Christmas is in The Air!

 Christmas Advent Calendar

Ahh! Can you smell it? Christmas is in the air! I have been working on a BUNCH of Christmas stuff, mostly because it is one of my most favorite holidays EVER! I forgot to take pictures during the process of making this cute Advent Calendar, but I did take after pictures.  This calendar starts on Dec. 1^st and there is 24 days of fun, but easy things to do to count down to Christmas. 

Here is the list:

Take photos for Christmas cards

Buy a new Christmas CD and listen to it

Drive around and look at Christmas lights

Go to Temple Square to see the lights (if you live/visit Utah)

Build a snowman

Make paper snowflakes

Make a treat and take it to a friend

Wrap Christmas gifts

Make hot chocolate and stir with candy canes

Have a campout in front of the Christmas tree

Watch a Christmas movie and have popcorn

Make a new Christmas decoration

Make the house smell like Christmas

Go visit Santa Clause

Do service for someone that needs it.

Take gifts to teachers and friends

Make cookie and write letters to Santa

Read “The Night Before Christmas”

Call grandma and grandpa and sing your favorite Christmas song

Color Christmas pictures

Read a Christmas book

Make Christmas cards

Go out for a Christmas treat

Read a story or watch a movie about the birth of  baby Jesus

Do something nice for someone

 Here are the items you will need to do the project:

2-12x12 papers (to be the background)

Assorted Christmas paper to make the pockets (I used 4 double sided prints)

Scraps of coordinating paper to decorate with.

Stickers/cutouts/ribbons to decorate

Numbers 1-24

                                 Ribbon (to hang project)

                                 24 tags

 Here is the HOW-TO:

You will need 24 pockets (12 on each 12x12 paper, 4 across and 3 down), cut to be 2 ½ x 3 ¾ inches. Number and decorate each pocket. Then you can attach them to the 12x12 paper. I glued mine, but if you have one of those fancy paper sewing machines, you could stitch the papers on, that would be cute! Then each pocket needs a tag with one of the items from the list above. Then use some ribbon or scrap paper to attach the 2 12x12 papers together, but leave a little gap, about 1 inch or so. Last use some ribbon to hang the calendar. Your kids will have so much fun doing this. My kiddos are so excited to start ours! 

Twig Wreath

Like my sister, I too am addicted to pinterest. I found this awesome wreath, but no tutorial. The link just sent me to google.com. So, I decided I would figure out how to do it on my own and this is what I got...

It only cost me $3.50 to make. I had most of the stuff I needed on hand.
First you need an old hanger, or in my case a hanger from our friendly dry cleaning place.
Then you need twigs. I cut them 6 1/2 to 8 inches long. We cut down a tree a few weeks ago so I had plenty of branches to work with.
Of corse you will need a hot glue gun, scrap fabric of your choice, and a sprig of small berries of your color choice.
I took the hanger and man handled it to make a circle, not a pretty one but it worked.

I tried gluing the twigs onto the hanger, but it wouldn't hold. Light bulb...I wrapped yarn around the hanger and glued it in place.

The twigs held on better and they are still on after a windy day. I placed a bowl in the center of the hanger as a guide so the opening in the center of the wreath would be a circle.

Then comes the flowers. I cut my fabric 1 inch thick and about 24 inches long. At the end of the fabric strips tie a knot.

Then I cut out circles the size of canning lids (I used them as my template).

Place hot glue in the center of the circle and put the knotted end of the fabric there. Then start going around in a circle with the fabric and glue.

Once the flowers were done I glued one ontop of the twigs and then a little bit of the berry sprig on either side. Then another flower and berries. Repeat until the circle is done. Ta Da... You have your wreath!

Try it out and let us know how yours looks.  Happy Fall!!!

Halloween Is Coming!

I have been working on this craft for a while, and I am happy to report that I have FINALLY got it finished! I have seen a bunch of different Halloween trees but, this is the version of mine. 

You will need:

Sticks/branches

Black spray paint Matte Finish

Orange glitter

Purple lights (I used a strand of 100 lights found at Target for only $3.50)

Bucket or something cute to stand your tree in.

Rocks/gravel

1.  You will need to take your branches and make sure there are no leaves on them and make sure that the wood is dry before you paint.

2.  Start spraying your branches with spray paint, but before it dries, make sure you sprinkle with the glitter so it will stick. Let it dry for a day or so.

3.  Wrap the lights around the branches.  

4.  Take your cute bucket or container (I found mine at Target in the dollar item section, only it wasn't a dollar, it was $2.50) Okay, so here is where I got creative. The rocks weren't holding the branches up like I wanted them to, so, I found out that a roll of toilet paper fit perfectly in the bottom of my container, and I stuck the branches through the roll, THEN put the rocks in to balance. Worked like a charm!! :}

 I had my kiddos help me make some ornaments out of  left over toilet paper rolls or you could use a paper towel roll too. I just halved the rolls and covered with some construction paper and Modge Podge. Then used Halloween stickers or my imagination to come up with some interesting decorations. 

 Decorate however you like, just have fun with it!

Chevron Blanket

I'm not sure why, but I have really been into crocheting lately. So when I found this pattern online I had to share. Here is a picture of what I have done so far.

The pattern is pretty simple, heck I figured it out! So go check it out here!  I am thinking of making one for our family room...brown and cream!

Quiet time Lace-ups

My sister gave me some lace up cards for my daughter. It came in a big box and the cards are about the size of a lined piece of paper. So when it comes to space in my church bag those are the first to take out. I was going through a craft bin in my basement and found some wooden hearts. Light bulb! 

I pulled out my dremel and made holes all around the boarder. Then I found some nylon twine type stuff in our garage and cut a few pieces and melted the ends so they wont fray. I painted the hearts and then sprayed them with the cool gloss finish. Ta Da!!! Now we have some lace up shapes for church or for long car rides. I can't wait to do other shapes, or I might mod podge a picture of a temple, the Prophet, or Jesus onto the hearts. The possibilities are endless! Hope this inspires you, or gets the wheels turning in your pretty little head!
Later,

Kids mobile :)

As you all may know my little girl is out of her crib now, but I am in love with hanging mobiles.  I thought it would be cute to hang over her future desk space and have the can lighting shine through it.  So here goes...

First you get the colored paper you want and punch out the desired shapes. I chose circles, but I think butterflies would be cute too.

Then I just used my sewing machine and sewed a total of 12 circles in a row.  I think I made a total of 36 rows.  It all depends on how big of a hoop you have.  Next, tie them to the hoop.

I used a thin gage wire and cut two long pieces of it.  I made an X and tied them to the hoop.


I got out my handy glue gun and glued a piece of ribbon around the hoop to hide the thread.


Then, you hang in the desired spot.  It think it would be easier to do if you don't have a light in the middle of it.  I still need to straighten it out.


Hope you all like it!  It was fun and easy to make.  Enjoy crafting!!!

Fun Kids Room Decor

Sorry it has been awhile since my last post.  Sick kid, and trying to finish our landscaping project before the big 2nd Birthday party for my little one has kinda kept me from crafting...until today!!!
I went to the local craft store and found these cute blocks.  I painted them green and then drilled a small hole at the top, not going too deep, with my dremel.  I then cut out a fun butterfly shape out of the felt sheets you can buy for 20 cents each. (cheap!!!)  Next you get a thicker wire and cut it to the length you want.  Then hot glue the thing together.

Presto... Cheap art you can put in your kids room and you won't  have to cry if they knock it over.
Hope this gets your creative juices flowin'.

Crafty Wednesday...

There are so many fun crafts out there and so little time to try them out.  I do have one that is a little time consuming but, if you have a favorite show and some little helpers, it goes by so quick and it's super easy!  Here's what you'll need:

*Cricut or flower paper punch
*coordinating scrapbook paper
*Styrofoam (circles, wreath, whatever you want)

*push pins

The first time consuming thing is to cut out (or punch out) your flowers.  For the Styrofoam balls I cut out about 150, 1" flowers with my Cricut. It will also depend on how big you want your flowers.  Play around and see what you like best.  Now, take about half those little flowers that you cut out and blend the leaves up. The others will be the foundation to cover up the Styrofoam.  This is where your favorite show comes in and those cute little helper hands.  Once all the leaves are ready, you can start pinning them to your Styrofoam.  You can use these cuties as topiaries, decorative balls, or wreaths.  Super fun "summer" project, even though summer's almost over.  Happy crafting!

Cute, Fun, Baby Shower Gift

This is such a cute personalized baby gift. I LOVE it!

First you start off with a bottle of baby wash (my gift is for a boy, so I found some soap that was in a blue bottle). Then you want to gently sand the back of the bottle with a fine grit sandpaper, just enough to make sure the primer witll stick. Next, use some painters tape to tape off the back portion of the bottle, also make sure that you put tape over the cap too so it won't get paint on it. Then spray with an all surface primer. After the first coat of primer dries, lightly sand again, a prime again. Then you will want to either spray or use an acrylic black paint to put over top. You may have to do one or 2 coats of the black paint. Let dry. With your craft cutter (I used my Cricut) to make vinyl lettering that says the baby's name and then soap. The spacing will be 2"x5", so I made my letters 3/4" tall so that they would fit. Then put the lettering on the bottle, and make sure you spray with a matte finishing spray and let it dry.SO CUTE!

Fun, Cheap, and Easy

I was looking through a magazine a while back (I really wish I could remember which one, but I can't) and saw these really simple bowls to make. All you need is:

cheap paper plates

elastic bands

ruler

scissors

pencilFirst you will make lines like in tic-tac-toe on the paper plate. I used the ruler for this because I can't make or cut a straight line to save my life.
Then, you will want to cut every OTHER line.

Next take the edges that you cut and tuck them inside the bowl.

Then wrap the elastic bands around the outside.

And fill with a yummy (but dry) treat.

These are NOT water-proof, so I would suggest NOT putting cereal with milk in these! My son found this out the hard way! :)

Summer Boredom Buster

I don't know about all of you, but it my kids have already gotten to the summer boredom. So, I found a tutorial on how to weave place mats.

First you will need to cut nine 1"x12" strips of paper (we used card stock, but construction paper works great too) These strips will be your base. Then you will need 2 other co-ordinating colors
five 1"x12" of one color and four 1"x12" of another color.

Line up the nine strips like this.... Then start weaving, starting with the color that you chose 5 of (in our case it was yellow)
When you are done weaving, straighten everything up, and make it look tidy.
Then you want to glue down ALL of the edges.
Trim up all of the edges.
And presto...you have yourself this nifty little place mat for your kiddos.
I am giving this 3 peas, because it was really easy (even for my 6 year old) and it kept him occupied for a good half hour!! :)