Christmas Stocking Ornaments

I have a friend who inherited her Gma's crocheted Christmas stocking ornaments. She wanted to make some to add to the collection, but didn't have a pattern, so I set out to figure it out. It was pretty simple to do, but I found a pattern online thinking it might be nice to have a twist to Gma's stocking. This stocking pattern went super fast too and my sister loved it's outcome, I'll be making her some for her family this week for next year. But in the end my friend and I liked the Gma's pattern more. I liked it so much that I made a set for me and hope to make more.

The 1st two are from the pattern, the 3rd is Gma's stocking, and the 4th is my replica of Gma's stocking ornament.

Coffee Mug Cozies

A lot of times when I want to do a project I look for several different tutorials for help. I found two that I ended up pulling from when I made coffee mug cozies for a friend. The first one here I used the template and materials suggested. The 2nd one here I really liked for the suggestion on using a toothpick to put the button on.

Hot Cocoa Snowmen

I made a few of these snowmen for gifts this year. They were large mouth pint jars. I found this picture for inspiration. There wasn't a tutorial, but I thought they were pretty self-explanatory. For the bottom jar I filled one with Andes mints and the other two with mint and chocolate chips. I tole painted the faces and buttons and used Mod Podge to seal them. I used felt for the hats.

Felt Envelopes

We have an annual Christmas tradition where we individually give Jesus a gift. Typically it's something that we're trying to work on for the year. Last year my 8 y.o said he wanted to have more charity and do more service, I think he did a great job working on this gift all year. Before Christmas we talk about the previous year's gift and how we did. This year my hubby and I decided we wanted to create an ornament which we could put the letters into. I Googled and searched Pinterest for felt envelopes and my children chose this tutorial. Each person of the family chose their felt and buttons.

Doll Clothing

For Christmas this year, my daughters are getting Melissa and Doug dolls. They're 14" tall and perfect for my little girls.

 

 I knew I wanted to make doll clothes for them, I however didn't realize that the bug would hit me and I couldn't stop making them. I had to tell myself to quit after 3 outfits because I have plenty of time to make more after the holidays. 

The first outfit I made was these cute crochet dresses. I found the pattern here. I changed the dress a bit and joined a lot earlier than she did. I wanted my girl's to be able to just slip it on and not have to deal with buttons. Because the dolls are 4" smaller than what the pattern was made for I dropped down 2 hook sizes and used a lighter weight yarn. I love the sparkly yarn.

I found the top of the next outfit from the same creator as the dress above. It's an adorable sweater, however I did make some changes , joining sooner than she had and I used the same worsted weight yarn, but dropped down 2 hook sizes. On the 2nd sweater( one on the left) I didn't do the increases she calls for towards the bottom of the sweater. I think that did the trick for getting the correct size. The pants I used this pattern and tutorial. I shrunk down the pattern to fit the dolls and used knit instead of fleece. This pattern was super easy and I plan on making a lot more pants in all different types of material.

You cant live in the West and not have a western outfit. I used this great pattern for the top. I've used it many times and its super easy and fast. I did make the straps a bit shorter so it would hug their dolls better. For the skirt I used jersey and the same principals in this tutorial I've used before.

This is what the back looks like.

That's it for NOW, oh but there definitely will be more clothing to come.

Christmas Cards

I'm annoyed at myself. I'm typically good about saving an image or link to give credit for an idea that someone else had but I used for inspiration, but this time I can't find the site where I found these cute cards with trees made out of bright colored paper. It inspired me to make my Christmas cards using Christmas print material and heat-n-bond. I also used my new shears given to me from my friend Molly. LOVE THEM!! Everyone needs a pair of these!! I ended up with a few different looks. 

This is one of them up close.

 

Hand Warmers

 I wanted to do a practical gift for my children's teachers and some of the school staff. I also wanted to not spend a single penny doing it and I was successful. I found this great post about hand warmers. I knew I owned all the supplies and I could get the kids involved. I had them pick out the fleece they wanted to use and then we made the heart template. I cut, sewed and stuffed all 23 pairs in a few hours. I put them into a little bag with a label that read "You warm our hearts, let us warm your hands." We delivered them today, which was very fitting since it had snowed several inches and was still coming down.

Rainbow Scarves

I've completed several projects, but because they're gifts I can't post them on here until after I give them to the receiver. I have a friend who has 3 beautiful daughters. I made them rainbow scarves with their initial on them. I use this scarf as inspiration.

 

I used Red Heart yarn for the scarf, felt and ultra heat-n-bond for the clouds and letters.

 

Chain Loop Scarf

I love scarves and cowls and so when I saw this chain loop scarf, I knew I needed one...or two...or maybe eventually three. I'm limited on my bulky yarn so I decided to use two strands of Caron's Simply Soft yarn. I enjoy the variegated look. Each scarf took me about 45 minutes to do. A very easy project for gifts or for yourself.

  

A Christmas Stocking for a Missionary

My BIL is currently serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I wanted to surprise him with a fun Christmas gift. I came across this blog and I thought it was a cute stocking. I decided I was going to make it. So I started out with a little boy's white shirt and black felt. 

I used a regular stocking for a pattern for our missionary stocking. It took me about 10 minutes to sew it together and then added an old tie of my son's. Here's the results.

I can't wait to fill it with his favorite candies and notes and pictures from our family.

Yarn bowls

I dont save all my yarn scraps, I will for bird nesting in the spring, but a lot of it I throw away, NOT ANYMORE!!! For our scouts' Christmas present this year they made these cool bowls out of yarn. I found the idea here. I loved the vibrant colors and shape. I didnt have scraps of yarn so I ended up cutting a ton of different colors of yarn into 3 different sizes. 

The original plan was to put cookies the scouts made into the bowls, but a smoky church oven had other ideas. Instead they tied their bows and gave just the bowl as a gift. I love how some scouts made their bowls with yarn all over the place while some took a more circular approach.

I have  a lot of yarn left over and I plan on doing this craft project with my kiddos real soon!

Kitchen Remodel Done

We got it DONE!!!! Almost, there's only a few things to do such as the kick board and the trim. I'm so impressed with my hubby. He laid the laminate floor by himself and then his father came over to help him with the cabinets and counter tops. The granite is beautiful! We've owned it for 8 yrs and have moved it 3 times, so its nice to finally have used it in one of our kitchens. I didn't have any pins that we used, but DH did use YouTube videos on how to cut and install granite.

 

 

Its amazing how more open it feels even though its the exact set up as before. I haven't finished refinishing the kitchen table yet, hopefully this upcoming week.

Things are Better Homegrown!

In between helping DH with the kitchen remodel I'm taking care of other projects I need to do. One is cleaning the chicken coop. We've been raising chickens for the last 6 mos, we both had them growing up. We have 6 hens, four different breeds. They've been fun to have. When I clean out the coop I use suggestions from this article. I really like how the vinegar keeps the water containers cleaner for longer. I'm looking forward to naturally dying our eggs when the time comes. I wanted to share with you the difference in sizes. On the left is a store bought egg, had to buy them when our chickens were molting and we weren't getting eggs, on the right is a homegrown egg from our Leghorn. Huge difference huh?

Dress Up Wardrobe

 My girls love playing what they call "make-a-believe." I however hate the items being all over their room. Several months back we helped a family moved and they left behind several items and there was a pair of these cabinets. 

 

 I knew instantly that I wanted to make them into this. I put a rod into the first one to hang clothes on, but that's as far as I got. DH had to go out of town today, so the kitchen remodel is on hold, I figured I'd finally finish the project. I also decided that I only wanted one cabinet in hopes to reduce the amount of clothes they had to dress up in. The drawers aren't very deep but I figured I'd still dress them up. 

 

I used wall paper I got from the thrift store and 3M adhesive spray to attach it to the inside of the cabinet and drawers.

 

Because I liked the pink and white stripes with the contrast of the brown backing in the cabinet I kept the back unfinished. 

 

 Dont the drawers look so nice and organized? 

Wonder how long that will last. hehe.

 This is what the finished area looks like. I have a little chair that belonged to my Gma. I re-did the material years ago, but it really needs a paint job. Hmmm maybe its time to re-do it again.

 

A little break turns into a BIG project

For all those who are teachers or married to teachers, you know how you thrive for those little school breaks. Its amazing how much stuff you can accomplish during these breaks. My hubby whose a teacher, loves utilizing school breaks and he thought it would be a great time during our little Thanksgiving break to remodel our kitchen. This is what we're up against, a 1983's galley kitchen...isn't it lovely? hehe. 

Our plan of action...wing it. Seriously though we're the type to wing it, we bought walnut laminated flooring, cabinets, and paint and we'll do the project little by little. Even though technically our break doesn't start until Wednesday, yesterday afternoon after school we removed the trim, most of the cabinets and painted the kitchen and adjoining dining room. Today the rooms will get a 2nd coat and we'll remove the sink and lower cabinets, if the plumbing works with us. Tomorrow it will be all about...who knows...we'll see what we get accomplished tonight.

An Alice in Wonderland Halloween

There you have it folks!!! The Halloween Costumes of 2012. I think they turned out great and the kids seemed to enjoy them. I'll go through each costumes on how and where I got the ideas or tutorials from. 

The Mad Hatter

My eldest made a great Mad Hatter, he even won a local children's costume contest and people asked if they could take pictures of him as we Trick or Treated. The Hat turned out great. I used lace instead of material and spray painted it with green, brown, plum, and gold paint. I cut up old blouses for the sash around his hat and around his neck. I found the jacket at the thrift store but sewed on the white cuffs which used to be a curtain. The pants were also from the thrift store but I had to take them apart and downsized them to fit him. The hair was a clown wig that I cut into half and pinned to the hat. The Spool Belt was pretty simple to make especially since I already had the spools of thread. I kept the belt whole and threw it around him.

The Red Card Solider

So this costume was a complete 100% original. Believe me, I looked for a tutorial and came up empty. So I took an old bed skirt and cut it apart for the card portion of the costume and sewed up a rectangle with arm holes. The diamonds were made out of felt. The head piece one had a hole cut out for his face and then I starched it so it would stand up on its own once he put it on. The ax is made out of a broom handle, cardboard, and aluminum foil. 

Alice

I did find the dress at the thrift store, but it had long sleeves. I shorted those up. I made the apron using this tutorial for inspiration once again using an old bed skirt for the material. As you can see I made the front connect to the back and put a snap on the back. This made it easier for her to put it on and less bulky. I was up until 12:30am making it. I waited until the kids were asleep because I knew making my own pattern was going to be time consuming. The hair band was easily made and completed the project. I like the results!

The Queen of Hearts

I found the dress at the thrift store, but I made the crown out of felt and the wand out of an old kitchen spoon, felt sewn into a heart shape and then stuffed.

Trick or Treat Bags

WOOHOO I completed something!!! Saturday morning I worked on one of the kid's costume but then started to feel unwell. The rest of the weekend was spent on the couch or in bed. Today I sewed the kids' Trick or Treat bags. I can't believe how time consuming these were, but I think its because I'm still new to sewing and figuring out all the little tricks such as cutting material, pinning, and making a box bottom bag. I used this tutorial for the bags. I tried stitching around the felt appliques I made for the kids, but my machine did not want to work with me. Oh well! Figure if the Heat n Bond didn't hold I can always rely on my Liquid Stitch...LOVE IT!!  

The Boys' Bags

 The Girls' Bags

Im a Pro...

Pro in PROCRASTINATION! One thing you should know about me I have a lot of ideas and many many future projects and most are left to the last minute. Halloween is only 5 days away and there's a lot to be done and have I started? Yes and no, we have our theme which is Alice in Wonderland. We have some parts of costumes thanks to our thrift store, but I still need to make an Alice apron, a Mad Hatter hat, a card solider costume, and a Queen of Heart wand and crown. Oh if that isn't enough I decided to make the kids new Trick or Treat bags, their old ones weren't going to last another year. In the days to come I hope to finish my to do list and have a HUGE post about my success in completing them all.

Chore Charts

As my kids have gotten older we've tried many different chore charts. They'll work for awhile, but I know I'm not consistent in keeping up with them. I decided with school in full bloom that I needed to lessen my stress and make the kids more responsible for doing their chores w/o a ton of reminders. I looked at many chore charts on Pinterest and decided to try this one out. I had all the items already in my craft stash which makes it even better. Plus I felt it was a chore chart they could easily do on their own. I used a cardboard backing and had each of the children choose scrapbook paper to mod podge it on with. They chose the color for the marker and ribbon. I rubbed out their names since I don't share those online.

My kids sometimes come home w/ prizes from their Teachers' prize bucket. I felt a prize bucket might encourage the kids to do their chores more freely. I ordered a bunch of little goodies like stickers, bubbles, erasers, pencils, hot wheels, and etc for our prize bucket. Each chore is worth 2 pts and at the end of the week, points can be traded in for a prize, which all prizes have a different point value. We also gave our kids 3 large chores that are paid chores for the week, each one was assigned a $ value. This will give them a little spending money for our Movie Night treats.

Girl Halloween Skirts

 
I'm not a big fan of matchy matchy when it comes to dressing my girls, however when I saw this material at the thrift store I had to get it and wanted to make  Halloween skirts with it. To make them different I decided to try new to me sewing techniques, such as layering, piping, and bias tape. I used the same tutorial for the skirt that I did a few weeks back. I really like how simplistic it is. The difficulty came w/ the edge work. I had never done ruffles before. I tried several different pins and lets just say I didn't accomplish the end goal. I however found this tutorial here and was finally successful in making a ruffle. WOOHOO!!! I like how the first skirt turned out. 


For the 2nd skirt I knew I wanted to make it a layered skirt which is shown on the same tutorial as the first skirt. She had bias tape on each layer and I loved the look of it. By chance I found the elastic band and yellow bias tape at the thrift store too. I decided to try this tutorial here for sewing the bias tape on. It was nice and easy and because I went slow I didn't have to pin it ahead of time. I dislike pinning!!!


The best part of this project was the cost. For $3 in supplies at the thrift store I have two very cute skirts. I have enough material left over that I could make more skirts, I have two baby nieces that would look adorable in similar skirts.

Painted Halloween Rocks

My kids love painting rocks. Its a messy project but we always have fun trying to find rocks that look like certain things. I surprised them on Monday with a walk to the creek to pick up rocks after seeing this pin. This is what we created using normal craft paint and then a permanent marker for the faces and writing. Don't know how we ended up with a pet cemetery, but we did.