All Snug As A Bug

Grandmother's Flower Garden Block 2

2012-01-23T10:40:00.000-05:00

Grandmother's Flower Garden

2012-01-19T09:15:00.001-05:00

I completed my first Grandmother's Flower Garden block. My 11 year old is making some too, I will post both of ours as they are completed. I have always wanted to make a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt and have found that I really do love piecing these. They are a perfect project to work on for a movie night or while watching one of our favorite shows.

December Block of the Month

2012-01-10T09:49:00.001-05:00

I was able to get these pictures to work! Yay! To be honest these are not my favorite blocks that I've made. They are what they are. To find the link for this pattern click here. I think some other color combinations could be stunning!

Snowman Kit

2011-12-13T09:51:00.000-05:00

This year for the Kiddos teacher's Christmas gifts I thought it would be fun to give them a snowman kit. All they need to add is snow, which we get plenty of in our neck of the woods.

My favorite part of the kit is the hat. You could buy a hat anywhere for pretty cheap, but I decided to make one.

To make the hat I cut two circles, one 8.5 inches and one 12.5 inches. I took the 12.5 circle and cut a 8.5 inches hole in the middle. For the height of the hat I cut a rectangle about 23 inches x 4.5 inches. Then I sewed the rectangle with the two short ends together. Next I sewed that ring to the top of the hat (8.5" circle). Then I sewed the top section to the 12.5" circle with a hole. Turn it right side out and you have a cute hat. I did have to take a little out here and there. But this is just rough instructions of how I made it. I embellished it with ribbon and a poinsettia that I made.

The kit includes: 1 hat, 1 fleece scarf, 1 carrot nose (I found a fake carrot at our craft store for 70 cents! I stuck a dowel with glue in the carrot to make it easier to put on the head), black rocks for the eyes and mouth (I painted river rocks black and made a simple drawstring bag out of felt to keep them in), and 3 buttons (these are wooden wheels I painted black and put a dowel in the hole of the wheel to help hold them into the snowman).

To hold all the pieces of the kit I went to a local paint store and bought empty paint cans. I called around to find the best price. Once I got there the guy only charged me for half of the cans, you can't beat that! I decorated the can with vinyl snowflakes.

I hope the teachers like these!

If you have any questions leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

Block 3

2011-12-09T10:33:00.003-05:00

Sorry this took awhile to get on the blog. We were loaning our camera out. It was worth the wait, huh?! I really like this block! I have to admit it makes me a little nervous for when we set them all together for the finished quilt. The sashing that I pick will have to compliment both sides. Anyways... here are the instructions to make this lovely block. I made two. I am going back and making another block of the previous months so that my finished quilt will be larger.

If you haven't started this block of the month club it's not too late and it's free! Here is the link.

Block 2

2011-10-26T14:57:00.002-04:00

I am in love with block #2! I don't know why I gravitate towards bright colors. I love to look at quilts with calm colors but the bright ones are always the ones that I grab when I make my own quilts. I think they just are happy. If you haven't started this block of the month, it's not too late to start now! Here is the link to this month's directions.

Halloween Wreath

2011-10-21T09:10:00.000-04:00

While I was checking one of my favorite blogs I saw this wreath and knew that I had to make one! It ended up being really simple to make. My pictures don't do it justice, but I am happy with the finished product. I decided that it would be more fun to create with friends to make these. Everyone made a different color/ holiday wreath using this technique, it was fun to see all the combos. Only one of them finished theirs completely before having to go home, and her wreath was stunning! She used a sage green for the tulle. Embellishing with white flowers, pine cones, a glittery cardinal, and berries it was beautiful! I should have snapped a picture!

Pumpkin Jars

2011-10-18T09:43:00.001-04:00

The other day the kiddos were begging to do a craft, so I looked in my craft cupboard and found the supplies to make these pumpkins.

You need:

clean empty baby food jars
mod podge
orange tissue paper
a permanent marker
green ribbon
paint brush
scissors

We started by cutting up the tissue paper into small squares. Then we used our Mod Podge to glue the orange squares all over the outside of the jar. My three year old enjoyed doing this, there is no perfect way to this step. Just cover the jar. After it is all dry we used the permanent markers to draw faces on our pumpkins and finished it off with a green ribbon on the top. If you have a votive candle you can put it inside the jar to illuminate it.

Ghost Swaps

2011-10-17T14:55:00.001-04:00

We had a Girl Scout camp out this last weekend. Our troop made these ghost swaps to give to the other girls there.

They were super easy to make. We used 1/2 of a safety tip cotton swab per a ghost (found at the dollar store). We covered that with a 3 x 3 inch piece of white fabric and tied a piece of yarn around the top to form the head. The girls had fun using permanent markers to customize their ghosts' faces.

Month 1 of Block of the Month

2011-09-26T18:37:00.000-04:00

The pattern for the first block is out now! Here is my color combination. I used a similar color scheme as the original, but I just used scraps I had laying around.

You can find the link HERE for directions to make this block.

Happy Sewing!

Bloggers Block of the Month

2011-09-20T10:28:00.001-04:00

I am really excited to start this new BOM put together by several quilting blogs. I am always up for a new project. This BOM is free and anyone is welcome to join in the fun! The more the merrier! Keep a look out for my monthly posts.

Halloween Pillow

2011-09-12T13:48:00.003-04:00

I just finished finished this Halloween Pillow during the weekend. I love how it turned out. It is super huge and festive. The pattern is by Crabapple Hill and the pattern can be found here. I changed how to finish it though. I stuffed the pillow, instead of making it a pillow case for a separate pillow inside like the pattern suggests. This fun and simple pattern is a fun quick project!

Happy Halloween!

Red, White and Blue

2011-07-11T22:33:00.003-04:00

I'm posting this after the fourth of July but late is better than never, right? The kiddos were asking for some craft time before the fourth and this is what I came up with. I already had the colored squares cut out and leftover from another craft. I took a white piece of construction paper and with pencil marked the lines for the stripes and then let the kids put the colored square pieces in the right spots. ( I think this craft would look really cool with magazine clippings of red or blue, next time we'll have to try it) Then we put dots of glue on the blue section for our stars and used glitter.

Firework T-shirts

2011-07-01T14:31:00.001-04:00

These shirts are SO SIMPLE! I promise! I followed the directions I found here.

I made the shirt above but the kids made all of the other ones in this post. Our first batch we used just the permanent markers which we already had at home. For the shirt above we branched out to a rainbow pack of Sharpies. Warning this craft is ADDICTING!

Things I learned when we made the shirts are:

- It really does matter what brand your permanent markers are. Sharpies work best.

- This technique did not work well on just plain cotton fabric. (It might have to do with me not pre-washing the fabric, but I don't know)

- I didn't have a dropper, so I used a kid's medicine syringe (the free one's you get from the pharmacist)

- I also didn't have a shot glass, so I used a ice cream bowl to put the rubbing alcohol in (any small bowl would work).

Flag Blocks

2011-06-14T17:02:00.000-04:00

This flag decoration was fun and easy to construct. I made it with 2-6 inch long and 3-9 inch long 2x4's, and a square 3.25 x 3.25 block, for the star block. I white washed the blocks with watered down cream paint. Then I used mod podge to adhere scrapbook paper to the front of each block. After the paper was dry I adhered vinyl lettering and the star. Then I took a small stamp pad and rubbed it on the edges to give it an aged look. Lastly I tied a ribbon around the stack of blocks. Happy 4th of July!

Color Wheel Quilt

2011-05-11T09:30:00.002-04:00

I had so much fun putting together this quilt. Someone in my quilt guild had made a quilt like this and used a white background. I thought it would look lovely with a black background and couldn't wait to make my own quilt! The pattern is from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. I was able to check the book out from my library, which was an added bonus! The best part of making this quilt is picking out your fabrics. I was able to use fabric from my stash/scrap fabric pieces for this quilt. I just had to buy the background fabric! I love how it turned out!!

Daffodil Cupcakes

2011-04-28T16:51:00.001-04:00

Here is a little spring. Daffodils are one of my favorite flowers, I love to see their brilliant color after such a dark winter.

I made these blooms out of royal icing the night before, so they would dry out completely. And finished of these cupcakes with buttercream.

My Favorite Butter Cream Frosting

1 cup butter, room temperature (two sticks)

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

5 cups powdered sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1/4 cup and 1 Tbsp. milk

Blend all ingredients till smooth.

Trapezoid Quilt

2011-04-15T11:11:00.001-04:00

I have stacks of receiving baby blankets leftover at my house from having my four kids. Instead of throwing them out or donating them, I decided to make each of my kids a quilt using the fabric from their receiving blankets they used.

This is the first one I have completed. I used the pattern/instructions from Moda Bake Shop. I used their template for the blocks but made up my own arrangement to make the quilt the size I was looking for. This was my first attempt with making a non-straight edge on a quilt. I love how it turned out!

For the backing I used Chenille fabric, which makes it a heavier blanket and so much more snugly!

Pillow

2011-04-07T11:10:00.001-04:00

I saw the tutorial on one of my favorite blogs, Cluck Cluck Sew , and wanted to try making one of these beauties. I have a ton of scraps so for the wedges I used strips from my scrap box. I love how it turned out! My kids now all are asking for me to make one for each of them!

Stained Glass Butterfly

2011-04-07T11:01:00.001-04:00

This Stained Glass Butterfly is super easy to construct. I used the same method I did when I made the Stained Glass Pumpkin. I did modify the way I put on the clear contact paper. I cut out my black outline of a butterfly from construction paper. Then I took a big enough piece of sticky contact paper. I pulled the backing from the contact paper slowly and adhered the outline to the contact paper. I then put the backing paper back on the contact paper and cut around the butterfly. This made it possible to not have any over hanging contact paper. Next you just need to take the backing off and put on any color of tissue paper. My kids enjoyed making these and even my three year old was able to participate.

Cherry Quilt and Easter Decorations

2011-03-18T15:41:00.003-04:00

Spring is here! Yippe! I realized that I've never posted my cherry quilt which I made quite awhile ago. I thought about it when I was decorating for Easter. So, here is a sneak peak of the quilt and the decorations for Easter.

Winter Mantle

2011-03-18T15:31:00.001-04:00

This winter I decided to decorate our mantle (a.k.a. top of our entertainment cabinet). I must say I was so excited that all of the decorations I bought on clearance which made it even more exciting to decorate.

Diaper Cake

2011-02-25T11:50:00.001-05:00

I made this diaper cake for a friend who is throwing a baby shower. Diaper cakes are super easy to assemble. There are a bunch of tutorials out there on the web, but here are a couple of instructions.

-You need about 1 1/2 packages of diapers (In this cake I used size 1).
-Start by rolling up each diaper from the open side of the diaper to the folded side of the diaper. Then put an elastic rubber band around each individual diaper. (The tiny plastic elastics you put in your little girl's hair. That you can find in clear plastic.)
-After you have finished rolling all the diapers then you are ready to assemble your cake. Take one diaper for the center of the layer and place six additional diapers around the center one. Place a normal rubber band around the layer to hold it together. This will be your smallest or top layer. To make your middle and bottom layer use the same method as the first just add another outer layer to each tier with a rubber band around each layer of diaper rolls.
-Next you get to decorate. I put ribbon around each layer to hide the rubber bands. Some people use double stick tape to attach the ribbon to itself. I used hot glue, being careful to only get the glue on the ribbon and not the diapers.
-For the topper the sky is the limit. Be creative! I've seen flowers, ribbon, or other baby related things.

Rosette Heart

2011-02-12T09:53:00.000-05:00

The same site that I found instructions to make rosette kissing balls had this framed rosette heart. You can link up to it here. I must say that I like the square frame that they used much better. I used an 8x10 inch frame that I already had at home. I lucked out that our local craft store had the exact same paper they used.

Rosette Topiary

2011-02-11T07:40:00.000-05:00

I found a tutorial to make these rosette kissing balls here. The wheels in my head immediately started turning and I thought the ball would look great in a topiary for Valentine's Day. This is a super cheap craft. I was able to buy the roll of crepe paper for 60 cents and had all the other supplies handy at home.

Baby Sock Corsage

2011-02-10T16:32:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine asked if I knew how to make a corsage with baby socks rolled up as flowers for a baby shower. I had never seen one before, but of course it caught my interest and knew that I wanted to attempt making one. So I looked online and found pictures and instructions. I won't type up instructions because there are so many out there on the web. But it was fun to have a new challenge and discover a new craft.

Curtains With Ruffles

2011-01-10T15:34:00.000-05:00

My girls' room has needed something on the walls and/or curtains. So I finally got around to it the other weekend. I wasn't sure if I was in love with the way they turned out at first but they have definitely grown on me. I love how it breaks up the purple walls. The ruffles definitely were the most time consuming part of this project, but well worth it.

Christmas trees

2010-12-27T15:57:00.000-05:00

Okay, these pictures aren't so great... with my Daisy girl scout troop we made these christmas trees.

All you need is a sugar ice cream cone, green frosting, candy or sprinkles to decorate as ornaments. Spread your frosting all over an upside down cone placed on top of a paper plate. Then go to town decorating! You couldn't ask for easier!

Buckeyes

2010-12-13T17:06:00.000-05:00

These yummy candies are sure to be a hit with everyone!

To make them you need:

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

6 cups confectioners' sugar

4 cups semisweet chocolate chips (you might need more, I always have more on hand in case)

-In your mixer combine peanut butter, butter, vanilla and confectioners' sugar until well blended. The dough will look crumbly at first and then will all stick together after mixing awhile longer.

-Next roll the peanut butter mixture into small balls. I used a small cookie scoop to measure my dough. Place each ball on a cookie sheet which is lined with waxed paper. I usually need two cookies sheets.

-After you fill your cookie sheets with dough balls, then place a toothpick into each ball (this is what you will hold onto as you later dip them into chocolate). Put your sheet of peanut butter balls in the freezer for at least a half an hour. Or until firm.

-Melt chocolate in a bowl in the microwave. I put it in my microwave for 30 seconds then stir. I repeat this step as many times as it takes for the chips to be completely melted and smooth.

-Dip your frozen peanut butter balls in the chocolate while holding onto the toothpick. Leave a small portion of peanut butter showing at the top to make them look like Buckeyes. Remove toothpick. Put back in the refrigerator to let the chocolate harden. Then take them from the fridge. You will want to get rid of the hole in each Buckeye left from the toothpick. I used a small piece of wax paper, about 2"x 2". Lay the piece of wax paper on top of one Buckeye at a time and rub your finger on the wax paper gently until the hole is no longer seen. Now you can return the Buckeyes to the fridge until you are ready to serve them.

I am able to get about 100 Buckeyes out of this recipe.

Enjoy!

Candy Train Engine

2010-12-06T20:40:00.000-05:00

These trains are super simple to make all you need is:

- a pack of gum (the thin packs not the new wide ones)

- a roll of life savers

- 4 starlight mints or I used creme savers

- 2 square candies for the cab

- one candy for the roof of the cab (I used christmas taffy)

- a Nestle's Crunch bell

-royal icing

I did attempt to make these with my 10 year old girl scouts and they were a little difficult for them. They did not have the patience to hold onto the pieces of candy while the royal icing was hardening.

Christmas Tree Quilt

2010-12-04T16:38:00.000-05:00

For this quilt I made three different sizes of yo-yo's to make up the tree. For the star and tree stand I did needle turn applique. After I pieced the top, I hand quilted around the yo-yo's, star and tree stand. The rest of the quilt I machine quilted. I found my inspiration here, but changed a couple of things such as using yo-yo's instead of fabric circles.

Nativity Quilt

2010-12-03T16:09:00.001-05:00

This year we are doing homemade gifts for family. Which has had me sewing like crazy for the last couple of months. :) Here is one of four Nativity quilts which I made.

The next picture is for the quilters out there. It's just a closer look at my machine quilting.

Halloween Cupcakes

2010-10-29T13:09:00.000-04:00

I love to make cupcakes for my kid's school. This year I went the simple route and stuck to chocolate cupcakes with a buttercream frosting. I made the little spider picks by cutting out spiders on my Cricut and gluing two spiders together with the toothpick in between.

Halloween Treats

2010-10-29T12:48:00.000-04:00

For our girl scout troop we love to go all out on treats for Halloween! Here are some pictures of our Halloween goodies.

Chocolate skeleton cookies.

Mummy hot dogs.

My husband is a podiatrist so I had to make some feet cookies too.

Heart made from raspberry jello, green bugs made from jello and sliced almonds, and eyeballs made from homemade buckeyes.

Dirt from the graveyard.

Punch with icy brains. Grape kool-aid for the big brain and cherry for the little brains.

Here is a link to our post from last year.

Stained Glass Pumpkin

2010-10-07T12:46:00.000-04:00

For this craft I cut out the outline of a pumpkin from black construction paper. Next I cut out a piece of clear contact like paper and adhered it to the pumpkin outline making sure that the contact paper didn't go past the pumpkin outline. This left a big sticky and clear space in the middle. I covered the entire sticky side with pieces of orange and yellow tissue paper.

I ended up doing this craft with my Daisy Girl Scouts and it was a hit. As a leader I loved it because it didn't leave a mess behind. Before the girls came I prepped but cutting out all the pumpkins and adhering the contact paper to them and covered the sticky side with the backing from the contact paper. So when the girls arrived I just had to pull off the contact paper backing and they were ready to put their tissue paper on.

Ghost

2010-10-07T12:42:00.000-04:00

These cute ghosts were made with my son's handprints. Some googley eyes did just the trick to turn them into some friendly ghosts.

Housekeeping Craft

2010-10-07T12:32:00.000-04:00

At church I was asked to come up with a craft for the ladies to do to go along with the theme of cleaning. The night was so fun. Several ladies got up and told us and/or demonstrated homemade cleaning products. They showed how to make a wash for your veggies and fruit, window cleaner, laundry soap and softener. After the presentations everyone was able to decorate a bucket to keep their cleaning supplies at home. They were given vinyl lettering that said "housekeeping", lots of options of ribbon and flowers. I wish I had gotten a picture of everyone's buckets, they all turned out super cute! (I forgot to mention that I got the buckets and flowers at the dollar store!!)

Going Batty

2010-09-23T16:54:00.001-04:00

I love the fall, the air is crisp the trees are vibrant in color and the holidays begin! Last year I made spiders from painted egg cartons and pipe cleaners. This year I thought our house could use some bats. Being on a shoestring budget nothing is better than a FREE craft. First I cut my egg carton to make separate each cup. Then painted them black. After that I hot glued two cups together for the body. The wings are made up from cut out card stock which is hot glued to the body. I hung my bats from my chandelier with monofilament thread.

A simple and free/recycled craft.

Five Little Pumpkins

2010-09-12T21:29:00.000-04:00

This week I finished up my five little pumpkins quilt. The quilt top has been in a pile for quiet awhile awaiting to be sent to be machine quilted. Well, I finally got up the guts to just quilt it on my own.

I am happy with how it turned out. My wonderful sister-in-law gave me the idea to put spiderwebs in between the pumpkins and I LOVE how that part turned out. I am still working on my free motion quilting, so I am kinda glad you can't see it in the border :) One thing that did help me a lot in quilting this quilt was sketching out my design before sewing it. I wish I had saved my sketches for the border. But at least here are the spider webs.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2010-08-26T15:22:00.000-04:00

A little treat for the end of baseball season party.

Panda Party Invitations

2010-08-04T12:52:00.000-04:00

My Daughter this year wanted a panda themed party. So I suggested a panda pajama party. Stay tuned for pictures of the party. Here is a sneak peek at the invites.

Frog Bag

2010-07-19T14:57:00.000-04:00

Our little neighbor turned four this weekend. To help celebrate I made him this little frog bag. The eyes are made of white yo-yo's and black buttons, the nostrils are yo-yo's and rickrack for the mouth. The hands and feet are stuffed and there is a ribbon drawstring to close the top.

P.J. Pants

2010-07-19T14:50:00.000-04:00

Our local Walmart decided to do away with their fabric department. So... I had to think of an idea for super cheap fabric. I decided the fabric would be great for teaching a new skill to my soon to be 10 year old daughter who is eager to learn the ins and outs of sewing. So P.J. pants it was. Here's how they turned out. The kids have worn them every night since.

National Quilt Show 2010

2010-07-03T09:06:00.000-04:00

Here is a sneak peek at some of the quilts that I saw this year at the quilt show. I love going to quilt shows. It always gives me the bug to go and create.

Gift From The Whole Class

2010-06-20T11:45:00.000-04:00

This year for teacher gifts I collected money from the class for a group gift. I spent the money on gift cards and put them into a pretty plant. It was that simple. I got the idea from Family Fun magazine.

Cupcake

2010-05-18T16:58:00.000-04:00

I paper pieced this cupcake,added beads for sprinkles and a red button for a cherry on top. Then sewed it into a pillow/door hanger or it could be hung on the birthday person's chair.

Pirate Party

2010-05-06T12:53:00.000-04:00

When the boys arrived they were given a head scarf, eye patch and fake earring. After they were dressed in proper pirate attire they decorated their treasure boxes with markers and glued on jewels. Next we played get the gold into the bottle by the boys taking turns dropping five gold coins one at a time into a bottle. (It is much harder than it looks) We were going to follow the treasure map to the buried treasure (treasure chest pinata) but since it was raining, the boys broke it open in the basement. The last game we played was treasure, treasure who has the treasure? One boy sat in the middle of the circle with his eyes closed while everyone else in the circle passed the gold coin around. When I said treasure, treasure who has the treasure the boys put their fists closed in front of them and the boy in the center opened his eyes. The boy in the center has two guesses then to find the person with the treasure. If he gets it right then they switch places. If not then everyone passes again with the center boy closing his eyes again.

Silly Face Cupcakes

2010-04-30T08:57:00.000-04:00

For my son's birthday he requested silly face cupcakes. I must say these were some of the most fun cupcakes to put together yet! You can make anything. I just went down the candy isle to see which candies looked like eyes, hair, and mouths. Really sky is the limit!

Sheep Cupcakes

2010-03-25T13:23:00.000-04:00

I made these for the kid's bake sale at school today. Happy Spring!

For your Herd of Sheep you will need:

a baked cupcake

white frosting

mini marshmallows cut in half

pink frosting

black frosting

Ladybug Quilt

2010-03-23T12:15:00.000-04:00

Front

Back

I made this quilt for my wonderful neighbor. I finished it last night and her water broke at four in the morning. It was perfect timing. I used the needle turn applique method for the ladybugs.

Easter Bunnies

2010-03-22T21:09:00.000-04:00

I found the idea for these cute bunnies in my Family Fun magazine. The kids helped me out with this project.

Things needed for this project are: A sock, dry lentil beans, clear pony tail holder, ribbon, googly eyes, felt for nose and teeth.

Fill sock up to the heel with beans. Close off the sock with pony tail holder. Next tie ribbon in a bow to make the neck. Attach eyes, nose and teeth with fabric glue. Take your scissors and cut top of sock to make the bunny's ears. Viola!

Egg Topiary

2010-03-22T20:56:00.001-04:00

To make this topiary I gathered spanish moss, plastic eggs, a styrofoam cone, extra styrofoam, ribbon with wire in the edge, and a flower pot from the dollar store.

I first put a chunk of styrofoam inside the flower pot to fill it up. Next I hot glued the cone styrofoam on top of the styrofoam in the pot. Then I put glue on a little part of the cone at a time and attached moss. After the cone was covered I hot glued the eggs randomly. I cut off a little of one side of each egg so that it would sit more into the moss. For the final touches I added more moss where needed and tied on a ribbon.(ribbon with wire in the edge will make it easier to reshape your bow every year so it doesn't look smashed) Viola!

Valentine Table Runner

2010-03-01T15:00:00.000-05:00

This is a Valentine table runner that I made it is paper pieced. I just kind made it up as I went. For something a little extra I sewed pink rickrack into the binding.

Kate's Scripture Bag

2010-03-01T14:37:00.000-05:00

I have definitely had the sewing bug lately. Maybe it is spring fever or all the cold snowy days we get here in Cleveland. But I have just been in the mood to create. Thankfully I have a lot of unfinished projects and a little fabric stash so I have been able to create some new things without having to go to the store.

This year I am going to post the projects just so I can document for myself what I have finished this year. Enjoy, if you'd like to take a peek as well.

This weekend I finished this bag/purse for my 9 year old daughter. Yeah, I started it a year and a half ago... None the less here it is. I am pretty happy with how it turned out and my daughter likes it as well, so thats what matters. She is going to use it for carrying her scriptures to church. She especially likes the pockets inside.

The pattern I used is Isabella put out by Sew Unique Creations.

Heart Wreath

2010-01-24T19:18:00.001-05:00

Here is a simple and fun project for Valentine's Day. I got the cute idea and instructions from my friend Rochelle's Blog. Here is the link for the instructions. The project was simple enough the kids were able to help with it and loved it!

Retro Apron

2010-01-02T21:18:00.001-05:00

Now that Christmas is over I can post about the apron I made for my sister-in-law. I made one for my Mom too for her birthday last month with some Amy Butler fabric which I forgot to take a picture of. The pattern is pretty easy to follow. I have also made two kids aprons which are the same style as this one. The same person who wrote this book has a book full of kid apron patterns which are super cute.

Ornament Wreath

2009-12-03T16:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went over to my friend Rochelle's house and the kids were able to play while the Moms made these wreaths. It was surprisingly simple. It required barely any prep work and went together great. Rochelle found out how to make them here. I did have to hot glue a couple of small ornaments in places where you could still see the hanger after I was done stringing them all on.

Mad Scientists at Work

2009-11-01T23:24:00.000-05:00

Today we decided to do some experiments on some of the kid's halloween candy. I got this idea from an article in Family Fun magazine. The kids each picked out some candy and we covered each candy with either water or vinegar in separate glasses. We looked to see if they floated or sank, and just what they looked like after soaking. One of my favorites was seeing how the "S" on each skittle would come off and float to the top of the water. The kids got really into it and we had to keep pulling out more and more glasses so they could try just one more. I think this might just become a tradition!

My little mad scientists.

Costumes

2009-11-01T23:19:00.000-05:00

My daughter wanted to be a banana this year so I kinda winged it. I used felt and first sewed some batting to the wrong side (or would become the wrong side) of the fabric. I used an oblong piece for the front and kind of a crescent shaped piece for each side. I stuffed the top and bottom and left room in the back for her to be able to just slip it on.

My son this year wanted to be an eyeball this year so I sewed his out of felt as well. I cut four panels the shape of what a globe would look like if it was taken apart. On the front panel I sewed the iris and pupil which I made by making a compass with a string and a pencil to make each circle. The string was the length of the radius of the size circle which I wanted. I held the string down on the fabric and with my other hand held the pencil and string together and went around and it made my circle. Then I sewed each panel together. On the inside of the eyeball I sewed a tube which was attached to the bottom and then went over his shoulders. Then we stuffed the costume with grocery sacks which were crumpled up in between the eyeball layer of fabric and the tube layer.

Here are all the kiddos. My youngest two are wearing costumes I made for the older ones when they were that little. I used a pattern for those but I can't remember who puts it out. The felt costumes helped keep my little ones warm considering we had a chill Halloween night.

Halloween Treats

2009-10-25T15:35:00.000-04:00

Our Girl Scout Troop had our annual Halloween party. We love spooky treats!

These creepy spiders are made of a marshmallow with chow-mien noodles stuck in the sides for legs. Next I melted some chocolate in a ziploc baggie and cut off the corner of the bag once the chocolate was all melted. (I put the chocolate in a bag, put it in the microwave for 20 seconds at a time and repeat until all the chocolate is melted) I drizzled chocolate over the marshmallows and then put mini m&m's on for eyes.

My co-leader made these. The Eyeballs are made just like buckeye candies and then she put a mini m&m on top and made the blood vessels out of frosting.

These gruesome fingers are made from my regular roll recipe. Then I rolled the dough like when you made snakes out of play dough. Next I took a sharp knife to make a couple of slits in the middle for knuckle marks. Then I brushed the dough with an egg wash and put a slivered almond on the end to look like a fingernail.

These worms were definitely my favorite. I got the idea and recipe here.

We had regular fruit punch but we had a brain in it. The brain was made out of pink lemonade in a mold.

Columbus Day Dinner

2009-10-12T23:05:00.000-04:00

This was our super last minute lets celebrate the day idea. We had chips that were the waves, hoagie sandwich and a straw with a paper sail taped to it. It was a big hit with the kids!

Party Banner

2009-09-21T14:16:00.000-04:00

I made this banner with card-stock and ribbon. I used a five inch circle, glued a four and a half inch circle on top and then punched a 3 1/2 inch scalloped circle out of the card-stock I printed the letters on and glued it on top of the four and a half inch circle. Next I punched a hole on either side of each circle and double knotted different ribbon between each letter.

Ladybug Party

2009-09-07T15:21:00.000-04:00

Here are some invites from Kaitlyn's birthday party. We had a ladybug picnic and had fun in the water of course! The invites were pretty easy to make. I have a cricut which I used to cut out the invitations with and just cut the round part in half. I didn't have any black brads on hand so I just painted regular ones black. These pictures aren't the best! I think the munchkins got a hold of the camera.

These are the cupcakes from the party. We iced half of the top of the cupcake with red frosting and used red sanding sugar on top of that. For the spots I used chocolate chips upside down. Then the head is black frosting.

Teacher Gift

2009-06-21T22:55:00.000-04:00

This year for the class present I made this book. She seemed to love it! Who wouldn't love money? I got this great idea HERE. The full instructions are on her website. I found my paper compound at Xpedx.

Taco Party Invitations

2009-05-20T11:56:00.000-04:00

These invites were really simple to make. I took a four and a half inch yellow circle for the main taco shell by just folding the circle in half. Then a three and a half inch yellow circle folded in half to form the shell for the inside. I cut card stock to look like lettuce, tomato, beans/meat, and sour cream. I glued the meat and lettuce in and then the inner shell and added the condiments.