DIY Snow Mobile

While it's no secret that my preferred season is Fall, I do love Winter! The way fresh snow glistens and sparkles. White in color but looks blue in the shade. Snow ball fights. Sleigh rides.Winter crafting with my kids.  Sledding. Making snow men. Baking cookies. The gatherings. Hot coco, and a blanket by a fireplace....Oh the list goes on haha as I'm sure it does for you. Well where I'm going with this is, my best friend is pregnant with their last child and is just shy of 37 weeks right now, and expecting another girl! Being due dead smack in winter leaves for such a inspirational flow! I instantly decided that I wanted to use snowflakes in there. But what to make....I finally chose a mobile, but rather then having one for hanging on the crib, I wanted one that hung from the ceiling-Why you might ask? Well simple- I'm wanting snowflakes {winter} to be the major theme, and more functional when it can be used past the infant years. I wanted to make something that after her first year or so would just be put up until winter arrived the next year. Something to celebrate winter and obviously my sweet niece!
*Before I continue I want to point out now that this tutorial is a bit different then my past ones. Once I get to the 'decorating' I don't take pictures. I did this project in  increments as family life is my #1 and the other part being I want you to make your own project from this. Of course you can do a recreation if you should choose, but projects are fun for us because we put your own touch on it. Change it up a little, make it Younique :) {haha yeah I'm a dork, I know}

Alright so materials:
1 pretty shoelace
2 {or more} colors of ribbon
scissors
1 pack or assorted sized bulbs
Couple different cutout packs. {I chose foam snowflakes and glitter paper cut out shapes.}
Metal ring {I got from Joanns, but can just as easily be bought from Walmart or other stores that carry crafting materials}

Hot glue gun.
*Pictured is blue thread-I decided not use it.

 First take the shoelace and line tips up equally then cut in half, and cut off the tips.

 Take one of the end of the shoelace, line up as such with only a half inch or so

 Hot glue on the end, fold, press and hold for 15-20ish seconds.
Now take the loose end of the attached shoelace and glue it in a similar spot on the other side of the ring. Repeate these steps for the second piece of shoelace.
*HOT GLUE IS HOT* lol.

 Measure two pieces of ribbon to your desired length. {mine were from shoulder to wrist length.} and Tie in a knot together around the two shoelaces.

 see like this :)

 Then I simply took the ribbons and made a hoop and a knot to hold.

 Cut 8 pieces of ribbon {divided up as you see fit. I only went with two colors so I did 4 blue, 4 purple} I went for 8 inches on these, though whatever length you choose would suffice. Tie two pieces of ribbon together as such, and line up behind one of the shoelace ends above the ring.

 Align the knot behind, and tie off. Double knot. You can make a bow here if you choose. I just let the ends hang.

 Now for this part I did not measure the ribbon out, I did assorted lengths. I wanted a assortment of lengths so I did the measuring by eye. Glue ribbon on in the same manner as I did the shoelaces.

 Now once you are at this point-use your imagination and decorate from your eye :) I did not take pictures of assembly after this point until finished. Simply thread ornament on ribbon, tie knot-dab of hot glue to bond, and move on down the ribbon.
***Careful not to put too much decor on one strand of ribbon because you have a lot to go still. Make it thin, and you can always go back in and fill it up to your desire, rather you cant go and remove things once they are glued.

Spider Web Tutorial

Hello Everyone :) Brrr it sure is chilly here in Fairbanks today. But despite the chilly weather, I'm going to show you a easy peasy no fuss decorating must know for any family with children! With things around the house, they are super easy to make, a breeze to clean up {even better if you have older kiddos, mine loved playing with the scrap shapes, many looked like bats which my girls thought were too cool--and they loved helping when it came time to throwing the 'bats' in the trash}

All you need is a large black trash bag {one bag makes either one large one, or two medium ones}
Scissors, Tape, magic marker {I used a metallic one for easy visibility for the tutorial purpose, but black works just as good} and a ruler {I used my sewing one because it was larger}

First thing you do is get one bag, and lay flat on your surface.

 Now I wanted my web to be larger so I only trimmed off three of the edges.
**IF you want two separate web-trim off ALL 4 sides!**

 Then fold one corner to corner-Trim so that you have an square
**You do not have to be exact

 Fold again, corner to corner

 And again corner to corner.

 Place a few pieces of tape along the OPEN side to keep the bag from sliding everywhere

 Draw two lines down either side of the middle making a 'vein'

 Then so several smaller 'veins' from the original one. I marked the intersections of the veins, only because it makes it a littler simpler when it comes time to cut-But totally optional :)
**Next is optional. You do not need to add the next 'veins' that I did, but again I wanted it to be a little different from the other ones I did, so I changed it up a little. Feel free to let your creative side out, if you have different edged scissors you could come up with some super cool webs!

 Cut out your pattern
**NOTE-once you have cut the pattern, now would be the time to remove any excess tape pieces from the edge.

 Open up, and hang!

 The picture bellow is the simple version. Did not leave all 4 sides when trimming down the garbage bag, and did not add in the extra 'veins' but there still cool :)