Dare to DIY: Give Handmade Gifts: Ladies' Day {Covered Button Earrings}

Sorry, I didn't get around to posting this last week. You see, this little project wasn't completed until yesterday! It is hard to post about something that isn't done! I think that it is worth the wait, though!

The inspiration for this project comes from several craters that I know or follow. Dana from Botny makes the most awesome hand-colored earrings. You can check out her awesomely unique items on her Etsy page. Another crafter that makes some awesome earrings is Emily from Taea Made. Hers are finished with a high gloss. Totally rad. You can find a pair or two of her earrings on her Etsy shop and see some of the other unique items she makes. Also, Lindsey with the Pleated Poppy just released a new line of fabric earrings. Here is her shop where you can also see some of the other great products she produces.

For this project, I purchased the blank button sets at Joann along with the earring backs. I went with 1/2 inch and 5/8 inch because I wanted mine to be dainty, but you could totally go bigger. Then I set to covering the buttons with fabric scraps. This was so much fun! I loved looking through the fabric to find the perfect fabrics for this project. Just keep in mind the scale of the print. If you have smaller buttons, you will want a smaller print.

After covering the buttons, I removed the shank on the back and glued on the earring back. And just like that you have a totally unique gift for the any lady on your list.
***Note, I had some difficulty getting the shanks off. I eventually got them off. I have purchased blank buttons without shanks in the past for crafting, but didn't see any this time. I would recommend trying to remove the shanks before making the buttons.***

After assembling the earrings, I punched out a fun shape from card stock, poked two holes, free-handed some doodles, and put the earring sets on the cards.
Look for my children's handmade gift post here.
And my gentlemen's handmade gift post here.

Dare to DIY: Deck the Halls: Advent Wreath

I have been wanting to start the tradition of having an Advent wreath at our home. Of course, I wanted something a little bit different, so I was dragging my feet on the entire project. I got the boost I needed when I said that I would bring one to church for an Advent event.

I started by looking on Pinterest where I found this blog post on Groovie Mom that featured a wreath that was similar to what I wanted to make. I started by looking for a base for the wreath. I ended up with a white cake stand from Pier 1. (I can't find the exact one I purchased, but this one is similar.) Then I purchased and chopped apart floral sticks for the greenery.

I got mine from Michaels. The hardest part in this project was tracking down the candles. I could find tapers, but finding purple and pink pillars was hard. Finally I got the purple and white ones at Target and the pink one at Hobby Lobby. At first I just laid the greenery around the candles, but it kept falling off and needing to be rearranged.

So, I cut a piece of white card stock into a circle, traced the candle placement onto it, and then hot glued the greenery around the outside edge. That way I can remove the greenery after Christmas and have a white cake stand to use. We have been enjoying our new Advent wreath tradition. Every night after supper we light the appropriate candles for the week and read a devotion out of an Advent book I found online. The girls look forward to it every night.

I am linking up to the Dare to DIY link party.

Dare to DIY: Give Handmade Gifts; Kids' Edition {Superhero Cape and Mask}

My blogging friend, Kim, and some of her friends are hosting a Dare to DIY this month. You can read about it and follow along on Kim's blog Newly Woodwards. This week's challenge was to give handmade gifts. Now that is an easy topic for me. I love to give handmade, either by me or another crafter. The hard part is to post about it without giving a gift away to the recipient. :o) I am going to be posting a different gift idea the first three days of this week. Today's will be for kids, tomorrow's for the guys on your list, and then Wednesday is ladies day.

I recently whipped this superhero cape and mask set up for an order, but decided that it would make an awesome handmade gift for any child on your list. I used the cape tutorial from Nancy's Notions that can be found here. (The pattern is actually intended to be used for the Capes for Kids campaign. You can find out all about it here, but you can sew and donate capes for children living in shelters. Wouldn't it be great to make two capes, one to give as a gift and one to donate to Capes for Kids?)

Using felt, I customized the cape with the child's initial. But you could also use a symbol if you would like. I also created a felt mask with elastic to go along with the cape. This was a fairly simple project. I am sure a beginner sewer could tackle it. And what child wouldn't want a swell cape and mask this Christmas so that they can be their own superhero?
If you are looking for even more handmade gift ideas, you can check out this post from last year with a roundup of some of the handmade gifts I have featured on my blog.
And here are a few more:
Ruffled Tote
Fabric Luggage Tags
Coordinates Frame
Tea Wreath
ABC Cards
Wine Gift Bags

Thanksgiving Feather Garland and More

It took me a bit to get the Thanksgiving decorations up this year. Finally last weekend, for the Duplo party, I got me rear in gear and got to work.

I wanted something to replace the Halloween pennant banners that I had made. At first I thought that leaves would be the way to go, but then I saw this feather garland, and decided to branch out of the transnational and try something a little new and fun.

And while I love the look of felt, I really wanted something a bit simpler to make. Enter paper and my Silhouette Cameo. (Have I told you how much I love that thing??) I downloaded a feather pattern and proceeded to cut out feathers in three sizes out of paper I had in my paper stash.

Then I simply used my sewing machine to stitch them together. Viola! I added one to our old window that is sitting on our desk along with the Give Thanks printable found here. And I hung the longer one over our hanging picture display.

Of course I redid the chalkboard for Thanksgiving. My sister-in-law had emailed me this idea and I went with it and made it my own. And added a turkey made by Peachy.

I kept my mini pumpkin hurricane from Halloween and flanked it with this printable I popped into a frame and a canvass print.

I have a great fall table runner from my mom that fits perfectly on our skinny table at the top of our stairs. That coupled with a frame I made, a wooden pumpkin basket filled with some gourds, and this printable backed with a Silhouette cutout, finished that table.

Finally in the entryway, I gathered up all of our mini pumpkins and gourds, added some candles, and this printable in a frame.

These new decorations coupled with having a busy week are about all that held off the Christmas decorations this year! What about you, did you decorate for Thanksgiving or have you already started on Christmas?
I am linking up with Dare to DIY. 

Go and check out all of the other great ideas!

Recycled Christmas Decorations

I got two more of my Christmas Pinterest to-do list. After I had blogged about my projects, some of my gracious readers (read my family members) came through for me. I was lacking the barn board and the pinecones for the first and fourth items on my decorating list.

My father came through with the board and some of the pinecones while my sister-in-law got the rest of the pinecones during a Thanksgiving Day hunt. (Thanks guys!)

Star Project Idea: Beyond the Picket Fence

Talk about a simple and easy project. (Once you have the board, that is.) I raided Mr. Cherry's workshop for five nails and after hammering them in, tied the ribbon. Easy as that.

Painted Pinecone Project Idea: Under the Sycamore

While this one took a little more time, it was just as simple. And with these simple touches, I am loving how my entryway shelf is looking. All ready for Christmas.
I am linking up with the fabulous bloggers doing Dare to DIY: Dare to Decorate at the blogs Newly Woodwards, Decor and the Dog, Maybe Matilda, and Two Twenty One. Be sure to stop by and check out their great projects. 

Wine Gift Bags

I love to give homemade, but sometimes the Christmas season gets a bit overwhelming and completely homemade just isn't always possible. At times like this, I still like to add a small homemade twist to my gifts. Whether it be in the form of a homemade card, a small homemade addition, or something fun and homemade with the wrapping.

I went with homemade wrapping with these bottles of wine I am giving this season. A simple muslin bag with a stamped message and some Christmas chotchkies add a homemade touch to this store bought gift.
(Just make sure to check a few things out when you are working on this project. #1. Make sure you allow extra fabric. Maybe even make a sample first. (These babies fit like a glove, I tell you. In other words, another 1/4 inch would have been much better.) #2. Always check that you are spelling the words correctly. (With two little ones running around while I worked on this project, it took Mr. Cherry's watchful eye to catch that I had forgotten the "g" in jingle. Don't worry, all fixed now.)
If you are looking for some other homemade Christmas gift ideas, you can check out my Homemade Holiday series from last year.

Homemade Holidays Week One (This is a huge list of presents I have made over the years.)
Homemade Holidays Week Two (Ruffled Tote)
Homemade Holidays Week Three (Fabric Luggage Tags)
Homemade Holidays Week Four (Coordinates Frame)
Homemade Holidays Week Five (Tea Wreath)
Homemade Holidays Week Six (ABC Cards)
I am linking up to the Dare to DIY series from the fabulous ladies atDecor and the Dog, Maybe Matilda, Newly Woodwards, and Two Twenty One.

Its Beginning To Look . . .

a bit like Christmas!

 Since we are usually gone over Thanksgiving, it is hard to get Christmas up right away. A certain little three year old has been asking since our drive home last night when we would be decorating for Christmas. So, after getting some of the unpacking done today and getting the house a bit picked up, I conceded in putting up a few items.

Since I had all of the pieces to make the candle centerpiece I blogged about here, I got to work. After ten minuted I had a new Christmas centerpiece. I added one of my favorite table runners from my mom, re-did the chalkboard, and we had an instant touch of Christmas in our dining area.

 (I love the idea of decorating the end of our table. Mr. Cherry was just discussing with me his disdain for decorated tables as they have to be cleaned off before every meal. This way, I can leave the table decorated all season long without having to worry about clearing it everyday.)
While it may not clearly be about entertaining, I think I will still link up to Kim's Dare to DIY . . . Entertain. At least it is a better entry than I had a few years ago.

Thanksgiving Art

This year I didn't get out many of my fall decorations. However, I have been wanting to get some Thanksgiving decorations made and out. Thanks to Kim at Newly Woodwards and her annual Dare to DIY link up party I met the deadline by over a week and a half! (I know!!)
I started with a blank canvass. (Don't most projects start this way?) After several coats of brown acrylic paint, this is what I had.

I tried to find some sort of paper embellishment at the store, but couldn't find what I was looking for. So, I took one of my leaf stamps and with my Versa Mark ink, I stamped the image onto some orange paper. I cut it out and double stick taped it onto the canvass.

I then applied some fabric letters that I had purchased at JoAnn to read Give Thanks.
Simple as that. I had a thanksgiving decoration.
While I was at it, I printed up these pennants to spell THANKFUL from Shabby 2 Chic. I attached them to the hutch and had two Thanksgiving decorations up!

I was on a roll and decided to change the chalkboard while I was at it.

And finally, here is the shelf when you come up the stairs at our house. I had the table runner, pumpkin, and garland up, but I added a canvass print I got from Canvass People from our recent photo shoot.

Ah, now it feels like November and now we can celebrate Thanksgiving.
Thanks for hosting and encouraging, Kim.

http://www.newlywoodwards.com/

Dare to DIY: Dare to Have Traditions!

It is the last week of Kim's Dare to DIY Christmas series. It is always so much fun learning how other families celebrate Christmas. Since our family is relatively young, we don't have many set in stone traditions at this point. However, this year I actually gave some thought as to what kinds of traditions we may want to start since Peachy is now old enough to start appreciating some of them. We will still be celebrating with all of Mr. Cherry's family and all of my family, but I figured it was time to start some traditions in our home. Mr. Cherry was able to get the day before we start traveling off of work to celebrate Christmas with the three of us. So far I plan on driving around to look at lights before or after opening presents. I also plan on incorporating one of my family's Christmas traditions of a chili dinner that night.
This weekend we got to enjoy a tradition that both Mr. Cherry's family and I grew up with, the Children's Christmas Service at our church. Both Mr. Cherry and I participated in our church's service growing up and since then I have had the opportunity to help out with many other services. Last year was the first year that I didn't have a Christmas service to prepare for in some way. The Sunday School children did a wonderful job last night. At the end I turned to Mr. Cherry with tears in my eyes and told him how proud I was of all those kids. I know I am going to be a mess the first year Peachy gets to participate! There is something so special about seeing those kids so proudly share the message of the Savior's birth.

I am not planning too much this year, but I am so excited to see what traditions develop over the coming years with our family.

Dare To DIY: Dare to be . . . Thankful

The awesomely amazing Kim of Newly Woodwards is at it again this Holiday season. Just like last year, she is hosting a Dare to DIY blog party. You can read about some of my 2009 entries here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The first week dares us all to make our own Thanksgiving project. You should check out some of the terrific projects already posted in this week's link up.
I already had this project in mind and Kim's party got my rear in gear to getting it done. Thankfully I was able to give it the finishing touches yesterday so that I can share it with you today.

My project started with a basic unfinished wood frame from Michaels. After adding a base brown acrylic paint base coat and some distressing, the frame was ready for Modge Podge and scrapbook paper. Using alphabet stamps, I stamped out the words Give Thanks, cut them out, and using pop-up tape adhered the letters to the frame. The finishing touch of a Peahcy picture and an easy Thanksgiving craft is complete.