Pot of Gold Caramel Corn for St. Patrick's Day

It's official, I have now eaten about half of that cup of caramel corn while making this tutorial and I am now sick.  Dear caramel corn ... why do I love you soooooo much? 

This is a really great basic recipe for caramel corn.  I wanted to make a caramel corn that would work well with beer for St. Patrick's Day.  This caramel corn is loaded with nuts. 

You can check out the full tutorial over on Cut Out and Keep

See St. Patrick's Day Pot Of Gold Caramel Corn and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

Valentines Wall Hanging

A while back I had ordered a charm pack of Moda Valentine's day fabrics and had intended to make place mats out of it. However, I was in the mood for something new and Valentine's related to add some color to our living room. And this is what I ended up with after just and hour or so.

I took some left over yardage of light blue felt from some Christmas ornaments that I had made and cut into two 24" x 24" squares. Then i made three different sized heart shaped templates out of scrap paper and proceeded to cut the largest and smallest hearts out of assorted pink and red felt. The middle heart is where the charm squares came into play. I actually cut the heart first making the biggest heart that I could out of 9 charm squares (mine where 5" squares). Then I made the template for the small and large square to my desired size.

Next, I simply stitched the charm square heart to the largest felt heart. And then the smallest felt heart on top of those two. Lastly, I stitched down the whole applique on the blue background with a satin stitch. I just eye balled everything as far as spacing went alternating pink and red appliques. 

When I had all of my hearts appliqued down on the back ground, I added three lengths of ribbon (folded in half to make tabs) evenly spaced at the top of the project and pointed inwards toward the bottom of the project.  Next, I placed the backing fabric (the other 24"x24" piece of felt) on top of the appliqued piece (right sides together). I stitched around all sides with a 1/4" seam allowance leaving a 3" opening for turning. Then I just simply turned the wall handing right side out and top stitched making sure to catch the 3" opening.

Voila!

A simple, easy, and inexpensive wall hanging was created. This would be a great way to use up all of your fabric scraps!

Happy Sewing!!

Portrait Props

This is a great little selection of photo/portrait props from one of my fellow preschool moms, Beth.  You can click any of the photos to go to her etsy shop, monkeyknots.    

READY TO SHIP- Double Felt F... monkeyknots $8.00	Neckties from Monkey Knots monkeyknots $18.95
NEW ITEM- Crochet Kufi Hat w... monkeyknots $12.95	Monkey Knots Neckties- Strip... monkeyknots $17.95

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com.

Here are a few of our patterns for some additional portrait props. 

Chocolate Dipped Oreos Tutorial for Valentine's Day

I love oreo cookies so I have been waiting for a time to make these chocolate dipped oreos.  This batch is going off to my uncle.  I know he will enjoy them because I have personally caught him hiding in the pantry eating cookies behind my aunt's back. 

My this little project you need oreo or another favorite sandwich cookie of your choice, white chocolate, dark chocolate, and I also used pink candy melts, non-pariels or other sprinkles, and conversation hearts.

Follow the directions on the chocolates to melt.  You want them really warm, but be careful not to burn the chocolate.  You should use a heavy bowl, not a plastic container.  You are more likely to burn the chocolate if you melt it in plastic. 

 I use a regular fork to dip my cookies.  There is a tool for dipping that you could buy, but why waste money?  Dip the cookie so that it is totally covered top and bottom.

 Gently tap the fork on the side of the bowl to remove some of the excess chocolate and smooth out the candy.  If you wanted to make lollipops for a school party, you would stick the sucker stick into the middle of the cookie before you dip it and then use the stick to dip the cookie. 

For this batch, I used non-pariels on some of the cookies, sprinkled on immediately after dipping.  I also drizzled melted chocolate in contrasting colors and made some chocolate hearts to put on the top of some of the cookies. 

 Place each cookie on wax paper, parchment, silpat, or a lightly greased (with butter) cookie sheet.  They set up quickly, especially if you put them in the freezer (which will help them pop off if they get stuck).  Notice how I didn't care if the bottoms were not perfect.  Once the cookies are set, you can remove the extra chocolate.  It just snaps off.  If you are really concerned, you can clean them up with a knife. 

Finally, I put them in a cupcake box.  They come in a 3 pack at Michael's for about $3.99.  The little box hold 12 cookies.  I tied it with some curly ribbon.  If I was making lollipops, I would wrap each one in a plastic candy bag and tie it closed with a bow.

Happy Holidays

Although Christmas is just a few weeks away, there is still time to make some cute and thoughtful gifts for your loved ones.

In the spirit of giving, we'd like to offer our readers 20% off in our pattern shop on Etsy.

Just head on over to the Boutique It Pattern Shop and enter the code HAPPYHOLIDAYS20 at check out.

Most of our patterns are beginner friendly and can be sewn in one afternoon (some in an hour)!

This discount also applies to our premade felt toys, softies, baby gifts, and anything else you might find in the shop.

Happy Crafting everyone!!!!

Holiday Giveaway Week over at The Crafty Crow!!

I just entered a holiday giveaway over at The Crafty Crow. This site is a gem. I check it regularly for ideas on crafts to do with the kids and my girl scout troop. It is super easy to navigate through as all of her projects are linked through pictures ~ my favorite way to search! So anyway last week I stumbled across a post about a week of holiday giveaways and had forgotten all about it until this morning when I was looking for a little advent calendar inspiration... tomorrow's the day they start!

Right now, you can enter to win a  FLY Children's Art Kit from FLY Children's Art Center on Etsy.

Yay Etsy:)

Anyway, they look really neat. Each kit has a choose your own adventure kit inside. All supplies are included along with directions for each project.

So head on over to The Crafty Crow for your chance to win and some great kid's craft ideas!

Free Kid's Craft Idea Everyday

When checking my email this morning I came across an email update from Free Kid's Crafts. I can't believe I haven't shared this site with you guys yet! Everyday in my email I recieve a new kid's craft that goes along with the season or holiday that is currently approaching. The projects are generally very inexpesive and use materials that I have on hand. It's the perfect way to keep little hands busy while you do a project of your own.

This morning's craft came as this tissue paper pumpkin:

Click for directions.

To subscribe to the newsletter and get a free craft idea emailed to you everday just fill in your name and email address under the Subscribe tab on the left hand side of the page.

They make it kind of fun because you can't see the crafts for the coming days but you can access the craft archives by clicking a previous date on the calendar an left hand side of the page (under the subscribe tab).

Check out Friday's Craft ~ an October Coloring Calendar

Click to print

 

Let your little one color this to uses as a chore chart or a count down to trick or treating on Halloween by placing stickers on each day until Halloween! It's a simple yet fun way to get them excited about the holiday.



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