Christmas crafts… two months too late

I thought I would try and play a little catch up.  We’re going way back to Christmas but hey, it’s never too early to start planning for next year, right?

Christmas was overall pretty craft-free this time around.  We were still in full adjustment mode and there wasn’t a whole lot of time to sit around and make things.  The three things I did make took forever because I couldn’t just sit down and finish like I used to.  But they were worth it and I love them.

First is my yarn-wrapped Santa wreath.  I saw a similar one from this blog on Pinterest and thought it would be a nice change for our forest green front door.  Traditional wreaths don’t really show up.  Besides, I was going for a more kid-friendly vibe with colored lights outside and fun touches where I could.  I came up with the idea of adding the Rudolph wreath and attached them using part of a jingle bell garland that I originally wanted to use to decorate the living room or Christmas tree.  Maybe next year.

The other major crafty thing was a Rapunzel wig for Ella, made from this tutorial.  It was the only thing she asked for for Christmas, so I had to deliver.  I think I finished it two days early. Whew!  This is not the best picture of it, but it will do.  It really did turn out cute.  I ended up sing a boucle yarn instead of eyelash and liked the substitution.  The only downside with the wig in general is that she has trouble getting it on herself.

 

It wouldn’t be Christmas without homemade treats. This year, I made this Santa Party Mix by Cookies and Cups.

I didn’t take a picture of it so I borrowed the one from the site because verbal description simply does not do it justice.  It is THE cutest ever.  The little Santa hats are so whimsical and fun to make.   I packaged it up in little windowed boxes from Hobby Lobby and made sure that the recipients could see a couple of the hats and some of the M&M’s through the window.  Super cute and it was really yummy, too.  Just the right mix of salty and sweet.  I wasn’t sure about the cranberries, but they were a perfect addition.  Festive and just a hint of chewy tartness.

And really… it IS almost time to start crafting for next Christmas.  Yikes!

 

snow day shamrocks

Before I really get going on this post, there are a few things I need to say.  This is for me, really, more than for you, but it just needs to be said.

Having 3 kids is very different from having 2.  Having a 2-year-old and an infant is a busy business.  Therefore, I do not currently have time/capacity for many things such as, but not limited to: perfection, tiptoeing into a sleeping baby’s room to hunt for the camera instead of my iPhone for pictures, sweet photo editing, wiping my table off a second time after the kids have a second go at breakfast, glue, craft supply runs, pretty much any sort of planning, or manicures.  I love to make things and I really love to post about them and share, but there have been lots of things getting in the way of that, largely my need for everything looking tip-top.  What it comes down to is that I would rather chronicle these fun times with my kids and the enjoyment I have gotten from my crafting than miss out on all of it because my pictures don’t look as good as the ones on someone else’s blog.

I feel better.  Thank you.

Now for the shamrocks.  Today is the first snow day of the year, which is complete madness in Michigan.  It is also my first snow day as an adult because I now work only in schools.  There was a combination of excitement and panic when I saw the name of my school for today pop up on the school closings list.  An extra day home with the kids – awesome…. or not.  What on earth will we do??

The baby was up super early, so he took an early nap.  After wowing the kids with the mystery of helping Mommy clean the kitchen with their very own magic erasers, I decided to take advantage of the relative calm and make a project that has been swimming in my head for a while.  A simple shamrock banner for the kitchen.

Our kitchen is the sunniest room in our home.  I love that room and I love the windows.  They make for a nice display area for banners and such, even if it makes for difficult photographing because the light basically only comes from one direction.

Here is a brief tutorial.  There are SO many ways to jazz this up.  I will mention a few as I go along.

I used green construction paper (that super cool glittery scrapbook paper from Michael’s would be great, too), scissors, a borrowed stapler (thank you, Jenni!), a needle and thread.

First, cut the construction paper along the short side to make 4 strips.  You will use 3 1/2 strips per shamrock.  My strips were about 1/2 – 3/4 inches wide.  The width didn’t matter much to me, nor did exact uniformity.  Depending on what you are doing with your shamrocks, you may want to consider this a bit more than I did.

You will be using three heart shapes to make each shamrock.  For each heart, take one strip, fold it in half and staple (or glue, tape, bubble gum… whatever works for you) about an inch up from the fold.  Repeat until all three hearts are started.

Now flip the unstapled ends of paper back on each side to create a heart.  You can either create three separate hearts and attach them later or just hang on a minute and use one staple for all three “leaves” and the stem.

Let’s take a break for a moment here to discuss my slowed cognitive processing, shall we?  Sluggish, let me tell you.  It has just occurred to me that folding the paper into a “v” and bending the two ends in to make the top and stapling there would probably be easier.  Duh.  Moving on…

To make the stem, I used one half strip of paper.  I grabbed the ends together and then sort of jauntily folded a stem shape.  Put all three leaves together and place the ends of the stem piece on either side of this grouping and staple to complete your shamrock.

I also made one four-leaf clover.  You know, for good luck and all.  ( :

Benjamin was watching me and insisted that I get out some orange paper.  Orange is his absolute favorite color.  Since orange is also a St. Patrick’s Day color, I just cut a few strips of it to make little swirls to put in between the shamrocks to offset them a bit.  I think little pom-poms would look super cute, too.  And this would be a fun project made from felt.  But cutting felt just seems more time-consuming and when that baby is sleeping, this Momma has to fly.

Once all of your shapes are complete, you can use a needle and thread to get them ready to display.  I just grabbed the end of a spool of white thread because the color will not show anyway where I hang the garland.  Fishing line or clear thread would also work well.  Thread the shapes onto the garland, hang it up and slide the shapes into place for display.

I’m not gonna lie.  I kind of think they look like broccoli.  But I conquered a craft and still like them… even if they are veggie-like.

If you make one, please let me see it so I can see what typical cognitive processing and perhaps a little planning ahead can produce. ( ;

 

stay tuned…

Can you believe that I have a tutorial coming?  Well, believe it!  I just have to wait until the monkeys nap this afternoon to work on the pictures for the post.

Good times ahead!

 

time flies

Time flies and time flees and here we are in 2012 and I have crafted and not posted and good gracious things have fallen apart on my modest little blog.

But my friend and mentor, Laura, is here to save the day!  Laura has a new and a.ma.zing blog called PlayDrMom that is perfect for anyone with young children… or anyone crafty.  Laura is a gifted Mom and Child (and Adult) Psychologist who specializes in Play Therapy and posts regularly with the fun things she does with her kids (they are SO lucky!), wonderful parenting tips, and crafts for the grown-ups, too.  She is smart, sweet and creative.  What’s not to love?

Hop on over and check out her blog…. and be sure to “like” her on Facebook.  You will not be disappointed!

 

Disclaimer: yes, Laura just mentioned me on her blog.  yes, that prompted me to post here, not because she asked me to but because i have the memory of a goldfish and i miraculously had the time to finally log on and tell you about her.  my praise is genuine and unsolicited.  in the words of Pioneer Woman, “Amen, over and out”.

 

donut hole acorns

This is another quick Pinterest project that was done this past week.  It was my first full day home with all three kids and my husband was working late that night.  I knew we needed a little something to keep us going and break up the day a bit.  My kids love donuts (shocking, right?) and this project looked pretty simple.  I honestly just looked at the picture and copied it, but I have seen credit given to Family Fun Magazine for the idea.

Here are your supplies: donut holes, Nutella (or caramel sauce, for any non-chocolate people… I KNOW you exist : )), chocolate sprinkles (they don’t really taste like chocolate) and pretzel sticks.

Simply dip a donut hole into the warmed Nutella, roll in sprinkles and stick half of a pretzel stick in the top.  So easy, my 2-y-o picked up on it with no trouble at all.

We had a pretty good assembly line going after a minute.  They were both so engrossed, they didn’t mind sharing.

They turned out really cute… and yummy!

 

 

*sigh* … pinterest

I finally jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon.  It took me a while and even though I have started, I know that I am not using it to its full potential.  Really, for the most part, it is a whole lot of eye candy to me.  There have, however, been a few things that have caught my eye and inspired me at the same time.

This style of wreath was just such a thing.

They are so simple, minimal and … smooth.  Surely a strange way to describe them, but smooth is a word that comes to mind.  I used a straw wreath as my base, and left it right in the plastic.  It would otherwise have made a superb mess.  I have since seen similar designs with everything from foam wreaths to huge initials, all wrapped in yarn or twine.

I also love the felt roses.  They are SO easy to make.  Just cut a circle out of felt, cut that circle into a spiral, grab the outermost end of the spiral and start winding it up.  It just makes itself into the most perfect little rose.

I already have a design in mind for winter… something to decorate and hopefully take away the blahs that are sure to hit after Christmas.  Unless, of course, I find something more inspiring on Pinterest…

 

because i can’t leave well enough alone…

… and because I am a bit antsy, I made a diaper pouch for Jonathan’s diaper bag yesterday.  There just happened to be enough scraps left over from the original project, so I had everything on hand that I needed except for the webbing to close up the top.

I used a tutorial from Noodlehead that I happened across as I was browsing my bookmarks.  I got the proportions a bit wrong, so the liner is a bit too small, but until we are using bigger diapers, it won’t matter.  Overall, I think it is pretty cute and it will keep the diapers from getting all smushed up.

Now, I officially take a little break from crafting again. In less than 24 hours, I will be holding a new baby in my arms, after all!

 

most frustrating project ever

There is something to be said for perseverance and determination.  I had to have a lot of it while working on this project, that is for sure.  The idea is simple enough and the tutorial was clear and simple to follow.  The problem is me.  I cannot sew in a straight line.  When taking on a task which requires one to sew about 100 consecutive straight lines, this is an issue.  I also cannot cut in a straight line.  More of the same problem.

On with my story.

I saw this tutorial on Made for a faux chenille blanket and liked it, but had no real reason to make it.  Enter about-to-be-baby-boy.  Then I was so sure I *had* to make one for him.  I didn’t start sewing until after the other two kids were born, so I was really excited to pick a project for this one.

Ella helped me to choose the fabric.  It is not something I would normally choose, but the main print with lime and white on the cobalt background caught my eye (how could it not?).  I gathered my supplies and started to sew… and sew… and sew.  The monotony was actually kind of soothing.  I sewed as I looked out over the lake this summer.  The lines are a bit wonky, but the overall effect is pretty nifty.  Then I started to cut and before I knew what happened, I had cut a HUGE hole in the fabric.  Well, Dana had a hole, too, and fixed it, so I pressed on… and cut about 10 more of various sizes.  But I was determined to finish the doggone thing.

Finally, today, after much heartache, I finished it.

I made some makeshift patches for the larger holes and will patch the smaller ones as they become problematic.  I just couldn’t leave it unfinished.  The “back”, which is the side with the elephants, is not the prettiest thing ever, but the front is pretty nifty looking.

I am not a fan of the white bias tape, but this was no time to learn a new skill and make my own.  Not great, not the worst thing ever.  I conquered.

 

diaper bag for my little man

Here is one of the big projects that I have been working on. It is pretty much finished now, save one minor maintenance issue.  You may remember a diaper bag set that I made for a dear friend about a year ago that I posted about here.  It was one of my first sewing projects ever and I am happy (for me… sad for her, really) to say that my sewing skills have improved quite a bit since then.  Still rough, but better.

I was very happy to be able to make a diaper bag for my own baby.  The ones we have used in the past are either dirty and worn out or just the bags that are supplied from the formula companies.  Yes, they work fine, but have little in the way of personal style.  The good thing is that after using all of them, I had some clear ideas as to what I wanted.

This time around, I really wanted a simple messenger bag design with few bells and whistles.  The pockets always look like a good idea, but I find that they get in the way and collect junk more than anything.  I toyed with making the lining waterproof, but really, that just makes it harder for me to clean.  I constructed this bag and know I can just throw it in the wash without it falling apart (I hope), and I would rather do that than just wipe part of it down.

I also knew I wanted quiet but not “blah” colors.  I have never been a frou-frou baby bag person.  The baby is not carrying the bag, so let’s keep away from embroidered blocks that spell “BABY” and pictures of Pooh.  I looked and looked in JoAnn fabrics and found most of the material to be the opposite of what I was looking for.  Then, hidden underneath other quilting cottons, I saw this alphabet print and let out a little “whoop!”.  Just what I was looking for.

The next challenge was finding the contrasting print… also hidden.  The plaid is perfect and was the only fabric I found that had just the right tones of green and blue.  For the outer fabric, I used gabardine, I think.  I don’t remember for sure what I ended up grabbing.

The strap is fixed, but if it ends up being too long, I can shorten it permanently.  I just really dislike bags that hang on one arm.   The inside has 2 small pockets, one for my keys and one for my phone.  Anything else will pack in nicely and stay put well enough.  (Those size “N” diapers get me every time… they are SO teensy!)

And, of course, any respectable diaper bag also has a changing pad (based on this tutorial).

I may have put the strap on backwards.  Oh well.  It does not matter to me enough to tear the whole thing apart.  The inside is the alphabet print.

I have made peace (for the most part) with bias tape.  Yeah!  It is kind of fun now.

Then, just for the fun of it, I also made the burp cloths (based on this tutorial).  They don’t match exactly, which is fine.  I actually chose them separately, and must have been in a blue and green mood that day.  (My camera really disagrees with the color choices, doesn’t it?  I can’t seem to edit them to the right tones.)

These are a super first sewing project.  They are easy and functional and allow for some fun decision-making.

Here is the whole set.

The final, special touch – I used the letters from the alphabet print to personalize the bag for the little guy.  Now we are ready to go!

 

been busy

It may not be original, but this is what I have been up to.  This and spending time with our family of 4 before we are a family of 5.  The baby is due in 2 weeks and I have been crafting… and will keep doing so.  Hopefully I will get around to finishing – and posting – what I have been working on.