blog swaps – A Glimpse Inside

Guest Post +Tutorial: Southern Fairy Designs

Hi all!
Steph from Southern Fairy Designs is visiting from across the pond today.
Steph is super sweet and super talented. This girl knows how to make some jewelry knock-offs!
I’ll let Steph take it from here !

So I know I keep saying I will stop making jewelry but I just couldn’t resist having a go at making this anthro beauty.. it’s called Contrasting Beauty and for the horrifying price tag it’s £268!

This photo shows the anthro version next to my version for comparison…

If you want to have a go then you’ll need:

Pliers

Wire cutters

Beading wire

Silver clasp

8 x 6mm pearlescent beads

85 x 6mm pearls

14 x glass rectangle beads

85 x 4mm black bicone beads

2 silver crimp beads

So now to start making the necklace….
1. Cut 3 lengths of beading wire: 36 inches long, 34 inches long and 27 inches long.
2. Thread the 3 lengths of beading wire through a crimp bead, through the heart clasp loop and back through the crimp bead. 3. Crimp the crimp bead with the pliers.
4. Thread the first black bicone bead onto all three lengths of beading wire, feed the loose ends through the bead to secure them.
5. Keep threading black bicone beads on till there are 50 beads on the threads. 6. Take the 2 longest lengths and thread 5 pearls onto them. 7. Take the longest strand and thread the 8 pearlescent beads onto it.
8. Take the mid length of wire and thread 9 pearls on.
9. Take the mid and long lengths of wire and thread 4 pearls on.
10. Take the long length and thread the 14 rectangle beads on.
11.Take the mid length and thread on 21 pearls.
12. Take the mid and long length and thread on 14 pearls.
This is how the necklace should be shaping up by now….
13. Take the short length and thread on 39 pearls.
14. Take all 3 lengths of wire and thread the remaining 35 black bicone beads.
15. Thread a crimp bead onto the 3 wire lengths, pass through the clasp bar attachment loop.
16. Thread the wire back through the crimp bead and crimp with pliers. 17. Trim the excess wire down and thread through the closest bead to secure it.
Now the necklace is finished and I hope you love it as much as I do… and it cost me nothing as I had all this stashed away in my craft room 🙂

That is so pretty Steph!
Thanks so much for sharing it with us all!

Everyone go stop by Southern Fairy Designs and tell Steph Hello!

March 7, 2011 By Allison

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Guest Post: Katie @ Food, Wine, & Mod Podge

I’m excited to introduce you all to Katie from Food, Wine, & Mod Podge.
I’ve “known” Katie for quite some time and she is one sweet, talented lady!
I’ll let Katie take it from here.

Well hello there!

I’m so excited to be blog swappin’ with Allison today.

I’m Katie P, from Food, Wine, & Mod Podge. It’s a pleasure to meet you!

I live in the best city in the world, Chicago, with my wonderful husband…

…and our overly friendly cat (who thinks he’s a dog), Simon.

If you haven’t guessed by now, I have three loves (aside from the men in my life): Food, Wine, & Mod Podge.

My husband and I just love to cook together. We rarely follow a recipe word-for-word, and sometimes just create new dishes out of the blue!

Of course, wine is a big part of our lives too. Though my husband is the sommelier of the family, I really enjoy learning more about it and even making crafts out of the remnants!

And last but certainly not least, I just love making crafts of all sorts. Though Mod Podge has a special place in my heart and often creeps up in my projects, I still use plenty of other crafty mediums!

Feel free to stop by, I’d love to have you poke around my site! I’m sure you’ll find something to tickle your fancy!

And a big thanks to Allison for having me over to your blog today!

Isn’t Katie just adorable?!
Thanks so much for guest posting today Katie!

Please go visit Katie’s blog, Food, Wine, and Mod Podge and say Hi.
I’m sure she’d love for you to stick around a while too.

February 23, 2011 By Allison

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Guest Posters Needed!!

**Thanks to everyone that has contacted me! I have filled all the Guest Posts, plus some! I REALLY appreciate your help!**

Hi all!

I need your help!
I am hoping some of you out there would like to Guest Post here on A Glimpse Inside a couple days!

I will be heading out of town for Christmas and I know a couple days, I won’t have good internet access so instead of just scheduling posts of my stuff… I would much rather schedule posts of all of you!

I will need a Guests on:
*Dec 23nd.
*Dec. 24th
(I’ll skip the weekend since it IS Christmas and I normally don’t post on the weekends)
*Dec. 27th
*Dec 28th
*Dec. 29th

My Catch a Glimpse Party WILL still go on Dec. 23rd but I would love to also have a guest post that day. But I can’t promise that I will be able to visit all of you that link up.

There will be NO Feature Friday post since I won’t be able to create the post while I am gone.

I don’t care what you post about.
It can be something new you just created.
Something old from your blog, but new to everyone here.
It can be a recipe.
It can be a thrifty find.
It can just be a post of “Hey, this is me and I am from here,” and some of your projects.

So Will you help me out?! PLEASE?!

If you would be interesting in Guest Posting please email me at
allison.michelena@gmail.com
I will go on a first come, (email,) first serve basis.

I would need your guests post by Tuesday, the 21st, at the latest so I can schedule everything before I head out of town on the 22nd.

Thanks!

**Thanks to everyone that has contacted me! I have filled all the Guest Posts, plus some! I REALLY appreciate your help!**

December 14, 2010 By Allison

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Blog Swap and Tutorial with Holy Craft

Hi all! I’d like to introduce you to Rachel from Holy Craft. Rachel is super sweet and super talented. She has an awesome tutorial for you all today. Once you are done here, check out what I am sharing over at Holy Craft.

Hello! I’m Rachel! You can normally find me at my blog Holy Craft.

I’m a stay at home mom to three beautiful kiddos and I’m finding that as they get older, I’m getting more time to be crafty. I’ve been crafting, sewing and cooking for as long as I can remember and love the creative outlet that it gives me. I’m also super cheap so I like to find most of my supplies at garage sales.

One of my favorite techniques has been freezer paper stenciling on t-shirts as seen here,
here,
here,
and here .

Today I thought I would show you how I brought this technique to decorating.

Aren’t these mini decorative pillows cute? I’m excited to show you how to make them.

I found these vintage looking money bags at a garage sale for $1. I knew I could do something cool with them.

I started by pairing the bags with some corduroy that I had in my stash.

I cut them down to 7 inches tall, 6 inches wide. I’m pretty sure most of you know how to make a pillow, so I won’t bore you with that information. Make sure you leave a large enough hole to turn the fabric since it is quite thick. I like to use as much fabric as I can and not waste anything, so I used even the back of the money bags even though it didn’t have any of the cool printing on it.

They needed something so I printed up some numbers in Word and then traced them onto freezer paper. Cut the number out and iron them on to the fabric you are using. I used black paint and a sponge brush to fill the stencil in and let it dry. Once it’s dry you can peel off the freezer paper.

Then you stuff the pillow and finish sewing the seam.

Aren’t they cute stuffed in this vintage wire basket?

Or you can use them as a door stop or to stuff a decorative basket. What would you do with them?

Thanks for having me today Allison! Come visit me sometime over at my blog Holy Craft!

I love those pillows, Rachel! Thanks for sharing it with us!

Everyone go give Rachel some love at her blog, Holy Craft.

October 21, 2010 By Allison

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Blog Swap- Creative Kristi

Hi all! I want to introduce you to Kristi from Creative Kristi. She has an adorable blog and shares some great projects. She also makes some FANTASTIC cakes.
I’ll let Kristi take it from here.

Hi, A Glimpse Inside Readers! My name is Kristi and I am so excited to be here today sharing some of my best projects! But first a little about myself- I blog over at Creative Kristi about all things frugal/green, crafty and home renovations (but with a super cheap twist). I am a wife of a Military Man (my little pet nickname for him) a 3 year old boy, Little Man and a 4 month old girl, Miss E.

Ok let’s just dive into some of my best projects: (Just click the pictures to be taken to the posts)My most recent project:
Transforming a regular tank into a nursing tank
Nightstand turned into Play Kitchen:
Easy Pretty Burp Cloths:
DIY Topsy Turvy Tomato planter:
Making Cakes:
Painting Laminate Counter-tops to look like Granite:
Well there you have it! I hope that you found a project that you liked and I hope to see some of you over at Creative Kristi!
Have a Happy Day & thanks Allison for having me over here at A Glimpse Inside!!
Thanks Kristi for visiting today! Everyone head over to Creative Kristi and check her out. Give her some love while you are there as well. 🙂

October 14, 2010 By Allison

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Blog Swap- Crystal’s Craft Spot

I want to welcome Crystal today from Crystal’s Craft Spot.
Crystal is super talented and you will love her ideas.
Check out what she has to share today and when you are done come visit me over at her blog.

Hi Everyone! I am so excited to blog swap with Allison today. I just love her cute blog and great craft ideas.

She is just so talented.

I am Crystal from Crystal’s Craft Spot. Its my little spot to share my current craft projects, tutorials, recipes, and ideas I want to use in the future. I have have a craft challenge every Wednesday and Feature yourself Friday that I would love for you to join. I try to post something new almost everyday and I enjoy a variety of crafts. It is my way to relax and take a break from a busy day. If you have little ones you might also be interested in my preschool blog. We post our fun activities and crafts over there. Also I just opened up my own etsy shop called A.O.kay designs. Its not very full but I’ll be adding a lot of fun new things as I go so check back often. .

Today I have a really quick and easy project to share with you. I have been loving all of the embroidery hoop decorations as well as the adorable stitcheries. Well here is how you can make your own.

Start off with your hoop and cut a piece of fabric. You can also add a piece of batting behind your fabric if you don’t want your thread to show through.

Using your hoop as a frame draw your design with a pencil.

Stick your fabric in your embroidery hoop

Use 3 strands of floss. (most come with 6 strands so you will need to separate them)

Next you are going to use a back stitch and stitch directly over your pencil lines.
Not sure what a back stitch is here’s a quick picture tutorial.

You can change colors, add embellishments, or even color in parts with crayons (I’ll have a tutorial for that on my blog soon). These are so fun and so addicting.

Next cut your fabric down and use hot glue to secure it to the back or you can just tape it like I did so I can switch it out for the next holiday.

Come by Crystal’s Craft Spot anytime for more crafts and tutorial. Thanks again for letting me stop by. Its been a lot of fun!

Thanks Crystal! That is so cute!! I have quite a few hoops that I will have to pull out and use.
Everyone go visit Crystal’s blog and give her some love.

October 7, 2010 By Allison

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Blog Swap- A Little Knick Knack

I want to introduce you to Meg. She is a very talented lady and has a cute blog called A Little Knick Knack. I’m over there today so come visit later.
I’ll let Meg take it from here.

Hello all! I’m so excited to be here at Allison’s place today. I just want to take a second and introduce myself. My name is Meg and I live over at A Little Knick Knack.

I’m a midwest, stay-at-home-mom to three adorable children and in order to keep some sanity, I began to craft. I started my blog at the beginning of the year and I’ve had so much fun with it since! I enjoy doing anything with power tools, sewing, painting, stenciling, fabric-ing, anything really. I hope you enjoy your little tutorial here and can hop on over to my little blog and check it out soon!

Today I’d like to share an incredibly easy, low-stress, festive way to decorate a wreath. I saw this cute idea for a Halloween wreath on Craftaholics Anonymous. Click HERE to see her cute version.

I have a deep and abiding love for the remnants bin at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I found a bunch of hunter green burlap for a mere $2. It was fate! It was MINE. I didn’t know what I would use it for, but I snatched it right up.

See all this lovely fabric I got along with the burlap? Loooove the remnants bin. I’m gonna marry it.

I’ve had this yarn wreath for almost a year now. I’ve enjoyed hanging it in my entryway, but felt it was time to change it up.

After ripping off the chipboard, I tore my burlap into strips. I have to be honest, I didn’t measure, I just began snipping away. I ended up with roughly a dozen 1-inch wide strips, about 8-9 inches long.

Once the cutting was done, I simply tied the burlap strips onto the wreath. No double knots or anything, just a simple once-over will do. Be warned, though, burlap frays easily, so be gentle and if you can, try not to un-do your ties. It may be hard to salvage.

*HINT: I did very loose ties until I was done, then I could easily push and re-arrange the ties until I was sure I had enough on the wreath form.

Once I was done, I used some of my $1 store ribbon to loop through the wreath and hang it on my front door.

So simple, and yet so cute! I love how I can easily change this for the seasons. Right now, it’s set for fall, but I can add a red or burgandy ribbon for Christmas and even add some other trinkets to make it more festive. It suits my purposes for now, and I love it!

I hope you can hop over and join my link party on Fridays called Everything but the Kitchen Sink. It’s for anything and everything and I’d love to see you all there!

Thanks for having me, Allison! Have a wonderful day!

-Meg

Thanks for sharing Meg!
That is so cute and so simple!
Everyone go check out Meg’s blog and give her some love!

September 30, 2010 By Allison

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Blog Swap and Tutorial- Alison from Oopsey Daisy

I want to welcome the fabulously, talented Alison from Oopsey Daisy. Alison is the sweetest and I am happy to call her a friend. Hopefully, one day we can actually meet! 🙂 You can find me over there today sharing a tutorial.

I will let Alison take if from here.

Hello fellow crafters! Today, I am thrilled to be a guest at A Glimpse Inside with my good friend, Allison. We Alison’s stick together! I have been so inspired by Allison and her creations, so this is a real treat for me!

I am Alison, the crazy lady behind Oopsey Daisy. Once upon a time, I was a first grade teacher. Now, I am a happy stay-at-home Mom. I love to make things for the people I love! This is where I find my inspiration:

I am lucky to be married to a wonderful guy who lets me go craft-crazy! He also travels a lot, so my Mod Podge keeps me company! My 19-month-old Little Man keeps me insanely busy. But he also inspired a lot of creativity! Naptime and bedtime are craft time at my house. I make a lot of messes, pull out a lot of stitches, and “oopsey daisy” is the name of my game! I am determined to find beauty in my everyday blunders!

Fall is so delicious to me, and I am a sucker for fall decor! I especially love a good banner or garland to hang across my tiny apartment mantle! Today, I want to share my oh-so-spooky banner with you!

Okay, maybe it’s cute with a slice of spooky on the side!

I created pennant shapes out of cereal boxes! As a crafter, I find myself saving the oddest things, and yes, cereal boxes are one of those things!! I love that it is thicker than cardstock, but still easy to use! I mod podged fun black and white paper on the front and back of each cardstock pennant.

Next, I created scallop shapes on alternating colors of black and white cardstock and mod-podged them onto the center of each pennant. I found the cutest orange chipboard letters to spell out “spooky”!

Next, I lined each pennant shape with orange ribbon. The orange ribbon really made those chipboard letters POP!

Now, I strung all of the pennants together with cute black and white ribbon. I added little ribbon embellishments in between each letter. I found the cutest tiny spools of Halloween ribbon at Hobby Lobby, and this was the perfect way to show it all off!

Doesn’t the banner look lovely with my fabric pumpkins?

I hope you will come join me for more Oopsey Daisy fun! Come along with me for a quick personal tour of my blog:

Each Friday, I share a free download, like the printable numbers for this Halloween advent calendar.

I adore a good vinyl project like this FHE board.

I recently finished TWO quiet books with fun and unique pages like this Mr. Potato Head. I have some printable templates that you can download here.

I have a huge sweet tooth, and I love to share yummy recipes like these snickerdoodle muffins.

Finally, I have started “Mommy School” with my Little Man. I share my ideas and lesson plans at the end of each week. They are adaptable for any age, and easy to fit in to your daily routine!

Oh man, that was so fun! Allison, my friend, thank you for hosting me today! Enjoy your weekend!

That banner is SO cute! Thanks so much Alison for sharing it with us!
Everyone please go visit Oopsey Daisy and check out all of Alison’s adorable projects and give her some love.

September 24, 2010 By Allison

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Blog Swap and Tutorial with Mandy’s Yellow Corner

I’d like to welcome the fabulously, talented Mandy from Mandy’s Yellow Corner.
I’m actually over there today sharing a tutorial on the fun, fall garland that I shared yesterday in my Fall Decor Post so after you visit here, come check it out.

Well hello!
My name is Mandy, and I’m visiting from my site
Mandy’s Yellow Corner.

Allison is just a dear to be blog swapping with me today!
She and I met through blogging,
and quickly discovered that we have so much in common…
I’m really hoping that her husband gets stationed out here in Colorado at some point so that we can be real life friends!

Yup, I live in Colorado with my hubby and our puppy dog…

And I craft ALL the time.
If I am not crafting, I am blogging.

I love to share tutorials for some of the fun projects I’ve done…
For example, this Anthropology Knock-off Tutorialt,

Or this fun Pottery Barn Inspired Tutorial,

And in getting ready for fall, I just shared how to make this Simple Fall Wreath

Today I’d like to share an easy peasy dress tutorial with you.
It’s 10 simple steps… I seriously made this one in about an hour!

Materials Needed:
1 1/2 yards of fabric
Thread
Elastic Thread
Scissors
Sewing Machine
Straight Pins

1. Cut out two pieces of fabric.
Mine were 3.5′ x 2.5′, but exactness really doesn’t matter in this project. Gage how long you would like your dress [and add several inches beyond that to have room to hem it].

2. Using one of the cuts, fold over and iron about a 2 inch seem on the top [the 2.5′ side]. Secure with pins.

3. Time for the elastic thread…
If you’ve never used it before, don’t worry- it’s not difficult!
You put it in the bobbin and sew it into the underside of the fabric.
Then afterwards you iron it and the heat makes it scrunch up.
Easy, right? :]

You’re going to have to wind your bobbin with elastic thread by hand.
I learned by trial and error that the tighter you wind it, the more it will scrunch in the end. . . so I suggest winding it pretty tightly!

Sew straight lines across the width of the fabric spaced about 1/4 inch apart. I sewed 6 of these lines:

4. Do the same thing to the other piece that you cut.

5. Iron over the elastic stitching to make it shrivel up.

6. Pin the two halves together, front sides facing each other:

You’ll want to put the pins where you are wanting to sew… so gage how tightly you would like the dress to fit by holding it up to you.

7. Sew the two halves together [you will want to switch the bobbin thread back to regular thread at this point!]
You’ll probably want to taper the dress out as you go along, but I wanted to give my dress a “bubble” feel, so at the very end I rounded the seam back inwards like this:

Trim the excess fabric.

8. To make straps, cut two strips of fabric, each 20″x3″. Fold it each across so that they are 20″x1.5″ and iron the crease. Then stitch all the way along the open edge:

Pull each strap right-side-out like this:

9. Sew the straps onto the inside of the dress… I did mine in a way to make an “x” in the back:

10. Hem the bottom, and you’re done!

Like I said… easy peasy!

If you are interested in finding some more tutorials, you should drop by my yellow corner! I love finding new blogging friends!

And thanks again to Allison for letting me make myself at home on her blog today!
She’s so super talented… but I guess ya’ll already know that! :]

How cute is that dress?!
Thanks for sharing it with us Mandy!

And everyone should definitely go check out Mandy’s blog and give her some love. She even has an Etsy shop with some of her adorable creations! 🙂

September 16, 2010 By Allison

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Blog Swap- Kati from The Multi-Purpose Life

Today is my first blog swap. I’d like to introduce you to the fabulous Kati from The Mulit-Purpose Life. Take it away Kati!

Hi Everyone! I am so excited to blog swap with Allison today. I have followed her blog for awhile now and I love it! I saw her tutorial on the Twine Wreath and knew I wanted to see more.

My name is

Kati and I am from The Multi-Purpose Life I am a mom of two wonderful kids…I have a 4 year old son and a 2 year old daughter, a hubby, a cat and a dog. We live in the beautiful city of Vancouver, British Columbia (where the 2010 Winter Olympics were) and have a townhouse that we just moved into in February… As we moved I started searches on decorating ideas and then I fell in love with blogs… and thought I might just start one…(as well my son has apraxia of speech and I really wanted to tell our story to help other parents out there.)

This May my grandma from Alabama sent my mom shopping for the perfect sewing machine… and they surprised me with it and I think I surprised them when I came out with pillows and aprons as I haven’t really ever sewed before…So I am learning and loving it. Here are some projects that I have loved making!!!

Mama Apron

Lady Lane Little Apron, Oven Mitt and Felt Cookies

Zipper Pouches
Up until a few weeks ago I had NEVER put in a zipper… thanks to help from my mom I can!!! And I love it!

Tea Towel Holder

Personalized Pillows

$1 Dream Sign Makeover

Joshua’s Dresser (come see the before and after)

Towel Hanger (tutorial)

I have loved creating and crafting since I was little, however this is the first time that I get to share it by blog with so many other REALLY amazing and creative people!!! I love having this big group of people to toss ideas around with, and really create something new and different. I have started to feature my favorite posts that I have found on others blogs throughout the week, I call it Featuring My Favorites Friday.

So come on by and take a look, check out my new etsy shop, become a follower, anything. I would love to have you, read your comments (OH THEY MAKE ME SO HAPPY…) or see some of your posts… if you have a great idea let me know and I might just feature it!

Thanks to Allison for blog swaping with me today, it has been so much fun!!!

Thanks for swapping Kati! Isn’t her stuff just super cute! Go check out Kati’s blog and give her some love! 🙂

September 9, 2010 By Allison