I was out shopping at Daiso the other day and discovered these cute jewel food picks. I decided to use them to serve up some snacks for a playdate. Anytime we have someone over for the first time, I like to serve something that's extra special. In this case, the special part was mainly the food picks.
Food picks like these are great for appetizers, bentos, or mini fruit kabobs.
I was out on the hunt for brads the other day and was a little shocked at the selection, in a good way. There's all kinds of styles ranging from faux screws to clouds to rhinestones! I must have stood there for a good ten minutes just to soak it all in. Then I did the next logical thing, bought a whole bunch of them. After I got home, it occurred to me that I could make my own. So I did a little experimenting and here's what I came up with:
Supplies: Brads, E600 glue, Embellishments
Some of the embellishments I used were, fabric buttons, buttons, and dresden trims.
We have no sink in our laundry room which means I have to hand wash clothes in the bathroom. I'm always dragging the giant laundry detergent container into the bathroom. Anyone else do this? I know there are worse inconveniences but it just seems silly to do this all the time. So, I converted one of my empty spice jars into a laundry detergent shaker. Now when I need to hand wash something, it's right there waiting for me to use. I just sprinkle a little detergent in the water and start washing. Problem solved with a little craftiness.
1. Clean out spice jar. Remove label with soap and water.
Get shaking!
The flowers above were made with basic square sticky notes from the office supply store. I got the idea from some standing dog shaped sticky notes I saw at Kinokuniya. It was obvious they were just folded sticky notes so it got me thinking about what else I could create with the concept. Below are a few ideas of what I came up with along with some simple instructions.
Supplies:
Here I just punched out a shape from one sticky note and added a second sticky note behind it.
Save the date.
Dress up a treat.
1959 Holt-Howard Santa Pitcher - Christmas gift to myself
Here's a cute Noritake sugar and creamer set I got at the thrift store. I'll be giving it to a friend this Christmas. She loves to host tea parties.
Will you be giving a cookie plate to friends or neighbors? Pick up unique plates at the thrift store for anywhere between $.25 to $3.00. It looks much better than a paper plate, it's green and they won't have to give you the dish back!
I'm sure you've seen these kind of invitations before. You upload your picture to a premade format and pay anywhere from $1 - $3 for one photo card. Well, I've got a cheaper way to make these and it doesn't involve a coupon code. Here's what I do:
I design my own invitation in Photoshop (you can use any digital editing programs). I make the measurements the same as I plan on having them printed. This way I don't have to worry about any cropping. Then, I save the file at the highest resolution possible.
P.S. Give you one guess what the theme of the party is going to be.
Do you write "Photos: Please Do Not Bend" on your envelopes when you send pictures in the mail? I do and I'll be honest with you; I'm not really sure if it makes any difference? Do the mail carriers read these notes? Do they take any extra care delivering your package? Is writing "do not bend" the equivalent of having a "baby on board" sign on your car? I may never know the answers to these questions but I rather be safe. Recently I had a lot of photos to send out and instead of writing "Do Not Bend" I decided to make some stickers I could just stick on the packages. So in the case you're like me, I'm sharing the clip art with you guys and a quick "how-to".
Right click, copy, save and print on 8 1/2" x 11" sticker paper. You can purchase printable sticker paper at most office supply stores. Cut out images.
This project is so easy, I can barely call it a craft but since it has to be labeled as something, a craft it is. I was out doing some back-to-school shopping when a cute hair clip caught my eye. Upon further inspection I discovered it was just an applique patch glued to a hair clip. So, I'll give you one guess how I made these. . .
Supplies: 
This is an idea I wrote down a while ago in my craft journal. It's been so long since I came up with the idea that I'm not even sure what made me think of it. I suspect I was brainstorming things I could make with Japanese masking tape but who really knows. Anyhow, these twist ties are super easy to make. I think they would be great for favors, especially if you have a specific color theme.
Cut a piece of tape to the length you want your twist tie. Place on table, sticky side up.
Cut a piece of wire slightly shorter than your tape. Place in center of tape.
Place another piece of tape on top, sticky sides together.
Trim twist tie with pinking shears or regular scissors. Done.
Lately all of my son's jeans have been ripping. In fact, even today I discovered a new hole in a pair of pants. It's as if we have some hole making monster living in the house. So to make the pants last till summer, I'm applying patches to them. My son picked out this guitar patch; he was so excited about it. He's already making suggestions for other patches I can buy. 
If you've never used a clothing patch before, they're really easy to apply. Basically, you just iron it on to the clothing. I also recommend sewing around the edges of the patch to ensure that it does not come off. You can find these patches at dollar stores, craft stores, and sewing shops. I purchased the guitar patch at Daiso. 
I came up with this idea to make rainbow cupcakes about a year ago. The only thing holding me back was finding twisty marshmallows, until now. I discovered the marshmallows selling at a local Asian market, yipeeee! So needless to say, the hardest thing about this project is finding the marshmallows. Otherwise, making the cupcakes is simple. Enjoy.
Place a toothpick on each side of the marshmallow. Place toothpicks in the top of the cupcake to form a rainbow.
Brighten up sweaters and jackets with charms in your jewelry box. Simply attach them to the zipper for a little extra color. If your charms only come with jump rings, add a large lobster clasp to the jump ring to easily take it on and off the zipper. Just make sure to take off the charm before washing.
I experimented with all kinds of charms including this cell phone charm. It looks just as good as the jewelry charms.
Here's a little blast from my past, plastic charms. I used to have a purple plastic chain necklace with about 20 of these charms hanging off it. Did anyone else have one of these necklaces?
I bet you can't tell this banana has already been cut. And if you turned it over on the other side, it would look exactly the same. So here's the story behind this. Long ago my brother received a magic trick set for his birthday. Now like a typical brother, he wouldn't let me play with anything. However, there was a book that came with the kit. Oh yes, one glorious book that I was able to get my hands on. In this book were directions on how to cut a banana while keeping the peel intact. The trick did not require any of the toys that came with the kit so I was able to try it out. It worked! To this day I've never forgotten this simple magic trick. 
Supplies:
Insert the pin in where you see the first dot on the right. Make sure it does not stick out the other end. Swivel the pin left to right to slice the banana. Make a slice for each dot. Remove pin. Do all of this ahead of time.
Casually grab a banana from the fruit bowl. Say some magical words "A la peanut butter sandwiches" and peel open the banana to reveal the slices.
