Giveaway Winner and Book Initial

Congratulations to Ashley who is the winner of the giveaway!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered and thanks to Laura Frances Designs for giving away some of her super cute cards! I myself bought this one and can't wait to give it to my luvah on Valentine's Day!

Today I am going to share a gift that I gave to my father for Christmas. (Yes that's right, I am still posting things I made at Christmas)

As loyal readers may know I have a history of repurposing old books into art/gifts/random things for my bibliophile father. See some of the things I've done here, here and here.

This time, after being inspired by Mandi over at Vintage Revivals, I decided to cut the letter "M" (my father's initial) out of an outdated baseball book.

Below are some process pics but to be honest this one was pretty easy. I sketched out the letter on the book, then placed some screws in the book in the spaces I was going to remove (to keep the book together while I sawed) then went to work on the band saw. You could also use a jigsaw for this but I was lucky enough to use the band saw at my godparents house who have an entire workshop (of which I am very envious).

That's all for today folks.
Until next time,

*Bonnybee

Valentines Day Card Giveaway from Laura Frances Designs! ::CLOSED::

Today I am so excited to bring a wonderful giveaway to all you readers! I am totally obsessed with all the fun handwriting and "modern calligraphy" prints I have been seeing around lately. It makes me want to practice on transforming my messy boyish handwriting......but until then I will just stare in awe at the beautiful prints created by Laura Frances Designs!

Laura has offered to give away a set of three of her adorable Valentine's Day cards to one lucky reader! Keep on reading to see how to enter to win!

 To enter you must be a follower of Creations by Bonnybee (do this through the "join this site" button on the right hand sidebar). Leave a comment below for each one of the following entries you complete. Make sure to include your email so I can contact the winner!

- visit Laura Frances Designs on Etsy and tell us your favorite item in her store

(this entry is mandatory)

- share this giveaway on facebook

- pin the image from this entry to your pinterest board

(make sure to tag @bonnybeedesigns and leave us a link saying you did it!)

This giveaway will be open until Saturday, February 2nd at midnight. 

Thanks for the great giveaway Laura!

*Bonnybee

DIY stuffed animals

For Christmas I made some stuffed animals out of cozy flannel snuggle prints for two of the little ones in my family. They were super easy and fun to make so I thought I would share them.

1. To prepare I chose my fabrics, sketched out the animals on posterboard and cut out the front and back pieces.
2. I sewed on eyes and a nose made of felt to the front of the owl.
3. Next I sewed together the front and back with right sides facing, leaving a few inches open.
4. I stuffed the owl with pillow stuffing and stitched up the opening.

I also made a whale the same way.

Giving them out on Christmas was really fun and extra special because I made them myself. Tim's niece has already named her new owl friend Sherman! Check out the adorable photos!

Aren't they the cutest?!

*Bonnybee

Painted Dishes DIY

A few weeks ago I ran across some gorgeous illustrated juice glasses from Anthropoligie. My fiance, Tim, is always leaving a cup next to the bathroom sink so he can grab a quick glass of water whenever he is feeling parched. I tend to absentmindedly pick it up and take it into the kitchen which leaves him "cupless". I decided to get myself a new craft toy and play around with some bare dishes and ceramic/ glass paint pens.

Here are the first of my designs ----

the nom nom plates

the narwhale "glug glug"glass

The process was super easy (much easier than taking a good photo of a glass...oh how I wish I was a decent photographer, sigh). I simply doodled, waited 24 hours then baked them in the oven according to the directions. So far they have been through the dishwasher once and are looking great!

Now I am going to go get a glass of water because this has made me thirsty. 

Glug,

*Bonnybee

Happy 2013!

Hope everyone's holidays were filled with lots of love and cheer! Ours were busy but oh so fun. I usually don't make New Year's resolutions but after some thought Tim and I are doing our own sort of challenge.

We have decided to set two goals each month for things we would like to focus on that month. One will be a health/fitness goal and the other will be a social/ethical goal. After hearing about things like the burpee challenge and mile-a-day challenge I was drawn to try them out. The second goal will help us to live more mindfully and incorporate changes into our lives that we want to do but never get around to. Some goals I have in mind are only buying local produce, not eating fast food and even perhaps even some DIY adventures like starting a compost?

So for January we will be doing pushups everyday and increasing the number by one each day (this is my way of preparing my notoriously weak arms for the burpee challenge). For our second goal, we will be environmentally conscious by only using our reusable shopping bags (we are starting off easy this month). We have many reusable bags but forget them much too often so this month we are vowing to not bring home one plastic shopping bag!

Want some reusable totes of your own? Here is a tutorial I did last year on how to make your own!

So wish us luck and I'll let you know how our challenges go!
Anyone wanna make any predictions on how long our resolutions last?
Any suggestions for goals we should make?
Any of you make any resolutions this year?

*Bonnybee

Glass Jar Snow Globes

This year, because of lack of time, I kept my Christmas decorations to a minimum. But after running across some adorable mason jar snow globes at Anthropoligie, I decided my own version of glass jar snow globes would be my fun new decoration for the year. Mine don't have liquid inside but I think they came out cute enough to display proudly on my mantel.

Keep reading to see how I made them. Perhaps you still have time to make some of your own?!


1. Gather materials: Glass jars (I used a pickle jar, a salsa jar and a mason jar. You can use whatever you like, just make sure they have a wide lid and will not fall over when upside down), plastic trees, animals or whatever decoration you want on the inside, silver spray paint, white glitter and a hot glue gun.

2. Spray paint the lids silver.

 

3. Hot glue your decorations to the inside of the lid. To make my animals and trees better seen I added a few layers of cardboard (from the flap of a box) to the lid with hot glue. I also painted the "ground" white with acrylic paint in case it would be seen when the glitter moves. Both of these extra steps are optional. Let the glue dry.

4. Pour a generous amount of glitter into the jar.

<<CAUTION: DO NOT pick up the jar full of glitter and turn it over to show someone something without the lid on. Seriously this may sound too idiotic to even worry about but please see the photo below to show that it could happen! >>

 5. Without spilling the glitter, screw the lid tightly back onto the jar. Shake that snow globe up and enjoy your festiveness!

I am off to celebrate Christmas with friends and family! I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing break.

Happy Holidays!

*Bonnybee 

Bow Ear Warmer Tutorial

A few weeks ago a college friend of mine sent me a photo of an adorable ear warmer she thought I could knit for her. Never wanting to disappoint anyone who supports my craftiness, I got to work. I thought I would share a tutorial for how I did it because it was super easy and it would be perfect for some last minute Christmas gifts!

For supplies you will need some worsted weight yarn (It didn't even take me half a ball to make this), knitting needles (I used size 8), a measuring tape, a large hole needle, and some time relaxing on your couch.

This pattern only uses a basic knitting stitch so it is super easy and quick. First you need to knit three pieces for your ear warmer.

The longest piece is for the headband and is a long rectangle. I cast on 20 stitches and knitted until was the desired length. No need to check your gauge and you can use whatever yarn or size needle you want, just make the finished product 4.5" wide and 14" long. After you make this piece cast off and start your next piece. Next for the bow I cast on 22 stitches and made a rectangle that measured 5" wide and 6.5" long. And lastly a little piece (cast on 5 sts) that measures 1" wide and 4" long.

Now it's time to assemble your pieces. 

1. To make the instructions easier, I have labeled the pieces. A is the long rectangle that will make the headband. B is the piece to make the bow. C is the small strip that will tie everything together. If you haven't done it already, weave in all the lose ends of your pieces.

2. First take piece A and stitch together the two short sides of the rectangle. Do this with a new piece of yarn and don't worry about it looking pretty, it won't be seen.

3. To make the headband cinch in a little so you can add on your bow, pull the ends of your string that you just sewed with to gather the fabric a little. Then tie a knot with each end and snip off the excess. Again this won't be seen but you just need it to be secure because it will get tugged on when you stretch it around your head. 

4. Now we will work with piece B for a moment. With a new piece of yarn run a loose stitch through the middle of the rectangle and pull on the ends to gather it (like you did with the last piece). Don't pull too hard, just enough to where the rectangle transforms into a bow shape.

5. Tie off the ends by wrapping them around the center of the bow and making a knot.

6. Now it's time to put it all together! Lay piece B on top of piece A with the centers matching. Then take C and wrap it around the center of the two pieces. Stitch the two short ends of C together tightly and tie off the ends. Then slide the stitched up side of C to the inside of the headband so you can't see it. I also added one quick stitch through all three layers to make sure they all stay in place. 

You're done! Now you have a cutsie bow ear warmer that took hardly any time at all! If you aren't a big fan of the bow, leave out piece B and just make a cinched headband!

Any questions or suggestions for the tutorial? Any of you going to try this one out? Please let me know in comments below!

*Bonnybee