Sock and Glove

The first time I had seen a sock monkey was on Homemade by Jill's blog. She was obsessed with them and promised that they were so easy to make.

While browsing through the local library's craft books, I happened out IT. The book that takes a plain, boring pair of socks and turns them into an adorable little lovey. Sock and Glove. Really, you should check it out just to read it. The author tells how her sock and glove animals came to be in a charming, story-book way. The instructions were simple, easy to follow and illustrated (my favorite).

I had to try one before the book went back to the library. There were flaws, but overall I learned a lot about what I'd do differently next time. I also think using a better quality than dollar-store socks would help. It was fun and my 7-year-old loves her silly new sock monkey

New Wood Craft Classes

My friend Shannon has her dates for her craft classes. These are the crafts for March.

"Lucky"sign $15 Wreath $20 "Just Hatched" chick $13

Class Dates: Tuesday, Feb. 17th 6-9 pm, Thursday, Feb. 19th 6-9 pm, Tuesday, Feb. 24th 6-9 pm, Wednesday, Feb. 25th 6-9 pm, Thursday, Feb. 26th 6-9 pm, Saturday, Feb. 28th 6-9 pm,

Classes are located in South Jordan, UT.

Contact Shannon at jsnmea.lewis@gmail.com

Also, one of our readers, Kristen, sent us a photo of her wood craft for February.

Kristen writes: For this to even look somewhat appealing, is AMAZING!!! Especially since I didn't go to the class, I just picked up the kit and did it at home, with the paint that I had on hand AND I cannot paint, at all...Thank you, I am planning on going to the class this month too!!!

Looking good, Kristen!

Love Cards

Happy Valentines day!! If you are looking for a last minute card idea for your valentine, do I have a great bunch of ideas for you! I recently participated in a card swap through Little Birdie Secrets and got some great cards. (They are currently doing a card contest between their favorites from the card swap and I believe there is still time left to vote. Just remember *wink* that #4 is "always" a good number to vote for.) This is my card: And these are the cards I received: To view all the cards in the swap-check out this flickr group! And, a quick last-minute gift idea for your Valentine: I made this heart out of poster board using the elementary-school method of folding the paper in half and drawing half a heart then cutting through both layers. The trim around the heart is scraps of paper (about 3/4" by 4) folded in half. (For the loopy look, don't crease.) On the inside of each paper is a reason why I love my husband, things I'm grateful he does, and some of my favorite memories we share. I taped each loop shut, adhered them to the big heart with just a glue stick and then made little tape "pillows" to get the kisses and hugs to stay in place. For the center greeting and little hearts, I used my Cricut and a glitter pen. You could easily use stamps, stickers or your own handwriting. Fun, inexpensive, and easy!

A whole lotta love...

So, in my last house, I had a plate rack on either side of my entertainment center that held cute metal accents.  At Christmas time, I put Christmas plates in them.  They just didn't work out in my new house, so I never hung the plate racks.  This past Christmas I couldn't bear to not put up my cute plates, so I had my hubby hang one of the plate racks up in my kitchen.  After Christmas was over, I thought it would be more fun to keep the plate rack seasonal instead of just buying plates to go on it.  So, I came up with this great idea.  I would cut out wooden squares and decorate them with seasonal scrapbook paper and embellishments.  The ones I did for January did not turn out cute, so you don't get to see them until I redo them for next year.  However, I love my Valentine deco squares! So, here's how you would make them...

Supplies:

• 9" wooden squares (I got mine at Lowe's and had the nice gentlemen that work there cut them out for me)
• wooden heart shapes (these you can buy from your local craft store or wood store)
• Scrapbook paper
• paint
• stain
• sand paper
• mod podge
• glue gun
• embellishments (ribbon, chipboard shapes, etc.

How to:

1.  Paint

 wooden squares (I just painted mine white)

2.  Paint wooden shapes

3.  Sand all painted stuff.

4.  Stain all painted stuff.

5.  Cut out scrapbook paper (a little smaller than wooden square)

6.  Mod Podge paper to wooden square.

7.  Glue wooden shape to wooden square

8.  Embellish to your own desire.... what I did was I used my Cricut to cut hearts out of chipboard.  Then I heat embossed some pink stuff on the chipboard hearts.  Then I just tied a ribbon on the heart and glued it onto the wooden heard.  

Didn't they turn out cute???  (You should have seen the january ones)

I plan on making these for every month and I'm excited to get started on my March ones... I need to get going on that soon.

Today is the day for a Great Give-Away!!!

Here's the moment we've all been waiting for! Yay!

Let's just get right to it.

Our first winner (yep, I said first) winner is:

Valorie

Valorie said... I like B, C is my 2nd favorite. You make really cute stuff! February 6, 2009 12:42 PM

Valorie send your mailing address to twiddlethumbs@rocketmail.com and we'll get ALBUM B mailed before the week is out.

Our second winner is:

Carolyn G.

Carolyn G said... The colors of C appeal to me but they are all great. January 29, 2009 7:29 PM

Carolyn G send your mailing address to twiddlethumbs@rocketmail.com and we'll get ALBUM C mailed before the week is out.

Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for joining in the fun and for all your wonderful comments! It's been fun! *Winners were chosen randomly. Only one entry (your first) valid per person.

Stay tuned for more great crafts and another give-away (coming soon!).

Below is a slide show of the full three albums (in order of preference) as per your requests.

A bit about my history with paper bag albums:

I used to be a frequent visitor to Creating Keepsakes message boards, a very busy, fun, active board for those who love scrapbooking. Everyone kept mentioning these 'paper-bag albums.' Long story short, I asked about them, made a few, thought they were very cute. After I introduced them to my friend Anisa, she pulled me into helping her do them for a Relief Society Super Saturday (a few hours of crafting and projects) and we prepared around 20.

Later on, we had a small boutique in my home where my cousin saw the cute albums we had to sell and pulled Anisa into helping her do them for a Young Women's camp craft. They prepared around 230!

We love to make them. They are a lot of fun. If you're interested in a tutorial, we're happy to provide. Just leave a comment and let us know.

Pins and Needles

If you are here for the giveaway, there is still time to enter! We hope you'll look around our blog a bit too, starting below.

I have been on pins and needles wanting to share these adorable bottle-top pin cushions.

They are made with felt, embroidery floss and the tops of plastic bottles (water and soda pop). They are totally fun and quick to make and they are very handy while sewing. They are also very tiny. I love them! I think you'll love them, too, and they're going to be part of another give-away coming up in the near future.

I put magnets in a few of them so they can stick to a sewing machine. However, if you don't sew, they can be used on your refrigerator.

See tutorial here.

-C

Candy Hearts

Just a few more days until we announce the winner for our give-away! There's still time to enter if you haven't. With Valentines Day fast approaching, I wanted one more decoration for the holiday. In my kitchen I have 3 stands that have a wooden star on top of each one. How easy to switch out the stars (which are patriotic) for each holiday! I bought 3 wooden hearts, painted them and drilled holes in the bottom for the dowel to go in. I love the "conversation heart" look, but I think for now I'll for the actual messages.

Fabric Baskets

I have been wanting to make a fabric basket (or 2 or 3) for storage in my craft room.  I just love all of the fun different fabrics that are out there.

Here are some sites with great tutorials on fabric baskets.  (I haven't tried any of them yet, so if you do, let me know how hard they are)  Just click on the link below the picture and it will take you to a tutorial on how to make each of these darling baskets.

Crazy Mom Quilts

J. Caroline Creative

Pink Penguin

-Anisa

P.S.  Our giveaway is still open until Sunday...

P.P.S.  Which baskets do you think I should make?  Leave a comment and let me know.