Welcome!

This is my first attempt at blogging - we'll see how it goes! I'm an avid crafter - but admittedly one who gets bored easily.  I dabble in pretty much anything from scrapbooking to knitting, but I'm not one of those talented Etsy crafters who can create multitudes of beautiful items.  I'm kind of a onesy-twosy person.  But I do love to make handmade gifts and constantly search the internet for ideas.  I'd love to share them with you!

I was looking for a simple, quick gift to make for Christmas (trying to start early enough so I don't end up in a panic) and I found a picture of a button ornament.  Below is a picture of my finished product and directions.

Button Ornaments

Making these ornaments is a great opportunity to use all those buttons in your button box, but if you're like me, there's not a great variety there.  So off to Walmart I went and found small bags of themed colored buttons which gave me the incentive to just do it! 

You will need:

1. Styrofoam balls - I used the 4" ones
2. Buttons (that goes without saying) - you'll need quite a few, especially if you double them up
3. White headed pins
4. Grosgrain ribbon
5. 4" piece of wire
6. Hot glue

These took a little more time and were a bit more expensive than I initally thought.  Use your coupons (JoAnn's, Michael's) and it won't be quite as painful.  Surprisingly, the pins were the most expensve item.

Directions:

1. Pin your buttons to the styrofoam.  You can double them up and overlap them.
2. Use the smallest buttons to fill in gaps if you see any.
3. Tie a bow and hot glue it to the top of the ornament.
4. Bend the wire into a "U" shape, stick it in the styrofoam and add a dab of hot glue.

With all the crafty buttons out there, you could do a lot of variations on this - different color schemes, add character buttons, etc.  You can also add a lot more pins - I was very conservative with them but it might have looked better with pins in all of the button holes.

Little Gifty Boxes

I enjoy giving people at work little holiday gifts.  I don't want to leave anyone out, so I end up making 10 to 15 of them.  I saw the brown paper boxes for 99 cents each at a local craft store and thought of this great way to use them.

I'm planning to fill these little boxes with either holiday m&m's or Andes mints.  They didn't take long to make and I was pleased with the result.

You will need:

1. Brown paper boxes (they come in other shapes)
2. Scrapbook or other decorative paper
3. Ribbon
4. Tags (these are canvas tags made by Maya Road)
5. Mod Podge
6. Hot glue

Directions:

1. Measure the sides, top and inside bottom of the box.  Use a paper cutter to make multiple pieces.  I mixed and matched - all the sides are the same but the top is a coordinating pattern.
2. Mod Podge the inside of the box.  Put a piece of paper in the bottom (just for fun!) and cover with another layer of Mod Podge.
3. Coat the outside of the box, press the paper pieces on and cover with Mod Podge.  Do the same for the lid.
4. When everything is dry, tie a ribbon bow around the lid.  Put a small dab of hot glue under the bow and attach it to the lid.
5. Turn the lid over and cut the ribbon.  Trim each end so that it just wraps around the lip of the lid and hot glue them.
6. Attach the tag to the ribbon - I used little "o" rings but you can easily tie it.  I used a Sharpie marker to write on the tag.

Great for stocking stuffers, candy treats, or other little gifties!  So quick and easy!