Organza Flower Hair Clips

Organza flowers

Now that my favorite local craft store, Pat Catan’s, has begun selling organza fabric, I have been obsessed with making organza flowers, which look much more complicated than they actually are! There are a million different ways to create these types of flowers, but I simply cut out organza circles in 4-5 different sizes and singed around the edges using a lighter (be careful to not leave on too long, as the fabric will burn!). The circles naturally curl up when singed, creating a flower petal look. Using a needle and thread, I sewed each of the circles together with the large circle on the bottom descending to the smallest circle on the top. I then embellished the flowers by hot-gluing various beads into the center of the flower. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Flowers can be adhered to hair clips, headbands, pins, household decorations, etc. The sky is the limit!

Organza fabric used for this project

Simple Turtle Cuff Bracelet

Turtle pendant made for Tam

My best friend Tammie LOVES turtles! As a result, for one of her Christmas gifts, I simply bought a cuff bracelet blank at Hobby Lobby and an adorable turtle pendant I found at Michael’s. Using 9100 epoxy I glued the turtle pendant to the center of the cuff and allowed it to dry overnight. Voila!!! An item that appears store-bought is actually homemade (not to mention personal, far less expensive, and super easy to complete!). This could virtually be done with any type of pendant, bead or found item!!!

Example of a blank bracelet cuff similar to the one used

Family Recipe Books

A copy of our Beaver family recipe book

One of the yummy recipes in the book

Since our family, immediate and extended, seems to be growing by the day, we mutually decided to just buy gifts for the little ones this year and forgo our usual exchanging of names. I still wanted to do a little something for everyone but was having difficulty coming up with what would be an appropriate gift for everyone. Being in my first trimester, I found myself craving my grandmother’s vegetable soup recipe, followed by her slippery pot pie recipe, followed by my other grandmother’s jam tarts. After becoming really bummed out that I did not have recipes for either of the three items, I knew what had to be done…every family would receive a recipe book for Christmas filled with all of our personal recipes!

I began the process by letting my family members know my plans and asking each family to submit two or more of their favorite or most famous recipes. I included a template to make it a little easier for them to type in ingredients and directions as an attachment and asked them to send it back to me a few weeks before Christmas. After I assembled all of the templates, emails, and hand-written recipes (for my non-tech-savvy family members), I made copies for each family. With the help of my awesome mother, we cut and bound the recipes and laminated the front and back covers of the books about one hour before Christmas celebrations were to begin!

Although the books were a lot of work, I was so happy with how they looked. Now, not only do I have something nostalgic that I can cherish for years to come and pass on to future generations, I can satisfy all of my cravings any time they hit!

The recipe book for the Dalby family

Another delicious entry to the recipe book

Children's Craft: Family Fun Jars




Family Fun Jar and contents


A cute and inexpensive craft project done with the girls in my Girl Scout troop is a “Family Fun Jar.” I found really cute flip-top glass jars at a dollar store for $1.00 each. Each of the girls were given the opportunity to decorate the outsides of their jars using glitter alphabet stickers (also purchased at the same dollar store for $1.00 per five sheets of letters) with the phrase “Family Fun,” their last names, or names of the people in their families. I had pre-printed a large list of ideas for families to participate in together using a number of various websites and had the girls cut apart each of the items, fold them, and place them into the jar. They were then able to wrap them and give them to their family members as a holiday gift. The idea is for families to take turns choosing an item out of the jar when looking for fun activities to do together on the fly!



Flip-top jar




Front of family fun jar




Back of jar




Inside of jar-filled with ideas for families to spend time together



Best Christmas Gift EVER!!!

Pic of Kellen modeling the stork costume



Every holiday season, I am reminded just how fortunate my husband and I are to have the family and friends that we do! This holiday was no different...except for the fact that we now had the pleasure of telling the people we love that we would be helping to expand the family with an addition coming in June!!! In case I haven't made myself clear, WE'RE PREGNANT!!! Being the nerd that I am, I knew that simply telling extended family the great news would not be enough. As a result, I recruited my brother Kellen, always the life of the party and never one to turn down an opportunity to draw attention to himself, to help me out in spreading the word.

Using 1 1/2 yards of white felt, 1/4 yard of orange felt, and 1/2 yard of black felt, I created a stork costume for Kellen. Using a mixture of hand-sewing and machine stitching, I sewed together a hood with a beak and eyes, along with the body and wings. Using the orange felt, I cut out legs and feet and pinned them to the body once my model was ready to be costumed. Since we were at my grandparents' house for the big reveal, we decided to use their chair lift to help the stork in his descent down the stairs. My brother certainly did not disappoint as he flapped his "wings" and squawked down the stairs, explaining to the confused bystanders that he was a stork. He then presented my grandparents with a package that, once opened, held our sonogram pictures and a message that read "Merry Christmas from the newest addition to the Dalby family. Coming to a hospital in Pittsburgh: June, 2012." After a brief moment of confusion as to who exactly was having the baby (as I have a number of cousins and siblings, all around the child-bearing age), we revealed what we had been keeping a secret for FAR TOO LONG, and the reactions were more than we could have ever imagined! Video for further proof to come in the future!

A stand-up view of the bird himself (don't mind the elbows of others taking pics!)



BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!!!!!