Quick and Easy

I was asked to teach Thumbelina's Primary class last week. We made up a posterboard game. I wanted to give them something to take home to remind them of the lesson. It was about missionary work and the importance of being a good example of Christ. So I made up these beanbags the night before.

Hubby helped me cut out the freezer paper (although I miscounted and just used a cardstock stencil for the last one.)

The cutting part was the most time consuming. But they were a big hit and there were enough extras for all of my other kids to have one, too.

(The freezer paper stuck to the corduroy fabric and pulled some off. I think it was probably just the cord.)

Easy Birthday Presents

Thumbelina got invited to a birthday party. So we went and looked through our fabric stash. Then we went and looked through the remnant bins at Joanns. We spent $4 on three different fabrics and will be able to make about 5 purses out of it.

I made this purse and a couple of matching hair flowers for the birthday girl.

I made two purses but the first one, I made the bottom too wide so that will go in the dress up cabinet. But now I know--cut 1.5 inch squares out instead of 2 inches. They are lined in a pink fabric and the one has pink on the inside of the handle but I ran out of the pink so this one just has dots on both sides of the handle. I used a couple of flowers from a previous project and an 'e' to personalize it a bit.

Super easy and super quick! I am going to teach Thumbelina to sew the flower hair bows sometime.

Next up: I am making the girls cupcake purses for Easter. I just need to figure out what to make the boy!

Valentine Craftiness

My kids think that every holiday is a major holiday. Valentines Day, St Patricks Day...they even tried to talk me into celebrating Presidents Day with presents.


Squirt isn't so much into the candy. And we tried to stay away from too much candy this year anyway. So i made toys for them. Loveys, softies. Squirt got a doll shaped one with plastic sewn inside to make it crinkle, and ribbon tags all over it. It is flannel on one side and terry cloth on the other. She likes how the terry cloth feels on her teething gums.

Then they all got heart friends.

This one is my favorite! I didn't want to do more skull stuff for the boy so it became a pirate heart!

And I bought a bow tie pattern from Crab Apple Attic. I didn't have enough of the red to do both sides so I though I would make it reversible. Yeah--except I can't tie it right and you can totally tell because of the reverse fabric!

So this bow tie has become his dog's bowtie and we are going to pick out fabric for a new one.

Valentine Shirts

My kids love any excuse for new clothes. Valentine's Day is one of those excuses. They each picked what they wanted on their V-Day shirt.

Munchkin picked a snail. Not quite sure how Valentiney that is but we made it work...eventually.
The design changed many times and I had to pick the whole shell out and start over once. Not fun! But cute and I even had enough ruffle left to do the collar. She loves it! GOAL!

I didn't tell the Boy what I was putting on his shirt knowing that he would say 'skulls.' Pretty soon every thing he owns will have skulls on it! So how do you tie skulls into Valentines?

Like that! And he loves it!

I love the look of argyle but have found it mostly on boys sweater vests. So I girled it up and I love it. Squirt doesn't seem to care what she wears. I need to work on the stitching a bit for next time.

Thumbelina is always a challenge. Most things I make for her go a little something like this:

She loves it when I talk to her about it.

She loves it when I cut it out.

She loves it while I am sewing it.

She cries when I am done and she realizes she has to wear it!

ARG!!!

(Most of these are fixed by simply telling her I will never sew for her again and refitting said item for her younger sister.)

But really, I was pretty sure I couldn't go wrong with pink and hearts and flowers.

I was right! She wants to wear it to church and to school and ... well, everywhere! This shirt is from Old Navy and she's only worn it once when it ogt a small hole right in the front. So I covered the hole with a heart. Problem fixed!

I am pretty sure their St. Pat's shirts from last year will still fit--so I just have to find something green for Squirt.

NEED TO CRAFT!!!

I have so many ideas spinning around in my head. I am using the whiteboard in the kitchen to collect the more promising ones. The girls have decided what they want on their Valentine shirts--minus the baby since she can't talk. And I have decided what is going on the boy's shirt--but I'm not telling him! I have to figure out his birthday shirt too, since it's 5 days after Valentine's Day. BUT...

My craft room is still full of stuff. I don't know how to organize it. I need to re-do a skirt I did for the girls. And I can't get to my sewing machine!

Our dryer is broken so we have borrowed one until we can buy our own. That doesn't seem like a problem, does it? Well, it is when the only outlet you can use for said dryer is behind the broken one and you have to vent it out the open door. Did I mention that they dryer is on the landing into what once was the garage? And it's January?! Not such a great time to have an open door in the house. So I washed all the laundry yesterday (because the washer still works but needs to be plugged into the dryer outlet) and worked on drying some of it last night. Today I finish and get the craft room cleared a bit so I can get to my machine! And I have to find my Heat N Bond!

Here is a picture of the Black Apple dolls I made the girls for Christmas. I modified the pattern after I made the dark haired one because the arms and legs were soooo hard to turn! And I stuffed that one very full so the baby would like chewing on it.
I did add white to the other dolls eyes so they don't look so dead :)

Busy, But Not So Productive

Sick kids. Sick me. So many chores to do...more like ignore! So I have been making tons of Valentine clips. Super easy to make, and can be mostly done while lounging on the couch.

Oval for everday wear--not that my girls wouldn't love to wear the hearts every day.

A small initial one for the baby

And an Elmo one for the 3 year old who loves her Elmo doll but could care less about any Elmo shows.

I rearranged my house and still need to find homes for all the things that accumulated in my bedroom. So my craft room is mostly storage once again. Maybe tomorrow I can tackle that...with a big garbage bag!

Lacking

* One car--car window broken--middle of January.

* Dryer broken. Can't fix until end of next week.

* Hubby at work and school all the time!

* Sick baby

* Sick 3, 5 and almost 7 year olds

* Sore Throat

No motivation to do anything crafty, or even my regular chores--as evidenced by the mountain of clothes that have swallowed my couch. I just want to lay on the couch and take a nap.

Back in the Saddle

I am starting up the shop again. I have a couple of balls still for super sale in there and I am trying to get something new in there every day. Here are a couple of things I made this week. This is a changing pad I made out of a thick towel and some cute flannel material:

I got one with my diaper bag. It was cotton material on one side and terry cloth on the other. It is super cute but when I washed it, the cotton shrank like crazy so it is pretty mishappen. That won't happen with this one. I appliqued a matching flower on one corner for some added appeal. Squirt likes it.

I also made this diaper/wipes carrier. It holds 3 diaper and a wipes case. This is not going in the shop because I tried to have a snap closure but it was too thick for my snaps. So I opted for a button and elastic cord. Half of the snap (that I cannot get off!) is hidden under the flap. I quilted the front of it just randomly and i love how it turned out. Too bad my diaperbag will se it more than anyone else!

I hope to get a few balls sewn today and up in the shop. I don't have any girl choices in there right now. I am also changing things a bit in my shop. For every $20 worth of stuff I sell, I will donate either a ball or one of those adorable Black Apple dolls to the LDS Humanitarian Organization. It's something I can do.

So Much In My Head

There is so much that I want to do...so much stuff to make. I just have to get it out of my head and made. It is a challenge for me, and I get so much satisfaction out of a project finished. I want a separate place that I can release my crafting insanity. So welcome to the new blog. I am trying to get some more things in my shop and refashioning all my old clothes for my girls. I knew there was a reason I had three girls. Thankfully ET will still let me sew some stuff for him. So right now, I am working on Valentine shirts and ET's birthday shirt--a skull with flames--what else? But my goal is to make them without buying anything. I am decorating with all the leftover stuff from last year:

My favorite thing to do is turn my old shirts into tunics/dresses for Thumbelina and Munchkin. So easy and so fast--and NO hemming! This is the one I made yesterday:

My craft room right now is the dining room table, a bookcase in the dining room, a closet in the playroom, and totes and bags in the storage/guest room. So everytime we want to use the table, I have to pack up all my stuff and move it. And if I get distracted half way through a project, there are scissors, pins and more scissors lying around for the kids to get into. So I wrangled the storage/guest room for my craft room! I took apart the bed today and finally set up the table my parents bought me for my birthday. Isn't it pretty?

Now I don't have to unplug my sewing machine everytime the dishwasher is on or if I need to iron. I don't have anywhere to store the bottom of the bed frame until Squirt is ready to use it so it has become my idea board.

And since I don't have a chair, I claimed one of our folding ones and recovered the seat. I got to use my staple gun--hubby will be so proud!

So now I just have to get the storage stuff organized so we can throw it up in the attic and then the room is all mine! (with the small exception of the kids' computer.) And the best part is the room has a key lock on the door. So if I am in the middle of a project and have to leave, like to make dinner or something, I can just lock the door and know it will be safe until I get back!