Arrow of Light Award

I've been really busy this past month planning and organizing a Pack mtg for Cubscouts, I'm a chairman for a local Pack. My scouts have had a busy summer and earned over 150 awards, 5 being the Arrow of Light Award, which is the highest award possible in the Cub Scout Program. With 5 boys receiving this award we wanted to make it extra special. We had a gal make us the metal Arrow of Light plaques, but the Cubmaster and I handmade everything else. I've edited the pic so you cant see the boy's name that was engraved on the plaque and burned on the pouch. Google my ever so trusting friend gave me some ideas when I searched for a leather pouch. I think they turned out real nice, but this lil scout's pouch was my first attempt and I think the other ones looked a lot better once I worked out the kinks.

Hair accessiories

My son has a birthday party to go to tomorrow. I've been busy with a lot of other things in life and didn't sit down until this afternoon to make her gift. Of course I knew I wanted to make hair accessories, but I checked with some friend first to make sure it would be an okay gift. I worry about homemade gifts to kids, I never know if they'll like them. I got the go ahead from my friends and of course went to my trusty Pinterest where I knew I had a lot of cute ideas pinned.

 Here are the four things I made for her. 

The 1st is bobby pins painted with finger nail polish. SO EASY!!!! 

The 2nd I found from here, not sure if its my material or stitching, but I couldn't get it to ruffle like hers. I didn't like seeing the stitching so I covered it with ribbon. 

The 3rd one I found here, very simple. The flower template I found using Google search and then I scaled the image down a few times to make the different petal sizes. 

The 4th one I didn't have a tutorial to follow. Instead I did a search on felt flowers and look for images for inspirations.

 

 I'm really happy with the outcome. I hope she enjoys them too. 

I promise to post tomorrow some of the things I've been working on.

Ribbon Blanket

Do you remember a few days ago I shared a cute turtle that I made for a friend? I decided her gift needed something else to go with it. I've seen these ribbon blankets before and the babies seem to love to chew and slobber all over them. I found several pins and used this one here, omitting the applique. I made mine smaller and I liked the outcome. Just to warn others...Minky Dimple Dot material is not easy to work with for a beginner like me. UGH! I made it work, next time I know to approach it differently.                                         

    

Slouchy Beanie

Have you ever tried to take a picture by yourself of a hat you've made while wearing it? No? You should try it and then you'll understand why I'm not including a picture of mine in this post. I couldn't get a good enough angle to show it off, I must not be as talented as other bloggers who are fully capable of taking pics by themselves, while modeling their own creations.

I adore hats and cowls and with fall here I need a few more. I found this great crochet hat here and the funny thing is I had the exact yarn and color in my yarn stash as she used for the 1st hat. She had someone else take the picture for her, smart girl!!! The first day I wore the hat I had requests from a couple of gals to make one for them. It was quick and easy and I look forward to making more.

Now, if you have any AWESOME cowl patterns you want to share please do....I LOVE COWLS and the bigger and bulkier they are, the better!!!

A Peach Crisp

 

There's nothing better than fresh fruit...oh wait...yes there is...fresh fruit desserts. YUM!!! I had fresh peaches  and I decided to make a crisp for a friend. I didn't have a chance to taste it but she said it was "Delicious." I followed this recipe here, though I halved the recipe and put it into a 8x8 pan. I forgot to take a picture of the one I made but it looked a lot like her picture that I'm using. I still have peaches and tomorrow I'm going to be making this again for our family to try out.

Baby Doll Diapers

About a year ago I had a breakdown and declared to my daughters "No more naked babies." I was tired of seeing naked dolls laying around. They were still pretty young and it was difficult for them to dress their dolls. I converted a few sleeves of an old blouse into simple pull on dresses and then made a few diapers out of fleece and Velcro. They work decently, but I desired better quality items for them. The plain fleece diapers didn't hold their form on the doll and I had to make several different sizes.

I came across two baby doll diaper pins and decided to try them both, even though I didn't have any flannel, I used leftover fleece instead. The 1st one here was rather simple and easy except for the fact you had to try to make your own template. I came as close as I could to hers, but I didn't end up liking the straps. The 2nd tutorial here came with a template from another blog and I loved how she sewed the two layers together before cutting the diaper out, it made the work quick and easy. I ended up liking the shape better too. The diaper on the left is the 1st pin and the one on the right is the 2nd pin. 

This is how the 2nd diaper fits on one of their baby dolls, which is one of the smaller dolls, but can fit their larger dolls too. I hope to share more of my "No more naked babies" projects in the future.

Supplies

Looking at all these cool things I've pinned, I've noticed that I'm missing some craft tools that could help me along. A big one that I could have used with the girls' skirt was an ironing board. Yup you heard me, I do not own an ironing board. I hate ironing and to reduce the chance that I would have to iron I buy products that don't have to be ironed. It seemed like a fail proof system to me, except now with sewing its kinda important that things are ironed out. Its not so easy to do that on a kitchen table. 

My hubby and I dont get each other presents for holidays, bdays, etc. We just buy when we need things. I've started to compile a list of tools I'd like and hopefully I'll find most of them at our great local thrift store, if not I'll have to budget them into the budget. So you crafters out there...what's your "how did I ever live without one of these" craft tool?

A Simple Skirt

I often dream about making clothes for my kids. The problem...I can only sew straight lines, my sewing skills are limited and I wont kid myself...I'm scared I'll make a mistake I cannot fix. I found this great tutorial here which catered to my limited sewing abilities. All I had to do was sew straight lines. I don't have a serger and forced myself to learn how to do a proper hem, which takes some time, patience, and practice. Yesterday I had the time, the patience I can always develop and boy did I get practice with these cute skirts. The 2nd skirt of course went a lot faster than my 1st one. I love this pattern so much that I'm going to be picking up more fabric to make several more. Of course they wont be matchy matchy, my youngest daughter did request a different print yesterday, but the material was the perfect size to make two skirts. 

Stuffed Fabric Turtle

I have a friend expecting a baby boy any day now and like all my friends I make them homemade gifts. However because she's having a boy I couldn't rely on my girly items like crochet skirts, onesies and hair clips. I decided that I was going to try one of my new pins. Her nursery theme is a jungle one and when I saw this tutorial here, I knew I had to try it. This sewing project was a little more challenging for me since Im not used to having to pin and do small pieces. I decided to change up the legs and used ribbon instead.  I like the outcome, but I have to admit that I didn't do a great job of sewing up the opening. Something to improve upon I guess.

Cloth Napkins

    When people ask if I sew I will often answer "I can sew straight lines." Which might not be that truthful since a lot of times my lines are not that straight. I inherited a sewing machine from my Gma and she'll often ask what I've sewn, which hasn't been much. When it comes to crafts I learned a lot of skills by video tutorials or books, I checked out a book from the library to help me learn basic sewing skills. Which brought me to my latest project. My kids have cold lunches for school and we try to be Eco-friendly with reusable containers and I thought about making cloth napkins. Of course there was a pin for that here. My kids loved the idea of having personalized napkins, each picked out their material and I began cutting. We decided on a little napkin...when completed it ended up being about a 5" square, perfect for a lunchbox. I adore them and my straight lines don't look too shabby.

Why a craft blog?

I joined Pinterest a long time ago, but until earlier this year I didn't use it much. I started to pin and of course like most of us Pinners became addicted. The problem? I was wasting my time on pinning things I hoped to do, but wasn't. A few months ago I had the realization that I needed to re-pin ideas that I had completed in hopes that I would not just pin. It worked for a little while and then I got busy and once again I was pinning without doing. With my children returning to school I'm determined to change this pattern I've developed. This is why I started a craft blog even though there are thousands on the net. This blog is for me, keeping me accountable for the things I pin as well as sharing with friends and family what crafty things I've done in hopes to inspire others to not just pin but do.