Make a Valentine's Day Gift for Pennies!

Valentine's Day is approaching and if you like giving sweet gifts to any of the young girls (or even adults) in your life, this post is for you! It takes a few minutes, requires no sewing, and costs mere cents!

Upcycled Embroidery Hoop Earring Holder

If you guys follow my Facebook page or Instagram feed, you know how much I love hand-embroidery. I love hand-stitching each piece and have even started to sell some of them. (I absolutely love when someone buys my hoops, but shhh, don't tell, I am not heartbroken if a piece doesn't sell—I'm beginning a hoop art gallery and up it will go!) This hobby means that I have a lot of hoops. As I was experimenting with sequins and beading on a hoop, I had an idea on a completely different way to use an embroidery hoop—as an earring holder. 

Felt Disney Princess Clip Tutorial

For Christmas, I made my niece a hair (or shoe or purse or anything) clip set. It had 2 of the Disney princesses and I had a fun time making them.

Kite Embroidery Hoop Art

Like my hoop art? Purchase it here.

I haven't been doing quite as much upcycling during this week before Christmas, other than my seat belt pillow, because I've been working on hoop art. I do, however still use upcycling in everything I do. This hoop upcycles an old pair of trousers. The fabric was perfect for this.

My world embroidery project came out well, but it was meant for the play room and my 14-year-old snagged it, so I had to start a new decoration. 

This one is my favorite, yet. I just love rainbows, and this one is very colorful. The phrase is a Fleetwood Mac song. I just love it. It sums up one of my main parenting philosophies. 

For the felt graphic piece, I almost went with cars, a hot air balloon, or a suitcase, but in the end, the kite won out, because I could picture it in my head better.

My favorite part of this hoop has got to be the little pink leopard-print bow on the end of the kite string. It was an inspiration I had at the end of the project, to replace a solid green bow with a surprise—a bow that "goes its own way". 

The process:

And the finished piece:

This will be wonderful in the play room. I'm going to wrap this up for the babies to open on Christmas. I know they won't know what it is now, but it was definitely a labor of love from me to them. :)

Fun, Inexpensive Santa Gift-Wrapping

This is just a quick, fun post for anyone who wants a fun way to wrap Santa gifts this year.

I've seen similar wrapping on other sites, but they use expensive heavy-weight red paper and expensive gold-foil scrapbook paper sheets. My way is so much cheaper!

Easy Christmas Card Holder Decoration

I secretly (not so secretly now) LOVE getting Christmas cards! They are always so cheerful and uplifting and I am sad that they aren't sent as much these days. However, I finally received one today and wanted to make a holder for them. (Well, my husband brought one he designed for his work home, so I'll count that one, too. I'll take what I can get these days!)

Upcycled Baby's First Ornament

A couple of years ago, I made my son a baby's first ornament. I went to a big retail store, bought a fancy ornament, and followed the process I'll write out here. I love seeing it on our tree.

Upcycled Baby Food Jar

I saved many of the baby food jars from when my son was smaller, initially just because they made great bowls for mashed foods, and now are great for snacks like raisins and cheerios. Still, I have a lot, and am always trying to think of new ways to use them.

Upcycled Turkey Hair Clip

I am practicing hair designs, since I adore many of the Etsy hair clips and bows, but just can't spend the money right now, during holiday season. This design has many flaws, but thankfully, my sister is there to accept my less-than-perfect practice attempts (if I feel it's too big for my baby girl, which this one is).

Upcycled Halloween Wreath

Weeks ago, I saw a really cute Christmas rag wreath on a Facebook page and thought it looked pretty simple to make. I really like the idea of using wire coat hangers as a base, instead of spending money on wreath forms that just get covered up. 

Baby Boy Edition: No-Cost Upcycled Thanksgiving Shirt

I definitely couldn't leave our 2 year-old out of the cute holiday crafting. He needed a shirt, too.

I had a blank burgundy shirt and knew it would be perfect. I had seen this adorable shirt on Amazon and it was my inspiration for this project.

Paper Craft: Birthday & Anniversary Fridge Magnet

I saw this very stylish birthday calendar idea on Pinterest, but it involved wood work and purchasing hardware. I just wasn't that serious about it. Plus, I really didn't want to buy materials.

Welcome!

Please forgive the look of the blog right now; I am working on a much better design.

The first entry in any journal is usually the most daunting, but I'll break the ice with a short bio, then explain what I envision this space to be.