Cactus Pincushion {TUTORIAL}

I'm so excited to be sharing this fun tutorial with y'all! I just know this cute little pincushion is going to steal your heart! It's pretty easy. I think it only took me about 30 minutes to make once I gathered up all my supplies.

Last year, I joined a pincushion swap and I made this pincushion for my swap partner. I was doing some crafty cleaning recently and found my test one I made. I decided I could make a fun tutorial to share! It's easy peasy, I hope you join me!

You are going to need:

1 piece green felt (notebook paper size)

1 small piece pink felt

mini terracotta pot (found in the floral section of most hobby stores)

small button

green embroidery floss

needle

scissors

hot glue gun

stuffing

salt (for weight)

paper and pen (for making a pattern)

First cut out the outline of your cactus on paper. Mine was about 5 inches in legnth and about 2 inches in width. Using your pattern, cut 4 of those out of your felt.

Lay 2 pieces back to back and whip stitch around one side, stopping when you get about half up way up the top of your cactus.

  Add your third side and starting where you left off at the top, sew that side on.

Sew on all 4 sides until you get something that looks like this. I left my sewn sides out to create ridges.

Next, cut out a flower shape from your pink felt. Make sure it's big enough for your button to fit in the middle but not too big for your cactus. Sew the flower and button onto the top of the cactus.

It should look something like this. 

Yay, we're almost done!

Now, fill your pot about 1/2 full of salt (or sand or whatever you choose to be your weight.) Make sure if there is a hole in the bottom of your pot, that it's covered. I just stuck a sticker on the bottom. Firmly stuff your cactus with stuffing. This takes more than you would think. 

Then put some hot glue into the edge of the pot and stuff your cactus down in there! Feel free squirt more hot glue down in the sides for extra security, but be careful not to get it all over your felt.

Now your cute, funky pincushion is ready for some pins, and a sewing project!

I hope if you decide to make this cute pin cushion, that my instructions are easy to follow.

xo's

Cat

Christmas Crackers DIY

Yay, a Christmas craft!!! 

This one is suitable for kids and grown-ups!

Are you having a Christmas party soon? 

Are you mailing packages to loved ones?

Have fun making these lovely Christmas crackers and add a fun touch to any party table or box of presents!

 Christmas Crackers DIY!

Supplies:

toilet paper rolls (or paper towel rolls cut in half)

candy or treats

tissue paper or wrapping paper

stamps, stickers, markers or other embellishments

ribbon or yarn

scissors 
tape (optional)

1. First measure out tissue paper or wrapping paper large enough to roll your tubes up in. Be sure to leave enough on the ends to gather and tie.

2. Let the kids use stamps, stickers or markers to decorate plain tissue paper. (This was a craft I had in my mind for a while, as you can see from all my toilet paper rolls I saved. I decided to pull this one out one day when we were snowed in. Next year I will be sure to have lots of fun stamps and stickers for her to use. This year I just went with what I had.)

3. Once your paper is decorated, roll it around your toilet paper roll.

4. Tie one of the ends off and let the kids fill them with candy.

5. Tie the other end closed and ta-da!

Now you have some pretty Christmas crackers to decorate your Christmas table with.
Or, do what I'm doing and add them to packages to mail to family and friends!
(Use tape to fasten any edges down in the middle of your cracker if you need to.)

Happy crafting!
I'm off to write my Christmas cards!

xo's

Cat

DIY: Candy Coal and Candy Cane Cupcakes

 Today is December 1st...Holey Moley! Today is already December 1st! Wow, what happened to November?!

Anyways, I thought it would be fun to share some Christmasy goodies. I shared these last year on my blog, but they are such fun, that I thought I would share them again!!

First, is the Candy Coal. This was a HUGE hit last year!

This was fun and easy to make. My friend Maggie and I sewed little bags out of canvas and hand painted them to look like little sacks of coal. Then, we filled them with our black peppermint candy (to look like coal) that we made.
Check out this fun DIY here.

And, if you are looking for something fun to bake, here are some yummy Candy Cane Cupcakes that I created a recipe for. Nothing tastes more like Christmas than Candy Cane's right?!

Here is the recipe.

I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to know if you make either of these! If you post about them, please leave the link so I can check them out!

Enjoy and let the Christmas Season begin!!

xo's

Cat

♥♥♥

Paper Bunting DIY

I decided in honor of my 100th follower (thanks Samia!). I would post a tutorial for a fun paper bunting! I made one for Ariana's First Birthday and loved how it turned out. I decided it would be something fun I could share with y'all. This is my first tutorial so bear with me!

You can make this be a birthday banner, put some inspiration word on there, or just leave it simple for a pretty decoration. In this post I'll show you how you can make a pretty basic one, but of course feel free to jazz it up if you like and change things up to suit your taste.

Here is the one I made for this tutorial.

Here is the one I made for Ariana's birthday last November.

Ok, let's get started!!!

Here is what you will need:

-coordinating paper

-plain paper for background for letters 

-letters (stickers, chipboard, stamps etc)

-coordinating streamers (I used 2 colors)

-coordinating curling ribbons (I used 2 colors)

-glue

-scissors

-pen

(not pictured) something to trace a circle, I used a glass. 

Also a ruler to measure your triangles.

I like to choose 3 coordinating papers. 1 pattern and 2 solid colors. You can choose all solid or all patterned. Whatever you feel like!

First cut out your triangles. Mine were about 8 1/2 inches across the top and about 11 inches measuring from the middle down to the tip.

Use your first triangle as a pattern to trace your other ones if you want.

I didn't like the color of my letters so I choose to paint them to match.

Then, use something round to cut out circles to be the background for your letters. Make sure it's big enough so that your letters fit on there but that you also have room when you put it on the triangle so that you can put the streamers behind it.

I used a glass to trace my circles, and then just cut them out.

Now it's time to start putting it all together!

First step in making your triangles is to make a circle out of glue.

Layer your streamers into a circle shape on the glue. Kind of bunch it up as you go along. Don't worry about it looking perfect, it won't! Be careful once you start layering it onto the glue and it gets wet it can be hard to reposition because it starts to fall apart because it's so thin.

Next add another little bit of glue on top of the streamer circle and put your paper circle on top.

Finish it off by adding your letters.

Then, punch holes at the top of each triangle.

Measure your coordinating ribbons so that it's long enough to hold all the triangles and has enough left over on each side to hang it with.

Begin threading your triangles onto the ribbons.

And, TA-DA!!! You're finished! Now you have a pretty paper bunting!!

I'm sure this wasn't the best tutorial you've ever seen but I hope I made this pretty clear and didn't confuse anybody. I hope you like it and use it next time you have a party or just want something pretty to hang up!

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Tomorrow is the first day of COLOR WEEK on my blog! If you missed the post. Here is all the information about it. 

The color for tomorrow is RED! 

I can't wait to see all the red things in your world! I'll be posting my pictures tomorrow night!

xo's

Cat

♥♥♥