Embellished Hat Tutorial

I like hats. But, not just any hat. You won't find me pulling on one of my husbands ball caps on a bad hair day. They've got to be cute hats! These fit the bill (ha!) and are super duper easy to make. You can make both of them in less than an hour!

The Fabric Flower Hat

This hat I adore! I love, love fabric (if I were ever to become a hoarder, that's what I'd hoard. Yards and yards of bright, colorful quilt fabric!). There's a home decor store near me where I first saw a hat like this and I fell in love. Until I saw the price tag, that is. They sell hats like this for $50! Insanity. Seriously. The hat is adorable, but there is no way I can justify spending $50 on a hat. I decided to turn to my fabric stash to make my own. But first, I needed a hat.

Voila! Joann's to the rescue! They had these cute army hats in the fabric arts section. I'd been through that section many times but had never seen these. Turns out, they were hiding in these bins that they have on one of the aisles. They have a picture of the product on the front and you open the bin to get one. Not the greatest idea for merchandising, in my opinion, because I'd never once noticed those bins until a friend pointed them out. So if you don't see them in your Joann's, look for the bins!

To make the fabric flower hat you'll need:

Hat
Fabric scraps (you don't need much; a fat quarter or scraps will work just fine. I used 4 different
prints)
Fabric glue or a hot glue gun
Rhinestones, if you like a little sparkle

First, you're going to cut flower shapes out of your fabric, with the flowers decreasing in size. I drew out a flower shape on a scrap piece of cardstock and then traced it onto my flower with a fabric marking pencil. If you aren't comfortable drawing it by hand, you could use a Cricut machine or find a flower shape online to use as your template.


After you've cut out each flower, I used my fingernails to pull some threads around the edges of each flower to give it a frayed look.

I cut a total of 8 flowers: 2 from each fabric. Now, you'll just stack them on top of each other with the largest on the bottom, smallest on the top. I glued the entire flower together then glued it to my hat using hot glue.


I like rhinestones, so I glued some rhinestones in various locations on the hat. I did a group of rhinestones smack in the center. Or, you could put a button or a large rhinestone flower in the center.

With all the adorable fabrics that are on the market, the possibilities are endless! You could easily make one that would match any outfit. Or, wouldn't this be cute in the colors of your favorite sport team?



The Applique Hat

This hat was the brainstorm of one my BFF's, Carie. She's got a super fabulous blog full of fun things to win, so go visit her at 3 Crazie Monkeys. It's full of fantastic giveaways!

For this hat you need:
Hat
Applique
Hot glue or fabric glue
Rhinestones (optional)

This little gem is what embellishes this hat. The fabric art section of craft stores are full of beauties like this that are intended to spruce up t-shirts. They come in lots of different shapes and colors.

Play around with it to determine placement on the hat. Once you've decided how you want it, simply glue it down. I added a few rhinestones for sparkle because I like to channel my inner Liberace at times.

That's it. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Take that, bad hair days!

Do you appreciate a teacher that has a sweet tooth?

If so, this might be the teacher appreciation gift for you! Back when I was in Junior High and High School, I made the super popular candy bar notes. You know what I'm talking about, right? You'd take a piece of poster board and write out a note, inserting candy bars for certain words. Like "you make me "Snicker" and "Rolo"ver with laughter when you tell me a joke." Yes, I was (am) that lame!

Here's a new (less lame) twist on it!


We did this for Turtle's teacher last year. Looking at the photos, I realize that I didn't really decorate the paint can. I'm surprised at myself - I usually never miss an opportunity to embellish. Oh, well. This year!

I got the clear paint can at Michael's. Love them! It's a cute way to package up a gift. Inside were the following candies:
Jolly Ranchers
Smarties (I found a jumbo Smarties at Joann's)
Almond Joy
Pop Rocks
Skor
Mounds
Snickers
Nerds
Andes Mints
Reeses Pieces



It's easy to whip one of these up for Teacher Appreciation Day. Print out the cute poem (that I found on the web, so I can't take credit for it), embellish it a bit and glue it on the can. You can put tissue paper or paper shreds inside the can for color before adding all the candy goodness.

If you have a Cricut, it'd be cute to cut out vinyl polka dots and put them on the can. Ribbon or fabric scraps look adorable tied to the handle.

What a fun and yummy way to tell a teacher thanks!

The Note:

I SKORed big when I got you for a teacher. Don't SNICKER, but I think you're great! You are MOUNDS of fun and you have brought me so much JOY! I think you ROCK! Thank you for always being so JOLLY and for helping me become a SMARTIE. Teachers like you are worth a MINT. I'd be a NERD if I didn't thank you for helping me put the PIECES of the knowledge puzzle together. Thanks for a great year!

Cricut and Today's Mama Great Escape Meme Contest

Do you have a Cricut machine and love it (and want more cartridges)? Do you want one for your very own? If so, this is the contest for you!

I have a Cricut machine and use it for lots of things. I'm seriously in love with the thing! I use it for paper crafting, scrapbooking, homeschooling, sewing, decorating - you get the idea. Today's Mama has teamed up with the folks at Cricut again and are giving away a choice of fantastic prizes - either a Cricut machine or all 4 of the new cartridges. How's that for a prize!? You can see all of the details here on the Today's Mama site or go check out the Cricut site here. Basically, to enter, you copy and paste the Great Escape Meme from the link above, create a blog post about it and then send an email to the folks at Today's Mama with a link to it. Easy, peasy.

Here goes:

Great Escape Meme

This is a contest entry for those crazy folks at TodaysMama and Cricut. Be sure to check out Cricut's cool new cartridges and the chance at $30,000 in travel for you and your friends at the Great Gypsy Escape site!

1. If you could escape to anywhere in the world where would it be?
I'd head to the UK. I love England and have always wanted to go to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. I'd love to spend about a month exploring!

2. What song do you play when you are by yourself in the car?
Viva La Vida by Coldplay and Cowboy by Kid Rock are my favorites!

3. If you had a night to yourself, and money was no object, what would you do?
I'm easy - I'd go to the movies and see a chick flick. (the 8 or so movies I saw in the theatre were rated "G")

4. What is your guilty pleasure?
Fountain soda and quilt fabric. I can't get enough of either!

5. What is the farthest place you have traveled away from your home?
Europe

6. Last book that you couldn't put down?
Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Cruise and Bob Mayer. It's not a literary classic, but it is a
fun and entertaining read!

7. When you want to escape into another time, what movie do you watch?
I really enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl and The Duchess. Fantastic sets and costumes!

8. What is your favorite local escape?
We are loving the community pool just down the road that is like a mini water park! It's great
fun and we can all get in to play all day for less than $5!

9. How do you escape on a budget?
We stay at places that have a mini fridge and bring our breakfast and lunch stuff (like bagels
and sandwich fixings) and snacks. Doing this vs eating out saves us a bunch!

10. Best food you've ever had while on vacation.
Hands down, Paella in Spain. I ate it for practically every meal when I was there and have yet
to find any in the States that tastes as good!

So, there you go. If you decide to play along, leave a comment with a linky. I'd love to read yours!

Hannah Montana Rock Star Party Decorations

We've got a fairly large dining room table, which I love. But, because of it's size, the plastic tablecloths you can buy are too small for it. One isn't long enough and it isn't wide enough to hang over the sides. So, this time around I got smart and bought 3 tablecloths for the table! I folded about 1/3 of the purple tablecloths underneath (it was too long if I didn't do that) and then put one on each half of the table, with them meeting together in the middle. Since I now had an ugly seam, I placed a pink tablecloth over the seam as a table runner. Problem solved!

I love the Dollar Spot at Target! They usually have some kind of metal pails in that section in various colors and those are one of my favorite things to buy there. I've got a bunch of these pails in several different colors and they make an appearance in my holiday decor fairly often.

This time around they were for the (last minute) centerpieces. I got so tied up in the cake and favors that I forgot I needed something for the table! I pulled out my pails and covered the Styrofoam inside with crumpled up tissue paper. Then it was my trusty Cricut machine to the rescue! Using my scrapbook paper stash I cut out stars in various sizes, a couple of the number "6" and the phrase "You rock". I hot glued them onto bamboo skewers and stuck them in the pail. Next year I'm going to make myself a checklist. Nevertheless, they turned out cute for about a 20 minute project!

A couple of months ago I posed about a menu board I'd made for my kitchen using a tile, some adhesive vinyl and my Cricut machine. You can see that post here. Since I'm not one to just leave things be, especially when I get the craft bug, I made another one! Seriously, I will never be done tweaking my home decor stuff.

This one is even easier than the last. I found this super cute frame and loved it, so I decided that it would be perfect. It's a 5x7 frame. I found a piece of scrapbook paper that I loved and cut it to 5x7. In MS Word, I typed out the word "Menu" and the days of the week in a font I liked and printed it out on a piece of regular paper. Then, using removable adhesive (Hermafix Tabs work great for this!), I attached the scrapbook paper over the printed words and ran it through the printer again. Then I popped it into the frame. The glass works just like a white board, so you write on it with a dry erase marker and wipe off to clean.

Happy menu planning!

The Painted Crown

Taylor is a princess! She'd been wanting more things that were "princessey" (is that a word?) to decorate her room, so a crown above her bed seemed to be just the thing.

First, I went the route of those metal canopy things that the green checkered fabric (you can see it above) would hang from. Then I saw the price of those things in the children/home decor boutiques! My stars, those suckers are expensive! Seriously, I don't think I saw one cheaper than $300!

Above her headboard were the words "follow your dreams" that I cut out on my Cricut machine. It was cute, but the pink on her apple green walls became a shocking pink and I was never really happy with it. So, since the crown canopy thing was out, I decided to take down the vinyl letters and paint a crown.

(I'm going to take a break now and apologize for the photos. We've got a sunscreen on Taylor's window so it's always a bit dark since it faces North. It's screwed on, or I would have taken it off for the photos. Though they don't look it, her walls are a light green color. Continuing on...)

I love the way it turned out:



Want to make one yourself? You can! (Really, it just takes a bit of time). There are two ways to go about it. The first is to free-hand draw the crown on the wall.

You're freaking out now, aren't you?

That's what I did, but I totally get that not every one can do that. If you are one of those people, you'll need an overhead machine. I think that you can check those out from the library.

You'll trace the outline of the crown (or draw it for those of you artsy fartsy types) on the wall using chalk. Why chalk? Because if you mess up, it's really easy to remove it without a trace. Just make sure that you work from left to right if you are right handed, or from right to left if you are left handed, so you don't smudge what you drew.


Once you've got the chalk outline the way you like you can outline it with paint. I love those little paint sample cans that stores are offering now. You know, the tiny one's that let you try the paint on the wall before you buy it. Those little cans of paint are perfect for projects like this!

Don't worry if you can still see a bit of the chalk outline after you've outlined it with paint. Once the whole thing is done and dry, you can use a damp cloth to remove any chalk remnants.


As you're tracing the chalk outline with the paint, you should have something that looks like what is in the photos.

This is what it will look like when it's completely outlined with the paint:

Once you've got it outlined, fill it in!

If you are feeling particularly creative, you can use paint to give it dimension. How, you say? You'll need 2 colors - a light color and a dark color. You can use white and brown (or black), or you can use two different shades of the color you made the main crown in. Since my crown was pink, I used a light pink (it was almost white), and a mauve color.

The general rule of thumb is that if the sun was shining on it, you'll add the light color to the areas that the sun would touch. You'll add the darker color to areas where there would be a shadow.

Confused? You'll add the light color to the top parts, dark colors to the bottom.

You can see how I added the light and dark colors in the photo below.

Since it's a crown, and crowns should have jewels, I used a regular hot glue gun to attach rhinestones to the crown. I'm thinking now it needs more because you can never have too much bling, right? :)

I think I might add Taylor's name in the main section of the crown, too. What do you think?

I Won!

Today's Mama has teamed up with Cricut and they are running a design contest for projects created using the Cricut machine. People who submit a winning project win 4 of the new Cricut cartridges. I got an email today that my "Go Fish" game won! I'm so excited! You can see the original post here.

Do you have some awesome projects that you've made using your Cricut? The contest is still going on, so get the info on how to enter from Today's Mama!

A Birthday Present for Grandma

I admit that I'm totally into handmade gifts lately. It's so much more fun for me to make something for my MIL than it is for me to go to the store and pick out another shirt or something for her. This is what I came up with for her birthday this year and just put it in the mail yesterday (about a month late - yikes!) This was an easy thing to make and turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

Here's what you need:

• Wooden plaque (available in craft stores)
• Paint
• A piece of metal (available at home improvement stores. Tip - make sure a magnet will stick to it!)
• Magnets
• Something to glue on top of the magnets (buttons, glass pebbles, scrabble board pieces, etc)
• Strong glue (I used E6000 available at craft stores)
• Letters (I used my Cricut machine, vinyl and the Alphalicious cartridge. You could use scrapbook letters, rub ons, or even small wooden letters)
• Sawtooth hanger

Here's what you do:

• Paint the board. Once the paint was dry, I lightly sanded the edges to give it a distressed look.
• Adhere your letters. I used a T-square as I was sticking the letters down to make sure my lines were straight. Make sure you space your letters so that you leave enough room for the metal piece.
• Place glue on the back of your metal piece and then glue it onto the board. I used clamps to hold it down until it dried, but you could also stack books on top of it to make sure that it adheres well.
• Glue the magnets onto the decorative pieces (buttons, glass pebbles, etc.)
• Turn the board over and attach the sawtooth hanger to the back so it can be hung. If you'd prefer, you could just set it on an easel.
  

Father's Day Gift

I do such a good job of coming up with thoughtful, handmade gifts for my Mom, MIL and Grandmother, but I'm sorely lacking when it comes to doing the same for my Dad, FIL and Grandfather. So, this is what I came up with for my grandfather for Father's Day. I knew he'd love to have a picture of the girls on his desk, but wanted to do something different than just a framed picture. So off I went to Home Depot for a tile.

You'll need:

• A tile (I used a tumbled marble 6 x 6 tile)
• Modge Podge (NOT the kind made for paper)
• Cricut Vinyl and a Cricut machine
• Or, rub ons (If you don't have a Cricut machine)
• a small easel to display it

Here's how I did it:

• I purchased a tumbled marble 6 x 6 tile from Home Depot
• In Paint, I opened the photograph I wanted and re sized it down to approx. 3 x 5 or so. Then I printed it on regular paper to double check the size of the photo against the size of my tile to make sure it fit the way I wanted.
• Next, I taped a piece of white tissue paper over the printed image. I then ran the sheet of paper with the tissue paper overlay back through the printer, printing the photograph onto the tissue paper.
  

• I carefully peeled the tissue paper off of the printer paper, being careful not to tear it. Then, using scissors, I cut it to the size I wanted to adhere to the tile.
• Using a foam brush, paint a thin layer of Modge Podge directly onto the tile
• Put the tissue paper with the image right side up onto the tile. You'll have to be careful about placement as you lay the image down, because the tissue paper is so thin that you won't get a chance to reposition it without tearing it.
• Smooth down the tissue paper.
• Using the foam brush, paint a thin layer of Modge Podge over the tissue paper to seal it.
• Wait for it to dry.
• For the lettering and the embellishment, I used my Cricut machine and Cricut Vinyl. The lettering was done with the "Plantin Schoolbook" cartridge and the embellishment was done with the "Accent Essentials" cartridge. If you don't have a Cricut machine, then rub on letters that are found in the scrapbook section of your local craft store would also work.
• Place it on an easel to display. You could also glue ribbons to the back of the tile that you could use to hang it.

Voila! An easy and cute gift!

Father's Day Treat Jar

We had the Father's Day gift for Poppy (my dad) all ready to go, but we still needed a little something to round it out. We were cruising the bulk section of our local Sprouts when Hubby noticed the chocolate covered macadamia nuts. These are one of Poppy's favorite treats, so we loaded up a plastic bag full of the chocolate goodness. Since a plastic grocery bag just isn't all that gift like, I went and found a cute (but plain) jar to put them in.

Then, my trusty Cricut machine came to the rescue. I got out my vinyl and cut out the "P" for the front and then "Poppy's treats" for the back. I debated putting "If you aren't Poppy, Keep Out!", but kept it pretty simple (even though I knew Poppy would appreciate the "keep out!").

It was a cute, easy addition to a gift!

Little Blue Rocking Chair

My nephew just turned one. I think it's hard to do gifts for kiddos so little since it seems like so many of the toys are virtually the same thing (at least in my eyes). I wanted to do something other than just a toy, anyway.

My girls both have little rocking chairs and they are quite fond of them. Most of the time, anyway. They get drug out for TV watching, have blankets thrown over the top for a little makeshift fort, and are used for time-outs (this would be the time that they don't like them so much!)

Since they enjoy their chairs so much, I figured I'd make one for Dillon, too. Taylor got her chair as a gift and I made Megan's to match. (Actually, I tried to buy her one from the same store that Taylor's came from, but it was defunct, so I was forced to be crafty!). So, off to Michael's I headed. They always have these little rocking chairs in their unfinished wood section, and with a 40% off coupon it's a good deal!

I sanded it so it was smooth, and then painted it with paint from those little sample paint pods home improvement stores carry now. (You know, the little containers that let you test the color on the wall before you commit to a gallon. Those little 4 oz containers are perfect for projects like this and are only about $4!) Once the paint was dry, I sanded the edges again to give it a distressed look. A quick coat of sealer gave it a bit of a shine. The vinyl letters I cut out on my Cricut machine (oh, how I love it!).

Voila! One cute chair!

Go Fish!

Taylor's elementary school had their Spring Carnival a couple of weeks ago. It was your typical school carnival - bouncers, snow cones, pony rides and the obligatory carnival games. Some of the games were pretty lame (aren't there always a couple of lame games?), but the fishing game was a hit with my girls! We spent lots of tickets playing this game (it was easy enough for Miss Megan to win) and walked away with a handful of giant Pixie Sticks for our winning efforts.

Because the girls had so much fun fishing at the carnival, I decided to see if I could come up with my own version we could play at home. My version is pretty much like what they had at the carnival, but my fish are fabric instead of plastic. I found the super cute bucket and thought it would be perfect to store our catch in!

The best part? Except for the bucket, I already had everything I needed to make this. Woot! I love it when that happens! (Though, I'm always slightly disappointed that I don't get to fawn over all the pretty fabrics at the quilt store. I also had to raid hubby's tool chest for the "bobber". Shhh - don't tell!)

I made three fishing games in about 2 hours. My first official version of our fishing game was a birthday present for a friend of ours. The second, Turtle and Monkey get to keep. The third I've got in my store, so head on over! If you want to make your own, keep reading.

Here's what you'll need:

• Fabric fat quarters in a couple of different colors
• button magnets
• wooden dowel
• metal washer
• eye hook
• shell, fish and seahorse templates (I used my Cricut machine and the Paper Doll Dress Up Cartridge for my shapes)

Here's what you do:

1. Trace around your templates on the wrong side of your fabric (so the marks don't show). You'll need 2 pieces per fish. Trace one with "side A" of the template facing up, then flip it over and trace the second piece with "side B" facing up. Cut both pieces out (I cut mine with pinking shears for added detail)
2. Sew the pieces together, right sides out, leaving about a 1/4" seam allowance. Leave a small opening so that you can put the button magnet in. Once you've added the magnet, sew it closed.
3. Too keep the magnet in one general area, push it up where you want it to be inside the fish, then add a seam behind it to "trap" it. (if you look at the picture above, the seam is visible on the head of the blue fish"
4. To make the fishing pole, screw the eye hook into one end of the dowel. Tie a ribbon or string to the eye hook. On the other end of the string, tie the metal washer.
   

Birthday Countdown Calendar!

Megan's birthday is coming up rather quickly, so we're officially in the countdown mode now! This is a fun way for her to watch her birthday get closer! The concept is the same as my Christmas Countdown Calendar, just tailored with a birthday theme. It comes together fairly quickly - in about an hour or so.

I found this cute metal serving tray at Dollar Tree (I love that store!). Besides the tray, I used 3 sheets of matching scrapbook paper, 1 sheet of solid cardstock, chipboard scrapbook letters ("days" and "til"), Scrabble game tiles ("my") and a rhinestone word ("birthday", found in scrapbook sections of craft stores or at scrapbook stores), ribbon, magnets, Modge Podge, and various scrapbook supplies (inks, pens).

First, I cut the background paper to the size of the bottom of the tray and glued it down with Modge Podge.

Next, cut I cut the two accent papers (the pinkish color at the bottom and the "wavy" stripe) and glued them down with Modge Podge.

I used my Cricut machine to cut out little party hats and the numbers on the solid color cardstock. If you don't have a Cricut, you could simply cut out circles by hand or use pre-made tags or embellishments you can find in the scrapbook section and stickers for the numbers. You'll need numbers 1-9, 0, and an extra 1 and 2. I glued the numbers on the party hats and inked around the edges for a little extra pizazz. I cut pieces off of a roll of self-adhesive magnets and adhered them to the back of each party hat.

Now I glued down my words "days til my birthday" on top of my background paper.

Finally, I punched holes in the tray with my Crop-o-dile and tied ribbon through the holes to hang it. If you don't have a Crop-o-dile, simply hot glue the ends of the ribbon to the back.

Happy Easter!

I spent quite a bit of time cleaning this week (well overdue, I may add!) and while I was at it, I got out my Easter decorations. I've been in cupcake mode for Megan's upcoming birthday, and had made a couple of banners that say "Happy Birthday" when I decided I'd go through my paper stash and find some Easter papers for an Easter banner.

I've got a Cricut machine, so that made creating this a snap! I used it to cut out the squares with the scalloped edges (they are 5 1/2" inches). The patterned paper squares I cut out myself with a paper trimmer while the background squares were being cut on the Cricut. The patterned paper squares are 4 1/2", and I used a corner rounder on the corners. The letters are 2 1/2" and are the "Mickey Font" cartridge. I used 3-m foam tape to adhere the letters and chalked around the edges to give it some dimension.

To hang the banner, I put eyelets in the corner so the paper wouldn't tear. Then, I used a long piece of tulle to string them all together. (Look for spools of tulle at the dollar store or in the wedding sections of craft stores). Finally, I tied pieces of ribbon in between the letters for a fun touch.

To hang it on my mantle, I used 3-M command hooks (I have a love affair with these things - they are fantastic!). I love how cute and Spring-y it looks!

I'll post the "Happy Birthday" versions soon!

Taylor's (new) Favorite Blanket

Taylor had this fleece blanket that she called her "favorite blanket". It wasn't anything special, just this fleece square that looked off white, but if you looked closely, it was really a pale blue checked print. It held no special meaning - she wasn't wrapped up in it as a baby, it wasn't a gift from anyone (it was actually left behind at our 1st house and we never figured out who had left it), it was just a fleece blanket that became quite loved.

Until, that is, our trip to The Polar Express this year. Favorite blanket was packed for the overnight trip and made it into the car. I think it may have even made it into the hotel. Where it is now, I have no idea. I don't know if it got left behind in the hotel room (even though I checked the room before we checked out and calls to housekeeping turned up nothing), or if it fell out of the car during one of our pit stops, or if Taylor took it with her into a restaurant and it got left behind. At any rate, favorite blanket didn't make it home from that trip.

To ease the sting a little, I took Taylor to the quilt store with the promise that she could pick out the fabric she liked and I'd make her a new favorite blanket. She's loving the purple right now, so that's what she went with. I got the idea for adding the initial from a friend who also makes quilts, and I think it's adorable! I used my Cricut machine to cut out a heart and the letter "T" that I used for templates. The front is cotton quilt fabric, the letter "T" and the backing is made our of Minky fabric. It didn't take me more than 2 hours, and now she's got a new blanket to love!