Stamped Tea Towels

I'm in love with these vintage looking stamped tea towels. 

I might just make them for all my friends and family!

I had bought a pack of these simple IKEA dish towels a long time ago 

with good intentions to do something fun.

While browsing through Pinterest, which I do often, 

I found something that inspired me to finally get to work with these towels.

I grabbed these supplies; foam brush, fabric paint, foam stamps and cardboard (empty cereal box).

 I love this new fabric paint I found at Hobby Lobby.

I chose the Navy Marine color.

I laid out my stamps in my desired position on my tea towel...

I added paint to the foam letter stamp...

With the cardboard behind my towel I stamped all the letters on in place.

I just love the outcome and it really took me very little time to complete all four towels.

The possiblities are endless in terms of the themes and words you use. 

Think of holidays, family names, favorite dishes etc.

Giving Gifts

I'm a gift giver. It's one of my "Love Languages." 

And I love putting together something fun and creative!
How about something fun like this for Mother's Day or
to say Thanks to a Teacher or
maybe something for your neighbor!

I found all items at Target and obviously my theme color was YELLOW!

A $3.00 bucket from the One Spot

I just walked around looking for a variety of things with my theme color of sunshine.

I printed out "You are my Sunshine" and attached it to a card and then added it to my basket.

For my Mom's birthday I went with the ORANGE theme.

And I made cute little tags that started out "Orange you glad..."

Her birthday is close to summer and every year I have trouble coming up with some good...

Until this year!

It was fun to walk around Target, you know my favorite place...

and find different things I thought my mom would like, all in ORANGE!

I added orange tissue paper to the mailing box and sent it off. She LOVED it!

Personalized Painted Mug

Baby, It's cold outside! Even in North Carolina. 

I got the girls together, along with a couple of their friends 

and we crafted up some new personalized mugs!

 We used the following supplies; Oil-based Sharpie's (I got mine at Hobby Lobby). 

It's very important that you use oil-based paint markers (like these Sharpie's) 

otherwise it may come off when you run it through the dishwasher.

 White ceramic mugs. I found these at Wal-Mart. 

Use of an oven in a well ventilated space.

 I cut jumbo plump letters with my Silhouette. But you can use a scrapbooking sticker too. 

 Apply the sticker to the center of the mug, burnishing the edges. I made sure that I placed the letter so that it would be facing out when I was drinking. You may not prefer to do it this way though.

 I started with the silver pen and placed dots all around (and a little over) my letter.

 Making sure not to go too fast, or you will end up with little lines and not dots!

 After I added the right amount of silver. I added red. And then added a little more silver and then a little more red. Until I was happy with the shape and the amount of dots.

 How cute is that! I think it may even make the hot chocolate taste better!

 We used a different color combination for each person in our family.

 Before you go ahead and boil your water for your own hot chocolate, 

you'll want to bake the mugs in an oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. 

This will help the paint to "bake" onto the mug and resist wearing in the dishwasher.

I left them in the warm oven (turned off) for a couple of hours as well.

These would make great gifts, party favors or a craft for a birthday party!
Enjoy and stay warm!

Men's Necktie Bracelet

I pinned it. Then made it.

After raiding my husband's tie collection (who wears ties anymore?!) 

 I crafted up a couple necktie bracelets in less than an hour with just a few supplies I had on hand.

Of course you'll need to start with a tie. I chose four ties that 

1) I knew Ben wouldn't wear anymore 

2) Something that would be a great compliment to my wardrobe.

In addition to a tie, you'll need something like an empty yogurt container. 

This is to put inside the tie to make the bracelet stiff. 

Grab some needle & thread, a button to match the tie and a metal snap.In order to get the right size for my wrist I did a rough measurement 

by wraping the tie around my wrist. 

For the purpose of this project, we are using the skinny side of the tie. 

Cut the tie to the measured length.

Cut the yogurt container into a strip that will fit inside the skinny side of the tie.
Oh, but save the other side. Maybe we'll figure out something to do with it!

I was able to get four strips out of this one container.

You may need to do a little trimming after you get the whole thing apart.

Insert the plastic strip into the tie.

Hand stitch up the end.

Hand sew on a snap.

And there you have it!

How cute and easy is that?!

Now go raid your husband's closet and see what you can do!

Ready for the Beach

We've had a couple little girls celebrate their birthday's recently 

so I finally had the opportunity to put together this fun "Ready for the Beach" kit.

 I gathered the following supplies:

 Water bottle, bucket & shovel (they usually come together), 

sunscreen, sun glasses and waterproof cards (keep a look out for H20 Uno!)

 I created some tags using my Silhouette program (today it decided to NOT cut them out for me) 

but nothing my good old paper cutter and corner rounder couldn't handle!

the tag reads:

WATER BOTTLE

Let the word quench your thrist

"Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the one who takes refuge in him." Psalm 34:8

 GAMES

All good things come from God

"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. 

He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 2:17

 SUNGLASSES

Look at the world through Christ's eyes

"As a new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, and that you love one another as yourselves. By this all men will know that you are my disciples." John 13:34

 SUNSCREEN

"Put on the whole armor of God, 

that you may be able to stand against the willes of the devil." Ephesians 6:11

 BUCKET

Collect the treasures of God's word

"Fear not for I am with you. Do not be afraid for I am your God. 

I will strengthen you and hold you in my right hand of righteousness." Isaiah 41:10

 SAND SHOVEL

Dig into the word of God

"As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow. 

If so you will taste that the Lord is gracious." 1 Peter 2:2

Ready for the beach!