Toilet Paper Roll Garland

So many toilet paper rolls and nothing to do! I guess you could recycle them... Or make some fun garland! On Mother's Day, my daughter and I decided to do a fun project together. We gathered some toilet paper rolls, some paint, a stapler and some string. 

First we painted the rolls (this is not a necessary step, but it's super fun for mommy and her 3 year old).

Let them dry.

Cut the toilet paper rolls in 1/2 to 2 inch strips... I don't think it really matters. My daughter tried to do this step, but the cardboard was a little tough for her to cut. 

Staple the strips together to make petals. Again, My daughter had a hard time with this, so she cut green leaves while I stapled.

A flower!

Tie the flowers together and...

Ta-dah!!!

Something pretty to hang in your house. Sometimes kids' projects are a little crazy  to be displayed all the time, not that I don't love everything my daughter colors or paints, but this is really simple and pretty. Simply fun! Add it to your activity jar!

Fabric Wreath

I am not a huge fan of wreaths honestly, but I thought this was cute. I saw a wreath somewhere (I don't remember what it looked like), and I came up with an idea to use all the little pieces of fabric have collected over the years. (I am a fabric hoarder and proud of it!) A fabric wreath! Fortunately, I was about to find a wreath base at the dollar store, so this project did not cost a lot. Unfortunately, this wreath bases are no longer available at the dollar store, and they can cost about $5 at Micheals, etc.

For this project you will need:

• Fabric! In these pictures, I used Fat Quarters (fabric sold in a quarter yard, usually used for quilting), but you can use any assortment of fabrics or ribbon that you have laying around. I would say, at the very least, have about 6 different fabrics. 
• Wreath base: grapevine or straw
• Rotary cutter/fancy scissors/regular old scissors 
• Self healing mat (optional)
• Quilting ruler

The two wreath color schemes I used. I have a ton of fat quarters just itching to be used, and I don't feel like making a quilt at the moment. =) 

Cut pieces of fabric in about 2inches by 8inches. If you have ribbon, just cut in 8 inch pieces, and if your fabric isn't 2 inches wide, just cut it in 8 inch pieces. There is no real uniformity to this other than eliminating all frayed edges. The easiest way to cut fabric is by stacking it too. Especially since fat quarters should be all the same size. 

Supplies are ready to go!

Start with one fabric, and tie around the fabric base in various places. When you are choosing places to tie, try and tie around various widths of the wreath base. Sometimes you will tie around the whole base, sometimes just a few strands of grapevine/straw. Also, change the direction in which you tie. Sometimes right over left, sometimes left over right. 

*You can also start your wreath in a different manner. Line up your fabric/ribbon stacks, and starting in one place on the wreath, rotate colors as you work around the wreath base. 

*Push the fabric together as you work to make more tying space and to create a fuller wreath. 

Four of each color at this point. Clearly not enough fabric, so I push the fabric together and keep on adding. 

 Finished product. My wreath base was about 9 inches across. I used 9 colors and 8 pieces of fabric for each color. That's 72 pieces. Unfortunately, there is no formula (at least not one that I have created) to know how many fabric pieces you will need, but at least this is a starting point.

More wreaths that I created. I think they are really cute, and the fabric that you can use really express your personality or can be displayed for the season. The one that I created on my wall has bright orange, red, brown and a little blue...my favorite mixture of colors! 

There are many variations to creating wreaths. They are easy, don't require sewing, and they don't take a lot of time. You will feel like you actually did something fancy in a short period of time. I like to cut the pieces, and then sit in front of the TV while I tie. It keeps my hands busy (I have trouble slowing down-- Type-A!), and it keeps me from snacking while I watch TV (common problem). If you want to use a styrofoam base, you can either tie all your fabric pieces around that, or cut your fabric pieces much shorter, and use push pins to put your fabric on the styrofoam. I have not tried this, but I'm sure it will work. I ALWAYS like to try new crafty things! Use fancy scissors to cut your fabric, glittery ribbon, or I have even seen this done with old cammies! Maybe use old T-shirts you hate to throw away, or baby clothes for the kids' room. Anything! 

Tell me your ideas! Happy Crafting! 

It's never too late...

It's never too late to thank the teachers that help our kids "grow." I know that Tuesday was Teacher Appreciation Day, but this whole week is Teacher Appreciation Week. I thought this was a really cute idea and although its a little late in the game (you still have 1.5 days!), I wanted to share what Lexi and I did for her teachers. (Plus, it is a super easy idea!)

                                 Supplies: Cute paper, Card board, and yes, those are wooden skewers.

Finished product. 

These cactus flowers started blooming before we gave them to Lexi's teachers and they were sooo beautiful. I am thinking about getting some, and I am hoping since they are "cactus," I won't kill them like every other plant I have ever owned. 

There are definitely cuter ideas out there on Pinterest for teachers, but I really liked the saying on this one. And who doesn't love plants? Just an overall fun idea. 

Yay to all those awesome teachers out there who do what I could never do! Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! 

First Craft Fair. Ever.

Well hello bloggity bloggers and blogettes! I guess if you are reading this blog, you might not technically be a blogger, but a blog reader. Ohwell. Anyways, in true Jaime fashion, I thought that I could do anything and everything, and go to every event without any regard for time, but I just can't! Meaning: I am sorry that I have had no time to blog these past few weeks. I was preparing for my first ever craft fair!

Being the type A personality that I am, doing my first craft fair was nerve wrecking. For some reason, the closer it got to the event, the more merchandise I thought I needed. Trust me, I did not need a lot, because it was a small fair. I live on a Marine Corps Base, in a very small town, and it was in the community center on base. There were about 15-20 other vendors. I guess it was good for a first time fair. Here's my booth.

One fun thing I enjoyed doing was handing out little goodies to all the kids that passed by. It made everyone stop by my booth. Wink wink.

I made (what I call) crayon roll-ups and basically those only sold to friends (Thanks to all who visited!). It was hard to decide about pricing, and I didn't really have time to look around at the rest of the crafters before the fair started. I realized about half way through, that another table was selling these at a MUCH lower price. So I slashed prices...That didn't really help either. I'll just have to try again.

These are women's half aprons. They did not sell at all. The funny thing was that I stayed up late the night prior making Marine Corps aprons because I thought that they would sell. Who knows! So many factors.

Kid's half aprons.

Kids whole aprons. I sold a few of these, but mainly in the "Cars" print. Anything "Cars" print went like hotcakes.

Fabric wreath.

Fabric wreathes and plush owls. The owls sold really well. Kids just ate them up and everyone else thought they were cute. Although, one kid was swinging his around by the feet, and it made me question my sewing skills. I was so afraid that foot was going to fall off. Haha.




All in all, the fair went well. I sold some things, and even after buying a few things from other vendors, I ended up with a decent profit. The poor lady next to me had baked goods, and she barely sold anything. She ended up giving a lot of it away. There really wasn't a lot of shoppers there. I am not sure if it was the location, the weather, or the advertising, but I am hoping for more shoppers during the next fair.

The crafts that I chose to make were rather easy, and I am sure I will post how to do them in the near future. I always thought that the things I made were too easy and if most people can make them, why buy them? But my friend Jenni says that there are plenty of people out there that have no interest in doing crafts, so they are willing to buy them. So true. Not everyone sees a craft and says "I can do that myself." (Yes, I walk around craft fairs looking for gift ideas, sewing ideas for my daughter, and easy decor.) Anyways, I think that this may be something I do again. We will see!

Thanks again for everyone's support! A truly enjoyable experience.