Snuglet

These look so warm and cozy.. I want to make one soon!

pattern here: snuglet

So I know I've shared this link before, but it has totally been one of my most favorite these past few days! How creative these ladies are!

A Few Christmas Ideas

All 3 of my sisters are getting married between Aug '08 to Jan '09. Here are just a couple ideas for Christmas or wedding gifts. As budgets are tight after first getting married, it is hard to justify spending money on decorations, so I am making them some!

No Sewing Machine =( soon though =)

I am totally missing my sewing machine. My friend is borrowing it, and I'll get it back tomorrow..but there are so many Christmas Crafts/presents I need to work on that require the use of my machine! Soon, soon.
So here are just some random sites I've been surfing recently.

http://www.spaindex.com/HomeSpa/HomeSpa.htm
http://www.marthastewart.com
http://paperantix.com
handmade-oholic

Christmas Card Holder

Remember this? I posted this a long time ago..well, here is what I did with it! It will hold more Christmas cards..for now it is holding J's Birthday cards.

I hot glued the shutter part down in the back so it won't move and drop all the cards out. I will probably spray paint it eventually, but for now it will work. These can hold cards, pictures, bills, coupons..anything you want!

Ornaments and a Blog

- - - - Star Ornaments - - - - - - - - Circle Ornaments - - -











Memory Makers Homemade Christmas ideas

A Few Quick Crafts from Family Fun

Here is a fun project from the Family Fun Magazine for Dec. Make your own window clings using puff paint!
Puff Paint is $0.98 per bottle. I used the Scribbles brand from Michaels.
..just make sure to make them thick enough that when they dry you will be able to peel them without breaking them, but not too thick or they are too heavy to stay on the window.

and Buildable Birds.
Stiff felt is about $0.79 per sheet.
You can make cardinals and/or doves.

Felt is so fun to craft with, the possibilities are endless!

Found this..thought it was funny!

Family Home Evening Chart

I've been working on a few crafts, but I've been traveling and busy with the holidays mostly. The crafts I have been working on are for Christmas presents, so I don't want to post them quite yet. However, here is one I have done for our family. I realize my family is not this big yet, so for now we will just double up our pictures. I have little tiles that I will put our pictures on and hang from the knobs with ribbon. Then we will just rotate them each week. This idea can also be used for a chore chart!

Homemade Christmas

As budget is a little tighter this year, due to being in school and the economy, I have decided to have a homemade Christmas. All my Christmas gifts this year will be homemade. I am really excited because I feel it is a part of sharing myself and my talents which will mean more to me, and hopefully to all the recipients. It cuts out a lot of the hustle and bustle and stress of Christmas shopping, and will help me focus more on the true meaning of Christmas.How to make a glass nativity:

what you need:
Pattern and tape
Contact Paper
Exacto Knife
Acid Etching
Brush
Water to rinse

Tape the pattern on the back and some contact paper on the front. With an exacto knife, cut out the pattern. Put the Acid Etching on and leave it for about 15 minutes. Since the contact paper is sticky and stuck to the glass it prevents the acid etch from spreading where it shouldn't. Rinse it with water, peel off the contact paper and pattern and you are done..well, then you have to cut the block, sand and paint it.

This was an easy project and I love it a lot. My mom is making a lot of these for Christmas gifts. Mom said I could make my own if I wanted to, and I did because I wanted to learn! I got to take it early because I want to display it this year and not have to wait till next.

*Here is a fun blog I am following that has a lot of great craft ideas. She is doing a 30 Days of a Homemade Christmas! If you are doing anything crafty for the holidays, let me know, I would love to see your ideas!

Scrapbook Layouts

My brother just turned 8 and will be getting baptized next month. He had his birthday last week, so I made some layouts for him as part of his Christmas present. He won't appreciate them as much now, (that's why it is part of his present) but he will more when he is older.

These are some layouts I made a while back for G's birthday.I like to make my layouts without pictures, then take them, print them, and they are ready to be stuck on the layout.

Advent Calendar

A friend asked me if I had any ideas for making an advent calendar. Here are a few ideas I found...This is not my picture, but we had one exactly like this growing up that my mom made. In the numbers below are little ornaments. You take one out each day and hang it on the tree..you could also make little present boxes for the pockets to put under the tree.Here is ours for this year. Actually, I cheated and found this one at Target for $2.50. I love to craft, but when I can find it for cheaper than I can make it, I figure I might as well. It has a little candy cane hooked to a string that we will move each day as we get closer to Christmas. This would be and easy one to make.Her is one I found online. They covered matchboxes and in each is a little activity to do each day. Read the Christmas Story, go caroling, make gift tags, watch a Christmas movie as a family, make Christmas Cards to send out, etc..
And some more ideas with matchboxes.. make ornaments out of them, or you could stack them up and glue them together so they make drawers. Cover or paint them and use them for the same idea!

I enjoy browsing other creative craft for ideas. Here is one I found. Little Birdie Secrets. I have made these bath bombs before, but I love the cupcake idea! They are so cute! The recipe I used is here, or you can visit her blog..the recipes are pretty much the same!Another really cute craft she has that I love is her fish-in-a-bag soaps! Simple, and so cute!

Playdough

My son experienced playdough for the first time about a month ago in his little class at Church. A few weeks ago I decided to make some. I googled and found this great recipe! In the comments people were saying it only lasts for a week or so, then it becomes too sticky, but I have had mine for a month now and it is still in perfect shape, just follow the directions carefully and it will work.



A couple months ago I went to a craft fair and they had some cute little kid aprons with lots of pockets for cooking tools. I made one tonight using the leg of an old pair of jeans I had that had a hole in the knee. Not the greatest..I need a pattern before I make any more, but it works! And my son will keep his clothes clean! I love recycling!

Then I found this cute little baking set in the dollar bins at Target..it was $2.50, but sooo cute and the kids thought it was great. It comes with a rolling pin, spoon, a bunch of cookie cutters that are great -and wire whisk (which doesn't work too well for play dough, but the rest of it does!) My son and his little friends have had fun playing with it.

Enrichment - Nov 6

Here's what we'll be doing for the Get R' Done Enrichment Nov. 6th at my place. Blocks that say "Live, Laugh, Love", "Faith, Hope, Charity", " Sleep, Eat, Play" ..or whatever else you would like them to say. I'll get the wooden blocks and sand paper. They will be 6 inches long and I'll be charging $1.00 for 3 blocks plus paint and sandpaper and vinyl words... for any additional blocks, they will be $0.30 each. If you want a specific color of paint you can bring it with you otherwise, I have a few colors..I think they are about $0.48 or so at Wal-Mart for the small bottles of acrylic paint. I'll have the Cricut machine to cut out whatever words you are wanting, and I have Black, Brown, White, and Tan vinyl to cut from.. (so choose your paint color according to those colors for words). You will need to pick up your own ribbon, before or after you are done with the blocks..I got 1 spool of 2 inch wide ribbon with wire for $2.98 at Wal-Mart, it did all 3 blocks. I'm excited to do this project with you! Hope to see you there (hear)!

Belts

I love getting hand-me-downs for our son. Since clothes can be costly (especially on a student budget) we greatly appreciate, have, and continue to receive them from a few different neighbors (thank you), then we use and pass them on to someone else! At this age they grow out of clothes so quick that the clothes are usually still in great shape. Since he is between sizes right now, all of his pants are a little bit too big, but I don't want to buy any either because he already has so many. I have been looking everywhere for a belt that would fit my little guy (18 months) and finally decided to make some. Even if I had found ANY, they probably would have cost $8-$10. These were VERY inexpensive ($2 I think) and SO quick to make. Hooray! Now we can keep the pants up!

Hair Ties

I wore one similar to these while I was on my mission. That was a while ago, but I loved it and have been wanting to make them for quite a while. I made a couple that will be great for the Christmas season and some others just for fun!

Trick-or-Treat!

Actually I made this last year. Sorry I didn't post it sooner, maybe you can use this idea next year! You have all seen them in the stores. Well, I don't remember where I got this idea or if I came up with it on my own, but I actually put my own hand inside the glove and when the kids reach in I grab their hands. I hide it for the smaller ones so I won't scare them too bad, but the older ones have really gotten a kick out of it. It's been a big hit for the last year two years!
I got the bowl from (where else but) Wal-Mart for 2 or 3$ and cut the bottom out of it and put a rubber cleaning glove up the bottom of it. I had to put some padding around the sharp plastic edge before I put the glove it, but then I just taped it all down (if you make this use black tape! I didn't and then had to spray paint it). I used a white glove because it looked better for Halloween than the yellow rubber cleaning glove would have. Hope you had a good Halloween too!

The Glass Block

Here's my glass block.. you've probably seen it before with this scene, but not w/the candy in it. I'm going to change the scene on it each month, or season or..whenever I decide, so I'm going to be posting on "The Glass Block" often. They are so fun and versatile. A great decoration for any room!

Here is one I haven't worked on for a while and NEEEED to finish desperately. I was able to serve a mission for my church to the Washington DC South Mission (mostly Northern Virginia really, but we got to visit and tour DC quite a bit), and I loved it. I have always wanted to have a red, white, and blue room in my home and will, eventually. I started this project a couple years ago and it has sat for a while now, but I am making a small afghan to hang on the wall. It will be a little flag.

Magnets

Coasters

These are fun and quick to make. I took the big 3 1/2 inch buttons that you can buy f/Wal-Mart for $0.97 and took the pin out of the back. Then cut 3 1/2 inch circles, bumble bees, and words out with my cricut and glues it all together using Zip Dry (my favorite paper glue!). You can also hot glue some felt onto the back so the don't scratch the table top. They make fun coasters! My sister is doing her house in bumble bees. So I used the "Six Be's" from President Hinckley's talk. Read it here: "A Prophet's Counsel and Prayer for Youth". Happy Birthday Hailee! I'll get them in the mail quick!

Acid Etched Candle Votives

Live Love Laugh

These are my first..I think my next ones will be better.

Birthday Calendar

I made these a few years ago when I was RS Pres. I had a magnet board I would post these on so the sisters knew who's birthdays were coming up! Now I use them on my refrigerator for friends and family names. I have a decorated cake for each month and candles. I laminated them, so I can use a dry-erase marker on the candles each month for names, and I keep the others in a bag with my years list of birthdays. It's fun, I hope it'll be fun for my kids when they are a little older and will help remind us to make and send off Birthday cards.. sorry, I'm pretty bad at it now, but I think about you on your birthdays!

Necklace Charms

I'm not quite done with these, but I am making some little necklace charms. I need to figure out how to take a better picture of these so you can see them better.
I took some little wood tile pieces and decopauged some scrapbook paper onto them. Then I covered them with Paper Glaze to make them look like they have a glass finish. The little girls would love these, maybe I can find some metal pieces that I can do this to to make them look a little more elegant! I still need to put a metal clasp through the whole so the will go onto a chain.

Chinese Fortune Cookies

A fun idea for Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year, or any other day you want to celebrate! Leave little notes for your sweetheart, a child, a friend, or anyone that needs a little cheering up! I made these with felt, pinking shears, a hot glue gun and some wire. They are fun to make and a great project for kids (with help from the adult for the glue gun) - They could even come up with the sayings to put in them!

Enrichment Group - Nov 6th

I'm trying to decide what crafty things we should do for the next Get R' Done Enrichment night. Any ideas would be great. I would like to know what you are all interested in. Fall is here and Winter/Christmas is coming. Gift ideas would be good! Here are some ideas I have,...let me know if you have any others!

quotes on tiles
"Green Bags" for shopping
Cookie Sheet magnet boards & Magnets
Glass etched Nativities
FHE peg boards
Quiet Books
Wood Blocks that say Live Laugh Love..or whatever you want them to say
Picture Blocks
Plaques that say Last name, Established, and wedding date
Aprons

Any other ideas?

Some old projects

I haven't had a lot of time these past couple weeks...because I can't let myself craft when I have cleaning and other things that are slightly more important! =)

So, here are a few old projects for ideas: Here is something I made about 6 years ago, it has gotten a little bit squashed in the boxes through the years, but I still like it and hang it each year!Just after we moved into our current place of residence, I found some fabric for $1/yard and grabbed about 15 yards. While my mom was visiting she helped me make these:

We love this one, because our Dining and Living room are all one big room, this divides it for us and gives us a little more privacy. It's nice to pull shut and not have to look at the mess in the kitchen while we are trying to watch a movie or something.. also prevents glare on the T.V.! We like it.

Here are a couple curtains to tie the rooms together.





And some pillows too! I use pineapple decorations in my kitchen, but my couches are a dark blue, so this fabric was perfect to tie the colors together!





I put together these frames shortly after we got married. You've probably seen "The Living Christ" one before, but I also did it to "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and used our family pictures. I update this one every so often with new family pics. (sorry about the angles of the pics..it makes them a little harder to see, but it was that or have a big glare from the lights.)