Christmas Stockings

It's been on my list for 3 years, but I finally made Christmas stockings! 

And, because I'm pregnant and crazy right now, I made a few extras. You know, just in case!

I couldn't find a pattern that I loved completely, so I drew a template on cardstock and used that. Growing up, my mom made us really big, chunky stockings and I loved it that way. I followed the instructions for putting in a lining and cuff on the Cluck Cluck Sew blog (lots of good stuff there). I used fabric from my stash and had fun choosing different scrappy combos. In my mind there are very distinct "boy" and "girl" stockings here, though both my husband and mother say they're all girly. I'm not sorry at all. I mean, if you can't use ric rac at Christmas, when can you!?

It feels great to have these done and to know that maybe, just maybe, 

I won't have to make any more ever again!

Bee Costume

It's Dress Like A Bee Day at school and my suggestion of black clothes with yellow tape stripes or the black shirt/yellow tutu combo got vetoed.  So, I picked up a yard of yellow fabric and 3 inch ribbon at Walmart (Only like $8 total...hurray!) It took at most 1.5 hours to make which I think is pretty good for a rookie clothing seamstress. Thanks to Living Well Spending Less Tutorial this surprise was a success- taking no time and no tears.

General Conference Book Ring Books

Twice a year our family watches our church worldwide conference. (What is General Conference? Brief explanation here. ) Watching it via internet/roku/tv from the comforts of our home is so great and I try to have one new conference activity for the kids to help them pay attention better. Sometimes a new activity happens, sometimes not, but we have favorites we bring out only for those special conference weekends and repeats are fun too.

Since I haven't been crafting or creating much, this totally counts- I have my new activity done early and ready for Easter Saturday and Sunday- Book Ring Books! I'm so excited and so are the kids. Two weeks seems way too long to wait.

The idea is to have a card for each speaker during the four sessions of conference. When that speaker is talking, the kids will put stickers on the back of the speaker card according to their speaking subject. If he/she speaks about Easter, they put the Easter sticker. If he/she focuses on the topics of prayer and families then those two stickers go on the back of that speaker card. Similar activities like this have really helped my kids listen for the mention of those key words and topics.

How I did it:
I printed off pictures of the first presidency and quorum of the 12 apostles from Rachael's BookNook that she made. Cutting them all the same size to fit nicely in the book rings meant 3.5 inches by 2 5/8 inches.

Then I went through past conferences to count how many other speakers there are so I knew how many other cards to add to the books- In April there are usually 11 other speakers. Since we don't know who from the different auxiliaries or the quorum of the Seventy will be speaking we plan on writing the speakers' names on the front of the colored cards and then applying stickers to the back just like our photo cards. The stickers I just copied and pasted from the gospel pictures from lds.org. Then printed on sticker paper and cut out- ready to go! Enjoy conference!

March 28 & April 4-5, 2015 General Conference

Flying Geese Quilt

I made a LOT of things for Christmas 2014, but probably my favorite was this quilt for my oldest son's bed. The best part is how much he loves it! Seriously, bedtime has been easier because he's eager to jump in and snuggle it. There is nothing more that a quilter mom heart could ask for!

Family Night Chart

When I was little we had a family night chart that was a little wooden house. I couldn't find anything like it already out there so I made one myself. My dad cut the house shape out for me using a pattern I drew.

Once a week we do a family night or family home evening when nothing else is planned and we all are home together. After dinner our family night usually includes a song, prayer, lesson about a gospel principle or religious topic, closing song and treat. (Last week was about working with/for each other in the family & keeping our home in order which translates to simple job charts for the kids. I'm going crazy trying to pick up everything myself!) I've seen family night charts with "activity" and "treat" as categories but right now we share the responsibility of making the treat and if we have an activity it's usually part of the lesson. Every family member has their own heart (although these pictures don't have the names). What really made this complete was the gloss finishing spray. I love it- It's kinda like laminating a project; it adds the last layer to make everything look better and the colors really pop.

I debuted this family night chart last week and it was a hit! They've asked me the past two days if we can have family night again. 

Crochet Toddler Blanket Pattern

Usually my son takes no notice of things that I make. He is supremely unimpressed by it all, and I don't blame him. He's a little boy! So if I ever do make something that he gets excited about, it really makes me happy. This was one of those things. Now when people come over, he invites them to, "Come look at my new room! Mom made it for me."

The blanket fits perfectly on the IKEA Gulliver bed.

It takes about 5-10 minutes to do a row, depending how fast you are. So a couple of rows here and there, on car trips, while watching your favorite show, and it's really not so daunting. And the pattern is as simple as they come. It really only consists of a chain and then one stitch- HDC (half double crochet). There are all sorts of tutorials on YouTube. You could really start learning to crochet today and be making this blanket by tomorrow!

Here is the pattern that I used:

Materials:
size J crochet hook
Red Heart Super Saver small skein of yarn in 6 colors
(You could use any worsted weight yarn, this kind isn't as soft as some but you can't beat the price.)

Row 1: Chain 180
Row 2: HDC in 2nd chain from hook, HDC all the way across, chain 2 and turn
Row 3: HDC across, ch 2 and turn (178 stitches)
Rows 4-16: same as row 3
Rows 17-32: repeat rows 2-16 in a new color (switching colors can be scary at first, there are lots of tutorials for that too)
Etc.

So basically the entire blanket is just HDC stitches, with 16 rows of each color and six colors total, making 98 rows. And that's it!

American Girl Matching Ruffle Skirts

I made these as a gift last year and didn't ever take a very good picture of them, but it's a project I'm going to want to come back to and remember and make again! Matching skirts for a girl and her American Girl doll. I used stretchy ruffle fabric and just added a black elastic. No hemming or anything needed, just sew it straight up the back! I would have gone crazy over this when I was little.

*special thanks to Ashley for the gift idea and showing me how to do it back when I could barely sew!

Pillow Case with Hidden Seams

I made this using a good video tutorial my mom found at overallquilter.com. I hope this Minnie Mouse pillow makes Disneyland dreams come true!

Conference game, Activity Sticks & Pinewood Derby

I went to Staples and color copied and cardstocked this activity from The Friend. We used it during conference to follow along with the speakers. It worked!

I wrote down activities on the sticks and depending on our schedule or Mom's mood, I can say "Choose a blue stick" or "Pick any color." Even though these are mostly activities we do already, choosing them from a magical jar make doing the craft/trip/activity even better!

(I saw this idea used for date ideas on a blog somewhere but tweaked it for my 2 year old)

I was merely the Gluer, not the brains behind these special neckerchief slides. My friend Dawn had me put these beauties together the past 2 Pinewood Derbys. The cub scouts love them.  So cool! I need to catalog this so I can remember to do this 10 years down the road when I am in Cubs. I used the E6000 glue.

General Conference Goodies

photos i modged podged to blocks I cut/painted

Found this printable online and made one

found above printable of apostles online and I put them on circles instead of the flashcards they were intended to be. Perfect for my toddler.

laminated and hole punched these older church pictures. Used ribbon and just wrapped one end with scotch tape. Cheap lacing cards!

Paint Sample Color Books

These are two sided pages I made from free paint samples at Home Depot. Laminated the pages & added a ring. Got the idea from my mom- she made me one first. Perfect party favor for our rainbow themed birthday party last week! Plus- FREE! (well, like 17 cents)

More Crayon Rolls

These are 10x5. Used them as party favors. Yay for using leftover fabric! 8 crayons each.

Crayon Roll

Thanks to Skip to My Lou's tutorial, I made a crayon roll. I made it smaller so we would have less crayons to deal with. It's a 9 x 5 inch roll for 8 crayons instead of 16 1/2 x 5 inch roll that fits 16 crayons. Next time I will probably add another inch to add a little more fabric to roll. The ribbon I did was 15 inches. A little too small too. Still, I like the way it turned out.

Felt Flower Clips

My friend Amie came over and showed me how to make these felt flower clips! Mine was a little too big but I'm glad I know how to do them now.

File Folder Games

Tutu

First try at a tutu. : ) Too long.

A Sunday Quiet Book

I thought I'd try my hand at creating a Sunday quiet book myself. This one is of people of The Book of Mormon. I chose that book of scripture since it was shortest. The Old Testament and New Testament will have a lot more pages to create! I used a $1 photo book from Walmart and used photoshop for the pages & covers! So fun and my little one loves it.

LIttle Purse/Bag

We delivered it to the birthday girl with a book inside!

Flannel Board

I used a magnetic white board for this one. I glued the blue felt and border ribbon on the back. Now it's really a 3 in 1 activity- flannel stories, magnets, or dry erase coloring! With the help of my mom who was visiting we cut out a bunch of fabric and pictures to start us out.

Kid Sized Oven Mitts

I made an oven mitt during nap time. It was way, way too small. So I made another one. (When all else fails, follow the directions.) The tutorial online said to make the image fill up an 8 1/2 x 11 page. I thought since my daughter is smaller I should make it smaller than the normal "kid size." I was wrong. She couldn't even fit her hand through the opening!

At least the little one can fit on her Elmo's hand so she has a cooking buddy, right?