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Archive for February, 2009

Heart Hair Clip

I am finding the crochet hearts quite addictive! I decided to move on from the heart garland and make a little hair clip.

hair-clip

Use size 5 crochet hook and embroidery floss (all six strands)

Basic Heart

Chain 4.  Make all of the next stitches in the first chain. 3 trc, 3 dc, chain 1, 1 trc, chain 1, 3 dc, 3 trc, chain 2, slip stitch in center, pull loop to back and fasten off.

I used Angry Chicken's covered hair barrette tutorial.  After I sewed the two pieces of felt together I used embroidery thread to make some embellishments. I then stitched the heart to the top of the felt cover.

We are now ready for Valentine's Day!

bella-wearing-hairclip

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Candy-grams and other sayings for cute gifts!

These sayings paired with candy or a small toy would make cute Valentines!

  • "You pull at my heart!" - How about a shrinky dink zipper pull?

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  • "I like hanging out with you" or "I 'a-door' you" - Personalize a door knob hanger.
  • "I'm bananas for you" - Provide healthy valentines with bananas.
  • "You are one of a kind" - Attach playing cards.
  • "I think you are purrr-fect!" - Anything with a cat (bookmark, sticker, trinket) would be cute with this saying
  • "I'm stuck on you!" or "Let's stick together!" - A great saying for hair clips, magnets or stickers!
  • "No bones about it you are top dog" - Dog bone shaped sugar cookies would make a cute treat!
  • "It is 'ruff' when you are not around" - Anything with a dog (bookmark, sticker, trinket) would be cute with this saying!
  • "I dig you!" - Package treats with a small plastic shovel.
  • "I am 'toadally' yours" - Plastic jumping frogs would be cute taped to a card with this saying!
  • "You are a keeper" or"I'm hooked on you" - Pair this with a package of Swedish Fish!
  • "You rev me up" or I 'wheelie' like you! - This saying with a small car would make for a fun valentine!
  • "I am hog wild for you" -Anything with a pig (bookmark, sticker, trinket) would be cute with this saying!
  • "You 'moo-ve' me!" - Anything with a cow (bookmark, sticker, trinket) would be cute with this saying!
  • "I would 'quack' up without you" - A small rubber ducky would be fun with this saying attached to it's neck!
  • "I'm your number one fan" - A battery operated  personal fan would be an extra special treat!
  • "You are 'sum-body' special!" - An inexpensive calculator from the $$ store would be a useful gift!
  • "You are just 'write'!" - A pencil or pen is always an appreciated gift!
  • "You rock!" or "Have a blast" or "You are a blast" - Who doesn't love pop rocks candy!

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design-mom

If you have some to add to the list, leave them in the comments and I will continue to update this list! Thanks!

Heart Giveaway

Just in time for Valentine's Day, a handmade heart to decorate your home. The folks at Swirly Designs are sad about the recent  loss of magazines like Home Companion and Domino. They are wondering where you will go for gift ideas and design inspiration.

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From Swirly Designs:

Do you love celebrating the holidays?

Here at Swirly Designs we loooove the holidays. We create handmade polymer clay ornaments. You can learn more about our process here.  We’ve been creating ornaments since 2000, starting with just Christmas designs but since have expanded to all the holidays including Valentine’s Day! Each ornament is handmade and no two are exactly alike. They’re great for gifts, for your holiday tree, to dress up a package or just to hang on your wall!


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These days we have been wondering where people go for their holiday inspiration? Where do you go to buy handmade gifts? And now, with the ending of such great publications like Country Home and Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, we would really love to know which magazines you will turn to now, to get your holiday fix.

For a chance to win one of our ornaments please leave us a comment by Monday midnight EST, Feb 9, telling us which magazines you read to get ideas for your holiday gifts and design inspiration from, and we will randomly choose one winner and send them one of our handmade limited edition Valentine Cupid ornament from our new 2009 collection (see first photo).

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From Cindy:

There was an overwhelming response to having weekly "guest" giveaways. Over 95 percent of you said that it would be something you would enjoy. If you have a business you would like to promote or something you make and would like to host a give away please send me an email (again if you already did) and I will send you more information. Thanks!

Free Valentines

The talented Secret Agent Josephine has these darling Valentines!

secret-a-valentines

Tons of valentines at Bunny Cakes! Look at these awesome Sweetheart Valentines!

cutie-pie-valentine

I am loving Living Locurto's  darling owl valentine

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These cowboy themed valentines from Cottage Industrialist even have a cool matching tiny envelope!

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Fun holders for your suckers from Tricia-Rennea Art

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The ever creative Zakka Life has these cute snail valentines.

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Great designs from Samantha Hahn

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Fold-over note cards from the amazing Anna Maria Horner.

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Try your hand a "scherenschnitte"  with this darling paper cutting pattern at Little Acorn. Download here.

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Creature Comforts always has someting special like this teabag valentine and

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these great pillow case transfers!

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Find more printable valentines here.

How to make bath bombs

We thought bath bombs would make the perfect Valentine's Day gift when packaged to look like  a bomb along with a tag that says, "You're the 'bomb'!"

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DIY Bath Bombs

Supplies:

2 Cups Baking Soda

1 Cup Citric Acid

4 teaspoons massage oil ( or 2 teaspoons essential oil and 2 teaspoons olive oil)

Spray bottle with water

mold (60 mm 2 part plastic ball)

This amount only made 5 bath bombs.  If I was making more I would buy the citric acid online in bulk. The small bottle  you see pictured (1/2 cup) was $2.50. I purchased it from my local health food store.  You can buy citric acid online for $2.25 per pound. BrambleBerry is offering all Skip to my Lou readers 10% off citric acid, use LOU10 at checkout to receive your discount!

bath-bomb-supplies

Mix baking soda and citric acid in large mixing bowl.  Mix very well! You can use an electric mixer if you like.

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Add in 4 teaspoons of scented massage oil (or other combination of skin safe essential oil for scent and another oil for moisturizing the skin). The scent is personal, so start with a teaspoon or so and add more until you are satisfied. Mix well.

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This next step can be a bit  tricky because you don't want your bath bomb to start fizzing. Start by adding a couple of fine mist sprays of water to your mixture and mix well.

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You will continue spraying until the mixture will clump in your hand when squeezed. (I used 5-8 sprays, however this will depend greatly on your local climate)

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Fill one half of your mold.  Pack it tightly.

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Fill the other half of the mold and place them together---don't snap together.  I slightly overfilled each half.  When I pushed the two halves together they became a ball.

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Gently remove the ball from mold.  If I had problems with the ball coming out easily  I dumped the mixture back into my bowl, added a mist of water (carefully), mixed well and then tried again.

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Cut out about a 10 inch circle of black tissue paper.

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Wrap tissue up around your bath bomb and trim if necessary.

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Place a silver pipe cleaner in the center and then wrap a shiny red pipe cleaner around the the tissue paper and silver pipe cleaner.  Add a tag and you are finished! You might want to write instructions for using the bath bomb on the back of the tag.

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The bath bomb worked great. It provided fizz, bubbles and fun for my daughter's bath.

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Enjoy!

These were very simple bath bombs.  If you are interesed in more recipes and detailed instructions, the internet is a great resource. Try Teach Soap for loads of bath and body recipes!


© 2009 Skip To My Lou