Valentine Canvas Ideas

Sooo, have you seen all the darling free printables out there in bloggy land?  Yah, its crazy good!!!

It sure makes for cheap decorating.  So, I just wanted to quickly share with you what I've done

with some of mine. Can I first apoligize for my camera - Sorry!  Now that thats outta the way have a look.

This one above is actually one I paid for but it was cheap and too fantastic to pass up.  This is where I bought it if you want one for your little self. 
OHH OH and check out all their stuff because it's just darling and like I said cheap.

This one above you can grab here at less cake more frosting.  By the way I love her blog and her hair!

Tis True! It takes alot of Moxie to pull off that hair and I think she does it sooo well!

Ok, and the one above is not for Valentines Day but it's just down right fantabulous so I must share.

It's from one of my favorite bloggers  Cheri over at i am momma hear me roar.  She has it in a couple of color options too!  Thanks Cher!  Can I call you that?  Oh and if you wanna know how to make your own she just recently did a tutorial on that too - using Picnik. 

Alright its pretty self explanitory but what I did was:

First I sent the printables to Costco - My fave because they offer Lustre finish in one hour. Don't think anyone else does that and lets face it I'm impatient.  I did mine 8 X 10 size.  Ok, then I purchased an

11 X 14 size canvas at Hobby Lobby (can find them anywhere however).  I found some cute fabric at Walmart (that doesn't happen to often) and it was polkadots so I had to have it.

So you just lay your canvas on top of the fabric and leave plenty of space around the edges to wrap to the back.  You can glue it back there or use a staple gun.   Then I just covered the canvas with Mod Podge and I also put some on the back of the print.  Now just center it and smooth it down.  I then covered mine with more Mod Podge over the picture but you certainly don't have to.  I liked it liked this but I'm kinda crazy about adding flowers to everything so I quickly made up some and hot glued the little darlins to the top corner of the canvas.

Now if you notice on one of them I used newspaper (i especially liked the crossword puzzle section) to cover the canvas edges.  Just rip up strips and Mod Podge them randomly on the edges -wrapping them around the back and front a tad bit. 

Now get to it and let me know if you do any of them.  I would love to see them. 

OH OH and LOOK what I did with Cheri's tutorial on making your own printable.  It's not as great as hers but it's my first one so I think it's OK.  I'm the new Young Womens President in my ward and this is the Young Womens Theme.  I wanted to make it for the girls so they could do their own canvas.

                                                        Also linking up to Tatertots & Jello

Sunny Summer Pillow

I've been working on my bedroom for some time now and I recently decided that my bed needed a pop of color. You know as well as I do that a big ole flower will do just the trick.

I love how it turned out and it just brightens the room up. It's so summery & fresh.

First I drew out my pattern on a piece of newspaper and cut it out.

I used some nice wool felt in my favorite mustard color. I doubled it and cut two to save some time.

Now this next part makes the petals stand up all 3 dimensional and such. What you do is fold your petal in half and stitch about a half an inch from the folded edge - I stitched varying lengths from 1 inch to 11/2 inches up the petal. You could also use glue if you don't sew or just don't want to.


This is what it looks like when your done. They are all different - just like a real flower.

Do the same to the second set of petals and then layer them on top of each other.

Looks like a sunflower don't it!

With my pinking shears I cut out two circles one just slightly smaller than the other. The I proceeded to cut strips into them and I even took some little slivers out of the tops of some of them. I also like to take the edge off of each one to really seperate them from each other.

Now layer that on top of the petals .

I pinned it down real well to my pillow top fabric & then I just sewed with my machine in a matching yellow thread up the center of the petals to hold them to the pillow top. I started sewing right after the pucker and up just a little ways but don't go all the way to the top.

Then I took some turquoise floss and made french knots in the center of the flower. I used all the strands of floss - I think there are eight strands in a piece of floss. Then I went a little crazy and did a few stitches up each petal too.

Now you know how to do this but I took a picture and so I must include it. Sew the back to the front - right sides together. Make sure and leave one side open to insert the pillow form.
There you have it. You're done! I'd love to see pictures if you make one.

Big Big LOVE,

I'm still looking for donations for CURE JM. Please just look into your heart and come up with one thing you could donate. It only takes a little bit of your time and it could change someones life. Next week I will be showing you what I've made to donate.

All Dolled Up Cardigan

Sooooo, We've been in a sick slump at our house for quite some time. I think we are coming out of it - FINALLY! fa la la la la HOORAY!

I have things to talk to you about - things to share - things to teach you if you will!

For starters lets just doll up a cardigan whatayah say!

I saw these cardigans at Target & thought they were cute enough, but, there's always a but !

I didn't want long sleeves because I don't know about where you live, but, here in my place of origin the weather goes from COLD to HOT in about 9 seconds flat. We don't really have much of a spring per say. So ixnay on the long sleeve.

Here is my pretty little Miss in her new cardi!

This is going to be a pretty general tutorial because first of all everyone has done some sort of ruffle makeover lately and secondly my son got ahold of my camera and deleted several of my picture steps! Sorry bout that! Still love that boy!

Ok, so if you wanna cut off the sleeve on something why not just save the cuff down there and reattach it up were you want it. Right! Genius! See how I cut that middle section out. Save that by the way to make the ruffles.
I cut my cuff off right next to the serged edged so it would still have a nice finish. Even though knit material really doesn't even fray.

Now just put the two right sides together with the raw edges meeting and stitch it all the way around . After you flip that cuff back down ( no picture - thanx much Son) just top stitch it down real pretty like.
I added a raw edge swirly flower on top of the ruffles. I just ripped the width of fabric I wanted to give it frayed edges. Mine was about 3/4 of an inch wide. Start in the middle of the flower and work your way out -bunch the fabric as you go to create the gathers.

Add some cute pockets to the sides. It had little white pockets before - I seam ripped those off. This is just a very big pocket that I pleated in the middle and add some trim to the top.

Here's those ruffles you can make from the sleeve leftovers. I just cut the sleeve into 1 1/2 inch strips and again I just bunched as I sewed to create gathers. I went up the shoulder and even all the way around the back.

HELLO, you can't tell me she isn't darling!

I love sleeves that hit at the elbow - love them.

Got any questions? Happy to help! If you wanna see the pattern I drew up for the pocket let me know I'd be happy to post it. It's my favorite pocket EVER! I've put it on quite a few things!

Thanks for letting me share!

Big Smiles,

Link'n up with

Pear-Shape Book Tutorial

Last Spring I needed something fun to sell at my family auction. My family holds an auction every year at our family reunion where we sell our handmade or purchased goods to other members of our family and then the money is used to pay for next years family reunion. Anyhow, blah , blah, blah, I came up with this version of a pear which was inspired by my good friend Jessica's pear. She's a clever gal! Thanks lady! It was a big hit at the family reunion and I have made it several times since for gifts (hello -wouldn't this be the cutest gift for the ladies in your book club) . Wanna make one - it's super easy and I bet you have nearly everything you need already.

Alright, so gather your supplies:
*scissors or an exacto knife
*old book
*black & white craft paint
*sponge brush
*sanding paper
*pattern (half a pear shape drawn out)
*green ink pad
*wooden block
*quick drying glue (I used hot glue & zip dry glue)
*twig from your yard
*green felt

Ok, first off I have to say that I didn't capture every step with my camera because truth be told I just recreated this scene after I had made it - you know since I made it last Spring! Sorry - I can answer any question and I will try my best to spell it out for you. You can Do THIS!


So, You just draw out your pear shape or half a pear shape as seen below. Make sure the bottom of your pattern is flat so that your pear will stand up nicely. After you have ripped the cover off your book and most of the goo off the side of your book (use a razor to scrape it off if its being difficult). Make sure to leave a bit so that your book doesn't fall apart. Then lay your pattern with the flat side to the bound edge. This is when you can either trace it with a pencil or just use your exacto knife and cut around your pattern. You won't be able to go thru all the layers of course you will just work your way down. I traced it and then used scissors to cut mine out - just because my exacto blade was a bit dull. Don't worry about perfection -rough edges give it character. I used about 100 pages to make mine as full as it was. After you get that task done you can go thru and ink the edges of the pear and even a bit towards the center every now and then. This picture here is showing a different ink then my original pears and I don't like it as well. This was a chalk ink and the original one I used that is my favorite and the ink on the finished pear pictured is a Versa Color Ink in bamboo. Love it. Ran OUT! darn. Use what you have -it will be cute.

I had the hubby cut me out a circle that was about an inch bigger than the widest part of your pear. He routered the edge for a cute finish. I know that you can pick up something similar at Micheals or probably even JoAnns. After you get that done paint your wooden base. I just used craft paint. First I painted mine white and then when that was good and dry I painted black over that - a couple of coats . Now get out that sandpaper and rough it up a bit. Sand the top in a few places and the edges. I even banged mine up a bit with my keys.



Now get out your favorite quick drying glue and glue the front page to the back page - hold it or use some pinch clips to do so. I used Zip dry glue - it really does dry super fast. love that. Usually! I wanted my pear to be shapely , as shapely as a pear shape can be - You know! That's a whole nother topic for girls nite out - Right! Back to the tute . I randomly went thru and glued different pages together to make it pleasing to the eye. Just start - you will see what I mean. Next I put a big ole dob of hot glue on the bottom of the pear and glued it smack dab in the middle of the painted base.


Now go out to your yard or sneak into your neighbors yard and clip a bit of a branch off of one of the trees. I like a branch with a bit of a jaunty little curve to it. I just clipped that off to a nice stem size and I used E6000 to glue mine to the top of the pear. You have to hold it for quite a bit if you use E6000 though. You could use hot glue but be so careful because it tends to ooze out and it won't look that great with a gob of hot glue up top.




Again, not a great picture of my leaf but this is easy. I just cut a leaf shape out of a great green felt and then I ran mine through my sewing machine to add veins but you could also use some floss and stitch it on by hand. No veins at all would work as well. Then I just wrapped the bottom of the leaf to the bottom part of the stem and VOILA!!!



There you have it! Make two and use them as book ends (you'd have to weight them to be very effective book ends) Make some for those darling gals in your book club. Just keep it for yourself - you worked hard! Good luck and don't forget to share if you do make one. I would love to see yours.


I'm linking up as usual to Jen over at Tatertots and Jello!

Hey if you wanna find out what shape your talent is check out my bro-in-laws blog - you might be a pear shape. Actually, that's not one of the shapes but go have a look . His link is over there on my side bar - BE MUSED! neat inspirational blog!
Smiles & Big Big Love