Pinterest and the World of Ideas

Hello everyone!

Today I thought we'd explore one of my all time favorite places to find craft, DIY, recipes, and just ideas or inspiration. It also happens to be one of my all time favorite social medias. PINTEREST!

The amazing thing about Pinterest is the amount of content on there, and the amazingly easy way to organize your findings. I use Pinterest to find recipes, I use it to plan stories, I use it to plan Christmas, I use it to plan graduations and parties...it has endless uses and can be an AMAZING tool. That is, if you can discipline yourself enough not to spend all day on it. LOL.

In my opinion, the key to having a great experience on Pinterest is to properly organize your boards. Personally, I have dozens of boards, but it helps me to be able to go back and find the pins that I save. I have found some of my best projects from ideas on Facebook. Here's my top ways to use the website.

1) Recipes
You can create a single board for recipes, or you can create multiples with distinct types of recipes. For example, one for desserts, one for diets, one for Thanksgiving ideas, etc.

2) Historical tidbits
I LOVE history, and there's something that is just so fun about browsing through historical pictures. I have a whole board for Titanic pictures and articles. SO much fun.

3) Craft Ideas
When I decided to make a batch of warm winter skirts, I immediately went to Pinterest to look up some ideas. I took what I found and adapted them to my supplies and tastes.

4) Party Planning
When I have a graduation or something to plan, Pinterest is my greatest asset. I create a board for that theme and then go to searching for ideas that go well with it. Like a couple of years ago when I did my brother's graduation in a camo theme, I was able to find cake and decorating ideas as well as food ideas on there. Couldn't have pulled it off without Pinterest.

5) Story planning
As an author, I use Pinterest to corral ideas, historical tidbits, character look-alikes, etc when I'm writing a story. It's also fun for fans since they can go there and see the places, people and articles that inspired the tale.

If you're on Pinterest, tell me what your favorite use of it is.

If you're not, tell me what you use to find and organize your ideas. 

Are you on Pinterest? If so, I'd love to connect! Here's a link to my profile.
https://www.pinterest.com/AmberDSchamel/

Homemade Exfoliating Scrub

Heidi here. This is a super easy craft. It is a nice "thanks for having me stay with you" little gift, and homemade items are much more appreciated :-)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sea salt
1/4 cup liquid coconut oil
Essential oils
Some type of container (I used a wide-mouth half-pint canning jar, but you can use any size container you would like.)

Measure the sea salt and coconut oil into the jar, mix well. Add some essential oils ~ I used six drops of lavender and 3 drops of orange, but feel free to mix it up) ~ and stir thoroughly. If giving as a gift, I then take a small piece of paper towel and wipe the inside of the upper part of the jar to give it a clean look. Twist on top.

If you would like, you can dress up the jar. For this example, I hot-glued twine around the glass jar in three small spots, leaving the twist top free to come off. Then, I added a cute label I made with a hole-punch in it, and finally tied a bow (I also hot-glued the knot of the bow).

Crafty note: I use this scrub in the shower. I make a double batch and put it in a tupperware container, leaving it in the shower stall for whenever I have a hankering for exfoliating! Note, a little goes a long way.....

Customize a bag for your favorite teacher

Heidi here. I wanted to put together a gift for a new teacher, but I couldn't find anything on the internet about what to "stuff" it with, so I thought this information might be handy for some of you.

I ended up purchasing and personalizing this bag.

I also selected the optional pocket organizer, so I wanted to stuff the bag with things a teacher might be able to use. I put in some gel pens, red pens, personalized note cards, personalized notebooks, cute paper clips that I found from Walmart, a cute clipboard that I got from Staples, and a tiny stapler from Walmart.

Some other ideas that I didn't use were a gift card to Stones School Supply (check where you may have a school supply store in your area), special scissors with different cutting edges (you can get them from Walmart, Target, or any office store).

Also, if you wanted to personalize the clipboard, get a Sharpie and start using some fancy calligraphy to personalize with the teachers name and perhaps an upbeat saying.

This is what the bag I gifted looked like stuffed:

Hope this helps you shop for your favorite teacher 😀

Papercrafting with Special Guest Debbie Mitchell #giveaway

I am ecstatic to welcome Debbie Mitchell as a guest on our blog today! We all know Debbie since she hangs out with us here almost every day, but now we get to hear from her about her AMAZING papercraft boxes! She mentioned them a few weeks back when we were chatting about our favorite crafts. 

Oh my, Ya'll. When I hopped over to Pinterest and her blog and saw what she does I BEGGED her to come on and share with all of us. She graciously agreed, and I'm thrilled.

Before I spoil it by ranting about how cool these boxes are, let's get to it. Here's Chappy. 

*****

Hello, my name is Debbie Mitchell, but most people call me Chappy. I've been asked to share my Exploding Picture Boxes with you and I will do my best to show you how to create them. Most of the boxes you find on the internet are mass produced. I create each of my boxes by hand and each one is unique. Even if I use the same theme, such as my Pirate boxes, they each turn out differently in some way. I am going to walk you through my process of creating a box. For your convenience, I am putting the instructions right on the pictures. (click on images to enlarge)

The first thing you need to do is to decide on the theme....if someone commissions a box, they tell me the theme and then I come up with some ideas for them to choose from. In this case, I am choosing the theme myself. Since Christmas is just around the corner (Yikes!), I've decided to make a Christmas themed box to give away to one of the commenters here on this post.

 

Thanks for joining me today. Make sure and comment below to be put into the drawing to win my Christmas box. (Due to the cost of postage, the giveaway is for US residents only) May God bless you.

 How cool is that?! If you have any questions for Debbie, feel free to leave those in the comments. 

Chappy, thanks so much for joining us with such a great post and giveaway! What an awesome box! 

Good luck, ya'll.

About Debbie:

Debbie Mitchell taught Sunday School for over 20 years. She is a firm believer in reading through the Bible each year and is working on her 16^th time through. Keeping in the Word and teaching Sunday School has helped her to recognize and face the enemy. She lives in California with her husband Jack and their two dogs. She has one son, two daughters, two sons-in-law and has been blessed with grandchildren that truly make her days.

You can see all of my boxes on Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/debsbunch5/exploding-picture-boxes-ive-made/

I have a weekly blog with book giveaways as well:

http://redemptiondrawsnear.blogspot.com/

Debbie has also co-authored a devotional with MaryLu Tyndall! Check it out here.

https://www.amazon.com/Pearls-Sea-Days-Sailing-Jesus-ebook/dp/B00CLR2VPC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1392538723&sr=1-1&keywords=pearls+from+the+sea+marylu+tyndall

 

Hunting Party Time - Decorating Ideas

Since November is deer hunting season, I thought I'd share a few decorating ideas for a Hunting/ Duck Dynasty themed party. I did a similar post a couple months ago on hunting themed party food. If you missed it, click here to view. 

Hunting themed decorations were a little bit tricky for me. I used green and brown streamers, tablecloths and napkins, but I had to create a banner of my own.

  

Hunting Party Banner:

I started with green and brown construction paper and cut 8 inch squares.

I used decorative scissors for the edges. Next, I cut 6 inch squares out of camo scrapbook paper and glued them to the construction paper squares. 

Next, I made circles that fit nicely inside those 6 inch squares out of the construction paper. 

Finally, I used stencils to cut the letters out of the construction paper also. I punched holes in the two top corners and joined the different letters with orange ribbon. 

Camo Lettering:

When decorating for a hunting party, be sure to buy LOTS of camo duck tape. Here, I overlaid cork letters in duck tape to make camo letters to spell the graduates name.

 Camo Graduation Cap:

I found a disposable paper graduation cap and also overlaid it with camo duck tape. This made for a nice addition to our dessert display. 

Other Random Ideas:

• Use a hunting lunch box to hold the greeting cards. 
• Use duck dynasty tissue paper to accent the tables
• Use fall leaf sequins and feathers like confetti to decorate the tables.
• Chances are, if you're doing a hunting party for someone, they probably have some hunting decor or figurines that you can use to decorate as well.

Do you have any hunters in your family?

What is the most memorable party decoration you've ever seen?

Multi-published author Amber Schamel writes riveting stories that bring HIStory to life. She has a passion for history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest". A homeschool graduate from a family of 12 children, Amber found her calling early in life. First published at age 21, she has continued to hone her craft and is now the author of over half a dozen books. Between ministry, family and working in their family-owned businesses, Amber loves to connect with readers. Find her on the Stitches Thru Time blog, or on any of the major social media sites.  Amber is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, and the Historical Novel Society.

http://amberschamel.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAmberSchamel 
Twitter: @AmberSchamel 
Pintrest - http://pinterest.com/AmberDSchamel/ 
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7073165.Amber_Schamel

Christmas is coming!

It that time of the year again!

Michele here to try and whisk you into the holiday spirit! If you’re a crafter you know it’s the time of year when you start planning your holiday project list.

This year I plan to make a Christmas afghan. I already have two, one my grandma made in the seventies, and the other came from my parent's cabin in Northern MI. I love those blankets. They have sentimental value because they are connected to someone or something in my past. I’d like to make something like that for my own children.

So, I need your help. Which throw do you like? I’ve posted a few patterns along with the link to the web site where you can find them if you’re interested. 

Please, vote in the comment section to help me out and don't forget to leave your e-mail address to be entered into our weekly drawing.

   Here's choice number one. I love the bright contrast and fun peppermint candies! 
And here's the link to the pattern: patterns/peppermint-throw-and-pillow

Choice number two. Another pretty one!

Here this link: Snowflakes-ribbons-throw

And the last choice. I like this one because I learned to crochet granny squares when I was in elementary school. (a LONG time ago!) 

Link to this cute granny square throw: Holiday-throw

                                                                      

All the above patterns are found on Red Heart Yarn's web site.

Thanks for your help! I can't wait to hear from you!

Happy crafting,

Michele

Elegant DIY Dangle Hairsticks

 

This summer I was attending a formal banquet while volunteering in rural Missouri. I had been so blessed as to come upon a gown to wear, but I had no hair accessories. I had formed a picture in my mind of what I wanted, but I couldn't find it anywhere. We had only one small Walmart near the camp I was serving, so I had to get...shall we say, creative. Here's what I came up with. I hope it will inspire your creativity as well.



What you'll need:

Two Double Sided knitting needles (color of your choice. I used green)

A couple of fancy shank buttons

Beads of a suiting color and style

Thread

Clear Gorilla Glue



First, string the beads onto the thread in a style of your choosing.

 

Next, tie the string of beads to the shank of the buttons. 

 

Fitting one end of the knitting needle into the shank, secure with the Gorilla Glue. Remember that you only need a small drop of glue. The glue expands and if you put too much, it won't look good. 

 

Allow the glue to dry for 24 hrs. 

And your hairsticks are finished!

Now it's your turn, what odd things have you used to make something useful?

If you enjoyed this, you may also enjoy my pintrest boards. 

http://www.pinterest.com/AmberDSchamel/