We've been crafting...

just of a different sort. Take a trip to Big Lots and pick up the $2 Martha Stewart craft kits and you can too!

a family tree

I made this family tree as a Christmas gift for my grandparents and one for myself as well. I got the idea here and it doesn't need too much explaining. I bought heavy card stock at Joanne's and traced out the trunk and leaves. I included first, middle and last names and left a few blank for the babies on the way. It's pretty simple, but I think it would look great on a wall next to a bunch of other framed photography. Family photos would be perfect. :)

Quick, easy magnets

I made these magnets for Kate to give to some of her aunts and uncles and great grandparents. It was a quick and easy project that was fun and could be adapted to make magnets with different things besides pictures, like pretty paper or pictures from magazines. I got the idea from my friend Becca and then came up with the idea to give them in old Altoids tins. There isn't much to the magnets, I found the big glass beads in the home decor section at Target. I think they are meant for candlescaping or fake flower arrangements. I bought the heavy duty 3/4 inch magnets from Michael's as well as the crafters goop glue (which works great, just smells toxic. I did these outside because I didn't want the fumes in the house.) Just cut out the pictures (which I re sized in photoshop) glue to the glass bead and then glue the magnet on the back. One tip-- I learned the hard way that if you spread the glue around on the bead before putting the picture on it, it will leave little air bubbles between the picture and the bead. Not a huge deal, but if you put a big drop of glue in the middle of the bead, don't spread it just put the picture on it and it will spread itself, you can avoid the air bubbles. Make sense?

Turkey Finger Puppets

Thanksgiving is here! I'm hoping this last minute project will be another distraction to keep our little ones in their chairs at the "kids table". We'll see. At least they were fun and easy to make, and hopefully will become useful at some strange time when kids need distracting. Like waiting in line at the grocery store or at church. I'll add it to my finger puppet stash. I saw the idea here and went with it. Just a little sewing and hot glue. I had all the supplies on hand after a random (but very discounted) shopping spree at discountschoolsupplies.com. 25 cents for a bag of 100 googly eyes... who can resist. (Obviously not too many people. Looks like they are sold out.) Anyway, I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with good food and good company. And of course gratitude.

Pilgrim Party Hats

Thanksgiving is 4 days away! Where has this month gone? I am really looking forward to the party that Thanksgiving will be--and hoping my turkey comes out ok. We are doing a kids table this year, mainly because of our lack of space at the adult table. We may have to tie them to their chairs to get them to sit through dinner... so I thought I'd try to come up with a few things to distract them while the adults are chatting away. I saw this pilgrim hat idea to store treats in and thought I'd modify it to be a party hat. They are a little elementary looking, but I didn't want to spend too much time on something that will likely just get stepped on and ripped apart. But maybe it will hold their attention for a few seconds? We'll see. Hope everyone's Thanksgiving preparations are going well!

leaf garland

Only 10 more days until Thanksgiving! This leaf garland was a fun and very easy Sunday afternoon project. Outside most of the leaves have fallen and turned brown so it was great to see these vibrant colors again that surrounded us only a few weeks ago. I got the idea to make this garland from a friend and I love decorating for free! We collected these leaves about a month ago and put them away in heavy books so they would dry flat. We pulled them out yesterday and they were in perfect shape. I used some thread and a needle to sew through each leaf and hung them with thumbtacks. The entire project took about 20 minutes. Kate tried to help, but mostly liked crunching up the extra leaves. I'm sure older kids would love this project. I really like the way it looks hanging in our house and it's getting me very excited for Thanksgiving!

Paper Pumpkins

For a quick and easy craft project to spice up your Halloween decor click here. These would also be great in red for Christmas and made to look like ornaments. Kid friendly too... although maybe not for the under twos. :)

Halloween crafting

I made these witches brooms for a few of our little friends and still have some to give out at Halloween. I filled them with toddler friendly treats (animal crackers, suckers, stickers) but you could fill them with candy or whatever the receiver would like. I originally spotted these here and here. For another Halloween craft idea (that is a lot of fun) check out a project we did last year (and will repeat again).

Alphabet Magnets

I’ve been looking around for some magnets for our fridge that Kate can play with—but my search hasn’t gone very far. I remember seeing the idea to make your own on The Purl Bee and decided I would give it a try. I found business card magnets on eBay, 26 magnets for $2.50. Don’t go to Staples, they want to charge you $15 for 50 magnets. Then I just used scrap fabric I had around. One side of the magnet is sticky, so you stick the fabric on the sticky side, trace the letter on the back and cut it out with pinking shears. The trickiest part was drawing the letters backwards on the back of the magnet so they turned out right on the front. Kate seems to have taken interest in them. Although she doesn’t quite get that after taking them off the fridge you’re supposed to put them back on. Alas, another thing for me to pick up off the floor!

Spring Belt

I was flipping through the j.crew catalog last week and thought this belt was so cute. Probably not the most practical and probably not something I’d wear over and over again, but I still love it. The price though is hard to justify for one of those “wear a handful of times” accessories. Also, it basically consists of ribbon, a silk flower and some crystals.
A few days later I was in the craft store and noticed the silk flowers on sale. I remembered this belt and thought I’d try to recreate it myself. It was very simple and didn’t take much time at all. I can’t say it’s quite as cute as the j.crew version, but for 1/16th of the price, it will do for those occasions where I want to wear something “different”.

Playsilks

A set of playsilks have been on my wish list for Kate for some time. {Never heard of playsilks? Click here} I’ve been meaning to buy them for her but keep putting it off because they aren’t cheap! I saw this idea to buy plain white silk squares and dye them your self using kool-aid for half the price and knew I could pull that off.
It really was very simple. Here is the basic idea: Step 1: Soak the silk in a bowl of cool water and a glug of vinegar. Step 2: Use a wide mouthed jar and mix together your packets of kool-aid (I used 3 of each color) with 1 and ½ cups of warm water and 1 Tbsp of vinegar. Step 3: Put the jars in a pan of water about 1-2 inches high and bring to a simmer. Step 4: Once simmering, put 1 playsilk in each jar. Step 5: This is the only tricky part. You let the silk “simmer” and absorb all the kool-aid. Stir occasionally to even out the color. Once the silk is done the water will look clear and diluted. Step 6: Remove the playsilks from the jars and rinse in a bowl of cold water. Step 7: Hang to dry.
A few notes: I bought the 30x30 inch squares. The flavors of kool-aid I used were grape, cherry, lemon and lemon-lime. I’m still looking for an orange or blue kool-aid to dye one more silk. The trickiest ones were the grape and cherry flavors and I read a few places that most red dyes can be tricky. For some reason the kool-aid takes a long time to absorb and it seemed that the color kept rinsing out when I rinsed it. I ended up running the red silk through the washer (by itself) on the rinse cycle to get out any extra color and it still looks pretty vibrant. They are for Kate’s Easter basket and hopefully they will be used for all her imaginative ideas once the creative play thing kicks in. For now I think she will enjoy playing peek-a-boo and dragging them around the house. Oh and taking them “in” and “out” of whatever toy box they may be in. Thanks to her new “in” and “out” game, all of my shoes are now “out” of the closet and “in” the laundry hamper.

Clothespin Dolls

These clothespin dolls were so simple. No sewing involved. I found the old-school wooden clothespins at a craft store and cut scraps of fabric and ribbon and hot glued them on. Then I drew on the faces with a sharpie marker. You could get more creative and use rick rack or hot glue sequins or buttons, but I had limited materials, so I just went with it. I made the pouch with felt, just cut and sew up the sides and use ribbon to tie it all up. These are for Kate’s Easter basket, but these would also be great to top a birthday gift with or a good craft to do with older kids.

Tutu

I’m lucky to be staying with my parents this week. My mom doesn’t have a sewing machine, but I wanted a few projects to keep myself busy. I came up with this tutu, which requires no sewing at all. It’s very simple and quick. I saw this description here and figured the rest out on my own. I used 2 yards of tulle which was fine, I maybe could have used a little more. Now Kate waddles around like a little fairy talking on “her phone”.