Baby Hats

My sister-in-law knitted my husband and baby the coolest matching strawberry hats. They wore them in our first photos as a family.

Now that baby #2 is coming, I've been thinking about another knitted or crocheted hat, maybe a hat for the whole family. I like silly ones, pretty ones, oversized ones, etc. The only problem is that my knitting skills are still of the pot holder caliber!

The strawberry hat! So cute!

The First Craft in prep for Baby's birthday

Baby Girl is a book worm! She loves books and will choose them from among a pile of toys to play with. So we decided to have a garden-themed party, perfect for a worm like her!
These little flowers will go in bitty flower pots for the favor. They're simple to make, but cute!

Supplies: Buttons, beads, wire, scissors (or wire-cutters), and floral tape

1. Cut a length of wire and gently fold in half. 

2. Add beads to the middle of the wire.

3. Add a button with the beads in the middle of two button holes.

4. Twist the wire together.

Here are some other examples...

5. Wrap with floral tape! Floral tape is funny stuff-- it doesn't feel sticky till it's stretched and warmed by your fingers, but then it will stick gently and effectively.

6. I put my little button buds in bouquets by taping three of them together at different heights.

Some hints: play around with colors and lengths till you get the desired effect.  I found that narrowing my colors to reddish, whitish, and tealish gave the flowers a more unified feel.
Knowing what you're going to do with them will help you determine the ideal length for the stems.

Craft Idea - Shadow Box Piggy Bank

I think that it is clear that I love the ideas of vlogger HeyKali. I love her newest idea of making Shadow box piggy banks. Especially as I begin my Dave Ramsey financial classes, I am reminded of the importance of saving for what I want rather than buying on credit. DOWN WITH CREDIT CARDS! This is a great way to pass on the ideas of saving and goal setting for youngsters. I would like to do this craft the next time I am together with all my girls and their miniature girls.

Happy New Year

From The Darwin Girls

Make Your Own Party Hat via The Wedding Chicks

Eco-Friendly Christmas Wreath Ideas

Good Housekeeping had some great ideas for recycling materials to decorate for the holidays. Here are some good usages for those old ties, corks, Holiday cards and cookie cutters.

When my Dad was alive he wore a suit to work everyday. He had the prettiest ties. So this Christmas my Mom and I plan on making the tie wreath out of my Dad's ties. I think it can be left up year round.

Photo credit: http://bit.ly/uW6JDU

Infused herbs

In my garden I have rosemary and lavender. These are two of my favorite scents, and for a home-made goodie this year, I decided to try and do something with them.  I searched the internet for instructions on making herb-infused oils and salts, but most of the instructions used essential oils that were purchased.  I wanted instructions that started a step back from that since I had the actual herbs. I finally found what I was looking for here.

The Herb Gardener includes instructions for making lavender sugar and Martha Stewart has instructions for making rosemary salt.

I ended up making them both in a similar way.  I picked branches from lavender and rosemary in my garden and cleaned them.  Then I put the branches of rosemary in a big soup pot of sea salt, and baked it in the oven at the lowest temp my oven allows (170). I stirred every few minutes so that the oils would ooze out of the leaves onto the salts. I did the same thing with the lavender and sugar.  I wanted to make the lavender sugar purple, though, so after I had the scent I wanted, I moved the soup pot to the stove. I mixed red and blue food coloring with the slightest bit of water and sprinkled it over the scented sugar, stirring immediately. The color slowly distributed as I stirred and eventually turned a pretty shade of, well, lavender!

I used old baby food jars to package them.  The scented salts were labeled with a tag that said, "Turkey Rub: rosemary-infused salt, pepper," and I added a pretty piece of fabric over the lid. The salts can be used to prepare a roast turkey, but could also be yummy on a potato, in a stir-fry, or just about any other savory dish. The sugar's label said, "Lavender Sugar: add to herbal teas or lemonade or mix 1 tsp. with a Tbsp. of olive oil for a body scrub." It is really delicious in herbal tea.  Tea alone is relaxing, but with the added scent of lavender, it is particularly nice.

I would add that rosemary is very easy to grow! It is a kind of evergreen, so after it is established, it stays around to use again and again. Lavender is harder, but read up a bit so you plant them in a good spot, buy fairly mature plants, and you'll be fine.

I gave the salt and sugar to friends and co-workers as little Thanksgiving and Christmas presents this year. It's a sweet (or salty!) something from my garden and my kitchen, but was inexpensive and easy to make.

Holiday Wreath - So Easy To Make! So Pretty to Look at.

I just love this craft from You Tuber HeyKayli.

Easy, adorable flower clips

I saw this video and loved the idea. I love wearing hair accessories and this video demonstrates a great way to make your own. It is also a great Stocking Stuffer this Christmas.

You Tuber HeyKayli makes Easy, adorable flower clips.

Coffee + Gingerbread = Yes Please

This tiny gingerbread house perches on the edge of your mug.

It is an awesome idea for the holidays.

Thanks to the blog of:

"not martha"

for the pictures, idea, and directions.