want another layer, now is the time to do it. But I didn't.

**If the above paragraph is confusing, look at this picture and it'll make sense, like the cutting of the 2nd layer piece etc.**
-So now onto the embellish part of the crown. This is where you can be creative. I've see lots of things. Head on over to Etsy and see what people have done. I've see polka dots or a white circle with a sewn letter in it. There are so many options. You can also sewn on ribbons. Cute ideas!
So whatever you decide, just pin it on and sew it on. That's what I did with both the "K" and the swirlies. I hand drew the swirlies and then sewed them on the crown.

-When you are done with the embellishments, then add your velcro to the back. There are many different types of velcro and how to attach it. That's up to you! I sewed mine on.




And There you go! An adorable crown :)

The Inevitable...

The day i've been dreading happened 2 days ago. We had finished eating dinner. I had sat back to relax and read some Eclipse...only the 2nd time through...and the girls were upstairs playing with their toys. Joe was sitting next to me, watching utube...dental procedures...life was bliss....

Then Emma came down stairs, with that look..you know the look.

The look they have when they've done something they shouldn't have.

On top of the look, she looked different. I grab her face to inspect more closing and yep, she did it...

She had cut her hair. She cut herself some bangs.


Honestly, my first thought was, THANK GOODNESS she didn't cut her hair all weird. My second thought was, wow, she did a good job!
And third thought...Oh her beautiful hair is gone...sadness all around.

This is what was left at the scene of the crime. She had gotten into our bathroom, found Joe's small hair-cutting scissors and did the job.


Sigh...I had plans for her hair...
As funny as that sounds, it's true. I had the same beautiful long, wavy hair and then my mom cut it...herself...before 1st grade...she cut it SHORT with BANGS....i was traumatized! And mom, love you but it was definitely lop-sided too.

So I wasn't going to do that to my child! The irony? She did it to herself!
And now she looked like she had a rockstar mullet...

So today I tried to fix it..I was a little nervous with zero experience in hair-cutting....I did my best.

It looks good with her hair in a ponytail....
Can you tell i'm bitter? lol

Just a bit.

I still think she is beautiful but it's just going to take a while to get used to it.


Feeling Nestish & a Great find!

I admit it, I am definitely nesting right now. I know what's to come so i'm doing as much as I can before #3 gets here. So the other night, I made some of these. The black one was made from a tutorial from Little Birdie Secrets. The other two, I just cut out circles and pinned them together with a brad then hot glued them to a snap clip. Real easy!
Made another onesie. I am obsessed. I love looking at Etsy for ideas. And I have so many extra squares from my quilt that they are perfect to these.


And this is my Fabulous Find. Got this at the Las Vegas .99 cent store! Yep, this little package was a dollar! I love the style! So it wasn't exactly from a thrift store but I count dollar stores as such!
I linked this to Homebody: Thrifty Thursday!





What really matters to me

Let me see, how do I put this?

Life is hard.
Life is distracting.
It is so easy to get caught up in it all.
It makes me mad how easy Satan has a grasp on our lives.
He sneakily binds us with internet, TV...and dare I say, crafts?!

I get so caught up...

Even good things can turn bad when it takes over our lives and we let the most important things slip.
I know this in the back of my head.
But I become selfish. I want to do what I (natural man) wants to do.

And then I look at my girls...
And start to cry because it's not worth being selfish.
They are so innocent and happy...

and dependant on me and what I teach them.
As scary as that sounds, I signed up for that when I decided to have them.
So step it up, Lyssa!

My family is the most important thing to me.

Even more important than myself.

I can let go of menial things in this life to do what I need to do, to do what God intended me to do as His daughter.

We all have so much potential.


I don't know what came over me to write this...

Maybe because i'm pregnant.

Maybe because I am emotional.

Maybe because Emma is starting Pre-school on Tuesday...she's getting big...

Maybe because I read this.

Maybe because I know deep down that that is the purpose of this life: Love and Family.

When we see life in that perspective, it's beautiful and worth it.

Baby Boy Quilt



I was going to attempt to write a tutorial on this but there is just no way....I am no skilled Quilter and my mom helped me and gave me a ton of pointers...too many to even organize in my head!
But I just wanted to show off a bit....
lol I am so proud...maybe a bit too much....

But hey, this is a rare occasion to have made a quilt!

Anyways, this is for the much anticipated birth of our first boy in the family, after having 2 girls...we needed a change!

It took me probably a total of 4 days to do.
The hardest part was the binding with hand stitching it all the way around.
I got all but one piece of fabric at Just Sew in Highland, UT. Great staff! They pretty much were my slaves for 1/2 while I figured out what I wanted! The one fabric that I didn't get there, I got at The Stitching Corner...the green with brown polka dots.

I chose 8 different pieces of fabric that I would be cutting into 3 1/2 inch squares. Some of the fabrics, I got more for the borders. I think I got a quarter yard of each for the squares fabric and then added more for the border fabric. I wish I could tell you exact measurements but it was all calculated at that store. I was serious when it was a big deal to make a quilt! I had no idea how to start!
ANyways, after all the squares were cut, then I laid them out of the floor to made the design of the quilt. I made sure to take a picture of the order of the squares incase I had to put them up...Ok, so that's as far as I can go...
Pretty much sew the squares together, then sew on the borders around that, place quilt top, batting and backing together with safety pins, cut them together and then sew on the binding...

I did get some pointers at Old Red Barn Co so you should check out that site.
But I loved how it turned out and can't wait to put the little guy on it!

I linked this to Twice Remembered Make your Monday! Check it out!







How to get Circut mats sticky again



A few months ago when I bought my Cricut I realized that the mat does not stay sticky forever... so instead of buying a new one I wanted to figure out how to make it sticky again . So I went online and did a little research and I found a great link on how to do it. I've done it a couple of times on my old mat and it's worked wonders for me.

A few pointers:

you do want to try and get everything off the mat before you apply ZIG to it.

I used GOO GONE and it worked perfect! Just spray it all over on the mat let it sit for a couple of min. and then scrape it off with a sponge.

Once you get the glue on do let is sit and dry for a few hours before you get paper back on it again. I made the mistake of only letting it dry for 20 min. and the paper got stuck! had to do the process all over again after that.

I bought the ZIG 2 way glue at Michael's Craft store and used their 50% off coupon ...yay!

It has saved me some money so far! I hope it works for you!

Onesies and other stuff

I made my first onesie back in March for a baby shower. It was just too simple! I would have made more but had to get everything ready for the move. But I have been collecting onesies to do for baby #3. Here's a few I did last night. Again, so simple. I just followed the instructions on the Heat n' Bond that I bought at Hancocks. You can buy that stuff at any craft store.

Then a few simple things i've done around the house. I got this at Hobby Lobby for like $2. It was originally black but I repainted it then sanded it down. I like the antique look!

And this guy, I originally bought it for THIS. But forgot to bring a magnet at the store so when I got home, I found it wasn't magnetic. So instead, I made it into a display platter. It was just an old silver tray.
Looks great in the kitchen. I lightly spray painted it to keep it still looking old. Then I put vinyl on it. The tray was, I think, 50 cents at DI...not to bad!

Crafty GIveaways!


Dress-up Drawer SUPER giveaways
The Dress-up Drawer is hosting loads of Crafty Giveaways, including this:

Isn't this adorable?! Click on the Giveaway button above to go enter!

Ribbon Holder tutorial


I am amazed at what you can create when you have no or hardly any money. I love going to DI or Goodwill these days because I'm learning to see past what things are to what they could become.
Such is the case with my Ribbon Holder. This is what I found at DI for $2:
(Does anyone know what this is?!)


After some TLC, it now looks like this:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?

And it was really simple to transform it. I'll break it down for you!

Step 1: Using my trusty Tomboy Tools, Trim the wood with a hack saw so that a dowel can slide in and out of the hooks.

Step 2: Sand them down a bit using a sanding block or paper.

Step 3: Take out frame piece to decorate later.

Step 4: If you are pregnant, nag and nag and nag your husband to spray paint it. If not, then you can do it (so jealous because it took my husband a week to finally do this step and I was dying!...something about fumes and the baby..I have no idea....)

Step 4: Decorate frame piece and place back in Holder.
I just traced the shape on scrapbook paper and used a glue runner to hold in place. Then I took black stickers and made the label.

Step 5: Hang on wall, making sure to use a level to they hand straight! Something that helps with this is called a Picture Perfect Level, you must check this out!

Step 6: Place ribbon on dowels and place on your holder.

Step 7: Stand back and look at what you've accomplished!

boy, what a feeling!

I first linked this to DIY Day over at A Soft Place to Land!

And at It's So Very Cheri's Knock off Knock Out Party

And at 2nd Time around at A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

And also Transformation Thursday over at Shabby Chic Cottage

And I linked this to Thriftstore Thursday over at Homebody Holly. Check her out!



Pink Little Ladies Giveaway

Cairen at Pink Little Ladies is doing a giveaway for this:
You can find her on the side...been monitoring her for quite sometime...but also HERE
And everyone keep crafting!

Busy Week


Last Monday began the busy week. It was Joe's Birthday. He turned 30! It was low key, nothing fancy really. We don't know anyone really to make a party of out it. But I did buckle down and make this:

Which was from this site.
Yes, I see the vast difference there is in the two cakes. If only mine looked like that. But I'm proud of my lopsided, crack-down-the-middle, chocolate wonder.
And I tell you what, it was worth the hours of preparation. And we did end up inviting over some neighbors and my cousin to help us eat it.

And of course, the girls loved it.
You don't want to be near Kate when she's hungry and there's chocolate involved!
Thursday was our 5th year wedding anniversary...and as everyone has been pointing out, 5 years and almost 3 kids later...yes I am well aware of how many kids I have at this point and proud of it! Honestly, it was meant to be. Who knows if I would have had these kids if I would have waited. I can't imagine life with out them!
We didn't do anything spectacular on the exact date but my cousin babysat for us on Friday night so we could go out to eat. We went to tuscan grill called Brio and it was REALLY good. No pics though...i'm lame like that.
Saturday, I woke up early and headed to another stake's ward swap where I got LOTs of baby boy clothes...probably enough to now not worry about what he is going to wear everyday. And the best part was they were all free! Just look at what I got:

Look at CUTE these are:

And here's some precious pics of my Eldest big girl and I. She is definitely getting older since he actually stood by me and held still while the camera did it's thing.


And she got into her preschool, Tuesdays and THursdays from 1-3. Not a big fan of the time, since it interferes with Kate's nap but I can work around it. That was what I got picked with so I am happy that she got in at all. Definitely growing up before my eyes...

And here's me at 29 weeks. I finally was able to see a doctor after 2 1/2 months of no prenatal care here. Ya...it was starting to get a little scary! Everything looks great and he even told me that if my body was "a-go" as early as a week before my due date, that he would induce then...

which I almost jumped across the room and hugged him.
I don't to even want to experience what I went through with Kate...1 week PAST my due date and I STILL induced...come on people!

Let me make it easy for you...I don't go into labor alone. Induction is the only way these babies are coming out so why not get them out earlier than later!? K thanks...
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