Place Settings

This afternoon the kids made those pine cone and peanut butter bird feeders, so I decided to search 'pine cones' to see what else we could do with them.  I came across this place setting and I my interests shifted from pine cones to place settings. 

Place settings are one of those 'better in theory' type things.  They look nice and you like the idea of the place setting, but when it really boils down to it, people just want to eat...they don't want to have to be picking leaves and apples off of their plates.  None the less, I got lost in the pointless, yet enticing, spin offs of the typical place settings.  Now all I need to do is find a reason to have a fancy dinner...Thanksgiving's not for another two months!

Brace yourself.  This might get complicated...not just anybody can do these.  Once you figure out how to do just one, you may too exhausted to do any more!  Do you think you can handle this?

Are you kidding me?  This is like the easiest thing ever and I have to say, I kind of love it!

Oh, wait...maybe this is the easiest thing ever, and it's free.  I hate these.  Ever step on them barefoot?  It hurts.  I have to say, I never would have thought to do this.

 
These may all be a little hard to see, but the thing I wanted to point out is that the names are literally written on the leaves and the stick.  Who comes up with this stuff?

It's ridiculous how cute this is.  I think I'll have a Preschool Graduation just so I can do this!

So for those of you that are now sucked into the 'pointless, but give me a reason' place setting vortex, this may come in handy:

Go ahead, knock yourself out!

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

I've been finding random buttons around the house lately, so I decided to see what's out there as far as buttons go...here's what I found.

OK, well this is a little much and who has this many buttons? 

I guess if you do, use a muffin pan as a sorter!

Here's some stuff that uses a lot less buttons and a hot glue gun...

Napkin Rings

Hair Clips

Magnets

Snazzy Cards...

I love the bird idea on this one!  Cover up one hole with a felt wing and add the legs and beak...it's so simple!   

Love this!

This is a Martha Stewart creation...http://www.marthastewart.com/article/button-crafts

Now, I know I don't have these kind of fancy fun buttons just lying around, but you can buy bags of assorted buttons at craft stores, antique stores, etc.  They're pretty cheap.

No Carve Pumpkin Ideas

I can't help but be excited about this fall weather that is slowly, but surely approaching.  I'm not one for all this heat.  It's also the time of year when I can start breaking out some new decor for the house...new table cloth and crafty stuff for the kids.  I am also a sucker for all that simple 'less is more' type stuff people do with gourds and candles.  

Anyway, so I stumbled across some no carve pumpkin ideas that will hopefully get those wheels turnin'.  I mean really, like I have time to carve pumpkins right now, ha!  

Oh. Come. On!  You're telling me that all I have to do is find a couple of round pumpkins and hot glue a ribbon around it?  Done.  Next...

White pumpkin meets vinyl stickers, or a sharpie and a stencil for that matter!  This is too easy...

How about pumpkin meets doily?

Love this!

It's not too late to press leaves and Mod Podge them to a pumpkin!  I guess you can pretty much Mod Podge anything to a pumpkin...old photos, newspaper, scrapbook paper...your kids.  Oh wait, scratch that last one.   

OK, so this may have a little bit of carving going on, but I still like the idea of the painted squares.  Very retro. 

I have to say though, I am still a fan of the traditional scary pumpkin face...

You're on your own with this one, I have no clue how this was done.  But I just couldn't resist.  It's like he's looking straight at me!  If that's not scary I don't know what is. 

Happy Pre-Fall Pumpkin Crafting!

A Brown Paper Bag

It was this image that caught my eye as I was Googling images of 'red hearts' the other day.  I may have gotten a little side tracked after that.  This is so cute!!!  Now as much as I want to say that this was my idea, sadly I cannot.  I have full intention of making this in the near future.  I am also well aware of the fact that it is not Valentine's Day, but this idea can be used for any occasion where a card is needed.  I could not keep this idea all for myself, thus The Baby Jar blog was born.  There's plenty of easy 'why didn't I think of that?' stuff out there, you just have to know where to look.  Now, I consider myself a crafty person, but let's face it...we all steal ideas.  I will update as often as I can with more crafts that should not go over looked, seasonal or not!  This is the link for the step by step instructions: 

http://rosinahuber.blogspot.com/2010/02/valentine-paper-bag-books.html