Christmas

Here's a few quick projects I did for Christmas:

This was the delivery men and teachers' gifts. There was a label that said "Warm wishes" (get it, it's full of warm colors).  The teachers' were a little more personal with my kids picking out specific gifts for their teachers that fit the theme, including nail polish for the the girl teachers and Carmex and hand warmers for the male teacher that also serves as a crossing guard. The basic fillings were a few packets of apple cider mix (in place of the normal cocoa packets), hand warmers for the delivery men, some Juicy Fruit gum, yellow and orange Starburst (my husband was so excited a bought a big bag and planned on getting rid of all the yellows and orange so he was left with his favorites), and fruit flavored Melt-Away mints. After we got the the big stuff in we just packed the candy in to fill it.

Here are the bows I made this year for my nieces- presents, gingerbread men, and Christmas trees.
It's almost becoming tradition for me to add to their bow collections on every occasion.

I apparently forgot to take a photo of my neighbor gift.
It was nothing too fancy because I forgot about them until about the 12th. I had been saving bottle caps to spray paint green and make a tree for the girls anyway, so we glued them to a canvas instead of paper and one went to each family. The decorated their trees with some simple jewel-like stickers that I bought marked down from Wal-Mart and topped it off with a foam star (from the same pack as the ones used for the Christmas tree bows).
I also made a more adult craft for them. I took some cubed glass ornaments (left over from last years teacher gifts) and filled them with green and red crinkle cut paper that they make for gift bags. Then I added their initials to personalize them. I used glittery alphabet stickers I thought were cute. Both of these came together pretty easily, and went over well with the neighbors.

Now here's just a few cute photos from Christmas break so far.
A round (or 2) of Reindeer Ring Toss (KK is too old to get her picture taken while wearing the ears) :

 And a few enjoying their Christmas gifts:

That's all for now,
Jo!

Niece's Gift

I told you all I was working on a skirt for my niece, so here it is, a mixture of a circle and circle square skirt- square over circle, with a rick rack trim because she's as girly as they come... when she wants to be. I think the rick rack on both layers brings them both together nicely and pulls out another color from the birds.

As you can see, I also made a few hair bows and a shirt to match.
I will say the colors in this photo don't quite do the pinks justice. You can see on the sleeve of the shirt how close the shirt and bird are; and you can see how the darker berry pink works with the birds on the skirt but for some reason all together it just doesn't look right in this picture.

When I make my family gifts I tend to buy something to match because I make it because I love it- and them, but I don't want it to be thought that I make it because I'm cheap (believe me, this skirt wasn't cheap). So I looked for a shirt to match this skirt, and I couldn't find ANYTHING!!! The cream base and autumn colors just aren't common for little girls. I did find one shirt that was a cute cream with a lace chest overlay, but it wasn't in her size (in any of the local stores, I checked). So as I was taking a piece of the fabric with me to every store to try and match, I finally found this plain pink at Hobby Lobby, but it was just that- plain!! So I used a little Heat N Bond to make it match!
(Here's a close up:)

And here's a close up of the bows:

A simple folded fabric flowers. She tends to prefer pig tails, so I thought I'd make one for each side.

That's all for now,
Jo!!

Fall Break Busy-ness

School is on Fall Break this week.

KM and KN are supposed to work on colors and shapes this week, per the request of their teacher.
So here's something I came up with to help with that:

It's nothing fancy or intricate, but can be used to sort by both color or shape.
Obviously, since they are still learning these things, it's best when done with mom, dad, or big sisters' help to let them know the name of the shape or remind them of the color name, or generally reaffirming the lesson.

Here's what I did: I used different colored markers to draw (and label) shapes and then used 4 buttons to match each of the shapes. Boom! Done! Like I said, nothing fancy but it works, and when I first gave it to them (not intending to teach at the time, just seeing if it would keep their attention), they instantly started matching colors, because that's what they are better at of the two, and did so for about 15 minutes straight. So they enjoyed it.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Halloween Hair Bow

KK wanted to be Harley Quinn for Halloween this year. I don't do Halloween- it's all my husband. So he took them shopping and was not fond of any of the Harley Quinn costumes because they're all "Suicide Squad Harley" and not the "Comic Book Harley"- my daughter knows Harley Quinn from Super Hero High (or something like that) which is aimed at children and she's the jester Harley not skimpy Harley. 

She found a generic costume that she liked so daddy bought her that, but it was not the Harley Quinn she wanted to be...

So mom (who never thought she'd be working on Halloween costumes but I knew eventually I would compromise my preferences for those of my children) came up with a plan. This year she is too old to walk in the school's Halloween parade. Since half the school will be in costume, I made her this little Harley Quinn jester hat hair clip to wear. It's not a full costume but she'll still be able to spend time as the character she wanted to be. 

That's all for now,
Jo!

Fall Decor

As things are finally cooling down around here I figured it was time to get some fall crafts going.

So I threw together a few sheets of leaves for the kiddos to pain and then hung them as garland in their rooms.

(KK's and KL's beds, since they have bunk beds theirs are mixed together)

(KM's bed)

(KN's bed, with KN of course- she loves to have her picture taken)

These were super simple. I just free-handed a few pages of leaves and set them up with water colors.
The twins used a cheap store bought paint palette, because the hard paints are harder to make a mess with, the big Ks used homemade liquid water colors I wrote about a while ago but never showed how the colors turned out, for this project I thinned them out a little bit.
After they dried, I cut them out with a little margin to show were stems were painted, and then paired them with varying sized circles cut out of fall colored paper. Punched a few small holes and strung them on fishing line. 

Here's a few of my favorites:
(In order: KL, KK, KN, KM)

KL went through after painting all hers and used orange to trace the stem and veins of them all, some of them were super cool. KK played with mixing/blending the colors and tint by going over areas more than once to darken areas. 

We also colored some store bought sun-catchers with permanent markers because I didn't want to dig out the sun-catcher paint. We tried using regular markers but they rubbed off easily, so we redid them. I hung them in front of the window with fishing line but didn't take a picture. 

While I'm on, here's the skirts I made for coming niece (I was feeling the pink and gray apparently, and the baby's nursery is in elephants): 

That's all for now,
Jo!

Next on my project list is a skirt for another niece's 3rd birthday and I may add a few hair bows to match if I can find the time while the kids are home on fall break this next week. 

New Bag

I've been pretty busy lately with school and baby, but I promise I'm not completely forgotten how to craft... just mostly.

My most recent is a clothes pin bag.

I love my clothes line, I'm pretty sure I can thank the cloth diapers for that. But, a few months ago, when I wasn't using it because it was too humid and I was too pregnant, I was outside watching the girls play and wishing I wasn't the size of a whale so I could take care of the overgrown weeds around my house and I realized there was a whole in my store-bought clothes pin bag. Upon further investigation it was actually completely falling apart and I had forgotten it outside and there was a spider egg sack on the rim too. Yuck!! I'm not really afraid of spiders but I do prefer them outside instead of in- so I grabbed a gallon sized Ziploc and brought in the clothes pins and left the torn and infested bag in the garbage can outside.

And then I scoured Pinterest and found this tutorial.

I found this duck fabric in the clearance section at Hobby Lobby (my favorite place to browse and then grabbed the closest (although not perfect) bias tape they had.

Altogether I spent less than $5 because the bias tape was 50% that day. AWESOME!! I'm pretty sure my store bought clothes pin bag was more than that and didn't leave me with left over fabric to play with.

It came together pretty quickly and soon I was here:

I have a TON of clothes pins and I was worried it wouldn't fit them all, but they're all in there and it's holding just great. (The laundry room isn't completely finished and a task we haven't gotten around to yet, because when company is over we can just close the door.)

Other than that the only thing new on my camera memory card is my beginning of the year teacher gifts.

Every year at Parent-Teacher conferences I give the teachers a bottle of Pumpkin Spice coffee syrup but the ribbon and bottle occasionally change, this was this year's packaging.

I do have a few things planned coming up. My brother's girlfriend is expecting a little girl, so I have a few little circle skirts planned. That's probably the only project you'll see because everything else on my list is repairs.

That's all for now,
Jo!

What's New

Hello, I know I've been gone a while, but I promise I have good reason:

Meet Baby KO. She was born July 1st, late at night, and has been a wonderful addition to our family!! We are all so in love with her.

Since baby is here now I can tell you how I feel about the booby pads I made. Honestly, there fine for day time use but they cannot stand up to overnights. They are too small and don't hold enough liquid to stand up to prolonged periods of leaking, but it happens that way sometimes. Some projects work, others don't quite. Oh well.

This is my newest finished project:

Here are about 20 (and 2 not in the picture because my girls stole them already) headbands made from old tshirts. You can find instructions on Pinterest a million times over for the Celtic Knots. The chevron style ones I adapted from a scarf tutorial (found here).

I know that seems like a TON of headbands, even for a family with 5 daughters. That's because it is, but they were made to give away to Operation Christmas Child, and they all came together in no time. I found the idea one day and made one of each style to try them out (around 2-3 PM) and within about an hour I had made 8 more. Some are sewn together in the back, which takes a little longer; others are knotted, but I think that gives you the opportunity to turn it around and wear that side as the decoration if desired. I made the first 10 out of 2 old camis that had stretched and I no longer liked the way they fit. Later that night (after putting the twins to bed around 7) I cut the strips for the rest, I think I did 6 strips from 4 different shirts and knotted them all together before I went to bed that night. When I came back to it (a few days later) I spent about an hour and a half sewing and knotting the tails together. And that was all she wrote. It was quick and simple and for a great cause.

I also made this patchwork headband, but felt it was a little too stiff to make more of. (Meaning I gave it to my girls to try and KL said too tight):

I also finished a few needle points in the last week of waiting on KO to arrive.
Here is one, I can't find my photo of the other (it was a hummingbird crewel embroidery), this one was bought on sale at Hobby Lobby, like usual, and I've included the packaging in the photo so you can see brand, because I thought about that this time.

Here's hoping it's not too long before I get time to do more crafting again. Now that school is starting back up and even the twins will be in I have hope, but it depends on how much KO wants to snuggle.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Bows

While the kids are away I'm trying to stay busy so I don't go crazy waiting for KO.
Since the stuffed monster I made was designed to be given away I thought I'd work on some more things to donate to Operation Christmas Child.

Here's what I came up with:

I didn't want to make too many toys (I already have bought a few to throw in anyway). And what little girl, no matter where they live, doesn't love a big pretty bow. So I threw these together yesterday.

Here's a close up of the pink and black because I love the jewel in the middle:

How cute are the pink and black zebra stripes over the matching grosgrain? I love it!

I didn't want to spam you with too many pictures so that's the only close up. But I'll give quick descriptions for the others.
The red and white and black is a simple "spike" bow. Honestly, I'm not crazy about it, I may go back an angle the ends of the white so you can see more of the polka dots under it.

A pretty pink flower, one I love to make because they always look so cute. This one is about 5 inches wide, I made 2.5 inch ribbons for the petals because I always neglect to think about the fact that it's only on side.

Purple ric rac and blue satin over a polka dotted grosgrain ribbon for the next. I may go back and secure a few spots on this one so it holds its fan shape.

A long red bow. Simple but elegant. The ribbon has a white printed heart pattern, which is why I chose to use a white heart for the center.

And finally a simple sheer purple and white bow, with a half "pearl" center.


That's all for now,
Jo!

Booby Pads

With baby due any minute now, the big sisters are spending the week with Papa and Grama (or longer if KO isn't here by the end of the week).  So I decided that left time for me to get a few things done.
First, me and my husband completely rearranged the living room (he did all the heavy lifting/moving) and we got rid of a lot of the junk that had acquired unnecessarily in there.
Second, I blew through my pile of clothing repairs. It had been a while since I sat down at the sewing machine- long enough that I actually had it put away- so I had 5-6 items that needed mending. The only thing I haven't finished is a skirt sewn with elastic thread but I need to find a way to make it not fall off my daughter without butchering it (which is always a fear when you're not a professional seamstress and are just a hobbyist).

Lastly, I made these:

I went strolling on Pinterest for a pattern but wasn't super impressed with what I found.
I've used disposables before but they are either itchy or incredibly noticeable, I've not really found a brand that I liked. I took the features I did like from them into consideration: the ones that are more contoured seem to be less noticeable.
I found a contoured pattern but it was very bulky looking and I found a pattern that was flat but thinner and included a water-proof layer.  So I combined the two methods.

A few notes:
1. These come together super quick! From pulling the fabric out of the dryer to finish was less than 2 hours for a dozen pads. This also included having to move around a few times due to discomfort (remember 9 months pregnant) and refilling the bobbin and a few machine hiccups.
2. As much as I think the contouring will help with discretion, it was a bit of a pain. It pulled unevenly and caused a few problems. I'll have to see if it's worth it when they actually get use.

Here's how they came together:
First, here's my template.

I started with a 4x4 piece of paper and folded it in half from corner to corner, making an X. I then placed it over my boob with the center over my nipple and one fold down the center line of the underside; then I folded it around and folded over the excess so I knew how wide to make the notch. I then used a compass to draw a 4 inch circle around it, feel free to make it a little smaller if you think that would be too big you can see I tried smaller first and wasn't feeling too comfortable about how small it looked so I changed it. **I hope that makes sense to someone other than me.

Next I traced and cut out all the pieces. I cut 12 out of a PUL lined fabric, 12 out of a soft flannel, and 24 out of a diaper material I found online from JoAnn. My plan was to use one layer but when it arrived it seemed a little thinner than I was expecting so I added a second layer just to be safe.

Next I sewed the notch together, since I'm working with PUL I used a polyester thread. Super easy, just fold right sides together and sew down that line. I used as thin a seam as possible, about an 1/8th inch. Since the diaper fabric would be used 2 for each pad I went ahead and sewed them together at this step so I didn't have to stitch so many seams.

Then I layered them together. The PUL and the fleece will be your outsides.
I layered PUL wrong side up, then the diaper fabric, and finally the fleece right side up.
I made sure the notch seams weren't lined up to help prevent to much bulk.

 Finally I used a zigzag stitch all the way around to hold them all together. If I had a serger I'm sure this step would've been easier, but I made due.

The last step was to throw them all in the dryer to help seal the PUL around the needle holes, following the directions on the PUL packaging.

That's it- that's how easy it is. Like I mentioned earlier, unfortunately I have to wait to see how well they work, but I'm hopeful if that counts for anything.


That's all for now,
Jo!

Lonely Glove Monster

I was strolling through Pinterest a few months ago- or more, it was long enough ago that we hadn't put up the winter gloves yet- and I saw these cute little guys.

They're adorable right?
And they seemed pretty simple too. However, I don't really need anymore stuffed animals around my house because daddy has a slight addiction to grocery store crane games and it's because he's pretty good at them. I'm pretty sure that every time I clean out the toy room I end up with at least a half of a garbage bag full of stuffed animals that are ignored now and being re-homed, along with a few that end up tossed due to wear and tear.
So I decided that since it would be pretty small it would make a great toy for the Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child. It was the prefect excuse to give it a try.
Unfortunately when we finally made it through the gloves I only had one mismatch, which seemed really odd with how often I was told that there were no gloves to be found throughout winter, but what do I know.

Anyway, there's the back story- here's the result:

I took some left over floss from an old cross stitch kit (because my crafty nature refuses to let me throw away any) and used it for the hair. I think I had 3 strands and cut them into eighths, for 24 strands knotted around the seam into 48 strands of hair. That's really the biggest change I made. I did choose to and stitch everything, mostly because my pregnant belly didn't want to get up off the couch to use the sewing machine.
My KL loves it and is very upset that she does't get to keep it. I'm hoping to make a few more stuffed animals in the next couple days but we'll have to wait and see where my motivation takes me, as well as whether or not we end up with KO in that time period too.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Cross Stitches

I admit, most of my time right now is being spent making sure that everything is ready for baby's arrival so I haven't done too much crafting. I have still been sitting down to cross stitch to help relax at night. I've recently finished 2 so I thought I'd share them.

The first is baby KO's birth announcement, although not technically done since I don't have a birthday or weight to put on it yet, but everything else is done.

I bought this Dimensions kit from Walmart (one of the few that I've bought that wasn't on sale). I didn't want to repeat themes from my other kids so I avoided farm animals and nursery rhymes. KK was born before I was doing cross stitches, or at least in a period of me not doing them. KL's is a stack of cute, characterized farm animals and the twins' has nursery rhyme illustrations around the announcement details. So I thought the alphabet & numbers, even with animals, would be just fine.

After finishing the birth announcement I started a small embroidery project, bought on sale from Hobby Lobby and also a Dimensions kit.

This one was quick moving, I think I spent 2-3 days total. It was super simple.
KL was using it like a story to tell KM this morning. Something about the key to the house with the flowers in the window, and it went on but I don't remember. The twins like to point out all the hearts and of course the cupcake also, because what almost 3 year old isn't attracted to cupcakes.


That's all for now,
Jo!

Denim Skirt

My best friend's daughter is getting ready to turn 1 and birthdays are always a great excuse to make something. Since she's a girl, I decided a cute little skirt, neutral in color to match easily.
So I headed to JoAnn's with the thought of maybe white with a small gold print- or something similar but I ended up finding a cute dark denim with little white hearts printed on it and immediately fell in love with the thought of a denim skirt with a little white lace trim and grabbed it.

Here's how it turned out:

I love it!! (Honest moment- it wasn't quite done in this picture- there is only one side of lace attached.)

It isn't a full circle like I've been making, but I knew I would want 2 panels to keep the hearts in the right direction. So it's only 3/4 of a circle. I used a cheat sheet for the math (that I found on Pinterest) and then made a template on a large sheet of paper.

Construction was easy- I attached the two panels, and secured the hems to the sides- giving a two line seam on the sides. Then I attached the elastic waist (using another cheat sheet for waist sizes). And finished it off by attaching the lace trim, I did it in two sections (front and back) to the seams matched the skirt seams.

And to go with it I made this clustered denim flower hair clip.

It took me a while to decide I liked it- and a trim. I started with a 3-inch circle of denim, layered with a 2.5-inch circle of lace, and finally a 2-inch denim circle. I hand stitched a few lines with them folded in half one direction and a few more folded in half the other direction- so there was a little X o the back to help keep them pinched. And then stitched on a few "pearl" beads.
Here's a picture of an individual "flower":

But when I put them together they were just too big for my liking- so I trimmed the top edges so they didn't stick up too much and a little on the sides so they weren't pushing on each other as much; and I think I'm okay with it now.

I'm so excited to give it to her- she always looks cute, so I know she'll be adorable in this skirt and bow.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Infant Circle Skirts

I have to be honest, I absolutely love making circle skirts. Partly because they are just absolutely adorable, and partly because they come together so quickly. Today I've got 2 new ones to show you, following the same basic process that I have with all the others.
I made these in preparation for baby KO, and I figure they'll be so easy to just slip over a little plain white/solid colored onesie for a super cute outfit.

Here they are together.

These are the fat quarters I picked up while shopping Hancock's sale a few weekends (probably closer to months now) ago. And the pink polka dot elastic was bought there also.
This was the project I had in mind for them, so I purposely picked out coordinating colors for the ruffled hem on the skirts.

Since the ruffled hem is the only difference- here's a quick talk through, because I have a hard time remembering to take pictures through the steps and really I'm not posting anything that you can't find a pattern/tutorial for somewhere else on-line, especially since that's where I usually get my ideas.
I knew that I wanted the hem to be about an inch, so I cut 3 pieces off the long end of the fat quarter (21-22 inches, depending on the brand and shrinkage) that were 2.5 inches wide. I sewed them together to make one very long piece. Then I ironed it in half, so it was only 1.25" tall. Then I ran basting stitches to gather it to size. Then I sewed the ruffle to the skirt, using a .25" hem so I had my 1" ruffle. I don't have a serger, so I did a zigzag stitch over the exposed edge to prevent fraying. And then I ironed the ruffle down and stitched above the ruffle to secure the edge of the ruffle to the skirt, keeping it in place.
If you ask me, the gather on the pink is better than the red, but on a cute infant no one will notice.

Here are shots of them individually:

I will say, that as much as I love making circle skirts, I have a love-hate relationship with visible elastic. I'm always terrified that the amount of tension I need to attach it properly will cause uneven stitches and ugly seams. Luckily with this project, my tread matched perfectly to the elastic and is better hidden, but there have been times when I use a contrasting thread for decoration and ended up wishing I didn't. Oh well, sometimes -okay, usually, it isn't perfect, but it's still a labor of love.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Post It Clip Boards

This is what I decided on for the SLP for Teacher Appreciation. (If you only knew the amount of progress my KL has made in 2 years with her you would be buying her gifts too.)

They are cute little clip boards for Post It notes, and even a little bigger- they're about 5 inch squares, I don't remember the exact measurement.

Anyway, I saw the idea on Pinterest and thought it was too cute. The original idea used cardboard coasters but I was scared that they wouldn't hold up to frequent classroom use, so I set out for other ideas. I first I looked at the coasters still just to see if there was another option- maybe a sturdier plastic but at Walmart all I could find was round coasters- no go! I found 5x7 wooden plaques for $1 a piece (a little more than I wanted to spend) and picked them up in case I couldn't find anything else, and I didn't at Walmart, so I brought them home and tried to put a clip on them, but they were too thick- no go! So I headed to Michael's to see what they had- I was thinking wooden again, because I really wasn't sold on thin cardboard, but I wandered for a bit first and found the chipboard section of the scrapbook area. I found a pack of 6 chipboard squares, meant to be used as a base for a small scrapbook, held together by the metal rings you see in the picture. I still looked at the wooden crafts and found coasters, but they would've been a little more expensive and I like the idea of the bigger squares in case the kids are using scratch paper after the Post Its run out, or because they just need a bigger area.

So here's what I used besides the chipboard:

I also used Mod Podge, scrapbook paper, and washi tape- most of which you'll see as it's used.

So I started by putting a good coat of Mod Podge on the chipboard and then attached the scrapbook paper. I added a little weight as it dried so it didn't warp.

Then I trimmed the edges off with an exacto knife. I found that I had 4 (well 5 technically, because I have the blue in yellow also) cute gingham patterned colors so they could be similar but not the same.

After the base was all set I moved on to the clips- they are just blinder clips, I'm assuming they are "large" sized because there are 2 sizes smaller and 1 larger in most office supply stores, or even Walmart's office section. I looked to my washi tape collection and found coordinating colors.

And then I simply added a piece to both sides of each clip and tucked the extra under (I wanted to make sure it wasn't pulled off by a kid the first time they were used, so I intentionally left overhang).

Then I simply clipped them to the top of the board.

Since the chipboard already had holes, I figured they could be used to keep them together so I punched one of the 2 holes and used a ring that came with it to keep them together. Then I added the Post Its and they were ready to go.

I think they turned out pretty cute and here's hoping she can get plenty of use out of them.

That's all for now,
Jo!