Theme Days

End of the year means theme days for the ABC countdown.

Here's what we've thrown together:
B = Book Character Day
KL went back and forth between Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter and Rarity from MLP (she's an interesting mix, and I love it).
She settled on Rarity, which it great because I only had to make a skirt and a hair clip.
Here's the crafting:

We paired it with a white shirt and leggings, along with tall purple socks to try and imitate for tall purple boots. Then we used a little eye shadow to make the cutie mark on here cheek. She also kept her hair in a bun after washing it the night before so that her would be wavy.

Here's the comparison photo (apologies for the early morning quick shot before heading out the door poor lighting):

E = Eagle Day (AKA Spirit Day)
I love my little KL who is just a little extra. Along with wearing her school shirt, she also asked me to make her an eagle costume. (She probably comes by it naturally because I didn't even think twice about making it for her.) I followed the same pattern that I did for the parrot earlier this school year for jungle day.

 Here she is showing off her wing span <3.
And she smiled the whole time she wore it (at least that I saw), she spent the whole morning showing it off.


Edit to add a little cuteness, KO wanted to be Rarity too:

That's all for now,
Jo!

Bows, Again

Here are the last of the bows that I made to sell.

After making Guy Shiny, the girls wanted Poppy, so for ourselves I made this one:

That's all for now,
Jo!

Bows

I told you all I was working on some bows for our yard sale so here's what I've got so far:

I was playing around with felt after it was out for the Troll headband and came up with this.

 This is a purple version of one we have in blue that I often get compliments on.

 These three were created with the help of my big Ks. I made the tulle one because I have extra tulle cut from wrapping a present that I couldn't fit into the car with a full load and therefore had to be scratched. KK wanted the spikey purple polka dots and KL chose the blue glittery pinwheel.

 This one is called a "beautiful mess" style and I love it. It was so easy and it is adorable! The only issue I had with this one was the ladybug, it's kind of rubbery (I bought them super cheap and they're meant for rubber band loom bracelets) but after scoring the back before reattaching it seems to be holding alright.

 I have nothing really to say about this one other than I can't figure out why so many of these new bows are purple?!?

 This one did not turn out as I was hoping, but I think it's still cute. I got the idea off of Pinterest and the original was just so cute but mine didn't quite fall (or fill in) the way the original did. :(

I have a few more designs kept up on Pinterest to maybe get around to before the sale so there may be more to show later.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Troll Headband

I was strolling through the hair accessories at Walmart (I needed bobby pins, as mine always disappear into thin air) and saw an adorable Poppy Troll headband. I picked it up to look at it because my twins are loving the trolls right now but as I looked at it I thought, this looks pretty simple. So I snapped a picture and (when I had the time) made my own.
Here are the pics, including KO modeling it.

 I made two, since twins come in twos :)

Here is a close up of the flowers, they are a light blue craft foam, covered in mostly blue but also a little silver glitter, and covered in like 6 coats of glossy Mod Podge so the glitter won't fall off. The leaves are just light green felt. I attached them to a recycled pink (because Poppy's hair is pink) tshirt for the band itself. All of these items I had at my house already I bought nothing for this project.

And here's the original inspiration, available for purchase:

It's obviously not exactly the same, but I think it's still pretty cute and the twins loved them.

That's all for now,
Jo!

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!!

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!

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!

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!

Bow and Skirt

My niece is getting ready to turn 5 this month.
She is quite the girly girl, so I thought I'd make her a cute circle skirt (actually a circle instead of square this time) and a bow to match it.

Here's what I have so far.

I looked around at a few shops and liked this fabric the best (I chose a jersey knit so I wouldn't even have to hem it!!). This fabric is called Spring Dots and I got from Hobby Lobby; while I was there I looked at their sale section and the thick blue, purple, and green polka dotted ribbon was marked down so I went ahead and grabbed it, along with the teal glitter tulle for below the bow. I looked through my ribbon stash but was missing a pink that matched, so I headed to Walmart and found the thin pink and brown that topped it off. (The pink elastic is left over from the last skirt, luckily both the girls I'm using it for are pretty thin so there's plenty left.)
It looks like I need to fluff my pink and brown a little more (on the left side of the above picture) but I think I managed to incorporate most the colors pretty well and it turned out not too bad.

That's all for now,
Jo!

MLP Hair Bows

Here's my most recently finished project:

I found this adorable heart shaped My Little Pony (Rarity, they also chose Pinkie Pie but you'll see her later) on this cross stitch sight, along with several others. And knew that my big princesses would love them... the question became what to do with them.

I figured since they're small-ish in design I would try my hand at making some hair clips out of them, although, I couldn't find any directions on how to do it. I couldn't find anything like them. So I decided to wing it. I looked for instructions on making pins and ornaments out of cross stitch designs but all of them seemed to included perfectly square designs, that pulled the excess material behind and I knew that wouldn't work for me. Anyway, here's how it came together, and I'll include "instruction" as I go.

My mother gave me some Aida cloth that she had found on sale but never used, so here's the finished cross stitch.

After that I thought I would add a little interfacing to secure the stitches and stiffen them up just a bit.

After that I found a site that gave instructions on turning a cross stitch into an applique. It seemed to be the most secure way of cutting around the shape. As I cut, very carefully, around the design, I used some Fray Check to secure the Aida from unraveling, which was my biggest fear.

Then the problem was attaching the hair clip piece. I use alligator clips with all my other hair bows, so that's what I had to work with. I decided the safest bet would be to use felt over the back and secure the clip to that. I ended up cutting a few slits in the felt (after deciding which corner of the felt the design best fit and glued it there. Here you can see how I just slid the clip through the felt, and I put a dab of hot glue on the back side.

Then I glued the cross stitch to the felt over the clip.

Then I cut off the excess felt, and as an extra security measure I back stitched around the design through the felt (although if I would have thought of that before I wouldn't have used the glue all the way to the edges).

(I hadn't done the back stitch yet when I took this photo but you can see it in the first picture of KL with it in her hair.)

And here's KL at school this morning, fake smiling because I told her I wanted a picture of her with the clip in her hair.

That's all for now,
Jo!