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Showing posts with label Tutorials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tutorials. Show all posts

Monday, December 28, 2009

Heirloom Silhouette Tutorial {Creative Moms Blog Hop}

A Kindred Spirit's Thoughts



Welcome to the Creative Moms Blog Hop! ♥

How to Participate: First of all, you don't have to be a mom. :-) You can be anyone who wants to show off what you've been creating - it can be a recipe, a craft, online graphics, anything! Even a tutorial you found online and want to share. You can grab the linky code and add it to the bottom of your own crafty post or just link up your craft-related post. If you don't have time for that, leave a comment sharing what you've been up to or what your goals are! We would, of course, also love to see what you've made!

My Crafty Doings...

I pretty much went all handmade this Christmas. I made earrings (thanks for the beads, gems, and findings, mom), crocheted, and painted like a mad woman, especially in the last few days. I'm a procrastinator and amazingly I do well with the last-minute crazy crafting. I was pretty happy with what I came up with.

I also made a silhouette of my daughter Emma to give to my mom.


Ready for a Tutorial?


I know you are! :-)

1. I started out with a small square canvas, a photo of Emma that I really like that clearly shows her profile (you can also print one out), tracing paper, a pencil, scissors, some glue or mod podge and a couple pieces of pretty scrapbook paper that compliment each other.


2. First, I used a pencil to trace all the way around the canvas on the paper that will be the background. I then cut it out and glued it onto the canvas.

3. Now, you can print out the photo you want, cut directly around the face, and trace around the edges right onto the silhouette paper. That's probably the easiest way. But I was using a photo that I didn't want to damage, so I used tracing paper and:

a) Traced around the face.
b) Turned the tracing paper over and (with the side that I had drawn on facing DOWN) re-traced the lines I had drawn so that the drawing was transferred to the paper I wanted the silhouette on.


4. Cut out around the face and glue onto the background paper.


You're done! An easy and wonderfully personal piece of art. :-)

If you have any questions, let me know!

Share your Thoughts!

Do you have any recipes, crafts, or other creativity to share? You can: a) Write a post on your blog and link up to it so we can come visit and give you some comment love, or b) leave a comment letting us know what you've been up to. :-)

Can't wait to read your comments and visit your blogs!





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I ♥ comments!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Christmas Craft (and Ornament!) Tutorial Roundup

I'm overwhelmed by all the genius out there! I just have to share these amazing Christmas crafts that I'm just dying to make...


Disney from Ruffles and Stuff made this adorable cotton/felt Christmas tree complete with little ornaments for her daughter's room! It's a wall hanging, and oh so cute!


Now check out this monster foot stocking from Crap I've Made (not crap at all in my opinion!).


These cute little acorn mushroom ornaments from Lil Fish Studioes look so easy to make!


Family Fun has a tutorial on how to make a time capsule ornament! Wouldn't this be fun to do with your kids every year?


Here's a quick and easy chocolate mouse ornament even the smallest children can help with - you might want to eat them after Christmas, though. ;-)


I'm loving this paper tree centerpiece from Red Velvet Art Blog!


Motley Moms repurposes old Christmas cards into photo ornaments - what a great idea!


Aren't these little paper gift boxes cute? Find out how to make them at Create Studio!


Make a really delicious-looking gingerbread man (hee hee) - pattern can be found at the Elsie Marley blog. :-)


Small Fry and Co. (very worth following her wonderful blog!) has one of the best Christmas advent calendars I've seen - it's a tree with numbered ornament containers. Each day her little one gets to open and ornament and get a treat! I'm so doing this next year. I think it would be a wonderful tradition! I'm thinking about how I can add little treats that would be fun and keep the focus on what Christmas is really all about - Christ's birth. :-)

Next up: Christmas Printables! ♥

Share Your Thoughts!

Have you made any Christmas ornaments or decorations you would like to share with us? I'm always looking for new inspiration!

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If you have a moment, leave a comment -
It'll make me jump up and down for joy! :-)

Monday, November 30, 2009

{Creative Mamas Blog Hop} The Best Gingerbread Cookie Men EVER


Join us every Monday morning with your own creative post! Link up, meet other crafty moms, and be inspired!
Find out more about this blog hop and get the code for my banner here.

My Creative Endeavors

So I made the best ever Gingerbread Cookies for Thanksgiving! They turned out so good that my parents hid the leftover cookies afterward, hoping I would forget...

I was LUCKY. I used the first recipe I googled that looked halfway decent - I was going blind, lol. And the gingerbread men ended up being the best I've ever tasted! So on with the recipe, from McCormick - McCormick Gingerbread Men Cookies.

Step 1: This is very important - don your favorite cute apron! It makes baking so much more fun!


2. Get the following ingredients together:

3 cups flour
2 teaspoons
Ginger, Ground
1 teaspoon
Cinnamon, Ground
1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon
Nutmeg, Ground
1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1 egg

Got 'em? Good! I actually didn't use McCormick for any of the spices, lol. I generally buy the least expensive... and it still turned out great!

3. Mix the first six ingredients together in a bowl - flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt.

4. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the butter and the sugar - medium speed until light and fluffy. Mmm... you know you have to take a taste at this point. ;-)

5. Add molasses and egg, mix well.

6. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed.


7. Shape dough into a flat disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for four hours or overnight.

*Twiddle your thumbs, write a blog post, chase your children around*

8. When you're ready to start making cookies, preheat oven to 350 degrees!

9. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness on lightly floured surface and cut out dough into gingerbread men cookies.

10. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes (mine were perfect at 7 minutes) on ungreased cookie sheet.


Decorating Time!

Make yourself some quick and easy frosting with powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla - just add until it tastes good and has a good thickness for decorating. I spoon mine into resealable bags, cut a tiny hole in a corner, and squeeze the frosting out that way. It works really well! Just check out my lovely people...

I had a bag of red frosting, but after decorating one cookie decided... it just didn't look... right.


Share your Thoughts!

Do you have any recipes, crafts, or other creativity to share? You can: a) Write a post on your blog and link up to it so we can come visit and give you some comment love, or b) leave a comment letting us know what you've been up to. :-)

Can't wait to read your comments and visit your blogs!





Past Creative Mamas Monday Fun:

Share Your Thanksgiving Creativity (Nov 23)
Holiday Scrapbook Paper Chains Tutorial (Nov 16)
Easy Christmas Tags/Ornaments Tutorial (Nov 9)
No-Sew Projects (Nov 2)
Easy Flower Hair/Hat Clips Tutorial (Oct 26)

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Monday, November 9, 2009

Blog Hop & Photo Tutorial: Make Your Own EASY Christmas Tags/Ornaments (and have a blast doing it!)


I come by the craft addiction honestly - my mom is very creative! She's the one who taught me not to be afraid to try something new. So what did she do? She created a monster! I'm always jumping around from craft to craft, having way too much fun, making way too many messes, and filling the house with various craft materials. Oh, and I have the horrible inability to throw anything away without stopping for a moment and thinking, "What could I make from this?". More often than not, it goes into my closet never to be seen again...


Enough of that, though. ;-) Today my mom was nice enough to send me some photos of what she's been working on: Fancy Christmas Tags/Ornaments! This project is easy and so much fun - a wonderful project to do with the kids. You can't make any mistakes. :-)

Let's start with supplies! You can find everything you need at Michaels (they have 40% off coupons all the time if you sign up for their newsletters!) or Joann Fabrics (coupons here too!) including:

Circle punch
Inkpad
Stamps (mom got 3-packs at Michaels)
Emery board
Pretty scrapbook paper
All different kinds of yarns and ribbon







1. Cut circles from the scrapbook paper with the circle punch.



2. Stamp the images you want on the circles.



3. Using an emery board, smooth the edges of the circle.



4. Raid your yarn/ribbon stash and have some fun!



Some of them are double-sided. Don't you think they would look lovely on a Christmas tree?

You could really do anything with this... glue special photos on them, cut words and phrases you like out of old books, etc. And you can even scrapbook them afterward as a special Christmas remembrance!
Share Your Thoughts!

Do you have any craft tutorials or crafty posts to share? What projects are you working on or planning on working on? Are you making your own Christmas presents?

Leave a comment letting me know what you're up to or share a link to a crafty/creative post in a comment! It can be anything you want to share - a recipe, a craft, anything that you deem "creative".

*I took MckLinky down because I think it was messing up the way my blog was loading*
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If you have a moment, leave a comment -
It'll make me jump up and down for joy! :-)

Monday, October 26, 2009

How to Make Flower Clips {Creative mamas Monday}

A Kindred Spirit's Thoughts


Welcome to Creative Mamas Monday! ♥

How to Participate: First of all, you don't have to be a mama. :-) You can be anyone who wants to show off what you've been creating - it can be a recipe, a craft, online graphics, anything! Even a tutorial you found online and want to share. You can grab the MckLinky code and add it to the bottom of your own crafty post or just link up your craft-related post in the MckLinky. If you don't have time for that, leave a comment sharing what you've been up to or what your goals are! We would, of course, love to see what you've made!

♥♥♥

I've been excited all week about sharing what I've been working on with you guys! I was inspired by an amazing flower clip tutorial I found at A Feathered Nest and started making flower clips. I discovered something - I LOVE making them! I mean love love love. ;-) I've been trying to decide what I would like to make and sell on Etsy, and I think I've found it! It's so much fun. :-)


So I'm dying to show you what I've made and how easy it is to make them yourself. I made this video so I can show you in person:




Tutorial!


What you need:

  • Alligator Clips (I bought mine at The Ribbon Carnival - 100 for $10 including shipping. You might search Etsy under "Supplies" as well!)
  • Faux Flowers ( $1.49 for two blooms at Michaels)
  • Buttons, Crystals, or whatever you want to use for the center of the flower
  • Hot glue gun and glue sticks ($2.49 at Michaels!)
How-To:

I decided to make Halloween/Autumn-themed flowers so bought black, orange, red, and purple blooms.



Get your flowers together and take them apart completely. Throw away any stems or other parts (except the leaves which you might want for accents).



Here's the fun part - mix and match the colors and shapes until you have something you like!

Turn the flower over and start gluing the layers together, starting from the bottom and working your way up. Put the very bottom layer aside - you're going to glue the alligator clip and that layer on last.

Go ahead and clip your alligator clip over the very bottom layer. Spread the back (flat) side of the clip and the leaf with hot glue, then stick onto the back of your flower. You're almost done!

Figure out what you want to put in the very center of the flower. I bought these cute buttons. Glue it into the center!

Alternatively, like the flower below, you can glue the very middle of a bloom into the center. I think it looks pretty. :-)



Here's a Christmas Clippy.



Enjoy gazing rapturously at your masterpiece! ♥

Make everyone pose with it on, even the toddler who hates hair clips... ;-)



Share Your Thoughts!

Are you making anything for Halloween or autumn decorating this year?

What craftiness have you been up to?

Do you have any creative plans?




MckLinky Blog Hop



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Leave a comment if you get a chance -
it will make me verrrrry happy! :-)


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