I may be a bit obsessed with bird’s nests. Just a tad bit. So when I found myself idly rolling some silk cord through my fingers one day, wondering what to do with it, I realized that I had to make a bird’s nest. Or two.

These hair clips are so fast and simple to make that I kind of surprised myself by stopping at two. I have worn them both about 18 million times since creating them, too, so maybe it’s a good thing I don’t have more.

To make them, just roll a piece of silk cord up between your fingers, and sew through all the layers every few twists to help hold it in place.

Unlike a rosette, though, you want to start moving the cord up at the edges, rather than laying it flat so you have some place to put the eggs.

Then just string a bunch of beads onto a needle and thread and sew them into the center of the nest.

That’s it! I then went ahead and sewed the edges of the nests onto two hair clips, but they would also make nice pins or other decorations.

This post is linked up with #iPPP and Fireflies and Jellybeans

I had so much red and white felt left over from my Valentine’s Day garland, that I decided to play around with a few sheets and see if I could come up with anything else. A sheet of red, a sheet of white, one button and some hot glue later, and I had this:

It’s made of six large red hearts glued to a circle, topped with six white slightly smaller white hearts. On top of this was six white hearts that I put a dab of glue into the center of and pinched to help them stand upright. It’s finished with six small red hearts and a button from my stash.

I hot glued it to a dollar store headband so I have a funky Valentine’s Day hair accessory to wear today.

Final time and cost: 5 minutes and $1.50.

Linked up with Today’s Creative Blog, Fireflies and Jellybeans and Fingerprints on the Fridge

Several months ago, we switched from paper towels to microfiber towels in our kitchen. I cannot tell you how awesome the switch was and how gleeful I am to never buy paper towels again. It made me so giddy in fact, that it made me dig out an old project that I began about 2 years ago, but abandoned for lack of interest: Cloth napkins.

I picked up a bunch of remnants of fabric about 2 years ago with this project in mind. I wanted some pretty, colorful, cheerful napkins for everyday use.

I love the idea of not buying any more paper napkins, and using these instead. I also love the idea of having such a stack of pretty fabrics in the center of my table each day. These were meant to be displayed.

I used a rolled hem, which was super easy to do, and is surprisingly strong.

To make them, cut your fabric down to a little larger than what you want the finished napkin to be. Then, roll in the hem as tightly as possible on one side. I liked the way they turned out with five or six rolls, but you could do more or less.

Insert the needle into the end of the roll, having it poke out toward you from the middle.

Pull it through and poke it below the roll through to the other side.

Pull through, and poke the needle back through the fabric toward you again, below the roll about an 1/8 of an inch from where it went out.

Pull through and give it a little tug, then poke it through the roll to the left, taking care not to come out on the finished side. Bring it through about 1/4 of an inch down the roll.

Pull it through, give it a tug and repeat the first steps. Keep going all the way around the napkin. I like to use one really long thread – seriously 4 feet long – to keep from having to knot off and begin again. It goes really fast and gives them a really charming, handmade/rustic look that holds up well.

I’m planning on making even more in a few other fabrics, but for now I think I have enough that we can really start using them daily. They make me so happy!

Linking up with Blissful and Domestic

While Jacque is a great dog, and we love having him in our house, he has been a bit of a desctructo of late. To date he has managed to rip, mangle or destroy:

• Two pillows
• A section of two of my antique quilts
• One of the rails of Gunne Bear’s new train set
• One of G Bear’s monster slippers

Needless to say I have been repairing, sewing and ordering replacements nearly daily since he arrived.

One of the pillows he destroyed was part of a set that I hadn’t cared for that much. They were generic blue stripes that fit into the apartment that we bought them for, but not so much the color scheme of the room they’re in in the new house.

So when I was faced with one blue striped pillow, and one ripped-to-pieces pillow, I decided to make new covers for both of them out of some fabric that I had sitting around.

The original pillow:

The fabric:

To make them:

I laid out the pillow on the fabric and cut out four squares that were 1-inch larger in size than the pillow itself.

I serged the edges and sewed together two squares inside out, leaving one side open to make a pouch.

For the pillow that was still intact, I just stuffed the old pillow right inside.

I folded in and top stitched the end shut for this one.

For the second one, I hemmed nearly the whole open end when I stitched the two sides together, leaving only a small opening. I flipped it right side out and stuffed it with the filling from the ripped pillow, then only had to stitch closed the small opening at the bottom. Much easier.

The reason I did it this way, rather than simply making a slip cover for the one that was intact is that I wanted them to match and I couldn’t make a slip cover for one and a full pillow for the other – the difference between them would have driven me batty.

I love, love, love, love, LOVE the way they came out – they match the decor in our downstairs family room much better now – pictures of the whole room to come once I finally finish decorating in there.

This post is linked to delicateCONSTRUCTION, Fingerprints on the Fridge and Home is Where My Story Begins

Of course all this Christmas crafting is going to rub off on the G Bear. He heard me say something about making an ornament, and wanted to get involved, too.

This super-cute wreath ornament takes only a few minutes to make and is toddler friendly, if any of you have toddlers or kids who want to get in on the Christmas craftiness this year.

To start you’ll need:

• Red and green beads – we used snowflake and spoke shape for texture
• 20 gauge memory wire
• A pipe cleaner
• Candy canes and corn chips for snacking on are optional, but we did find them helpful

To make the ornament:
Bend the end of a piece of wire into a small  loop so the beads don’t slide off the end. Cut the wire down to the size you want your ornament to ultimately be. We went small, because my toddler does not have the longest attention span in the world, but you can go as large as you want.

Begin threading the green and red beads onto the wire. I held the wire still while Gunne put the beads on. He was able to do it himself, but he liked the idea of us doing it ” ‘gether”.

Keep threading the beads, mixing up the colors and shapes until you fill nearly the whole wire. Leave about an inch or so at the end.

Take the loose piece of wire and push it through the loop you made at the beginning. Pull it tight to make a circle, then back off just a hair to give yourself room to place the bow.

Twist the pipe cleaner into a bow and use the last little bit of loose wire on the wreath to anchor it into place.

Finally, hang it on your happy Christmas tree and enjoy!

This post has been a part of iPhone Photo Phun.