Now they are gift card holders and ornaments...

Sometimes you start out thinking you're creating one thing, but then another idea comes along.  These are my little house ornaments that double as gift card holders, but they were supposed to be part of an Advent calendar.

The snowmen houses.  

Well, back in July I had some great ideas for Advent calendars.  I kept telling myself I would make at least three to list in my shop.  It didn't happen.  I made 20 of these cute houses and I couldn't quite make myself finish the job.  So, I decided to list them in my shop as gift card holders.  Maybe next year I'll start working on the holiday items in July.  Maybe...

It would have been a really cute Advent calendar.
But now, they are gift card holders/ornaments.

Trimming a Tree With Handmade Acorns

Whew!  I finally got some sets of holiday acorns made.  The little hats my family and I collected during our hikes were sitting in a dish just begging to become ornaments.  So, here, is what they became.

cute little acorns for your tree

I still want to try to make some sort of garland with the fabric acorns... we'll see.  For me, it's delightful to use something from nature to create art.  

acorn ornaments just for fun

The Baby Boy Owl Mobile

I really love custom creations.  It means someone likes my work enough to customize it and put my idea with theirs and create something meaningful and personal.  This past weekend I got to make an owl mobile for a little boy's nursery.  I made the felt-style owls with the moon and stars.  Here's how it turned out.

Hoot hoot!

Owls & Moon Mobile

Owls in Hoops

So more fun with  the Tina Givens Opal Owl line. . .   I love it! I had some hoops laying around waiting to be turned into mobiles, and I had some owl fabric out and next thing I knew I had some bright new owlsome wall decorations. This is such a quick and easy to  way to display fabric you LOVE and add some color to your room!

Hoot hoot!

October is here!

I finally got back into making some original large Zemphira owls.  I love to use Tina Givens' fabric for my owls. Almost every fabric design I see of hers I picture it as a new owl.  I got very excited when I found out about her new line of fabrics "Opal Owl."  I had to make a few Halloween themed owls!

Edar Allen Owl

And here's Jack O. Lantern.  Same fabrics, different design.

Hoot hoot!  Happy October!

One of a Kind Lunch Bag for a One of a Kind Girl

I was so excited when my little girl asked me to make her a lunch bag for Kindergarten  instead of buying a Hello Kitty one! Of course I had a little help tipping the scales to the handmade side thanks to Danita.  I asked Danita if I could have one of  her images printed on a piece of fabric, and she happily supplied me.  My daughter just learned to ride a bike and I thought the little girl on the bike would be just perfect.  Then I came across this wonderful tutorial about how to make a fabric lunch sack from A Lemon Squeezy Home.   I spent sometime designing it with my daughter and here is the final product!

I used a cloth dishtowel for the main fabric

My kids got me a set of handmade owl buttons from  beadfreaky for my Mother's Day gift - I thought this would be a good place to use one!

Fabric Acorn Tutorial

I thought it would be fun to create some fabric acorns made with real acorn hats.  So, we headed out on a family hike to gather some nuts like little squirrels.  After we got home, we carefully pulled the tops off the acorns and I played around with some fabrics until I got the acorn-look I wanted.   Here's a quick little nature-inspired craft tutorial on how to make fabric acorns.  I had fun making these, and I couldn't make just one,  my kids had fun helping  me collect and choose fabrics, and my husband just thinks I'm nuts!  

colorful fabric acorns 

supplies needed

 cut out a circle with 2.25 inch diameter
 snip the circle 4 times just up to the center

fold the circle in half and sew a seam for each section you just cut - be sure to back stitch

(you will sew 4 seams)

when you are done sewing the 4 seams it will look like a cone - this is the bottom of the acorn

sew a running stitch about a quarter inch from the top of the bottom of the acorn

leave a little bit of a tail at the start of the running stitch

(i usually use a matching thread, i used black here to illustrate this step)

after you sewed all the way around the cone you should have two tails, the start and the end of the thread

pull the ends of the thread together so the cone closes up a little bit

stuff the acorn bottom with a little bit of stuff 'n fluff

(do not entirely close the cone once it is stuffed- it will fill the acorn hat better if it is not pulled all the way)

 put hot glue into an acorn hat

quickly press your acorn bottom to the hat and squeeze the two together

and there you have it - a quick, fun, and festive craft

Right now my acorns are being used as Nutkin's snack.  But I think they would make a very cute brooch or look fun in a bowl as a decoration for Autumn.  I am thinking of stringing a few and making an acorn garland.  I would love to see your nutty creations!