Made for Monday: Fabric Flower Tutorial

Several months ago I saw this tutorial at Maize Hutton and thought that I'd have to try it one day.  Well, my friends, today is that day!

I've done mine a little differently, so I'm posting an adapted version here for you.  I hope you like it!

"Fabric Flower"

What you'll need:

• A strip of fabric that can be folded in half lengthwise
• Matching button
• Needle
• Thread
• Optional: hair clips, glue gun

What you'll do:

I followed the original pattern pretty closely with this exception...Instead of leaving the sides frayed, I folded my fabric in half lengthwise.  I wanted a cleaner look.

I also wanted my flower to be a hair accessory instead of a pin.  So I took a piece of matching ribbon and hot glued one edge to make a loop and then hot glued that piece to the center of the back of the flower.

I took the pink bows off the hair clips I found and simply inserted it into the loop of ribbon!  Easy peasy!  

And I also wanted to be able to interchange it with my headband...so viola!  Take out the clip, insert the headband, and you've got yourself a versatile hair accessory!

Since I had two clips left over, I decided to make two smaller versions for my 4-year-old BFF!  I just used half the length and half the width of the original strip of fabric.

I'm so delighted with how they turned out.  And my BFF and I both wore our flower accessories to church this morning because that's how we roll!  

Word-Free Weekend (Sort Of): Mattie & Calton

"Mattie & Calton"

Finale Friday: Non-boring Week

This week has been a fun one - not necessarily for any particular reason.  It just hasn't been boring.

Matthew took the Accuplacer earlier this week and got fantastic scores on all of the sections.  He did so well, in fact, that he qualifies for an apprenticeship at the shipyard!  Thanks for your prayers in that regard.  Today he's going to the shipyard career fair with several of his portfolios in hand, and we're praying he'll find favor in their eyes.

I've been working, as usual.  Nothing new to report there.

Yesterday morning I had coffee with a sweet, sweet friend from church (we meet every other Thursday morning), and we had a great time catching up from before Christmas.  And, to make it even better, we met at our usual coffee shop, which is always delightful.

I don't know if you guys caught my weekend update this last weekend, but one of the pics was a purse that I bought on Sunday.  I've had my eye on it for several months now but didn't want to pay full price for it.  Well it was the last one on clearance at Old Navy on Sunday, AND all their clearance was half off!  So I got the purse for the big whopping price of $4.25!  I was rather impressed with myself.  :)

I'm also really excited because I'm trying out Zumba for the first time tomorrow!  My friend, Denise, has been bugging me to go with her for a while now, but I've had something going on every time she's invited me.  But tomorrow I finally have the chance to go, and I'm super stoked!  I've heard it's a blast, and I'm excited to test it out myself.  I'll let you know how it goes!

My last exciting thing to tell you is that I got a new pair of glasses online this morning for less than $20!!!  One of the blogs I read regularly - The Frugal Girls - posted this awesome deal last night for 10,000 free pairs of glasses, and all you have to do is "like" this one company on Facebook to get a free pair (lenses included).  The catch is that it only lasted from 9 am to 12 pm EST, which is 3 hours ahead of me.  So I woke up at 6 this morning to snag a pair of my own.  They're not a very "typical" pair of glasses for me, but I thought I'd be a little spontaneous and try out something new.  After all, they're less than $20!  I'll be sure to post pics when I get them!

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Thrifty Thursday: Yarn-Tainer Knock-Off

Today's Thrifty Thursday is a bit of a tutorial, as well as being thrifty, and needs a bit of explaining first.

I do a lot of crochet/knit projects, which means I use a lot of yarn.  And I've seen these really cool Yarn-Tainers at Joanns that look super convenient, but they're pretty pricey.  At least, they're more than cheap ol' me would like to spend.

See how it contains the yarn and feeds it so nicely through the hole on top?!  It was yarn-user's love at first sight.

Anyway, Matthew and I were in Joanns one day, and I was yearning for said yarn holders but refusing to spend the money.  We left the store - me a little heartbroken - and walked a little ways down to the Dollar Tree (one of my favorite places - again, I'm cheap).  I was browsing through the container aisle when a thought struck me.  I could turn a container into a yarn holder for just pennies (100 to be exact)!

I grabbed the container and briskly found my way to Matthew, wherever he was browsing at the time, and told him my idea.  And he thought it was awesome - he's all about being cheap (we're made for each other)!

Here's how to make your own:

• Purchase a plastic container from the Dollar Tree with a screw on top that's big enough to fit the skein of yarn you would like to use.  (I happened to have yarn on me at the time - we'd just left Joanns, remember - and used that to figure it out.  Mine is 3 quarts.)
• Take it home and have your handy-man - or do it yourself if you're skilled enough (I'm not) - drill a hole in the top of the container that's big enough to feed your yarn through.
• Smooth the hole down with a file, if you need to.
• Feed the yarn through the bottom of the lid, and put the rest of the skein inside your container. 
• Screw on the lid, and you're good to go!

I saved approximately $7 using this method, and I'm pretty darn proud of that!  How's that for being thrifty?!

Happy thrifting!

Words of Wisdom Wednesday: Hebrews 2:18

Good morning!  Can you believe it's already Wednesday?  Goodness gracious.  Last week was slow - this week is fast.

This morning's Words of Wisdom come from a passage we read in our small group last night, and it really spoke to me.

"For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."

Hebrews 2:18

This is the whole concept of Christ being our high priest who made the ultimate sacrifice for us so that we don't have to pay the price of death.  What a wonderful Savior!  And how beautiful is his plan!

Valentine's Popcorn

One of my favorite blogs - Sumo's Sweet Stuff - recently posted a tutorial for Valentine's Popcorn that is absolutely to die for!  And I thought I'd share it with you!

I'm not going to post the entire tutorial since she has it on her blog.  But I thought I'd post my pics of the process and tell you what I did differently from her tute:

• I used all the same ingredients except for the M&Ms and the Ju-Ju hearts - I used Peanut M&Ms, instead of regular, and completely left out the hearts. 
• Instead of adding the M&Ms in the beginning, I waited until I had the popcorn coated with the vanilla almond bark added some in, and then I added even more after I spread it out on my work space.
• I also enlisted the help of a good-looking boyfriend.  ;)

And those are the only differences!  It turned out super duper yummy, and I can't wait to share it with our Nursery and Children's Ministry teams as a take-home goodie at our pancake breakfast in a couple of weeks!

Bon Appetit!

Marshmallow Shooters

As Valentine's day has been drawing nearer, I've been racking my brain to figure out what to give my sweet man.  And then the thought occurred to me, "What better Valentine's gift for a man than a marshmallow shooter?!"

Girlfriend of the Year, please!

Anyway, I'm not super great at keeping secrets from my one and only, especially when it's something I'm so excited about.  So I told him - I know I'm a sucker.  But he loved the idea!  And what kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't make TWO so that we can have a marshmallow battle?!  So now we have two.  :)

I got the general idea for it here and am posting a tutorial with pictures for you.  Here we go.

"Marshmallow Shooter"

What you'll need:

• 25 in piece of PVC pipe cut into 7 pieces  
• One 7 in piece
• Six 3 in pieces
• 2 PVC elbows
• 2 PVC "T"s
• 2 PVC end caps
• Mini marshmallows\

What you'll do:

First thing's first: get your handy-man to cut your PVC to the lengths listed above.  The piece of PVC I bought was 60 in total, which was enough for 2 marshmallow shooters with 10 in left over.  If you're going to use a hand saw like my man, make sure to clean off the edges as much as possible so that the marshmallows don't get caught on any debris.

Make sure to have a one-eyed cat supervise the process.  Just in case.  ;)

Next thing is to assemble your pieces like so.  It's really not rocket science - it's actually incredibly simple once all the pieces are cut to size.

Then put it together and have your man pose for some pics!

Simple, huh?!  It took us less than half an hour to make two of them, and all of the supplies cost us less than $5 at Lowes!

We're probably going to decorate them somehow, too.  Matthew found some digital camo duct tape at Wally-world the other day, which is what I'm betting he's going to want on his.  Any suggestions for mine?  I was kind of thinking zebra duct tape.  We'll see!  I'll post pics of the final products when we get them completely finished!

Happy hunting!