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Greeting Card Keepsake Book

April 3, 2013 9 Comments

Hey dolls! Happy Wednesday! This week my niece and nephew are visiting for their Spring Break. They are 11 and 9 years old, so it’s been lots of board games, fun movies, going out to eat and what not. While I’m off entertaining kiddos I have an easy but awesome organizational craft for you!!!

We all receive greeting cards for various holidays, then there’s those sweet cards you got last year for your birthday, or when you had your baby, or any other special occasion really. If you’re like me you want to save those sweet mementos from your loved ones, but there’s not a whole lot of space for that so they end up tossed in a box in the closet not to be seen until the next occasion when you add a few more… So, why not make a Greeting Card Keepsake Book and actually save those cards in an organized way!?!

what to do with old greeting cards

It’s really a simple project. I made mine just sitting on my couch while watching an episode of Pioneer Woman. 😉 I used the cards we received at our wedding and my bridal shower. Yes, that was nearly two years ago now… oops… I separated the cards from the envelopes and then threw the envelopes away. They take up a lot of space FYI.

Then I used a hole punch to punch two holes in each card. I purchased a set of book binder rings, found in the office section of my Wal-Mart and bound the cards together. See?! So easy! Now I have two little books from my wedding and bridal shower of sweet notes from our dearest friends and family! You know, instead of a stack of random cards just floating around in a box that nobody ever gets to enjoy!

Your turn! What do you do with your old cards? Do you stash them in a box? Toss them right away?? It took me forever to get around to doing this easy project, so trust me, I won’t judge! 😉

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Filed Under: Crafts, Organization, Tutorials Tagged With: , keepsake idea,

Easter Banner

March 26, 2013 12 Comments

Hey loves! I hope you are enjoying Spring as much as I am! The warmer weather in Arizona has been really nice! Today I have an easy Easter craft for you since it’s just a few days away. I whipped this lovely paper Easter Banner out in just an hour one afternoon.

paper easter banner

The materials for this Easter craft all came from Consumer Crafts.

Materials:

  • Colored card stock
  • Small Clothespins
  • Bakers Twine
  • Computer and Silhouette if using a cutting tool like I did. Scissors if cutting out shapes on your own.

making an Easter banner

I purchased an Easter set of cutouts from the Silhouette store (their Easter shapes are all 20% off right now!!) and used my computer and Silhouette cutter to cut them out on the Spotted Card Stock.

Then it was just a matter of measuring my bakers twine (I used a yellow and white twine) to fit across my mantel. I hung the twine on the mantel then used the clothes pins to hang each of my Easter cutouts across the twine. Easy as that!!

Easter Mantel

Using the spotted card stock was fun because it gives each of the shapes a little added dimension. OH! And quick tip if your trying to hang something lightweight with small clothespins like these… Make sure the clothespin is all the way down on the twine, then barely stick the cutout into the clothespin. Otherwise the weight isn’t distributed right and everything flips upside down!

how to make an easy Easter banner

Your turn: Do you decorate for Easter? Do you go the traditional pastel route or mix things up some other way???

Speaking of Consumer Crafts, this is the last week to get entered into their Pin It to Win It Contest!! Don’t miss out because you could win up to $500 worth of craft supplies from their site!!!

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P.S. Hope you enjoyed this post! If so, we’d love if !

Filed Under: Crafts, Tutorials Tagged With: Easter, Easter banner, Easter craft, , ,

Turkey Pillow Cover

November 13, 2012 21 Comments

Cute pillow covers for the holidays, and just in general, have kind of become my thing as of late… Making the pillow cover itself is super easy, especially if you use this Envelope Pillow Tutorial that I always use from Marissa at Rae Gun Ramblings. I made a western welcome pillow and a team roping pillow cover for everyday, then I made puffy paint Halloween covers for Halloween of course… Which brings me to the next holiday on my list, Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving throw pillow

I initially made this turkey pillow cover last November, but missed getting around to posting it before Thanksgiving 2011.
{Thus the horrible pictures for the tutorial steps… so please be forgiving of the blurriness.}

To make your own turkey pillow you’ll need:

  • Turkey body stencil
  • Turkey feather stencil
  • Fabric for your pillow cover (I use half a yard for a 16 inch pillow, following the tutorial mentioned above)
  • A few different fabrics for your feathers (I got a 1/4 yard of four prints that I thought looked fall-ish)
  • Fabric for your turkey body (I used brown)
  • Googly eyes
  • Glue Gun
  • Sewing machine

To make the cute turkey I designed the body on my Silhouette software using ovals welded together. Then I designed a turkey feather shape just modifying an oval to have sort of a feathery point. I cut those shapes out on vinyl to make my stencil.

I cut the turkey body out of the brown fabric.

making a turkey throw pillow

And then the feathers from the varying fabrics prints. I just laid my feather stencil on the fabrics, traced a few feathers with a pencil and then cut them out. Sorry for the blurry photo, but you get the point, right? 😉

vinyl turkey feather stencil

I decided where I wanted my turkey to be (the center of my pillow cover), then pinned each of the feathers where I wanted them making sure the turkey body covered the points when laid on top. Then I sewed around the edge of each feather.

making a turkey throw pillow

I pinned and sewed around my turkey body next adding a little orange triangle for the beak, a little red for the waddle, and hot glued on two beady eyes.

Now… that was where I stopped last year… but this year when I got it out to decorate I felt like it needed something more. An added touch of cuteness.
So I cut out a little orange bow to make it a cute ‘girl’ turkey and cut a strip of orange leaf fabric for her to ‘rest’ in. 😉 Again, I just used my sewing machine to sew around the edges.

With a good washing the cute feathers now have ‘feathery’ edges.

Thanksgiving pillow

Tell me lovelies? Do you decorate for Thanksgiving?
I only have a few items…but I think it’s fun to decorate for every major holiday.

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P.S. Hope you enjoyed this post! If so, we’d love if !

Filed Under: Crafts, Holidays, Home Decor, Tutorials Tagged With: , , , , ,

Halloween No Tricks Just Treats Jar

October 30, 2012 10 Comments

Happy Halloween Week lovelies!!!

Since Halloween is tomorrow, here’s a quick and easy craft you can whip up this evening!
A No Tricks, Just Treats Jar!
 I made mine as a cute place to stash those candies that come unwrapped…
Things like candy corn. FYI – I love candy corn. :)

You only need a few materials for this cute craft!

  • Small jar with a lid (again, I chose one with a lid to store candies that aren’t wrapped)
  • Small sheet of black vinyl or stickers if you don’t have a craft cutter
  • Glow in the dark spider ring
  • Glue gun

 I designed my vinyl using my Silhouette SD software. The font is Chiller, a fun font for Halloween projects!
The spiderweb was a free shape in the software.

I cut my design out using my Silhouette SD, then used transfer paper to apply the teeny tiny lettering and the spider web, an intricate design, to my jar. Sure, you could peel and stick, but with something as small as this, it’s just WAY easier to use transfer paper!
{See all those teeny tiny cutouts for the web!!!}

To add another touch of cuteness/fun I hot glued a spider to the lid of my jar, after applying the web.
I just cut the ring part off the spider then glued it down. {Like I did with these spiders…}

Next, fill your cute treat jar with cute treats!!!! 😉

Happy Halloween friends!!!!

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Filed Under: Crafts, Holidays, Tutorials Tagged With: , ,

Halloween Puffy Paint Pillow Covers

October 9, 2012 20 Comments

Glow in the dark pillow covers

So the month of October is admittedly my favorite…
My birthday was last week, Pumpkin Spice lattes are back and Halloween is right around the corner!
Before October even rolled around I already had my Halloween stash out and scattered all over the house! Turns out though, I don’t really have all that much in the way of decorations… Needless to say I was pumped when I received a fun set of Glow in the Dark Puffy Paints via iLoveToCreate to try out!

I don’t know about you, but glow in the dark screams Halloween decorating to me! 😉

materials for Halloween pillowcases

Materials Needed for Halloween Puffy Paint Pillow Covers:

  • Glow Puffy Paints
  • 1 yard of black fabric
  • Glow in the dark spider rings
  • Glue gun
  • Scissors
  • Sewing Machine

{If you don’t want to sew your pillow covers, you could easily purchase some pre-made from the craft or department store.}

I always use this tutorial when making simple envelope pillow covers. I made two 16′ pillow covers so I cut and measured my fabric accordingly and pinned the two sides and seems.
Then I sewed the top and bottom edges of my pillow face so I would know where to paint on my Halloween pictures.

pinning an envelope pillow cover

For pillow cover #1 I decided on a spiderweb. I used the Gray Glow Puffy Paint to freehand my web. Drawing (in this case Puffy painting) a spider web is fairly easy. Start with several crisscrossing lines, like so…

making a spider web with puffy paint

Then draw paint curved lines between each of your crossed lines… Like so….

Halloween Spider Web pillow

For pillow cover #2 I hand wrote the words Happy Halloween using the Orange Glow puffy Paint. Each of my pillow faces were left to dry overnight… The Puffy Paint dries in four hours according to the package, but I wanted to be on the safe side.

Each pillow received a couple of glow in the dark spiders… I just cut the ring part off each spider ring, then hot glued them where I wanted them.

The final step was sewing the sides of my pillow covers closed then flipping them inside out. I stuffed a 16′ pillow inside each one and viola!

Glow in the dark Halloween pillow covers! And more fun Halloween decorations for casa de Kassi!

You can find all kinds of fun craft supplies and ideas at iLoveToCreate!
Find them on , and as well!

Disclosure: I received the product mentioned as part of a campaign via iLoveToCreate and The Blue Print Social. As always the opinions shared are 100% my own!

Check out some of the other fun ideas shared through this campaign below!



Filed Under: Holidays, Home Decor, Tutorials, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Stenciled Welcome Pillow

June 19, 2012 31 Comments

Hi there lovelies!

Today let’s make a Stenciled Welcome Throw Pillow!

My living room is decorated in a western theme, mostly browns and tans.
I thought a team roping throw pillow would be fun, and it was, but the space was screaming for some more COLOR! Turquoise in fact. :)
{Remember talking about this here…?}

fabric painted throw pillows, western home decor

Materials needed:
Envelope pillow cover – I use this tutorial for all the pillow covers I sew.
Fabric paint or craft paint (the team roper pillow was done with craft paint!)
Stencil – I designed the Welcome and the cowboy boot (purchased through the Silhouette store) on my Silhouette software then cut it out with my Silhouette in vinyl to make my stencil.
Paint Brush

making a stenciled throw pillow

I sew the envelope pillow cover to make the face of the pillow, but stop before sewing up the sides.
This makes it WAY easier to stencil and paint!

Peel and layout your stencil on the face of the pillow.

stenciling a throw pillow

Then fill the stencil in with the fabric/craft paint, very carefully, with the paint brush!
I leave mine to dry at least overnight before sewing up the sides of the envelope pillow cover.

western home decor

Viola! Your very own stenciled throw pillow!
I could make these all day! So fun! :)

stenciled throw pillow

Adds a nice pop of color to my otherwise fairly plain living area, don’t you think??

country home decor

Thanks for crafting with me today lovelies!

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P.S. Hope you enjoyed this post! If so, we’d love if !

Filed Under: Crafts, Home Decor, Tutorials Tagged With: , , ,

Clever Snack Jar

May 29, 2012 12 Comments

Hey there lovelies!!!
Did you know that one of my favorite crafting supplies is vinyl!

You can add a touch of fun to just about anything with vinyl and a cutting machine or scissors!

For the project that I’m sharing today I decided to fancy up a snack jar to hold snacks at my office.
I thought and thought about a clever saying to use that would be fun but still appropriate enough to show off at work… Finally (with a little help from Kayli) I came up with this!

Funny right!?! At least I thought so… 😉
To make your own clever snack jar you’ll need a jar or other container of your choice.
Some vinyl, I used pink and turquoise for mine. And a cutting machine. I have a Silhouette SD.
If you are really talented you could trace and cut the words with scissors too!
OR even use alphabet stickers to spell out your saying! You know… just throwing a few options out there!

Since I have a Silhouette I designed my saying, “SNACKS! Hey, a Girl’s Gotta Eat!” on the computer then cut it out using my machine.

Then I used a little transfer paper to apply the vinyl onto my jar! Easy, peasy!

The last, but most important step for this craft… Filling your jar with yummy snacks!!

Hopefully yours are more creative than mine!
Maybe something like these dessert bars I made recently… 😉

Happy crafting lovelies!!!

Linking this here and here and .

P.S. We’d love if ! Thanks new friend!!

Filed Under: Crafts, Organization, Tutorials Tagged With: , ,

Bottle Cap Magnets

May 15, 2012 25 Comments

Hello pretty friends! Today I’d love to show you a FUN and EASY craft project!!!

Bottle Cap Magnets

 

Supplies Needed:

Mod Podge Dimensional Magic
Bottle Caps
(I got mine in a deal from Pick Your Plum, but you could just as easily save them from bottled drinks, or get them at pretty much any craft store.)
Small Magnets
Fun shaped brads or other trinkets like beads, charms, small toys, etc.
(I got each of my fun brads from .)
Heavy duty glue. I used E-6000.

You’ll want to use just a dab of the glue to adhere a magnet to the back of each bottle cap. Too much glue makes for a gloppy mess on the back. If you’re using the E-6000 just a dab is all it takes.

Next you’ll want to arrange your trinkets in the front (pocket side) of your bottle caps and fill with the Dimensional Magic. If you’re using brads as opposed to other little trinkets or beads, you can bend the backs down all the way for a sunken look when putting them in the magnet or you can bend them just a little for a more dimensional look.

I also found that using a dab of the E-6000 glue held the brads in place until the Dimensional Magic could dry and harden. I used toothpicks to move them around into the placing I wanted as well.

Tip: When making or working with magnets, a large cookie sheet covered in newspaper makes a great work surface!
It holds your magnets in place as you’re working!

Make sure you give the Dimensional Magic enough time to fully harden! If you move them before they’re ready bubbles can form in the surface where they’ve shifted!

And viola! Bottle cap magnets to pretty up your fridge!

Please don’t pay attention to my spotty looking fridge… The new ‘fake’ stainless steel is so hard to keep clean!
Am I right!?! If you have tips for that, I’d love to hear… :)

Happy crafting lovelies!!! 

Linking this here and here and .

P.S. We’d love if ! Thanks new friend!!

Filed Under: Crafts, Home Decor, Tutorials Tagged With: Bottle Caps, Dimensional Magic, Kitchen, Magnets

Pallet Welcome Sign

April 24, 2012 19 Comments

Today I have a fun DIY/Craft to share with you dolls.

The hubs and I made Pallet Welcome Signs for some friends of ours and I’d love to share the tutorial with you!

First, hubs cut up an old pallet into several similarly sized pieces. We decided three pieces would make a decent sized welcome sign. Next, I cut out some words in vinyl using my Silhouette SD to make some stencils.

I stenciled the words onto the pieces of pallet using the vinyl stencils, a small paint brush and some black acrylic paint.

We let them dry for several hours.

Once they were dry, we took the three stenciled pieces (per sign) and connected them using two Strong-Tie straps purchased from Home Depot, and a few well placed screws.

 You can also see our sign “hanger” in the above photo. The barbed wire was the hubs’ genius idea. Adds to the rustic look, don’t you think?? We simply cut a small piece of barbed wire, bent it to our liking, then screwed each side down on the back of the sign.

So…. What do you think??

Hubs’ was a great help on this one… It would appear he’s got an eye for rustic design. 😉

Have you jumped on the pallet crafting train?? If you have I’d love to see what you made!
Feel free to share a link in the comments!

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Visit thecsiproject.com

Happy crafting lovelies!

P.S. We’d love if ! Thanks new friend!!

Filed Under: Crafts, Gift Ideas, Tutorials Tagged With: , , ,

Painted Throw Pillow

April 3, 2012 25 Comments

Hello lovelies!!!

Did you know you can paint fabric?
Don’t laugh all you crafty smarties out there… I just had this revelation recently, so if it’s old news to you…
Don’t judge… haha.

With my new found fabric painting knowledge I made a Painted Throw Pillow Cover for our living room!!!

This tutorial isn’t about sewing an envelope pillow cover, but if you’re really looking for a few instructions this tutorial from Rae Gun’s Ramblings is a really good one.

To make a painted throw pillow I go ahead and hem the top and bottom (for the edges of your envelope) as well as sew the top and bottom of the pillow cover so that you’ll know where the ‘face’ of your pillow will be.

Then I used my handy Silhouette SD to cut a stencil out of some sticky backed vinyl. If you don’t have a craft cutter (Silhouette, Cameo, Cricut), you can always make your stencil using freezer paper and scissors.

I chose some team ropers for my team roping hubby and because our living area is western themed/decorated.
{Stay tuned for a full reveal of our entire made over living room coming soon!}
I centered the stencil on what was to be the face of my pillow cover. Using a soft bristle paint brush and some brown Enamels paint, I carefully filled in my stencil.

I let it dry completely overnight, then went back to the sewing machine and stitched up the sides of my pillow cover.
Note – It’s SO much easier to paint the stencil on before finishing your cover!!!

That’s it! Now you can display your pretty painted throw pillow in your home! 😉

You could do this with any shaped pillow cover, any stencil, and {it would appear} any paint…
If it’s going to be washed often, I would make sure to get fabric specific paint so that it can be washed frequently.

 Happy crafting lovelies!!!

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Visit thecsiproject.com

Filed Under: Crafts, Home Decor, Tutorials Tagged With: , , ,
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