I am no longer actively blogging here at "Taking Time To Create", but I'd love for you to join me at my new blog: "Taking Time In The City". I hope to see you soon!

Monday, December 31, 2012

Top 10 Posts of 2012

Happy New Year's Eve to you all!! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! I'm celebrating today by sharing my top 10 posts of 2012 (according to Google Analytics). Thank you all for making this a wonderful year for Taking Time to Create! I had a little party with every comment and seeing my page views increase over the past few months. It was even a little exciting (at first anyway) to have spammers commenting, because that meant that someone or something was finding my little blog. 

I hope you'll continue to join me in 2013!






Number 6: Magnetic Pin Jar

Number 5: Kindle Cases

Number 4: Gift Card Holder



And the Number 1 Post!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Handprint Santa Ornaments

 
I'm sure you've seen these cute little guys floating around. I first saw a picture on Facebook, but couldn't find a link to a tutorial and when I looked on Pinterest, I didn't have any better luck. I thought I'd have to figure it out on my own, but when I tried Pinterest one more time before starting to make them...success!!


I made several of these guys using my little man's hands and can't wait to give them out at Christmas! 
(Sorry to ruin the surprise if you're one of my family members who'll be receiving them)

Want to make your own? 

Follow this tutorial from Look What We Made. Be sure to read the comments too, because there are some great tips from other people who have made them there. 

Here's a little about how I made mine:

These are salt dough ornaments. I used Lesley's recipe but doubled it since I wanted to make more and my little man's hands are bigger than her son's were when she made them last year. I mixed together:

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup lukewarm water

*Mix your flour and salt together before you add the water. You'll have to knead the dough with your hands to get it completely mixed. 

I was able to make 10 ornaments using an almost 3 year old's hands. My son is pretty average size, so that will hopefully give you some idea of how much dough to make.

After rolling out the dough to probably somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch, we pressed his little hands into the dough and then cut out each handprint with a knife. Be sure you press firmly to get a good impression and use a nice sharp knife to get clean edges.

In the original tutorial she says not to bake them, but several those who commented baked them successfully (Lesley actually baked their Hand Print Tree Topper this year). I decided to go the baking route, and baked them at 200 degrees (F) for probably about 5-6 hours (I lost track, so I'm not positive on that time). Lesley didn't have to bake hers nearly this long, but it could be that I made our ornaments thicker. Be sure you flip them over half way through, so the bottom will dry too. 

Once the handprints were dry, I used these Shimmer Shine Paints from Target (they are acrylic paints). They worked great and I love the shimmer! Instead of using black paint for the details of the face I used a black Sharpie marker. 

I added a layer of Mod Podge to both the front and back of each ornament and let them dry.

Finally, once the Mod Podge was dry, I added some raffia ribbon for the ornament hangers.
Now they're all ready to be hung on your tree!

I had a little extra salt dough, so we made a few little ornaments with some miniature cookie cutters (they're an inch or two long and wide).


Aren't they cute? So colorful and fun!

My (almost) 3 year old son even painted a few...
Not bad, huh? 
He's been dying to paint ever since we bought the paints at Target.

It's a fun project that you could even do this weekend before Christmas if you have time. 
Have fun!



I'm linking at these great parties:
Mondays: Sweet Sharing Monday *  The Girl Creative * Destination: Cutesy Monday * What's In The Gunny Sack *  Made by you Monday*Make It Yourself Monday*Mop It Up Mondays*Make The Scene Monday*Make It Pretty Monday*
Tuesdays: *  Show Me What You Got * Tuesday Time Out  * Tasteful Tuesdays * Too Cute Tuesday*Tuesday's TreasuresTrendy Tuesday
Wednesdays: Super Link Party * Show & Share * {Wow Me} Wednesday *From Dream To Reality*Create & Share*What I Whipped Up Wednesday*What We Wore & Made Wednesday*The Creative Spark Wednesdays* Milk & Cuddles*Made By Me Wednesdays*Adorned From Above*
Thursday: Pin'Inspirational Thursday Recipe Roundup *A Crafty Soiriee * Creative Thursday *Taylor House Thursday*Transformation Thursday*Hookin Up With HoH*Creative Juice Thursday*Live Laugh Linky Thursday* Link Party Thursday*Taking A Time Out Thursday*Eat Make Grow*
Fridays: Delicately Constructed Fridays * Flaunt It Friday * Financial Friday Link Up  *Friday Fun Party* Friday Flair*Pity Party*Frugal Friday*Friday Favorites*Weekend Craft Soiree*Weekend Warmth*One Creative Weekend
Saturdays: Strut Your Stuff Saturday * Once Upon A Weekend * Sharing Saturday * Dare To Share Saturday * Craft, Create and Inspire * A Pinteresting Party*Serenity Saturday
Sundays: Nifty Thrifty Sunday * It's Overflowing Sunday Party  * Cooking & Crafts Party



Enhanced by Zemanta

Friday, December 14, 2012

Christmas on a Budget {Ornament Garland}


Are you ready for another inexpensive (or maybe even free!) idea for decorating this holiday season? How about an ornament garland? It's fun. It's pretty. It's sparkly (yay!). 

When I saw this Christmas Bells Hanging Christmas Decor, I loved it. What a fun way to add a few more decorations! The problem? We're trying to keep the spending to a minimum this year, and I didn't quite have all the supplies. "Oh well, maybe next year," I thought. 

Then, when we were decorating for Christmas, and realized that I have A LOT (and I mean like several trees worth) of ornaments. Naturally, they won't all fit on our tree, so I usually pack the unused ones back up. Well, not this year! (At least not all of them; I still have a lot of extras. I might be a bit of an ornament fanatic...just maybe)



I hung some extra garland from the ceiling (my husband cringed at the push pins, but then he decided they'll patch easily). Then, using silver thread, I hung my ornaments from the garland. You could use any kind of ornaments, but I went with the lighter, non-breakable ones...just in case. They're staying up fine, though, so there was no need for me to worry! Beautiful, don't you think?

It adds a little something extra to our breakfast bar area. I love it!
This is one Christmas decoration that will be making return visits year after year!



I'm linking at these great parties:
Mondays: Sweet Sharing Monday *  The Girl Creative * Destination: Cutesy Monday * What's In The Gunny Sack *  Made by you Monday*Make It Yourself Monday*Mop It Up Mondays*Make The Scene Monday*Make It Pretty Monday*
Tuesdays: Riverton Housewives Roundup *  Show Me What You Got * Tuesday Time Out  * Tasteful Tuesdays * Too Cute Tuesday*Tuesday's Treasures*Crafty TuesdayTrendy Tuesday
Wednesdays: Super Link Party * Show & Share * {Wow Me} Wednesday *From Dream To Reality*Create & Share*What I Whipped Up Wednesday*What We Wore & Made Wednesday*The Creative Spark Wednesdays* Milk & Cuddles*Made By Me Wednesdays*Adorned From Above*
Thursday: Pin'Inspirational Thursday Recipe Roundup *A Crafty Soiriee * Creative Thursday *Taylor House Thursday*Transformation Thursday*Hookin Up With HoH*Creative Juice Thursday*Live Laugh Linky Thursday* Link Party Thursday*Taking A Time Out Thursday*Eat Make Grow*
Fridays: Delicately Constructed Fridays * Flaunt It Friday * Financial Friday Link Up  *Friday Fun Party* Friday Flair*Pity Party*Frugal Friday*Friday Favorites*Weekend Craft Soiree*Weekend Warmth*One Creative Weekend
Saturdays: Strut Your Stuff Saturday * Once Upon A Weekend * Sharing Saturday * Dare To Share Saturday * Craft, Create and Inspire * A Pinteresting Party*Serenity Saturday
Sundays: Nifty Thrifty Sunday * It's Overflowing Sunday Party  * Cooking & Crafts Party




Thursday, December 13, 2012

Christmas Decorating On A Budget {$4 Tree Skirt}

 
A $4.00 tree skirt? Oh yes, folks, it is possible, and that's just what I did last year. I didn't get to share it back then, so I'm sharing it now!

It looks so pretty under our tree...
I won't lie and say it's super easy to make, because as I recall it took me a while to get it quite right, but it's worth the extra work if you need to save a little money this year!


How I made it:
(I'm writing these steps from what memory, so if you have questions about a step or it seems I've missed something, please feel free to ask)

First head to your local Dollar Tree and buy 4 of these table runners. I did see them this year, so they still carry them. 

Cut each runner in half to make two pieces with pointed ends (you should have a total of eight once you cut all four runners). I also cut the tassels off.

This next part is the most difficult. 
Arrange your pieces like in the picture above pinning them together on the sides. I did not pin them together corner to corner but left a small gap toward the pointed end. You'll pin more fabric toward the top and taper down to almost no fabric toward the pointed ends.  Be sure to leave one side open, so you can get the skirt around your tree.
I had to do some trimming here too. You may not need the full length of each piece of table runner depending on the size of your tree/how wide you want the tree skirt.
Sew each side together where you pinned them.
Trim an excess fabric and zig zag the edges. I didn't actually do this, but it's a good idea if you want the skirt to last a while.
Iron your seams.
Hem the top edge (the part that goes right next the the tree).

Optional: you could add some type of ribbon as a closure if you like. I didn't.


Wrap it snugly around your tree!


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Christmas Card Inspiration

Making Christmas cards this year? Need some inspiration? I have a little for you!

You can make a couple of the above cards with the Christmas Subway Art from yesterday, or if you can wait until next week, I'll be sharing some more detailed instructions for making a few of the cards.

Want handmade cards but don't have the time to make them yourself? I have sets of Christmas cards available in my shop (check them out on the sidebar). :-)

Monday, December 3, 2012

Christmas {Free} Subway Art

I unintentionally took a little blogging break for the past couple weeks, but I'm back now and have some fun posts planned this week. First up? Christmas Subway Art...for free! I made it for cards that I'm selling in my Etsy shop, but I'm also going to make the subway art available to you!

There are a couple to choose from...


"Jingle Bells" Subway Art:
Download the watermark free version here.

"Deck the Halls" Subway Art:
Download the watermark free version here.

And if you missed it on my Facebook page, here is a version of the "Deck the Halls" subway art that's just the right size for your cover photo:
Download the watermark free version here.

Oh, and in case you're curious, here are a couple of the cards I created with the subway art:


More Christmas card inspiration tomorrow!




I'm linking at these great parties:

Mondays: Sweet Sharing Monday *  The Girl Creative * Destination: Cutesy Monday * What's In The Gunny Sack *  Made by you Monday*Make It Yourself Monday*Mop It Up Mondays*Make The Scene Monday*Make It Pretty Monday*
Tuesdays: Riverton Housewives Roundup *  Show Me What You Got * Tuesday Time Out  * Tasteful Tuesdays * Too Cute Tuesday*Tuesday's Treasures*Crafty TuesdayTrendy Tuesday
Wednesdays: Super Link Party * Show & Share * {Wow Me} Wednesday *From Dream To Reality*Create & Share*What I Whipped Up Wednesday*What We Wore & Made Wednesday*The Creative Spark Wednesdays* Milk & Cuddles*Made By Me Wednesdays*Adorned From Above*
Thursday: Pin'Inspirational Thursday Recipe Roundup *A Crafty Soiriee * Creative Thursday *Taylor House Thursday*Transformation Thursday*Hookin Up With HoH*Creative Juice Thursday*Live Laugh Linky Thursday* Link Party Thursday*Taking A Time Out Thursday*Eat Make Grow*
Fridays: Delicately Constructed Fridays * Flaunt It Friday * Financial Friday Link Up  *Friday Fun Party* Friday Flair*Pity Party*Frugal Friday*Friday Favorites*Weekend Craft Soiree*Weekend Warmth*One Creative Weekend
Saturdays: Strut Your Stuff Saturday * Once Upon A Weekend * Sharing Saturday * Dare To Share Saturday * Craft, Create and Inspire * A Pinteresting Party*Serenity Saturday
Sundays: Nifty Thrifty Sunday * It's Overflowing Sunday Party  * Cooking & Crafts Party

Enhanced by Zemanta