rosette felt pillow.

speaking of felt, I found an EXCELLENT tutorial on etsy the other day. a pillow filled with clusters of gorgeous felt rosettes. i love the orange but don't have a place for it so I'll have to find another suitable color. FUN!

diy magnet tutorial.

long-time readers must be thinking - where are all the project updates?! well, rest assured i'm busy-busy. it's just i'm TORN at whether i should talk about them PRE-Christmas at the risk of revealing the homemade treats that MAY be arriving in a stocking near you. but this christmas magnet project is one that won't be gifted to a blog reader. in fact i'm not sure this recipient even knows what a blog is. so here goes...

basic supplies: wooden doll heads (or dowel caps), acrylic paints, paint brushes, magnets, hot glue gun, paint pens (optional) and clear spray paint (optional).

you can get detailed steps here, but here are the basics:
1. paint 2 coats of acrylic paint on the wooden balls and let dry. i used a brick red americana paint.
2. paint 2-3 coats of acrylic of metallic green in different shapes. i did a square for a christmas present, a small tree, a circle for a wreath, and an oblong shape for an ornament.

3. in a contrasting color, decorate the shapes. i used a silver paint pen to add a bow to the wreath, a star to the tree, a hook to the ornament, and a bow/ribbon to the present.
4. optional step - spray with clear coat when dry.

5. using a hot glue gun, affix the magnet to the back.
6. enjoy them hard at WORK on your fridge! (or gift them to a friend)

all the steps (with photos) are on my kodak gallery project page.