Haul out the Holly {and get in the holiday spirit}

I love this time of year in the blogosphere because, amongst all the regular goodness, it seems like everyone adds in a little something special for the holidays. So, I just wanted to let you know about a few things that are getting me in the holiday spirit...


First off, get excited because the lovely Gwen over at Gwenny Penny is hosting Haul out the Holly starting November 29 -- and I'll be sharing a tutorial (and, oh yeah, it's gonna be AWEsome)! Survive Black Friday, rock Cyber Monday, and then come straight to Gwenny Penny to relax and enjoy the holidays again. :)

Gwen has rounded up eleven great bloggers (maybe only ten great bloggers and then me? that's how I feel with this awesome lineup!), and beginning November 29, she and each of the bloggers will share a tutorial each day to get you ready for the holidays. Trust me... you'll want to be there.

All the cool kids will be there:

Amy from Ameroonie Designs
Amy from Increasingly Domestic
Andi from Jane of All Crafts
Anna from Noodlehead
Cecily from Craftopotamus
Jess from Craftiness is not Optional
Kindra from At Home With K
KJ from Let's Go Fly a Kite
Kristin from Betty Crocker Wannabe
Lorene from just Lu <---that's me!! ahh!!
Megan from Fowl Single File
so you should be too. :)

So mark your calendars for Haul out the Holly, and, in the meantime, you can join me at these two other holiday blogvents (yup, just made that word up).

No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane, on top of having possibly the coolest blog name EVER, is hosting Thankful on Paper this month. Thankful on Paper is all about giving gratitude a place in our lives this Thanksgiving season by letting people know that we are grateful for them (plus, you get to display that beautiful button for participating -- win-win!). Here's what to do if you want to participate (directly from No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane): 

*The 4 Wednesdays (beginning on Nov 3rd), leading up to Thanksgiving, I'm going to write one person and tell them I am thankful for them and why. I will send it to them them that day (or drop it off at their house) and hopefully express to them how much I care for them and how grateful I am that they are in my life. I would love you to do the same.

*The 4 Thursdays (beginning on Nov 4th), leading up to Thanksgiving, I will write a simple blog post about who I wrote to and why. On those Thursdays, I would love for you to join me and write a post. I will link to each of your blogs on that Thursday so that others can visit your site and be inspired. (I am potentially going to do a LINKY, but might just do it myself as well, not sure). If the person is someone you would like to keep private, that is also fine. You can opt out that week or write a general post keeping it private, but sharing some sentiment of Thankfulness.

*It's as easy as that!

Okay, yes... I am already behind. But I've almost got my note written and once I do I'll definitely share. Better late than never, especially with worthwhile things like gratitude. :)

And last but certainly not least this holiday season -- The oh-so-talented Linda over at Craftaholics Anonymous is yet again hosting her Handmade Gift Exchange. The woman just had an adorable baby and she is already coordinating a fantastic gift exchange, and actually two since there are separate exchanges for US and international residents. Wow am I an underachiever. :)

The gist of the Handmade Gift Exchange is that you make something (thus the handmade part) that you send to your designated partner (thus the gift part) and your partner will also make something (doubling the handmade part) and send it to you (doubling the gift part and completing the exchange part).

If you want to join in, you can read all of the details here at Craftaholics Anonymous. You have until November 10th to sign up, and your gifts must be post-marked by November 30 -- and handmade doesn't need to be extravagant! (Remember, it's going in the mail.) You can see what items have been part of previous gift exchanges here.

Welcome to the holiday season! 

whether you want to be here already or not. :)

Shutterfly Holiday Cards {you can get 50 free!)

Have you heard of Shutterfly? If you haven't ever checked them out, you should. Shutterfly is a one-stop online shop for all of your photo needs: photo prints, photo books, photo gifts, photo cards and stationery – anything you can put a photo on, they’ve got.

Not only do they have everything you could ever want to put a photo on, they have cute pre-designed layouts (seriously cute… none of those ugly ones where even I could have done better) and competitive prices. Their photo books start at $12.99 and prints start at 15¢ (9¢ for pre-paid plans) and they almost always have a promo for at least one popular item – woohoo! Plus, all the photos you upload to Shutterfly are stored at full-resolution, so, if the unthinkable happens and, say, your computer crashes, you'll still have those photos (and unlimited FREE photo storage).

My first (and only finished) photo book experience was with Shutterfly and I am SO pleased with the resulting book. The fact that I finished it tells you wonders -- every other photo book I've started creating with another company is still unfinished because their pre-made designs and software are either too rudimentary -- not enough options to keep me satisfied -- or too complex -- so many options I don't know where to start!

Shutterfly’s easy online creation program and excellent pre-made designs combine to make it fast and easy to create anything, from a 20+ page photo book to a single holiday card, and make it look amazing and professional. Their new photo uploader is fast and easy to use, even if you don’t have blazing-fast internet, and interfaces easily with Picasa… and we know how much I love Picasa!

So, as you’re shopping for fantastic holiday cards to send with your annual here’s-what-we’ve-been-up-to family letters (or to send in lieu of said letters), look at Shutterfly’s Christmas cards and holiday cards. Here are some of my favorite designs -- all you have to do is toss in a picture and your text and you're set!

holly frame & starlight joy

christmas letter & frosted frame

mod snowflakes & bright colored lights

And, when you sign up for a new Shutterfly account now, you get 50 free 4x6 prints. I love free. :)

If you're a blogger and you also love free, go here to get the information about how Shutterfly wants to give YOU 50 free photo cards this holiday season.

Happy holidays (I can't believe I'm saying that this early...)!

Feed me, feed you, feed the world (with RSS)

Welcome to Wednesday! Can you tell that something is different? Well... if you're reading this in a feed reader (like Google Reader) and you can't tell that anything is different -- good!

I switched my blog's feed to Feedburner yesterday. That just means that I now have access to stats about you in-reader readers, even if you don't click over to come visit me here at just Lu (which I'd still love for you to do, of course). Don't worry, Feedburner can't tell me that you're still in your pjs (or tell YOU that I am also still in my pjs) or that you're having a bad hair day (me too!) -- it just tells me little stats like how many of you there are and what feed readers you're using.

You should automatically receive the updates through your regular subscription, but if for some reason you're not receiving the updates in your reader, let me know (and thanks for clicking over anyway!). And, if you're new, you can subscribe to updates in your reader or your email inbox using those two new little links over there in the sidebar --->.

And if you're wondering what the whole feed thing is all about, come on over to Housewife Eclectic today. I've declared November, the foodiest month of the year, to be Feed Me month in my regular Wednesday on the Web (WotW) posts over there.

I'm taking the whole month of November to talk about topics related to web feeds -- publishing a feed, subscribing and reading a feed, and so forth. Today we're getting started with RSS and Feedburner -- what they are and how/why to use them. Hope to see you there!

Fabric Party Hat {tutorial & free pattern}

My little Pudge-meister celebrated the big 1 about a month ago. Remember how I stayed up late working on his ensemble for his special day?

photos by the ever talented Dusty Nance Photography

Well, I wasn't up late because it was difficult... only because I didn't start until late and I was creating my own pattern for the party hat. Which I will graciously share with you all now. :)

I made the shirt like Char makes over at Crap I've Made. I used her template (at the bottom of her post) and *awesome* applique instructions for the 1 onesie. I wanted a matching hat like hers, too, but her tutorial is for covering a pre-made cardboard party hat with fabric. I wanted an actual fabric party hat -- no buying a full 12-pack of yucky SpongeBob hats since I only wanted *one* hat anyway. Just one hat, made from just fabric, for my one special birthday boy. All of the other party hat tutorials that I could find required a cardboard party hat to make the pattern.

Finally, I stumbled across this eHow tutorial that, miracle of miracles, included calculations for the dimensions of the hat! The dimensions gave me a starting point (and yes, I did sneak in with a piece of string and measure my sleeping baby's head), but I didn't love the construction method and the finished hat seemed too tall, too "wizardish," as my husband put it.

So, I tweaked the dimensions to make my own hat. Once I had the right size, I had the hat made in under 30 minutes. It only took me another 30 days (plus some) to sit down and punch out a tutorial. :)

Fabric Party Hat
for personal, non-commercial use only

You'll notice that this tutorial has no instructional photos, and only one diagram. Yes -- this project is THAT easy. If, however, something doesn't make sense, please let me know and I will clarify. :)

What you'll need:

• A piece of scrap paper or cardboard about 10 inches square OR my free pattern here
• A ruler and pen/pencil
• Two coordinating fabrics, about a fat quarter each (I used scraps -- mine were about 8x14 inches each for a toddler-sized hat)
• WonderUnder (or Heat n Bond), the same dimensions as your fabric (one half yard will definitely do the job)
• Ribbon or other embellishments
• Elastic thread
• Sewing supplies: iron, sewing machine, scissors, sewing needle

Download my free pattern for a child-size hat, fitting ages 9 months to 3 years, I'd guess OR follow the steps below to create your own custom-sized pattern.




Create your own pattern (no pre-made hat required!) custom-sized for your party-goer

1. Measure the wearer's head circumference halfway between their hairline and eyebrows (my baby's was 16 inches). Add two to that measurement and divide that number by 2 (16+2=18 and 18/2=9). Then draw a horizontal line (line A in the diagram) that many inches long on your cardboard piece and mark the center.
2. Draw a vertical line 1.5 inches shorter than line A (9-1.5=7.5), starting in the center of line A and going straight up (line B).
3. Create a triangle (blue in the diagram) by drawing one line from the left end of line A to the top of line B and another line from the right end of line A to the top of line B.
4. Draw another horizontal line parallel to line A and about one inch above it (line C).
5. Sketch a nice smooth curve (green in the diagram) going from the point where line C touches the triangle on the left to the center of line A (the bottom of line B) to the point where line C touches the triangle on the right.
6. Cut out your rounded triangle shape.
7. Fold your shape gently in half to be sure that the straight sides of the trianglish shape are the same length and that the curve is even. Trim the sides and even up the curve as needed.

Your finished shape is approximately 1/6 of a full circle and your pattern to success! Or at least to a successful party hat.

Make the hat
Your fabric and WonderUnder pieces need to be approximately twice the size of your pattern since you'll cut the pattern on the fold. My toddler-sized hat required an approximately 8x14 inch rectangle of each.

1. Fuse (iron) the WonderUnder to the wrong side of your exterior fabric, following the directions on the package.
2. Fold the fabric with the WonderUnder adhered and trace your pattern piece, placing one straight side on the fold.
3. Cut out your traced piece.
4. Carefully peel the paper off the WonderUnder and fuse (iron) the WonderUnder-fabric combo to the wrong side of the interior fabric.
5. Trim the interior fabric so you are left with a double-sided fabric piece that is the double the size of your original pattern piece.
6. Attach any embellishments. I just added a ribbon around the rounded edge of the hat, which will become the brim of the hat, but you could add a monogram, medallion, or myriad other cutenesses.
7. Fold the fabric exterior-sides together (to form a triangle/cone) and sew along the straight side (1/2 inch ish seam allowance) to form a cone.
8. Trim the seam allowance at the point of the cone at a downward angle (so you remove the bulk from the point of the hat).
9. Turn the hat exterior-side out.
10. Thread a sewing needle with approximately 20" of elastic thread.
11. Stitch one end of the thread to one side of the hat and then the other end to the other side of the hat (to leave a long loop) to make the chin strap. Be sure to keep the seam of the hat facing toward the back (in the middle of the two points where you attach the chin strap) while you attach the elastic thread.

Put it on your adorable party-goer's head, grab some balloons, and party on!

Sharing at these fantastic parties: