Tutorial: Easy Silk Flower Embellished Flip Flops

I know it's technically still winter for a little longer, but it's been sunny and almost 80ºF here is southern California. The other day I was browsing the clearance section at my local JoAnn's and found a pair of white flip flops for about $1! They were my daughters size so I couldn't resist! 

I brought them home and saw some silk flowers in my craft room, and voila! A craft was born! 


The great thing is that this is a fun craft you can do with your kids {though I would recommend they are old enough to know how to handle a glue gun if you want them to do it on their own!}. What a fun idea for your daughter's next birthday party! Do pedicures and have each girl create their own custom flip flops! 

Or... make some for your own little girl {like I did} to make those cute toes look even cuter! Perfect for Easter or spring pictures! Match your flip flops to her Easter dress and you are golden! 
-or-
Make some for yourself! 

Want to make your own? 


Here's how....


Supplies:
flip flops
2 small silk flowers
glue gun and glue sticks

Start by removing your flowers from their stems. Then separate the green leafy backing from the actual flower.


Then separate your flower layers. You can adjust them now however you like making them thicker or thinner flowers {by the number of petal layers you choose to include}. 


Then grab your glue gun! Place a small ring of glue around the center of your flower like shown and place glue the layers of petals together. Don't use too much glue or your layers won't sit nicely! Just a little dab to hold them in place is enough. 


Then stick the center back through the hole in your glued petal layers. To keep mine in place I put a small dab of glue on opposite sides of the center to hold it against the top petal layer. If you use too much glue you'll see the glue spilling out the side of your center, so use just a tiny bit! 


Once you are done, and you flip your flower over - you'll see a white spot where I let my bottom layer of flower get glued to the paper I was working on !! BUT, you'll also see that the center part from your flower sticks up a bit from the back! 


Just grab your scissors and trim it so that it is just about flush with the bottom layer of your petals. This gives you a nice flat surface to glue on to your flip flops. 


Put a decent amount of glue onto the back of your flower. You'll want to make sure it covers the center part {that you trimmed} as well as some of the petal layer. 


Then place it onto the center of the flip flop strap {where the big toe meets the middle toe!} Press it firmly and hold it in place until the glue hardens. Only a couple seconds -- glue gun glue gets hard pretty quickly. 


Repeat for the other flip flop and you are DONE! Slip those puppies on your feet and enjoy! 



**Just a note: While using a glue gun is totally easy for a project like this, there is no guarantee that the flowers will stay on for-ev-er. If you want to be sure that they stay on, you may want to opt for crazy glue, or something else from your local craft store that will be guaranteed permanent. 
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Mingle Monday 2.27.2012

We have a new linky now for Mingle Mondays... and I couldn't be happier! PLUS... make sure you come back on Fridays to link up your crafting.organizing/recipe projects from this week!

While you are linking up this week, feel free to grab my Mingle Monday button so you can remember to come back week after week.
Visit as many blogs on the link list as you would like. Make sure you leave a comment and tell them you are stopping by from Mingle Monday!

Become a follower here on my blog so that you can take advantage of any and all freebies that I offer {usually once a week}.


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And make sure to have some fun!!


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Feel free to grab the blog hop code and post it on your blog! It's always fun to see new people linking up! Thanks!! xoxo

Pick Your Plum Spring Vinyl... only $4.25!!

{Mingle Monday is on it's way, I am using a new linky tool and it's taking a little longer than usual to get it all set up! Come check back in a little bit if you don't see it yet! Thanks!!! }

If you are a  lover of all things creative... then you know about the million and one uses for vinyl in crafting projects!!! From home decor, to organization, to just about anything you can imagine! Here's just a couple of fun things I found....

Perfect for St. Patrick's Day home decor! Using 2x4's, scrapbook paper, and vinyl letters. 

Great for your bedroom, or to give as a wedding gift! Use a painted piece of wood and vinyl lettering.

Great spring decor! Use scrap pieces of wood, paint, scrapbook paper, and vinyl lettering.

Spruce up your kitchen by adding a vinyl decal to your mixer! Go black or go colorful for a *pop* of color!


With so many ideas floating around on blogs and on Pinterest, how can you NOT join in all the fun! Pick Your Plum has a super fantastic deal going on RIGHT NOW! You won't want to wait on this one because I am sure it will sell out! I grabbed mine already this morning... make sure you get yours!

For only $4 you can get 4 8x24" sheets of vinyl in these springy colors!

For another $4 you can get 4 sheets of 8x24" transfer paper to make your vinyl crafting soooo much easier! And 2 squeegies for only $2. Shipping is $4.25 for 1 set or as many as you want!! 

You can view their little add on my sidebar about 1/2 way down, or click here to get yours NOW!

What will you make!??! 

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How to Make a Peter Pan Hat: Tutorial

I don't know if it's because he can fly, because he is his own boss, or because he has a cool enemy with a hook for a hand, but Peter Pan is a HUGE deal at our house! 

My cute little guy watches Jake and the Neverland Pirates just about everyday and since the new "movie" with Peter Pan came out he has watched that at least once a day. A couple of days ago he asked begged me to make him a hat like Peter Pan.... so I did!

... and now you can too! Here's how:


My little guy just turned 3 and doesn't have a huge head, so I was able to get away with using the felt pieces that you can buy precut to 9"x12". I bought 2 in "Pirate Green" {the actual color on the tag} and 1 piece in red.

Supplies:
• green felt
• red felt
• measuring tape
• 5/8" elastic
• sewing machine and thread to match
• pen or erasable marker
• pins


Start by measuring your child's head all the way around. Then add 1" and divide that number in half. That's how big the bottom line of your hat should be. Mine was exactly 12". Then draw a peter pan shaped hat. {this was hard to take a picture of so I hope you can see it ok!}

Then layer your two green felt pieces together and cut along your lines. 

Then if you are like me, you will realize the shape you drew isn't as peter pan-ish as you would like and make an adjustment! ♥


Then you are going to sew along the lines shown. The great thing about working with felt is that it is a little tacky -- in a good way! They two pieces pretty much stay put.. no need for pins... unless you really want to!


I like to sew just about to the edge on both sides of my stitching. It creates a nice crisp corner! Trim your threads and you are ready for the next step!


Now grab your red felt piece and draw a feather outline. It doesn't have to be perfect.. and mine kind of looks like a leaf! {sorry it's a little fuzzy.... felt is hard to photograph up close with my point-and-shoot camera!}


Change the thread in your machine to match your felt color. I sewed a simply straight stitch right down the center of my feather. This helped to give it a little added stiffness. 


Here are your finished pieces so far. 


Use some of your left over green felt and cut a small rectangle to cover the stem on your feather. This is where I had to use a pin... to make sure that teeny tiny piece of green felt and the feather stayed in place. Then simply sew around the rectangle attaching both it and the feather to the hat. 
{Make sure you switch to your green thread!}


I decided to stitch my feather down to the hat. Otherwise it was a little too floppy. I started at the base of the feather {top of the green rectangle} and sewed a straight stitch up about 3/4 of the way to the top of the feather. 


I don't know about the "peter pan" at your house, but mine is always trying to jump off of furniture and fly around the room. So, in order to make sure that his hat stays put I added some elastic to the inside. 

Place the end of the elastic on one of the seams of the hat. Stitch it in place. Then stretch the elastic slightly as you sew around the rim of the hat. Make sure you use a zig zag stitch so that the elastic is able to stretch. 


Just sew the end of the elastic when you reach your starting point. No need to measure your length ahead of time. Just stretch it slightly, sew it, and cut the excess off at the end. 

Once the elastic was in, I fringed the feather and it was DONE! All that's left is for your little peter pan to put it on and find the second star to the right! 


My little guy sleeps with this peter pan every night! He pretty much never let's it out of his sight!


My little goofball!


ENJOY!!

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Mingle Monday - 2.20.2012

Happy President's Day!!! Use coupon code "PRESIDENT" in my shop today to receive an additional 10% off your entire order!!!

Oh, and just for fun... we are finding out whether baby #3 is a boy or girl tomorrow!!! I can't wait! Leave your guess and your email address as a comment and anyone who gets it right will get a special surprise in their inbox! {totally worth the 50/50 chance of getting it right!!}


While you are linking up this week, feel free to grab my Mingle Monday button so you can remember to come back week after week.
Visit as many blogs on the link list as you would like. Make sure you leave a comment and tell them you are stopping by from Mingle Monday!

Become a follower here on my blog so that you can take advantage of any and all freebies that I offer {usually once a week}.


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And make sure to have some fun!!


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Homemade Lemonade Recipe

 I know it's probably not feeling like summer where ever you are, but lately here in So Cal it's been a nice warm summer. We got a bunch of lemons {and I mean a BUNCH!!!} from a friend at church who has a tree and decided to make some lemonade. There's nothing better than homemade lemonade!!

{not my picture, but I totally wish I drank my lemonade like this!}



1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3-4 additional cups of cold water {depending on your preference}

In a small saucepan, heat 1c sugar and 1c water to create a simple syrup. Heat until completely combined. Then add lemon juice. {I like to run mine through a small strainer to get all the pulp out... but if you like it pulpy.. then leave it all in!} Combine those then add water to your desired taste. I only add about 2 cups of water. That way we can add ice in our cups when we drink it and it's perfect!!
Garnish with some frozen raspberries or strawberries, or mint leaves!



Here was our POTD {picture of the day} for that day. The kids loved squeezing the juice out of the lemons. Then Danior double checked to make sure they got it all. 

So much fun!!! They have been asking to make more lemonade almost every day since... 
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Mingle Monday - 2.13.2012

This week f-l-e-w by! We had a meeting for parents of children starting Kindergarten next year .. sheesh, where did the time go!?!?! Plus some family gatherings and play dates... so unfortunately not much sewing or crafting got accomplished. But, my mother-in-law will be here for a couple days starting tomorrow and I'm hoping to get some crafting in.. .

If you have a sec, leave a comment with what you would be interested in seeing on the blog! More freebies {like what?}, sewing tutorials, home decor inspiration/tutorials, kids activity ideas... what are YOU most interested in!!?!? 

While you are linking up this week, feel free to grab my Mingle Monday button so you can remember to come back week after week.
Visit as many blogs on the link list as you would like. Make sure you leave a comment and tell them you are stopping by from Mingle Monday!

Become a follower here on my blog so that you can take advantage of any and all freebies that I offer {usually once a week}.

{oh, and speaking of freebie printables... be sure to check out my Valentine's tags here and here!}


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And make sure to have some fun!!


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