Halloween Crafts 2012

Here are some of the fun little Halloween crafts J did this year! Most of these she did at school so I can't really take credit but I thought I would share anyway for those of you who might want to recreate the cuteness!

J colored her pumpkin with markers one day and added the "Happy Halloween" letters another. 

The cat was made in a bowl with dried black beans and lots of glue! Add the googly eyes, pom nose, pipe cleaner whiskers and scrap paper ears and you have yourself one cute little black cat! Oh, and, can't forget about the glitter!

The balloon pumpkin was covered with paper and starch water, painted orange and a paper face was added last. 

I found the foam Halloween cutouts and stickers at the dollar store. It worked out great for working on letters and sounds!

The pumpkin is made of orange dyed rice with a black bean face and a artificial leaf and pipe cleaner for embellishment. Again... lots of glue!

The paper crafts is simple enough... gluing spooky scrapbook paper shapes onto paper but I thought the footprint ghost was a nice touch!

And that was our October of crafts in a nutshell! Hope you found some good ideas to share with your kiddos! Happy Halloween!!!

J's Pink & Blue Airplane Party

Thanks for stopping by and checking out J's Pink & Blue Airplane Party! My little girl loves pink and loves airplanes so the theme was an easy choice. Since airplane party are more of a boy thing, everything I was finding was red and blue so I had to make a lot of the labels and things myself. Here are some of the details including links to inspiration and where to buy. Enjoy!!!

For the gift bags, I made these adorable candy airplanes out of tootsie rolls, a stick of gum (wrapped in scrapbook paper) and two lifesavers for wheels. I bought the individually wrapped lifesavers, poked a hole in the sides and threaded the rubberband through the middle so they weren't completely unwrapped. 

Then, I bagged, threw in some skittles and added some ribbon!

I put two glowstick bracelets in pretzel bags and made labels that said "Airplane Flares." I also had a foam airplane in each bag!

This runway table cloth was SO easy to make! All it took was one dollar store plastic table cloth and a roll of white Duct Tape. I taped the table cloth down with painters tape and had my hubby hold one roll of tape as I held the other. Then, I cut small strips for the dashes. Done!

I didn't find anything I liked for J to wear so I decided to make something! I found this plain t-shirt at Target for $2.50, added the "jewelry" embellishments with some fabric paint using a pencil eraser for the big beads and the back of a wooden skewer for the smaller beads. Anything works really, just see what you have around the house! Finished it off with some pretty ribbon bows and you have an adorable, one of a kind T!!!

I made these cupcake toppers on Picmonkey and I love them!!! One says "Happy Birthday J", the second is a pink plane and the third says "J" in pink over a large blue 3! I found some matching pink scrapbook paper and used a large hole punch to frame it. Put a thin popsicle stick in between the two papers and glue!

The birthday girl demolishing her cake! Actually, just the icing. =)

 Here is the big picture! A few other details: I used these blue cloud balloons and blue airplane balloons. We also had individual bubble containers on each table as out party activity. 

J loved her airplane party and I hope you did too!!! In fact... J keeps asking when her next party is! Lol!

Football Taggie Blanket

Ever since we found out that we are having a little boy I have had all things boy on the brain! I finally finished my first project for the little man and just in time for football season! I've been determined to make him a football blanket and since my husband is a Notre Dame fan and I am a Navy fan I added blue and gold taggies for us both! 

What You Need

*Brown bumpy fabric (1 yard)

*Soft white fabric (1/4 yard)

*fabric glue

*ribbons

*thread

First thing I did was fold the fabric in half and sew a line along the inside for my first seam. No cutting!

Then I folded the blanket corners under to make a decent football shape.

I traced my football shaped and folded into fours so I could trim and make all sides even

I cut 2in strips of my white fabric and used fabric glue to pinch the edges together and form a center line down the under side of the fabric

I used my form as a guide to place my white fabric, pinned it in place and sewed it down.

Now, here comes the fun creative part I am really excited about! I wanted to flatten out the bumps outside of the football outline so I simply ironed them out leaving a bumpy football and a flat exterior. Be careful not to iron out the bumps on the backside of your fabric though! Also, don't let your fabric get too hot or it could discolor. Iron a few swipes, let cool and go again until flat.

Cut 6 in ribbons, use fabric glue to make them into 3 in loops and space evenly on fabric. 

The finished result isn't perfect but I really love it and hope you do too!!!

Hand Stamped Wine Glass Charms

So, I know it looks like I haven't done anything for a month but I actually have a few projects waiting to be posted. Since two of them were gifts, I figured I should give them away before posting them online!

My sister-in-law got married this weekend and we decided to give them a pair of nice Crystal glasses for toasting at their wedding. Since I don't know how to blow glass, and I'm sure it would be disastrous in so many ways if I tried, I decided to leave that to the professionals and I made some wine charms instead. =)

I found this great 6 minute tutorial that shows you how quick and easy the project really is! I practiced on a notepad for spacing (as shown in the tutorial above) then on one of the circles to see how hard I needed to hit the stamps. After that, line up the stamps and hammer away! It really was that simple!

What You'll Need

*Hammer

*Beads

*Earring loops 

*Letter stamp punch set 

*Circular stamping blanks (pendant)

*Steel bench block 

(I found everything at Hobby Lobby and after using their 40% off coupon spent less than $20!)

 I used a small sticky note as a guide so my letters would be straight. You can also write the letter on the note if you are concerned about spacing. 

 After I finished stamping...

 I strung some alternating purple and clear beads along with my pendant and VOILA! 

 A great wedding gift and, if they hate it, they can easily take it off and just use the glasses! =)

Toddler Towel Wrap

My thoughtful and loving husband gave me a hot pink towel Snuggie last year as a gift and it has remained in the packaging on the shelf ever since. Don't get me wrong, I love me some hot pink, but head to toe with long sleeves seemed a little excessive. So, in my compulsion to find a use for all the things we have around the house, I decided to make J a towel wrap for the pool. She's always trying to wrap our big towels around herself like I do but, being that she is quite a bit smaller than me, she doesn't make it very far.

What you Need

*Lightweight towel fabric

*Matching thread

*Velcro

*1 1/2 in thick elastic

(Keep in mind that the dimensions will depend on the size of your child so make sure to do your measurements and alter as necessary!)

First I measured J's chest which was 19 inches around. 

I cut my fabric to 33 x 26 inches with one side and the bottom already hemmed (so add an inch to each if you are starting with a completely unfinished fabric.)

Then hem the top with a two inch sleeve for your elastic. Pull your elastic through and sew in place along the already hemmed side. I sewed a box with a cross through it to hold the elastic. 

 Bunch up the elastic to the desired amount and sew the other end of the elastic in place.

 Then hem your unfinished length. (You can also add a colorful ribbon if you don't want your towel to be so plain.) My length and width turned out to be about 24 inches unstretched. 

Add your velcro once you are finished all of the other steps. And if you want straps, add them last. My straps unhemmed(right) were 12 x 3 inches.

J looks happy here but she actually didn't like the towel wrap at all the start with. She kept saying "Not pretty, Mommy." Lol! But, I'm happy to report, that after 2 or 3 weeks... she's getting used to it! I may need to add a Barbie patch or something! =)

Teacher Appreciation Apple Gift Basket

J just had her last day of school so my craft this week was an apple themed teacher appreciation gift. I made these cute apple cupcakes but if you want an alternative you can always buy cupcakes pre-made and decorate them or go to a Chocolate store like Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory where they sell candy and caramel apples!

What You Need

*Cupcake mix

*Frosting

*Red cupcake liners

*Red sprinkles

*Pretzel sticks

*Green candy for the leaves (I used sour apple belts)

*Crystal Light Appletini Mix

*Travel cup w/ lid

*2 Apple scented foam soaps (B&BW)

*Tissue paper

*Basket/ Container (Hobby Lobby)

*Optional: I found the painted, apple cutouts I used for name plates at Hobby Lobby for .99

I made my cupcakes with this recipe and used Duncan Hines Frosting Creations in Caramel for the frosting.  

 In the spirit of recycling (and saving money), I used empty bottle bottoms to pack each apple individually.

 The bottle containers fit perfectly in the plastic gift bags I found at Walmart. I finished them off with some apple themed ribbon I had on hand.

 Here are all of the basket contents:

 All ready to go! Thanks Ms. Rhonda and Ms. Carmen!!!

As you may have noticed, if you actually pay any attention to my blog, I have been a little MIA for a few days. a few weeks. ok, fine, two months! But I have plenty of excuses! The main excuse being that I have finally gotten through my first trimester of pregnancy!!!

That's right baby number two is on it's way, and with a vengeance it seems. I was feeling pretty sick there for a while but as I am heading into my second trimester this week, I am feeling much better and ready to take on some new projects! I already have tons of ideas swimming through my head so keep an eye out for what's to come! Thanks so much to all of my readers for your patience! I promise to get back to crafting, I'm sure with quite a few baby designs to feature!

Week Eleven: Dress to Toddler Skirt

I've been meaning to get into my box of clothes that don't fit me anymore and do some re-purposing. Kids clothes are so expensive so why not use some old clothes, that are in good shape still, into kids clothes? And I had the perfect dress to use for St Patrick's Day!

An old dress that doesn't fit me anymore but was way to cute to just get rid of!

I started by cutting off the top.

I measured my length to 11 inches. Add another two for hemming the bottom and adding the elastic to the top.

Cut to length...

Sew the sides to desired width. I only sewed at the top because I wanted to leave the liner separate but go ahead and sew all the way to the bottom. I used another one of J's skirts as a template.

Create a hem, large enough to fit your elastic, with openings at the end. Put a safety pin on the end of the elastic to help pull it through, then sew your two pieces of elastic together and close the fabric opening.

Hem the bottom of your skirt.

And you have a skirt!

Finally, add a cute little Irish girl!!! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Week Ten: Taffy Rainbow & Pot of Gold St Patrick's Treat

Ok, so I didn't post by the weekend, as promised, but at least I am done with my St. Patrick's Day craft early!!! That means tere is still time for you to get crackin! I mean, what toddler wouldn't love a sweet, taffy rainbow with a chocolately pot of gold? Who am I kidding? What adult wouldn't?

I saw a similar post on Pinterest using rainbow licorice but I prefer Laffy Taffy. It's easier to cut in half and, lucky me, it was on sale for 5 for $1! This will give you enough for two bags and will, in theory, reduce the bouncing-off-the-walls-from-too-much-sugar-toddler-psychosis! I also put a ribbon, hair clip on top instead of a "Happy St. Patrick's Day" label since, well, my two year old can't read! =)

What You Need

*Skinny Laffy Taffy in multiple colors

*Chocolate coins

*Snack sized ziploc bags

*Hair ribbon/ label/ stickers for decorating

I simply opened the Taffy (carefully so it doesn't break) and cut it in half.

Place in snack sized ziploc bag, fold the zipper part under and tape.

I clipped the hair clip on the zipper part behind the candy and DONE!

Tasty, cute and it only cost $3 for two bags full! And for the adults in the house, I am going to give these Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes a go! Happy St. Patrick's Day! Oh, and if anyone pinches you... feel free to slap them with your Laffy Taffy! =)