Cupcake Liners - Beyond the Muffin Tray

Pinsomnia: the inability to sleep because you keep hitting 'see more pins' one more time.

I can't seem to stop pinning!  I caught myself under the covers last night (so the light from my phone wouldn't wake Jayson and Remi), scrolling and continually hitting 'repin'.  It was 2 a.m... and yes, the dark circles under my eyes are frightening people.  God bless my coffee cup.  But I'm not just doing it for me (so I keep telling myself); I am pinning to give YOU ideas, too, my LwYH readers. <3 <3

I'm completely taken with the cupcake liner movement... it's amazing what you can do with these darling little things.  There are some resourceful and creative people out there!  I thought I'd share some of my absolute faves with you.  As always, I'll include my source where possible. 

I think that these pom poms are incredible.  I don't think they'd take that much time, either!  I included two pictures of color schemes I particularly liked. 

Source

This is cute for a cake-decorating party (wish I'd thought of it when I did mine over the summer!!)

Source

Source

 For those of you who like a bit of danger with every party...

Source

 And finally, since it's Christmas....

Source

What cupcake liner ideas have you found?  (I haven't represented them all by any means... again, just the ones I personally liked.)

~ Sarah

Pretty Paper Ornaments

Gosh, does it feel good to be working on craft projects again!  I thought I'd get started on Christmas decorations, since, well, the Christmas season begins next Friday.  (Is it just me, or did it sneak up on us this year??)

I loved this idea - I came up with it myself but I'm certain I'm not the only person who's ever done something like this.  But, for the record, I didn't see ornaments like this and duplicate them -- they actually came from my own mind.  ;)

What you will need:

1. Cardstock in various colors that match (and closely match) your theme
2. Big hole punch (mine is 2")
3. Glue (like Elmer's, or paper glue, etc)
4. thin ribbon
5. a really good movie (optional)
6. cup of tea (also optional)

Begin by punching out quite a few circles of your selected cardstock.  Fold every circle in half with the pattern inside.

Start gluing your circles together.  I didn't make any two the same, at least on purpose, so they looked like a mismatched, colorful little band of 3-D circles.  I was exceptionally pleased with them.

Cut your ribbon into strips (something like 10" long) - I did some longer, some shorter.  Fold them in half, and tie a basic knot at the ribbon ends, forming a loop.

The ornaments should have a natural gap in the center of the circles (see photos above), which the ribbon slides through comfortably. 

And you're done!!  Before I knew it, I had made almost 20 of them, but unfortunately I had the colors wrong for the person I was making them for (it wasn't purple - it was gold.  Durn it.)  So this turned out to be a test run.  A very successful test run, I might add.  Hopefully by the time I do the real ornaments, my new phone will be here and the pictures will be much better.  ;)

Happy Monday!

~ Sarah

Pretty Little Tote

Good morning!

Before I even begin this blog, you need to know that this is not an original idea.  I saw it on one of my favorite blogs, Such Pretty Things, and it inspired me.  You can find the original idea link here.  However, in case you don't want to navigate away from this page, I will tell you a little bit about the original post.  Jessica, the amazing and talented SPT blogger, journeys to her local Target fairly frequently, almost always finding a delightful treasure, which she often makes even delightful-er.  That is where this idea came from.  She found a cute little tote at the bargain corner in Target, and hot glued some flowers to it.

I copied the inspiration.  I found the same tote, in the same store, for $2.50.  I wasn't planning to copy her idea, but I was there, the tote was right at eye-level, and for that price, I couldn't leave it behind.

So, without further ado, here is Jessica's idea on LwYH:

 

Aren't they just splendid?  I can't get over how well they turned out.  I had planned to give them as gifts, but it's going to take me a while to work myself up to parting with them.

What you will need:

1. Tote
2. Hot glue gun
3. Silk Flowers, gems, buttons, beads, etc. (use your imagination!)

TOTE 1:

I used dainty little flowers and gems I had purchased as 'table decor' in the bridal section at Michael's.  I hot glued the flowers, then added the gems to the center.  Always a fan of ribbon, I added a little one to the bottom.

front

back

 TOTE 2:

I used leftover silk petals from a wedding I did recently.  I wasn't really sure what I had intended it to look like, but I was blown away by how lovely it turned out to be.  I think I had originally planned to put several of these unique flowers, but after one, I thought it looked finished (and it's probably my favorite of the two.)  :)

So, I hope you can become inspired by this, too, and make your own creative little bag.  And thanks, Jessica!  :)

~ Sarah

Pretty Little Lace Runner (or) Ode to Lace

Hey there! 

I was recently given some unusual remnants... unusual, but extremely awesome... from the local Lace Factory, which closed many years ago!  They were given to me by one of my personal heroes, a wonderful lady who has decided to purge her craft supplies (she was my hero before she did this, mind you!)  She had boxes and boxes of lace in fabulous condition... fabric, ribbons, notions, trims.  Green lace, brown lace, pink lace, white.... daisies, flowers, checks, rare patterns.

It is the holy grail of lace. 

And it is now in my possession.  Mwahahaha!

Superman always takes it in a stride when I bring a new load of boxes into the house.  He knows that 2/3 of them will leave again before long.  I had to break the news to him (gently, of course) that the lace was moving in for good.  To make my point much more obvious, I opened the boxes and showed him my loot.  I'm not sure what I was expecting... perhaps I expected him to start drooling, or to at least have gold reflecting in his eyes... but furrowed eyebrows??  "So... these boxes are basically just a bunch of scraps?"  The next fifteen minutes were dedicated to my explaining, in detail, how wrong he was to call these rare treasures mere 'scraps'.  I told him that this was offensive, and that, in the future, he should show more respect when referring to my lace.  (Don't worry -- he's used to my strangeness, and to be fair, I've also been asked, in the past, to show more respect for his sawdust floor in the basement, and to refrain from bringing a vacuum near it ever again.)

So, today, I will be sharing with you my first project with my lace!  (And I do apologize for the quality of the pictures.)  From my treasure trove, I selected a light brown lace piece that had already been cut a little.  I trimmed off the edges so that it was square, then ironed the edge under (on low heat) about 1/2" all the way around.

Then, taking a long, pink ribbon, I wove it through the lace.  Now, there are easy ways of doing this, and there are hard ways.  I chose a hard way (but, in my defense, it sounded easy at the time).  I chose to thread the ribbon through already-existing holes in the lace.  Obviously, I was crazy.  It worked, but it was extremely time-consuming (approximately 2 hours).

On the very last corner, I tied a dainty little bow.

And that was it!  This is the only runner I will be making like this... I just don't have the time to make more.  But I will certainly be enjoying this one!

~ Sarah