The Holiday Season Is Here...

My Christmas tree is officially up!!! And decorated, with lights and ornaments and everything. Yaay! Okay, so presents aren't under it yet, but wrapping all those delightful gifts I've made is a whole 'nother task to take on, for a different day.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, which meant that I got to take care of recipes # 23 and 24 of 100 on my recipe countdown.

I made Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Bake and Family Fun's Corn on the Cob Cupcakes.

The sweet potatoes turned out delicious, as usual.

I always seem to have a hard time cooking the potatoes and getting them soft though... it takes the longest time! Anyways, I love sweet potatoes and this is the dessert of sweet potatoes. We spent Thanksgiving over at some friends' house and my mom advised me to make two batches of this goodness. Well, due to the lack of people there and the massive amounts of food, only 1/2 of one batch got eaten. The other half went home to my parents, and the other whole went home with me. To eat by myself. Because Logan doesn't like sweet potatoes. I'm just acting upset about this one by the way.

The Corn on the Cob Cupcakes were a different story.

They (of course) didn't turn out as gorgeous as the ones in the picture, but they kind of got there. The problem I had was that the recipe called for jelly beans. First of all, they don't have white jelly beans, so I don't know where they got those from. Second of all, one three dollar bag of jelly beans had enough yellow jelly beans to cover three cupcakes. And I had 24 cupcakes. So there I was with one 'cob' finished, massive amounts of not-yellow jelly beans that I didn't want to eat, and 21 more cupcakes to bean. Off I went, on Thanksgiving day, to Walgreens to find more jelly beans. I was toying with various ideas, including actually buying $21 in jelly beans, using skittles instead if they were cheaper, or just keeping one cob. When I got to Walgreens, I found bags of Lemon Head candies which were all yellow, so I bought those. They are so sour! So I was able to finish my cupcakes, but they ended up being yellow cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and sour candies on top. Hmmm... must think these things through.

As for Christmas presents I have completed in the last week, I am extremely proud to show off my Gator Rag Wreath for my brother.

I absolutely LOVE how this turned out. It is definitely I saw this picture on pinterest and just knew I had to make it, but of course the one on pinterest is some $40 wreath that they want me to buy, so of course they aren't going to give me instructions on how to make it. So I was left to being creative. I looked around the internet and found a few tutorials for ribbon wreaths that just involved buying a bunch of ribbon, tying it in bows, and gluing it on the wreath. So I bought lots of ribbon. And spent $25. I just told myself to suck it up. Looking at the picture again, I realized that it wasn't ribbon, it was pieces of material. I then found tutorials online for rag wreaths. Score! I'll use fabric instead! It was a genius plan... I headed to goodwill and spent about $10 on a variety of blue and orange shirts with different patterns. I then merged the two ideas (see... creativity!) and cut strips of material, tied bows, and glued them on around the styrofoam piping I am growing so fond of.

To make the 'F' in the middle, I bought a $1 wooden F at Joann's and painted it blue. I then had to use my creativity (again!) to figure out how I was going to add perfect dots in orange. I decided to put the glue in a mini plastic baggie, cut a hole, and dollop as if I were icing a cupcake. It worked perfectly, and I have a designer-looking wreath that my brother will LOVE when he gets it for his birthday (he better love it!). I'm tempted to make more of these since I still have fabric left over!

Total cost for this project: $10 in clothes from goodwill, $1 wooden letter, $2 orange paint = $13.

Next, I made a bookmark for my mom inspired by this picture found on pinterest. The one there was made from clay, but I'm not quite that adventurous, so I thought and thought about what I could use to make the legs. Finally, I ran off to Goodwill and bought a naked, chewed up Pocahontas Barbie doll for $0.80 and I cut off her legs (which was much harder that it seems due to the plastic boning inside the legs). I thought it would be as easy as painting the legs with paint, but my acrylic paint wouldn't stick to that shiny Barbie plastic. Attempting to complete this project without getting up from my desk, I grabbed the white-out, covered the legs completely in white-out, then colored lines on in Sharpie. I added yellow cardstock to a nitch dug out of the legs and wrote a quote from the movie on it. I then had to brainstorm for a few more days about how I was going to make the sparkly shoes, and finally ended up spreading glue around the shoe part with my finger, then pouring red sparkles over the top. Simple! I had to keep it all on, though, so I dug around my craft box for something I could coat it all with. I found spray adhesive and tried it out. Fail. I couldn't figure out why the legs got all sticky and the sharpie was running until I realized, spray adhesive. Like, glue. Duuuh. Finally, I went to the garage and gave the bookmark a coat of clear spray paint. Worked like magic.

Total cost for this gift: $1 for Barbie, $1 for sparkles = $2

The final project I completed this week (only THREE projects this week... but like 5 recipes so I'm still on track) was one of my picture frame earring holders for my brother's girlfriend. I made this one a little nicer than the other ones I've made by sewing ribbon around the outside and adding adorable little fabric flowers. I then added a picture in the picture frame of her and my brother in London. Thank you, Facebook for making other people's pictures easily accessible to print and do with what I would like. I then popped by Claire's and bought some earrings to add to it so that she would know what it was (I hate that embarrassing... "Aww, cute! What is it?).

Total cost for this gift: $3 for frame, $2 for picture, $3 for earrings = $8

Oh! I almost forgot... I went to craft club with my mom at her friends' place last weekend and made three adorable crafts (so that's 6 crafts this week... ha!). We made little baskets, and two thanksgiving cards. Susie is a wonderful crafter with her own craft room. I would send you over to her blog, but she messed it all up and I can't get to it, so I'll have to send you there another time.

The best part was that Susie and I got to talk about pinterest and weddings the whole time, and she leant me her crock pot as I was leaving!! Woot!

I guess that's about it for now, look forward to seeing some Aprons, sea creature ornaments, delicious recipes, and more christmas gifts on here soon!

Challenge

So I'm not that fond of cooking. Baking, I love, but not cooking.

I'm also fond of a challenge.

After being ashamed at the number of pins piling up on my 'Recipes to Try' board on pinterest, and the tiny number on my 'Recipes Tried' board, I decided to add a little cookin' in my mix of creativity.

Then, an amazing thing happened.

My mom's friend loaned me her crock pot.

Here goes nothin...

Some great recipes that I have tried that deserve a shout-out:

Paula Deen's Not Yo Momma's Banana Puddin' - I had to seek out this recipe after visiting Lady and Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant) in Savannah a little over a year ago. Ooh boy. It's heaven in my mouth. Definitely my favorite dessert ever. You have to share though because if it stays in your fridge the bananas turn brown after a few days.

Skinny Spinach Lasagna Rolls - These were very good, easy to make, stuck to a weight watcher's plan, and didn't make me feel incredibly guilty for eating them.

Crock Pot Honey Chicken - I was amazed at how good this turned out. And it was the season opener for my new/borrowed crock pot! I went a little overboard on the soy sauce though. Less is more for something so strong.

Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats - I seem to forget how easy and cheap it is to make rice krispie treats. Well, I know I'm never making regular rice krispie treats again after learning this trick. The recipe did take me two attempts since I learned that if I keep the butter and marshmallows on the stove too long it turns the treats rock hard. I didn't use sprinkles on the second attempt because it calls for a whole container, and they're like $4 a pop. But, these are amazing.

7-Up Biscuits - You gotta love an easy recipe. This has only 3 ingredients, 4 including butter, and they are heavenly.

Red Lobster Copycat Biscuits - I'm a sucker for a good biscuit, and this is just that. Yu-um!

So what's the challenge, you may ask? After seeing that the ratio of recipes to try to recipes tried was 134:21, I decided I needed to level out the playing field. Although the pinboard for Recipes to Try may never get to a reasonable number because I am constantly finding great recipes, my recipes to try is not going to become a prized collection.

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyways" - I must face my fear of cooking.

So I have a goal. A goal that I plan to reach, or possibly exceed. My friends and I may all gain massive amounts of weight in the process, and I may not look so great coming out, but we must all make sacrifices.

I plan to reach 100 recipes tried by the end of 2011. For those of you counting, that's 79 recipes in approximately 38 days, 10 of which I will be on vacation. Rev up your ovens girls...

Some recipes to look forward to in the near future:

Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Bake

Hamburger Cupcakes

Corn On The Cob Cupcakes

Crock Pot Grinders

Crock Pot Lasagna

Single Ingredient Ice Cream

Fluffernutter Bites

Pink Panty Dropper Drink

Crock Pot Barbeque Chicken

Copycat Lofthouse Cookies

and for Logan for Christmas...

Peanut Butter Chocolate No Bake Pie.

Here we gooooo!

Craft of the Day: Hanging Folder Organizer Take 2

So, remember just a few days ago when I said that I might make another Hanging Folder Organizer for my mom for Christmas?

Well...

wah lah. (That's the first time I've ever spelled that... is it right?)

I made a new, better, improved version of the hanging folder organizer from Remarkable Home's Blog that is actually fit for an acceptable Christmas present.

Not only that, but I also remembered to take pictures so I could make a tutorial for you!

Here it is...

Folder organizer

Please realize that this is not my original idea. It is all from ReMarkable Home.

Total cost of this project: $5 for scrapbook paper and $1.50 for laminating (I used the laminator at school for $0.50 a foot).

Alright, you can stop reading now unless you are bored and satisfied with listening to my rambling.

Notice the title of this post? Craft of the Day:

It was not too long ago when I had a craft of the week. Then I started having more than one craft a week and joked about calling them the 'crafts of the day'. Back then, I never thought I would actually be that sad.

Now, I not only have a craft of the day each day, I have multiple things that I create or start or complete. Example: yesterday I made Bill the Chill Pill and started knitting an ear warmer.

Today, I glittered the feet for my mom's wicked witch bookmark, made a second Hanging Folder Organizer, and bought the supplies to make my brother a Gator Wreath, his girlfriend an earring holder, sweet potatoes for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, and fabric to make a new apron for my friend.

Here's to incompleted projects!!!!

Bill the Chill Pill

I found this pattern to knit a chill pill on pinterest and thought it would be the perfect Christmas gift for my mother... let's hope she can take a joke. I knitted the pattern (took about 1 1/2 hours), but I couldn't stop there. I had to make it cuter. So I wrote a poem to go with it. But I still had to make it cuter. So I made a medicine bottle to wrap it in out of card stock and construction paper, complete with a little prescription wrapper.

This is the poem I wrote to go with him:

This little guy, his name is Bill,

Bill is a special kind of Chill Pill.

When everything is going downhill,

You want to scream so loud and shrill,

You have visions you can't fulfill,

And you feel a little mentally ill.

When everything's wrong on Caplitol Hill,

And every night it's bill after bill,

Your kids won't remember the capital of Brazil,

And your dogs are far from a wonderful thrill.

Just remember your new Chill Pill,

You can take everything out on Bill.

Slam him on the counter and squeeze until

Everything's better and you're full of good will.

(Don't worry about Bill, he'll be fine...

now go and have a glass of wine.)

DIY Rice Neck Warmer

you've never used one of these, you need to. These microwavable neck warmers are perfect for aches, pains, and sickness. And they're so easy to make!!

Last week, my little town had a big ol' craft fair that my friend and I walked around at. We passed hundreds of booths, scoffing at the high-priced items for sale and repeatedly saying, "We could make that". Thank you, Pinterest.

So while at the fair, I got a call from my mom asking me to buy one of the rice neck warmers if I saw one at one of the booths. I did see one. For $20. Good old Meredith said the magic words, "Why don't you just make one for her?". I can't believe I hadn't thought of that right away. So we lingered by the booth, getting a quick glance at how they made theirs and I rushed home to start my own. It was so simple, one of the most simple projects I've done!

And the best part? I created my very first complete tutorial, organized it in a powerpoint, uploaded it to the internet, and am sharing it with you. Ta-da!!!

Rice neck warmer

target="_blank" style="font-family: Arial, Geneva , Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 14px; color: #A29C97; text-decoration: none ;">
Site Counter

Creaning

So I’m collecting hobbies… I’m up to two. Crafting (of course), and… cleaning. Ok, cleaning/organizing. I know, it’s sad. But when I can combine the two hobbies I feel so productive!! So here are my recent adventures in creaning (crafting+cleaning).

I made this File Folder Organizer today, and I absolutely love it!!

Some comments, things I did, and things I would do differently:

1. The tutorial given didn’t say anything about the cool colors of the file folders. I bought scrapbook paper and covered my folders in it using mod podge. Ok, I used homemade mod podge which was just watered down glue and made the papers dry crooked. In the future, I would use real mod podge or rubber cement to put the paper on.

2. You only need to put the paper on the front of the file folder because the rest is hidden. To trace the paper perfectly, I just put the paper inside the file folder and traced the front of the file folder onto it, then cut it out.

3. If I were to do it over, I would put the extra effort in to laminate the folders after putting on the scrapbook paper. I think it would make them much more professional-looking and durable.

I only did five file folders, and split two of them in half by adding a line of hot glue down the middle to make two different sections. I did this for Bills/Bank and Incoming Mail/Outgoing Mail. I should have given each mail its own file folder because half of a file folder won’t fit Netflix movies/magazines/etc.

5. I used hot glue to glue the file folders inside each other (but you only get one chance so be careful!)

6. I used 5 folders because I thought I wouldn’t need more than that, but if I were to do it over I would use at least 8. 5 folders made it much shorter than I thought it would be.

7. I just used sticky labels to label them, though the tutorial’s pieces of paper were much cuter (I didn’t have ink in my printer).

8. I just hot glued ribbon to the back and tied to hang (I used two ribbons and tied instead of using just one long one so I can adjust the hanging length if needed).

9. I don’t know why she tells you to fold the tabs down, next time I am just going to cut them off.

I think I am going to make my mom another one (and put more time into it) for Christmas.

For my second project, which I’m not sure if this counts as a craft, I used a large hanging toiletries hanger that I found new at Goodwill. I found this organizer for $2.99 and battled with myself on whether or not to buy it. I really didn’t need it for my toiletries… I already have a hanging travel organizer and I don’t travel with enough toiletries to fill this large one. I ended up buying it knowing it was too great of a find to pass up and that I would find something to put in it. When I was cleaning my room that night, I figured out that I could put the craft supplies that I use frequently in it so that I could just grab the organizer and have everything by my side instead of having to dig through my craft bin to find everything. It was perfect! I have a space for my hot glue gun, extra hot glue, paint brushes, my x-acto knife, scissors, a marker, pen, and pencil, my knitting needles, thread and a needle, a measuring tape, calligraphy pens , and clothes pins. I haven’t even filled all the spaces!!!

I was so excited about this… I was jumping around trying to find everything to put in it while my boyfriend looked on with a face that could only say, “Oh my god, she’s crazy”. I need to add an additional piece of elastic going vertical instead of horizontal to put my large knitting needles, but besides that it was perfect. The best part is, it folds up to get small so I can carry it around and store it easily!

I’ve been wanting to share the other organization projects I have done around my house, but these have been around for awhile and I don’t have tutorials or sources for all of them. Here’s the pictures for inspiration!

How I store my shoes in my closet: I keep each of the shoes (my heels only) in shoe boxes and tape a picture of the shoe on the outside. I then stack the shoes according to color/style. I think I saw this in a magazine once and just had to try.

How I store my earrings: I made earring holders out of picture frames and porch screen. The frame I found had a magnetic white board behind it, so it makes for a cute background. I made more of these and sold them on etsy with pictures on in the background. The screen is attached by Velcro, but when I remade them I did it with magnets and it was much sleeker and stayed together better.

This is a picture of one of the ones I sold on etsy: (If you want one or want the tutorial to make one please let me know!!! I have a ton of screen left over from my hedgehog cage project)

How I store some clothes: So, apparently I have too many clothes. Either that, or I just don’t have enough space. I’ll go for the latter. To fix this problem, I put clothes that don’t need to be hung up and aren’t worn enough to take up space in a dresser in blue tubs in one of those wire square racks from Target. The different tubs I have include T-Shirts (the ones you get for free, not the cute fitted ones), Exercise shorts (including sports bras), Sweat pants, Swimsuits (including cover-ups and swim accessories [goggles etc]), Plain t-shirts (the ones that you layer with that don’t have writing), and socks (which includes tights, knee-high socks, fuzzy socks for winter, etc). I also hung one color of each of my tights and leggings on a hanger like this. It freed up a lot of room for my funky knee-high socks I never wear! I also have a two bins for purses – a larger bin that has its own square for regular-sized purses (my large bags such as duffel bags and backpacks are in a large bin at the top of my closet), and a regular-sized blue bin for wristlets/small purses/coin purses etc. This is great because it guarantees that my dresser or my closet won't get cramped up!

So, I love putting things in bins and labeling them. I did the same thing to organizer my bathroom (under my sink). I have two stacks of small bins holding my extra makeup, Headbands, Hair Accessories, Body lotions/crème/extra razors/anything to do with body, Nail polish/anything to do with nails, first aid stuff, and oral stuff (extra toothbrushes, retainer case, floss, those pink tablets that show how much plaque is on your teeth). The bin in the middle of the two stacks holds my hair products that are too large to have a lid.

I also have a shoebox without a lid in the top of my bathroom closet for medicine and another one for sunscreen (ahem… tanning lotion).

Moving to the kitchen...

I am an avid tea drinker stemming from the years I spent living in England. Seriously. My whole family drinks tea now. So my electric kettle has a permanent position plugged in on my kitchen counter, but it was extremely irritating moving back and forth from the pantry to the kettle to make my tea. Okay, it might not have been THAT irritating and I MIGHT have just wanted to do a craft, but this was my solution:

It holds my regular tea, my decaf tea, my splenda, my spoon, and my mug! All it needs is a mini fridge to hold the milk :).

To make this, I bought a wooden mini dresser from Joanns for $7, painted it colors that matched my kitchen (yes, we went with a blue and green theme), added a circle of cork to the top to keep the mug, and a ring of elastic on the side to hold a spoon. I remember where everything is by: T for Tea, E for dEcaf, and A for splendA. Not the most foolproof system, but it works! I made one of these for my mom for mother's day using brown and gold. It was so classy!!

Finally, I have a Chores List. This lasted about two months (longer than I thought it would) but now my roommate and I work much better together in cleaning the house and doing chores. It’s just a laminated list that hangs on the refridgerator with clothespins that say our names. We would switch chores every Sunday and make sure our chores were done at least once that week.

Some ideas that I am looking forward to pursuing in the future:

1. Using a cereal storage container as a garbage can in the car. Yes, I’m a culprit of car trash and it drives me crazy.

2. Using soda boxes as can organizers for the pantry.

3. Making crap baskets for the bottom of the stairs.

4. Hanging my measuring cups on my cupboard doors.

5. Using a curtain rod to hang my pots and pans.

and

6. Using PVC piping on the inside of my bathroom cupboards to hold my curling iron.

Well, that's it for now! I'm off to see what I can scratch off my to-do list for the night.

Hedgehog Redecorations

Remember the Heidi the Hedgehog? Well after I found her shivering one morning and remembered reading about how hedgehogs have to be kept at a certain temperature to keep from going into hibernation during the winter, I moved her back to my house (from my boyfriend's) and set to crafting right away!

First I made her a hedgie bag. I just took fleece I had left over from the inside of an old sweatshirt to make the lining of the bag, and the pink shiny material left over from the horrible skirt-making disaster at Halloween for the outside. I then used an extra piece of the fleece to make a little bow for the top.

Heidi loves her little hedgie bag. Anytime I put it in her little cage, she runs right in there and sleeps all day.

I also had to find a solution for her cage. We have her in a big plastic tub from target, but never seal the lid so that she has air. Somehow, when we leave the lid off, she happens to find a way out and a place to hide that requires saving immediately. While thinking about poking holes or cutting squares, I realized that I could just cut out a square and add screen (porch screen) to the inside. It worked out perfectly! Now I don't have to worry about her escaping OR not getting enough air.

(I put ribbon on the inside where I glued it to cover the ugly glue and fortify).

Next up... as soon as I get her litter box trained (YES it's possible...) then I am going to replace the wood chips with felt bottoms that fit the cage.

Heidi after a bath :)

Baby Adorableness

So, about five months ago I received an invitation to a baby shower for my friend. The first thing I thought was: "What can I make????" It was my first baby shower. Ever. I had to go all out. So I spent hours, and hours, and hours making the following gifts:

Pacifier Clips Using Ribbon, Chip Clips, and Hair ties.

A newborn beanie using this pattern (which I later recreated for my dad's Bronco/Gator Beanie).

The flower is a rolled flower from a tshirt.

A bouquet of baby washcloths and socks using this tutorial.

A silk and cotton hand-embroidered baby blanket using this tutorial.

And washcloths and burp cloths to match using this tutorial!

I couldn't have asked for a better reaction at the baby shower... it definitely made me feel that the time I put in to the gifts was worth it.

So, now the baby's born and I just couldn't resist doing a few more things for her. I'm going to put it together in a baby package and maybe add this adorable baby Diaper Carriage and some gifts for the mommy. So here's what I made!!!

A "Little Black Dress" Onesie inspired by pinterest of course. All I did was add tulle ruffles very close together to the bottom of a onesie then use paint and gems. Oh, and I had to dye the onesie, which was fun to experiment with. Apparently they don't sell black onesies.

And even better and which I like FAR more... the pearl necklace onesie! I think it's just too adorable... and SO easy to make! Just fabric paint in circles. Inspired by more pinterest and this blog. I made the flower out of lace with a pearl in the middle.

Here are both of the onesies together.

The dying turned into an extravaganza where I wanted to see what else I could dye. I ended up dying three more shirts before I finally gave up.

This was a plain white tank that I was going to throw out anyways, so I thought I would try this out instead. I just wrapped a few rubber bands around it and put it halfway in the dye bucket. The dye just crept up through the fabric and gave it this look.

This was my favorite shirt ever, it was a gorgeous white flowy shirt that just happened to get soap stains on it from the laundry that wouldn't come out. Now it's... blue? (It was black dye... hmmm...) The only problem is I can't wear it with jeans any more! :(

And this was a light pink shirt with stains on it.

Braided Scarf

Here is the braided scarf I was working on earlier. I was excited that I would get to wear the glorious pink shiny fabric I attempted to make a skirt out of for Halloween... not only did I get to put pink in the scarf, I also got to feel like buying that fabric wasn't for nothing. The fabric wasn't cotton, so it doesn't fall as nicely as the shirt I used. I think I'll try again with two shirts next time. It was a really quick project (if it weren't for my distractions of other projects and pinterest).

Owl Bookends

Dear All,

I'm so sorry I have been boring you with such bland fonts! I promise to work a little harder to make my words a little more interesting with beautiful colors and large words. You're welcome.

*After posting this, it sends it right back to boring black. Fail.*

So today I finished my Owl Bookends that I'm not quite sure where I'm going to put yet. A classroom maybe? They are pretty freakin' cute!

So this is how I did it... I completely 'winged' it (Get it??? :)) and just looked at the picture to make them. Based on this, I'm happy for the way they turned out... as in not a complete disaster.

1. Buy your fabric. I ended up using about 1/4 yard of the main fabric (green polka dot) but I had bought over a yard... so look forward to seeing this fabric in lots of future posts! 1 sheet of felt in all the other colors. I followed the picture as close as possible because I was worried about straying too far and using my mind, but you can use whatever colors you want. Base it on this:

1/2 yard of main color (to be safe)

1 sheet felt contrasting color (for wings and nose... I used light pink)

1 sheet felt dark color (for pupils and feathers... I used dark brown)

1 sheet felt light color (for tummy and outside of eyes)

1 sheet felt complimentary color (for 2nd layer of eyes)

2. Draw the outline of your owl. I just drew mine on a piece of paper, cut it out, and traced it on the back of the fabric to cut out. You can use templates that are easy to find online. Here's an example. Make sure that your owl gets wider as you go towards the bottom so that it can wrap around to make it 3D. You might have to alter your template a little. Also make sure the bottom is flat, otherwise it won't stand straight.

3. Cut out 4 identical owls and set aside.

4. Cut out the rest of your pieces. You will need 8 wing pieces, 4 large circles, 4 medium circles, and 4 small circles (for layers of eyes), 2 triangle/ kite shapes for the noses, 2 tummy pieces, and however many feather pieces you want.

5. Construct your owls. Lay your face pieces on the owl the way you want them and pin.

6. Construct your wings: Sew along the outside of two wings, leaving the bottom open. Stuff with polyfil and set aside (don't sew up bottom!)

7. Sew on face pieces. I used a straight stitch and just carefully followed everything. Make sure you have your order right. Here's a suggested order of sewing:

Tummy, feathers, eye layer 1 (large), eye layer 2 (medium), eye layer 3 (small), nose. Make sure you're doing the same thing on both owls. Be careful and go slowly, this will take awhile.

8. Sew on the wings. If you do it right, you can sew up the bottom of the wings onto the edge of the face so that you get two birds with one stone. If you are worried about doing this, you can sew up the wings first and then sew them on along the same line.

9. Sew the front and back of the owls together. Remember... you are sewing a face piece to a plain piece on each owls... DO NOT SEW THE FACES TOGETHER. You will end up with a two-faced owl. I sewed them by putting the right sides together and the wrong sides out... pillowcase style. DO NOT SEW UP THE BOTTOM. If you do it right, you should have a dress-looking owl. Turn rightside out.

10. Fill with polyfil. If I were to do this over, I would have made sure I got lots of polyfil in the ears so they weren't so floppy and I would have made the animal more firm. Leave about 2" (wings down) at the bottom of the owl free of stuffing. This is where you will put your weights.

11. Make your weights. I filled sandwich baggies with rice about halfway full, folded the unused bag over on itself and taped with duct tape. This way, if I had to unsew it I wouldn't have to deal with rice flying everywhere. If you have a different way to weigh it down you can use that.

12. Put the weights inside the owls at the bottom. If you need to add more stuffing, you can take them out easily and add more. Play around until you have it right.

13. Add the bottom piece. This is the tricky part. All I did to make the bottom was cut out a rectangle a little bigger than the hole, put it inside, and fold down and sew the remaining body. It was a little tricky and I had to play around with it. I'm sure there is an easier way to do this, but what you want is a flat bottom so that the owls will stand up straight. Please let me know if you know how to do this more easily. I had to hand sew the fabric together. I then added ribbon around the seam lines with hot glue to hide my mess.

14. Enjoy your owl bookends!

Sorry my instructions weren't very clear and I didn't have pictures... I thought I should tell you how I did it since there aren't any tutorials for these cute things already made. If you make any, please let me know how they turn out, I would love to see pictures!!!

Here's both my guys together:

And here they are doing their job:

So what else have I been up to? Today I took on dying clothes... I needed to dye some white onsies black (If anyone can tell me where I can buy black onesies please let me know) to make some gifts for a friend. I had this whole bucket of dye I didn't want to waste, so I tried out dying an old shirt I was going to throw out anyways, a tank top I wanted to try fading, and a wonderful white blouse that I loved but somehow got something on that won't come off, no matter what I try. The worst part is, it looks like it's soap or something... like the laundry detergent got poured straight on the shirt and stained it, ugh. I just changed everything over to the dryer and it looks like the onesies and the tank turned black, but everything else is just kind of a navy blue. Looks like I need to soak them longer next time.

DON'T RUSH WITH CRAFTS!!!

I'm also in the middle of a braided scarf I wanted to try out while the onesies were drying. More updates soon!!!