Bucilla Cross Stitch Pillowcases with Florals and Bumble Bees

A few months ago I purchased this Bucilla (tm) pillowcase cross stitching kit at one of my local craft stores. I finally got around to stitching them last week. This kit included the directions, chart, photo and the 2 standard size pillowcases. I had to purchase my DMC floss separately.

My mother has her bedroom decorated in a rose and floral motif and its leans more on the country side of decorating so I thought these pillowcases would make a great gift for her.

I was able to get them both completed in less than a weeks time and I think they came out beautiful. (although my photo's stink...the pillowcases are fabulous).

I have 3 other sets of Bucilla (tm) pillowcases that I need to find time to work on during the next few weeks as they will also be gifts come holiday time.

Dimensions Hydrangeas and Sea Shells Counted Cross Stitch

One of my very favorite crafting mediums is cross stitch and last year I found this beautiful counted cross stitch kit made by Dimensions (tm) at Joann's Fabrics & Craft Store.

I am remodeling my master bedroom into a hydrangeas and sea shell motif so this kit was just perfect for me! The kit included: thread palette, needle,cotton thread, blending filament, 14 count white Aida , and instructions. The finished size once completed measures 11" by 12".

It took me approximately 2 entire months to complete it...but goodness...its beautiful!!! Once done, I took it to get matted and framed. I had it double matted in a white and navy blue matting and then framed in a weathered wooden frame. I got the matting and frame at Michael's Craft Store.

This masterpiece now hangs right above our bed in our master bedroom. Everyone who sees it tells me how beautiful it is.

So...if you are decorating in a hydrangeas or sea shell nautical motif, I highly recommend this counted cross stitch kit by Dimensions!

Easy Beach Boardwalk Fun Scrapbooking Layout

I just love to scrapbook and could scrapbook every day for the rest of my life!!! Anyway, I am working on getting our vacation pictures scrapbooked for last summer and it is taking me awhile. When I scrapbook, you will often find my mom scrapbooking right along with me. We both have 2 different styles when we scrapbook so its always fun to see what we come up with.

Today I thought I would share a page I made a few days ago. One this particular page, I used 3 photos of my daughter, her boyfriend and my grand baby when we took them down to the beach for vacation last year. These photos were taken while we all were out on the boardwalk shopping and/or eating. Oh yeah...mom is also in one of the photos and she is holding my grand daughter :)

I started out with my background first and used a 12x12 piece of white cardstock for my base. I decided to work with a pink and turquoise color scheme since my little grand baby was wearing turquoise in one photo and has a pink jacket on in another. To accent my background, I ripped 2 pieces of paper (pink and turquoise) on the diagonal and glued them down onto my white piece of cardstock. (see photo). After that, I cropped down my 3 photos, rounded their corners, mounted them onto black cardstock and rounded the corners again, then mounted them onto turquoise or pink cardstock, rounded the corners and then attached them to my page. Using my computer, I printed out my journaling block which just simply says "Enjoying the Boardwalk in Wildwood NJ" and then rounded the corners and mounted it onto pink paper. I attached that right above the top photo on the right. I had 2 seashells leftover from a K&Co rub-on pack and rubbed them onto my page. I had a felt and beaded starfish from another embellishment pack and put that onto my page under one of my photos on the left. I used my Cricut (tm) and cut out the word BOARDWALK and used that for my title down the left hand side of my page. This layout took me approximately 30 minutes to make.

As you can see...its a fast, easy and frugal scrapbooking page. I like it because its clean looking...I am not into big fancy and over-crowded pages.

Now my mother made a page using 2 of the photos that I had used. As you can see by looking at the picture below...her page is super quick and easy...not much to it which is how she likes to scrapbook LOL!


As you can see...entirely two different styles with these layouts. You can do a super quick and easy one like my mother or you can do one that is also quick but takes a few minutes longer like the one I did.

Happy Scrapbooking!!!

Easy Beach Vacation Scrapbooking Layouts

My mother and I both love to scrapbook and spend time together. Last fall, we took my mother with us on a family vacation down to the Jersey Shore. When it comes to scrapbooking, my mom is all about simple, frugal and quick pages...she doesn't like to spend more than 20-30 minutes on a page and her pages are all simple. I on the other hand will make simple, moderate and very elaborate pages depending on my mood and how much time I have to spend scrapbooking that particular day.

On this day...we decided to both scrapbook the same pictures...just do so in our own individual way. I will start off with the page that I made.


I had 3 photo's of my mom walking the beach that I had taken on vacation so decided to use all 3 of those in my layout. I cropped them down and rounded their corners and then mounted them on medium blue paper. I took a piece of 12x12 white cardstock to use as my background and then ripped a piece of khaki colored cardstock to make my bottom boarder (I wanted it to resemble sand). I took a piece of ocean blue 12x12 scrapbooking paper and ripped that. I glued the khaki and the blue papers down toward the bottom of my layout to resemble sand and ocean water. I then took a piece of blue wavy rick-rack and stapled that along the upper edge of my blue paper. I felt this gave a 'wave' impression to it. I then mounted my 3 photos into place. I used my Cricut to cut out a sandcastle and then chalked the edges and the flags to give it more defination. I then glued it onto my page and used brown chalk along the bottom edge (on the paper) to resemble a ripple in the sand. I had some vacation theme'd K&Co (tm) Rub-ons and rubbed on the Souvenir wording between 2 of the photo's, the little flip-flops and red lobster were rubbed on down near the sandcastle embellishment. I had a 3-D embellishment left-over from another project that says "Vacation" and attached that for my title.


The above photo is the page aka layout that my mother did. As you can see, hers is much simplier than the one that I made. She used a 12x12 piece of white cardstock for her background. She used the same 3 photo's that I used, cropped them, rounded the corners and mounted them onto ocean blue colored paper and rounded the corners again. She then placed them onto her background. She used my Cricut (tm) and cut out a sandcastle, some blue beach waves (for her title) and 4 little green fishes. She chalked the edges of her blue waves and used a marker and wrote on them "Beach Walk" and attached it to the bottom of her page. She chalked all edges of her fish with a darker green and used a black marker to make eyes. She attached 2 fishes down near her title and 2 more up near the top of her page. In the right corner of her page she used chalks to make a little background for her sandcastle...looks like sand and a blue sky. She chalked that directly onto her background paper. She then chalked her edges of the sandcastle and mounted the sandcastle on top of her chalked background. (I think that was pretty nifty). She had 3 stickers left over from another project that say Stroll, Beach and Beach Bum and mounted them near her 3 photos. This page took her less than 30 minutes to make.

We always enjoy scrapbooking together!

Easy Felt Food Mini Tea Cakes Pattern

I finally found some time to work on more felt foodie (food) items for my little grand daughters felt play food set that I have been making for her. Today's project consists of these little mini felt tea cakes which stitch up quickly and are easy to make. I was able to make 3 of them in about an hours worth of time using some of my leftover felt scraps.

Valentine's Day Mini Tea Cake

Scraps of pink, red and white felt
red embroidery floss and sewing needle
scissors
1 1/2" diameter paper pattern (circle)
small amount of stuffing

The first thing I did was cut out two 1 1/2" diameter circles from pink felt. From white felt, I cut out a strip that measures 1/4" by 5 1/4" long, this strip will be the side strip. I then free handed a tiny red heart and cut that out of red felt. Using 2 strands of red embroidery floss, I stitched the heart onto the center of one of my pink round circles. Using 2 strands of red floss, I blanket stitch the white strip to the same pink circle and then continued by attaching the final pink circle using the blanket stitch. Right before I finished my stitching, I inserted a tiny amount of stuffing inside so that it would hold its shape.

Blueberry Mini Tea Cake

Scraps of dark blue and vanilla colored felt
Dark blue embroidery floss and sewing needle
Scissors
Paper Pattern 1 1/2" diameter circle
Small amount of stuffing
Dark Blue seed beads with shiny finish
Off-white sewing thread

Cut out 2 circles from vanilla colored felt. From dark blue felt, cut a strip that measures 1/4" by 5 1/4" long. Using off-white sewing thread, attach the seed beads onto the top of one of the vanilla colored felt circles in a random pattern. Using 2 strands of dark blue embroidery floss, blanket stitch the dark blue felt strip around the circle (it forms the side of your tea cake) and then attach the bottom vanilla colored circle with the blanket stitch. Right before you finish your stitching, insert some stuffing inside so that it holds it shape.

Orange Cream Mini Tea Cake

Scraps of orange and white felt
Orange embroidery floss with sewing needle
Scissors
Paper Pattern 1 1/2" diameter circle
1 white flat bead (1/8" in diameter)
Small amount of stuffing

From white felt, cut out two 1 1/2" diameter circles. From orange felt, cut out a 1/2" diameter circle and a strip that measures 1/4" by 5 1/4" in length. Using 2 strands of orange embroidery floss, stitch the orange circle to the center of one of your white circles. I wanted mine to look like a sun so I then made 10 lazy daisy stitches around my orange felt circle. I then attached a flat white bead to the center of that using the orange floss. Using 2 strands of orange floss, blanket stitch the orange felt strip around the sides of your white circle and then attached the bottom white circle to the other edge of your orange strip. Right before finishing your stitching, insert some stuffing inside so that it holds it shape.

As you can see...these work up pretty quickly and are very easy to make. They are the perfect size to fit on child-size play dishes and a great size for little hands to handle. However, because they are on the smaller size, I would only let children ages 3 and up play with them.

You can make them plain or fancy but just adding more seed beads, sequins, doing more embroidery stitches, whatever!

You can find additional free patterns for felt food ---> HERE

Easy - Antique Car Museum Scrapbooking Page Layouts

In May of 2009, my husband and I decided to spend the afternoon visiting the Pennsylvania State Museum located in downtown Harrisburg, PA. While visiting and touring the museum, we took numerous pictures of some of the things that we saw.

A few days ago I finally got around to scrapbooking a few of those photographs. I decided to make a simple page, a slightly more difficult page and then a moderate page. I wanted to time myself as I made each page along with figuring out how much each page cost me.

Let's start with the quickest, easiest and most frugal page first. For this one, I decided to use a plain white 12x12 piece of cardstock for my background. Because I was going for quick and cheap for this layout, I decided to not mat my photo's so I just cropped them down and rounded their corners. I used my Cricut to cut out the title "The Exhibits" along with the little swirly emblem and the carriage car (bottom right of the page. To accent the little carriage car, I used tiny silver metal brads in the center of the wheels. I had a ticket stub from the museum and attached that onto the page along with the 3 photos. I had a sticker of a car/bike horn left over from another project and put that up near my title. This page cost me less than .75 cents to make and less than 20 minutes in time.

For the next page...I had 3 photo's that I had taken of the Native American exhibits (which were beautiful by the way) that I used. I had a piece of rustic brown 12x12 piece of cardstock that I used for my background. I cropped my photo's, rounded their corners and mounted them onto medium brown cardstock and rounded the corners again. I used my Cricut to cut out a camp fire because one of the Native American exhibits in the photo, had a camp fire. I accented that cutout with some chalks to add definition to it. I had some sticker letters that were rustic looking and cut those out and mounted them onto medium brown cardstock to use as my titles. You can see my photo for placement of all items. This page cost me approximately $1.45 to make because I used a designer background paper. In addition, it took me 35 minutes to assemble.

For my final page, I used 2 sheets of 12x12 paper. One piece was done in a mint green and blue stripe and one was done in a blue with mint green tiny dots pattern. I decided to use the stripe patterned piece of paper as the background. I ripped the polka dot paper so that it was about 3" by 12" in size and used it for my top border. I used the rest of the polka dot paper to mat my 3 photographs which I rounded the corners on the photos and the paper. I had just a little bit of polka dot paper left and decided to use that piece as the background for my paper tag. From vanilla colored paper, I made the inner section of my paper tag so that I could do my journaling. I had a photo of the sign out front of the museum and I cropped that down and rounded the corners and used it for my title which I think looks great. I attached that to the top of my page along with 2 square shaped metal brads to accent it on the sides. I had a round chipboard piece that was done in the same color hues so I attached that along with a piece of fiber to my journaling tag to add additional accents to the page. This page took me about 45 minutes to make and cost me approximately $1.70 to make.

As you can see from my little experiment...all 3 pages look great. You don't have to spend a fortune to make decent scrapbooking pages nor do you have to spend 1 hour making each and every page.

Felt Food - Mushroom Slices - Play Food Pattern

I just love to eat mushrooms...love them cooked or fresh on a salad. Any way, I decided to make some felt mushrooms for my grand daughters felt food play set that I have been working on. They aren't fancy but will work! Here is how I made them.

Felt Food - Sliced Mushrooms

dark brown, light brown and tan felt scraps
matching colored embroidery floss + embroidery needle
Scissors
Paper and pencil

Pattern: I just free handed my pattern onto a piece of paper. Mine measures 2 1/4" tall by 1 3/4" wide but you can make them any size that you would like.

Once I had my pattern made, I used it for the base of my mushrooms and because I didn't want them to all look exactly alike, I varied the colors. I cut one base piece from each of my 3 colors of felt. Then from dark brown felt, I cut 3 more. Once I had the 3 dark brown pieces cut, I cut those apart into a design that I liked so that they would fit on top of my base pieces (see photo to see what I mean). I then hand stitched the dark brown pieces onto the top of my medium brown and tan felt mushroom pieces so that my mushrooms were two-toned in color. Once I had that done, I cut from felt again (any of the colors will work) a full mushroom piece. Place your front piece wrong-sides together with the backing piece and hand stitch together. I found it best to use regular straight stitched and little whip stitches with these as I didn't like the appearance of the blanket stitch.

They actually sound much harder to make than what they really were so use my photo as an example.

You can find additional free patterns for felt food ---> HERE

Happy Crafting,

How To Crochet A Granny Square Afghan FREE Pattern!

There are numerous free patterns online on how to crochet a granny square so I won't bother typing in instructions. One of the best tutorials on how to crochet granny squares is located on the Crochet Cabana Web Site ---> HERE

Several weeks ago I decided to make an afghan using a granny square pattern that I learnt as a small child. I decided to make one that would use up a slew of my yarn scraps from my scrap basket so I used over 20 different colors in my afghan. The only yarn I had to go out and buy was the black acrylic yarn and I used Red Heart (tm) yarn for that.

You will want to make your granny square and then trim your granny square in black (the final outside row of your square). Once you have made a ton of granny squares, it will be time to assemble your afghan.

A quick way of doing it is to simply single crochet your squares together. I made my horizontal rows first and then finished up with the vertical rows. I then ended up single crocheting around the entire circumference of my afghan using a single crochet stitch and 3-4 rows to give it a nice black border.



Making a granny square afghan is a great way to use up all of your yarn scraps!

Happy Crocheting!

FREE Gorgeous Crochet Round Doily Pattern

Several years ago I came across a vintage handwritten crochet doily pattern in a box of patterns I purchased from the local thrift store. Once I looked over the pattern, I altered it to suit my modern day needs. I don't know who originally made up the pattern since it was handwritten, but the piece of paper it was on was dated from the late 1960's.

You can make this doily all in one color or you can alternate colors like I did for two of them in my above photo.

You will need a size 10 or 11 crochet hook and some cotton mercerized crochet thread. I used ecru for one doily and white and country blue for the others. The finished size will be around 7 3/4" in diameter. You will start in the center of the doily and work your way outwards....you can make it bigger by just adding on more of the last row if desired.

Chain 8 and join with a sl st to the first chain to make your starting ring.

Round 1: Ch 1, make 16 SC in ring, join with sl st to first SC.
Round 2: Ch 1, SC in same place as sl st was made. (ch 5, skip next SC, SC in next SC) repeat 7 times. (7 loops should of been made), now to form the last loop, Ch 2, skip last SC, DC in first SC (8 loops made).
Round 3: Ch 1, SC in loop just formed, chain 4, (SC in next loop, chain 4) repeat 6 more times. Join last chain 4 with sl st to first SC (8 loops on round).
Round 4: Ch 2, (make 5 HDC in next loop, HDC in next SC) 7 times, make 5 HDC in last loop. Join with sl st in top of starting chain (48 HDC on round).
Round 5: Ch 1, SC in same place as sl st in joining, (Ch 5, skip next 2 HDC, until 15 loops have been completed, to form the last loop Ch 2, skip next 2 HDC, DC in first SC (16 loops on round).
Round 6: Ch 1, SC in loop just formed, (Ch 4, SC in next loop), repeat around eneding with Ch 4. Join with sl st to first SC (16 loops).
Round 7: Ch 3, (make 4 DC in next loop, DC in next SC), repeat around, ending with 4 DC in last loop. Join with sl st to top of chain 3. (80 DC on round).
Round 8: Ch 1, SC in joining, (Ch 5, skip next DC, SC in next DC), repeat around ending with Ch 2, skip last DC, DC in first SC to form last loop. (40 loops on round)
Round 9: Ch 1, SC in loop just formed, (Ch 5, SC in next loop), repeat around, ending with Ch 2, DC in first SC to form last loop. (40 loops on round).
Round 10: Ch 1, SC in loop just formed, chain 3, (SC in next loop, Ch 3), repeat around. Join last chain 3 with sl st to first SC (40 loops on round).
Round 11: Ch 4, (make 2 TR *treble crochet* in next loop, TR in next SC) repeat around ending with 2 TR in last loop. Join with sl st in top of chain 4. (120 TR on round).
Round 12: Ch 1, SC in joining, (ch 5, skip next 2 TR, SC in next TR), repeat around, ending with chain 2, DC in first SC. (40 loops on round).
Round 13 and 14: Ch 1, SC in loop (chain 6, SC in next loop), repeat around, ending with chain 3, DC in first SC to form last loop. (40 loops).
Round 15: Ch 1, SC in loop, (chain 7, SC in next loop) repeat around, ending with chain 3, TR in first SC to form last loop. (40 loops on round). Fasten Off.

Hide your strings to finish up your doily.



You can use these doily's to sit figurines on or as candle mats.

Easy and Frugal 12x12 Beach Scrapbooking Layout Idea

When it comes to scrapbooking, you don't have to invest a lot of money or time in creating nice scrapbooking pages. For this particular layout, I was determined to use scraps and leftovers from other pages to make it. Trust me, my scraps and leftovers bin is just over-flowing anymore LOL

For this page, I decided to use just a plain 12x12 white cardstock background so that I could use up some K&Co. rub-ons that I had left over from another page.

I decided to use 3 photos from our vacation last year to the Jersey Shore. We had an extremely windy day (40mph winds) and we took pictures out on the beach to show how windy it was. I cropped down my photos and rounded their corners. I had some ocean blue paper and matted them on that and rounded the corners again.

My color scheme for this page was white, sage green and blue so I used a rope rub-on boarder and ran that down the left side of my page. I mounted my photos onto the page as show in the picture. I had a piece of vellum that said "Water, Breeze, Sand" on it in my color scheme so I mounted that piece of vellum on top of an ocean blue piece of paper, rounded the corners and mounted that at the top for my title using 2 sage color brads.

From the same K&Co (tm) rub-on pack, I rubbed on a corner swirly design (top right of the page) and some swirly brackets above and below the photo of my hubby. Digging around in my scrap box, I found a 3-d journal block/tag done in a darker ocean blue and white color that had blue wire wrapped around it. I mounted that at the bottom right of my page and did my journaling.

This page is pretty easy and clean. It is not as fancy as some of the pages I make for my scrapbooks but it was a great way to use up some leftovers and scraps.

Happy Scrapbooking!

Felt Food - Chocolate Pie With Whipped Cream - Play Food

I wanted to make a few different sliced pie pieces for my grand daughters felt food play set that I have been making and today I decided to try to make a slice of chocolate pie with whipped topping with a little cherry on top. This was my third attempt at making a slice of pie and over-all, it came out pretty good. Its not fancy and elaborate, just simply thrown together.

I did not use a pattern to make it so I will tell you how I did it so you can make one yourself.

Felt Sliced Chocolate Pie - Supplies Used:

Dark Brown, White and Red Craft Felt
Dark Brown, White and Red Embroidery Floss
2 1/2 hand fulls of stuffing
Embroidery Needle, Scissors

I started off by drawing a triangle on a piece of paper. Mine measures approx. 4 1/2" long by 3" wide at its widest point. However, you can make yours as small or as large as you would like.

I used this triangle to cut out 2 triangles from my dark brown colored felt to represent the top and bottom crusts of my pie slice. I wanted my pie slice to be 2 3/4" high so I cut out of dark brown felt 2 pieces that each measure 2 3/4" high by 4 1/2" long. These serve as my 2 long sides of my pie slice. Next, I cut out of dark brown felt a piece that measures 2 3/4" by 3" for my back piece. Out of white felt, I cut out 5 strips that measure the length of my felt sheet by 1/4" wide that will be used to make the whipped cream. Finally out of a scrap piece of red felt, I cut a circle that measures 2 1/2" in diameter to be used for my cherry.

You will first assemble all of your dark brown felt pieces. Simple sew them all together into a wedge shape by hand stitching them together (I used a blanket stitch) or by machine sewing them and inserting some fiber fill stuffing inside so it holds it shape.

Next, hand or machine gather the white felt strips. I tightly gathered mine and then I hand sewn them to the top of my pie slice which took about 15 minutes. Once I had them on, I took 2 strands of red embroidery floss and did a running stitch around the edge of my red felt circle and gathered it up with a little stuffing inside it. I then sewed that to the top of my pie. (see photo)

Simple, Quick and Effective. Its not fancy and elaborate but it serves its purpose!

You can find additional free patterns for felt food ---> HERE

Happy Crafting!

Crafts - Homemade Playdough Recipe For Kids

If you are looking for a homemade recipe for play dough (play dough), I think you should try this one. When our daughter was little, we used to make it all of the time! Once you have made your dough, you will need to store it in an airtight container or plastic zipper closure bag to keep it from drying out.

*This recipe is not meant to be eaten...it is for playing*

Homemade Play Dough Recipe

2 cups flour
2 cups water
1 cup salt
4 teaspoons Cream of tartar
4 tablespoons oil
food coloring

Mix all ingredients in a microwave safe container. Microwave on high 3-5 minutes, stirring every minute. Cook until mixture gets so thick it can’t be stirred anymore.

Let the mixture cool down to room temperature. Divide the dough and knead in your desired color of food coloring. Store your play dough in plastic containers or plastic baggies to keep it from drying out.

TIP: I like to wear rubber or plastic gloves when kneading in the food coloring.

This is a great rainy or snowy day project to do with the kids!

Easy Miniature Golf Scrapbooking Layout

In September 2009, my family and I took a week long vacation down to the Jersey Shore. We love the Jersey Shore and go down there several times every year. Anyway, if you follow my crafting blog, You will know that I am a fan of clean, fast and economical scrapbooking pages...this simple 12x12 page is no exception!

While on vacation, we stopped at Jurassic Adventure Golf (mini golf) in Wildwood NJ and played a round of miniature golf. I didn't want to do a big time consuming and expensive layout for this page because I only have 3 photo's of us playing mini golf. I decided to just do a quick and simple page.

I used my cricut and cut out a grass border which I placed at the bottom of my 12x12 page. I also used my cricut to cut out a mini golf embellishment (its a simple green with flag) and also put that near the bottom of my page. I did use some chalks to give that little embellishment some color & definition.

I then did a single green matt around each of my 3 photographs and attached them to my white background. I saved our mini golf score card and lightly misted it with some archival mist spray to make it safe for scrapbooking and attached that to my page. I decided to not do a title or journaling block because our score card gives the name, location, etc of the mini golf course. Inside the score card shows our names and scores...of course...my hubby beat me!

As you can see...scrapbooking doesn't have to be time consuming nor expensive. You can do simple layouts just like this one!