A Swag of Flags This colorful swag of fabric flags makes a great decoration for parties… or for no reason at all. By the way, what is the right name for this thing? A garland? No, that is supposed to be flowers or leaves or something. Banner? No, that is supposed to be one long strip. […]

Spiral-bound bounty I just cannot stop making these notebooks/journals. I guess I need to start selling them… although they take so long to make that I’m not sure I could price them within reason. The covers of the ones above, came from a vinyl 33rpm LP record album cover. Again, the interior pages are an odd […]

Upcycle a Shoe Box & Old Board Games I love board games! Electronic games can be fun, too, but there is something special and intimate about playing board games, whether with family members or close friends. Even the pieces scream “FUN!” … colorful glossy game boards, clattering dice, and tokens make of plastic, wood, or metal. […]

Human Plushie I had a request to make a human female plushie and (at long last)… here she is! The request was for a specific style of stuffed doll, similar to the Japanese “UFO Catcher” plush anime characters. She was originally supposed to be about five or six inches tall, but she ended up closer to seven or […]

Facebook Twitter and You Tube Throw Pillows These are great gifts for a young person who is a fan of Facebook, Twitter, and/or YouTube. My pillows are made out of flannel (except for the lettering on the You Tube pillow, which is felt.) However, they could also easily be made from fleece or felt. I put a flap on […]

Carpe diem! Words are powerful things. They can inspire us, or touch our hearts. For most of my adult life, I have collected quotations and posted them where I will see them daily, in an effort to absorb their messages. Typically, I jot them on wipe-off boards, or print them via my computer’s inkjet printer and then tape them […]

Love on deck  I ran across this idea on the Craftster web site last year, and instantly fell in love with it. (The artist of that “52 Reasons I Love You” card-deck book said the idea had been around a long time, but I’d never seen it before.) What a great way to make someone […]

Spiraling swirls of hearts and flowers My husband, Bill, and I have been married many years, and he is not only my True Love, he is also my dearest friend. The other day, I was reminiscing about our romantic courtship and the early years of our marriage. We didn’t have much money back then, but we […]

Anti-virus protection! Last year around Christmas-time, I discovered a great craft project over at the Chica and Jo craft web site. (Love their web site!!!) It involved embellishing a tissue box cover with computer keyboard keys. My husband is a “computer professional”, so I could not wait to make my own version as a gift! […]

I was enchanted when I saw some wonderful, roughly-quilted scrapbooks on one of my current favorite web sites, Craftster. The creator of these lovely books, Craftster’s Phizzychick, credited Teesha Moore, who has a series of YouTube videos showing how to make these gorgeous journals and scrapbooks. I owe my cousin a wedding present, so it was […]

How to make a customized letter opener The other day, my teenage son (who is at an age where he is getting lots of mail from different universities who sincerely want our money) was asking for a letter opener. We looked around the house (I know that there is one around here, somewhere…) to no avail. […]

Design and make your own write-on wipe-off board Message boards are so useful, and yet most of them are so…. well, let’s face it — UGLY. Wouldn’t it be great to have one that actually coordinated with your decor? One that made a statement (even when there was no message written on it?) Well, here you […]

Need place card holders for a wedding? Or maybe signs for a bake sale? Here is a quick and inexpensive solution: tea light card holders. All you need are tea lights/votive candles, wire (I used 18 gauge), wire cutters, and needle nose pliers. First, measure and cut some lengths of wire. Mine were 4.5 inches […]

When I was in junior high school, I worked in the school’s library. I think it was actually an elective course I took, to get out of taking a foreign language. While I now regret that I do not speak foreign languages, working in the library had its own rewards. Re-shelving required me to focus my […]

How to make a sweatshirt scrapbook The other day, I was sorting through some old clothes to donate to charity, and I ran across a sweatshirt from my son’s elementary school days. On the one hand, it seemed silly to keep a child-sized sweatshirt when my son is now in high school, and stands over six feet […]