Day 121: Stuffed Animal Sleeping Bags

These are going to be a little Christmas present for my daughter, hope she likes them!  I got the idea from pinterest of course!  I finished these a few days ago but since they are a present I have had to be sneaky about it all. 

Day 108: Princess Twin Quilt

Finally! ( I feel like I say that a lot!) I finished my daughter's princess quilt for her twin bed.  She directed exactly what she wanted this quilt to have on it.  It really was dangerous asking her what she wanted her quilt to look like considering I can't go to the craft store for supplies! She was also saying no to any fabrics I offered as the backing. Finally she agreed to some crazy cat fabric I had picked up in three different colors. So luckily I had enough after I put all three together.  Hey, it's her quilt I guess she gets to be a little picky!

And my infant son just published my blog in the middle of it!  haha  Humm...

 





Our Thankful Tree

 

Mushy, touchy feely talk isn't really something I do much, but I would like my children to learn about being thankful for things that we have in our life.  This seemed like a great way to do it.  We used construction paper and traced her hand a bunch (about 30 times) and cut them out.  They look kinda like leaves right? Each day of November she is going to write on a leaf something she is thankful for. This is just a little preview of the many little kid craft projects we usual have going on in our house on  daily basis.

Day 105: Needle Case

This little gem came from Simple Quilts and Sewing Magazine.  This is a pic of the one I have actually completed.  I have two more on my sewing desk in pieces.  I am making one for myself and the other two are gifts.  It's perfect for when I am sewing the binding on my quilts while I sit on the couch.  Now I have something to carry my supplies in.  It will also be great in the car! 
I have been a bit neglectful on my blogging and crafting lately, but I hope to be better in the coming weeks.  Every Christmas I make at least one gift for someone.  This year I am hoping to make many.  We are on a small budget this year and I am going to try my best to not buy my children tons of toys they don't need!  Although I do have several cute projects in mind, the best thing?  They will be free!

 

Day 98: Trunk or Treat Star Wars

This was my first experience with a trunk or treat.  I had less than two days to get it all together so I think overall it went pretty well. Although I am reminded of my age when probably half the people didn't know what the theme was, jeez! 

 

My little Chewbacca chillin' in his Millenium Falcon while the battle for the galaxy goes on in the trunk. I dressed as Princess Leia and no I am not including that pic. :)  The black board in the trunk has lights on it acting as stars.  They looked boring while it was still daylight, but much cooler when the sun went down.

Day 95: Strawberry Shortcake Costume

Strawberry Shortcake Halloween Costume

 

My daughter was set on Strawberry Shortcake as her Halloween costume for about the past month or so.  I figured it would be pretty simple to make it, so of course I did. I took a white shirt and made it into a dress by adding an attached skirt.  I started by using a blog about making a t-shirt twirly dress, but once I cut the fabric I realized the blog didn't explain how to fold the fabric very well.  Luckily, even after cutting the fabric I still had enough to use.  I ended up using a simplicity dress pattern I already had.  It is one that you make the top and skirt out of different fabric.  So it was easy to manipulate the pattern to what I needed.  I used only the skirt pattern pieces and just extended the length of the skirt to the total length I wanted the added part to be plus an inch for the hem. I made the green diamonds and strawberry out of felt and hand stitched it on.  I figured I could easy remove these later and she can wear this dress as a normal dress incase she doesn't want to keep it for dress up. The hat I had another simplicity pattern for.  The leggings I bought at Toys R Us.

 

This one shows a little bit better view of the hat. 

 

Day 87: A-10 Applique Blanket

A friend asked me to embroider on a chenille blanket for her.  This is a new one for me.  I thought an applique might work out better.  I think it worked out pretty well. 

Supplies

If you haven't seen this tip before, it is way easier to put your stabilizer in the hoop and just pin whatever you are sewing onto.  It makes it so much easier to line everything up correctly!

Here is what the blanket looked like after I sewed the image.

Then I took my applique scissors and cut around the image, leaving a shaggy look and feel. The photo shows the final baby blanket. I think the new mom will love it.

This wasn't an actually applique image, just an embroidery one so it didn't have the auto satin stitching around the edges.  I didn't want to add that free hand because it would take so much more time and also I wasn't sure that the chenille would work well with too much stitching. 

 

Day 79: Pumpkin Jar Tea lights

My daughter and I did this a few days ago, but then we ran into a stomach bug and have been busy these past few days.  I have been saving baby food jars not sure what to do with them but knowing we would find something.  This was a fun craft that my daughter could be a part of and then after the holidays we can just throw them out.  (probably wouldn't last if I saved them because the paint easily chips off) 

The finished candle holders, we even gave one a mustache in honor of my husband.

My daughter drawing the faces. 

 

First we cleaned the labels off the jars.  They rip off easily but leave behind two small glue residues.  I use an abrasive scrubbing pad and warm soapy water to help remove them.  Then we drew faces on masking tape.  Next, cut out the peices of the faces to use as a masking.  Place the tape face on the outside of the jar.  Then paint the outside of he jar with acrylic paint.  Once dry, peel away the face and you have a window to see the tea light inside. 

I've seen this idea many ways and many places.  This particular one I saw in a Better Homes and Garden magazine.  I didn't have any sealer to seal the paint on the outside.  Otherwise I am sure the candle holders would last longer.  Also, the magazine recommended using the battery powered tealights.  I have some somewhere....I could only find one, so I used real tealights.