Dana from MADE makes the cutest felt hair clips I've seen! If you haven't yet, go check out her site and her new shop. She has lots of great photo tutorials and makes just the cutest clothes for her little girl and boy!

The accent stitching is what makes them so gosh darn cute! What a great way to dress up for Valentine's Day.

Valentine Paper Hearts Decorations

I love Target's dollar bins! They had packs of all these patterned paper which I turned into paper heart decorations for Valentine's Day!

I made LARGE hearts for the fireplace mantle.

and little hearts from the leftover paper.

When I was done I had all these little heart "windows" in the paper so I cut a border around them and made these to go on the wall along the stairs.

Tutorial: Easy Heart Garland

Using the hearts I made from Post-it Notes, here is my first Valentine's decoration!

It hangs in the front window, swaying happily in the air conditioning draft, greeting friends that stop by.

Skill Level: easy beginner

Supplies:

paper hearts (great using felt hearts, too!)

thread in white or contrasting color

sewing machine or needle

To begin, gather up all your hearts. I used about 80 to make my garland.

Plan out the color order of your hearts, then lay out each color group of hearts in order. This will make the sewing go faster. Leaving about 6-8" of a thread tail insert the needle in the top center of your first heart. Stitch down the center of the heart.

Stitch an additional 2 stitches after you've reached the end of the first heart, then line up the 2nd heart and continue down.

Continue stitching each heart in your color order until you've used up all your hearts. Leave a thread tail of 6-8 inches at the end of the garland. Using the thread tails on each end, tie a knot close to the heart to secure each end.

Hang your garland in the window, over a doorway or draped along a mantle. You're done!

Adorable Inspirations

I love getting ideas from magazines about things to make, as I'm sure many of you do, too! Here are some that I just had to share from Land of Nod:

This circle crib bedding looks like it would be really easy to make and super cute! Even just making the circles in different sizes and framing them would be adorable.

Coolest quilt in the universe! Looks a little advance to make, but if anyone does make one PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know cuz I wanna see pics!

I know, I know, you've probably seen stuff like these patterned letters everywhere. But these ones are made from wallpaper! Thought that was clever. But you could still Mod Podge scrapbook paper onto wood letters or make them from fabric.

I saved my FAVORITE for last!! I think these ruffle-y applique roses are just the sweetest little things!! Could you imagine these on your little girl's skirt or dress? Or small ones on a shirt? So, so, way, way adorable!

Cinnamon Churros: a Tasty Tutorial

I've never made churros before but I was pleasantly surprised with how easy they are to make! This can be a great activity with kids - except for the frying part. That's a little too hot to handle, but they'll love putting on the cinnamon. And eating them, of course!

Ingredients: (makes about one plateful)

Vegetable or Olive Oil (we used Olive Oil)

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

Heat the oil in a pan (should be approx. 1 to 1 1/2 inches deep) to 360 degrees.

In a separate sauce pan, mix the water, butter and salt and bring to a rolling boil. Stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute, then remove from heat. In a small dish, beat eggs until smooth then stir into the mixture.

The dough will look like this:

I filled this cookie press in order to easily squeeze the dough into the hot oil. You can also use a cake decorator's tube or bag, or simply fill a small sandwich bag and cut the tip off one of the corners.

Fry 3 to 4 strips at a time for 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Use a fork or tongs to turn the strips.

I tried making some fun shapes as well. The hearts and stars didn't really work out, but these spirals turned out great!

I was able to make JP's name, though! He was pretty stoked about that. Hahaha!

Let the churros drain (and cool) for a minute or two on some paper towels. Ooooh, they're looking so delicious!!

While you're waiting for your churros to cool, mix the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish or plate. We used a spoon to cover our churros in cinnamon/sugar, but the method doesn't matter as long as they taste great!

Darrien, here, used the sprinkle method and lightly dusted his churro with flavor:

His brother, Jacob, decided that burying his churro would seal in the flavors:

Whatever your method, you simply can't go wrong with some fried dough, sugar and cinnamon.

Mmmmmmmm!!!!!

Sewing Project Idea: Cloth Napkins

Thanks, Susan, for emailing me this great idea to make from my pile of unused fabric! Susan made a set of these fun and fresh cloth napkins. They turned out so cute!

"I made these everyday napkins for a friend, and liked them so much, I made a set for me! The idea was "reusable", but they are also cute and fun to use! I made them regular paper napkin-size, not dinner, so they could be used for breakfast, lunch, snacks and desserts. Also, at this size, they fit in my napkin-holder basket. Just toss them in the wash, and reuse! And I don't iron them, Heaven forbid. :) Hope that helps! At least with these, you get to see your fun fabrics, if only at mealtime! Good enough for me--I sure enjoy mine." - Susan

Keep the great ideas coming! You know I have TONS of fabric to use up! :)

Acorn Necklace Tutorial

As promised, here is the first tutorial in the homemade presents series: Christmas, Naturally. All gifts given this year were homemade and made from things found in Nature.

Supplies:
1 acorn cap
1 pearl glass bead, make sure it fits in the acorn cap (I used an oval/teardrop shape)
1 metal headpin
1 metal bail
1 pre-assembled leather necklace (or you can make your own with a leather cord+clasp)

Tools:
power drill

round-tip pliers

Step 1: bake the acorn cap in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. This will kill any bacteria and bugs.

Step 2: using a power drill, drill a hole through the center of the acorn cap. Place the cap on a towel to help stabilize it and drill slowly as to not crack or break the cap.

Step 3: string the pearl bead onto the headpin. I put the point of the tear-shaped pearl on the bottom to more closely resemble an actual acorn.

Step 4: string the acorn cap onto the headpin, over the top part of the glass pearl bead.

Step 5: using the round-tip pliers, curve a loop with the excess wire as close to the top of the acorn cap as you can. Cut extra wire. Slip the bail's jump ring into the loop, then squeeze the headpin loop closed with the pliers.

Step 6: string your newly-made acorn pendant onto the leather necklace and wear! You're done!

Ultimate Grilled Cheese Smackdown!

The challenge is on! I believe I have made the ultimate in grilled gooey goodness! My secret ingredients are cream cheese and then A1 steak sauce to give it an extra kick. You can substitute with BBQ sauce, if you'd like. But then you may be forced to endure my best Jack Nicholson impression while shouting, "You can't handle the sauce!"

Goes perfectly with my easy, healthy, homemade 5 Minute Tomato Soup! :) I'm thinking about trying a version with sun-dried tomatoes and havarti cheese...or maybe provolone...Mmmm...cheese...mmmm.

Think your cheese wizardry can stack up to mine? If you're feeling up to the challenge, let me know how you stack-it-n-grill-it.

Fabric Closet Organized!!!

Hello, my name is Kristi and I'm a fabric junkie.

I l-o-v-e going to fabric stores and spending hours thinking up things I could make! Actually making those things is not a requirement, mind you. Spending the time to dream about it, spending the money to buy the supplies then starting the project only to get interrupted or distracted by another bright, shiny project are the important parts. Rinse, repeat. :)

That's my formula for a successful pile-o-fabric that has never been used and may still be bundled up in the original shopping bag, with the receipt still attached, somewhere in a box under the bed. Of course, I purposefully leave it in the bag, in a box under the bed to keep it nice and protected. Right?

I had an epiphany while driving back from Utah where I spent Christmas with my side of the family and I suddenly had the urge to actually sew all those wonderful things I've been dreaming of!! So, I spent 4-5 hours (yes, really) digging out all those bundles of fabric, measuring them, cutting little swatches for a swatch book, then carefully hanging and labeling ALL of it. Whew!

But look how pretty!

I have 40 kinds of fabric, all with at least 2+ yards! Think of all the things I could make with that! If I sewed one project a week it would take me almost an entire year to use all of this!

I had planned on making the Fabric Swatch Book a little fancier and putting each sheet in a sheet protector in a binder with washing instructions, etc. But at least it's DONE and I kinda like that it's small enough to fit in my handbag and take with me to the store. Because now I just have to buy threads and zippers and all sorts of notions to go with the fabric! Yeah!! (why does my husband look worried?)