New Aprons

So after making aprons for my nieces and an apron hook for my mom I needed to make aprons for my girls to keep at Grama's house. We all went to the store together and they picked out a fabric and some decals/buttons to put on them.

And here's how KL's turned out. (I don't have a picture of KK's... again. I'm finding she's not as into taking pictures as she gets older, as opposed to her little sister who pretends she a model - even when there is no camera around.)

 Look at that adorable (and devious) little face. I used a little of the left over fleece to stiffen the pockets (which really are a half apron on their own, following this tutorial). With her being new to tying still I made the ties long enough for her to tie in front and we used the leg of an old pair of jeans as the back for the apron.

That's all for now,
Jo! 

New Mittens

With 2 toddlers, mittens are just much easier than gloves. When it came to the beginning of (what can get to be a VERY cold in IL) January, I noticed the twins had 3 of their 4 mittens. So, taking the easy way I looked for mittens at the store but couldn't find any so I bought gloves- but these take FOREVER to put on two very wiggly, giggly (albeit adorable) toddlers. So, warming up to my new sewing machine I thought, "I can do this!" Also, KL, my adorable and very fashionable 5 year old, decided she'd been wearing gloves for too long, it was time for a change and mittens instead of gloves was the way to go (insert eye roll here).

So I took a ride down to the craft store and found some pink (of course) fleece on sale because it was the last 7/8 of a bolt- DEAL!!

Here's what became of it:

The top are KL, I totally forgot to add elastic to the wrists, so I remedied by lacing an elastic cord and tied it in a bow- she loves the bow, but occasionally says the cording is itchy.  I can't even begin to explain how the worked- the fact that they did completely shocked me. I made the pattern up as I went and based it off of one of the 3 mittens I had from the twins. When I tried to repeat that process for KK it failed epically!! Oh well, I found a pattern online for KK and got a pair made from a blue patterned fleece that was also on sale (I don't have a picture though).
The bottom are the twins' (the color is a little off, the pink in KL's picture is really accurate) made by tracing their hands down their arm and following the tutorial found here. It was so simple and they are so cute. For the heart decals on both I just used an iron-on adhesive with some fabric scraps I had laying around.

That's all for now,
Jo!

December Crafts, Part 2

Last post was all about the crafts that me and the K girls did together. Here are a few that I did on my own...

Snowman Mason Jars:

These were Christmas gifts for my neighbors and the delivery men. (My dad worked for UPS for many years so I know how hard they work in the month of December and the increase of online shopping made it much worse- don't forget to thank your delivery men!!) My neighbors got the candies seen here along with a dozen red and green sugar cookies. The delivery men got them with the candy, 2 packets of hot cocoa, and a 2 pack of hand warmers (because they need it in the cold Midwest where we live). Simply draw the face on with permanent markers. For the hat, cut a circle of fabric (at least 12 inches in diameter but a little bigger would play it safe). Hot glue it to the lid (not ring) of the mason jar, screw the ring on and then hot glue the fabric to the ring. Stuff with some fiber fill and then tie it off. It is harder to remove the lid with the fabric between but not impossible- just takes a little oomph. How cute are these though? Everyone oohed and ahhed over them!

Christmas Gift Aprons (and a rack too):

So I've recently bought a sewing machine (I haven't used one before this in about a decade) and I'm having lots of fun re-learning how to use one. My simple starter project was aprons- made with recycled denim from old jeans. I made ones for my big K girls and they were adorable and my girls use them every time they are in the kitchen with me! My nieces like to make pancakes with my mom when they are over at their house so I though for Christmas I would make some for them. I love the way they turned out! And since my mom now had a few extra aprons I thought I'd make her a rack to keep them on. I couldn't find anything in the store that I liked but I knew, basically, what I wanted. So I went to every thrift store around looking for a wooden welcome sign, or the like, that I could simply paint over- there was nothing!! So I gave up on the cheap idea and went to the hardware store to look for coat hooks with enough room to personalize- none! BUT, there was a nice, little, white, 16 inch (so not too long) floating shelf- so I got it. I also bought some single hooks and mounting gear and threw it all together into what you see above. It currently hangs in my mom's kitchen with 4 little (2 for nieces and 2 for K girls) and 1 big (for my mom) aprons. I'll show you my K girls' aprons a different time.

That's all for now,
- Jo

December Crafts

In no particular order, mostly because I don't remember what order we did them in, here are some of the crafts we did in December :)

Cardboard Christmas Trees:

These were so easy and turned out adorable. Take a cardboard box you have lying around (especially if it's Christmas season) and cut it into triangle. Then simply glue strips of paper onto it. we stuck with green and red colors predominately, with the occasional blue and yellow per request. When they were done with it I used a couple washi tape strips to cover the bare spots. So simple right?!?! We ended up stringing them (as you can see) and hung them on the window that the tree was in front of. We called it our own little tree farm.


Coffee Filter Snowflakes:

Another simple craft! Simple water paint coffee filters and then fold and cut like snowflakes! They turned out so cute and kept my girls busy for about an hour (and that was just the painting!). We hung them from an old baby gate across the stairs so we walked through them every time we went up and down the stairs. (The littlest K girls loved to stop and stand in them while being carried down the stairs.)

Rudolph Wreaths: 

 These were my parents' craft with my K girls, and one for my nieces, technically. But I helped with the execution! Aren't they adorable? And KL was too cute holding the eyes over her own! These are a little more complex if giving every step but very basically: they are 6 in x 12 in strips of tulle knotted around a Styrofoam wreath. Skewers and hot glue hold the eyes and foam antlers along with the red nose (which were Styrofoam balls painted red- the eyes are unpainted but given a black pupil). The ribbon was just tied around (because the kiddos wanted it).

and the last craft that me and the K girls did together...
Snowman Slime:

 You can see even the littlest Ks got in on the play (and loved it)! 2 Tablespoons each of water, liquid starch, and glue- that all it takes. The original recipe I saw said 1 cup of each but I thought that would be way to much of a mess. It takes a little kneading when you first mix it before it gets to full slime-y goodness but it's so much fun after. We added a little blue, silver, and gold glitter along with snowflake shaped glitter (you can see a few in the close up picture) to give it the winter feel. They played with this so much and were quite upset when I decided it was time to throw it away. It will probably make a reappearance though so fear not!

That's all for now!
-Jo

A Few Oldies...

As promised, here's a look at a few me and the Ks have done over the past couple months.

Let's head back a couple months and start in October. The oldest K turned 9 this past October so we made cute (and healthy) snacks for her class. I'm sure you've probably seen this idea churning around the internet, but it was pretty well received by her class, even if it was fruit instead of loads of sugar.

 (You can see banana peels in the garbage can, we did banana ghosts too but I didn't get pictures of those.)

On to November, here was (one of) our turkey craft(s):

These were super simple. Took a quick ride to WalMart for a few things and grabbed some paint chips while we were there. That's all we needed! When we got home and had the little Ks down for a nap me and the big Ks pulled out the scissors and glue and whipped these cuties together in no time. (My self-control was tested on these as the perfectionist in me was going crazy over the hole in the middle of the feathers, but my children's imagination won out!) KL's, my 5yo, is on the right, the one big eyed one- but her creativity shown through- if you flip is over there's a second eye on the back :)

Now for another sweet treat! For Thanksgiving dinner with the family we made these cute little pilgrim hats:

These were easy enough that the big Ks did most of them. They had a blast dipping marshmallows in chocolate and putting them on the cookies. Then all I had to do was roll out and cut some AirHeads candies (I was looking for whites but I think the colored turned out pretty cute) and then put a small amount of icing for the buckle. And I didn't have any extras! It's not common for the desserts to be gone (especially since I usually make way too many), but there was none left- not even just set aside to go home with someone else, the last one was actually being eaten as we were leaving my husbands family Thanksgiving.


Alright, I thinks that's enough for now, I'll cover my December crafts soon.