Vintage Button & Lace Necklace!

Sorry I've been MIA lately!  My little brother got married and we have been busy busy with family things and also with lots of fun crafts to go with it!  I have lots of fun things to show you, but I thought before I run out the door to the next thing I'd just show you this fun necklace I made for my new sister-in-law's vintage-themed hen party.  I was totally inspired to use my vintage buttons by the button headband tutorial at Little Miss Momma (I made one of those, too, but I'll have to show it to you later).

It was very easy to make and turned out just fabulous.  Here are the steps!

1.  Gather up your supplies: Vintage buttons (okay, they don't have to be vintage, but I used buttons from my stash that I found in the bottom of the sewing cabinet I inherited from my Grandma, which makes it extra special), a length of lace (I believe I had about 30" here), straight pins, and needle and thread.  I also made a fabric flower out of linen.


2.  Tie the two ends of the lace together, then put it on.  In front of a mirror, use the straight pins to mark where you're going to want your button clusters.

3.  Lay your necklace out and play with your buttons and bits and bobs until it's just how you like it.

4.  Sew buttons and such to lace.

All done!  I got compliments on it all night, too!

Trying my hand at metal stamping!

I've seen several tutorials online lately for metal stamping, and since it fulfills all my favorite craft attributes -- cute, easy, and cheap -- I decided to give it a go!  I found a great tutorial at Craft Edition and ordered my kit right from her, but I'm sad to say that was her last one.  You can get the stamping alphabets at Harbor Freight here, though, for $5 plus shipping.  I decided to make a key chain for my awesome little brother Nick's birthday.  I stamped his  name on the smaller ring, then two words I think describe him on the larger ring.  I looped a length of webbing through both rings, made another loop at the other end, and then sewed the layers together.  I clipped a ring in the end for his key ring.  He loved it!  I saw him clip it onto his keys when he didn't know I was looking, so I know he wasn't just saying it...  :)  I love it, too, and I've got all sorts of plans for more keychains in the future!
Materials:  Washers -- just from the hardware store!; Webbing -- Lil Davis Designs; Ring -- Walmart office supply section

I also made this card to go with it -- two guy cards in a row has to be a record for me!  I added the pennant banner as a little extra touch, because I can't seem to make anything without one these days...

Materials: PP -- Making Memories (big polka dot), Imaginisce (tiny orange polka dot); stamp -- Stampin Up; punch (notebook edge) -- EK Success; Diecuts -- Cricut George Cartridge

Hooray for nursery!

So, in our church, 18 months is a big milestone -- it's the age at which little ones can go to nursery instead of getting hauled around to Sunday School with Mom and Dad.  And as I'm sure you can understand, we always look forward to the big first day of nursery with anticipation, because having to sit quietly through two hours of grown-ups talking is not high on any toddler's list (and having to wrestle a toddler for two hours when you'd really like to sit quietly and listen is not high on the grown-up's list, either).  I'd taken pictures of the boys on their first day but I'd never scrapped them, so when Eliza reached this magical age I thought I'd do a page with all three of them at the same time.  It's so fun to look at pictures of the three of them at exactly the same age, just to see their differences and similarities.  At the time it seems like they are so big, but looking back now (even at Eliza, just a few months later), they just seem so little.  These kids are growing up way too quickly, if you ask me!

Materials:  PP -- Imaginisce (cloud background), Sassafrass Lass; Die Cuts -- Cricut Lyrical Letters; Rub-ons (black stitches) -- Doodlebug

The big 3-0...

Well, my little brother Dan turned 30 a couple days ago -- he's been really not happy about hitting this milestone, so I thought this sentiment was perfect for him!  Guy cards are hard for many of us.  I particularly don't like how they end up kinda dreary a lot of the time when we use dark colors and "manly" images.  For this one I used nice clean bright colors and added a lot of texture with the slightly roughed-up edge, the notebook punch, the clear plastic star, and the cork numbers. Nothing dreary about turning 30 or about this card!

Materials:  PP -- Scenic Route; Border punch -- EK Success; Cork -- Quickutz (this does not cut at all the Cricut, but it worked like a charm in the Cuttlebug); Stamps -- Stampin Up; Dies (for numbers) -- Cuttlebug Olivia alphabet; star -- Heidi Swapp