Cupcake Quiet Book Page {Guest Post by Ashley at Me and My Boys}

Ashley from Me and My Boys has been working on a really fun quiet book for her son.  When I saw all her cute pages, I knew I wanted her to post a cupcake page for Cupcake Month.  Check out the totally cute page she created!

 Quiet books are so fun and easy to make.

 This fun page is a yummy cupcake project! 

The kids can dress the cupcake up with a few different options.

 Green

 Yellow

 Red

 Pink

Dark  Blue

 Light Blue

Or all different colors!! Whatever flavor they like....they most certainly will have fun with this page!

Thanks Ashley!  If you want to see more quiet book pages, posts on being a mommy, fun craft ideas, or to participate in her weekly link party, head over to Me and My Boys to visit.

Valentine Wreaths {Part Three}

I previously showed you how to make two other Valentine wreaths (the boa wreath, and the yarn wreath).  I saved this one for last because although it is easy, it is very time consuming.  That being said, I think this might be my favorite.

Supplies

• Scissors
• Lots of red felt (about 13 sheets)
• Low-melt glue gun and sticks
• 12 inch wire wreath frame
• Ribbon to hang (I used 7/8 inch wide white grosgrain ribbon)
• Spool of 5/8 inch red velvet ribbon

Directions

1. Make 90 felt roses.  I made them with one 2 inch diameter circle, and one 2.5 inch diameter circle each.
2. Glue ribbon to the top of the wire frame--this helps the roses stay in place while you are gluing, and fills the gap between roses.

3. Stick the roses into the frame (4 roses in each segment of the inside circle, 5 roses in each segment of the middle circle, and 6 roses in each segment of the outside circle).  Tie the ribbon through and hang.

I will be linking to these link parties.

Valentine Wreaths {Part Two}

Whew!  Going back to work mid-week took it out of me.  I already showed you how to make a boa wreath for Valentine's Day, and I will be showing how to make a felt roses wreath, but today, I am going to share how to make the yarn wreath with you.  Have you ever been to the site Knock Knocking?  I love all of her beautiful creations.  She was my inspiration when making this wreath.

Although, I am going to be honest and tell you that I struggled with this one a little.  Have I mentioned that I have a very "type-A" personality?  Well, I do.  I had a hard time trying to wrap the yarn without overlapping, but while covering the entire wreath.  It can't happen.  You have to do some double-wrapping.  The inside has less area than the outside, so unless you have yarn that magically increases in width on the outside, and decreases in width on the inside, you will have to double wrap.  If you can handle that (I almost couldn't) then you should be fine.

Supplies

• 10 inch wreath base
• Batting
• Low-melt glue gun & glue sticks
• 1 skein of yarn (I used a chunky weight to make the wrapping much quicker)
• Four colors of felt (I used white, light pink, dark pink, and red)
• Straight pins
• Ribbon (I used 5/8 inch velvet)
• Two small glass christmas balls
• Scissors

Directions

1. Plug in you hot glue gun.  Cut your batting into strips and wrap around the wreath base.  Secure with hot glue.  Then wrap and wrap and wrap the yarn until the entire base is covered.  (Remember, you will have to overlap).  Secure the ends with glue.

2. Wasn't that easy?  Now you can decorate.  The great thing about this wreath, is that all my decorations are secured to the wreath with straight pins, so I can take them off and decorate for another holiday!  I made three felt pinwheels and three felt roses.  I cut the bottom off the roses so they would be flatter to the wreath.  These were all secured to the wreath with a straight pin down the center.


3. I made ribbon leaves by cutting short strips of ribbon, folding them in half with all right sides up, and pinning them to the wreath.
4. The chain I made by cutting 3 inch strips of felt, and gluing them together.  This I also secured to the wreath with pins.
5. I did use glue to add the glass balls, but I glued them to the other decorations, so all of it can be removed easily.
6. The final step is to use the ribbon to create a loop and bow to hang the wreath.

What do you think?  Have you made any wreaths lately?  Want to share?

I will be linking this to these link parties.

Felt Pinwheels

I thought these felt pinwheels were the perfect accessory to accompany the handkerchief skirt.  The dual colors and the rotating points echoe the colors and lines of the skirt completely.  These would be cute as a hairbow, pinned on a shirt, or worn on a bracelet.

Materials/Supplies

• Scissors
• Pinking shears
• Two colors of felt
• Low-melt hot glue gun
• Button or other embellishement for center

Directions

1. Begin heating glue gun.
2. Cut a 4" square out of each color of felt. (you can adjust sizes if you want)

3. Use the pinking shears around the edge of the inside color of felt, to create the zig-zag edge and make the inside felt smaller than the outside felt.

4. Mark the center of the inside square, and glue the inside to the outside.  My mark is really light, so you can't really see it in the picture.

5. Cut from each corner in to the center.  Be sure to leave a small amount of felt between each cut so the pinwheel doesn't fall apart.

6. Place a small dot of glue near the center of the pinwheel.

7. Fold in the closest corner and hold in place until the glue cools.

8. Repeat with all corners.

9. Glue your button (or other embellishment) to the center covering the points you just glued down.  I used one side of a rivet.  I made a ball of glue in the center, then pressed the rivet down on top.  This created a glass-like look to the center.

I will be linking this project up to these link parties.

Felt Roses Headband

I have had so many comments on both the fabric flowers headband, and the felt roses, that I thought I just had to write a tutorial showing how to make a headband with the felt roses.  While I do think this one turned out cute, I think in the future, I would change the angle of the roses, and maybe only use three of them.

Supplies/Materials

• About 2 feet 1/2 inch wide braided elastic
• Enough felt for 3-5 small felt roses (see my tutorial for felt roses)
• Sewing supplies
• Hot glue gun & glue sticks

Directions

1. This first thing you need to do, is measure your head.  You can do this with a measuring tape, or just wrap the elastic around your head like a headband (be sure not to stretch it).
2. Subtract 1 inch from that measurement, and cut your elastic.  (Mine measured at 21 inches, so I cut my elastic at 20 inches)
3. Sew your ends together leaving a .5 inch seam allowance.  Open your edges out, and use a zigzag seam to sew the edges flat.  When they are flat, trim any excess elastic.

4. Your headband is ready to adorn!
5. Cut the center circle for each of your felt roses, and form the centers.

6. Cut the outer circle for each rose, and begin sewing one petal from each rose to the headband.

7. Glue the center of each rose to the outer petals, one petal at a time, ending with the petal attached to the headband.

8. You are almost finished.  Squeeze a strip of glue along the inside of the headband.

9. Once the glue cools, it should be ready to wear.  The strip of glue, and the stretch of the elastic should help it to stay on your cute head!

Felt Roses

Flowers and felt—two of my favorite things.  I have been looking at lots of tutorials for making felt flowers, and trying lots of techniques, but I never really loved the way my flowers came out.  Often the flowers seemed really closed, or just didn’t really look like a rose to me (rose is the shape I was trying to replicate).  I stopped to think about how I wanted to create my rose so it looked just how I wanted it to look.  Here is what I came up with.
Supplies

• Felt
• Scissors
• Low-melt glue gun
• glue sticks

Directions

1. Plug in your glue gun.
2. Cut the felt into graduated circles.  I cut one 3 inch circle, one 3.5 inch circle, and one 4 inch circle (measurements do not have to be exact).

3. Cut from the edge to almost the center of one circle.  Move about 1/3 around the edge and repeat.  Make one more cut between the first two.  you should now have roughly 3 even petals attached to a very small center (these do NOT have to be exact).  Repeat for all three circles.

4. Use your scissors to round the sharp corners.

5. Begin with the smallest circle.  Spread glue on the bottom half of one petal.  Roll it into the center of your rose.

6. Put a line of glue on the bottom edges of another petal.  Glue the petal around the center covering the edges with the new petal.



I forgot to take a picture before the 2nd petal, so this is the third.


7. Put a line of glue on the bottom edges of your last petal.  Overlap the edges of the last petal you glued on, and glue in place.

8. Glue the next circle around the first by gluing the bottom edge of each petal to your rose.

9. Repeat with your last circle.

10. Look at how pretty your rose is.  Take a picture.  Make more!

For the small red roses, I used only two circles, one 2 inch circle, and one 2.5 inch circle.

Tic-Tac-Toe Valentine

I love felt.  I love that it is cheap.  I love that it comes in so many rich colors.  I love that you can poke small holes in it, and shortly thereafter they are practically non-existent.  I love that felt doesn’t fray.  I love, love, love, love felt.
When I was a kid, my mother made these valentines with my sister and me.  They were fun to make, and play with later.  This easy to make tic-tac-toe board is also a pocket to hold the pieces in.  This would make a great addition to the diaper bag, or church bag for a quiet game to play.  These are so fun and inexpensive, you will want to make them for all of your valentines this year.  Maybe you will even want to host a Valentine’s Day party so that everyone can make and decorate their own.
Materials/Supplies

• 2 pieces red felt
• 1 piece white felt
• 1 piece pink felt
• Scissors
• Sewing supplies (either a machine, or needle and thread)
• 5/8 inch thick pink ribbon
• Optional—yarn and large yarn sewing needle

Directions

1. Cut a large heart out of one piece of red felt.  I folded the felt in half and cut 1/2 a heart, so I would have two even sides.

2. Place the cut heart on top of the other piece of red felt.  Cut the second piece to match the heart.
3. Now you need to make the tic-tac-toe board.  I used a fatter stitch to make the four lines of the board.  I just eyeballed where I wanted the lines to go, but you can measure for exact sizes.  It will all depend on the size of your original hearts.***Let the kids do this part with a large needle and yarn.  You could use a pencil to draw a line for them to sew along.***

4. Using a 1/2” seam allowance, sew around the outside of both hearts leaving the top open for the pocket.

5. Cut 5 small hearts out of the pink felt and 5 out of the white felt.  I made a template from a scrap of red felt, then I cut all the other hearts to match.  You will want the small hearts to fit between the lines of your tic-tac-toe board.

6. I embellished the edge with the ribbon.  I pinned the ribbon in between the two sides of the felt heart, and pleated as I pinned.  Then I sewed around the edge again placing my presser foot on the edge of the original stitching.

7. Decorate according to your supplies and tastes.  I decided to sew little “x’s” and “o’s” along the opening for the pocket before I sewed the two pieces together.

8. Place the small heart pieces inside your valentine and give to a loved one.  (Take pictures of course, then email them to me, so I can show how you designed your own style)