Every time I go to the store (Target, Marshalls, Bed Bath and Beyond, Ikea etc) I look at the plethora of storage boxes. Canvas, leather, paper, wicker, plastic… the options are endless. The problem? None of them fit the spaces I want to put them in (10×10 and 10×14) or were the wrong color. Then a few months ago I discovered Make It and Love It and her tutorial on making storage boxes from recycled cardboard.

I immediately started saving diaper boxes so that I could make my own. It was slow going because I only got two pieces from each box (5 are needed for one box) but just last week we upgraded the Little Peanut from her portable crib to a full size. When I saw the box it came in- storage boxes started popping up in my head! I finally would have some more storage that I so desired (so I could cram even more crafting materials into the house!)

Ta da!

The first box (above) was slow going but turned out pretty nice. I used a box cutter and got some crooked edges. For the rest of the boxes I got a little smarter and used a small hand saw that we have. It worked so much better- the crooked edges were gone!

Instead of using fabric for the fronts I used scrapbook paper. The paper tore a little around the handle area so what better way to cover up the tears then with some bias tape? I did a mitered corner to give it a more finished look. It was just Mod Podged on so there are a few gaps where the tape meets up at the corners.

Next time I would sew the tape up into the square first before attaching it to the box and also use less Mod Podge because it made it pretty stiff. I would have liked a softer handle. The sides, inside and bottom were left raw. The second and third boxes I was able to get the paper around the handle without tearing so I skipped the bias tape.

Currently I’ve got three boxes but have plans for more once my arms are done being sore. The dilemma now has become where do I put them?! They look pretty nice lined up in the closet (second pic), but then I could use them in the bookshelf in the living room (first pic) for toys. One works well under the sink for storing toilet paper too (third pic).

Eventually I would love to make some with covers (and a tie ribbon) for our media stand to house our Wii accessories and games. The ribbon would be to keep the Little Peanut out of the box because she loves to dig through stuff!

You may remember a few weeks ago our Etsy favorite Wednesday: Baby sewing patterns featured the Liberty Lion pattern. I couldn’t resist the adorable patterns and the buy one get one sale from Bit of Whimsy Dolls and bought the Peter Puppy and Millie Monkey patterns.

With the Little Peanut at grandma’s house and no contract work to do I declared today “me” day and finally got to create my own little Peter Puppy. He was so much fun to make and took no time at all. It was nice to get back behind the sewing machine again.

I adore him and I think my daughter will too! She’s in a puppy phase and lets out a little squeal when she sees a dog on TV, in the park, in a car, photos of dogs…. pretty much anything! We live near a dog park and she always has a lot of fun when I take her for a walk there.

His face sides and tail are fluffy fabric that I think she’ll have fun with. I also added interfacing to the face so that it wouldn’t pucker where I used the zig-zag stitching. I stuffed him so he would be a little floppy and easy to hold on to. I’m pretty happy with the embroidery as well since I’m not very good at it!

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.

One of my first Amigurumi's - mama and baby turtle

As a newbie knitter I had learned about craftser.org, a forum for crafters to share their FO (finished objects) and patterns. While browsing I fell in love with these little crochet animals called amigurumi.

I immediately wanted to learn how to crochet and went about searching for online tutorials. I quickly learned how to sc, increase and decrease. But the most useful tutorial I found was this one on making a magic ring.

A magic ring is used to start the circle and allows you to pull the tail tight so that you get a nice clean top without holes.

Some of my other favorite tutorials are at these sites:

- hooksandneedles.com

- lionbrand.com – learn to crochet

If you’re wondering what amigurumi look like there’s a ton of adorable ones in the Flickr amigurumi group!

I once gave a friend a birthday card that said, “A fun party is one where you leave with your underwear on your head, but a GREAT party is when you leave with someone ELSE’S!” Ok, so this tip isn’t about underwear but it is about parties and head-wear.

This was a last minute addition to my little girls birthday decorations. It didn’t even occur to me to have a birthday hat for her until the afternoon of her birthday. Luckily I had everything on hand to whip one up!

Here’s the lowdown:

1. Cut a half circle out of 12×12 cardstock. The half circles radius should be at least 6 inches.

2. Roll into a cone and mark the front center and where the edge overlaps.

3. Use a pencil to write/draw a message on the front where you marked the center. In my case I made a big 1 and BIRTHDAY underneath. I added a little glitter to the number to make it stand out.

4. While waiting for the glitter to dry, make the topping ribbons. Two types of ribbon in various colors will add a lot of interest to the hat. Cut about 6 strips into 4 inch lengths. Tie in the middle and then tape the tails to the inside center so that it will stick out of the point.

5. Use glue or double sided tape to hold the hat together. Place a heavy object inside the hat, with the glue/taped side down to secure.

6. Punch two holes on the sides for securing the hat on the wearer. I used ribbon but think elastic would have been a better choice.  Attach the string through the holes.

7. Using double sided tape, tape a 1/2 inch width ribbon to the rim of the hat.

These would make great New Years Eve hats too!

When I was young, my sister and I would leave out cookies and milk for Santa. We would also write him a little thank you note or some years leave a “Don’t eat these Dad, they’re for Santa!” sign. Making these reminded me of those younger years and of the older ones where we would remind each other to eat the cookies before our younger brother woke up!

Download embes Santa note template.

One summer I worked in the Wrap and Send department of what was then Dayton’s (now Macy’s). It was a fun job because one of my best friends worked there along with a handful of other high school students. What was better then hanging out with friends and wrapping presents in pretty paper?

While I already knew how to wrap gifts (my mom use to make my sister and I do all the holiday gift wrapping!) I did learn a few great tips to make the gift look spectacular. With the upcoming holidays here are some tips to make your presents pop:

Instead of taping the paper closed in the middle of the bottom of the box, tape it to the edge. Its one step to fold the paper over and tape.

Then after wrapping the gift define the edges by running pinched fingers along the sides. This gives the gifted a “finished” look.

A little ribbon goes a long way! Make a bow first and then tie it on with a second piece. By making the bow first you don’t have to wrestle with the ends to make them face the right way. Ribbon with wire works best since you can shape it and “curl” the tails.

I’ll admit it, I keep almost every card given to me. For awhile I didn’t know how to store them and just shoved them in a box. Then one day it dawned on me. I could use metal rings and “bind” the cards together by occasion so that whenever I wanted to look at my wedding cards or baby shower cards I could read them like a “book”.

Supplies

• Metal rings – I get the ones in the embroidery section at Michaels. They come in sets of 2.
• 3-hole punch – or any type of whole punch. The 3-hole works great because it will punch both holes at the same time and I don’t have to measure.
• Greeting cards

Instructions

Just punch the holes in the card and slip them onto the rings.

Tips

• align the hole punch at the bottom of the card so that the bottom align.
• use cardstock to divide events if you put multiple events into one “book”

My daughter is still too young for these but I thought that when the time came they would be a great way to help encourage her. The nice thing about making them is that you can write anything on them to suit the occasion. (I see “great pooper!” on one when potty training time comes along, hehe)

These also would be great for parties as place cards (minus the ribbon) or as rewards or even decoration.

1. Cut a 7/8″ strip from the 11″ side of a piece of paper.

2. Fold the paper accordion style. Make each fold about 3/4″

3. Overlap and glue or tape the ends together to form a circle. I used double sided tape. The circle won’t lie flat and the next step will fix it.

4. Cut out two circles – one 1 3/4″ in diameter, one 1 7/8″ in diameter.

5. Glue the larger circle to the back side. Place something on top to flatten (I used the rubber cement glue bottle). Wait for the glue to dry.

6. Write a message on the smaller circle before gluing it to the front. Place something on top to flatten. Wait for glue to dry.

7. For the ribbons, cut out two strips of paper 3.5″ long and 1/5″ wide. Glue to the backside. Cut the ends to form an upside-down V.

8. Adhere a pin or string to the back for wearing.

I’m a sucker for making the small things look pretty. At my old job I even decorated my pen/pencil holder (ie. a paper cup!) by drawing on it with a sharpie. Print-it-yourself calendars are often plain to look at. Why not dress them up by printing it on decorative paper?

These are the basic steps if you already have decorative paper:

Step 1: Select your paper.

Step 2: Open the calendar file.

Step 3: Load the paper into your printer. Make sure the pretty side is what will be printed on.

Step 4: Print!

If you don’t have any decorative paper- no worries! You can do what I did for the calendar in the image. I went to Canon’s Creative Park. They have free download-able scrap booking backgrounds, borders, stickers, and letters.

For October I wanted something halloween-ish and found this one with spiderwebs. I printed the paper first and then followed steps 2-4. I used Microsoft Word to print the calendar and moved it to the bottom right for aesthetics (I like white space! Plus it gives me room to add notes.)