Craft: Christmas Ornaments

I have done so much Christmas crafting this season, but by far my favorite are these bird ornaments. I was inspired by two sites. First Charcoal and Crayons post about Scrappy Sparrows (download and use the template), and Second Sister's Little Cher Ami post.

I found sheet music for "I Know My Redeemer Lives"  at the thrift store and used it to create these birdies.  I loved finding my favorite phrases and showcasing them on my tree.

craft: Lamp Revamp

First I have to apologize for our bad photos. All we have are camera phones. Jason thinks I've gone a little crazy with the aqua paint I used on this mirror.

I wanted to establish the color in our room by repeating it 3 times. So I started with my hand me down lamp. Thinking I had a picture of the lamp I foolishly painted it without a before picture. Here's the after!



I'm still not sure I love it. BUT I AM in love with the Rustoleum Extra Cover spray paint . I was able to do both projects and still have paint left over.

craft: Adding Fabric to Mats

I wanted to add some of the color from my mirror through out the room. I've done this in several ways but today I'm only sharing my picture frames! I had 1/8 of a yard of cute fabric cut right before or right after G and Lil G came to stay with us. It's been floating around for a long while. Should I use it for this project or that project.... I decided to add it to 2 of my favorite pictures.

Our wedding photo.

My Mom's graduation picture. Isn't she BEAUTIFUL!

I love that the fabric sets these pictures apart form all of the other pictures we have in our front room-yes we have a lot!

craft: Painting A Mirror

I had this old mirror hanging out in the basement for the last 6 months. It's got this really bad plastic frame and I almost go rid of it. I'm so glad I didn't!

I taped it off using blue painter's tape and gave it a really good sand with fine grit sand paper.

Then I added a black garbage bag to protect the glass. (why I had to choose the largest bag in the house I don't know!)

Next I added a bright aqua blue to the frame.

After 2 coats and an hour of dry time I covered the frame with brown glaze.
I wiped the glaze off with damp paper towels. My glaze was super old and way thick which made wiping it down HARD. In the end it's a little more rustic then I was going for. I'm not sure I love it. I'm usually more of a gray blue and navy blue girl what do you think?

Should I start over with another color?

Create

I remember this.

I love this.

For a woman who hasn't been able to create life, to know creating beauty and love is still a Godly pursuit.

Secret

My blog has a secret. If you look in past posts you may see a post you have never seen before, like this one. It's a list of projects I would rather do then clean my house. My time is pretty precious these days and when I get a crying, feeding, pooping free moment I: 1st take a shower, 2nd CRAFT. Take a little peak at my list and links, you may want to start keeping secrets yourself.

craft: Butterfly Mobile

We have adjusted to being parents of twins and now I'm back to crafting. I've wanted a mobile for the nursery FOREVER but with our family situation ALWAYS changing I couldn't bite the bullet and buy one. So, I MADE my own mobile using this:

It's perfect for us because I can make one for boy or girl. I don't have to find a one style fits all. Loving that I don't have to be gender neutral in everything! Here's my version:

(this of course is not our nursery. I don't have a hooks placed yet, but one will hang above each crib)

Tips and tricks:

I bought a butterfly punch from the local craft store using a 40% off coupon-making the punch 9 dollars

You will probably only need 3 12x12 pieces of paper and 4 pieces of velum

I used both the inside and the outside of a an embroidery ring to make 2

When hanging the butterfly's make sure you use the LIGHTEST weight fishing line you can find. I used 6LBS weight.

Have I said that I love KSL! Here's a link to the video and instructions.

craft: Christmas

I have been working on many projects in my free time and this is DONE and in the mail to some lucky family in Oregon. I thought all of you other Duck fans may want a sneak peak.

I made a double fleece blanket quilted with an Oregon O. It's far from perfect (and those who know me know how much that drives me nuts!) but it's fun and WARM!

I've also been working on these projects:
Key Chains
Etched Glass
Slip covering my front room chair

foster: Update...for those of you who know what I'm talking about

We spent only a week at PCMC and then another 10 days at home. It was great being home. No more yucky hospital couch beds and clean clothes. But then there was the terrible fear of infection. Which was perpetuated by our friends experience here.

While home J or I or our Magic Helper had to be home with little boy. If Little Girl went out I was insistent that she wore a mask and used insane amounts of hand sanitizer. We were lucky our Magic Helper was here our first week home and allowed J and I to get out at least daily. Nothing like medical house arrest to make you think of all the things you would like to be doing. Little Girl still had appointments to get to and we had lots of help getting her there. THANK YOU! Wednesday we were told to go back to school! Whooo Hooo!!!!

We are so grateful for little boys quick recovery and hope he continues to heal quickly. We are also so grateful to J's employer for being so flexible with us during this crazy time.

Here's what we did with Little Boy to keep him down and happy (besides an obscene amount of TV):

File folder games
Books
Play dough
Bed forts
Puzzles
Starfall.com
Sock puppets
Face masks out of paper plates

What do you do with your little ones to keep them happy in bed?

craft: File Forder Fun

Update: I LOVE this site also for file folder games. Child Care Land is a great educational resource.

I've been inspired by the IDEA ROOM to make file folders games. I liked Mormon Chic's free games the best and have printed the Black and White copies to color during our 14 day "vacation" at:

craft: Neck pillows

I wanted to buy this for little boy:
But both Targets were out. So I used this as inspiration and insturction. I made one for little boy AND one for little girl.

It cost me $14 for 2 but you more experianced Moms probably have everything at home already. For each I used:

1 recieving blanket

1 stuffed animal

1/4 of an old pillow

1 pair of sharp Sissors

Coridinating thread

Sewing Machine

The best part is, it was a FAST project. 1 hour for both.

With all our upcoming trips to the hospital these next couple of weeks I have a feeling we're going to use these A LOT.

Thank you Infarrantly Creative, and UCreate

Craft ideas

crochet patterns-Really cute Crocheted hat patters for sale in her Etsey store

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7075162

Car Seat Canopy Instructions- I'm working on this one today. Look for pictures!

http://while-they-sleep.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-good-friend-beth.html

Leg Warmers-As soon as I can make it to the store I'm making these with women's socks. I know some of you have already done this. I LOVE these girls in dresses and these puppies will make dresses possible more often.

http://everythingyourmamamade.com/2008/01/21/make-your-own-baby-leg-warmers/

Fabric Shoes- You kiddidng? I can't afford shoes for twins at $5.00 a pair. I'm hoping I make it around to these shoes before they go home.

http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/blog/cloth_shoe.pdf

Scarf -Love Love Love this scaf

http://vermillionrules.blogspot.com/2010/01/t-shirt-ruffle-scarf-tutorial.html

I've been dying to make a drum shade for my bedroom. Here are some sites that will help me on my way.

http://lakeslampshades.com/blog/2009/02/everything-drum-shades.html

http://www.instructables.com/id/Barrel_Drum_Lamp_Shade/

http://www.lampshop.com/

Love these little face plates! Can't wait to do that!

Have you seen this? I can't wait to have a child to decorate for! Love the fabric on the walls!

Adore this alternative to wallpaper

craft: Picture Schedule

Alright. I figure it's time for some pictures. We are super busy with appointments. I mean crazy busy. SOooo, to give the kids a sence of control I wanted to do a picture schedule. I have done this with other kids using these black boards, but these kids are so scheduled I didn't want to be erasing it all the time. This is what I came up with.

I started with an Ikea magnet board and sanded it.

Using some spray paint I made it match my house.


Next came the hard part. Using clipart, I found images to match our life style. Things like Potty, wash hands, doctor, car seats, sleep, you get the idea.
I printed them on card stock, then protected the card stock with clear contact paper.


Next came the easiest part! 2 sided tape holds the magnents to the back of my cards. You can buy the rolls of magnets with tape already on them if you like but I wanted a stronger magnet.


Ikea also has littl magnetic boxes for like $3. They are perfect to hold all my cards in. Everything I need is in one easy place. Love It!

If you decided to do this project I'd love to know what some of you images are. I'm always in the market for new ideas!

craft: Necklaces

Love Love Love these Scrabble tile pendents. I made them for our Activity Days girls for about $10. I'll give them away for birthdays this next year. We will have 22 birthdays between now and next December. Can you say WOW!


They say Child of GOD. I wish I had better hand writing but this project is so easy.

craft: Counters!

So I'm doing this. She also did it. This is where they learned how. I'm thinking I'll do it in the next 2 weeks. It can't turn out worse then I already have, can it? No. I'm totally inspired and I CAN do this. RIGHT?????

craft: U CREATE

I'm back! I haven't been able to find time or the desire to craft but thanks to U Create I've got several projects in the works. Working on this skirt for G. And this bib holder for future placements. Can you say cute? Love these bracelets. Might even make them today!

craft: Volcano

Who remembers this oldie but goodie? Salt Dough!

1 Cups Salt

2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Water

Combine salt and flour then add water SLOWLY until you have stiff dough. To color dough, add food coloring to the water before mixing. Create then bake at 325 for 2 hours to make your form permanent. If you desire, color your creation after it has baked then coat with a layer of lacquer.

We made a VOLCANO! Look at it EXPLODE! (Baking soda and vinegar. We added a little red food coloring to the vinegar to get read "lava")

craft: Masks

Love these masks. Simple as pie! I was hoping to get a picture of us all in our cute Goldilocks and the 3 Bears masks but Lil G wouldn't keep his on =(. Here's how we did it:

Materials:

Paper Plates
Scissors
Hole Punch
Markers
Construction paper
String or elastic
Easter basket filling or gift bag raffia or yarn, for hair
Glue

Cut out 2 eye circles in a paper plate.
Decorate silly, sad, happy, or mad.
Punch a small hole on each side of the face, close to the edge, just higher than the eyes.
Tie a piece of string from one hole to the next for a strap to keep your mask on.

craft: Easter Cards

We made these cute Easter cards yesterday. G had a blast giving them out to her friends today at church. Let's Explore gave us this great idea with the Origami Bunnies. I really like G's "fancy" one she made for her Grandma!

craft: Easter Eggs

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these dyed eggs on Our Best Bites. We are definatly doing this this year. Can anyone say DI for Ties! If you decide to do these beautifull eggs in your house I'd love to see how they turned out!