ANOTHER CREATIVE NIGHT WITH THE GIRLS

It's the first day of SPRING, so a good time to make 

something to celebrate the end of WINTER!

This project was inspired by a recent trip to Anthropologie - one of the greatest places to find unusual dish towels.  So, this time we'll be doing a little creative painting on fabric.  All we need is a 1/2 yard of cotton fabric, a small amount of white fabric, and acrylic paints.  Everyone can make a towel that will perfectly match their kitchen colors.

I'll be sure to post a picture of the finished 

masterpieces - they are certain to be beautiful!

"Bearing Flowers Dish Towel"

by

Anthropologie

PAPER FORTUNE COOKIES and SOUR CREAM SNACK CONTAINERS

Only one more day to become a FOLLOWER 

and enter the VALENTINE GIVEAWAY!

(To enter, just click on the Rabbit Tag icon to the right)

Last week my book group girls came over for a night of crafting and we made a bunch of little gift enclosures. Evidence of a fun night:

While we were working away, we had snacks from little "sour cream" style snack containers.  I made them with regular scrapbooking paper and my sewing machine.  

 Just decide how large you want your snack packs to be and go from there.  Ours were made from paper cut to about 5" x 7".  Just roll the rectangle into a tube and glue down the seam to secure.

Then, using your sewing machine, just press down one end of each "tube" and sew across.

You can do all your tubes at once.  Just do a lock stitch at each end of each tube, and then leave about an inch of thread and go onto the next.  When you finish sewing one edge of each tube shut, snip the threads between each tube.

Fill each tube with goodies - up to about an inch or so from the top.

Then, at the opposite of the sewn end, fold the tube the opposite way and then put THAT end through the sewing machine.  

Or . . . you can watch this little YouTube video that shows you how to make them too.

Then, to add to some fun conversation while we were sitting around the table, I made some paper "fortune cookies".  This time, use the two-sided, heavier cardstock craft paper.  It's much, much easier than trying to maneuver the lighter one-sided paper.  

Find a can in your pantry that is approximately 3 1/2" across.  Use that as your template for the circles you'll need.  Trace one circle for each "cookie" you want to make.

 Then, cut them out.

 Fold the circle in half and pinch it towards the bottom.

Then use your other hand to pull the other sides together.  Put a little dap of hot glue on the spine of the fold and hold it shut until it's dry.  Once it's dry you can slip a little fortune inside. 

You can find fortune ideas all over the internet and print them out.  A sample of what you can find is here.  

 

You'll want to leave a bit of the fortune sticking out so it's easy to grab without ruining the "cookie" (since they could be reused at a later date).

A fun way to add some spark to the conversation at a gathering of crafters, or a Valentine dinner!  It creates laughter and great memories.

Remember . . .

"The joyfulness of a man prolongeth his days!"

***This nice lady from YouTube can show you how she did it in case you're confused with my description.   She uses double sided tape instead of hot glue.  

Sharing on:

Metamorphosis Monday

NINE CRAFTERS IN MCKINNEY

There are some great crafters in Texas!

One of the things Jan and I have been looking forward to the most during my visit, was a fun night of "making stuff" with her friends here in McKinney.  Jan has been a part of these nights on her visits to Wisconsin, but this time the creating was happening in her home.

I met seven lovely ladies tonight and we took on some great projects together.   

But before they arrived, Jan and I had some setting up to do.  We put together a stack of supplies at each place along with an instruction sheet for making gift enclosures and envelopes out of scrapbooking paper.   

 We also made tags for everyone wound with hand stamped "ribbon".  (More on that on another post.)

 You can download this envelope template here, and size it to fit your needs.

 All set . . .

A sample pack of gift enclosures, tied up with ribbon and a linen rose. 

 Everyone is here . . .

 so after a great dinner together we got right to work.

 Just look at the concentration on these faces!

 A pretty little ribbon rose.

And next . . . dressing up some plain wooden hangers to make a guest room extra special.  We painted them with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint, lightly sanded them, and then stamped some pretty french words onto one "arm" of the hangers.

 

 I tried to remember to take lots of pictures in the middle of it all but I sure wish I'd gotten a picture of everyone's beautiful hangers all piled up together.  But here's a look at a few of them.

Everything would look pretty hanging on one of these . . .

 Just choose some pretty French words representing clothing and your guest room closet will look like no other!

 So that's it for tonight!  Thank you to Cindy P., Pam, Terri, Cindy L., Cathy, Sharon, and Mitzi for coming to Jan's tonight!  And a huge thank you to Jan for opening her home to ALL of us (and to her husband, Bob, for putting up with all this crafting business)!  

What a fun night - I truly enjoyed meeting every one of you.  I especially enjoyed listening to all those great southern accents all evening long!   I'm looking forward to next winter and another night of creating together!

(Cindy . . . you should stop in Brookfield on your way to Door County next summer!  I'm serious!)