The Spunky Diva

As you know… I just had a baby three-ish months ago.  During the last few months of my pregnancy {as is standard} I had a doctor’s appointment every other week and then every week.  During this last few months I carried my used needles container from my sewing nook.  Do you think that I remembered while AT the doctor’s to throw those used needles in the Sharps container?  Of course not! So this is what I came up with as a solution to my forgetfulness. When you have child proof pill container that is empty, assuming you aren’t going to use it for something else, put your used needles in it, close the lid tightly engaging the child proof part, and then safely throw it in the trash.  You don’t have to worry about someone retrieving it from the trash and opening it.  And the needles won’t poke through the trash bag. I have used my empty prescription bottles and vitamin bottles to do this with. What is a tip you have to share?

After a year of blogging I have seen lots of giveaways {many with really neat prizes} go by, and have groaned when I didn’t win.  Who doesn’t want to win?   Whether it is cash, or an item you want, check out these tips on how to win that giveaway. How To Win Giveaways by Save Your Money Momma, a guest post at Life’s A Charm { here is the link to the post }  ~ My favorite tip from her is to only spend your time entering a giveaway you are truly interested in.  It doesn’t do you any good to win something you don’t want.  Seems kinda obvious doesn’t it, LOL. How to Win Blog Giveaways by Julie at Knitting and Sundries, a guest post at My Love Affair with Books.  ~ I like how she pointed out you don’t have to be a blogger to enter blog giveaways.  Just take the time to set up the GFC account, and off you go! And if you are wondering about adding giveaways to your blog: How To Start Offering Giveaways On Your Blog by Savvy Blogging.  ~ I like...

Have you noticed my new button? Now that I mention it you probably have noticed it, LOL!  Have you tried it out?  It sends you right back to the top of whatever page you are on.  Handy little bugger, isn’t it? I found a tutorial on How to add a back-to-top button in 19 different styles .  Yup… Max, at All Blog Tools, gives you 19 different arrows/buttons to choose from and clear directions on how to add them to your blog.

What can a clean jam jar and a fifty-cent candle stick holder from Good Will create?  This… When I saw this project on Hi There Cupcake , I thought it was soooo cute.  Today when the kiddos slept longer than my house cleaning took, I took a few moments for myself to create this fun Easter decoration. I didn’t have a pickle jar, but did have a clean jam jar.  So, I put the jar together with the candlestick holder with hot glue {not the recommended way to glue glass to glass, but works for me for now}. FYI ~ You can see in this picture that the candle stick holder is leaning.  I think I got more hot glue under one side than the other.  It looks straight in the top picture because I used the straighten tool in my photo program.  Cheating, I know, but it made for a better photo, right? Add some ribbon {the pink was from one of Ms. Diva’s baby shower gifts}, fill with Easter Kisses, and you have a fun piece décor! I left the jar top purple {purple for grape ja...

While blog hopping recently, I came across this fantastic tip listed on Be Our Best .  Jill has compiled her Top 10 Blogging Tips in one place to help others out there in blogland.  Most of them I had heard of before.  But she had one on her list that I have only seen a couple times in practice, and have not heard a how-to do it before. Number 6: Add a clickable signature to your comments. If you add the following text to the bottom of the comments you leave for other bloggers, whatever text you insert for “Your Text Here” will be clickable.  You have to switch out “{“ and “}” with “<” and “>” then it will work.  Remember to also change the “Your Blog Address” part, LOL! {a href=http://www.YourBlogAddress.com/ }YOUR TEXT HERE {/a} Bonus Tip ~ I use Notepad to store all the html codes I use on a regular basis {the direct link code for my signature image, color codes, etc.}.  I added the above code to my Notepad page, edited it with my informat...

Went to Kohl's the other day, and found some really fun appliqued placemats.  Making pillows of of these placemats was done quit a bit, and linked up by several people to the different link parties.  Here is a tutoral on how to create these fun easy pillows: Easy Placemat Pillows by Meredith at Heardmont.  I have to admit though... all I did was use a seam ripper to undo about 4 inches of stitching, stuffed the placemats, and then restitched using mathcing thread.  Took about 5 to 10 minutes to create each pillow.  $2.50 per placemat and half of a $3.00 - 12 ounce package of poly-fil = less than $5 per pillow.  Making this a thrifty way for you to add some festive holiday pillows to your living room. I really like the peaking bunnies!  While checking out the Easter placemats I also picked up a very cute St. Patrick's (70% off = $1.00) and a fun Valentine's placemat.  I figure these can store flat until next year, and then get 'stuffed' jus...

When I brought home my latest fabric finds, Mr. SD thought the John Deere flannel fabric would make a great cover for his neck pillow.  So... here is how I made it in about half an hour. I took measurements of the pillow {making sure to write them down, my memory tends to be poor with numbers, LOL!}: Then I cut the fabric from selvage to selvage: I rolled both selvage edges over twice {edge is inside the stitched sides}: I wrapped the length of fabric around the neck pillow.  Here is where I should have cut of five or six inches and rerolled the edge to finish.  Hindsight is always 20/20.  So... here is my tip, make sure your opening overlap is only three or four inches.  Otherwise, you will have one heck of a time getting your pillow inside the case. A picture of the western themed pillow and the case. When stitching the two long seams, start one inch away from the fabric fold, stitch to the reinforcing stitches and then proceed to the edge of the ...

Since I sell both locally (craft fairs, vendors) and on Etsy (some taxed and some untaxed sales) I have had to decide on how I want to deal with the question of collecting sales taxes. When pricing I have decided that I will just 'eat' the sales tax on local purchases so that I don't have to mess with collecting sales taxes right then.  I figure that at local craft fairs I am not paying Etsy or PayPal on these sales.  Plus, on Etsy I want to encourage customers to come back and not give them sticker shock by collecting sales tax after they have decided to make a purchase.  So... I have set up my Sales Spreadsheet to collect the info I need to complete my State Sales Tax Form, this is seperate from my detailed sales report or item inventory sheets.  Total Sales and Taxable Sales.  Since I don't collect sales tax 'on-top' of the cost of the item's price, I have to back-up to the pre-tax price to find out how much was for sales tax.  Here is a web...

One of my goals this next year is to take my sales part of crafting and create a more 'professional' image with my products.  I think putting labels on the towels and items I create is a step forward in doing this.  So, I ordered sew-on labels from Mommie Made It , a fellow Etsy shop.  Here is how they arrived: I used a straight edge and a rotary cutter to separate the rows of labels. Then I used a pair of small scissors to make the small cuts between labels. Each cut label is placed in a mason jar (I love reusing glass jars) .  I used a piece of fabric, secured with a hair band, as the lid so that the labels could breath.  I am not sure if this is important or not with labels.   They fit easily on the shelf, and are easy to see.  (Next thing to do is tidy up the shelf, LOL) Here is a picture of one of the labels sewn onto a Valentine's Stay-Put Towel . Linking up with:

Do you need quick and easy ornament for an ornament exchange this last weekend before Christmas?  Here is how I created two ornaments for the Church's Ornament Exchange last weekend.  For less than $10.00. $2.50 box of ornaments from Wal-Mart (the ones I didn't use are going on the tree) $3.00 fluffy stuff from Hobby Lobby (was less because it was on sale) I used black ribbon I had, but you could add dollar or two to buy fresh ribbon, and still come out under $10.00. The fluffy stuff was self-stick.  I wrapped it twice around the stem of the ornament sticking as I went.  The stick 'ums weren't very strong, so I tied a piece of ribbon over top of the fluff.  Cut another piece to for the hanger.  I tied the loop at the base and top so the loop wouldn't move around as much.  Then with a black sharpie I put the year.  I got both ornaments done in less than 10 minutes.  If you had some fun fringe scraps that would work wonderfully too!  ...

I have 'several' of these containers that I started saving when I realized Christmas was coming.  Here is one way I used a container to add a festive, low-cost touch to our living room. The formula container is this shining silver when you take of the label.  So, I just added a fun collection of ribbon to make it 'Christmasy'.  I put a spot of hot glue on the back of the container and attached the middle of the ribbon there to start with.  Then tying a knot at the front, I used more hot glue to secure the knot to the container in front.  And now you have a quick, easy, festive, gorgeous, etc. holiday touch for your living room. What I would do differently next time: - make sure before cutting that my ribbon was long enough.  I ran out of ribbon to make a pretty bow, but... - I would probably make the ribbon band on the container first, and then do a bow separately and then hot glue the bow onto the ribbon band.

To make this quick and easy ornament valance for my kitchen window, I used a tension rod, 13 ornaments, and a variety of holiday ribbons.  I really like how the ball ornaments reflect light and color in the window.  Another fun take on this would be to use some of your favorite tree decorations to decorate your window.  Or... maybe ornaments that are the same theme as your kitchen (i.e. roosters, cooking, fruits, etc.)! From the outside, visitors can also see your holiday decor too!  I took to decorating this window because I can see it everyday walking to our home.  Plus, being out in the middle of farm country can be very windy.  So, outside decorations have to be limited to things that won't bang on the siding or blow away the next time the wind decides to gust through.   I cut the ribbon is pieces from 16" to 22" long.  Tied them in a loop, ran one end of the loop through the ornament top and secured it, and then ran the loop over my t...

Since 'dejunking' my closet, I have been going through the clothes pile to see what I could reuse or repurpose for things I have been 'meaning' to make.  One thing I have had on my To-Do list for over a year now is to make Ms. Diva a Lovey Blankie.  Something incrediably soft and silky.  I have this lovely green leafy silk shirt (that hasn't fit in ages) that I just adore.  It has been in my closet for almost 10 years!  I wore it regularly when I had a dressy office job, but now I just wear jeans and t-shirts.  So... the silk shirt had to go away, sniff, sniff. Well, Ms. Diva loves plush fleeces at the fabric store and I have been 'meaning' to make her a lovey, so... How about I use the shirt I love and get some plush fleece to make her that lovey???? Here are the results: To make the blankie, I cut the largest square possible from the the shirt back.  Then I cut a matching piece from the fleece.  Sewed them together right sides together, le...