Catch a Dream

Summers around here tend to be quite busy. There are sport camps and vacation bible school, play dates, picnics in the park, weekend trips, camping and we didn’t even get to vacation yet. Yet despite the go, go, go of it all, there are still the occasional days that the kids can’t seem to find anything to do.

I think sometimes they have so many choices, that they just can’t see any of the options in front of them and nothing seems like it would be fun. If I’m on my “A” game, I try to pick something simple for them to occupy their time to use some creativity. With nothing to do…I tossed some yarn and pipe cleaners on the table.

They were able to work together to bend the pipe cleaners into a variety of shapes, wrap them in colored yarn and create several dream catchers to decorate the light above my kitchen table. I’ll be keeping these supplies close at hand for the next time I hear “There is nothing to do”.

 

A Snowman in Summer

As the school year comes to an end, our schedules are filled with talent shows and other school performances. They really are one of my favorite things. What could be more adorable than lining a bunch of little kiddos up in their homemade costumes? Oh, put them on stage, giving them music and a few cute gestures! Adorable!

I’ve been to two such shows so far this month and there are two more to go still.

When my middle child started planning her performance, I was all too happy to help out with some matching shirts for her and her buddies. While they planned a riveting, show-stopping hula-hoop routine to the song “Summer” (made famous by our favorite snowman) I went into action planning their shirts.

After finding a cute image of Olaf, I printed out 3 copies. I grabbed 3 T-shirts for about 3.50 each and a couple of paint pens and was able to make them matching Olaf shirts for less than if I had bought just one shirt at a Disney store.

 

 

Here’s the easy “how to”…

1.   Pre-wash your shirt
2.   Place a plastic covered piece of cardboard inside the shirt to prevent the paint from going through. (I taped my shirts to the table too so they didn't shift while I was working)
3.   Slid the image inside the shirt and trace.

Ta-da! Three happy hula-hooping little girls! Life is good!!

Saint Patrick's Day Shirts

I’ve been making festive t-shirts for my kiddos for years. This time around I thought I would give the reins over to them. I have to say, I think they did a pretty good job.

What you need to make one yourself….

T-shirt (I usually pre-wash)

T-shirt form (I made my own from cardboard and covered them with plastic bags)
Paper plates
Fabric paint
Pencils and/or sponge dabber
Pattern (I copied an image from google and cut it out of cardstock)
Glue stick
 

My son made his on a green shirt with white paint.

My girls made theirs on white shirts with different shades of green paints.

 

Slide your shirt over the t-shirt form to keep your fabric smooth and flat. This will also keep any paint from go through to the back of the shirt. Print out an image the size you need, cut it out and use the glue stick to hold it in place on your shirt while you work.

Put a little bit of paint on a paper plate and you’re ready to start dabbing around the edges of your pattern. As soon as you are done painting, peel the paper pattern off and set aside to dry.

 

Oh the concentration.

Working hard.

Thinking, thinking, thinking.

Ta-da!!

 

 
Voila!!! Job well done.

Valentine Theme Party Crafts

With less than two weeks to go before Valentine’s day and I’m busy getting organized for the classroom party. Here are two of the craft projects I’m planning.

The first one is an “I {heart} to read” bookmark.

 

While looking for ideas on pinterest, I saw this idea for making a colorful heart garland and it inspired me to think of a way to make a valentine themed bookmark.

I have to say the hardest part was getting the paint chips. I feel like they are watching me and they know I have no intention of painting. I’m sure it’s a matter of time before we have to pay a deposit to take these things out of the paint store. There are just too many cute crafts you can do with them.

 

Since most of the red was already gone, I gathered an assortment of colors. I picked up a little heart punch from the dollar bin at the craft store.

I punched a little heart out of each color on each of the paint strips.  I saved the dark shades for another step in the project.

I printed out a sheet of cardstock that says “I (space for a heart) to read”.

 



I cut this statement into small tags. Then I glued the colored hearts into the open space and punched a hole at the end of the tag.

 

I cut some ribbon into 12 inch pieces. During the party, the kids will pick the color paint chip they like, then pick an “I (heart) to read” tag and tie them together with the ribbon. If you have older kids and/or more heart punches I’m sure the kids could do more of the work.

 

 

One of the other crafts I have ready to go is a Heart Lei

Thanks again to pinterest, I found this paper wreath project.

I’m using softer paper and stapling rather than hot glue. (I try not to do too much with glue…takes too long to dry) I’m also making mine longer so it’s not round but will hang more like a necklace.

First cute your paper into one inch strips then fold them in half.

 
 
 

To start, open one folded piece and turn it around. Bring the end s together and place them inside the fold of the next piece. Use a stapler to secure the papers together.

 

 

   

  

 Now take the end of the second piece and bring them down until they touch. Now tuck them into the fold of the next (3^rd) piece and staple.

 

 Continue until you have enough hearts connected. It takes about 14 for a kid size necklace.

Ok, I’m off to see what I can get myself into next…



A New Beginning

 

Happy New Year 2014! With a new year comes the chance to start fresh and try again at those “resolutions”. The same goals tend to pop up and we try over to approach them but maybe in a different way, hoping that this time it will work or at the very least, last longer.

For me, the beginning of 2013 came with a hit; much like a one-two punch. I suffered a blow that had a hugely negative impact on my life. It hurt me personally, emotionally, professionally and financially. Through a series of events I came to question every friendship/relationship I have had in the past as well as current ones. I questioned my ability to judge someone’s character and my own ability to trust. I have slowly been pulling myself upward emotionally. In finding my spirit again I have been re-inspired to create.

I always start a new year out with hope and intrigue for what that coming year will bring. This time I thought I might need to take a running start at a new year. Towards the end of November, I was felling optimistic and gave myself a challenge for the month of December. I would create something every day. I make a lot of things for my business but that tends to be in waves. My challenge was to keep me going on the momentum of creating. I set the challenge so that I would make at least one item daily. It could be for business or for me personally. It could be a craft that I made as a gift, something for the kids or better yet with the kids. It could even be a project that was already started and coming to be finished during the challenge.

To keep up with a daily deadline, I had to be organized and diligent. Some of my creations needed time to dry between steps or they took more than a day to finish so I had to be sure I was moving forward all the time. Moving forward felt good and it helped me to find more of a balance in my business, myself and my family.

 

Here is a fun look at several of the projects I worked on during my “Creative Challenge”.

A lion T-shirt for my son made with bleach pen

 

A gift for Grandma

Thumbprint Christmas lights. (My friend suggested making these on a roll of white craft paper to use as wrapping paper...Great idea!)

Paint Chip trees

Teacher Gift for her "mistletoes"

These Mistletoes now hang in my foyer

Nail art for my girlies

 

Some cute snowmen for my kitchen

 

A special order birthstone bracelet for a customer. This Grandma has 8 grandchildren. What a special gift for her.

 
 

 
 


This is a hand chain I made for myself. I'm making a few changes so I can add these to my product line.

 

A simple earring I made for ME!

 

Red leather wrap bracelet

 

Braided breacelet

 

A crocheted necklace but you can also wrap it as a bracelet.

 

This blue circle bracelet and the black and white knot bracelet were new patterns I was trying out. (My Mother-in-law kept these for herself)

 

 

Now my next challenge will be to keep up with more regular blog posts.

I hope you all are getting off to a great 2014!!

100th Day Shirt

To celebrate the one hundredth day of this school year my little guy needed to wear a shirt with 100 of something on it or bring 100 items into school. (100 safety pins on a shirt or a bag with 100 pennies or something of that nature.) I thought it would be fun if he had a shirt with something creative, to display 100 of something…but what??? Thanks to Pinterest, I found a few cute ideas.

I decided to paint a monster on his shirt and give him 100 eyes.

I was able to use supplies that I already had at home. I took a plain T-shirt with nothing on the front, out of his closest.

I have plenty of fabric paint from other shirts we make at home and I use some left over spongy beads (from a different craft project) to use as a stamp for the eyes. (You could also use erasers or a bottle cap from a 2 litter bottle to make the circle shape.)

First give your monster a fun furry outline, some squiggly legs and antennae. After you give him a mouth, you can start filling him up with eyes. Using the soft foamy beads, I put a short piece of wire through them to make it a little easier to hold.

I made two big eyes near the middle of his face then several medium sized eyes and then I filled in the rest of the space with smaller eyes.

Once I felt I was close to 100 I counted, then counted and then counted and THEN made a few really tiny eyes to get 100!

 

Once the white paint was dry (about an hour) I went back in and used a pencil eraser to make the colored part. The shirt dried fully over night and now he’s ready to go.

Now I have 2 happy monsters!



Roll-up Car Play Mat

Boys are different.

I keep hearing this again and again when I talk with other Mothers. As if I didn’t know there was a difference. Nonetheless, when I bring up something like potty training or how they communicate or play, the other Mom will almost always come back with “Boys are different”. I guess having two daughters first is what is throwing me off from understanding his thought process from time to time.

So, I’ve learned that I need to find other ways to engage him in activities. The girls were happy with a pen and paper or a book and they would sit in church or at a doctor appointment and wait quietly. They were content while I talked to someone. He needs entertainment and paper and pens aren’t cutting it for him. Several months ago I made an activity mat for him to drive his cars while we were at church or during the girls sporting events/practices. It works as long as I remember to always provide different vehicles. ;)

After seeing what a success it was for him I made one for for my Etsy store. That first one sold fairly quickly so I thought I would make another one and share the “how to” with you.

You will need
1 sheet Black felt
2 sheets dark green felt
2 sheets dark grey felt
And some pieces of lighter green and brown felt
Fabric glue
Ribbon and a sewing machine



First set the machine on a wide zigzag stitch. Stitch the two pieces of green together using green thread to make a large play area. After I sew it on the machine, I go back over the area wider with a needle and embroidery floss to make it more durable. (This will be hidden under the road later.)

Cut the black felt in half lengthwise.
Then cut one half into two pieces. These will make the pockets for storing the cars.

Pin down the pockets and add small pleats to the bottoms and sew them onto the remaining black piece.

Sew the pocket (garages) onto one end of the grass area.

At the other end sew a piece of ribbon so that when the mat is rolled up you can tie it closed.

Using some paper I sketched out the plan for my road, cut that out and pinned it to my grey felt.
Once the grey felt was cut out I set my machine on a straight stitch but on mine I set it to run a triple stitch. This was to make the stitching stand out more so it would be more visible.

First I used white thread to mark the linen for the parking spaces

Then I used yellow to mark the dotted lines on the roadway.

When sewing the yellow dotted line, I just moved the felt and continued my sewing. After around the whole road I went back and cut the treads but only on the top.

After all the stitching is done you are ready to glue the road down to the grass.

While I’m waiting for the glue to set I work on a few other details. I used some white fabric paint to make bumpers for each parking space. I also added a few other details like thicker grassy areas, a few trees and a stop sign.

Allow the glue and the fabric pain to dry at least overnight and then you’re ready to play.

If you’re not ready to make one yourself you can check to see if I have one listed here.

Drive safely!!!