Sometimes a quick craft is just the thing to get you in a festive mood.  I wanted to add something new to our Christmas tree this year, and stumbled across a few different ideas for using cinnamon sticks (of which I have a lot) to make Christmas ornaments.  While my first few attempts resulted in utter failure (apparently I am not particularly good at cutting cinnamon sticks without breaking them... nor at making a star that looks star-shaped), I finally found a triangle ornament by Tag & Tibby that I thought was simple and charming. 

As soon as I glued my first cinnamon sticks into the triangle shape... my eye fell onto the remnants of my failed attempts to cut cinnamon sticks into tiers, and INSPIRATION struck!  All my triangle needed was a "trunk", and it was a perfect Christmas tree.

Have you ever sewn something super sweet and girly and thought to yourself "what this really needs is a cute little bow!"... but then tried to tie a simple bow out of ribbon and ended up just making a mess?  I have (obviously, or why on earth would I bring it up?).  The reason I'm asking the question though is because I found the answer!  A while back, I stumbled upon a method for tying tiny bows that completely changed everything; now, I actually look for reasons to make pretty little bows!   "What is this magical secret?", you ask... well, go get a fork and I will explain...

The world of textiles is vast and varied.  Walking into a well stocked fabric store is, to me, similar to the feeling I get when I walk into a bookstore or a library.  So many possibilities!  

Patterns are generally designed to be used with a specific type of fabric.  In most cases, there is one very basic distinction that will at least get you headed to the right section of the store... identifying whether a fabric is woven, or knit.  These are the most simple categories that fabric can be divided into, and it's important to understand the differences.  Once you know the basics, I'll share some tips about these two very different fabric types, and how you can sew them together in one garment.

Now that winter has finally passed, there are two things competing for my attention: the house is begging for a deep Spring cleaning... but the sun is shining and I just want to be outside listening to the birds chirping and the bees buzzing!  While this may not officially qualify as "spring cleaning", the project I'm sharing with you today is a pretty neat way to use up some fabric scraps (and I say that anything that shrinks the overflowing scrap bin should be considered cleaning!)  And though it doesn't really have anything to do with enjoying the seasonal outdoors, I say it still counts as being in touch with the nature of Spring because for this project you need 100% natural beeswax!  

I love finding a craft that is fun for both myself and my kids to do!  It's a definite bonus when it is quick, inexpensive, beautiful.  A few weeks ago, I was on the lookout for something simple (but pretty) to do with a group of mom friends at church, and I found this idea for making sun catchers out of really easy-to-find materials.  I thought they looked like they would be worth a try, and it turned out to be a lot of fun!