Coffee Candle DIY

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, 

for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:  

it is the time for home. 
  Edith Sitwell

I found a tiny china cup from the flea market. It was just a perfect size to a Christmas tree candle (I have a bunch of them from Christmas). I smelted some of the candle wax in the bottom of the cup, and pressed the candle a few moments - which resulted in that it sits fast and firm in the cup. Thereafter I filled the cup with coffee beans. 

The flame from the coffee candle creates a cozy feeling to the late night coffee and tea ... A nice and easy DIY to lighten up the dark winter evenings.

Do you like to light candles in wintertime?

I'm joining Stephanie's Roses of Inspiration link-up party at Enchanting Rose,

Nina 

 [Blogging every day in February - Day 2]

Charming DIY by Stephanie from The Enchanting Rose

I am happy to present you Stephanie from The Enchanting Rose - 
Thank you Stephanie for taking time to write a guest post with this charming & pretty DIY tutorial!

I am smitten by Stephanie's creativity and her positive view on life and living - her mild, cheerful spirit shines through her blog posts and the social blog events, she arranges. 

Be inspired by my special blogging friend Stephanie by popping over to The Enchanting Rose!

- - -

A cheery good day to you!
My name is Stephanie and I blog over at

The Enchanting Rose.

My little place consists of crafts, sewing, recipes, hymns, tea cups, 

and sweet encouragement from the Bible.

It is a great honor to be posting on Nina's blog today.

Nina is a dear blogging friend of mine and she is someone I have come to admire.
Her photography skills leave me speechless and begging for more
and the Biblical encouragement she shares always leaves me refreshed and renewed.

* * * * *

I am looking forward to sharing with you a simple craft that all of us can do :)

I had a few binder clips hanging around and I must admit that I've had these for at least 10 years 

and have never used them - pretty sad that they have sat in a drawer for that long.

I thought instead of holding papers together,

they would be perfect for holding little cards with Scripture written on them.

I like having verses out in my home where I can constantly see God's Words

so this seemed like the perfect solution for the long-forgotten paper clips.

They would also work for holding pictures, recipe cards, etc. . .

Items Needed:

binder clips

Washi tape or fabric tape

embellishments - pearls, rhinestones, etc

scissors

Apply a piece of Washi or fabric tape to the binder clip

and then trim the edges.

Fold the excess tape onto the bottom.

Add the desired embellishments for pretty decoration.

Then, write out Scripture verses or encouraging quotes onto some lovely paper

and voila! You're all done :)

Scatter the Scripture around the home or office space

for blessed encouragement throughout the day.

My heartfelt thanks to sweet Nina for allowing me to share on her delightful blog.

Many blessings to you, lovely lady.

I always enjoy meeting new people so feel free to drop by 

The Enchanting Rose anytime!

{PS. I am away from the blog - this is posted with the help of Bloggers pre-post planner}

DIY Paper Heart Garland

 

Paper Heart Garlands are easy to prepare and a nice crafting idea for home decoration.

It took me about 60 minutes to make these 9 paper heart garlands, using materials I  already had at home. I adjusted the lenght of the garlands by varying the number of paper hearts from 3 to 5 hearts / garland.

 

You will need:

- a heart paper punch

- some paper with print - I used an old school textbook, that is made of strong and slippery paper

- one small bead for each garland 

- white sewing thread

- a needle

- scissors

 

 

 

 

I proceeded as follows: 

• I started with punching the hearts. I noticed afterwards that some words were randomly placed in the middle of the heart, like "dilemma" (I used an old textbook from Qualitative Research Methods :-)
• I then clipped the hearts out with scissors.

 

 

• I fastened the bead to the thread by binding a knot.
• Then I connected the hearts, one by one, using three double stiches on each heart. I left a space about 4 inches between the hearts.
• Finally, I bound a loop at the end of the each garland, so I could hang them up.
• I made 9 garlads in all, three to each window, with different lenghts.

- And that's about it - pretty easy, aint it!

Crafting Paper Heart Garlands is a fine way for repurposing an old book, and for making timeless, wintery decorations.

... with hearty greetings,

Nina

 

 

 

 

Sharing with

 

Serenity Saturday  :::  Clever Chicks Blog Hop  :::  Freedom Fridays  

   ::: Inspire Me Monday  ::: Craft-O-Maniac Monday ::: Block Party

From Dream to Reality  :::  Tuesday's Blog Hop

Reversible bags & rice bags DIY

When our children were small, I often sewed clothes and nice little things to them. Now Christmas is serving as a great occasion to find my sewing machine and get a bit creative!

I have been sewing to the small relatives - as the toddlers do not read my blog, I dare to show a few pictures here before Christmas :)

This bag of rice is 12 years old - it keeps appearing from the most odd places - I found it from the hood of our younger son a month ago!  When our oldest son learned to walk, I sewed him little rice bags with handles - that was the most used gift that Christmas! The rice bags went wherever he went - it was an easy thing to carry - it didn't tip his balance at all :)

So as this old rice back was found, I got inspired to sew a few ordinary rice bags with handles, to the little relatives that are about to learn to walk.

These rice bags contain a white cotton cloth bag which is approximately half filled with rice. After I put the white cotton rice back in to the coloured back, I set a ribbon to serve as a handle, and sewed the bag together from the top.

To the school girl I sewed a reversible bag - she can turn the bag either to pink- flowery bag or to the dog-patterned bag. I used a pocket from my old jeans to serve as a little pocket.

The other sweet niece is going to receive a pink - green reversible bag. I sewed a fish ribbon to brighten up the side of the bag. I'm going to put some the colored pencils and paper inside her bag.

The 3 -y. old little man gets a reversible bag as well. This back has a wide shoulder straps, so that he can carry all the little cars!

I'm almost ready with the knitted presents as well. Using double yarn and large needles, you can easily knit a scarf or two to Christmas.

This fluffy scarf is almost ready. It is knitted with 8 mm circular needles, using two different colored mohair yarn.

The fabrics for the reversible bags and rice bags was something I all ready had - I needed to purchase only the spotted ribbons. Sewing is fun, I should maybe arrange a monthly sewing afternoon and invite a couple of friends over ... I could actually sew a large tote to my library book ...

Linking to 

Crafting with candles, clay, pine & cones

Somehow I thought it was the 1st Sunday of Advent today, so I'd prepared for our traditional candle-crafting afternoon. I had looked forward to a cozy afternoon together, listening carols, enjoying the scent of pine while doing the candle decorations ... when I realized that the 1st Sunday of Advent is first next week, I decided that we're crafting early this year - "The exception proves the rule" :)

We start by setting a piece of clay on a tray or in a jar. Thereafter we plant a candle or too to the clay, and decorate them with branches from pine trees, chestnuts, pine cones, ribbons and other things. I love this Danish Christmas tradition, that I adopted after moving here.

We're often having something sweet, chocolate, ginger bread 

and other Christmas treats while crafting.

We've gathered the pine cones and chestnuts during the fall, 

which have dried up til now and are ready to be used.

This year I bought a few ribbons in red & white. 

I could bind the pine branches, we didn't use today, 

with the ribbon, and set them to a jar or hang them somewhere ...

My mom send me this angel to me long ago when I was studying 

- it's one of my favorite Christmas decorations.

The cone with the golder color is painted by our sons 

when they were in kindergarten... long time ago!

Our youngest son added the sweet 

 Winnie the Pooh elephant to his decoration.

 

 Our oldest son made a beautiful decoration using only natural materials, 

cinnamon sticks and chestnuts.

Due my mistake with the Sundays, 

we get to enjoy the candles 

a week longer than normally :)

The Roost Tribe

I found Bonnie Forkners blog Going Home to Roost in July. The creative DIY-ideas, beautiful photos and tasty vegetarian recipes kept me going back to her blog - which according to Bonnies own words is about:

 " everything handmade and anything homegrown.

i love to roost, and to me that means

nesting in my home and doing the things that i love.

i’m always seeking the next creative endeavor,

inspiring artists and beautiful material

- and my purpose here is

to share those with you!"



I felt like having found a kindred spirit that likes the same things as I do, so I started to follow Going Home to Roost :)

This fall Bonnie announced that she's going to start a Roost "Family" Tribe ... That was ecxiting news! The further I read about the membership, the more interested I became. I could read that The Roost Tribe members receive every month the following:


"2 seamless repeating patterns. to use as blog or twitter backgrounds, print them out to use as wrapping paper, patterned cards or gift tags, or in your own graphic design work, etc.
10 graphics to help beautify your blog, digital scrapbooks, printables or whatever! you’ll receive both the vector (.eps) and png formats. (think banners, social media buttons, arrows, etc.)
1 adobe illustrator video tutorial. i’ll be teaching you tips & tricks that i use in my blog posts & in my career as a surface pattern designer- from creating repeating patterns to custom shapes.
1 guided step-by-step vegan recipe. i’ll be breaking down the steps to my favorite recipes with fully photographed tutorials. they’ll be plant based, full of whole foods and incredibly delicious!
1 printable greeting card with matching gift cards. never purchase another greeting card for life! :)
a monthly round up of favorite links, resources & websites. from the most useful resources around the web to the most exciting new blogs and websites.


1 iPhone and matching desktop calendar. downloadable backgrounds to help inspire, motivate and encourage you.

a monthly gift guide with coupons and special offers. plain as that! my latest favorite picks with exclusive deals, just for you.

1 special topic article. an in-depth article on something particularly noteworthy. think photography tips, advice on selling handmade, sewing courses, eating healthy articles, etc!

anything else i feel like sending over. things i’ve been inspired to share with you like freebies or downloads, or you may just get a little something in the mail from time to time!"  
... I found all of the above sounding great but I was wondering how costly an affair a Roost Tribe membership would actually be?
- I was gladly surprised when I found out that all the above costs only 5 USdollars a month!
So I signed up at once and was  eagerly looking forward to the Roost Tribe -release in September.
Now I almost can't wait until it's Friday, when I receice a weekly Roost Tribe newsletter!I especially look forward of receiving the patterns designed by Bonnie. 
 

Cards crafted with the beautiful patterns from the Roost Tribe

I enjoy crafting - making creative things is relaxing and you always get something nice out it. For me the creative input from the Roost Tribe is the thing that I love most. Getting the new patterns every now and then inspires me to do something with them ... like cards and small gift boxes :)

Gift Boxes crafted with cardboard and patterns from the Roost Tribe

Bonnies monthly designs for iPhone and a matching desktop calender are inspiring, as well as the recipes and the links (like the video instruction about food styling we received this month among other useful links).



There's only 3 days to go until it's Friday

... I wonder what the Roost Tribe Newsletter contains this time?

Click here for detailed information and signing up for

 The Roost Tribe.