Lorajean's Magazine, BLOG

Remember when I figured out how to cut a hole in the top of my origami boxes ? Ever since then I have been wanting to make a video. Well I finally did! I have a tripod now so the video isn't as wobbly as my other video so thats nice. I don't teach how to make the box itself in this video so to learn how to make the box go here . I made some as gift boxes for Christmas presents for my nieces. I put little recycled Rosette hair clips inside them. It was because of the window that they turned out so adorable I think! I am so excited to share this with you all! Lets get onto the video! {I link up in these link parties}

I have had this idea in my head for a long time now and I am so excited to share it with you!  Seriously, can you get any cuter than valentine doilies laced up and filled with candy? Adding a heart window flap just magnifies the cuteness!  Plus the lacing part is super easy and fun for kids to do.   Materials red card stock hole punch large scallop scissors yarn candy cellophane (or recycled plastic bag) x-acto knife tape 1.  The first thing you need to do is make two doilies. (See my doily tutorial here ... Also, instead of punching two rows of holes I only did one). 2.  Next you need to cut a little heart window out of one of the doilies. I made a heart template and traced it in the middle. following the tracing lines, I cut only half the heart with an x-acto knife. (This part is not intended for kids.). Then I folded it over to make a cute little flap that finishes the other half of the heart shape. (Remember to erase any pencil marks when finishe...

On Tuesday I got together with Delia from Delia Creates and did valentine crafts! We first met through blogging. I found her blog about a year ago and after recognizing a location in her photos I learned she lived in Logan too! We exchanged emails and I eventually invited her to my Halloween party. It was really fun finally meeting her in person. This is only the third time we have gotten together (If you count her coming over to pick up a dish she left at my house).  :)  I am sometimes intimidated by her complete and total awesomeness! Not because she herself is intimidating, quite the contrary, she is so nice, sweet, and sincere!  She is super creative and fun to be around! :) Thanks Delia for a really fun afternoon! :) When I arrived at Delia's house she invited me in and on the table was a lovely collection of lace and fabric all ready for us to use.  The photo above is actually of some lace at my house because I was not thinking and forgot to bring my camera. ...

 A while back I bought some vintage craft books and have been swooning over all the knitting and crochet projects.  I love that even though these are dated they are still in style. The yellow little boy sweater is my most favorite. I love that anchor! I love the boots too! :)  And don't you adore the little boy in blue with the gingham shirt collar? I love gingham right now! Isn't this top so pretty? I love the lacy look and the belt too! This is a complicated pattern and I am not to this level but I still wanted to share it with you. This red jacket is something I want to make for my husband. He would love this.  If i am secretive enough I can make it for him for Christmas. :) I love this scarf it is so full and soft looking.  It's all garter stitch too, super easy! Hope you enjoyed looking into the past for inspiration with me. :)

My 4 year old son loves nutcrackers.  He became obsessed last Christmas when my daughter rented the ballet at the library.  He would ask us to paint a mustache on his face and red dots on his cheeks. Then he would put a stick in the back of his shirt and when he moved it up and down He would open and shut his mouth. He would buy cheap little nutcrackers but would eventually break them. When contemplating what to make him for Christmas I kept going back to a hand-painted wooden nutcracker, but that was quickly followed with the realization that he is still too young and it's just a matter of time before it too will get broken.  Then when I was at DI and found a plush nutcracker I knew that fabric was the way to go. I sewed and sewed into the wee hours of the morning working on this guy. So with out further adieu here is the plush nutcracker I made. I hand sewed most of his face except the teeth, which are hot glued. The X on his chest, and the feather on his hat are also...

New Years resolution #1 Make more clothes for myself .  I was talking to a friend Sunday and found out we both had resolutions to spend less time looking at sewing blogs and more time actually sewing! So I made some old jeans into skinny jeans the other day. The result is super tight jeans that, "make me lose about 20 lbs" -says my husband. Awesome right?! I love them! To make them I did the same basic idea as this tutorial.

I thought it would be fun to re-share the salt dough cookies I made last year . They are so festive and pretty! These are really easy to make, just use the same recipe as the snowflake cookies, but omit the food coloring so they look like sugar cookies! I also didn't add glitter to some of them and I like how they turned out. What do you think?. I glued ribbon loops to the back of some and gave them as a gift to my friend to put on her valentine tree. She loved it. :) I tried some new techniques when I made the cookie below.  First I painted a red heart with craft paint. Then I decorated on top of the red paint with white puff paint and glittered the wet puff paint. It ended up looking awesome!    I have them hanging on my Valentines tree and they look really cute!  (P.S. The glitter cupid cost me 25 cents at an after Christmas sale! I also got my pink ball ornaments after Christmas at Walmart. A box of 25 ornaments for $3, you can't beat that!) These look s...

My 6 year old daughter has a craft blog now! She had been asking me to take pictures of all her crafts and creations for a while now. She even asked me to take photos of her making things "so other kids can learn how to make them too".  She kept telling me not to put it on my blog but on her blog since they were her crafts. But her blogs name and URL had nothing to do with crafting. So I made her a new one! It's called One creative kid . I designed the header, the background, and other icons myself. I played a lot with bright and vibrant colors, something I don't really do on my blog. It was so much fun!  My daughter asked me to put humming birds on the header so she gets credit for that. It would have been so boring without those. Here is the image to make your own gingham blog background. And who doesn't LOVE gingham right? (Right click image to save)  Here is how to put it onto a Blogger blog. First you go to the Design tab in blogger and click "Templat...

Hi there! Today I am sharing a really great craft to do with kids, masking tape cupcake flags! We all had a blast making them; my daughter made a valentine flag & I made a striped one. I think hers is better. :) This has to be the easiest craft tutorial I have posted so far. These are super cheap too!  Keep reading for a step by step how to.  Materials: masking tape, sucker sticks, permanent marker, and scissors. Put tape onto the stick and cut a V shape. Decorate with permanent marker. Make more!  & that's it!  You're done! Super easy!  My 6 year old daughter has been asking about putting up Valentines stuff ever since Christmas afternoon. So we took down Christmas yesterday. :( This is early for us to put away our Christmas stuff. Usually we leave up our main tree and decorate the dining room tree with Valentines.  My husband and I sang and played Christmas songs on the stereo while we put everything away. I am still making Christmas c...

About a week before Christmas I finally got the light bulb over my head for the PERFECT gift for my daughter. A Harry Potter doll!  Not Harry himself but a girl who goes to Hogwarts and has little accessories. I love doll accessories, something about how tiny they are is just so irresistible. In fact I think I love the accessories more than dolls....maybe. One of my favorite things I made is the feather quill pen. I took a chicken feather and cut it down to the size for a doll. So cute! I had my husband help me carve a twig into a wand and I used a bead for the sorcerers stone. Later, after Christmas, it was my daughters idea to cut out little HP fan posters for the doll from a magazine. The backpack and text books are a Christmas gift from my sister when we were younger. (Pictured with the doll, later in this post, is a broom I made from a stick and straw.)  As a girl I loved looking through the America Girl doll catalogs, loving all the accessories they had.  I nev...