Dominos or Dice?

I am so glad that I have a job that allows me to paint my nails in crazy colors and patterns. I've done all kinds of wild designs: zebra, multicolor water marble, and all kinds of sparkles! today I decided to go for a domino motif, or I guess it could be dice, I can't decide which.

what you need:
- white nail polish
- black nail polish
- Q-tips
- plate (or something to put the polish on)

obviously i did the white coat first then came back and did the dots next. to create the dots I dipped my Q-tips into the small amount of nail polish I had poured onto a plastic plate.  you could also just dip your Q-tip into the nail polish bottle if you don't have a plate or something to put the polish on.

Primadonna Pooch Barrette

I love dogs, they truly are man's best friend. Cute, fluffy and always happy to see you. I'm sure there are dogs out there that are well-behaved and obedient, but our dog (okay, okay, she's Lindsey's dog) is neither of those. Meet Ruby, a spoiled-rotten, badass, do-what-she-wants kind of dog. Rescued from a puppymill, Ruby has been in our lives for 3 ('best years of your life' says Ruby) years. We're not sure what breed she is exactly but we're pretty sure she's atleast half Shih-Tzu. The other half? I don't know... dragon? yeti? woolly mammoth?
Anyway, Ruby is waaaaaaay overdue to go to the groomer and her hair is driving me nuts because you can't see her cute little face. I decided to fix this by making her a sparkly, red barrette to match her namesake. To make it I used materials I already had: a silver barrette, red rhinestone thingys and hot glue. It's simple, I glued the rhinestones to the clip and voila! a cutesy barrette for your cutesy dog! I realize it's not the fanciest or best looking barrette out there but it does the job for Ruby.

**note: before I glued the rhinestones on I clipped the barrette onto a piece of cardboard so I wouldn't glue the barrette shut.


Back of barrette

the finished product.

yes, her collar says 'Princess'.

"woof, woof, woof! thanks for reading!"

- Ruby (and Leslie)

Headband Bonanza

Hello readers near and far across the globe! It's Lindsey, guest blogger and kin to Claire and Leslie. I am posting to show you my fabulous and inexpensive headbands. I notoriously hate the hair I was genetically blessed with so I try to jazz things up with styling my hair when I can. You can go crazy with decoration on the headbands or play it subtle (but fabulous) like I do.  

Braided headbands with added glitz

Flat satin headbands with added glitz

Materials Needed:

• Satin ribbon (get at least 2 yards per headband, less if you are not braiding)
• Black elastic
• Tacky or craft glue
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Embellishments: rhinestones, seed beads, etc. Whatever you want to put on your headband.

1. Measure and cut ribbon according to be able to fit from at least ear-to-ear (the elastic will provide your stretch to fit over your head).
2. Braid ribbon after securing the beginning knot to your elastic and secure at the end AFTER checking for an appropriate length and fit for your head. **For extra flair, braid different colors together (as seen in my photo above on the left)**
3. Once your braid is complete or your ribbon (if not braiding) is cut, then ensure a good fit with the elastic for your head and make sure you test out the length before you cut to eliminate frustration. Make sure both knots of the ribbon and elastic together are tight and secure.
4. Very carefully, run a strip of hot glue on the back of your headband. Try to make it a smooth line and not let it settle in clumps. Let dry flat before continuing. This step really helps to keep the headband staying in place on your head.
5. Use the tacky/craft glue to put on the ends of your ribbon and elastic to prevent fraying. Make sure it dries clear and let it sit overnight or at least several hours.
6. I like to add the embellishments last. Use small increments of hot glue to glue rhinestones on if desired- use tweezers to place on if you want to decrease the amount of glue burns you get. **for the seed bead and pear clusters I put on my headbands, I used the tacky/craft glue and sprinkled them on for a clustered effect. Allow for at least 24 hrs to dry.**

Seed beads on black braided headband

Happy Headbands, love Lindsey

Rhinestone design on flat headband

Button Bracelets

Hi everyone!  It's Claire.  Today, I thought I would share a couple of pictures of some button bracelets I have made.  I used some elastic and some buttons that I've gotten at craft stores.  I love using a  variety of sizes and textures to make the bracelets.  Here are a couple of pictures...

 These are two bracelets with brown and tan tones with gold button accents.

This one is just a fun colorful button bracelet with a variety of bright colors.  Can be worn as a single bracelet or part of a set.

What are some of your favorite button projects?

Salvaged Book Project

Books... not just for reading!

I've become good buddies with the librarian at the school I work at, and I recently found out that they had to get rid of books that had been printed before a certain date (I think these were 70's or before). The librarian told me that she tries to give away the books but often no one wants them because they're old or maybe a little bit moldy/dusty. If she can't find a taker for the books they end up getting thrown into the recycle bin, perfectly good books getting thrown out--what a shame! I asked if I could look through the stacks and repurpose some of the books, and repurpose i did! I've used the books to make such projects as valentine cards and paper flowers, but I think my latest is by far my best!

Using a 16x20 canvas I created a piece of monogram magic! okay, well i don't know if its really a monogram because it's just ONE letter, but I'm gonna call it that anyway...

To begin I tore out pages from one of my books, I wanted to use only book pages without illustrations. I cut them up in pieces of various sizes and decoupaged them onto my canvas.

 

I used cardstock to create the letter I wanted to use in my artwork.
(note: at this point i didn't glue it to the canvas, it's just sitting on the canvas for this picture.)

I went through several of the books I salvaged and cut out colorful pictures that I like. Once I had them all ready, I decoupaged them onto the L that I made out of cardstock.





Once the L was finished I decoupaged that onto the my canvas and created a border (about 1 cm) out of my leftover book scraps.

I am really pleased w/ my finished product, I hope you like it too!

-Leslie

Welcome!

I don't know how many other people than Claire and myself will read this, but WELCOME to our blog! We created this because we want to share our crafting ideas with everyone. Between the two of us we've made some pretty cool things, atleast we think they're cool. Stay tuned for crafts/projects that will most definitely be considered "Cutes Magoots." In case you've never heard that phrase before, our family has adopted it and we use it to describe something that is so cute you can't find quite the right words to describe it.

Raise your figurative glass in a toast to all things Cutes Magoots!

Leslie