DIY Gift Ideas

Ya'll know I started this blog as a play to show my scrapbooks for my Etsy company, Pressed Clovers.  But then I started doing other crafty things and putting pics up here, so it's turned into a crafty blog. 

When I started thinking of ideas for homemade gifts, I realized I had quite a few tutorials or ideas already posted on this website! Here are a few reminders and links to things I've posted in the past.

1)  The Christmas Scrapbook.  I make my mom one for her birthday on January 4th and print dozens of photos from Christmas for her to put into it immediately.  This way she hasn't forgotten any of the details and can have it ready for the next holiday season.  Don't forget to include the double sided stickers for the photos! (more photos in the link). Basically, each page has a place for a photo and is already decorated. All she needs to do is put in the pictures and write her memories.

2)  Photo Flower Pots.  While I made these for Mother's Day, I think it would be nice for Christmas, too. There are still flowers in the winter!  This isn't difficult at all and is completely personalized.  Print pictures on plain white copy paper and mod podge them to your flower pot. Easy Peasy!

3)  Monogram is all the rage! Many of us have tons of buttons laying about - buttons in jars, buttons in drawers, or in my case, buttons from a yard sale.  Tons of buttons. A quick run to my local craft store for a burlap canvas and some hot glue can turn buttons into beautiful monograms. Loved this gift idea! So quick, can finish it in an hour. 

4)  Teenagers! What about them? I wondered the same thing. Which started another one of my traditions - a scrapbook for my preteen niece.  With her, however, I buy lots of fun teenagerish stickers for to her decorate the book herself. I provided the book and basic layouts, tons of printed photos which all included her, and the double sided tape squares. She really impresses me with her creative ideas! This year, I'm giving her all the supplies pre-cut (mats for the photos and decorative strips of paper and tape, and stickers, of course) and letting her design the actual pages!

5) Toddler Artwork  This is my most favorite DIY project I've done to date.  Having my baby niece participate by "painting" four canvases and then I hand lettered the word LOVE on top. This is currently hanging in my bedroom.  Not keen on something that large? How about a small canvas or cardstock even, let them add a little paint and you add a monogram with a sticker!  Make it your own creation! :)

6) Baby on the Way.  New mothers or mothers-to-be... even grandmothers! love having these premade scrapbooks for the newborns most stellar moments.  The delivery day, the first day home, the first bath, baby sleeping - this provides a place for all those photos and will become a gift to the baby one day.  While baby boy is featured, just think pink for a girl.


I hope some of these ideas may inspire you to try a handmade gift this Christmas or into the New Year. Share your ideas with me, I'd love to hear them!

Felt Friends

I started going through some older photos and found a few that I never posted here! I wanted to share with you my FELT FRIENDS! You know I stareted by making felt hearts from a Pintrest pin I found (see the original post here). Actually, I started by making felt food for my sweet niece #2 - I'll find some photos I took of those items soon...

 Anyway, once I started with felt, I fell in love.

 After I made hearts, I had a request for clovers for St. Patrick's Day.

Then I made tons of hearts not in a Valentine's Day theme.  I'm still holding these, trying to think of a nonprofit or something that would like to use them for something?  Any ideas? 

I did some with stars, thinking boys might like hearts with stars instead of hearts with hearts or buttons? Just a thought, maybe I'm crazy. 

Then... I discovered FELT FRIENDS. I wish I could find the website where I printed out the best patterns for animals.  Don't you know, I have searched and searched with absolutely no luck. But anyway, here are several I made for my niece and for a friend of the family. 

It started with a rabbit for Easter.  Goodness gracious, everyone wanted a rabbit.  And rabbit ears aren't the easiest... but it's so darn cute.  It had to have a cow to play with as friends.  Then someone wanted a PIG.  And the pig was C.U.T.E.

So then I just made a farm of felt friends.  Cats, dogs, sheep, cows, pigs... fun fun fun.  Some I added the loops to and others I just left as random heads.  Which do you like better?  Loops or no loops?  I've thought about making sets of these as baby gifts.  There is nothing to harm them as they have no buttons.  Everything is handstitched.

You know that once the gates open up, someone else asks for a random something... which was an ADPi lion.  So, I made up an ADPi lion. 

And a penguin.  Because every child needs a felt penguin to play with, right? 

So there are my felt friends!! Feel free to copy any of the ideas - some were patterns and some I made up on my own (lion, penguin). And give me feedback, a good gift or no? Better for one-year-olds vs. babies? I don't have kids, to help me out! :)

Sweet Baby Boy Book

I realized as I watched my baby boy paper supply getting low, I've done several baby boy books and not so many baby girl books! And what do I get an order for today - another baby boy book! Ha! Sounds like I may need to go shopping. :)

This one was a gift to my b-i-l's niece.  She's having her boy in October, naming him Lane.  Isn't that sweet? Anyway, enjoy the pics!

Cute cover for baby Lane.  All Boy! Judging by the amount of Carhart this child received at the shower... all boy describes him well! (And he isn't even here yet!)

I tried adding more than one pic to some of the layouts because honestly, when you have a new baby - especially a first baby - you take a million photos!  19 pics just won't cover it! So this added a few more photos to the album.  I'm not sure I'm sold on it, but it's all good.  You can let me know your thoughts.

I have an order for a Girl Scout inspiration scrapbook, then will dive back into baby boy world! :) You know I'll take you along for the journey.

As always, feel free to visit http://pressedclovers.etsy.com to see what I have going on there!

Pinned It, Did It - Party Pins

My sweet niece turned one this weekend and we, of course, used Pintrest for all kinds of ideas to help make thing easier and cuter!! :)   The theme was bunnies in pinks and greens and I gotta say, Pintrest did help us - and impressed some of our guests.

BALL PIT!!!!
What kid doesn't want their own ball pit? We took a sandbox (which was Sweet Niece's gift from her parents) and filled it with balls from Toys R Us.  We spread out a quilt to out to cover the grass and kept it down with "baby jail."  I think they call them play yards but whatever. It's baby jail. The kids loved this area and spent most of their time hanging in this area.

RABBIT FOOD!!!
Who wants Ranch dressing all over their bunny cookies? Not me. So these cups of ranch and rabbit food worked out great. All the yummy goodness is contained without any of the mess. Worked great!

ICE CREAM MUFFIN LINERS!!!
Another great idea.  No pictures, but it was very cool.  We let the ice cream soften, scooped and stored the night before.  When it was time to serve, we literally walked around with the muffin tins and let people pick them up.  Folks loved it.


CUPCAKE LINER WREATH!!!
Super cute idea and it was SO easy to make. You can check out the entire tutorial here.  We used it at the end of the cupcake table with bunnies around the base of the wreath holder. SO CUTE!


This is the one I created for the party and pinned. The wreath in use is pictured below!

GIFT GIVEAWAYS!!!
So I didn't totally copy this one, but it did give me ideas for what to do at our party. We found these tins at the dollar store and I used Sharpie markers to write everyone's names on a tin. We found bunny bags on clearance after Easter and put all kinds of small items in each one - age appropriate for the child, of course.  I thought they turned out cute!

So, what do you think? Was this one heck of a Pintrest inspired party or what? hahaha.  It was a great time and I'm really glad we used the ideas found here because it did make life easier for us at the actual event!  :)  I'm linking up today and heading to check out other's people's cool ideas!

{Tutorial} Baby's Feet Print - Priceless Treasures!

I usually cross-post items with my personal page, Whiskey Tango Hello, but this one didn't make it over here to Pressed Clovers.  So let me change that right now!

As you may know, Sweet Niece #2 is turning one tomorrow. So this Pintrest project involves her sweet little feet!

Here is the Inspiration Pin:


And here is my creation - a gift for my mom (the grandma of Sweet Niece):

This was so easy to do and turned out so stinkin' cute. My mom loved it! She still has it on display at her house.

Here is how to make your own -

Needed Items:
8 x 10 picture frame
1 piece of printed scrapbook paper (I used Susan Branch paper - click her name for a visit!)
1 red piece of paper
1 white piece of paper
Three buttons
adhesive (glue stick, double sided tape, whatever)
Ink/markers/paint - for the feet print
One adorable baby

I'm not going to write a step-by-step because it's pretty obvious what to do. But I will give you a few words of advice.

1) You'll need two people, one to hold the baby's foot and one to guide it into the V formation you need for this.  And be prepared because you'll have to deal with the icky foot before you move on to the next footprint because they will want to put the icky foot down on the paper again.

2) We used washable red marker instead of an ink pad or paint because that's what I had on hand.  I'm not so sure I'd do it again because you can really see the marker lines on the print. See how it looks a little streaky?  Not that my mom cared... but you know about wanting things perfect!

3) The buttons are glued to the outside of the picture frame, to the glass. :)  Just in case you didn't realize it.

So, what do you think?  It's not PERFECT but I was happy with it.  Now go visit other people's Pinned It Did It projects by clicking the button below! :)