My First Video Tutorial!

I posted my first ChichiKids video tutorial! I'm sure my family will get a kick out of it ... as they had to witness my "toothpaste commercials" since I was a kid (and I may have been known to jump in front of the camera to do a few "weather reports" ... even as an adult).

Enjoy ... and if you comment ... be nice. :o)

ChichiKids Fabric Appliques ~ Basic Iron-On Tutorial



All of my ChichiKids video tutorials will be linked on my sidebar under ChichiKids Tutorials.

The awesome little apron that I wear in my videos and EVERY day when I work on applique orders and DIY projects was handmade by The Apron Addict on Etsy!

Love for the Mini-MOO!

My Mini-MOO business cards arrived!

MOO.com is simply amazing and it's effortless to create your own cards using your OWN photos! It's like a modern day "mullet" ... except it's a party on the front and business on the back. *smile*

If you haven't stumbled across it, I have an Etsy shop called ChichiKids! My shop focus is custom, iron-on fabric applique letters and designs for your clothing or home DIY projects. If I meet someone and the conversation turns to "So, what do you DO?". I have a hard time explaining my shop focus and appliques. It usually results in an "Oh. So, anyway ....".

I had a friend ask me, "Why don't you just say you sell "crafts". Well ... outside this AWESOME blog community, "crafts" seems to be a "dated" term ...people tend to think Popsicle Stick Bird Houses and Paper Bag Puppets. *giggle*

With my Mini-Moo's and my applique projects proudly featured on the front of each business card ... they have a visual reference and perhaps the conversation will be more of ... "Oh, COOL! So anyway ...".

... and THIS is why I'm so excited!

LOOK! My Mini-Moo's!

Aww ... cute little box! These shipped to my overseas address in a matter of days!

Ooh! A little peek into the box!

Appliques in action! With your MOO cards ... you can use as many photos as you like! Each card can have a different design. SWEET!


I love the little Peek-a-Boo Turkey ... and seeing my niece and son on my
business card simply makes me smile.

I'm excited to show-off on my card that appliques are not just for clothing! Did you notice that the M,T,W,T,F,S embellished clips on my Meal Planning Board were actually Doodle Dot Letter appliques? Oh Yes!

Thinking about ordering from MOO.com? Here is a coupon code for 15% off your FIRST order! Have fun!

2RB2CK

Interchangeable Camo Daisy Pin

I've spent enough time in camo over the last 13 years that I don't usually add it to my civilian wardrobe ... but every once in a while I get the urge to show a little support outside of uniform. Using some scrap fabric and random military-support pins ... I whipped up this little Interchangeable Camo Daisy Pin in less than 5 minutes.

Interchangeable Camo Daisy Pin

Adding a little feminine touch to the standard Yellow Ribbon Pin ...

Supporting our troops ...

Supporting a spouse ...

Attempting to model the pin (this is NOT my comfort zone)


Seriously, I just couldn't do it ... so I laughed instead ...

Ok, grab your scraps of material. I don't expect everybody to have uniform scraps in their house but you can use a military bandana or other camo inspired fabric ... or check out a nearby Military Surplus Store!

Cut your scraps into various size flowers ... I used my Sizzix but you can find a flower graphic on-line, print, cut and trace ... or free-hand it!

Layer them ...

Add a quick little stitch in the middle to hold it together ...

Grab a military pin, poke it through the flower and you're done! Super easy to switch-out to any military inspired pin of your choice!

Kitchen Command Center ~ Finally!

I started drafting up plans for my little Kitchen Command Center a few month ago ... and FINALLY ... I've finished! As I've said before, the hardest part about living in Europe and having a DIY addiction is actually finding the materials. This is one of those projects where I spent weeks trying to find the right materials and waiting for them to arrive. When all of my supplies came in ... I swear, the skies parted and a little beam of light glistened through my kitchen window ... I may have heard angels singing (or it could have been my iPod).

So here it is ...

Kitchen Command Center

Do you see the little ray of light shining into my kitchen? Yes, this was a happy day!

Our Kitchen Command Center features a Meal Planning Board, Dry Erase Note Board, Magnet Boards and Chore Charts ... it has everything we need to plan out our week.

The Meal Planning Board was originally inspired by Charity over at All Things Beautiful. I'll be sharing a tutorial for my Meal Planning Board later this week, so please stop back.

I divided our meals into 3 categories; "favorites", "fast", and "new"

I embellished good 'ole clothespins to display our meals for the week (Sun - Sat). I've shared a tutorial on how to make your own "Not Your Average Clothespins" here.

The fabric makes me smile ... and crave sweets.

A simple-to-make DIY Dry Erase Note Board for important reminders, "to-do" lists, and loving notes to the hubby and kiddo! The tutorial for this is also coming later this week but you can get a pretty good idea from one of my previous projects here.

My personal favorite ... the Magnet Boards and Chore Charts! I purchased these beauties on Etsy from a wonderful shop, Abbie's House. Now I know every DIY'er has that urge to make everything themselves, but I believe in supporting others in their artistry too. I {heart} handmade! When I saw these Chore Charts at Abbie's House, there was no hesitation ... they were clean, simple, and beautifully made. She was also so kind as to create two, custom "blank" Magnet Boards to coordinate with the Chore Charts I ordered. She's great ... go check her out!

I love them so much that ... you see the top Chore Chart titled "Jaime & Al" ... that's my Chore Chart (ok, so I share with the hubby ... but we know the truth)! So much cuter than scribbling out my chores on a piece of paper ... you're NEVER too old for a Chore Chart! :o)

Abbie's House has a cute selection of "chore magnet" bundles. This Magnet Board keeps all of our "extra" chores that don't have a home under the "to do" or "done" list for the day.

The 2nd Magnet Board is for general use. I clip up mail that needs to be taken to the post, permission slips, etc. I made large, 1 1/8" cover-button magnets in coordinating fabrics to match the Meal Planning Board and Dry Erase Board. You can find my Cover Button Tutorial here.

... and one last look at the Kitchen Command Center. It makes me smile every day!

Find out how I hung everything, here.

Not Your Average Clothes Pin 2

Very similar to "Not Your Average Clothes Pin" but with a little Modge Podge and fabric twist! This is a really simple and quick project to re-purpose and re-style your average clothespin ... making it oh so functionally cute!

Not Your Average Clothespin 2

Supplies

Clothespins
Fabric Strips
Modge Podge
Scissors
Glue
Decorative Embellishment
Push Pin or Magnet

Oh so "functionally cute"!

Gather your supplies and set aside about 10 minutes of your time ...

Cut fabric to the width of your clothespin ...
(oh my goodness ... I need to do my nails before my next "hand photo"!)

I used my rotary cutter but you can use scissors too ...

Cut fabric to the length of your clothespins ...

Modge Podge one side of your clothespin. I used Fabric Modge Podge but any Modge Podge will work nicely ...

Lay your fabric onto the modge-podged clothespin, rub down with your finger, and then apply another layer of Modge Podge over the fabric ...

Glue your embellishment of choice at the top of the clothespin ...

Pick your backing. I chose the magnet for this project ...

Glue to the back ...

... and now you have a very "functionally cute" fabric covered clothespin!

Like the fabric-covered magnets? See the tutorial {here}.

Decorative Travel Map

This is one of my favorite "decorative documentation" projects in our house. This project can be done with a World Map, Country Map, or State Map to fit your personal travel journeys!

We are fortunate and blessed to be living in an area where European travel is easy and quite affordable. If you visit my other blog Our Journey and look over to my sidebar under "Our Destinations", you'll see we've done quite a bit of traveling in the last 2 years. Traveling around Europe when you live in Europe is near the equivalent of simply exploring your "home-state" in the U.S. We're talking ... Paris is only a 4-hour drive, Rome is a $30 plane ticket, the Netherlands is a 4-hour drive, Austria is 4-hours away ... you get my drift. So as I said, most of our destinations are just a simple drive or a cheap plane ticket away.

We wanted a simple yet decorative way to document our travels as a family. This Travel Map is by no means my original idea ... in fact, as a pilot, my husband's flying unit usually has one of these hanging in their building ... just not as "pretty"! At a semi-recent spouses' meeting, the host had a decorative version in her home and as I wiped the drool off my chin, I said ... "this is it"! That night I hopped on Amazon and found a 36" x 40" antique-style, laminated world map and ordered it immediately. Shortly after it arrived we took it to get framed and adhered to foam poster board (a good DIY project) and then found the perfect spot for it in our home. I would have loved to do this as a full-blown DIY project but we have a hard time finding the right supplies here.

Now, I have to admit ... the hubby was not really on board with this little project until he pushed-in the first map tack ... then he was quite excited to step back and see the beauty of the project! This is a great conversation piece when you have guests over and also great for the kids .. and to be honest, Al and I have spent a lot of time just looking and reminiscing about the places we've been has a family.

Decorative {Documenting Your Travels} Map

Supplies

World Map or U.S. Map
Map Tacks

Foam Board
Custom Frame

We used 1/16th map tacks to mark the cities we've lived in and the cities we've explored as a family. We decided not to mark the places we've traveled individually; just our family travel.

We didn't realize how much time we've spent on the East coast! It's time to venture "out West" when we move back to the states.

Taking a step back to get an idea of size and scale.

Thanks to my awesome husband for just "trusting me on this one"!


Scrabble Tile Decor

I randomly purchased a hand-blown glass Chicken at a Bizarre last weekend ... I know, right!? Let me tell you ... I don't "do" knick-knacks or random decorative purchases. So you can imagine when I walked into the house and showed my hubby our new "chicken" he seriously thought it was some kind of joke ... a chicken? I don't know, maybe it was the color ... but this little guy stole my heart. It was the fastest and most spontaneous purchase I may have ever made!

Moving along ... I needed to find a home for "Peep". I thought on top of our old wine barrel would be a great place. As I struggled to decorate this little corner, my kiddo pulled out the Scrabble box ... the inspiration was right there in his sticky little hands! I grabbed a really cool empty wine bottle that I had kept from over a year ago, pulled out a few tiles, dumped the rest in the bottle and voila! Then I decided it needed a little more color. I grabbed a bottle of craft paint, applied a thin layer and then ... VOILA! I love how something so incredibly simple can really make an impact. P.S.... Do you like the little love note to my hubby I snuck in there



Before (left) and After (right)

A few strokes of craft paint and 5-minutes later we were done ...

Scrabble Tile Letters with a Robins Egg Blue Tile Holder

"U R MY FAVORITE" ... a little love note to the hubby ... think he'll notice? The extra letter tiles are in the old wine bottle that is also used as a bookend for our Wine Journal. Maybe the hubby will spell out a new note occasionally ... hint, hint.

Re-purposed wine bottle turned decorative

... let's not forget the inspiration behind it all. A chicken named Peep.

Fabric Covered Button ~ Photo Tutorial

I'm slightly addicted to fabric covered buttons ... they make the perfect little embellishment! Let's make a list of possibilities: Fabric covered button ... push-pins, magnets, bobby-pins, rings, bracelets, hair clips, over-sized paper clips/book markers. Oh! The possibilities are ENDLESS! You can get them in a great range of sizes; small (like the ones in this tutorial) up to over 1" in diameter.

Now I know there are a lot of tutorials out there but since I incorporate fabric covered buttons into several of my projects, I figured I'd make a simple photo tutorial for you. With a just a few simple supplies and a few minutes of your time ... you'll be popping out cover buttons of your own!


Fabric Covered Button ~ Photo Tutorial




SUPPLIES


Cover Button Kit
(I used size 24 ~ 5/8" in this tutorial)
you can find a kit at your local craft store

Scrap Fabric
Push Pin or Magnet
Glue (I used E6000)