Kim’s crafts

November 17, 2009 7 Comments

toddler to teen Thanksgiving table

So this year my beautiful neices and nephews are joining my family for Thanksgiving dinner. We all know I love to decorate a table, but because my hubby and I both are the babies of our families our children are much younger than their cousins. My Thanksgiving kid’s table will run the gammet from a three year old toddler to a sixteen year old… oh yeah!

So I decided to look for some modern color combinations (light blue, brown, orange) with a little glitter for sparkle and pair it with some traditional kid type decor (teepees and turkeys). This is what I came up with and I hope they (and you) like it as much as I do. {wink}

I started by going to the fabric section of my craft store and then took my selection to the scrapbook cardstock section. I was able to find beautiful blue, green and brown shimmery cardstock and complementary fall tree design (on the vase). I used the blue for the “give thanks” centerpiece background and the napkin rings. I used the green for the letters on my “give thanks” centerpiece, and I used the brown as my placemats (wish I had gotten a shot of that for you).

The centerpiece is a simple vase with a cardstock band and glitter branches embellished with a scallop punch “give thanks.”

With a few swipes of the surger I made napkins out of the fabric, as well as these very fun, and slightly modern, teepees. Here’s what you’ll need to make a few of your own:

22″ x 18″ swatch of fabric (makes two)
6 thin dowels (3 for each teepee)
fabric glue
fabric pencil
surger
scissors

And here’s how you make them:

Cut four small 1/4″ slits of your fabric.
Arrange your teepee poles (aka dowels). Note: Mine are two differnt heights.
Wrap the strips of fabric around your poles and tack them down to the pole and the poles to each other with fabric glue. Allow the poles to set for at least 10 minutes before applying the teepee fabric.
The teepee itself is a fourth of a circle. My tallest one is 11″ and my shortest is 7″.
Using your teepee poles as a guide, mark your height for each teepee. Make sure that the top of your teepee poles are placed at the corner of the fabric and stick out like they will when your craft is completed.
Surge the fabric all the way around.
Gently set it on your teepee frame and tack it closed at the top with fabric glue.

For the placecards I made little turkeys with real feathers. My boys loved picking out which ones would be at their plate… but my five year old kept calling them chickens… {wink}! Here’s what you’ll need from the craft store:

pack of brown/black/tan feathers
large and medium brown/black/tan pom poms
brown pipe cleaners
brown cardstock
hot glue gun
wire cutters

And here are the super simple steps to pull them together:

Start by choosing your pom pom color combinations and your feathers. You’ll want a tall feather for the center and one or two, depending on how dense they are, for each side.
Hot glue your feathers onto the back of your pompom and set them aside.
Cut your turkey legs and turkey toes using a wire cutter.
Hot glue your turkey toes to your turkey legs (and don’t burn yourself like I did!).
Cut out circles, or scallops in my case, as your turkey base.
Hot glue your turkey legs pointing outward slightly to the base.
Hot glue on your turkey body and feathers.
Finally hot glue on the turkey’s head, just on top, closer to the feathers than the feet.

I hope you have a beautiful Thanksgiving!

pink & brown tablescape

babybump_feature1

We often get calls from customers asking about items in photos that we used for staging, but don’t sell in the shoppe, so I’m going to start doing a better job of giving you all the details. We staged our new baby bump shower a few weeks ago. Most of the items we offer in our decor, but here are the few things we don’t:

Placemats – these are just 12×12 sheets of DCWV (Die Cuts With A View) Glitter Pink-Brown Flower Dots cardstock from the craft store.

Candy vase – I was browsing the candy store (as I do too often) and ran across these strawberry flavored malted milk balls. Well after I thought “yummy!” I thought how adorable they could be in the new baby bump tablescape. So long story short, I melted down some pink chocolate, covered a few pretzel rods, sprinkled them with pink crystals (available in the shoppe) and settled them into a ribbon embellished short vase of strawberry flavored malted milk balls.

tulle-napkin-ring-tutorial

Tulle napkin ring – I was browsing for inspiration for our new black & yellow buzz theme and ran across a table setting that used a black chrysanthemum as a napkin ring. It was really beautiful so I thought about trying to find one at the craft store. I wasn’t in luck so I decided to make my own version for baby bump using pink tulle. To make these yourself you’ll need pink glitter tulle and florist wire. And here are the easy step-by-steps:

Cut 12 4×4″ squares of tulle and stack them.
Fold the group like an accordian.
Pinch them in the center and wrap them with a small piece of florist wire.
Trim the ends as shown.
Cut a straight line between each fold to the florist wire separating the folds into individual petals.
Carefully separate the individual petals and pull upward to give the flower fullness.

It takes a little patience, but it’s worth it… don’t you think. {wink}

babybump_pinkbrowndotplates

Hope you’re inspired!

super hero cape craft

kimbyerssupercapepic We were recently featured on Homemaker Barbi for our super hero cape craft. You have to check it out and get the details. Here’s a small excerpt:

“Little imaginations soar at the thought of super powers. Watch their little eyes light up when you make them a personalized super hero cape of their very own.”

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

Yard of light polyester knit

¼ yard flexible vinyl (or you could use felt)

Velcro dots

Fabric glue

Wax paper (36×36 inches)

Pencil

Stick pins

String

Measuring tape

Make sure and visit Homemaker Barbi for all the “how to” details.

Happy crafting!

peapod baby shower favor

peapod-favor1 Do-it-yourself peapod baby shower (see our peapod invitations and décor) favor ideas can be hard to come by. Trust me, I looked and didn’t find much that was all that cute. So, I came up with my own. What guests wouldn’t love to baby themselves with some wonderful smelling candles or soaps.

You’ll need:

Mint green bath cloth
Mint green candles or round soaps
Grosgrain ribbon

And here’s all you have to do:

Cut two eight inch strips of ribbon.
Place three candles or soaps in the center of the bath cloth.
Tie each end rolling the edges slightly to look like an open peapod.

Happy crafting!

buggy wings

bug_ladybugwings In addition to the buggy headbands, we’re also going to demonstrate today on Daytime Columbus how to make these super easy ladybug clip on wings for your next bugs and butterflies birthday bash. I know, you’re thinking “she says everything is easy.” Well these really are. Here’s what you need:

½ yard netting or bridal tulle
16 gauge crafting wire (found in the jewelry section of your craft store)
¾ inch ribbon, grosgrain shown
Wooden bug cutout (available, usually painted, in craft stores)
Mini clothespin
Glue gun (fabric glue can be used for the ribbon portions)
Wire cutters

And here’s how you make them:

Bend the crafting wire into the shape of your wings, considering the size of the child, cut it with wire cutters and twist the ends around one another.
Using the wing shape as a loose guide, cut out four pieces of netting, leaving a ¼ inch to ½ inch all the way around. Each wing will be two pieces thick.
Tack the netting to the wire frames with just a touch of glue and trim off excess.
Apply the ribbon to the outer rim of your wings to secure the netting and to hide the wire. The best way is to center the wire in the ribbon, pipe in a stream of glue (not too much) and then lightly tap it down with your fingers until you’ve gone all the way around each wing.
Next, hot glue a mini clothespin to the back of your wooden bug cutout, near the bottom of the bug.
Finally hot glue the wings to the back of the cutout, allow to cool and the wings are ready for play.

If you prefer a visual guide, the “how to” video will be posted on our blog by Friday. Happy crafting!