A Swag of Flags This colorful swag of fabric flags makes a great decoration for parties… or for no reason at all. By the way, what is the right name for this thing? A garland? No, that is supposed to be flowers or leaves or something. Banner? No, that is supposed to be one long strip. […]

Facebook Twitter and You Tube Throw Pillows These are great gifts for a young person who is a fan of Facebook, Twitter, and/or YouTube. My pillows are made out of flannel (except for the lettering on the You Tube pillow, which is felt.) However, they could also easily be made from fleece or felt. I put a flap on […]

Imprinting messages on homemade treats Instead of enclosing a greeting card with your baked goods, how about embossing your message right on the sweets themselves? I love this technique! It produces very professional-looking results, even for those of us whose handwriting is sketchy when using a frosting piping bag. You need to use fondant and […]

Smiles you can count on! I made these Sesame Street cupcakes several years ago for a birthday party. They were such a hit, that I thought I’d post them here. I don’t have a tutorial, but here are some tips: Many of the mouths are Oreo cookies, cut in half. The large eyes are marshmallows, […]

So today, I put away my sewing stuff and craft glue, and decorated a cake. A friend’s daughter is turning 16, and the theme of her “Sweet 16” party is flamingos. So I made a pink flamingo cake. I had intended to take lots of detailed pictures as I went along, to show you the […]

Love on deck  I ran across this idea on the Craftster web site last year, and instantly fell in love with it. (The artist of that “52 Reasons I Love You” card-deck book said the idea had been around a long time, but I’d never seen it before.) What a great way to make someone […]

Spiraling swirls of hearts and flowers My husband, Bill, and I have been married many years, and he is not only my True Love, he is also my dearest friend. The other day, I was reminiscing about our romantic courtship and the early years of our marriage. We didn’t have much money back then, but we […]

Anti-virus protection! Last year around Christmas-time, I discovered a great craft project over at the Chica and Jo craft web site. (Love their web site!!!) It involved embellishing a tissue box cover with computer keyboard keys. My husband is a “computer professional”, so I could not wait to make my own version as a gift! […]

Cute pyramid-shaped felt coin purse This ingenious little coin purse makes a great gift, stocking stuffer, or favor-box for a wedding. It is incredibly inexpensive and easy-to-make — so also a great craft for youth groups. I am calling the shape a “pyramid”, but the mathematically-correct term is actually “tetrahedron”. Here’s what you need: Felt Embroidery thread Needle […]

Beverage brand bottlecap magnets I know I already showed you how to make bottlecap magnets where there is a little picture inside the cap. These are a little different, in that they show off the TOP of the bottlecap. Some bottlecaps are stylish, cute or colorful… or even funny/kitschy. Or maybe someone on your gift […]

My friend, Nichole, has three daughters and they like ribbon hair bows. But the bows can be rather expensive, especially in multiples of three! So she and her daughters (Taylor, Brieana, and Alivia) decided to make their own. They gathered pretty ribbons and hot-glued them in loops, then glued all the loops together to form bows. A […]

I was enchanted when I saw some wonderful, roughly-quilted scrapbooks on one of my current favorite web sites, Craftster. The creator of these lovely books, Craftster’s Phizzychick, credited Teesha Moore, who has a series of YouTube videos showing how to make these gorgeous journals and scrapbooks. I owe my cousin a wedding present, so it was […]

Pull-string surprise egg This is a fun way to bestow Easter treats. When the recipient pulls the embedded ribbon, it breaks the paper mache egg in half to spill its hidden treasures. What you will need: An oval balloon Several yards of ribbon Tissue paper Your favorite papier mache glue (I use wallpaper paste) Glass jar […]

How to give an egg timer a tri-metal upgrade There is just something magical and enchanting about hourglasses. Can’t you visualize the witch’s giant hourglass with blood-red sand, counting down the minutes to poor Dorothy’s demise in the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz? Or imagine Hermione’s “Time Turner” necklace from the wizarding world depicted in Harry Potter and […]

How to make a customized letter opener The other day, my teenage son (who is at an age where he is getting lots of mail from different universities who sincerely want our money) was asking for a letter opener. We looked around the house (I know that there is one around here, somewhere…) to no avail. […]

Design and make your own write-on wipe-off board Message boards are so useful, and yet most of them are so…. well, let’s face it — UGLY. Wouldn’t it be great to have one that actually coordinated with your decor? One that made a statement (even when there was no message written on it?) Well, here you […]

Ascending Marble Toy I designed this fun marble-rolling toy many years ago, inspired by a similar toy from the 1880’s. The object is to make a marble or small ball climb from the bottom of the box all the way to the top, as quickly as possible. Then you turn the box 180 degrees and […]

Here is a great Valentine card with a pop-up message (LOVE). I’ll show you how to do the basic technique, and then you can easily adapt the card to express your own message. You can use the card for a variety of different holidays and occasions by changing the one-word message: Christmas (NOEL), Halloween (BOO), New Year (the […]