Five Uses for Red, White, and Blue Bandanas : Good Living Magazine Project 3

I have begun to have a quiet obsession with bandanas lately.  It all started when I began brainstorming ideas for the summer issue of Good Living Magazine.  And my mind would not stop thinking about all you could do with a bandana.  There are other ideas I want to try but here are the ones I loved best!

A little bit patriotic and a little bit country 4th of July! :) 

And at $1 per bandana...the creative ideas are endless!

These bandanas used as napkins are as simple as you can get.
I love that they are the perfect size.

They look so cute with the little mason jar sippy cups.

How about wrapping some favors for your 4th of July celebration?

 

I think this is my favorite one.   

Wrap up a VERY American apple pie and tie with a bandana. 

Slip your pie server through the knot and attach a cute chalkboard label with twine.  You can even carry this like a caddy from the tied knot.

Dress up your favorite flip flops! 
And yes I have seriously had these for 8 years from Old Navy.
I buy new ones all the time but I LOVE these.

The kid version is just cut strips of bandana tied around the thong part of the flip flop.  The flower is made with double folded circles from this tutorial and I sewed a strip of the bandana underneath so it can be tied to your flip flops and removed later.

Or use the flower as a fun pin!

Do you have some LOVE for the BANDANA now?

I know I do!

Hugs My Sweet Friends!

DIY 4th of July Sparkler Cupcake Picks : Good Living Magazine Project 2

If I could marry a craft, it would be this one.  For real.  I love these little cupcake picks so much.  I mean, who doesn't love sparklers?  As a young girl, I remember how excited (and slightly terrified) I was holding the real ones on the 4th.  I would be stare at it and then get braver, spinning them in circles and delighting in such a fun celebration. Making these brought back sweet summer memories for me and I think this might be a fun one worth repeating.

All you need: 

Silver Crochet Thread (by Red Heart Fashion purchased at Wal Mart), 4 inch skewers, scissors, and hot glue.

This is like making a pom pom...wrap around three fingers 40-50 times.

Gently slide the loops off and place them on top and in the middle of a length of the thread.

Tie it securely with a double knot twist it to be back and do it again.

Cut the loops on either end.

It will look like this.  Without the loops I missed before taking this shot. Oops.

After a little dab of hot glue on the blunt end, slide the skewer inside the knot and hold until set. 

Fluff it out.

Look at this adorable cupcake pick?  I love that it has just the right sparkle to make it look real!

I made six of these and they took me about 10-15 minutes.

They totally make me happy!  What do you think? 

Thanks for peeking in on Day 2 of my...

More Fun Stuff Again tomorrow!

Linking to:
Show and Tell Saturdays at Be Different, Act Normal
Tatertots and Jello

Mason Jar "Sippy Cups" Good Living Magazine Project 1

I have seen these cutie mason jars for quite awhile and I absolutely love the idea of drilling a hole in the flat lid and using them as sippy cups.  Love, Love, Love It!

But my ever frugal self does not see me storing these jars if that is their only purpose.  I have 3 gajillion things I could do with them so I decided to make a set of TEMPORARY ones.  So instead of drilling a hole, I just used paper inserts and removed the flat lid.  Interchangeable and festive too!

Here is what you need to make these:

8 oz Ball mason jars (12)

patriotic scrapbook paper 

(card stock would work best but paper is fine)

straws

craft knife

pencil and scissors

Trace your lid onto the wrong side of scrapbook paper...

...and cut your circles out.
(I would make extra just in case or seal them in clear contact paper in case of drips)

Place the circle inside the screw-on lid with the printed side facing down.

Tighten the screw-on lid until the scrapbook paper becomes taut.

Do this with all 12.  

Don't they look fabulous?

With your craft knife, make a tiny  "X" in the center or side of your cup.  

I chose to do it on the side.

Don't make it too big or you could create a hole larger then your straw.

Pop in some festive straws and you have some pretty, patriotic party cups!

I will have fun ideas every day this week until Friday!  
Can't wait! 

Linking to: 
Tatertots & Jello
Show and Tell Saturdays at Be Different Act Normal

Father's Day Flip Flop Card

 

I had to share this card the girls and I put together two years ago for Father's Day.  Our family kinda likes to do nostalgic gifts and nothing is cuter then hand and foot prints from our girls! And my husband keeps this card on his dresser so he can look at it whenever he wants.  So incredibly sweet. It is missing stickers and crumpled a bit from handling but...that's part of the charm knowing it means so much to their Daddy.

So glad we dated it knowing when we gave it to him. Ella was not yet 1 and Cati was not yet 3.

My husband is an amazing example of God's love.

 We even put a paper on the bottom that looked like shoe tread.  

I still laugh when I look at it knowing I did that.

 Here is my husband holding his precious card.

Do you have any MEANINGFUL ideas we could do for my husband this year? 

He would love anything but I am out of ideas this year.

Have a happy weekend!

Magnetic Kid's Art Tray

I feel almost silly writing this post not knowing if you will think it is a pretty good idea or a little boring.  But since I made it for my girls I figured I would share it and let you be the judge.

Guest Posting at Yesterday on Tuesday: Knot Tied Fabric Scrap Garlands

Hi Everyone!  

So sorry there have been an orchestra of crickets on the blog! We just got back from having so much fun at Disney.  Aside from the hubs forgetting his license, having our stroller taken after 30 minutes at the Magic Kingdom on our first day,  scaring the daylights out of our girls riding the Peter Pan ride (really?), my Ella terrified that the tunnel on the "It's a Small World" ride was like the tunnel in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and literally panicked (we now fast forward through that part but I guess it left an impression)...it REALLY is the happiest place on earth. 

This is also my time to be crafting for the magazine so I kind of get focused on that and the blog becomes a bit silent.

But hop on over to sweet Malia's lovely blog ...Yesterday on Tuesday where I am guest posting to share two no-sew garland tutorials and all you need to know is how to TIE A KNOT! 

This one...

...annnnnnd this one!

I seriously love the easy ones.


Take a peek!

A Blog Freebie and Some News!

This is the word for our family today because our hearts REJOICE.  We have had so much to be thankful for, so many reason to cling to faith, and we love the opportunity to proclaim a testimony after traveling a low valley.  It is just so awesome to be able to tell all of you that...

Won't you rejoice with us?????

For those of you who don't know, my husband lost his job last August. He is a Business Analyst and awesome at everything he does and I could not be prouder of my man. When this all happened, it came at a bad time since we had just bought our first house 3 months prior after renting FOREVER.

But when my husband lost his job, he was hired for a new one a few months later only to have the offer rescinded. This devastated my husband more then losing his other job. You can read about our reactions to both here and here.

So today we are are so excited to share this news with you and to celebrate we are going to DISNEY WORLD! We have not told the girls yet but plan on doing that tonight and sending them on a scavenger hunt to collect Disney things and see if they figure it out.  It may confuse them since we just saw Toy Story on Ice yesterday and they kept telling people at church we were going to Disney World.  Cracked us up.

So you may not hear from me for a bit this week but I do have a fun tutorial lined up that I can hopefully schedule for some time this week.  I am hoping to do some kid focused stuff for the summer.  Perfect for the kiddies and grandkiddies!

As for my Mema...she is doing WONDERFUL. Her memory seems sharper and she is healing up amazingly.  They are beginning to have her eat downstairs again and go outside for fresh air (Thank You Lord).

Honestly, everyone is scratching their heads over how well she is doing.  But I am not. God is bigger than statistics, any disease, any obstacle.  I thank you for all your prayers and sweet words that uplifted me while my heart broke over my Mema. And mostly praying for a 91 year old woman you did not know but cared enough about to lift to God.  I will not forget such love from you. Four doctors told our family that she had 1 to 2 weeks.  Yet all they see is her getting better.  And I was able to talk to her, pray with her, and I am assured that her eternity is secure.

So thank you to all of you.  If you want to grab the rejoice image, go right ahead. Stick it on your blog or whatever you want to do with it if you like it.  I had an issue making it transparent and for some reason my software was not working so if you have a white background...go for it!


P.S. I wrote this earlier and never posted.  So now it is evening and we already did the scavenger hunt.The girls had so much fun! I don't think they quite get it.  Which is funny since they have been there 3 times already in their short little lives. :) We took a video and some pictures. We can't wait!

Take care sweet friends and thank you for caring about the little and the big things that happen in my life! 

XOXO!