Giving Thanks

I found this project/board on Pinterest that I fell in love with.  Really it was 2 ideas.  The one was a board with all 30 days of November with a pocket to hold a blank card to write on each day something you are thankful for.  I felt this was too advanced for C to come up with 30 things or to write.  I loved the concept though.  Then I found this sewn project with a similar idea, but it provided ideas in each day of things kids could be thankful for and an accompanying activity.  I melded the two ideas together, and here is what I came up with.

 

I plan to make my activities more uniform in size for next year b/c they keep slipping into the pockets, but other than that I'm really happy with this.  I also had to handwrite a couple b/c I only found 22 stock activities, so I added a few.  We are having so much fun each day remembering to be thankful and doing something fun or kind.  

 

Here are the links to the ideas I used. 

 

http://jellybeanjunkyard.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/tuesday-tutorial-give-thanks-gratitude-board/ 

this is what I followed for the exterior. I used a canvas instead of plywood b/c I was too lazy to go to Lowe's.  I decorated mine slightly different, and I couldn't find very large letter or # stickers, but oh well.

 

http://angbrimwil.blogspot.com/2007/11/thankful-activities-for-calendar.html 

these are really good with quite a variety.  i added a few activities that added some things i wanted to do.  it would be so easy to adapt these activities to different ages. Some are simple, some require an act of service, and some are just plain fun. I feel like these are definitely geared to 8 and under. 

Crafty update

My SIL, Sarah, and I have had some fun over the last few months having an occasional pinterest craft day.  Last week we had our third one.  Over the summer we experimented with rosette rings and t-shirt scarves, but this time we made fall wreaths.  I'm ecstatic how mine turned out.

 

Here's my burlap and felt wreath...I love it!

 

This was the one I copied/was inspired by!

 

Halloween wreath.  It didn't turn out anything like the one I was inspired by b/c I couldn't find orange chevron fabric anywhere, so I just went with it and made it my own.  I want to add a couple more strands of bats, but we will see if that happens.

Dresser: Final shots

Here's the big reveal.  I opted to not spray paint the hardware, but keep the natural antiqued bronze look.

Project: dresser pics 1

If you remember that dresser I said I was going to paint? 

Well, I finally started earlier this week.  I lightly sanded it, and then put 2 coats of a nice primer over it, so it looked like this. It took me two days since it was so hot I could only paint in the morning.  Then I had to wait a couple of days for the primer to "cure."

I opted to go the priming route versus the heavy sanding b/c

A) I don't own a belt sander

B) I am not good at it

C) I prefer to paint, and I felt like I would have better luck after reading lots of tutorials.

The primer coating is a bit shadowy, but supposedly that's normal.  I did two coats so the gold would be nice and covered. 

Tonight I put the first coat of paint on, here's how it looks:

The color is a bluish-green called Mermaid's Net by Behr

It looks better in the picture than in real life.  It will definitely take 2-3 more coats.  Supposedly you have to do many very thin coats.  It is very hard to get the paint very thin with a roller though.  I really hope I can get it to blend.  I think light sanding before I put the final polyacrylic coat on it.  Hope to have a final pic before the end of next week. 

I think I'm going to spray paint the hardware, but I'm going to wait until I have it all finished to see if I like the dark brass finish that's already on them.

Shamrock headbands

If you don't know, some ladies and I are running in our communities St. Patty's Day 5K.  There are 4 of us running (maybe 3--but hopefully 4).  Bree and I had big plans for a crazy outfit to wear for the day of the race, but proximity of time has lead me to tone it down a bit.  I'll still look a bit silly, but cute silly.  I ditched the cape idea--but there's always next year.  So Bree and I got together today to make our decorations for our outfits.  We made some extra for our running buddies. 

We each have a sweaty band with a detachable shamrock pin and an extra shamrock pin to accessorize wherever.

green polka dot sweaty band (you know I love these things) and detachable shamrock

displaying our handiwork

cheesy models.  not sure what is going on at the top of my hair--this is what you get when you pull your hair back w/o a mirror--I didn't go anywhere with it like this--I promise.

Once I finish this race I hit my training hard for the 12 K in May.  No idea how I'm going to get to the 7.44 miles that is. I seem to be stuck at 4. I think getting outside will help.

Promise it's the last one!

I redid the tags on the snowmen--liking them much better.   They each have a name on the backside as well.

Finished!

the pattern pic

Olde Sugarwinters

My mom got the pattern for a primitive snowman She wanted me to make two for her front doors. I think they turned out really cute. I might make one for myself eventually. I followed the pattern pretty much exactly w/a few minor changes (all in styling choices). It was my first time making anything like this. It was a lot of work. The sewing was the easy part. You coffee stained the stuffed snowmen (prior to painting and decorative sewing). Then you baked them in a 200 degree oven. Doing this makes them hard/stiff like--totally changes the feel of the fabric.  Then you painted the whole thing w/watered down acrylic paint. Then you sanded and painted the nose. Lastly was attaching the hat, bells, buttons, and hand stitching details. I still want to add some X stitches around the pockets, but otherwise they're finished. I filled the pockets with what I could find, but you could do anything. I couldn't think of anything very creative to write on the tags I stained. You were supposed to write Old Sugarwinters, but that seemed weird to me since there are two displayed together.

Some handmade gifts

So, I finished 3/4 homemade gifts.  Luckily 3/4 aren't due until mid January when we celebrate Xmas with my brother's family.  I still have to finish Traci's gift, but the boys' are done.

For C (C's was in his stocking holding his cars) and Wyatt

Wyatt's filled w/5 hotwheels

One of them is ready for a drive

Here's C's bulging.  Mater didn't really fit--definitely meant more for hotwheels--which is what it will house in our to-go bag.

The colored pencil/motorcycle roll (of my own design)

Holds 1 small motorcycle, 12 colored pencils, and 1 small pad of paper. 

I'm happy w/the way it turned out.  It sort of evolved as I went along.  I couldn't find a notepad quite small enough.  I need to write down some notes about the size I used.  I found 5/8" was the perfect size for a colored pencil though!

Help--advice!

I'm doing ornaments for the kids at our mom's xmas fun time this week.  I want to do reindeer ornaments, but I'm having trouble deciding.  I have 4-6 variations I can do.  Please take a look and comment which one you like.  These are just mock-ups--so don't pay attention to the color differences--I hand painted these in 2 seconds w/different color paints.  I'm going to spray paint the clothespins, so they will look more uniform, but you can get the idea.

1 A--simple 3 clothespin reindeer.

2 A: more 3 dimensional by adding a craft stick

1 B--taking the simple 3 pin and adding brown poms and antlers (could remove antlers)

2 B--taking the 3 dimensional deer and adding poms and antlers (could remove antlers)

Thanks for your input

I'm going to have different stages of this ornament for kids to finish--for the little ones--just adding nose and eyes.  For bigger ones adding the bell or whatever else is necessary (if we do poms)

Jewelry for MOM's group

Ignore this post all others

Lions, Tigers, Bears, Oh MY!

I'm tickled w/the way these turned out.  They'll be in the mail tomorrow.

Giveaway winner and a lot of rambling

B/c I know you've been on the edge of your seat (just kidding).  My sweet friend Deb, you've got your pick.  I'll get it in the mail by Monday. 

I'm going to start a fun nursery project this afternoon or tomorrow (to clarify...it's not for our nursery--thought I should clarify that).  I've got a fun silhouette idea based on a famous line from the Wizard of Oz.  I'll keep you in suspense until I finish.  One of our friends from CoMo recently had their 3rd child, so I'm going to make them some artwork for their nursery. I'm hoping to finish it in one afternoon.  This will necessitate a trip to Hobby Lobby--a craft addict's weekly fix.  Every time C sees Hobby Lobby he says, "I can't go in there...I not go in this place." He says this about everywhere pretty much. 

I'm trying to go back and label all my posts, but there are so many it will take a while.  I think it will be helpful to have the labels in case I'm (or anyone else) looking for something like an old recipe or picture.

We have a boring weekend ahead of us and another one until we get to go visit our families for Thanksgiving and an early Christmas visit. 

I've got to get to work on some projects (like finish 2 aprons I've had prepped FOREVER and hot wheel rolls). 

Haven't been to the gym all week since C's been a bit crabby, but maybe this weekend?

Playdate part 2

I had a couple less people today, and the kids were a bit younger, so the craft was a bit harder, but it was still fun. 

Here's some closeups of the crafts we made.

Fall paper pinwheels--so cute.  We had 4 different paper choices.

Who wants a giveaway?

I've never done this before, but I thought it might be fun.  I'm going to give one of these cuties to a lucky reader.  I love comments on my blog, and they've really slowed down, so to enter in the giveaway you have to comment which one is your favorite.  These are all girly ones, but I'm hoping to go to the thrift store and find some wool sweaters to felt for manly ones.


Introducing my take on the coffee cozy.  Tell that barista to skip the cardboard snuggy (I just saw this commercial, so the snuggy is on my mind), you've got your own.  These are washable, so if you're like me that's a plus--I swear those baristas are out to personally make me look like a mess.  I spill a lot.

I had 8, but already gave my brown and blue one away.  Here they are waiting for me to sew on the buttons-- boring.

Complete

And just in case you still weren't sure how they work or what the heck they are.

This is a Starbucks grande cup, and they fit perfectly.  I'm pretty sure they will fit other sizes, but I need to try them out.  Can you say stocking stuffers?  Here's the link to the tutorial I followed.  I used felt and iron on stabilizer in mine to make sure your hand doesn't burn, plus I used much smaller buttons b/c that's what I had.   I made all 8 of these out of scraps and such I already had in my scrap pack. 

Its a bird. Its a plane. No its Superman and Supergirl

We went to my mom's group Halloween party tonight.  It was fun, but Scott got to see how most of the time is just spent chasing after C and very little socializing. 

Since C was SuperWhy and I just couldn't get pumped about being other characters from the show, Scott and I decided to go as superheroes as well. 

Scott was Clark Kent (I loved his costume). I even made a "press pass" for him as Clark Kent.

 I was SuperGirl (I started making my costume last night, so it's not the best ever--my cape especially didn't really work. It was a good cape, but I didn't have it affixed in a good way to my shirt--my velcro sticky tabs kept moving).

My skirt (first effort at a skirt) was a bit of a disaster, my elastic didn't work  (I think it was too small and I tried to put it in out of order--any way it sucked) so I had to sort of pin it up.  I just ran out of time.  But my boots were AWESOME!

These are my black boots that I covered in the red material.  I had to make three panels and attach them to each other b/c I didn't have enough fabric pieces big enough.  Then with the bottom panel I slit it over the back to fit it over the heel and then sewed it together underneath leaving no damage to the shoe.  I slipped them on, and they're (the boots and the covers) tight enough that the fabric up top just stayed tucked in against my skin. 

Pretty Heroic

Halloween craftiness/decorations

So, I have all these ideas for Halloween crafts, but little motivation to do them.  C is very excited about Halloween and decorations.  He helped with all the decorating, so bear in mind. 

I made a couple of items.  I made a Halloween banner out of fabric scraps and scrapbook letters: cost--free. 

I should have taken a pic before I hung it up, you can't see it so well.

I also made silhouettes in frames I already had on the wall w/scrapbook paper scraps I already had on hand: cost--free.   They are just hanging in the same spot the frames already were in our living room.

I bought some foam board for $2.00 (a lot of it) and made a couple of bat and raven cut-outs--plan to do more for my playdate craft in a couple of weeks. At this playdate we are painitng pumpkins, so I have an abundance of small pumpkins outside to store them for the next 2 weeks--result--a little Halloween overkill.

I didn't make this, but he's so cute I think.

These are the fake pumpkins I painted w/silhouettes.

That's a lot of pumpkins you say?

wait, there's more!