Gift Wrapping with Mizuhiki Cord

I decided to decorate some of my Christmas presents this year with mizuhiki cord. The knot on the box is called an abalone knot. It's also referred to as awabi musubi, the Josephine knot, or a good luck knot. This is one of the easier mizuhiki knots to make.




Supplies:
mizuhiki cord - I purchased the cord in SF Japan town. You can also find it online.
scissors
hot glue gun

First make the abalone shell knot. I used five cords to make the knot. I recommend starting with three cords then weaving the last two cords into the knot. Make sure to keep your cords flat when making the knot. You don't want the cords to be twisted. Set the knot aside for later.

Using three mizuhiki cords, wrap the gift just like you would using ribbon and knot on top.

Take one of the tales of the knot and make a loop. Tuck the end of it into the center knot and pull through part of the way.

Space the cords of the loop to look like the picture above. Trim the tails of the cord.

Take the abalone knot and hot glue it to the top of the gold cord. You can also use wire to adhere it to the top as well.

If you liked this post, you might also like "How to Make a Mizuhiki Heart Knot".

Thanksgiving Paper Craft

I found these cute paper toy patterns at Macula via Paper Kraft. The kid's and I made these today for a rainy day project. Well actually, I made them and the kids watched. It's a relatively easy project but just a little time consuming. I think it took me about an hour to two hours to make. It's kind of hard to gauge because I was doing other things in between making the toys. I would guess if you had a quiet house with no interruptions, you could make them in an hour.

There's a whole set of Thanksgiving themed toy patterns at Macula. All the patterns appear to be free to download. There's also other patterns to choose from. Click here for patterns.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

Bugaloo Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Mary who chose the Robyn shoe, you are the winner of the giveaway!

Bugaloo is running a promotion offering 15% off your entire order. Make sure to enter the promo code "wonderful" to receive the discount. The promotion will end November 27th.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

My husband told me about a peanut butter and jelly cookie he had at a bakery once. They sounded so good that I decided to give it a try. They were surprisingly easy to make. Simple directions below.

Start with a basic peanut butter cookie recipe (I use this Martha Stewart one). Prepare the cookies as directed. Bake them for only half of the time directed on the recipe. Take the cookies out and push a deep indent in the center of the cookies. Then fill with about a 1/4 tsp of grape jelly. If you add too much jelly, it will melt all over the cookie. Place the cookies back in the oven and bake them for the remainder of the recipe time. Let cool and serve with a tall glass of milk.

Upcycled Christmas Ornaments

Do these look familiar? They're plastic toy containers that you get out of the gumball machines. The other day I got the idea of making them into Christmas ornaments. I strung ribbon through the holes on top and tied a bell in the inside. Then I just stuffed them with tinsel. Candy could be another alternative to the tinsel.

Bugaloo Baby Shoe Giveaway

Heidi Wells, owner of Bugaloo sent me these adorable baby shoes to review. After seeing what a great product she provides and learning more about her company here, I knew it was something worth sharing.

When my children were babies I bought them the expensive Robeez that look similar to the Bugaloo shoes. So when I saw the Bugaloo shoes were only a fraction of the price ($18 versus $30), I was curious to see how they would compare in quality. I first checked all the stitching, elastic, leather quality, everything. After my inspection, I have to say the Bugaloo shoes are superior to the competition. They are lined with cotton fabric, other brands do not have this feature. What also makes Bugaloo shoes unique is the dark brown soles that hide stains. The only possible fault I could find is Bugaloo has fewer styles than the other brand. However, I think the cute contemporary designs Heidi has created more than makes up for this. Oh and I almost forgot, they come packaged very nicely. I'm a sucker for good packaging.

How To Win A Pair of Bugaloo Shoes

Visit Bugaloo here, and pick out which shoe you want to win.

Come back to this site and leave a comment saying what your favorite style is (choose wisely, the one you select will be the one you receive if you win).

Make sure to leave an email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win.

One entry per person

The contest will run until Saturday, November 22, 2008.

I will randomly choose one winner Sunday, November 23, 2008.

This contest is open to everyone. International friends welcome

I will notify the winner through email. The winner will have five days to claim their prize.

All emails submitted will not be sold or used for any kind of solicitation.

Good Luck

Contest Closed

How to Make Pine Cone Votives

If you could look out at my yard right now, you would see it's covered in pine cone scales. For some reason the tree will not give me a single pine cone, only the scales. Which to say the least, is very disappointing. What do you do with a bunch of pine cone scales? So after a little thought, I came up with this simple project. Directions below.

Supplies:
Pine Cone Scales
Hot Glue
Cardboard
Glass votive

Cut out a circle from any kind of heavy cardboard. This will be your base. Make sure the circle is big enough to fit the glass votive plus the pine cone scales that will lay around it.

Place the votive in the center of the cardboard and trace the bottom of it. This will be your guideline for how far in you can glue the pine cone scales.

Hot glue pine cone scales onto the cardboard(refer to picture).
Glue a second layer, alternating the scales with the first layer. Continue this process until the votive is at the desired height.

Place the glass votive back in and add a candle.
Always use caution while using candles. Never leave a candle in an unattended room.

Flower Garland Tutorial

Thank you to everyone who left a comment asking me to post a tutorial. It made my weekend to see all the comments. So without further ado, here's the tutorial.

*Click on the pictures to enlarge images

Supplies:
Catalog - I used the kind that are stapled together, not bound. You'll need a catalog with at least 30 pages/pieces of paper.
Scissors
White Glue
Cut off the bottom of the catalog, make sure the piece you're using is stapled together. You might want to add another staple for extra reinforcement.

Step 1: Open the first page of the catalog. Now place glue on the page (refer to picture). Glue down to the back of the cover.

You should now have a loop.

Repeat step 1 with the next page.

Now you should have two loops.

Repeat the process till all the pages are glued except the cover page to the left. Let sit for a half hour to dry.

Now, glue the last page to complete the flower. Let dry overnight.

Thread fishing line through a loop to hang.

* When I first made the flowers, I was concerned if they would hold up. After hanging all day, stepped on and batted at by a three year old the flowers are still in tact. So in my opinion, they pass the test.

If you have any questions about the project just leave me a comment or email me.

My Brother's Artwork

Did I ever mention my brother is an artist? No? Sorry about that. Well he just started putting some of his work online. He entered this illustration into a T-shirt contest and I was hoping you could help him out. If you have a little time, please go over to Threadless T-Shirts and vote for his design. Thanks.


Here's more of his artwork. He was asked to design some cards with a monster theme. Although, I think the Cowl(cow/owl) looks kind of cute.

Flower Garland Made from Catalogs

On a whim I decided to make something for the Singer/Craft Upcyclist Party Contest. However, I'm pretty sure I have no chance of winning, something sewn is strongly recommended. No sewing was involved in this project. Which begs the question, why did I enter it in the first place? I guess it just sounded like a fun challenge and gave me a good excuse to craft something. Anyhow, if you haven't heard about the contest you should check it out. The deadline is November 14th.

I'll probably post directions for the flower garland next week if people are interested. Just let me know in the comments.

Have a great weekend!

Make Gift Tags with Fabric Scraps

Is it just me or is it hard to part with small scraps of fabric? I never know what to do with them, they're difficult to store and yet I can't let go. I keep telling myself, "I'll need this for something". And if I dare throw it out, oh the guilt, the horrible guilt. Well, after a little brainstorming I came up with using the fabric scraps for gift tags. They're quick, easy and inexpensive to make.

Simple directions below.

Here's what a basic shipping tag looks like. They come in an assortment of sizes. You can find them at office supply stores.

Cut a small piece of fabric with pinking shears. Hand sew fabric onto tag.

Write or stamp a message inside. Done.

Cute as a Button Ornament

Can I just tell you that this is my favorite time of year, when Halloween is over and we go full force into the holidays. While some are rolling their eyes at the Christmas displays already up, I'm secretly reveling and rejoicing in them. It's not like I want to speed along Thanksgiving or anything but Christmas holds a special place in my heart. I like to stretch out the holiday as much as possible. My tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving and is taken down on New Year's Day. So just like the stores are setting up their displays, here's my first Christmas project of the year, the button ornament. Happy Holidays.

right click on image, copy, save

to see the image in a larger size just click on it