Crafty Girl

Equipped with many crafty kits after her birthday, GGirl and HandyMan crafted the afternoon away.  The cat is her first ever sewing project and she did an awesome job of it!  She and HandyMan upped the skill level when they jumped to the rubber-band bracelet loom - that was a little more challenging.  The owl is a plush coloring project that she whipped out while she was watching Frozen (what else!) and I think she had it done before Ana could get to the chocolate.  

Modern Art

GGirl was gifted a scratch art kit for Christmas and has spent hours scratching away creative masterpieces.  With a humored glint in his eye and a bit of excitement in his step, Handyman pointed out one of the newest pieces of art to be added to our collection.  "It's 21st century modern art!" he raved.  "GGirl, tell your mom what it is!"

"A high-heeled boot that stepped in dog poop" she replied with a proud grin.

There you have it folks, coming to an art museum near you!

Arts & Crafts

Today GGirl found a small photo album and she wanted to make something to put in it.  So I pulled out the construction paper and dusted off a pile of cutting implements from my scrap-booking days.  Add glue and some imagination and a four-year-old can be kept busy for a very ling time.  I think she was occupied for almost 2 hours after I spent 15 minutes getting her going.

I started her off with shapes cut out to glue on a paper to make a flower, grass and sun, and beach and water.  Her imagination took her from there.  Moons, stars and mountains were among her creations.  She was quite proud of her work.  Good stuff!

Making a Memory Quilt with Photos

For Christmas, I made a photo quilt for my mom.  Mom had a section of wall that she was trying to decide whether to put photos up or a quilt hanging. She was concern by the high traffic past this wall.  So, inspiration hit and three (or four) of GBaby's nap-times later I had the project finished.  I had more photos of the construction of this project but the camera ate them.  So here was how I the photo quilt project went:

1.  Quilt design: This included the dimensions and layout for a basic quilt with sixteen- 6-inch squares to hold 5-1/2" square photos.  Then I had to gather and choose photos.  I think this was really the hardest part of the project as I was trying to get the best shots including Granny & Granddad with their three children and three grandchildren.  So after sorting and debating, I chose the photos and headed on to cutting.

2.  Cutting: I cut all the white squares and ironed on the photos.  I only had to re-do two of the photos which I though to be a great accomplishment in and of itself.  Then I cut the  bordering strips for between the photos, the longer border strips for between the photo strips and finally the wide outside border pieces.

3.  Sewing: I sewed together the strips with the alternating photo squares and border pieces.  This went quickly.  Then I sewed together the strips of photos, with the longer border strips.  This too, was not so hard.  Finally, I sewed the border on it.  I stood back and declared it good.  I was so proud of myself.



4.  Layering: Next came assembling the quilt.  The process of layering the batting, quilt front and back and sewing it in such a way that when you turn it right side out everything is in the right order.  I also worked in tabs at the top to run a dowel through to hang it by. I layered it, sewed it, went to turn it right-side out and had thoughts that would make a sailor blush.  I took it apart, layered it again, sewed it again, went to turn it right-side out and almost cried.  UGH!  Third time is a charm and I had HandyMan double check it before I sewed to make absolutely sure that it was layered right.  It was and the finished project turned out very well.  I know where the goofs are but my Mom was gracious enough to ignore them. :)



It was a fairly simple project (minus step 4) that I will probably do again sometime and is a unique way to frame your favorite memories.

Homemade Christmas: Shape Magnets & Sewing Project Link

For all the folks out there that sew and need a relatively easy and inexpensive way to use up all your fabric scraps, you have to check out the Scrap Buster page over at SewMamaSew.com.  There are tons of ideas and one that I picked up was originally posted at Chez Beeper Bebe for making a plush alphabet and surf around her site for other simple sewing projects too - she did some neat cloth napkins.

I used her method to make a set of magnetic shapes for GBaby.  Since I wanted them to be multipurpose, I did spring for some clearance rack fabrics so that I could have solid colors to work with.  I also ended up with a fun assortment of fabrics: nylon, denim, cotton and canvas.

I stenciled out squares, triangles, circles, arrows, hearts and stars.  I zig-zagged around the marker lines and then cut out the shapes.  Easy - the whole thing took me about an hour.  I was not concerned with the marker showing through the stitching, so I just  used a Sharpie.  However, if you want a more finished look, you may want to consider a washable marker designed for marking fabric.

Here's the shapes traced and the first batch sewn:



And here are the finished shapes on my dishwasher:



I was intentional about the construction of my shapes as I have plans in my mind that they will serve as a multifunction educational toy in the coming months.

-For now they are fun textures for GBaby to explore.

-She's having fun exploring the magic of magnets and how some things will stick to the fridge and the dishwasher.

-As she begins to learn shapes and colors, they're a quick sorting game while I'm working in the kitchen (or wherever).  For example: all shapes start on dishwasher and a star gets put on the fridge - she then finds all the stars and moves them over.  An orange shape gets moved over and she finds all the orange shapes.  You get the idea.

I'm excited about this project and can't wait to see how she grows into these fun shapes!

Pretty Baby Crochet Sweater - Fashion Show

Well the Pretty Baby Crochet Sweater is finished and happily - it is a bit big for GBaby right now, which means by January, it should fit her just fine!  Here are a few pictures of the finished project!

Homemade Christmas: Gifts in a Jar

This is the first of a few coming posts about homemade holiday gifts.  When times are tight, creativity can help to reduce your gift-giving budget without losing the sincerity or style of the gift.  Here are a few links for gifts that are compiled with or stored in a jar as well as some of my own ideas that came to mind when I found them :).

For some of these projects, any size jar will do.  Others will need a specific type or size of jar.  Scope out your projects and start saving those jars and see what you can make for this holiday season.

Reduce*Reuse*Recycle - Use emptied condiment jars (peanut butter, pickles, salsa, etc.) to gift your holiday goodies.  Wash them out well - especially the lids.  Decorate the lids with a bit of holiday fabric or wrapping paper and you're ready to go.  Check for lingering odors and then fill them with holiday cookies, fudge and candies.  Your goodies will stay fresh until they're ready to be eaten.

Chocolate Chip Cookies in a Jar This is a fun idea to pass along food that doesn't have to be eaten right away.  The method is to neatly stack all of the dry ingredients for a cookie recipe into a jar.  Decorate the top and add the recipe and shazam - gift ready for giving.  The method can be used for most types of cookies although I would caution you to stick with basic recipes.  Throw in some holiday colored M&Ms for color and enjoy.  I once received one of these that was all pretty and decorated but the combination of ingredients (raisins, M&M's, and chocolate chips) didn't appeal to me so it sat in the cabinet for a long time.

Homemade Bath Salts Bath salts are relatively easy to make if you have access to the ingredients.  PioneerThinking has a lot of fun bath salt recipes.  If you'd like to gift some rest and relaxation this holiday season, check it out.

Jar Photo Frames I stumbled across this idea and I love it!  It's especially fun for grandparents and showing off pictures of the kids.  I have a couple of ideas for putting multiple photos in the jar that I'm going to try out and will post more on later.

Applesauce Cake in a Jar This one is a little out there but I thought it was interesting so I gave it a link.  I'm wondering if you can make it work with other cakes.  Or use the little half-pint jars and homemade brownie batter... hmmmm.

Sewing Kit in a Jar I recently have jumped back into sewing and this gave me great ideas for organizing my sewing stuff!  Read through the comments on the linked page as there are also some great ideas there too.

Pretty Baby Crochet Sweater - Progress #2

I'm making slow progress on the Pretty Baby crochet sweater for GBaby.  Progress has interrupted by two trips away from home, storing fall produce, cooking, two craft shows and a few sewing projects.  Here is the first progress post from about a month ago.  Now you can see that I have the body done.  Next stop: sleeves.  We'll see if I can get this wrapped up in the next month.  Although, it's likely to be interrupted by at least one more sewing project: The Little Red Riding Hood Winter Cape.  And maybe a pair of overalls since my friend Shelly sent me patterns today that look super cute!

Pretty Baby Crochet Sweater- Progress #1

In the piles of kitchen projects, last week I decided that I needed a break.  So I started a sweater for GBaby using this pattern.  I'm working on the body part and about two or three inches away from working the sleeve holes and neck into the pattern.  I've tweaked the design a little and my guage is off (as usual).  While I'm following the pattern for the 3 month size, since I'm using a thicker yarn and hook I think the finished product will be a great 12-18 month size.  I've done tons of crochet blankets, but this is my first attempt at "real" clothing. So far I've only found one goof but you have to look pretty hard to find it.  I'll post again when I've made a bit more progress :)  Anyone else working on fun fall craft projects?