Make These Easy & Cute Wooden Ornaments

I had two issues. First, I needed non-breakable ornaments for my little girl's miniature Christmas tree. Second, I had some fancy stickers and other things I didn't want to "use up" because then I couldn't look at them anymore. Soooo, I decided to make these little wooden ornaments using the stickers. These are not limited to Christmas, and you can make them without the hangers and put them together as wall art. In any event, it's super easy, and here's how you do it. Start with some unfinished wooden discs, which you can find at any craft store. The packaging will look something like this, although these are much smaller than the 3-inch discs I used.

Here is what they look like before you start.

Lightly sand both sides and the edges with fine grit sandpaper.

I covered the back of my ornaments with coordinating paper in case the ornament gets turned around on the tree. If you want to do that, trace your disc on some paper to get the right size circle.

Then cut out your circle.

Paint both sides of the disc and the edges with craft paint. I used two coats since the wood is pretty soft and really soaks up the paint.

Once the paint is dry, glue down your paper backing on the back and your embellishment on the front using Mod Podge. Three-dimensional embellishments may not lay flat, so you might want to put something heavy on top overnight to glue it down flat. Cover both sides of the disc and the edges with two or three coats of Mod Podge. Let each coat dry thoroughly before adding the next coat.

If you are making a hanging ornament, drill a tiny hole at the top of the disc. I realize this photo does not show a safe drilling technique, but I trust that you will do your drilling carefully!

For the hanger, get some teeny satin ribbon (or the ribbon of your choice -- just make sure it will fit through the hole you drilled), and a needle with a large enough eye to accommodate the ribbon. Thread your needle with the ribbon.

Push the needle with ribbon up through the hole you drilled, and pull one side of the ribbon all the way through. tie at the top.

And there you have it! I'll try to get some better pictures of these ornaments on the tree when I set it up this weekend.

Have a great day!

Come To A Christmas Affair!

Do you live in Austin? Or anywhere near Austin? Or, really, anywhere in the US and have some frequent flyer miles burning a hole in your pocket? If so, come on over to the Palmer Events Center this weekend for the 34th Annual "A Christmas Affair," sponsored by the Junior League of Austin. This year's theme is safari, and there are more than 200 vendors, a silent auction, parties and events, pictures with Santa, delicious food (and a bar!) and much more! Visit the Junior League of Austin website for all the details! I'll be there Thursday until 2 p.m. and all day Sunday, so let me know if you're coming so I can say "hi!" There are tons of awesome vendors, but here are some of the places I've purchased well-received gifts in the past (you can order online from most of them, too):

Get super fun marshmallow blasters and bow & mallow sets from Marshmallow Fun (seriously, I saw people buying stacks of these . . . they are so much fun to play with):

Kendra Scott, jewelry designer to the stars and many fabulous retailers, has a booth. She was there in person last year. She is so chic! This awesome cocktail rink is only $75!

Loredana's will be there with samples of their delicious spreads and tapenades. I could eat an entire jar of the garlic and jalapeno spread.


Bearcreek Smokehouse has the most delicious smoked meats and soup mixes. The pork tenderloin is to die for.

Austin Cakeball makes these delicious bite-sized cakes. Perfect for a hostess gift for holiday parties.

By far my favorite merchant, Wine A Rita, will be there again this year. They make these awesome mixes that can turn the most mundane bottle of red wine into a delicious frozen drink. Yummers.

Osborne & Miller Stationary makes beautiful note cards, gift tags, etc., on rich, creamy papers. You can have them personalized, too.

I hope to see you there!

Etsy Christmas Finds (For YOU!)

I know all you sweethearts out there have selected thoughtful gifts for everyone you know. BUT I have some suggestions for gifts for you! Yes, YOU, mama! These are some of my current Etsy favorites, and all would make wonderful Christmas presents. If anyone in my family is reading, I would love anything from Artlab. And your presence of course! Happy shopping.

Top row: Unearthed leather cuff ($65); Morelle leather Truffle handbag ($235); Artlab scarf ($78).

Middle row: Lupin wool felt Poppy bracelet ($18.25); Ashes and Empires leather spats ($76) (convert any pair of shoes into stylish booties!); "The Red Sky" by Pamela Tang oil on canvas ($120).

Bottom row: Trinket box by Fun Wall Art ($25); Modern Radar pleated pouch (you could use this as a clutch, too) ($14); Treslyn necklace with vintage Lucite rose by RachelleD ($29.50).

Easy And Fun Play Market

My husband announced yesterday that our 2.5-year-old was "bored," so I decided to move some stuff around and create a little grocery store where she could play "shop." We have this weird little nook in our spare room, so it became "Mary's Market." A while back, I got two gigantic bags of play food for $1 at the resale shop, so I loaded some of that onto the store "shelves" (a bookcase). I used some awesome Folk Art pink chalkboard paint that I got from my Rocking Friend Amy to make a little board where we can write the daily specials (hint: use soft chalk, not sidewalk chalk like I used). I made a little store sign with scrapbook paper and a cash register out of a shoebox and hung some reusable shopping bags near the "register." I googled "play money printable" and found a bunch of sites, including this one, where you can print out play money to put in the cash register. I'll probably put some real coins in as well. Last but not least is the shopping cart, which we got for a dollar at a yard sale and is currently held together with a combination of electrical and painter's tape. I hope you had a great week. One of these days I will get my act together and show you some Christmas stuff I've been doing. Or at least post some links to stuff that other people have been doing!

Top Five Holiday To-Do List Items

I am so EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even though my plan to work on something Christmas-y every week during 2009 didn't exactly pan out, I am excited to say I've already knocked a couple of things off my to-do list. I hope this helps inspire you and get everyone excited for Christmas. Woo! Sorry in advance for the boring, bossy post, but I LOVE making lists!!!

1. Order or buy your holiday cards. There are tons of options for photo cards (the best kind in my opinion!), from fancy pants places like Tiny Prints to your local drugstore. You can also sign up for Kodak Gallery or Shutterfly and get 50 free photos just for signing up, which you could stick inside regular store-bought cards. Just do something! It's an inexpensive way to keep in touch and spread cheer! Hand addressing is nice and of course more traditional, but I print address labels on Office Depot brand labels and just stick them on the envelopes. Most of the big-name labels have instructions for downloading the label templates on their website. Go ahead and get your label templates made now so all you have to do it print them out when the cards arrive. Also, get your stamps NOW! The pretty Christmas ones sell out! I did my labels and ordered my cards on November 1. PHEW! CHECK!

2. Use your computer (or pen and paper!) to make a spreadsheet of everyone for whom you want to buy/make a present or give a holiday tip (hairdresser, babysitter, trainer, etc.). Brainstorm ideas for gifts -- look at those holiday shopping guides on the websites for your favorite magazines and stores. Check out the Etsy gift guides. See if your giftees have Amazon wish lists. Surreptitiously ask for suggestions from the giftee's spouse or close friends. Your list should have several colums: Name, Gift Idea, Gift Purchased, Wrapped, Delivered. Just check off as you go.

3. Plan your FOOD! What events will require you to make/bake something? A school party? Open house? Family dinner? Plates of goodies for your neighbors or office? Make a list of what needs to be made and the deadline for doing so. Gather all your recipes in one place and start gathering your non-perishable ingredients every time you go out. Figure out what can be made in advance and frozen (like undecorated sugar cookies and shortbread). Most important: once you've decided, consider not adding in other treats that you see in magazines, blogs, etc.! You'll get too bogged down! Save them for next year!

4. Make a plan for decorating. Even write out or sketch your thoughts for how the outside of your house and each room will look. Determine whether you need to buy anything and go ahead and order it now before everything is picked over. Also, places like Hobby Lobby already have Christmas stuff for 50 percent off. Or use your Michael's coupon! Look at catalogs for decorating inspiration -- one of my favorites is Ballard Designs. Don't forget to check out thrift shops and consignment stores for decorations. Lots of places save this stuff in the back and then haul it out onto the sales floor before the holidays.

5. Get your schedule in order NOW! Make a list of every event you want to attend, such as family gatherings, parties, open houses, holiday concerts, church events, lights displays, caroling, living nativities, artist markets, Santa visits, etc. If you don't have a big calendar that lays flat, tape several pieces of scrap paper together and draw a big November and December calendar and write in all the events. Make sure you have plenty of time for these activities by getting all your shopping/decoration planning/etc. done early! Like asap!

I'll be back later with some more holiday stuff! Also One Pretty Thing has up what appears to be the FIRST CHRISTMAS POST of craft ideas (including my faux-quilted stocking tutorial). I want to make everything on there! Thanks for including me again Rachel!

Making Lemonade Out Of Lemons

My mom just had hip replacement surgery and is going through the grueling recovery period. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when this Halloween card arrived for my little girl this afternoon, and it contained a ghost made out of gauze. Which I am assuming came from the stash she has for dressing her surgical site! Gotta love the ingenuity. Happy Halloween!

My Awesome Target Necklace

Hey I am traveling for work and stopped at Target on the way down for a bottle of tea. Look what I found! Okay, so it doesn't look great with the gigantic men's teeshirt, but it looks really nice in person and way more expensive than $14. It is too short for the dress I'm wearing tomorrow (it's choker length), so I tied some black ribbon on each end and just tied that in a bow in the back. Yay for Target. Also, did you know their next designer collaboration is with Rodarte? I love Rodarte! Happy week!

Happy Weekend

I have no craft time again (boo) and no blog time (double boo) right now but wanted to say happy weekend to all and thank everyone for reading. Here are a couple of birthday onesies I made for my friend's little girl. The "patterns" for the appliques were made by tracing around some chipboard pieces I had. I used the method described in my quasi-tutorial (see link at right).

See you next week!!!!

Teeny Tiny Banner How-To

Now this is the fun part -- the decorating! And making teeny tiny little things, like this banner for the dollhouse's "play room." You could also make one of these cuties for another purpose, such as decorating a little bulletin board or shelf, etc. Here's how to make one.

1. Get some regular width, single-fold bias tape (I found the red tape I used at the thrift shop for $.25 woo) and measure the length you'll need for your banner. Allow for a little bit of extra tape at the ends if you need it for attaching your banner to something.

2. Draw or trace a little triangle shape onto some heavy cardboard or cardstock (I love to use the backs of scrapbook paper pads). Cut it out. This will be the template for your little fabric triangles.

3. Gather up a bunch of fabric scraps (even teensy ones work for this project) in lots of different colors. Using the template, cut out as many triangles as you need to cover the length of the bias tape.

4. Find a work surface where you can lay your bias tape out straight and flat, folded part facing up. Set your first triangle down at one end of the bias tape. The tops of the triangles should hit the middle of the tape, so that you can fold your tape in half exactly. Lay the triangles tip to tip all the way down your tape.

5. Once you are satisfied with the layout and color arrangement, secure each triangle to the bias tape with a teeny bit of fabric glue.

6. This is probably going way overboard, but before folding over the top half of the bias tape to iron it down, I stuck a thin little ribbon of fusible tape down the length of the banner. This is probably unnecessary, but it did make it really easy to keep the banner nice and neat when I ironed it down.

7. As noted, fold over the top half of the bias tape onto the triangles so that the bias tape is folded perfectly in half. Use the tip of your hot iron to iron it flat.

8. Sew with a straight stitch (or whatever stitch you choose). And that's it!!! All done.

You can do all your cutting while you are watching trash TV, no problem. The best part is that this project turns out S CUTE!!!! These pictures do not do it justice at all. It looks so adorable that I want to move into the dollhouse. Thanks for all your continued comments and ideas! I really, really appreciate them!

83 Cent "Hardwood" Floor

If it could all be this simple and satisfying! Yesterday I purchased one $.83 square of vinyl flooring at Home Depot. A few quick slices with the x-acto knife, and voila: a "hardwood" floor for the dollhouse kitchen. Tomorrow I'll post a little tutorial about the banner I made for the dollhouse craft room. I'm super excited about how it turned out. Have a great week!

Miscellaneous Dollhouse Info

Hi there. I'm still plugging away on the dollhouse project. It has been pretty hard to find furnishings because of the scale of the house. I considered pretending it was a regular 1/12 scale dollhouse with really high ceilings, but that seems goofy. So, I just going to hunt for things here and there and try to make everything else. I did find this adorable vintage book about how to make your own dollhouse furniture in a stack of my old stuff at my parents' house. Here is my vintage first grade penmanship from inside the front cover. Awwww.

Anyway, if you do have a normal scale dollhouse, Michael's has these incredibly detailed unfinished china cabinet/bookcases for $1. These are so cute but would look liliputian in my dollhouse.

I also found these little wooden construction toys for $1 each at Michael's. Perfect for the little fake dollhouse kids to play with. I'm going to paint them in primary colors with metallic accents.

Lastly, I found these little unpainted wooden chests at Hobby Lobby during a 1/2 off all unpainted wood sale. One will be the toy box and one will be a larger table/chest for the living room or master bedroom.

From here on out, I am hoping to make as much as I can and/or buy it second-hand and/or scavenge it from my childhoood dollhouse that is at my parents' house. I also wanted to mention again my favorite dollhouse blog, Mini Modern. The author has stopped posting new items, but I have been stalking the archives. I would love to have some modern pieces like these to mix with more traditional ones in the dollhouse I'm working on.

Weekend Product Reviews

Hi! Looking for a craft post? Um, yeah. I am STILL painting/coating that gigantic dollhouse. Every spare minute. I guess the plus side of using craft paint is that it's super cheap (especially now that Michael's has my favorite, Folk Art by Plaid on sale for $.89 this week), but the downside is that it takes forever because you need multiple coats. In any event, here are my reviews of some products I used at home this weekend since there was no crafting to blog about. Yes, I just ended a sentence with a preposition. I'm tired.


These are the three main products I've used on the dollhouse, all by Plaid. The first is Folk Art paint, which you can get at any craft store. They have an awesome selection of colors, even metallics. I like it alot because it doesn't get gross and separate as much as other craft paints. The second is the supremely awesome Mod Podge Hard Coat, which is meant to be used on wood, furniture, etc., for a strong finish. I love this stuff. It give a nice shiny finish and dries quickly. The consistency is the same as regular Mod Podge, so it's easy to work with. (Another preposition at the end of a sentence.) The only bad thing is it can be hard to find. I found some at Hobby Lobby though, and you can order it online. The last product is the fabulous Patricia Nimocks spray varnish. This stuff is amazing and keeps your painted wood from being sticky. I got this at Michael's.

Yesterday, I also got a new mop at Target -- this O'Cedar Pro Scrub Sponge Roller Mop with the scrubby brush on the back. It was on sale this week for $7.99. I really liked this mop because if there is a stubborn spot, you can just flip it over and scrub with the scrub brush. My only complaint was that I wish the scrubby bristles extended beyond the width of the mop to get in closer to the floor boards. Overall, totally worth $8.

For mopping, I used Fabuloso cleanser, which i also got at Target. I prefer to use chemical-free products, but I made an exception because I heard this worked well. Instead of getting the traditional lavender scent, I got the super-powered "Oxy" kind in "Fresh" scent (they also have Pine). I didn't see that it worked any better than other products I've used on the floor, and the smell wasn't particularly pleasant. So I'd only buy this if it was on sale or I had a coupon or something. Maybe the other scents are better, too.

I have been craving pancakes, but I controlled myself and didn't drive over to IHOP like I wanted to. Instead, I busted out my box of Fiber One pancake mix that I have been excited to try. Boo. It was awful! I am so sad, because I love all the other Fiber One products I've tried. It does not require eggs, which seemed strange, but I figured there were dried eggs in the mix. In any event, the batter is watery and the pancakes don't hold together -- what you'd expect from no eggs. It was a big flop, but I'll probably try it once more before chucking the whole box. Next time I'll stick with my all-time favorite mix, Aunt Jemima's Whole Wheat Pancake Mix. Now that is yummy. PS -- Apparently I am alone in my dislike of this product. You can find lots of praise for it on the internet, like here.

Have a lovely week!