Gear up for Valentine's Day at My Etsy Shop...Free Shipping Available!

Are you gearing up for Valentine's Day? Over at my Etsy shop, you'll find a variety of pillows to help you catch the love bug, and prep your home for the season of amor. From now till the end of February, all shipping is half price. If you order more than one item at a time, shipping is FREE! Please take a look and see what item begs for you to bring it home. Have a wonderful long weekend!!!

-Shelli

 

Hats Off to our Graduates! A Simple and Inexpensive Graduation Gift Idea

Where does the time go? I have missed you all and missed blogging, but have been busy running to ball games, finishing the school year, and keeping up with family. I hope your summer is off to a great start!

This may be a little late for this year, but I had to share a darling and inexpensive graduation gift idea that I stumbled upon HERE.  Just add it to your archives for next year's gift giving!

 The supplies are simple:

 1. A pack of Jones soda in a coordinating school color(or any brand for that matter...Jones happens to have a nice black lid for creating a graduation hat, but I also used other brands without black lids, and they still looked just dandy. I will admit, the Jones packs were a bit tricky for me to round up, and there were limited flavors and colors.)

2. Black paper cut into 2" squares.

3. Embroidery floss in the graduate's school colors--double an 8" strand and tie into a knot.

4. Hot glue.

5. A coordinating "Congratulations" printout and/or the graduation announcement.

 You can see how easy this goes together right? Simply glue the floss tassel to the middle of the squares, and then glue the squares onto the lid tops.

  



 If desired, create a little "Congratulations" sign and cut it in the same dimensions as the soda box, then adhere. We got a little "punny" with our saying as you can see here:





I also trimmed and glued the graduation announcement onto the opposite side to personalize it further.  These came together in a matter of minutes, and my little gals thought they were so clever and great fun to create. And they are adorable for the graduates that you want to recognize and honor without breaking your bank.

 

Hats off to all you graduates and our leaders of tomorrow!
 

Celebrate Spring with a Free Chevron Table Runner Project!

Hey! Remember me? Yes, it's been a while! Life with four kiddos and their multitude of activities, along with a hubby and his busy work schedule leaves my head spinning sometimes, and sadly, I don't get to all I want to do...like blogging. But it's good to be back today!

So it's officially Spring today, the sun is shining in my neck of the woods, the trees in my yard are budding, and I couldn't be happier about all of that. To celebrate, I have a new project ready and waiting for instant download over at You Can Make This, and it's free!



You'll chase away the last of the winter doldrums with this Spring-y and bright Chevron-inspired Table Runner. The easy and detailed instructions are yours for the taking, so enjoy!


Happy Spring!

Christmas Gift Exchange Part 4: Treasures that Tell a Story

I interrupted our Christmas Gift Exchange Themes series to address the Thanksgiving Holiday, but today I am back with the fourth theme that I presented over at Studio 5 last month. This theme touches the hearts of all who have received or given one of these types of gifts, as they are gifts with deep sentimental meaning. The theme?

"Treasures that Tell a Story"
In each of our homes, we have treasures or trinkets that are special to us or that have a story behind them. What a beautiful way to present these items to a family member in the form of a meaningful gift.

*Costume Jewelry:



My niece made these stunning displays for her relatives out of their mother's old jewelry when they passed away. She created the outline of the tree or shape on velvet with necklace chains and filled in with the assorted jewelry using glue like E-6000 and framed it. Aren't they gorgeous?


*Shadow Box Displays: Use trinkets and photos to create one-of-a-kind displays that hold fond memories of loved ones. This is a photo of my parents on their wedding day along with some random pieces of silver that I inherited after they passed away. It hangs above my pantry door, and I love seeing it daily in my kitchen.


*Recipes: Is there a family recipe that has been handed down over the years? What about making up a plate of the yumminess and writing up the recipe to be handed down once again? Pictured here is a version of my Grandma's Chop Suey Candy...(recipe to follow in an upcoming post!)


Recipe books also tell great stories of the meals and recipes that are important to a family. One of my favorite gifts was the year my hubby gathered all of my old, worn, misshapen recipe cards and printed them onto uniform cards and organized them into a binder that now sits proudly on the counter. All who enter my kitchen comment on it, and when they find out my husband did it for me, they are impressed all the more!


*Quilts: When my mother passed away, she had bags and boxes full of sorted and organized fabric scraps that she was sure she would use again someday. My siblings and I couldn't bear to throw them out! So instead, we began using them to create quilts.

We have laughed together as we reminisce about the fabrics we remember having dresses, prom gowns, or doll clothes made out of.


To date, we have made four quilts, and they have truly become treasures that tell many stories. Below is the beginning of the latest quilt we worked on a few months ago. It is always amazing to me how a few scraps of seemingly useless fabric can transform into something beautiful.


Of course, t-shirt quilts tell a terrific story as well, and can make a meaningful treasure. Never underestimate what can be done with old t-shirts!



*Photos: I got a little teary this past Mother's Day when I opened one of my gifts from my hubby. He outdid himself again with a simple, yet sophisticated gift that I love.

He gathered photos of my parents, grandparents, and children, and created a pictorial pedigree chart in Photoshop for me and had it framed. I love that my children can regularly see and remember who their ancestors are.

*Random Belongings: My sister inherited some old records from my parents that she and my other siblings listened to regularly in their youth (apparently, I was too young because I didn't remember them at all.)


She sent them to me after I talked her out of throwing them away, and I added painted clock hands and a battery kit. They have become unique clocks that are a reminder of happy days of my siblings' childhood. Almost any trinket can be turned into a treasure with a little imagination.

Whatever theme you choose, it is sure to leave your family with warm and fond feelings as you make some unique memories over the holiday season!

Christmas Gift Exchange Themes Part 3: My Favorite Things

We've been talking Christmas Gift exchange themes for the past few weeks, and we are rounding up with the last few themes I recently talked about on Studio 5. Today the theme is "My Favorite Things". I am in love with this particular theme, as it holds such great value for loved ones to share a part of themselves with one another, and it varies enough that families could use it from year to year.

The idea behind this topic is for the givers to give items that are their current favorites. Do you have a new favorite book or CD?


A new hobby? A fabulous recipe you've stumbled upon?


A favorite activity that you'd love to give away tickets to? What a great way to get to know the individuals in the family and to share items and activities that are important to one another!

Christmas Gift Exchange Themes Part 2: As Seen on TV

In part 1 of my visit to Studio 5 we chatted about "A Recycled Christmas." Now we move onto "As Seen on TV." This exchange theme can get a little crazy, but that's what makes it so fun. Haven't we all wondered how well the Shamwow really works, or if a Snuggie is really as cozy as it's made out to be?




Any guy would love the Tool Bandit, right? This theme gives you permission to buy something completely practical, or utterly ridiculous, and everyone will have a great time! Can you imagine Christmas Day, spending it trying out all these crazy products? I think it would be a hoot!


And fortunately, many of these products are sold at Wal-Mart, Target, or Wal-greens, as well as the internet, so finding them should be fairly easy.



What fun!

Christmas Gift Exchange Themes Part 1: A Recycled Christmas

With the Christmas Holiday just ahead, many of you have already begun your Christmas shopping and preparations! When it comes to exchanging gifts, what are your traditions? Do you give to everyone in the family? Do you exchange individual or family names? For those who participate in a family gift exchange, the pressure to find just the right gift can be stressful. Where to begin? What to buy? I find I often resort to one of three gifts when I can't figure out what to buy for my chosen individual: a DVD, a gift card, or a game. Any of those gifts are great, but perhaps lacking in a bit of originality on my part!

Last week I had the great opportunity to visit with Brooke and Darin at Studio 5 about how to add a little punch to your family gift exchange by creating a new tradition of choosing a theme on which to base your gift-giving. Having a theme can provide your family with a jumping-off point when it comes to making gift-giving choices, and can enhance and promote originality and creativity. In addition, the yearly themes create great memories as you reminisce about the funny or meaningful items that were exchanged.

In the next few days, I will share with you the four themes we talked about, along with a few more details than I had time or space to share on the show (along with a few that simply slipped my mind while in front of the camera there!)

1. A Recycled Christmas
The struggling economy has touched all of us to some extent, and of course, it is ever-popular right now to "go green". What a perfect theme in which to be frugal and channel your inner ingenuity!



My sister's family recently used this theme (check out how they get into their Christmas themes...matching t-shirts and all!), and included a little poem as a guideline: "Something bottled, something baked, something old that you remake." In addition, they determined that any of the "re-" words would be acceptable: re-cycle, re-purpose, re-furbish, re-use, re-make, and even re-gift!


My sister sewed pajama pants for each of her grandchildren using recycled t-shirts; and created drawstring bags from old t-shirts as well.


One of her daughters received too many bath towels for her wedding, and re-gifted them to a sibling along with a gift card to Bath and Body Works. Others baked delicious goodies for each other.

Of course, your local thrift store is a gold mine when it comes to finding things to repurpose, as well as ksl.com. And don't forget to look in the "free" section there! The saying is true: "One man's trash is another man's treasure!"
Some additional inspiration for you:

*Display Shelves: using an "L" bracket and some old books, create unique display shelves for special trinkets and treasures. Great gift for someone to place in a den or kids' room!





*Message Board: Paint an old frame and spray-glue fabric or scrapbook paper to a section of cardboard that fits the frame.





Place it under the glass, add hooks and wire to the front if desired for hanging notes or photos. Use a dry erase marker for messaging. Darling gift!

*Serving Trays: It is such fun to serve cupcakes and treats on a darling tray. I found this tray at D.I. and could see that it had potential, but needed a little updating.

I simply painted it black and Mod Podged fabric to the bottom surface and sprayed with polyurethane.


You can also paint an old frame (like the blue tray above), add drawer pulls to the edges for handles, and place a fabric or patterned paper panel under the glass. Easy and so cute for serving up a sweet gift!

The internet is chock-full of unique repurposed items to give you inspiration!
Look how cute this pallet-turned-coat rack is:



And I love these suitcase book shelves! How unique!

Welcome Studio 5 Viewers!

I'm excited today to be chatting with Brooke and Darren over at Studio 5 once again! We'll be talking about Christmas Gift Exchange Traditions and Themes.... should be fun, and more info will follow!

For those of you who may be new to my blog, welcome! Here are the links to a few of the stitchery patterns and freebies you may see on today's show:

Wise Men shown at the top will be available at Pine Needles and My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe within the next week (if you are local), as well as HERE online and HERE for machine embroidery.

The Rejoice design will also be available at Pine Needles and My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe. You can find the hand embroidery pattern online HERE, and the machine embroidery download HERE.



Joyeux Noel Dishtowels: Pine Needles, My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe, You Can Make This, SWAK Embroidery.
Where We Love is Home is a free download found here at You Can Make This!


The Grace pattern is here at Pine Needles.

And HO HO HO is a free pattern found right here on my blog:

Thanks so much for joining me here at Needle in a Haystack! Watch for new patterns and project ideas to come in the next weeks and months!