Inside Out Inspired Bows and a Quick Storage Show

For my brothers 2 girls I made a few bows inspired by Inside Out.
Here's how they turned out:

These were really fun! I kept the DVD case close so I could constantly be comparing features and I think they turned out pretty good (Fear is my favorite though).
Here's a run down on the "special features" on each (meaning the add-ons to emphasize the characters they are portraying):
-Joy: On the ends of Joy's yellow strands, I glued some yellow beads, to look like memories, since she's carrying a few through most the movie. My KL wanted me to make sure I had the blue bursts on her dress, but they only way I could think to easily do that was fabric markers and I was scared they would spread so I used a star shaped button in the middle.
-Fear- I used a piece of black pipe cleaner to make his air swirl, and covered hid connection with hid cute bow tie.
-Sadness- I used a piece of black pipe cleaner to form her signature glasses and added a few memory beads under them.
Anger- I added Anger's fiery head with angled yellow ribbon (my KK kept telling me it looked like a crown, and I can see that, but I see the flames too, maybe I should have added some orange in there too), and then I covered his center with his red tie.
-Disgust- I feel bad for Disgust because I feel like she's very minimal compared to the others but there really wasn't much I could do for her, So I added her purple scarf to cover her middle and used a "frilly" ribbon for added detail.


Now that that's done I thought I'd show you a little glimpse of my Christmas wrapping storage. I, personally, love wrapping gifts. I love making pretty bows and using all sorts of ribbons... and buying way more than I need when it's all on sale after Christmas. So I thought I'd share with you how I keep it all organized in case you're like me and haven't figured out a way to efficiently store it all.
So here's the big picture:

 (Pardon the fact that I'd just wrapped a gift so there's tissue paper and a package of raffia out.)
I keep all my wrapping paper in the tall storage, meant just for that. The short, wide one holds all my bags and tissue paper, along with my spools of ribbon. And that little box, is my secret weapon (or as close to one as you can get when organizing gift wrap). I bought a set of Christmas cards a few years ago that came in this box and I'm so glad I kept it. First of all, since they were Christmas cards, it's decorated to fit the season- which is always a plus, but also, inside there was a divider so there's two compartments. Here's how I use it:

It holds all the essentials. On the left is all my tags, along with a pen and marker (that always return to the box when used so I'm never searching for a pen to label). On the right is tape, scissors, glue, and a few fun decor (along with a few too big to fit with the other tags).  So all the the things I need are right in this box. The scissors are used only for wrapping paper, they return to the box after used.
The fun extras are Christmas stickers that I've bought, or came with Christmas cards (to seal the envelopes), and the plastic bag in there is full of fun shapes from a "build your own gift box" kit I bought for like $1 a few years ago after Christmas. (I have a tendency to glue the little snowflakes on to snowflake wrapping paper, giving it a 3-D look that everyone always seems to mention and adore.)  And there you have it. Just a quick glance at how I keep it all together for this major gift wrapping season. After I'm done with it all, the small box fits in the long box and slides under the guest bed, and the tall fits into the guest closet.


That's all for now,
Jo!

Hair Bow Gift

My family gift exchange (on my husband's side) included a list that asked for hair accessories [insert happy dance here].
I love making bows, but every time I pull the stuff out my husband says, "Do you have room to store that?" And the answer is no, I don't. Even after the adorable ribbon holder me and the girls made last year, I have no room because it's already been filled- maybe that's an excuse to make another holder, and therefor more bows...

Anyway, it was on the list of 3 year old, so even though she hasn't received it yet, I'm quite positive she won't see this, and even if she manages to see it- she won't know they're coming her way.

Honestly, I could have made her dozens of bows, but I settled on one for each month.
Here's the final bows:

Jan: A simple gold and white- fresh and clean like a new year
Feb: Purple and pink with plenty of hearts, for V-Day of course
Mar: A 4-leaf clover ribbon sculpture for St. Pats
Apr: A felt Easter Egg, even though Easter is in March next year
May: Blue floral bow, because April showers bring may flowers, right?
June: I wanted something fun but decided red, white, and blue for Flag Day also
July: A red, white, and blue bow for the 4th
Aug: A couple felt butterflies, just something summer-y
Sep: A cute fall colored bow
Oct: Orange and black for Halloween
Nov: Cute turkey for Thanksgiving
Dec: A felt tree for Christmas

And here's a close up of the turkey, because I think it's absolutely adorable:

I may end up sewing together a few headbands to throw in there also, but she's also getting some coloring stuff and nail polish. So, it's an "if I have time" idea.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Felt Trees

I'm sure you've seen the "toddler proof" felt trees circling social media- well I decided to take one on.

Here's how it turned out:

This was the final (for my house, I had enough felt that I actually made another for family friends with 5 little girls).

I cut my tree our of the green, and then I sewed the trunk to it, several times to make sure it was secured.

(The trunk was a felt sheet- the ones that come 8.5x11- cut in half.)

Then I googled a few ideas for ornaments. I found a site that had several templates, but I can't find it now- sorry :( I also used a set of Christmas cookie cutters I own as a template.

(These are the first initials of the little girls in our friends' family.)

 I sewed, some hand, some machine, to secure the decorations. I contemplated leaving some changeable, but then thought that they would end up pretty quickly in my twin Ks' mouths so secured would be best. What I did leave changeable was the ribbons for the presents (which I don't have a close up of- other than this one that I added a bow and used a silver Sharpie for definition).

What I had the most trouble with... trying to figure out how to mount it to the wall. :/
I settled on sewing velcro to the tips of the tree branches, and then attaching the other side of the velcro to the wall with mounting tack. Although my twins found the velcro and had fun removing it from the wall, and then found the tack, which they tried to eat. So it wasn't completely toddler proof, and I had to move it to the hall, where they have some time with it, but not unlimited access to it. And I think next time we may use Command Strips instead of mounting tack. But overall not too bad.

Here's a shot of the little ones playing with it to end the post:

That's all for now,
Jo!

New Skirt

This project has been done a while, it's just taken me some time to write it up, sorry.

Here's a new skirt I made for KK.

Look at that twirl!! Isn't it so fun!!

It's really a very simple skirt (and even easier if you use a jersey instead of cotton like I did).
The directions are here (sorry that it take you to page where you have to follow a link for the actual directions, but I wanted you to see the actual skirt instead of just the instructions).

I found the cute circle fabric at Goodwill for $.88- and it was 5 ft long!! That's almost two yards of fabric for less than a dollar!! Hello budget friendly!!

And the under layer of teal came from a mismatched set of pillowcases I was given from my aunt.

As you can see, I made my under level a little longer to show off more of the plain teal. (It's pretty much a perfect middle between the two teals on the circles.) Also, this was pre-hemming, so that's why it looks a little uneven- because it is.

After hemming, I attached the pieces together and then added a thick elastic waist band.

We decided on gold, it almost looks like natural turquoise, between the teals and brown circles with the gold glittery waist- I love it!! (And so does KK!!)

One last shot of the finished project:

That's all for now,
Jo!

A Few Christmas Gifts (Already Handed Out)

Here's a few things I've gotten finished for Christmas.

First off, here's the gifts we made for the teachers.

I'm sure you've seen the pin with hot cocoa in ornaments, that's what we did. And I wrapped them up in another popular Facebook pass-around of a paper plate gift box.

Here's a side shot of the ornaments:

In order, it was dark chocolate, caramel hot chocolate, white chocolate, and milk chocolate mixes.
All the mixes were store bought, along with peppermint chips, caramel bits, coconut flakes, and mini marshmallows- and I used the collection of Christmas sprinkles I already had. The kids chose what sprinkles went with which teacher (with the exception of the caramel because it was a last minute addition) so no two teachers got the exact same gift.

For the gift box I cut a 10" circle of wrapping paper (because the paper plates are 9") and glued it to the bottom of the plate so when folded up you could still see the paper.

Top it all of with tags for descriptions and instructions, since some call for 6 oz of water/milk and others for 8 oz and then a ribbon to secure it all- BAM! Done! After finally getting everything all together and cleaning the ornaments (making sure they were dry was one of the longest parts of the process) they came together pretty quickly. I used a funnel to help fill- how else would you expect, and I had a skewer handy for when it slowed/stopped.

Next, here's the delivery men gift:

Growing up my dad was a UPS man (he's retired now, and this year is the first year he isn't delivering Christmas gifts- he's quite happy about that). Long story short- I know how hard those folks work in the month of December. I remember my dad leaving before I got up, because there were so many packages they had to help load their own trucks, and not coming home until after I was in bed, because he had that many packages to deliver. And most of those memories are from before online shopping became popular and packages became more numerous.

So I always get a gift for UPS, FedEx, and the mail man (because they work hard for you all year long- lets face it, they're at your house at least 5 days a week). This year, I ordered from 3 stores online for Christmas, I did one site-to-store, and one store passes to USPS from the shipping company so they never made it to my door, so I only had FedEx and the mail man. (In case you didn't know, FedEx and UPS both have 2 people on the truck during December to make things move faster.)

Anyways- this year I did a reusable coffee cup, filled with hot cocoa packets, hand warmers, and a few candies (Reese's, Caramel Kisses, and Melt-Away Mints this year) and added a felt scarf cup cozy. Last minute I decided to add a skewer flag with a "Merry Christmas" on one side and "Thank You" on the other. It's made of Christmas themed washi tape.

Neighbor Gift...
I don't have a picture to show you, because I was so excited to finish my first Christmas gifts that I wrapped them up before I got a photo, but here is the idea I used. I made a snow man, a Santa, and an elf for each set.
The candles I found were shorter so they took a minor tweaking, but not too much. And then I wrapped them up in a wine box, because they fit perfectly with tissue paper wrapped around each candle.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Birthday Snacks

KK turns 10 next week (it's seems like just yesterday my tiny little baby was born).

However, that means snack for the class. Her class alone only has 16 kids but they are often with the other 4th grade class which has another 15, and she wanted snacks for both classes (which she always does but doesn't always get). My only preference is to not be completely full of sugar- if you remember KL's last birthday was fruit, granola, and yogurt parfaits, which you would remember from the yogurt pops we made out of the extras. 

So we went online and looked for a few ideas but ultimately chose something of a mix of others- matter of fact, it's trail mix.

I came up with 4 "flavor" categories (sweet, salty, fruity, and grains) and then came up with 4-5 ideas to fit these categories, and avoid class allergens. From that list, I let KK choose 2 options from each category. When we took them in today, each kid will get to create their own trail mix choosing one item from each flavor selection. 

Here's the ingredients she chose:

For sweet- candy corn and candy pumpkins (I informed her they taste the same but she insisted)

For salty- cheddar crackers and Bugles chips

For grains- Multi-Grain Cheerios (or the store brand version of) and Honey Granola

For fruit- Raisins and Banana Chips

We served them in paper lunch sacks we always have on hand (for crafts most often) that we cut down a little so they're easier to reach into. And we scooped with  3 oz. paper cups. 

Here's a few shots: (only of my kids and the one's I know their parents won't mind, of course)

I was only able to get pictures of KM and KN, because KK finished passing out the snacks and left to hand out the extra to EVERY. TEACHER. IN. THE. SCHOOL. (Seriously- I didn't see her again until I went looking for her because the class was getting ready to leave.)

If you're looking to repeat here's a few other options:

Sweets - M & Ms, mini marshmallows, chocolate covered sunflower kernels

Salty - pretzels, sunflower kernels, peanuts (if allowed), almond slices, popcorn

Grains - Chex cereal, Teddy grahams, Life cereal, Kix cereal (and any of the cereals could be of the frosted variety if you want to add a little more sweetness)

Fruit - really any dried fruit will work: craisins, dried apple chips, dried blueberries, white raisins, coconut flakes

That's all for now, 

Jo!

Catching Up

I've officially finished the bathroom remodel (KL put me on a deadline so she could regain control of the TV in the toy room- which was unplugged to charge drills and run the extension cord).

The only "crafty" thing from there was a refinished mirror. Much like the medicine cabinet, we had one on the door in a wood finish that needed to be changed to black. This one was easy though, just a little sanding and then painting- viola!
Before:

 After:

Also, I may have an addiction to making hair bows.
Here's a few that I've completed recently:
Homecoming week included a school colors day, which meant orange and black bows, which I found I only had one ribbon of each color, so each girl got to choose points or loops (KK chose point and KL chose loops):

Then I made these because I had a rough week and crafting is my outlet. I just took a look through Pinterest to get a few ideas and here was the outcome:

Here's a close up of the flower, just because  I think it's deserved:

Other than that, I'm working on Christmas gifts so I can't post those yet. But once I finish the current project my next is just a skirt for my daughter so that will be post-able.


That's all for now,
Jo!

What's New

Here's a few things we've got done this week:

First, I bought a few packs of large buttons on sale at WalMart this week, along with metallic glue sticks that my KL decided needed to be tried out- more specifically as new hair bows.

She picked out the ribbons, designs, and buttons for each.

Here's the first one, my first of this style boutique bow:

She very much loves pink. And really wanted to use the heart buttons.
(My husband was kind of happy with this one because it ended 2 different rolls of ribbon, he thinks I have too many.)

Here's the second:

She wanted to help with this one, however, when she did she shifted the layer of red loops so one is a little out of place, but she didn't mind so I don't mind. This one she chose the star ribbon because I "haven't used it in a while" (I've got some ribbons I've never used but she's worried about the one's that have been a while since used). Then she chose the yellow and red to match and the blue star just seemed perfect to finish it all off.

The metallic glue sticks weren't really all that impressive. The only time I could tell it was a metallic color was when I would use a large spot, and even then it was really just a little shimmer looking more than full on metallic looking- oh well, they were cheap (cheaper than a pack of regular).


After we made new bows we tried a science experiment/DIY art supply- turning run down markers into liquid water colors. Here's how they looked just about 10 minutes after adding the markers. I'll edit later to see how they look later- they're supposed to sit for about a week to pull all leftover ink out.

You can see the water already pulling the color out of them.

This is approximately 18 hours later:

(We had neon dry erase markers that left those colors with an almost cloudy look, we will have to see how those turn out.)

Before I'm completely done I will probably cut the ink tube out to get the most out of them, but for now we will let them sit like this for the directed week. I'll update this post, or make a new one, when they're all finished.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Apple Pull Apart Bread

Fall is upon us, well almost, and that means all the wonderful flavors of fall are returning.

My parents have several apple trees that were thriving at the beginning of the growing season and then it dried out for a long period and the skins of the apples grew with a bit of fungus on them. However, it's all on the outside of the skin and most of it washes off- not that we would eat the skin, though- so they're perfect for peeling and baking.

Then I found this recipe for a caramel apple pull-apart bread. It is amazing you guys.

The recipes is there for you so I just have a few picture to show you.

This dough was so soft and easy to work with, the only problem was that it stretched a little because of just how soft it is.

Here's a quick look at how I stacked the layers, I found it easier to add the filling in the stack instead of covering the dough and then stacking.

(See, there's the stretching issue, but it really isn't a big deal.) 

Look how cute that little stack of apple, cinnamon, yeasty goodness is

Here's after they came out of the oven. I had a little bit of a hard time telling when they were done because of the moisture from the filling but I actually seemed pretty perfect (although a few extra minutes than given in the recipe) after cutting into it.

 And of course, here it is iced (and there may already have been a taste test off the top too).

This was amazingly delicious!! (I may have ate half a loaf the first day.) The recipe yields 2 loaves so I froze one for my parents (before icing- but it tells you that in the recipe) and it was still soft and delicious after thawing it out. (And since I knew it would be less than a week when I saw them to deliver, I just refrigerated the leftover glaze. It had to be reheated to pour easily but it kept just fine and saved me from having to waste some and then make more.)

That's all for now,
Jo!

Grandparents Day

Since we were headed to Grama and Papa's house last weekend, for a family event with the other Grama and Papa we decided to throw together some quick Grandparents' Day Gifts.

I'm sure you've seen Pinterest pins or Facebook photos about how to set Sharpie on ceramic mugs and how quick and easy it can be- so that's what we did. Three of the four grandparents wake up to coffee every morning, and the forth likes to drink tea so I figured it would be great.

Here's the shots:

Here was the final products.

KK coloring one.

 

KL coloring one.

KL was taking her sweet time. I went to take a picture of the three that were completed and she reminded me that they aren't all done yet. So I took a picture of her coloring the forth with the three completed next to her.

And one more picture because I think KL looks adorable in it:

Just admiring her work :)

After they finished we let them dry overnight, and in the morning put them in the oven at 350 for half an hour. I also sprayed a thin layer of acrylic seal (with the rims covered and the cups upside down so none got inside).

That's all for now,
Jo!

Medicine Cabinet

I told you I was working on my first refinishing project and unfortunately I don't have a before photo but here's where I am now-

I need to buy new knob, but I haven't found what I want yet. 

(Please ignore the mess in our "3 seasons room" it's been where most of the remodel magic has been happening- mostly because it's indoors during disagreeing weather and easy to shut the kids out of.) 

Here's a few in-progress shots: 

 This is how the back looks after covering it with chalkboard self-adhesive vinyl paper (because that was the only black I could find). If you look hard enough there are a few bubbles, I should have sanded a little for better adhering but I think it will do just fine, especially since most of the bubbles sit on the outside edge which is covered by the cabinet doors.

This is the small mirror side. Originally I was going to keep the frosted glass but you can see the tape I used to protect it from pain removed some of the edge- so I went ahead and removed it all. (Which is a really simple process, it just takes a little patience.) 

That's all for now, 

Jo! 

Mermaid Necklaces

I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it would be a good way to use up some of the sea shells that I bought for ocean week over the summer. And this long weekend my nieces came up to visit so it was a chance to use up even more.

These came together pretty quickly and the girls had a blast.
We started by gluing a blue flat marble with some E6000 (I used the heavy duty glue) to the shell, pinning the ends of the necklace cord (we used an elastic cord) under the marble.

Then I let them use Mod Podge to adhere the glitter- which they did, a lot!

Here's a few shots of my K girl wearing them- my nieces left before I got a shot of them:

The original idea was a lot less glitter and a subtle sheen behind the marble, but you know kids, especially little girls, and their love of all things glitter.

That's all for now,
Jo!