I saw this wooden arrow class by Courtney Cerruti on the Valentine’s Day crafts page of Creativebug and knew these would be the perfect quirky thing to make my friends for Galentine’s Day. I’ve taken a couple of Courtney’s online classes before (and one in person at the Michaels Makers Summit), and I love how her ideas are always fresh and allow for a lot of creativity. She always explains each step well and makes good suggestions for other materials you can use. I also like that her projects always leave plenty of room for you to insert your own little pizazz.

With my wooden arrow, I used a much smaller dowel and used crepe paper for the feathers. I love that I didn’t need to have the exact materials she used, but was still able to get the same cute outcome. I watched it once through first to get a general idea for the project and what materials to gather. Then, I watched it two more times while I was working on it, and about an hour and a half later I was done with all 6 arrows. I didn’t use the Valentine’s messages they had, but made my own little message that says, “Roses are red, Smurfs are blue, I’m thankful for a friend like you!”

I tied the arrow onto another dowel and stuck that in a little vase of flowers. Then, I will make my Galentine’s delivery at the end of this week. My girls are asking if they get to make their own arrows, but I think they’re going to really enjoy making love bugs for their friends.

This post is in partnership with Creativebug. Since we homeschool, we are big fans of Creativebug and have used some of their classes for art.  If you want to try it out, Creativebug is currently offering a one month free trial with the code: LOVE.

Felt Floral Letter
Michaels currently has various types letter forms that can be used for this project

Supplies:
Flower template (click to download and print)
Wooden letter form
Felt in various colors
Yarn in various colors
10 – 6″ strands of wire, 24 gauge
Floral tape
Scissors
Glue gun & glue stick

Directions:
1. Wrap yarn around your fingers about ten times. Place a strand of wire in the center, twist wire together under the yarn. Snip yarn ends.
2. Wrap floral tape around the flower center to secure.
3. Cut out all your petal pieces in the shape of a heart. Cut 2 leaf pieces per flower. To attach each petal onto the center, add a dab of glue on the bottom of the petal, then pinch and press onto the base of the flower center. Repeat for each petal (about 4 petals per flower). Add a dab of glue to the bottom of each leaf and add onto the base of the petals.
4. Roll wire end around finger, add some glue and then place onto the letter form. Repeat until all flowers have been used.

Note- Depending on the letter you create, you may need more flowers to fill the letter form.

Glow’s been learning her letters, so she’s all about that G-L-O-W. You could even fill the letter form with pom poms, or stuff it with colorful tissue paper. The current Michael’s Make Market section is filled with plenty of options for you to personalize letters to fit your own decor.

This is our first shot at a craft video, so we would love your feedback!

Follow Cakies on YouTube here.
See other photos and videos by Christian and Reinna here.

Supplies for this provided as part of the Michaels Makers Series.

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I have finally have some spice organization going on … woot! We’ve been married 10 years and our spices have been living out of that box on the floor of our pantry the entire time. It’s pretty terrible, and when I’m cooking I spread everything out on the floor (like this), until I find the one I’m looking for, and then I toss it back in the box. It was one of my goals to get that thing organized during Christmas break. Then Michaels Maker’s challenge to start of the new year is to organize a space, and I knew that my spice organization project would be perfect. This project is long overdue.

There were a few jars that Michaels had that would work well for spices. There was a 4oz jelly jar, some jars in the wedding favor section (this and this), and this one that I went with. I wanted to turn one of the drawers in our kitchen into a spice drawer, so I opted for the jar with the clear top, so I can see everything.

After going through my crazy spice box, I realized I have a ton of spices, even after tossing out the old ones. I cook all the time, and make a range of cuisines, thus we have a lot of spices. With a chalk marker, I labeled everything. I opted for a chalk marker so that the labels could easily be erased in case I wanted to change out some things later.

In total, we have 35 different spices and they take up a drawer and a half. This will definitely make cooking so much easier. Ben was getting our New Year’s Eve recipe together, and he said, “Do we have All Spice?” I knew the answer, but I wanted to put the drawers to good use, so I sent Brave over to see if we had any, and sure enough … we do, both in whole and ground. *high-five* I love my new spice drawer!

Happy New Year friends! What’s the first project you want to tackle this year?

Supplies for this project were provided as part of the Michaels Makers Series.

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When putting together gifts for teachers, co-workers (Ben’s), or neighbors, I go for simple and usually something edible. For this month’s Michaels Maker’s challenge, I put together three easy gift ideas that I think send some holiday cheer.

I created gift labels from black card stock and wrote on it using a fine paint brush and calligraphy ink. Each present was topped off with glittery gold ribbon to give it that bit of holiday pizazz.

For the first gift idea, I thought it would be fun to give a set of star lights. Michaels has a few different star types, and the larger stars are my favorite. Twinkle lights always add such a festive vibe, so I thought this would make a wonderful gift. On the tag I wrote, “Oh starry night!” If giving this to a teacher, you could write “You deserve a star!” or “You’re a star!” I changed out the original card stock store label that was in the box with the one I created from black card stock.

The second gift idea is to give a beautiful ornament. I saw these gem stone ornaments and thought they would be perfect with a tag that said, “Rockin’ around the Christmas tree …” I put the ornament in a craft box and it makes a simple, but stunning gift. You could also write, “You rock!” or “You’re a gem!” on the tag to go with it.

Last, but certainly my typical go-to gift idea: get a pretty stocking and stuff it with chocolate! I would do a happy dance if someone gave this to me. I love this sparkly stocking Michaels had, and since they always have a nice assortment of chocolates on hand, I picked up a few, and voila! I have a gift ready to go. And of course, “The stockings were hung by the chimney with care …” is what I wrote on the tag that went along with the gift.

There you go … these simple gifts are perfect for their school teachers, dance instructors (music, karate, soccer, etc.), or neighborhood postal worker. You may not know those people  really well, but you appreciate them and want to give them little something to let them know they are appreciated. These gifts and the messages that go along with them are fantastic for spreading that Christmas spirit!

Supplies for this project were provided as part of the Michaels Makers Series. 

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Stitched Rope Basket with Creativebug 

Supplies:
100ft cotton rope
Scissors
Coordinating thread
Sewing machine
Yarn, optional

With a Creativebug subscription (sign up for a two week trial!), you can the full video tutorial here.

I first got introduced to Creativebug at the Michaels Makers Summit earlier this summer, and I had the privilege of taking some classes from some of their instructors in person. I was instantly smitten and was excited to get home and continue taking some of their video classes. They have a plethora of creative classes to choose from on their site, and Creativebug brings the best of art & craft videos in art, sewing, knitting (plus more!) with classes for all skill levels and interests. I’ve taken the weaving class (and learned how to make my own looms from it), and the most recent class I took is this Stitched Rope Basket Class. The girls have done a couple classes of their own, and I have my eye on a few others to take once I gather up the supplies needed for those classes.

When I saw the Rope Basket Class, I knew it would be perfect for some Christmas gift making. I’ve made some smaller stitched rope baskets before (this one), but I’ve always had trouble forming them upward into more basket-bag like. I watched the video once through without doing anything, just to get an idea of what it entailed. Then, I replayed the video on my computer as I sewed nearby. I would press pause when I needed to get a section done to catch up with the video, and then pressed play again when I was ready to move on. After watching the video and making the baskets alongside it, I’m definitely making more because it’s so easy!  I love how you can go at your own pace, and the Creativebug videos are so well done and simple to follow. For someone like me who loves to learn new crafts, but doesn’t have the time to actually take a class outside of the home (and these classes outside can cost a few nice pennies), this type of thing is perfect. Plus, not only are there projects for me, there are ton that the girls can take too!

I made one basket, and couldn’t just stop at that. I found my first one a bit wonky at certain parts, so I wanted to try it again and change up the shape a little bit. The video already taught me the basics, so I felt a little more comfortable experimenting. After doing my first one, I knew what worked well, and how to adjust for the second. Initially, I was going to give the second one to a friend, but I’m keeping it and going to order more cotton rope (it’s about $6 for a pack here!) to make more for Christmas presents (I hope my friends like them).  I think the rounder one makes a really fun plant basket (don’t forget to put a plastic liner inside), and now I’m using the handbag-ish one as a quirky little purse. One of the girls told me yesterday, “You want to use that small purse so we can’t put all our stuff inside it!” Anyone else have their kids putting their whole worlds into their purse?!!

I wanted to add a little bit more pizazz, so I made some colorful pom poms and added those to the baskets. My first basket took about 30 minutes to do, but my second one only took about 15 minutes to sew. Then, it took another 15 to make the pom poms and hand sew those on. Oooooh … I’d love to make an even larger one to hold the current weaving I’m working on and its coordinating yarn (right now it’s just strewn all over my bedroom floor).

If you’re a fellow crafter, I think you’d really enjoy Creativebug. Or if you are another homeschooling mom, there are tons of projects that would be great for the kids to do; it would be great to use as part of your art curriculum. Creativebug has unlimited classes for just $4.95 a month. They also allow members unlimited access to over 500 classes. They have a special holiday event going on where you can get a one month free trial using the promo code: COZYCRAFTS. Starting December 1st, if you purchase a 1 year subscription for $50, you get another one year subscription free to give to a loved one (get more info here)! My mind is already spinning with what friends I know would love this as a gift.

This post is sponsored by Creativebug. I’m a fan and I think my fellow makers would definitely love their site too! I highly suggest giving it a try, especially if you want some good projects to do for the holidays (for you or the kids!). Thank you for the time you take here to support me and the brands I partner with. 

I’m usually done with all my Christmas shopping by now, but I haven’t even started. On the bright side, we have our Christmas tree up already!

Let’s start with the tree base … Ben drilled a hole into an old tree stump to use. We inserted the center pole into the tree stump instead of using the base that it came with. Last year, I used a crocheted bedspread as the skirt, now I don’t even need one because we have a pretty tree stump. We used it before here, but since this tree is much larger, we had to drill a larger hole to fit this 7.5 foot tall tree.

I wanted to go a little bit fancier this year with our tree, so I picked up a bunch of sparkly and glittery ornaments. Once we got them up, it didn’t feel right. It was too much for us. We simplified everything back down to our wooden and straw ornaments. Though, we did pick up more wooden ornaments to add on. To finish it off, we added some tapered candles onto the tree. Now, it feels just right. This is my “holidays” Pinterest board, and from that you can tell we prefer simpler decorating for Christmas.

Supplies for this project were provided as part of the Michaels Makers Series. From now until November 14, you can get FREE shipping on all Christmas trees that are 6ft or taller on Michaels.com! You can also check out some of Michaels’ ornament projects and tutorials available here.