12 Projects of Christmas: Wood Ornaments

One of my goals for myself is to complete 12 projects before Christmas and blog about them.  I'm going to try to involve my kids whenever possible.  They love to help.  By involving them in creating gifts for our friends and family, they can learn how much fun it can be to give (especially something you worked hard to make!).

On pinterest, I saw a cute project Mod Podge, scrapbook paper, wood ornaments likes these.

My local Joann's and Michael's didn't have anything similar and I didn't want to wait to get them from some place online.  So instead I found some wooden stars in the regular wood cut-outs sections.  After attempting the original project by myself, I decided it would be too frustrating for the kiddos.  So I replaced it with washable markers.  I also had picked up a couple packs of assorted ornament shapes to color.  (My 4

          

It was easy enough that Jack, my two year old, was able to participate.  Carter, my four year old, was busy working on his ornaments for over an hour.  

I plan on using them as gift tags for our presents this year.  

Fabric by Fabric: One Yard Wonders

One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric! is a fairly popular book in the craft world.  I've looked at it at Barnes and Noble almost every time I've been there in the last year.  I was super excited to discover that they had a sequel called Fabric-by-Fabric One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Projects Using Cottons, Knits, Voiles, Corduroy, Fleece, Flannel, Home Dec, Oilcloth, Wool, and Beyond.  I borrowed a copy of it from the public library, but I think I'm going to need to spend the money to buy it because there are so many fun projects I'd love to make. 

The pictures are gorgeous!  Which for me, is the deciding factor whether or not I should buy a craft/sewing book.  Most of the instructions are only 2-3 pages long with plenty of diagrams, so that even directionally challenged crafters like me can follow them.  The authors, Rebecca Yaker and Patrica Hoskins (one of the owners for Crafty Planet) are both from Minnesota. 

Check it out if you're looking for some new project ideas. 

(I was not asked by anyone to write a review for this book, I just really love it!)



Day one of Kids Clothing Week Challenge has been a success, despite a lack of napping done by either children.  My 3.5 year old, Carter, generally doesn't nap anymore, but 1.5 year old, Jack, usually still does. 

I didn't do anything overly challengin to start out.  Carter is in need of some cute pajamas for summer and fall.  So I used My Cotton Creations tutorial to make some Lightning McQueen sleep pants and some Finding Nemo sleep shorts.  The directions were extremely easy to follow and I was able to create both pairs in less than two hours. 

Shaving Cream Bath Tub Paint

It's been a rainy all week and to make things worse it's spring break week, so we don't have preschool to keep us busy. So I've been using some of the fun things I've found on Pinterest to keep the boys out of trouble.
I've been avoiding shaving cream painting because I was worried it would be too messy (It really wasn't!), but the boys needed a bath anyways today and we needed something to do. I used Mommyapolis's very simple directions.
My review:
Prep time: 5 minutes or less
Cost: Cheap! Use dollar store shaving cream, a few drops of food coloring, and foam paint brushes
Attention Span: Kept the boys amused for almost 45 minutes, which is pretty amazing for a 3.5 year old and a 1.5 year old. They also managed play together without fighting which is also amazing.
Messiness: Not so bad. It came off the kids with just a simple rinse and the tub with a quick wipe down.
Do it again: Yes! Anything that is that easy to set up and keeps the boys happy for that long is a keeper. Carter is already talking about how he wants to do it again and he's only been out of the tub for 15 minutes.

I would post pictures, but DH doesn't like bathtub pictures online.

Craftiness

One of my goals for the next 12 weeks before baby boy arrives is to start and/or finish 50 projects that I've either been meaning to try or just need to do a little bit more to complete. Here are the first three completions.

1 and 2. Pillowcase dresses. The Pink is for my niece/goddaughter Lauren. Since she's is the only little girl in the family, she gets to be the lucky one to receive all my girlie craft projects. The shamrock one is for my friend's dog. Moo is a very stylish pup.

Project #3 is a burp rag embellished with some fabric. I love having these on hand for baby gifts because they are so cute and useful.

I'm hoping to have a productive nap time so I can complete some more projects today. :)

Adult pillowcase top

After a failed search all over the web for directions on how to make an adult sized pillowcase top, I took the advice of a fellow crafty nestie decided to somewhat wing it.

Basically I used my bust measurement and added 3 inches for the width. I used 26 inches for the length. Please excuse the horrible pictures. I really need to have DH help me take better ones. The pictures do not do it justice. For a non-maternity shirt I would probably experiment with making the back slightly smaller than the front.

Pillowcase Dress

Probably a good thing I'm having a little boy because making pillow case dresses is so addicting. I would never be able to stop making little dresses like this.

There are tons of tutorials out there, but I found this one the easiest to use. http://freshlypicked.blogspot.com/2008/03/pillow-case-dress-tutorial.html

Peeps T-shirt

I think I finally have my act together and will have time to start posting again. :) I plan on trying to catch up by doing several mini posts all this week.
First one of my nap time crafts this week. I was inspired by this adorable peeps t-shirt on http://gilliangreding.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/03/take_a_peek_at_.html . I adapted it a little bit and only did one bunny.


My little man was not the most willing model.

He did however enjoy the beautiful weather today.

Progress!

I made major progress during naps today. It is in no way actually making a dent in all of my half finished projects, but it is a step in the right direction.
The zipper bag was made based on a tutorial on skip to my lou. http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/01/14/how-to-make-a-lined-zipper-pouch-tutorial/
The hot pads aren't based on any particular pattern, just on the ones in my kitchen.
The adorable handbag is the buttercup bag. The pattern can be found at Made by Rae.
http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/2009/02/free-buttercup-bag-sewing-pattern.html