Thursday, November 26, 2009

DiNNeR FoR FouR

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  We are spending Thanksgiving this year at home.  I had fun trying to create a fun and special looking table!

Picture 321

Picture 324

I am so Thankful for all of you that follow my blog.  For the support and inspiration I get from you to keep this blog going!  Thank You!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Wooden Block projects

I got together with some of my friends and we did a craft with wooden blocks for thanksgiving we got the idea from here.

Picture 127

I had some blocks leftover and my husband wanted to do a project and we came up with this tree:

 Picture 317

We painted the blocks ( sizes range from 2 1/2” to 3 1/2”).  Then we laid the blocks down on the table and printed out a tree outline from the computer, laid it over all the blocks and painted the tree outline onto the blocks.  Then I used a stencil to add the star to the top (this required a lot of coats to cover up the green). 

Picture 252

I cut out the vinyl letters using my Cricut and a program called Sure Cuts A Lot that allows me to cut using all the fonts on my computer.

As I was looking at it I thought it needed a little sparkle to it and since I didn’t have any super fine glitter I decided to use my bronzing powder and then use a clear gloss spray over the top to keep it on.  It worked out great!  Just a little shimmer.

Picture 275

I then used the two lonely blocks to make a snowman from which my inspiration came from these cute little S’mores snowmen.image image

Here he is with his crocheted hat and scarf!!!

Picture 266

The top block is 2 1/2” x 2 1/2” and the bottom block is 3'” x 2 1/2”.  I painted the block white and then glued them together.  I then went along the edges with a gold stamp pad:Picture 265

I hand panted on his eyes and buttons and for his mouth I used the tip of the handle of a small paintbrush to make the circles.  I used a 1/4” dowel for his nose and I just sanded at one end for a little while to get it to make the point like a carrot and then used a sharpie to make the lines.  Then I sprayed it with a clear gloss spray paint.

It was fun to do these projects with my husband!

Picture 319

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Holiday Gift Extravaganza Week and Giveaway

I have really got to get to work on my Christmas gifts.  I’m planning on doing all homemade gifts for everyone.  I’ve got a pretty good start but need to get more focused.  To help me gear up I will be posting November 30th through December 4th all of the gift ideas I have in my “Christmas Gift Ideas” bookmark.  So mark your calendars and gear up for a whole bunch of ideas to come. 

To top it off I will be doing a giveaway of two of my Mini Stocking Kits

Picture 141

Here’s how to play:

For your first entry just come and visit every day and leave a comment. (5 possible entries)

For another entry become a follower and those of you who are already a follower you can do this one too.  Just leave another comment saying that you are a follower. (1 time entry)

For a third entry post about my Extravaganza and giveaway on your blog and provide a link back to this post.  If you don’t have a blog tell 10 of your family or friends about it on facebook, by e-mail, or however you want.  After doing this come back and leave a comment saying that you spread the word.  (1 time entry)

** Sorry this giveaway is limited to US Residents only.

***Comments on this post are not included in the contest.  Only the comments left in the posts from November 30th to December 4th qualify. 

****Giveaway will end at 9pm (MST) on December 4th and winner will be announced on December 5th.  Winner will have until Monday December 7th at 8pm (MST) to e-mail me at kraftymum03(at)gmail(dot)com to claim prize or a new winner will be chosen.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Krafty Moments Monday and Blog Makeover!!

I am so thrilled about my blog makeover!  I won the makeover from Jen~A~Roo Blogs and I think she did an awesome job.  She was such a sweetheart and so willing to work with my craziness!  I am showcasing her talents as my Krafty Moment Showoff!!!

image

image

Now head on over to Jen~A~Roo Blogs and check out her free backgrounds and headers and see what services she has to offer, but don’t forget to come back and link up your Krafty Moments. 

You are awesome Jen and thank you a ton!!!

 

Don’t forget to grab a button to show that you are participating in Krafty Moments Monday!!!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Train Table

My 2 year old son loves to destroy the train track on his train table almost as fast as I can build it.  Well this was frustrating me and my 4 year old daughter.  I decided I wanted to mount the track down to the table, but I didn’t want to ruin the originally table top, so I made a new top for my kids’ train table.

BEFORE:                                                   AFTER:     

picture 017  Picture 243

I went and purchased a large piece of particle board and had it cut to size.  Then I spray painted the entire board brown and after it was dry I laid out the train tracks and took a picture of the table.  Then I printed the picture off and drew the streets and parks in on the paper first.  Picture 126

When I got it how I liked it I then went to town painting everything on  while the train tracks were still on the board.  I then took the tracks off and applied several coats of varnish.  After the varnish dried, I nailed the track down or glued where nails weren’t possible.  The trees, benches, and buildings are not glued or nailed down.

 Picture 245 Picture 246 

Now, when my kids are old enough to build their own train track, I’ll just remove the little nails from the tracks and the new table top and they can play with the original one again.

Friday, November 20, 2009

ouR THaNKFuL TRee

Yes, we have already set up our Christmas Tree.  However I did it as a part of an idea to get us all more focused on what we are thankful for.  The idea is we pull off one leaf and write what we are thankful for on it and tape it to our Thankful wall.  The goal is to have all the leaves off by the day after Thanksgiving so we can make it into a Christmas Tree.  The kids are loving it. 

Picture 186 Picture 189 

Picture 191

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Wash mit turned baby toy...

I would like you to meet my new friends…….

Picture 081

……..Catty and Leafy (my cute little neighbor kids helped me name them). They are the perfect companions for any baby!!!

The Leafy makes a crunchy noise.

Picture 079

and Catty rattles.

Picture 080

Here’s how I made them:

Go find one of these wish mitts in the Auto Washing or Home Cleaning part of a store.

Picture 032

Turn it inside out like this

Picture 033

Then remove the elastic band around the opening. Then cut down the center so that you can make sure the little stringy things lay to the inside when you sew up the side seam. So after cutting up the center now sew that up the side that you just cut but when you get towards the top you will want to curve around the top over to the other side making it look like a half circle.

stitching for caterpillar

Turn it inside out and stuff it full of batting. To make it rattle you will need a small plastic container (the small little bead containers about the size of a quarter work great) and some rocks and put it in about halfway.

Then stitch the opening closed.

I just did embroidery for the face and also cut about 12 of the little stringy things off the front to make the area where I put his face.

Picture 045 Picture 047

Now for the leaf. I cut 5 – 6 inch squares of a green flannel. I stacked them up and added between the 4th and 5th squares a cleaned out snack size chip bag (I only added one but I think 2 would probably make more noise).

Picture 050

Then I just sewed across all 5 layers together using the making your own chenille instructions. The only change was that I made the stitches as curvy lines and the distance between stitches around 1/2” to 3/4”.

Picture 095

Then I printed off a picture of a maple leaf so it was almost as big as my square and used it as my pattern to cut the leaf out. After cutting the leaf out I then went around the edges about 1/8” from the edge to keep the edges together. Then on the side with the 4 layers I cut down the center between each line making sure to only cut the top 3 layers. This give it the fuzzy look. I then used embroidery to create his face.

Sorry I don’t have a ton of pictures, I was going to make a second one and be more diligent at taking pictures but when I lost I was a little bummed out and didn’t get around to making another one. If have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me by leaving a comment on my blog or by e-mailing me at: kraftymum03 (at) gmail (dot) com.

Thank you to those who voted for me last round.

 

blogger templates | Make Money Online