Thursday, January 30, 2014

Share the LOVE Top 10 Valentines Day Crafts!!!

With Valentines day looming on the horizon, we wanted to share some of our personal favourite LOVE day
crafts from the World Wide Webisphere!
Just click on the images below to take you to the FULL tutorials!

Valentine Gnome & Felt Heart Pin Craft
from GardenMama
(we miss you GardenMama…come back!!!!!)

Cardboard Art Hearts
From Little Bit Funky

Heart Strings
from Little Birdie Secrets


Stained Glass Hearts
from Passengers on a Little Spaceship

Cardboard Heart Locket
from The Cardboard Collective

Felt Gnomes
from How to Run a Home Day Care


Mixed Media Valentines Postcards
from iHanna

Tissue Paper Window Hearts
from The Enchanted Tree


Love Inspired Suncatchers
from Twig and Toadstool

Heart Mobile
from The Magic Onions

Be sure to check out our WINTER section of crafts for some more
great Valentines inspired ideas!
Share the LOVE, (and ideas)!

Maureen



Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Pinecone Love Fairies



One of our friends came over with pinecones in her pocket…
thinking they would inspire a little "something or other"…and they did!
Pinecone love fairies…just in time for Valentines Day!

To make your own you will need:
pinecones, any size will do
wooden beads
paint and paint brush
wool felt in red & pink
scissors
glue gun and glue


To start, paint some faces on your wooden beads.
Someone suggested to me to use a toothpick for doing the little eyes and mouths…
it actually works!
Let them dry.


While your faces are drying, cut out some little heart shaped wings…
cut out small red hearts first, then glue them onto your pink felt 
and cut around them…
size your hearts according to your pinecone…
bigger pinecone=bigger heart "wings"


Now using your glue gun, glue the wings onto the back of your pinecone.


Thread a piece of yarn through your wooden bead "head" and glue into place.
Glue this onto the top of your pinecone.


Embellish to your hearts delight…we added a little pink crown and a heart on her belly!
After all she IS a little LOVE fairy!
I always like to add a bit of pink on the cheeks as well…I use a beeswax crayon for this.

And here's the end result…
a sweet little LOVE fairy who is sure to spread LOVE where ever she may be!

Happy Love day Crafting!!!!

Maureen


Monday, January 27, 2014

Origami Love Lollipops




With valentines day just around the corner, the girls and I made some super simple lollipop filled hearts to pass out to their friends. 
Here is a quick how to for you!


To create you will need

magazines or old calenders


scissors
lollipops
hole punch
double sided tape


1. Cut a square out of an old calender or magazine. 
2. Cut your square in half to create a triangle.
3. Fold the top point of the triangle up as shown.
4. Fold the left side up. 


5. Fold right side up so that your paper forms a square.
6.  Flip your paper over. 
7. Fold down the top corners of the paper over to the sides.
8. This creates the heart shape!


 9. Gently unfold your heart and punch a hole at the tip of your heart.
10. Slide your lollipop into the hole.
11. Place a piece of double sided tape on your lollipop and and fold the top back down.
12. Add a bit more tape on the sides and fold back up.



13. It should now look like this ~ almost there...
14. Fold in the top and side points to round out your heart.
Fini!


So lovely to play with flower photos this time of the year. Their bright colors remind me that spring is sure to come!


*Warning* folding these hearts may be addictive! Once we started it was hard to stop. It was such a delight to see how quickly & magically each flower photo became a heart.


We look forward to passing out some flower dressed sweet love. 





Here's to spreading the love!


Shanti

Friday, January 24, 2014

Gnome shirt!!!!


Yeah…you "gnome" you want one!!

To make your own you will need:
t-shirts, (as much cotton content as possible)
cardstock and printer
scissors
bleach pen
good hearted gnome enthusiasm!!


Print out the image, (found below)…print ONLY on card stock!!!!  
You can blow it up to whatever size you wish…
cut out as much of the template as you want…I decided to leave a part of the belt in, and also got rid of the smiling face completely.


 Get a "bleach pen"…these things are amazing!!!  
Make sure you shake it well before you start using it…
otherwise it tends to come out very runny and bubbly!
You will want to sandwich some cardboard covered with plastic wrap or wax paper
in between your t shirt…
change the plastic or waxed paper between each use.
This will keep the bleach from bleeding right through to the back of your shirt!


Paint in the "holes" of your stencil…lay it on thick…this is no time to fear bleach, 
(the bleach is your best friend right now!!)
Leave it on for about 10 minutes…
pull off your stencil and rinse under cold water…I used a bit of soap to get off all the bleach…
launder as per usual…and…
ENJOY!!!!!
(you will be THE coolest mom on the block…it's a bloody shame your kids don't share your enthusiasm for gnomes, but you "gnome" better don't you?!)


Yes pretty mamas…papas…children…babies…
(the possibilities are rather endless)!!


I would LOVE to credit this image to someone…anyone…I pinned it onto our Pinterest board quite some time ago, and now the "link" leads to nowhere.  
(If you know who this belongs to please please let us know)

I was envisioning myself becoming a public misfit, spray painting gnomes all over the streets of my small small town using this as my template…I opted to make t-shirts instead, seeing as how I'm a bit too old and responsible for bouts of public mischief!! 

Basically I saved this image, then blew it up before I printed it…again…USE CARDSTOCK!!!

Oh…I love me a good gnome craft!!! 

Maureen

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Love Lanterns


It is mighty cold here in Ontario right now and it is all about staying cozy in this deep freeze! To bring some extra light to our evening snuggles by the wood stove, we created some love lanterns.  

To create you will need

pale pink tissue paper
mod podge
glass bowl
paint brush
pressed tulip petals

The wonderful thing I discovered with tulip petals is that they form hearts as they dry! 
To create these petal hearts, start by getting yourself a much needed of bouquet of tulips (ah.... spring in the dead of winter, medicine for the soul)!


 Press the tulip petals in a heavy book between two sheets of paper. Give them a week or so to dry and then voila... tulip petal hearts!



Cut or tear your tissue paper into strips.


Apply a layer of mod podge onto your bowl the length and width of a strip, place a strip on top and then apply another layer of mod podge.


Keep going until your entire bowl is covered.
Place it on a bottle to dry.


Next, add mod podge and then your hearts where ever your heart desires!
Finally mod podge very gently over top of your heart.


 Allow it to fully dry.


The tissue paper and hearts will remain fairly fragile until they are dry, so handle with care.


Light up your love lantern and find a snuggle partner to enjoy it with!


In love & light
Shanti