Ramble On

DIY Chalkboard Cheese Tray

Was this craft invented just for me?!?! I think so.

Cork Planters

What is it about cute planters and cactus that I just can't get enough of?!

Macrame Hanging Garden Tutorial

I'm completely enchanted by this little hanging garden, and I want to hug Heather for posting this tutorial.

Hey Stephanie, we should totally try this. You in? Of course we still need to crochet and watercolor, but who says we can't macrame too!

Crochet Octopus

If I could crochet one of these I think I could die happy.

Print your own fabric

I'm not sure if my crafting skills are up to this quite yet, but can you imagine? What if you could do furoshiki in handmade fabric. Oooooooooo.

Box Braid Necklace

See these necklaces:

You can make one! It uses that box weave that we all used to do with the neon plastic lanyards back in middle school. Tutorial here.

I'm dying to try it. Who wants to do a craft night!?

Book Bag

Book handbags. Buy one for serious $$$ or dowload the tutorial and try it for yourself.

Suprise Ball

My dearest darling friend Michelle lives miles and miles away, but we manage to stay in tolerably good contact by talking on the phone, texting about random inside jokes and sending each other spontaneous and ridiculous mail.

So I used her birthday last week as an excuse to craft and send her silly things - so I made a surprise ball, inspired by this tutorial and it was oh-so-fun coming up with ridiculous items to wrap in yards of crepe paper. I found mariachi confetti, neon strechy dinosaurs and kitten stickers, and then fun just kept going...

Next time you're looking for a clever gift idea and have an evening to spare, this one is alot of fun.

Happy Birthday Mich!

Mini Pinatas

I've been itching to make these mini pinatas for almost a year. So last night while husband was out, I decided to incorporate them into my Valentine's Day crafting spree and poor husband came home to a mecca of papier mache. They turned out really well and tonight if husband yawns, blinks or looks away for one second, he might turn around to find me making some more. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them yet, but they are SO FUN (and cheap (!), I picked up all of the supplies at the dollar store for a wink and a smile.)





Now you can letterpress too!

Learning to letterpress is on my list of 30 things to do before I turn 30, but I haven't been able to check it off just yet. Living in the quaint little town that I do has its charms, but it does not give me ready access to letterpress classes. Can you believe it?

THIS however is the genius solution that I plan to employ for the duration of my time in the land of orange groves and 100-year-old houses.

Even people like me in their crafting infancy can pull this off!

Capes and Crowns

This is the first Christmas of my life that I have had nieces and nephews. This is also the first year that I have had a sewing machine, a talented sister in law and a modicum of crafty ability.

Thus, said sister-in-law and I made capes and crowns for the nieces and nephews, thereby securing our places as favorites for all time.

For the crowns we cut out a stiff fabric facing, ironed it onto grey felt, hot glued little sparkly gems all over and then glued in some wide elastic across the back. Voila!

For the capes we took two left over rectangles of red fabric, cut them to cape shape, sewed up the seems, added some elastic around the neck and painted lighting bolts in gold fabric paint.

Aunt of the YEAR!

Book + Purse = Awesome

It was bound to happen (pardon the pun) but Kate Spade has finally done it... turned books into accessories! She has three book clutches out currently: The Importance of Being Earnest, The Great Gatsby, and Great Expectations.

If only they weren't $325 each. Hmm. I wonder if I could make one??

Personalized Memory Game

This looks like such a fun idea. Not to mention that I think it might be within my crafting skill range. I want to try it out and make games for my nieces and nephews. Of course, my ulterior motive is that they'll start to remember my name...

Hey, Aunt Nic! Want to do this with me next week? We could make one for the Woods and one for the Frosts... And one for Grandma's house, just for good measure. AND we can front load it with pictures of you and me so that we can continue to vie for favorite aunt.

Felt Globe

This is what I aspire to... to be capable of making something like this and raising awesome kids to make it for. No rush on the kids part though. No rush at all.

{via Design Mom}