Cards and Another Tutu

Here is a set of 4 birthday cards I made randomly last night. Almost every day this week I've started to clean my craft room, then find something amazing and sit down to play with it- and never finish organizing. This is what I played with yesterday. 

I put them in clear envelopes and stamped "Happy Birthday" on them, then stored them in one of these clear boxes that are so neat from Papertrey Ink.

And here is another tutu I made this morning (last day of Christmas vacation, you've got to be kidding me if you think I'd wake before noon) afternoon that took about an hour. I love these things, and they turn out SO cute. Here is a little more detail in how they're made. 

Step 1. Put a stretchy headband around a chair

Step 2. Cut about 40 strips of tulle 6x24 (or longer) 

Step 3. Make a U shape with the tulle and pull the two open ends through the closed end around the headband to make temporary knots

 Step 4. Pull petals off of flower stem (I like hydrangeas) and hot glue a small pearl to each center

Step 5. If desired, glue petals on strips of 24 inch ribbon to add to tutu, otherwise, glue petals onto tutu. I did both, using about 30 flowers total

 Step 6. Make a hairbow using leftover petals

 Step 7. Admire your beautiful tutu. This one will be really cute with a black leotard. 

 Here is is all laid out. It will stretch to fit just about any size. Of course the smaller the waist, the fuller the skirt. The leotards I found were size 2-4, which will be perfect for most any girl in this age range.

Purple Tutu

I decided to make A's Christmas present this year. A is my best friend's daughter, who turned 2 back in September. I bought a lavender leotard online for about $10, then made a tutu and matching hairclip, which I put in an organza bag. I used a stretchy headband for the base, and added strips of 30 inch tulle fabric (6 inches wide, 1 roll of 25 yards), then some pretty ribbon. I glued hydrangea flowers on the ribbon and sparsely on the tutu for decoration, and glued a small pearl in the center of each flower. It turned out beautifully. It's soooo much prettier in person. We haven't exchanged gifts yet so I don't know if she'll love it, but I sure hope she does! 

A few things to share!

Okay, so life hasn't slowed down much since Halloween like I thought it might. Only two school days before Thanksgiving Break! Anyway, Here are a few things I've been into lately...

One of the teachers at school is expecting a baby boy in January, and her baby shower was last week. 2nd Grade got together to make our gift- a cute little monkey bike! I used my droid phone to take pictures so they're of course blurry and awful, but you get the idea of it. 

 I found a motorcycle license plate template online to write "Baby B." (for the last name) and I think it was the favorite part. It turned out really cute.

 The next project was supposed to be a tutu for my bff's little girl, but apparently her waist is bigger, so I have it to her cousin (who is my sister's bff's daughter). She loved it!

 Super easy and super cute. I used the tulle fabric strips found in the wedding section at A.C. Moores, and tied them onto some beautiful green ribbon. I added vine ribbon (papertrey inc.) and glued on hydrangea petals. Here is a close up of the top. I went around the top with gold ribbon, just to cover the knots. It's tied on with a bow, so even as C. grows some, it will still fit.

 The next one I make will be with an elastic headband, so no matter how big Addy's waist is, it will fit!

And my biggest project... a Tipi made from 8' cedar posts and a 9x12 canvas floor mat. I gathered all of my ingredients, and used my entry-way floor as my table. This project was pretty big. I cut 5 huge triangles (think 4 inches wide at the top, 38 inches wide at the bottom, 80 inches tall), then sewed them all together. Then I added a larger triangle and made two flaps for the doors. This was 56 inches wide.

I drug all of the pieces to school and tied them with jute rope (well, my DH drilled holes in the poles for extra support) and spread it outside so we wouldn't make a mess. 

I taped the flaps so my little American Indians wouldn't wander inside, but gave them permenant, acrylic paint to decorate the outside with symbols that may or may have not been used by the Lakota Indians we were studying about.

After we finished, I sprayed the tipi with mod podge sealer, and drug it inside to be on display in the front hallway. While I had small groups of kids rotating outside to paint, my cohort had the rest of the group inside practicing their symbols by painting onto cardstock "buck skins." We matted those on black paper, and they are a gorgeous backdrop for our tipi. I might remember to take a picture to post of the finished project. It turned out freakin' awesome. Everyone loved it!

And my last project is a card I made for my bff Kymberlee (oops- you'll probably see this before it comes in the mail) as a simple "hello." I hadn't used Simply Scarecrows before (talk about creepy eyes) but the project was surprisingly easy. I used paper from my last Little Red Scrapbook kit.