What you need: Paper, scissors, stapler

Step 1: Start with an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper and cut in the four equal strips.

Step 2: Fold each strip in half.

Step 3: Start creating your fringe. (To quicken the process, cut two or even three strips at a time.)

Step 4: After completing all your strips, you can staple the ends of the strips together to create a garland. Give them a twist around before stapling to give the spiral effect.

Tada! You can make this as long as you want and would look great in bunches of different colors.

Now go decorate something with your festive fringe-y garland!

What you need: Paper of two different colors, scissors, glue

Step 1: Start by cutting a large circular shape out of paper. Gift it some wavy edges so it looks like a flower.

Step 2: Continue doing this, making each successive circle a little smaller than the last and using two different colors of paper.

Step 3 & 4: Using just a dab of glue in the center, start glueing the layers, largest to smallest. Continue until you’ve worked your smallest circle.

Step 5: Start cutting lines in towards the middle, leaving the center intact. I cut in a total of 8 lines.

Step 6: Start pulling, crinkling and bending the layers to give some depth and structure. Continue doing this until you achieve the desired effect.

Voila! A pretty easy way to liven up a gift for a loved one.

I’ve got a fun project for tomorrow. Until then!

You will need: paper, hot glue gun, cardboard, scissors

Step 1: Cut out a half moon shape out of cardboard (an old cereal box will do). This will be your template for the flower petal.

Step 2: Create a fold in your paper wide enough to fit your template on.

Step 4 & 5: Trace and cut out your petals. You will need 8-10 petals to make a full flower.

Step 5 & 6: Cut out a circular shape out of cardboard as your base. Begin hot glueing your petals one by one using a small dab of glue in the center only. Continue this with all your petals, staggering their placement evenly.

This should be what you end up with!

Again, use this idea as a jumping point for your own projects. These can be made in all different sizes, and petal shapes. You can also embellish the center of your flowers with large buttons.

Alrighty, let me know how you like paper week! I’ll be posting another great project tomorrow.

What you need: 8.5 x 11 paper, hot glue gun, double sided transparent tape, cardboard from cereal box

Step 1: You’ll need 8 sheets of 8.5 x 11 paper to make a large pinwheel. Start by taking the paper and accordion folding it. (To speed up this process, you can fold two at a time.)

Step 2: After folding all 8 sheets, you’ll want to take them one by one and cut a round edge on one of the sides. Or you can skip this step, but I love mine looking a little bit curvier.

Step 3: Next start taping the folded pieces of paper together using your double sided tape.

Step 4: Continue step 3 until you have all 8 pieces taped together creating one long strip of folded paper.

Step 5: Fan out the strip in a round shape creating a circle and close it up using double sided tape.

Step 6: Cut out a circle of cardboard from a used cereal box and hot glue to the back of your pinwheel. This will give it stability and then you can punch a hole and hang it or press a thumb tack in to  stick it on the wall.

And you are done! To make the smaller pinwheel, just cut an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper in half long ways, giving you two 4.25 x 11 strips of paper. You will need a total of 4 of these strips to make a pinwheel. Experiment with different sizes, and papers with patterns!  Try stacking the smaller ones on the larger to create a layered effect. Another idea is to use a decorative edge punch before folding to give the outer edge some added charm. You can do no wrong with these.

Happy pinwheel making! Stay tuned tomorrow for another fun project.

Anyway, I’ve felt so fulfilled lately since I’ve been able to work on some creative things again. Recently, I hosted a baby shower for a friend of mine and I got to work on invitations and decor. I loved it! Many of my friends asked how I did it with a new baby…my answer: I planned a month and a half in advance, and did a little bit each day. Here are some of the highlights:

Invitations – I loved how these turned out. They are bright, colorful and so pretty.

Favors and party decor – I really didn’t spend a dime on decorations. I used colored paper that I had on hand to create pinwheels of different sizes, large paper flowers, confetti garland and a name garland. It’s amazing what you can do with paper!

More pinwheels! So easy to make and so inexpensive, but really creates a festive look!

Cupcakes by a friend of the expectant mama’s, and beautiful flowers.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of the decor…I can post a tutorial if I get enough requests. *Wink*

My baby who is nine weeks old is still eating about every TWO hours. He’s 11 lbs and 10 oz at his last Dr. visit. He’s gettin’ some rolls and they are oh so cute and ultra squeezable.

Anyway, back to the project. I had this headband I didn’t really wear anymore and I decided to fashion it into something I’d like better. I stripped off the original fabric and that left just a thick headband. I hotglued some jersey knit fabric around it and then glued a handmade houndstooth bow on the side.

Cute! Now this is something I’ll wear! What projects have you been up to lately?

Aren’t they cute? After knitting up the pattern, I used some vintage lace to create some bows and sewed them on the front. Then I hot glued a little rhinestone center in the middle. Now they just need some pudgy baby feet to go in them!

Are you expecting or know someone who is? I have 4 weeks to go in my pregnancy. Things are going great, I just wish I could speed it along a little!

Happy Friday folks!

This is absolutely one of my favorite vintage fabrics in my stash and I’m happy I finally used it for something I can enjoy regularly. I sometimes have this thing about using my most lovely fabric…I don’t want to cut it up. But that sure doesn’t make any sense. After all, I can’t enjoy it much when it’s folded on my shelf gathering dust!

My favorite thing was adding a few embellishments. A couple fabric flowers topped with vintage buttons, and a handmade bow made of velvet ribbon.

So, do you have any quick creative projects you love doing to get out the crafty itch? I’d love to hear!

Just in case you missed my tweet last week, I did a little guest blog on oh hello friend and I wanted to share it with you! It’s a super cute DIY on how to make your own springy ric-rac pillows. If you want to make your own, you can read the full tutorial here.

They are sooo easy and a great way to use up some ric-rac you have lying around that you may not know what to do with. Let me know if you try it out! I’d love to hear about or see your results.

These are super cute and so easy to make. You need: 2 plain medium sized buttons, lace, earring studs (found at any craft store), and a glue gun.

Start by cutting a piece of lace larger than your button. Then start folding the fabric around the button, sort of wrapping it around like you are wrapping a present and gluing as you go.

Once finished, you can hot glue your earring stud on the back. That’s it! I told you it was easy.

If you don’t want to make your own, I’ve got them in my shop. Happy Monday!