crepe paper

11 Household Items You Can Dye: With Tutorials

How to Dye Cotton Balls

To create my Dr. Seuss inspired trees I had to dye cotton balls.  It got me thinking, there are a ton of household items that you can dye.  Here is my quick tutorial on dyeing cotton balls plus 9 10 other household items (meaning things you can pick up at the grocery store). 1. How to Dye Cotton Balls  Supplies: Rubbing alcohol, food coloring, cotton balls (duh), and a plastic baggy.  Gloves and newsprint are a nice bonus. Steps: Throw cotton balls into a baggy with a few drops of food coloring (I was trying for a turquoise in the middle … Read more…

Dr. Seuss Themed First Birthday

My youngest son turned 1 last week.  I’d love to say I had it all together, realized that Dr. Seuss’ 100th birthday was occurring and picked the perfect theme for Conlan’s First Birthday.  Alas, I would be lying…  I wanted a Dr. Seuss themed birthday for McClain’s first (two years ago) and ordered the licensed plates, napkins, etc.  The decorations came exactly one day after his party and were promptly shoved in the basement.  I got my Dr. Seuss theme on the second go-around. To complement the purchased party items I made a few decorations.  Some Seussian-like trees for the … Read more…

Easy Crepe Cherry Blossoms; A Quick Tutorial

Detail of cherry blossom

The following is a quick and easy tutorial on creating faux cherry blossoms from crepe paper.  I have followed the rather tedious tutorials on making different crepe flowers before.  Yes, they look lovely…  But with two small children underfoot I will sacrifice a bit of my accurate-compulsive tendencies artistic integrity to make a final arrangement that beautifies my space.  And doesn’t take 30 damn hrs to painstakingly cut tiny petals.  So read on for Quick and Easy Cherry Blossoms:   Supplies (For some reason I always want to type ingredients here…) Shown: Glue Gun with glue sticks (don’t run out!) Crepe Paper … Read more…

Cherry Blossom Spring Mantel

Detail of a spring mantel

Spring is heralded by the appearance of flowers, singing of birds, and greening of everything.  While it isn’t quite Spring-time I am beyond ready for a little bit of growth.  To celebrate the coming season change I worked on creating faux cherry blossoms and branches from old maple limbs and hand-dyed crepe paper. The tutorial for creating these blossoms is quick and easy.  The mantel itself, just required stealing borrowing a few rocks from the garden and moss from the neighbors shady backyard.  Don’t worry I’ll put them all back very soon.  Well at least the moss.  The rocks are probably … Read more…

Easy Crepe Paper Ruffles

Crepe Paper Ruffled Garland

There are thousands of how to’s and tutorials on making crepe paper ruffles.  But really it is easy to make this gathered garland.  Each tutorial out there offers many good tips, like gather foots, pleating etc.   But in reality if you can thread a sewing machine (or con someone into threading it for you) and press the foot you can get a ruffle.  You don’t really even need to be able to sew straight.  It is that easy.  Plus who isn’t thinking about feminine ruffles and dainty pink items on Valentine’s day? So if you want to make these … Read more…