Fabric and Felt Flower Bouquet

It's almost Mother's Day. I admit, I'm excited. Mr. S is amazingly good at gift giving. It's never about price, he's just so dang thoughtful. That's why I chose him to be my baby daddy...15 years ago. 

Last year, he got up with E and then my two guys brought me breakfast in bed, followed by flowers, followed by gifts. It was really over the top and totally unnecessary, but I really appreciated the effort, especially for my first Mother's Day. 

My mom has always insisted on no gifts for any holiday from us kids. I disobeyed her for a long time but several years ago, I threatened her with homemade gifts. She called my bluff so I made her a scrapbook of my brother's and sister's USAF Basic Training photos. She loved it. 

So, now I'm on the homemade gift train and I can't get off. Each year, I'm scrambling for ideas of new things to make (psst... sometimes I cheat and buy her something awesome on Etsy, but I fess up that I didn't make it.)

For Mother's Day this year, I got my inspiration from these fabric flowers at Bower Power and these felt flowers at Paper & Stitch.

I found the vase at Target for $12 and used some purple and yellow fabric and white and yellow felt that I already had. Using their tutorials, I lost 7 fingerprints from hot glue burns but ended up with a fabulous bouquet of flowers to send to my mom. I made it several weeks ago and have had it sitting around our kitchen since. I was pretty sad to box it up and ship it off yesterday. I think I need to make another one for myself. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! I hope you all have a fantastic day! 

Easter Egg Dyed Clothes Pins

Have you noticed how everyone is doing things with clothes pins? It's like the clothes pin has made a comeback. People are Mod Podging them, Washi taping them, sticking magnets to them for the fridge, hanging bunting by them, and the list goes on and on. Honestly, I'm pretty psyched about it. I love things that clip. I have big plans to Washi tape some clothes pins and then put magnets on the back of them to use for clipping things to the fridge.

For now, though, I ran across this fun way to dye them with Easter egg dye (I think I've also seen Rit dye versions.) After Mr. S, E and I dyed Easter eggs, I plopped two clothes pins in each cup of dye. I don't have a purpose for the clothes pins yet, so I kept the quantity low.

I left them sit for a long time. I wasn't paying much attention, but probably a whole naptime-- 2 hours. Surprisingly, they turned out great. The colors are super vibrant, unlike the eggs that were dyed in that same dye. And now, I have a cupful of colorful clothes pins! I'm glad that I bought one extra box of egg dye just in case it worked out and I wanted to do more later.

A Spring Wreath

I think E and I are finished dying. The doc said I had a virus. I think it was more like the flu. I've never had a virus knock me off my feet like that and for 5 full days. Anywho... 

Before the sickness, I made a spring wreath. My inspiration came from this one that I pinned. (The pin goes to a site that's not in English.)

It took me forever to take the plunge on this one. That fake fur stuff is pricey and it seemed like it would take a lot. When I saw it on sale at JoAnn's, I knew it was time. I got two balls of it for $2.99 each. Still not cheap, but better than full price which is double that. I used an 8 inch green foam wreath. The green wreath helps hide any spaces in the fur. The spool of flower "ribbon" was quite pricey, but I didn't use much of it so it'll be good for many future projects. Overall, this wasn't a cheap project, but I love it so much. So, here ya go...

It's bright, springy, happy. It makes me smile every time I pull in the driveway. Also, I got to use the fun trick of using a Command hook on the top inside of the door to hang it. I'll never go back to those dumb wreath hangers! 

Twine Wrapped Vase

Wow. It's been a crazy week. E and I have both been extremely under the weather. I've been out of work for three full days and two half days in the past 6 work days. Not good.

Last weekend, before we were all on our death beds, I got into some crafts. Mr. S got me a huge vase of lilies for our anniversary. They were beautiful but I was left with yet another plain vase to deal with. I have been seeing tons of twine wrapped things, including some vases that were mega pricey.

So... free vase + a $10 ball of chunky twine that I only used half of + some yarn that I already had + a lot of hot glue...

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I think I like it.

Gifts for Kidz

Both of these are things I've already written about. However, I've honed my crafting skills a bit and these are both better than the previous versions.

I made these for my friend's 5 and 4 year old.

A tutu for Maddie:

This one is an improvement on the one I made for my niece because it has an elastic waist. 

And a robot crayon roll for Cameron: 

This is an improvement just because I can sew a little better. Plus, I actually measured this one so it holds an 8-pack of crayons. These crayons, by the way, are not the ones I gave Cameron. These are just a terrible baby-chewed collection that I was able to find around the house.

Bird Feeders

I had a busy crafty weekend. I have lots of fun things to share. Up first are these bird feeders that I 100% copy-catted from eighteen25. I even loved their stars so much that I made stars too.

The recipe was easy peasy-- bird seed and gelatin.

The mixture was crazy-sticky so you should take that into consideration if you're making these with kids. There's no way I would've let 19 month old E put his hands on this.

The recipe, which is for one envelope of gelatin and 3/4 cup bird seed, only made three stars.

I hung one on the very dead bush right outside the front door. E and Laika like to sit at the front door and watch traffic, birds, squirrels and people/dogs walking by. So, I hoped this might help attract some extra wildlife. It almost blends in. I'm not sure the birds know it's there.

The other two are in a tree just outside the dining room window, where E sits for meals.

Or should I say, the other two were in that tree. See that gray sky? It turned into rain the next day and these two washed out of the tree. The one in the front is still hanging around... possibly because it's actually not hanging, but more like laying in the branches. I have yet to see any birds. I'll make some more once the rainy season is over.

Big Sister/Big Brother Gift

Last summer, a very good friend had her third kiddo. Along with a big ol' lasagna for the family, I made a super special package for the two older kids.

First, they each got a picture book and some crayons. Inside each one, it says "Draw a picture of..." and there's a noun at the bottom of each page... Mommy, Daddy, New Baby... cat, dog, airplane...

Next, I picked up some fabric markers and plain white onesies. I included the directions: "Make a onesie for Baby Jacob."

And last, a bunch of outside stuff-- glow-in-the-dark stuff, silly string and bubbles. My directions, "Play outside." What that really means? "Get out of Mommy's hair for a bit, mmkay?" :)

And, the final product, in a cute box that I picked up on clearance:

Thank You Cards

I made these for E's teachers when he moved out of the infant room. They took about 15 minutes to make and they're so cute. 

It's pretty obvious, but the supplies are: blank craft cards, a Thank You stamp w/ blue ink, colorful bakers twine, some scrapbook flowers and a couple matching brads (is that what they're called?). 

If you're like me and you have buckets and buckets of scrapbook-type stuff, you can easily throw together some really good looking cards in no time. No need to rush out to the store when you need a card anymore! 

Felt Bunting

I don't really know where this idea came from. I'm not one to dream up things on my own, so I'm sure I saw it somewhere.

Back in November/December, I became obsessed with making some fun bunting for E's room. I got felt in bright colors that go with his room colors and got started. It was easy, but it took me a couple weekends of sewing here and there.

Each triangle in the bunting is half of a 9"x11" sheet of felt. I cut them in half long ways and then folded that in half and cut them into triangles. Something like this:

Instead of using matching thread (embroidery floss), I decided to use contrasting colors.

I did what I so technically call the outside stitch. I know that's not what it's called. What the heck is the name for it? Who cares? I left a little pocket at the top of each triangle and then strung them all on some teal yarn. I hung it with a couple small nails. It was hung with three different types of Command hooks but each one fell after some amount of time. So, alas, I had to make holes in the wall.

I love that it make's E's room look like a party. I love all the bright colors in his room. It makes me smile every time I'm in there. One day, I'll write about those super awesome stripes on the wall (that I painted while Mr. S was away on a business trip and I was uber prego) and the scrapbook paper Mod Podge'd name above the closet. 

TP Roll Art

You know you've hit a crafting rock bottom when you start doing toilet paper crafts. Don't get me wrong, some of the TP stuff on Pinterest is really cool. Regardless of their cool factor, there will always be a certain ick factor about toilet paper roll crafts... to me, at least.

I've been struggling with what to put on my living room walls for... years? I had lots of things up, then we repainted and nothing went back on the walls. I keep thinking I want to make something, but can't decide what. I'm seriously in decision paralysis... for years!

When I saw these adorable picture frames by Creative Carmella on Pinterest, I got inspired. I don't want the picture aspect of it, but I love the funky circles. So, I ran with them and added a little ombre. It's the new hotness. Everyone loves ombre, right? Ombre and chevrons-- they're the king and queen of crafts right now.

Anyway, still pretty unsure how this would all turn out, I didn't want to spend much. I got a 16"x20" canvas for less than $4 at Hobby Lobby and used some acrylic paints that I already had around. I painted the canvas white. (It was already white, but I wanted to make sure it was as white as it could be.) Then I started with my circles.

My Tools (ew)

After some TP roll diameter measuring (1.75", fyi) and some math, I decided to use three colors. I made three rows of just blue paint (I'm pretty sure the color was True Blue). Then, I added some white paint until I got a medium blue and made three rows of that. Then I added even more white paint to get a light blue and finished with three more rows.

Close up, I think it's cool. The ombre effect is very subtle, which was not what I was going for but it takes a heck of a lot of white paint to lighten that blue at all! And, of course, I didn't realize that until it was way too late.

Do you see the ombre?  Sad, sad ombre.

I put it in the coveted between-the-front-door-and-picture-window position. I don't love it. It's not interesting enough from a distance. I love, love, love bright white on my dark gray walls but the white of the door and the super bright white of the window is just too much on either side of it.

Kinda hypnotizing, yes?
(Ignore the Command hook peeping out the top-- my temporary hanging solution until I make up my mind.)

Maybe I'll downgrade it to the hallway-between-the-bathroom-and-master-bedroom position. Or maybe I'll trash it because it cost less than $5 total. Maybe I'll donate it to Goodwill and someone will think they're getting a masterpiece...and they won't know it was painted with toilet paper rolls! Yep, you know it! Someone will be in there thrift shoppin' and they'll say "This is f'n awesome!"

Check out more Pinterest Challenge projects!

Felt Board

I've been working on a project. A very much ongoing project that may just go on forever. I made E a felt board. I bought the biggest (cheap) canvas I could fine at Hobby Lobby, which happened to be 30"x40" and was $16 after my 40% coupon. I cut and hand sewed a grassy hill (green felt) onto a blue sky (blue felt) and then stretched and stapled the whole thing to the canvas. Tada! Felt board. That part was easy, albeit a bit time consuming. That part is also done.

It's all the "game pieces", if you will, that might keep me cutting and sewing felt for the rest of my days. I've been finding inspiration everywhere to make little scenes for E to play with. As soon as I made the first couple pieces, I let him have access to the board. I admit, I typically wait until I'm completely finished with a project before letting destroy...er... play with it. So, it was hard to hand over.

For the past couple weeks, he'd wake up in the morning or from a nap and discover what new pieces are on the board. I'm sure I'll revisit this post many times, but here's what I have so far.

The full scene (minus the third piece of road, which has already disappeared):

The slightly flower-ish looking sun. But you know it's a sun because it's wearing sunglasses. right? 

The peacefully weepy cloud and the airplane. 

Dinosaurs strolling down the road. Makes perfect sense, right? Houses, airplanes, dinosaurs. It happened.

The house (I need to make at least one more), with an apple and lemon tree, and a pond with ducks and a frog next to a coniferous forest of three. 

And here's a close-up of that pond. It's really my favorite part. Well, it might be a tie between the pond and the rain cloud.

If you've never experienced one of these boards, it all works by friction. Nothing is stuck all that well but it stays in place well enough for imagination time. In fact, because nothing sticks that well, a good slap to the canvas knocks most of it off. I decided it would be HI-larious to bang on the canvas and yell "EARTHQUAKE!" after E had set everything up. He did not think it was funny. In fact, he cried. Maybe he's not the little destroyer I think he is. 

On my near future to-do list: 

• One more house
• More animals/dinos
• People
• A rocketship
• A bus
• Couple cars/trucks
• Another piece of road
• A rainbow
• Lightning? 
• More clouds

Rain Stick

Our office is moving to a different building in the next couple months. Last Friday was slow so I was doing a little tidying up to get ready for the move. Stashed way under my desk, I found a long mailing tube that someone had sent to me. 

I immediately flashed back to this list of the 5 Best Toys of All Time. Could it be true? Did I just find the #4 best toy of all time under my desk? I mean, E has played with toilet paper tubes, paper towel tubes and even a wrapping paper tube, but this was taking it to a whole new level. How lucky is E?! 

But then, I started thinking even more creatively. What about a rain stick? Surprisingly, it wasn't something I had pinned on Pinterest. It was something I had just seen in passing while surfing the interwebs. I actually had to re-search for it and find a site with a good how-to. This one from Mama Scout seemed the most like what I was looking for. 

Here's how mine went...

My supplies included the coveted mailing tube, a crap ton of nails (I think I used a total of 80), something to make the noise-- I used beans and also (not pictured) rice, something to pretty it up (mine is fabric wrapped). 

First, I hammered. And hammered and hammered. The cardboard mailing tube is perfect for the nail approach (verses some of the other approaches I've seen using tooth picks or skewers) because it's easy to hammer into, but quite sturdy. I made circles around the tube with nails, trying to stagger them as much as possible. I think I used 80 nails, and I could've used another box if I had it. 

This certainly does not look like a toddler toy, right? No worries, I took some safety precautions. I wrapped the whole tube in packing tape to keep the nails in place-- and add an extra layer of protection between the nails and E's curious fingers. 

Next came the filler. I started with just beans but I needed a softer sound so I added some rice. It's really a trial and error kind of thing. You just need to test it out until you find the sound you like. I admit, I wish I had used more nails because I feel like my fillings fall a little too fast. I was just too dang excited to complete it to run out for another box of nails. It's sort of rain stick-y but it's really more like an oddly shaped maraca. Whatever. It makes noise and that's the #1 feature to an 18 month old. 

Then, I wrapped the whole thing in fabric, hot gluing as I went. I used three patterns cut into about 1 inch strips. The hot gluing was far more dangerous for Mama than the nails were. If I was inclined to commit a crime, Saturday would've been the day because I'm pretty sure I burned all my fingerprints off. Whoever allowed me to purchase a hot glue gun should be fired! 

Sorry for that tangent but my fingers were hurtin'! I also hot glued the plastic end caps on with the fabric tucked underneath them. And, I added a little extra pretty by adding a few ribbons on each end an in the middle. Mr. S thinks it's a little girly. Maybe it is. Who cares? 

Could a very curious, very determined kid tear this apart and gain access to 80 nails and around a cup of choking hazards (beans)? Yeah, probably, but he would need be unusually determined. E's not that curious, or that determined and certainly doesn't have that much patience. 

Here it is all prettied up. 

E likes it but he doesn't quite understand that he needs to flip it over to make it make the noise again. So he just holds it upright with the beans in the bottom and whines because it's not making noise. So, until he catches on, it really is a homemade toy fail. I mean, you definitely don't want to make toys that cause you and your kids extra frustration. Soon enough though, I know he'll get it and enjoy making all that noise! At least it'll be a peaceful rain-like noise... like meditating in the warm peaceful rain in Hawaii... like the soothing sounds of a baby's white noise machine... riiiiiight!