Tip Tuesday: How to Store Your Artificial Arrangements

Do you ever wonder how you should store those large artificial arrangements at the change of the season? 

Well, don't throw away those clear plastic bags from the dry cleaners! Repurpose them as dust covers for your arrangements!

I used two for this large arrangement. 

They keep your arrangements nice and clean and dust-free!

DIY Burlap Ribbon Chirstmas Card Holder Tutorial

I saw this fun chevron burlap ribbon at my local craft store and instantly knew what I wanted to create with it! 

This is pretty simple and fun! 

Materials you will need:

1-Small Christmas swag(I had an old one that I wanted to repurpose, but you can purchase one pretty inexpensively.)

1-seam ripper

approx. 1 1/2-2 yards of burlap ribbon(I used chevron. The craft store also have a pretty yellow, blue or just the natural color too that would be just as pretty.)

1 package-Mini clothes pins 

Here is how I made the card holder.

1. Turn over the ribbon and rip the seams by taking the seam ripper and catching under the top threads of the serged edge and pushing up. It breaks the threads. I would rip a bunch and then pull the threads off and keep doing it… until you have removed the serged edge from apporx. 1 1/2 yards-2 yards of the ribbon. (Hint do not seam rip on the chevron side..I found that to take more time. That being said, this still takes a little patience….and time….) 

2. Next pull a thread going along the edge..This starts the fraying process. I pulled out about 2-3 threads on each edge. You can take out more if you would like more fraying.

Here's my pile of threads. :)

Here's the ribbon that's frayed.

3. Tie the ribbon to the back of the swag.

I want to re-use the ribbon after Christmas. So, I didn't glue it.

4. Twist the wiring in back of swag to form a loop to use to hang the holder.

Here you may need to use a little floral wire(the green kind will work fine). If your swag doesn't have extra wiring, you can make your own hanger loop. Just attach floral wire to the back of the swag and form a loop like picture below. (In a pinch- You might be able to use twist-ties in a pinch. you know the ones that come on your bread at the grocery store).

Ta-da! 

Here's is the finished product.

Just use those cute mini clothespins to attach your Christmas cards to the burlap ribbon.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial. If you have any questions, comment below. Please, share with your friends or comment if you would like to see more tutorials! Thanks!

Girl's Coloniel Costume Tutorial DYI (mob cap, shoulder cloth, apron)

I looked everywhere for free Coloniel costume ideas. My daughter was supposed to dress up at school I couldn't fin anything great and affordable . So, I came up with this.....
I will for warn you this is not an authentic conloniel costume(since I used a sewing machine). Traditionally, all of this would have been hand sewn. Also, I am not the best seamstress. I have made mistakes. I am sure you more seasoned seamstresses will notice immediately. Nonetheless, I needed to make something up quick for my daughter's report and thought I would share my ideas. Thanks for checking this out!
Here is the result:

What you need for the costume:

1. Simple black sheath/ simple solid dark colored women's dress (belted or tied to fit child).

 I used a knee length dress of mine and one of my daughter's long-sleeved black tops.

2. The mob cap
3. The apron
4. The shoulder cloth

For the sewing projects you will need:

4 men's hankies (white flour sack type towels would be a good substitute or cut up a white bed sheet)
2 yards 1" width white grossgrain ribbon
2.5 yards 1/4" white satin ribbon
White thread
steel yarn needle
a paper grocery bag
pencil or water soluble marker
sewing machine(optional)

Shoulder cloth(uses 2 hankies, satin ribbon, white thread for machine):

1. Take two hankies fold each in half to form triangles(you will have 2).

2. Over lay the hankies on top of one another like so.

3. Stitch a with sewing machine to secure.

4. Cut two 12" pieces of the 1/4" white satin ribbon.

Stitch the ribbon to the two ends of triangle corners

(you can see the ribbon in the result picture).

There you have it! Drape over shoulders and tie the ribbons into a bow.

Apron(uses 1 hankie and the 2 yards of grosgrain ribbon):

I don't have step by step photos for this one. I apologize.
1. Sew a basting stitch by hand or by machine at a longer length stitch(I used 4 as my stitch length) along one of the sides of the hankie.
2. Gather the basting stitch.
3. Cut a length of grosgrain ribbon approx. 2 yards long
4. Center both the grossgrain and the hankie and pin.
5. Stitch the grosgrain ribbon just below the gathering stitch. I did another row of stitching down the center of the grosgrain ribbon for stability.

Mob Cap:

1. If you have a compass make a 10" diameter circle on a grocery sack. Or you can use a large bowl turn upside down and trace it onto the grocery sack. Just cut the sack up so you can have a larger piece of paper(large enough to fit a 10" circle)

2. Cut the circle out.

3. Use the circle as a pattern for one of the hankies. Draw the circle onto the hankie approx. 1/2" wider than paper circle with a pencil or water soluble marker.

4. Cut fabric circle out.

5. Fold over approx. 1/4" to form hem and pin as you fold over.

Stitch right along fold.

6.  Next mark dots all along the inside of the circle approx. 1 1/2" in from the hemmed fabric circle .

Connect the dots.

7. Now, take approx 1-1 1/2 yards of the 1/4" satin ribbon and thread into steel yarn needle.
Make a running stitch right on the inside circle you marked. My stitches are approx. 1/2" long.

8. Finally gather up the ribbon and tie in a bow.

Viola!

Personalized iPad Wallpaper How To......

I made a really neat wallpaper for my iPad today. I saw this from Digital Citizen and thought I would try it out. I used this template and blew it up in my 1024 x 1024 pixel file. I used Photoshop Elements 9 and used the digital scrapbooking papers from Shabby Princess in the Urban Kiwi download. You can use any version of Photoshop to do this.

It took me a few hours to do, but I am a little rusty on Photoshop Elements 9. I am going to make one for my hubby too. This time it shouldn't take that long at all.

Here are my results.

Here are a couple pictures of my iPad showing the wallpaper.

What do you think?