Silhouette Stenciled Easter Eggs {Craft Tutorial}

I have to say sometimes I see a craft and I just want to reach out and touch it is so dang cute. That is how I felt when I saw this tutorial for these stenciled eggs. I mean I want to pet them. I also am now going to make my 8 year old daughter get her little buns into a tutu and put on bunny ears for a silhouette pic--that may mean I am bribing her with a trip to Justice later but it will so be worth it. Maybe I should just make my little 4 year old guy put on the tutu...no one would know...right!! (okay don't tell my hubs that I might be considering that..wink wink) But seriously!! PRECIOUS. For her full tutorial, head over to her blog!

 Silhouette Easter Eggs Craft Tutorial from Vana of Le Papier Studio. Enjoy!

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Did you love it? I am dying to know or if I am just a little bunny crazy these days....let us know what you thought.

Here's some we ended up making with our own pictures.  I cut out pictures of my kids and then traced it onto chocolate colored vinyl.  The eggs I used were BIG, about 8 inches tall from a store called Tai Pan. I just stuck the vinyl on, but ended up modge-podging it as well since it didn't stick to the surface very thoroughly.  Then I cut out a bunny, chick and easter basket with my Cricut and applied them as well.  Sorry for the dark pictures, but these eggs are going into some baskets tomorrow so the only chance I've had to photograph them was once the kiddos were asleep!

Linking here:
Sunday:
http://iheartnaptime.blogspot.com/
Friday:
http://www.whipperberry.com/, http://www.kojodesigns.blogspot.com/, http://www.thegirlcreative.com/,http://tidymom.net/, http://sassysites.blogspot.com/, http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/, http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/, http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/
Saturday:
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com

Silk Dyed Easter Eggs--I am telling you these are the coolest things I have seen!!

Our Best Bites has the coolest easter egg tutorial!  They dye boiled eggs with silk ties!  It is seriously amazing!  We will absolutely be doing it this year and sharing our pictures!  If you do, share it on OBB's facebook page and ours, we'd love to see it!

Over at Our Best Bites they have a full printable tutorial or the picture tutorial!  Check it out!

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Tutorial: Mayflower Muffin Wrap and Pinecone Turkey Crayon Holder Craft

Here's that sweet little kids' Thanksgiving table again. Are you ready to make some crafts??

Today I'm going to show you how to make the "Mayflower" cupcake or muffin boat from the Shindig Parties TO GO FREE Kid's Table printable set. It's easy and cute and the kids will LOVE it. My own little boy loves this boat so much he even asked me to put one on his dinner last night!

Here's your first step....





Step 1: Print your printables out. Print the two sheets above from the Thanksgiving printables free set. Now cut out your ship sails and the brown and white stripe boat bottoms. You will need two boat bottoms for each boat you are making.

Step 2: Glue boat bottoms together.Using hot glue, (or regular glue if you don't have hot glue), place a bead of glue along each short side of the boat bottom. Now place a matching boat bottom on top (blank sides together) of the one with glue and press them together.

Step 3: Open your boat bottom and place around a cupcake or muffin.

Step 4: Making your sail - Using a hole punch, punch one hole on the top and one on the bottom of each sail. Now thread an approximately 6" long skewer or lollipop stick through the holes. Stick the skewer with it's sail in your muffin and wah-lah..... a sweet little boat!



Now for the pinecone turkey crayon holder craft.....





Step 1: Find some medium to large size pinecones.

Step 2: Cut out your turkey parts. Using the sheet you printed above with the boat bottoms on it, cut out the turkey bodies and the hearts -- you'll use those for feet. Hot glue a turkey body to the wider side (bottom)of the pinecone. Turn it on it's side and then hot glue a heart to the pinecone for feet.

Step 3: Add your crayons. Next take 5 crayons and arrange in the pinecone to resemble colorful turkey feathers.

(HINT: if the crayons don't coorperate and don't want to stay in your pinecone, add a tiny bit of hot glue to the end of the crayon and then stick it in the pinecone. Don't add so much that it's hard to remove the crayon though -- the kids will need those crayons so that they won't bother you can color with them during the Thanksgiving meal.

See.... you've made a little coloring activity for them with a cute crayon holder to match -- they're gonna love this one, Mom! (Don't forget to print out the coloring sheets, too.)

I hope you enjoyed making today's litte craft. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post on how to make the "indian corn" treat bag. It's super easy, too!

Linked to: Skip to my Lou, Tater Tots and Jello, CRAFT, Just a Girl

Decor Mamma, Craft-o-Maniac, Under the Table and Dreaming

Tutorial: Thanksgiving Kid's Table Ship Centerpiece

Thanksgiving is only a week away -- time to get those menus together and decorate that pretty Thanksgiving dinner table. And we all know who usually gets the raw end of the deal at Thanksgiving -- the KIDS! While the adults are laughing it up at the "big people" table, the kids are relegated to some lonely, small, old beat up card table in a dark corner somewhere WAY away from the everyone else. Poor little things!

How are we ever going to instill that "attitude of gratitude" in them if we don't make Thanksgiving fun? Well, now we can!! I'm on a mission to change the dreaded "kids table" and make it something really special -- a place even the adults would like to sit!




How about this? Cute, don't you think? With a FREE Thanksgiving Kids' Table printable set, you can whip up a table like this for the kids this Thanksgiving in no time at all. And this week, I'll be showing you how. Today, we'll work on the centerpiece -- a little twist on the Mayflower. (Keep this one handy for a pirate party, too!)



First, the materials. Here's what you'll need to gather up. And, by the way, I didn't even go to the store before doing this table. I looked around, used what I had and just made it work. You can do the same -- be creative!

Materials:

-- 1 or 2 woven placemats from the Dollar Tree
-- Hot glue and hot glue gun
-- scissors
-- 3 small diameter dowel rods
-- 3 large ship sails from Shindig's FREE Thanksgiving Printables set
-- hole punch
-- small pieces of styrofoam or florist foam
-- small containers like terra cotta pots, pails, or boxes
-- shredded paper gift bag filler

Step 1: Making the ship base. Take a placemat and cut your 2 ship pieces from it across its length. Make the ends approximately 2 inches higher than the middle, which should be about 5 1/2" in the center, 7 1/2" high on the ends. (Ignore that pink box.... that was my first idea for what to anchor the sails on -- I changed my mind later.... I do that sometimes.)

Step 2: Glue ship pieces together. Take one ship piece and add hot glue all the way down one of it's sides. Now take your other ship piece and put it on top of the ship piece with glue. Press the pieces together to secure. (Only use the hot glue on the sides of the ship pieces)

Repeat on the other side of the ship pieces.

Step 3: Securing your ship sails. Now that your ship is glued on each side, open the ship pieces and place any small containers like pots, pails or boxes inside as shown above. Now cut a small piece of styofoam or florist foam to place inside of the pots. These will be anchors for your ship sail dowels. (If you don't have styrofoam or florist foam, playdough or clay make work as anchors, too.)

Cut 3 dowels to 20" in length. Next, print and cut 3 large ship sails from the FREE Thanksgiving kids' table set. Punch a hole in each in the center of the top and the bottom and thread a small dowel through. Insert the dowel into your styrofoam, and repeat for the other 2 ship sails.

Step 4: Making it pretty. It's coming together now...... you're almost done! One last little step..... take some shredded gift bag filler (I used yellow) and cover up all of the messy looking stuff on the inside of your boat. That's it -- wasn't that easy??

And this is what you get! Aren't you proud of yourself?

Stay tuned for tomorrow's tutorial on how to make the small ship cupcake or muffin wraps and sails. And I'll also tell you how to make that cute little pinecone turkey crayon holder.

Have a great day today!

Tutorial: Thanksgiving Burlap & Corn Husk Table Runner

Remember this little table runner from my Shindig Thanksgiving dinner table featured earlier this week? Well, today I'm back with a little tutorial on how to make it.

But first, I wanted to remind everyone about the FREE Thanksgiving Kids' Table Printables deal I've got going on.
Aren't they cute? And there are lots of files in the collection, too -- FREE!

Just become a FAN of Shindig Parties TO GO on Facebook by clicking the "like" button, send me your email with the SECRET CODE (found on my Facebook page by clicking the "Discussions" tab at the top of the screen).

Now.... back to the corn husk runner..... I've had quite a few people asking to purchase it, but it's so simple to make that I think I'll just show you how and help you make your own. Just think of how proud you'll be to make it yourself!

Start with getting your materials together. I made mine with a sewing machine, but it would be possible to make a similar version with a no-sew method. You just have to get a little creative -- I'll tell you about that later in the post.

You'll need the following for an 8-9 foot runner:

• 3 yards of natural colored burlap


• sewing thread to match


• 2 bags of corn husks (I bought mine at Walmart in the Mexican food section)


• scissors


• dental floss


• sewing machine and iron

FIRST: The cutting -- Cut your burlap into 8-9 foot long lengths by 13" widths. You'll need two pieces, one for the top of the runner, one for the liner. Now for the burlap ruffle on top of the runner, you'll cut strips of burlap from your remaining original 3 yard piece that are 2" x the length of the runner pieces that you previously cut. Cut 4 strips out (they will be 2" x 8-9 feet each).

Go to your sewing machine and sew 2 strips together, end to end, to make one very long strip to be used for your burlap ruffle. Now repeat with your other 2 strips. You'll end up with two long strips 2" x 8-9 feet each.

STEP 2: Sewing the Corn Husks on --Now that everything is cut, you'll start working on the main part of the runner and sewing your corn husks on. Take the 2 big pieces of burlap for the top and bottom of your runner and your corn husks (separate them into individual pieces) over to your machine. Line your burlap pieces up one on top of the other and place a corn husk in between. Begin sewing these 3 pieces together.

STEP 3: Repeat Step 2 over and over again. Add a corn husk in between your fabric pieces and sew down. Repeat all the way until the end of the burlap runner strip.



STEP 4: Finishing off the end of your runner -- When you get to the end of your burlap strip, just roll the burlap two times to covered the frayed end of the fabric. Now cut your threads and take your runner to the ironing board. Continue to roll the fabric at the end of the runner over twice to hide the frayed end and iron it down. Go back to the sewing machine and topstitch over the end of the runner to create a nice, finished edge to your runner. Now go and do the same thing to the other end of the runner, finishing the edge of both ends.





Next it's time to sew the corn husks to the other side of your runner. Turn the runner around to repeat sewing the corn husks in between the two layers of burlap. When you're done with this step, you'll have a burlap runner with corn husks going down each side.


STEP 5: Making your burlap ruffle -- Take your small burlap strip pieces for your ruffle and using a wide zig-zag stitch, sew back and forth over a piece of dental floss (excellent to use for making a quick and easy ruffle). Zig zag all the way to the end of the strip, being careful not to actually sew onto your string. Once your done, cut your threads, leaving a longer piece of dental floss at each of the strip. Carefully pull on your dental floss to start creating small ruffles along your burlap strip.

STEP 6: Attaching your ruffle - Get your ruffle approximately the same length as your runner by pulling on your dental floss and adjusting your fabric. Once they are about the same length you can begin to sew the ruffle down. Turn the end of the ruffle strip under the back side of the runner to begin sewing. Now just top stitch the ruffle all the way down to the end of your runner. Finish off the ruffle ends like you did before and you are done, my friend.

It's actually really easy to make. Somehow writing all the steps down makes it seem a little more complicated, but it's really not. Don't be afraid -- just do it, girls!

And in the end, this is what you'll have. Yay, you! You did it!!

And now you'll have quite the conversation piece for your family Thanksgiving meal.

Isn't it pretty??

And if you like those pretty cards and candle wraps on the table, make sure to check out my Thanksgiving Printable Collection -- a huge set of everything you need to set a beautiful, personalized Thanksgiving table this year -- it's on SALE NOW over 50% OFF!

FOR A NO-SEW METHOD: I think it's possible to make a similar version of this runner by using hot glue instead of a sewing machine if you don't sew. Follow all the same steps in cutting out your main pieces of the fabric runner and glue the corn husks in between the two pieces of burlap instead of sewing them. Then you may want to buy some ribbon, may brown grograin, and glue it on top of the burlap at the seam with the corn husks. It will add a little decorative touch -- not a ruffle necessarily, but I think it would still be pretty cute.

Linked to: Some What Simple, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, Life as Lori, Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket, Domestically Speaking, Just a GirlSkip to my Lou, Tater Tots and Jello, CRAFT

Thanksgiving Decorating Ideas

Trolling the web recently for great fall decorating ideas, I came across a few really fantastic ones on the Better Homes and Gardens website.


What a statement this one makes! Great Wow factor here with just a couple of supplies..... a straw wreath form and lots of indian corn. This would be beautiful displayed over a mantel as well as on the front door. I can even see it as a centerpiece of your Thanksgiving table or Thanksgiving buffet lying flat on the table with a platter of food in the center.


Another way to use indian corn is to pile it on a pedestal stand and combine it with some wheat for a beautiful Thanksgiving or fall centerpiece.




I love how BHG uses gourds as vases. I found lots of examples of these on their site, but basically you cut off the top of the gourd and scoop out the flesh to create a perfect holder for your fall flower arrangements. Add a few mini pumpkins and leaves around the gourd and turn it into a beautiful centerpiece for your table.

Mum covered pumpkins is another easy way to add a little flair to your fall displays. Fresh mums are beautiful here, but finding a good quality artificial mum to use so that you could have it as a fall decoration year to year would be nice option.

This is another simple but fabulous idea -- paint your gourds gold or other metallic colors. You can find out more here on the Better Homes and Gardens website.

I hope you are all getting your tables and recipes ready for a fabulous Thanksgiving! I'll be posting a tutorial tomorrow on the corn husk and burlap runner (pictured above) that I made for my own Thanksgiving table. Stay tuned for a really simple and beautiful table runner idea. And for those of you who don't sew, there's a no-sew option, too!

Don't forget to order your personalized Thanksgiving printables set -- it's on SALE NOW for 40% OFF!