For Christmas, my sister and brother-in-law gave me a Kindle. It’s a very sleek eReader and I’ve been having a fun time playing around with it and downloading books off the Internet. While I was impressed with its capabilities – the ability to store more than 3,000 books (I don’t think I’ll get near that number) or that it has a battery life around a month – what really got me excited was the fact that I could now create some kind of holder for it…after all, it’s very cool design needs to be protected, right?!

I chose felt because it’s a durable fabric, it’s soft enough to provide padding for added protection and it doesn’t fray. I measured out the size, making sure to allow at least an extra 1/2 inch on each side for trimming later. The size I measured was 7.5 inches wide by 9.5 inches tall. For the strap, I measured 5 inches long by 2 inches wide. I layered three pieces of felt together and adhered them together using an iron-on adhesive (make sure to choose one that is also sewable.). I repeated this twice for the front and back panels and did the same thing for the strap.

After sewing a 1/4 inch border around the strap and trimming any excess felt, I sewed the strap onto the top of the back panel. If you decide to add any embellishment, the time is do it at this stage BEFORE you sew both panels together! In my case, I cut out two felt flowers and sewed a button in the middle and then onto the bottom corner of the front panel. Next, I sewed the front and back panels together. The key before sewing both sides together is to make sure that the Kindle fits nicely before completing the other side. After this, I sewed the bottom end.

For the finishing touches, I trimmed each side so that it was about 1/4 inch from the seam and sewed on snap buttons for the strap.

In addition to making this for an eReader, this would also be great for your cell phone or portable game device – all you would need to do differently is measure according to your device. The only complaint I got was from my husband who said that it’s too girly for him to be able to carry around so I’m going to have to make a “guy” version of it!

The day after Thanksgiving, I went into full holiday decoration mode. I strung garland on the banister, the mantle, and put up my Christmas tree. I wasn’t sure what do with with the narrow window next to my front door until I came across some snowflake garland I made last year. It was a great way to recycle an existing item and add some whimsy to the window.

All you need is: holiday cardstock, snowflake punch (or any other holiday themed punch), string and stapler

1) Punch out the snowflakes. The number of snowflakes depends on the area that you’re decorating. I decided to use multiple strings hang the snowflakes

2) Holding two snowflakes together (decorative side facing out), staple the snowflake to the string. In my case, I carefully placed the string in between the staple so that I could adjust the placementof the snowflakes by sliding it up or down.

3) Continue to staple the snowflakes to the string until you reach the desired length.

4) Hang on a rod and voila!

In addition to a window, you can hang the snowflake garland just about anywhere: on a door, above your child’s bed, on the ceiling (that would be super cute), on the mantle, etc.

Cathy and I are throwing a Halloween party for the kids this weekend, and we’re having a fun time planning it! One of the many decorations I have is a Halloween wreath. It’s a super easy way to change a regular autumn foliage wreath into somehing fun and cute for Halloween!

All you need are: orange cardstock , string, glue/tape and of course, a wreath

(NOTE: For the spiders/bats, cut them out from black cardstock or do what I did and purchase Martha Stewart Crafts Spider Silhouettes)

Step 1: Cut out 4″ circles (the number of circles depends on what you want the wreath to read. Mine is “BOO!” so I cut 4 circles)

Step 2: Write the letters out in a thick black marker

Step 3: Glue or tape to a ribbon or string and tie to the wreath

Step 4: Adhere the spider and bats

Step 5: Hang on door!

These Melissa & Doug magnetic letters were an impulse buy and they’ve turned out to be one of the best. They came with a chalk/whiteboard but I stashed that and put them on the dishwasher for the Little Peanut to play with while I cook. I love them because they’re not the typical plastic letters that you see in most homes. Like all Melissa & Doug products they’re made from wood. They’re also super-sized at 2 inches tall.

If you have kids you know that they would never take the letters off and toss em across the house and become attached to one letter and carry it around with them and make you look for it when they’ve lost it. Nope! What kid does that?! Or maybe you’re like me and a little anal retentive then you would never obsess about finding a missing letter to the point of dumping out every toy bin to find it. Nope! Not me!

Ok so maybe me. We’ll call it the “Great search for the letter H.” It lasted for about 3 weeks and got to a point where the Little Peanut would walk by the dishwasher and yell out “H where?!” and come running over to me wanting to look for it. That’s when I decided I would make a replacement using old calendar magnets that I saved (never know when you’ll need a magnet!), corrugated cardboard box, and color card-stock paper.

Step 1: Make a letter template, cut it out.

Step 2: Trace your template onto the magnent, cardboard box and card stock paper.

Step 3: Cutout the letters

Step 4: Glue (I used Mod Podge) the cardboard box piece to the magnet. Let dry.

Step 5: Glue the cardstock to the cardboard box piece. Let dry.

Step 6 (optional): To add a little water protection to the front of the letter cutout contact paper and place on top.

Step 7: To avoid paper cuts make sure the card-stock isn’t too much larger then the cardboard box by trimming off an excess around the side of the letter. I used an x-acto.

Step 8: Stick on your fridge and enjoy! You can see my letters are the “H” and “I” in the photo at the top since they’re purple.

This would be tedious if you do a whole alphabet since you have 3 layers to cut but it would be fun for a name, shapes, or animals. The added layer of the cardboard box makes it more sturdy for little hands that like to crush and bend everything they can get their hands on.

Ever since we went to the Blooming Butterflies exhibit Little Peanut has got a thing for butterflies.

Awhile back I had cutout a few and taped them to the wall above her changing table. For a long time she wanted to take them down but I convinced her that they were decoration…. until one day last week when she batted her eyes and pleaded with daddy for them. So down they went. (She is totally daddy’s little girl!)

She was trying to make them “fly” by holding one in the air and flapping her arm around. That’s when I thought about attaching them to ribbon so she could wave them around (and so they wouldn’t be littered all over the house!)

I just used tape (but glue would work just as well) to attach the butterflies and made a loop on the end for hanging -

Or for her to put them on her wrist to “fly.”

I bet they would look cute hanging from the ceiling too. Hmmm.. I bet she would love waking up to dozens of them “flying” overhead on her birthday… the wheels are churning!

Click here to download our butterfly template to make your own!

Remember these storage boxes? We use one of them for the Little Peanuts train set and she always tries to carry the box around but the problem is there’s no handle cutout on the other side. The poor girl always ends up loosing grip and dropping all the pieces on the floor only to rinse and repeat!

I suppose the easy route would have been to cut out another handle on the back but well… I didn’t think of it until now. There can never be too many storage boxes for toys though so here’s the new and improved version – boxes with a ribbon handle on both sides.

This box was the perfect size so I didn’t have to do any cutting (my arms say thanks!) and just mod podged the paper on. Insane amounts of hot glue were used in attaching the ribbon so I think they’re pretty secure but I’ve already told the Little Peanut the box is for Lego’s only- no rocks! (BTW did you notice the little Lego people in the photo? She insisted they be there.)

Here’s a close up:

And here she is with her new box. Don’t mind the blurry photo. She’s like Flash from the Justice League sometimes!

Want to do your own? Here’s how:

1. Check out Ashley’s tutorial on how to make the box, except skip the part where you cut out the handle. I did steps 2-3 first before adding the decorative paper/fabric just in case I messed up the marking/cutting.

2. Measure and mark where the handles will be on both sides of the box. Mine are 3 inches and I wanted them centered but a little bit closer to the top.  You’re marking where to feed the ribbon through.

3. Using an x-acto cut slits in the marked places. Just a vertical line. Make sure the height is the same or smaller then your ribbon. My ribbon is 5/8 inches.

4. If you haven’t added the decorative paper do so now. While waiting for it to dry you can do the next few steps.

5. Measure your ribbon to be 2x the length plus 6 inches. Your ribbon is going to be folded in half to add extra durability. The extra inches are used for gluing the ribbon to the box. My handle is 3 inches length so the ribbon is 12 inches.

6. Cut out a piece of rectangular cardboard about 1.5 inch longer in length and 1 inch longer in width then the handle. You’re going to glue this piece to the inside of the box behind the handle so you want it large enough to cover and then some. My piece is about 5.5 by 2.5 inches.

7. Make sure the mod podge has dried before continuing on- I speak from experience as I was anxious to get the handle on the first time! Using the x-acto knife cut through your paper from the inside of the box through the slits you made in step 3.

8. Feed the ends of the ribbon through the slits. I used the tip of the x-acto to push the ribbon into the box. Make sure you leave enough slack so your fingers can hold the box. You should have about an inch on each side inside the box.

9. Get your glue gun and glue the ribbon down. Be generous!

Make sure to do both pieces and inside the loop. It should look like below after your done gluing.

10. Glue the rectangular piece on top of the ribbon. Again, be generous with the glue.

11. That’s it you’re done. Enjoy your box!

The box pictured doesn’t have nice paper on it but yours should!

Beauty begins on the inside. What does that have to do with sewing? Check out this sewing tip from Make It and Love It and learn why a little trimming on the insides of your project will make it even more beautiful on the outside!

* Image from Make It and Love It.

One day when my husband was cleaning out his closet, he accumulated a pile of button-down shirts that he no longer wears. They were either really old, out of style, or didn’t fit anymore. It got me thinking of what I could do with all that fabric! I came up with the idea to make a blanket for my son – it would definitely be one of a kind and be extra special…made from daddy’s button-down shirts. Here’s what you need to get started:

Materials:  1) A bunch of daddy’s button-down shirts, low loft batting (you don’t want anything too thick), fabric for the back side (about 1-2 yards depending on the size of your blanket)

Instructions:

1) For each shirt, lay it flat and start cutting out 8″ X 8″ squares (NOTE: you can make the squares any size you want, but the smaller you make them, the longer it will take to sew them back together!). I used all parts of the shirts: the pockets, the cuffs and even the front of the shirt with the buttons fastened. It makes each square unique with the different textures and design.

2) Once you have all the squares cut out (the number of squares depends on how large you want your blanket), start playing around with the color/pattern scheme. My husband had lots of white and blue shirts so that was my foundation and used striped and plaid squares as accents throughout the blanket.

3) Once you have all the squares laid out how you want it (I suggest laying them out on the floor), divide them by row and start sewing the pieces 1/4 inch together. Once you finish all the rows, then it’s time to sew each row together.

4) Next, iron out the seams of each square. You might think this would be tedious (and it is!), but it will be worth it. It will look more professional and the lines cleaner. This will be the top side of the blanket.

5) Now it’s time to put the top side together with the batting and the back side fabric. This can get a little tricky but the key is to baste all three pieces together. Basically, this means hand-stitching all three pieces together using thread and large stitches. This will ensure that the pieces will stay in place as you work.

6) With all the pieces firmly in place, it’s time to finish the edges with bias tape. What I did was cut 1 1/2″ fabic strips with the same fabric as the back side but you can use store-bought bias tape as well.

7) Give the blanket a wash and you’re done!

Bonus idea: Use fabric glue and foam letters to add your child’s name to the top side for that extra personalization!

I have a ton of shirt squares left over so I plan on making my daughter something unique as well that she will cherish for a long time.

When I saw this tutorial on … is five I was instantly drawn in. First not only do I love how she embroidered the book marks I also love the colors and the practicality of it!

When I was younger I was a huge reader. My favorites started out with Beverly Cleary Ramona series then as I grew older I moved on to Sweet Valley Twins & High by Francine Pascal. Eventually I moved on to the classics of Shakespeare and Dickens then into the fantasy realm of elves and magic with R.A.  Salvatore.

Lately though I have less time for reading but do carve out time for my favorite author- Nicolas Sparks. Seeing these bookmarks makes me want to hit the bookstore and curl up on the couch with a glass of hot chocolate and escape into another world.

Click here to go to … is five and learn how to make these fun bookmarks.

These would be great for party favors or a “just because” gift for the reader in your life. I’m imagining making these for my girl when she gets older with her favorite characters on them!

While doing some spring cleaning I came across a box of candles and some craft supplies that included some glue on jewels. I remembered my sister’s wedding favors and how she slaved for hours gluing on beads and pearls in flower shapes to candles and thought it would be fun to try it out with the jewels I found.

It was fun trying out different designs. I used a silver sharpie on the dark pink candle, the light pink has flowers and the red candle is random sparkles.

It was two easy steps!

1. get yourself some candles and jewels (from the beads section of the craft store).

2. glue on the jewels either randomly on the candle or in a design.

It did take a lot longer then I anticipated because I couldn’t find any glue in the house. The glue stick failed miserably, the rubber cement I had was almost dried up, the super glue wouldn’t even come out of the bottle. In the end I was able to find some Elmers glue that worked perfectly.

Note: I have not lit the candles yet to see how well the jewels hold up to the heat and when it’s burned down.