Winner and Mod Podge Notebook {tutorial}

Before we get to today’s tutorial I want to announce the winner from my blogiversary giveaway!

Drumroll please……

Ani from Happiness is…. !

This is where I planned on putting the picture from random.org of how the winner was generated but my computer keeps freezing every time I try! Sorry!

Congratulations! Look in your email for a note from me! Thanks to everyone who entered! Now onto today’s tutorial!

Sometimes it feels like I can never turn my brain off. Do you ever have that feeling? I have all these thoughts and ideas running through my brain. And most of them have something to do with projects or this blog (which let’s face it, go hand in hand…all my projects end up on here eventually!). Or I have these brilliant Thursday Thoughts posts all written in my head…without anything to write them down on because I’m not near my computer. So I decided I wanted a notebook to carry around. One that was small enough to fit in my purse yet big enough for my ideas :). But naturally I couldn’t have just any notebook! It had to be totally me!

Supplies Needed:

• Notebook
• paper
• Mod Podge
• Embellishment
• Ribbon

Step 1: Trace the front of the notebook on your paper and cut out.

Step 2: Paint a layer of mod podge onto your notebook. Before you lay the paper down, carefully place the end of your ribbon at the top. Then place the paper down and mod podge the top.

Step 3: Using mod podge or hot glue, attach your embellishment. I was using just a chipboard embellishment that I had colored with a black sharpie (cause I’m that awesome) so I just used mod podge to attach it. Let dry.

I promise those bubbles went away. It was just wet. Anyway, after it dries, grab a pen and get writing! So what are you going to use your notebook for?

Brittany

Blue Cricket Design

Giveaway Ending Tonight

Tonight is the end of my Blogiversary giveaway! You can enter here to win your choice of either a Rapunzel or car activity mat.

The entries are relatively low so your chances of winning are high! I can even customize it with your child’s name. And even if you don’t have a child of your own to give it to it would make a great gift!

The winner will be announced tomorrow with the new Tuesday Tutorial!

Brittany

Hopping on Friday....

Welcome to My Decoupaged Life! Make sure to check out the site and follow if you like what you see! I promise to follow back if you leave a comment! Also if you run an Etsy shop or the like make sur eyou check out the "Sponsor a Tutorial" page. It's great publicity for you. I'm also on Facebook and Twitter!
And don't forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win your choice of a Rapunzel or car activity mat!

Mom, are you listening?

The other day, my daughter and I were sitting and talking. To be honest I have no idea what we were talking about because let’s face facts, most conversations with two year olds are about the same. I thought I was doing a great job following what she was saying when suddenly she starting knocking on my face. Not hard mind you, but just enough as if to say “Mom, are you listening?” She did this about 3 times. I was giving her my full attention but it really got me thinking, how often to I really give her the undivided attention she deserves?

Sometimes I think we get so caught up in “being a mom” that we forget to actually be a mom. We want to be the perfect blogger, have the perfect house, be the perfect teacher to our kids that we forget to just sit down and listen to them. There are so many things we could learn if we took the time.

Since then I’ve really tried to make an effort to sit and give my daughter my complete and undivided attention. Man is she hilarious! I love listening to the little thoughts she has. And to think, I could be missing them because I’ve chosen to stick my head in the computer or whip up a new project.

Felt Tic Tac Toe and Checkers Board {tutorial}

This year my goal has been to hand make all gifts. I’ve done pretty well so far. I did buy a couple gifts for my daughter and one for a party she was going to (it was the same day as hers! Give me a break!) but overall I’ve done well. Now I just need to mail them. It’s only been 2 months. That’s ok right?

Anyway while struggling to come up with ideas for all of the boys in our family (did I mention there are 17 nieces and nephews just on my husband’s side???) I came across one of those inspiration pamphlets they have strategically placed all over Hobby Lobby. It was all about felt (I think I might have a slight addiction to the stuff- it’s so cheap and you can make so many cute things!) and had this great idea. I ran with it and without further adieu here is the tutorial.

Supplies Needed:

• 2 pieces felt for x’s (I used 2 different colors)
• 2 pieces felt for o’s (2 different colors different from x’s)
• 2 pieces felt for checker pieces (obviously you need to have 2 different colors)
• 1 12x12 piece for board
• 1 piece red felt for checker board
• 1 piece white felt for tic tac toe board
• hot glue
• 1 piece for a bag

Step 1: Let’s start with the board itself. A checker board has 64 squares. So you need to make 32 red squares. Um, I’m not so great with math (I studied drama for a reason people) so I just kind of guesstimated. At any rate you need to then glue them checkerboard style (obviously).

Step 2: Now flip your board over so you can make the tic tac toe part. This is where your white comes in handy. You will need 4 pieces so that when placed there are 9 squares on the board. To find the measurements I folded my board in thirds one way and then thirds again the other. Hot glue the pieces in place.

Step 3: Ok now it’s time to start making your pieces (well really you can do these step sin any order but since you all trust me judgment explicitly I know you’ll follow my steps;) ). Alright let’s go with O’s first. I found a couple of objects to trace: blue painters tape role and the top of a mason jar. I used these to make 4 O’s (X goes first so you really only need 4!) Trace and cut out on two different colors. Then hot glue the colors together. I did this for 2 reasons: 1. because then you don’t see my permanent marker since it’s on the inside and 2. because it makes the pieces sturdier.

I was making two boards- hence more than 4 O’s- don’t freak out!

Step 4: For the X’s I used a ruler and just kind of drew to be what I thought made a good looking X. Trace, cut out, and hot glue together just like the O’s- but remember! you need 5 X’s.

Step 5: Find something round to trace for the checker pieces. Make sure that your pieces will fit on your squares! Cut out 30 circles. Then, like the tic tac toe pieces, glue them together. This will give you 15 pieces so you have 3 extra. I chose to have both sides of my pieces the same color, like real checker pieces. Repeat with another color.

Step 6: To finish off you are going to make a pouch to hold all those pieces. I just grabbed a full sheet of 9x12 felt. Hot glue one 9” edge to your board. Then fold the felt to make a pouch and hot glue the sides. I also added a name from some scrap felt I had.

And you’re done! What’s great about this is you can fold it, stuff it, roll it, and no matter what you still have an awesome game!

Brittany

www.bluecricketdesign.net

Friday Blog Hops

Welcome to My Decoupaged Life! Make sure to check out the site and follow if you like what you see! I promise to follow back if you leave a comment! Also if you run an Etsy shop or the like make sur eyou check out the "Sponsor a Tutorial" page. It's great publicity for you. I'm also on Facebook and Twitter!
And don't forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win your choice of a Rapunzel or car activity mat!

Hooded Towel {tutorial}

In honor of both my blogiversary and my 100th post (woohoo!) I decided to respost my very first tutorial. I started with a hooded towel tutorial. It's funny to read now and see how far I've come both in writing and crafting. i even left it completely in tact so you can see the progressions as well. Enjoy!



So my daughter's infant towels are just getting way too small. They never really dried her off completely to begin with. So I decided I wanted to make one myself. I searched online and found this site.
So here are the instructions, complete with pictures of my progress.

Supplies needed:
1 hand towel
1 bath towel
matching thread
needles
sewing machine
double sided bias tape (optional)



1. Cut the hand towel in half. See picture below. You will only be using one half, so potentially you could make two of these towels!



2. Find the midpoint of the bath towel. Lay the hand towel cut side up above the bath towel. Line up the midpoints. I overlapped the two to sew them together, but you can sew them together how you want.






3. After sewing the two pieces together, fold the towels in half, hamburger style :). Pin the top of the hand towel together (the cut side should have folded in half). Sew this together.



4. Unfold the towel. You now have a hood!






5. I decided I wanted more than just pink. So I bought green (a common theme for my daughter) double sided bias tape and sewed it to the edge of the hood. This was probably the hardest part simply because I had never worked with bias tape before.



And that's it! I found the project to be super easy. You can also add extra embellishments if you want. It would be super cute to have a little patch that adds personality or have your child's name.
Have fun making it! If while you're making it you find little tips to help other readers, feel free to comment!