Monthly Baby Photo Display

My niece Gia turns 1 tomorrow and we celebrated her birthday this weekend.  As her Aunt/Personal Photographer, I've taken a growth picture of her every month since she was born.  And that wasn't always easy, since I moved in the middle of the year and my camera was packed for about 2 months!  

For her party I was excited to find a fun way to display her photos - it's pretty amazing to see how she's grown!  So I found this inspiration picture on Pinterest.

This is one of those projects that looks simple to put together, but really is several little projects in one.

For this project you'll need:

a frame (I would have loved an old window with more character, but I ended up just using a frame I had)

photos

numbers - which were harder to find than I expected.  I found these at Michael's

tiny clothes pins (12)

glue dots (or your preferred sticking method)

felt for flowers (whatever color(s) you want)

felt for leaves - I really wanted to find a moss green color for my leaves, but I looked at Hobby Lobby and Michael's and they just have deep forest green, normal green and lime green)

ribbon - I used pink ribbon to hang the numbers/photos and green ribbon for the flower garland

tape

hot glue gun

scissors

To make the flowers I first cut a circle.  For the large flowers, I used a whole sheet of felt and just cut as large a circle as possible.  You can use anything as a template - a bowl, CD, cup, etc.

Then I spiral cut the circle, freehand with a wavy cut.  Leaving a small circle at the center.

Then I started from the outside of the circle and wrapped it around each other.    You're supposed to hot glue as you go, but I was doing it while watching TV and just wrapped them without gluing.  They stayed together fine and then I hot glued them later, just some of the outside layers and the circle to the bottom.

I cut leaves freehand.  It's ok if they have a non-uniform, organic shape!

To put everything together, I laid everything out.

I cut 3 strands of the pink ribbon to be a couple inches longer than the edge of the frame.

Then I used glue dots to stick the numbers to the corresponding pictures.

Then I used the clothes pins to pin the numbers to the ribbon.  Then taped the ribbon to the edge of the frame.

Then I hung the frame on the wall so I could create the flower garland on the frame.  I cut a long strip of green ribbon and taped it to the frame.

Then, using hot glue, I added placed flowers and leaves on the garland.  And, of course, burned my fingers because I have a super hot mini glue gun. 

I was excited with how it turned out!

DIY Snowman Kit

Welcome Fall! 

These are my favorite Fall things:

Now that it's officially Fall and that means it's time to start thinking about Christmas presents and hot chocolate and SNOW!

Ok, I know it's a few months away, but thinking ahead gives you plenty of time to get DIY projects done before the hustle and bustle of the holiday season begins.

I've seen a few DIY Snowman Kits on Pinterest and since I am a kid at heart and love building snowmen, I wanted to put my own spin on it. 

 

 

 

 

For this project you'll need:

foam or plastic black hat (available at Hobby Lobby or Target) OR black felt to make a hat

ribbon (for a band around the hat)

felt (optional)(my felt flower instructions found here)

hot glue gun and glue

white styrofoam balls (optional)

large googly eyes (optional)

orange felt (for carrot)

polyfil stuffing

wooden skewers

black clay (for the mouth and if you choose, for the eyes and buttons as well)

scissors (strong enough to cut through skewers)

fleece (for a scarf)

 

As you can see by the list, this is a bit time-consuming and is actually several projects in one. If you ♥ this kit, but don't want to make it yourself - you can buy one at my Etsy Shop. I have a Snowman Kit currently available!

 

 

 

 

 The Hat

I like using a pre-made one (the foam hat is from Hobby Lobby and the plastic hat is from Target), because it can get wet and will wipe dry - to me fabric and snow don't exactly go together.

Hot glue the ribbon around the bottom of the hat.  If you choose, use the instructions here to make a felt flower or two and glue them to the ribbon.

 

 

 

The Eyes

Take your Styrofoam balls and stick a skewer into each, until the point goes all the way to the opposite side, but doesn't poke out.  Then cut the skewer down to a few inches.  Then hot glue the googly eyes onto the front of the balls.  Or if you can use the black clay to make eyes, described below under The Mouth.

 

 

The Carrot Nose

 http://www.whimsy-love.com/2012/12/diy-build-your-own-snowman-kit.html.

This was a great tutorial that I used to make my carrots - they're actually pretty easy!

 

 

 

The Mouth

Form black clay into small balls with about a half inch to an inch diameter, then stick a skewer into each.  Then cut the skewer down to a few inches.  Let clay dry according to instructions (or bake according to instructions).

 

 

 

The Buttons

I tried a few different ideas for making buttons, but I wasn't happy with my prototypes, so when I found oversized wooden buttons at Hobby Lobby I decided to use them. 

 

 

 

The Scarf

Easy - just a strip of fleece, about 6-7 inches wide x 50 in long, then cut fringe on each end.

 

 

 

online poll by Opinion Stage

Felt Flower Wreath

For a future project I'm working on, I researched and learned how to make felt flowers.  I agree with the other bloggers out there - once you start making them - they're addictive!  This is the basic tutorial I used:  Little Bit Funky

 

 

 For this project you'll need:

felt sheets

scissors

hot glue gun

wreath form

yarn

I made a bunch of pretty flowers, trying different variations and colors and centers - and I wasn't sure what to do with them.

 

 

 

Then I pictured them on a wreath!  I had an extra Styrofoam wreath form sitting around (I bought it when I made this wreath, but didn't like how it looked) and some yarn leftover from this yarn star project, so I wrapped the yarn to cover the wreath form, using glue sporadically.  I went around the wreath form 3 times, each time covering a bit more. 

Then I hot glued the flowers onto the yarn-wrapped wreath (say that fast 3 times!) and I loved the result!

My friend Amanda recently moved and I thought it would make a cheery housewarming gift!