[make] fun with felt

I was asked to help with some activity bags at our church.  Instead of going with straight up painted canvas, I opted for something I could have little more fun with.  I started with small tote bags in bright colors from Hobby Lobby.

Since the bags are to help keep little ones occupied during services when we don't have Children's Church, I thought the size would be prefect for preschoolers.  They were all beautiful colors, but why not add a little something to make them unique?

This was my first attempt and Jack claimed it immediately.

Then, after the mushrooms I realized I may prefer the simpler styles.  I love working with felt and I may have gotten a bit carried away ...

I added coloring books, crayons, stickers and stencils to complete a dozen 'Little Saints Sermon Kits'.  The twins wanted a version of their very own of course.

How precious are the little lambs?  I added a few extra details so they would have dimension like Jack's aquarium bag.  As a happy coincidence, these little bags are the perfect size for carrying their bibles in addition to a few 'tools' to keep little ones nice a quiet during a sermon.

Which design is your favorite?

[live] independence

It's been so long since I've taken care of this little blog.  Too long.  My apologies to those of you out there still keeping up with PlayPending.  I've sadly been missing since Halloween but life has a way of taking over.  Now it's July and our 4th celebration will hit this weekend.  Hopefully these inspirations will translate into realities that I can share in more detail.

In the meantime, Happy Independence Day!

[make] roasted salsa amarillo?

So it's not really salsa verde.  I figure amarillo will work, right?

Salsa Asado Amarillo

10-12 yellow tomatoes
6-8 cloves of garlic
1 yellow bell pepper
1 sweet onion
1 large bunch of cilantro

Start with yellow tomatoes.  A whole baking tray full.  Layer on garlic, yellow bell peppers, and sweet onions.  Bake at 375 degrees until everything is bubbly, tender and little bit browned.  Then comes the fun part.  Scoop the roasted tomatoes out of their skins and throw the whole bunch in a food processor.  Watch out - it will be hot.  Pulse to your desired consistency and add a bit of interest.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Cilantro

These are all so dependent upon how sweet your tomatoes are and how sweet you want your salsa.  Start with a 1/2 cup of vinegar and work from there.  We like lots of cilantro (which will give you more of a salsa verde feel) but add what you like.  You won't mind the taste tests.  Throw all your roasted salsa in a jar or serve it right then.

A couple of warnings - the garlic get stronger as it sits, considerably stronger.  But most importantly, this is a sweet salsa and those sugars just will not keep as long in the fridge.  If you are looking for something to keep more than a week, you might want to think about canning it.

[make] confetti salsa

You know how you get so excited in the spring when there are all these gorgeous little plants of all different varieties?  Well, I may have over planted tomatoes this year in my garden.  I ended up with 22 plants.  That's a lot come July and August, especially considering that only Jack and I eat them. It's a 3 gallon bucket of tomatoes every two days a lot.  Enter Confetti Salsa:

First step:  Chop!
8-10 seeded yellow tomatoes
8-10 seeded red tomatoes
6 cloves of garlic
2 green ancho chilis
1 sweet yellow onion
1/2 yellow sweet bell pepper
1/2 red sweet bell pepper
1 large bunch of cilantro

Next: Season.
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Then: Mellow.
Stir it all together and tweak the salt, sugar and vinegar to your liking.  Then into the jars it goes.

At this point I just put mine in the fridge.  You could certainly go through the canning process at this point if you are up for that.

Finally: ENJOY!

[make] surplus veggies

Part of the reason that I've not been blogging as often is that I've been out in my garden so much more this year.  Between a wet spring and a hot summer, my veggies are coming on strong.  Some a little too strong.  My latest haul included loads of tomatoes currently on the stove boiling down.

But before the tomato boom, it was yellow squash and zucchini.  With spring onions and a few green peppers matured, I managed some wonderful squash relish inspired by Carolyn's post on Cooking for My Captain. I went monotone with the yellow squash, yellow bell pepper and sweet onion relish turning out wonderfully.

I attempted both sweet and dill pickles.  The sweet looked awfully pretty with the addition of peppers and onions, an idea from this pin.  I used my grandmothers old school recipe for the dill version (above).  Half vinegar, half water, a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt.  Add fresh dill from the garden and slice the cucumbers a little thicker.

Now back to the garden and on to more green beans.

[make] love bugs

Lauren at Goody-Goody designed this adorable Bitty Bug Pincushion and shared it so I had to try a few.

I love the idea of using all circles and folding them to get the wings and head. It's also a great way to use up some of my extra fabric from my recent heart production.  My bitty bugs didn't come out as perfect as Lauren's and I chose to go antenna-less and use brads for eyes.

They are still very cute and will make perfect little love bugs to give to my little ones today.  Happy Valentine's Day to you and your family too!

[make] flowers pinned

I should avoid Michael's clearance section.  I know this.  But I didn't and found these felt and fabric flowers intended for scrapbooking.  At less than $2 for the 2-pack, I couldn't resist.  I don't scrapbook but I was sure I would find a use for them.

Enter hair accessories for the twins.  The orange flowers were perfect and they had built in bling!  I just covered a hair clip with coordinating ribbon and glued them on.  Done.

The grey ones were a little more difficult.  I REALLY liked the grey felt roses so I decided a pin back may be more appropriate.  You see, that way I could wear them too.  Same went for the white roses.  They feel like frosted glass.  The girls wouldn't want those anyway, right?

I worked really hard and deconstructed the trios of black roses.  Okay, I just cut them apart since they were sewn onto tulle and switched them up into two pins and two hair bows. Again, a ribbon covered clip or a circle pin back and hot glue.

A few more little pink roses and yes, just glued them to a covered clip.  So cute.

So, for a $10 investment  and about 30 minutes of my time, I ended up with some unique accessories for the girls and some pretty little pins for me, ummm.... the girls. 

[make] bows come in pairs too

I need two of them.  I'm getting a little better about using coordinating items rather than the exact same thing, but when it comes to hair bows.  I need at least two of them.  I mean what if they want to wear pig tails?  What if they both want to wear pig tails?  Okay, so I need four of them.

Since apparently my car and the twin's room eats hair bows, time to make more.

I like to use grosgrain ribbon, heat seal the cut ends and wire them together tuxedo style.  A little hot glue on the clip finishes them off and makes them durable enough for my ruffians.

Some are layered, some aren't, but all in all it seems to be a good batch.

And just in case you were wondering, there are in fact at least two if not four of each style.  Pig tails after all. 

[make] heart warming

Pinterest strikes again.  So how cute are these hearts by Brett Bara from Design Sponge?  So cute, I pinned my own pin.

The pattern is super simple and easy to use. I followed Brett's tutorial except for two tiny changes.  I didn't do the stitching at the top of the pocket fold, just ironed - lazy wins again.

Since lazy had its say, let's let cheap, uh... thrifty come into play.  My husband enlisted me for corn hole bags at Christmas and we just happen to have 46 pounds of the 50 pounds of deer corn left. Polyfil can get expensive, the corn was free.

The happy result is that you can heat these little babies up.  Twenty seconds in the microwave and these sweet hearts become warm and perfect for putting in your pockets on a cold day.  They fit right in the palm of your hand. Oh and I went kind of crazy making them, after all I had plenty of corn.

Packaged up two by two with a clever little saying and ready for warm Valentine treats.  What's that saying about the mother of invention?

[make] christmas treats

Before our Holiday House Party, the kids and I did a little "baking".  I had found some nutter butter reindeer and little marshmallow north poles on pinterest.  Here are our versions.

My little ones don't care for peppermint so we used red and white striped paper straws for our poles and dipped away.  These little north poles are super easy and I was surprised at house quickly we turned them out.  90 seconds for the almond bark to melt in the microwave and not much more for the kids to dip them in the candy coating and roll them in white sprinkles.

As for the reindeer, Nutter Butters covered in chocolate with pretzel antlers and red candy noses.  We used the icing eyes that I got from Bake It Pretty.  How cute are these little things and my three kids did everything besides heating up the chocolate.  The only problem we had were lots of noses went missing.

They were a huge hit at our Holiday House Party which is saying something considering all the candy competition.

[make] ornaments

I managed a few homemade ornaments this year.  Simple but really pretty.  The first is the simplest.  Remember the sweater pumpkins?  A tiny embroidery hoop plus some of the red sweater leftovers equals a super cute little Christmas "ball" perfect for my woodland tree.

A thrifted men's plaid shirt yields a different but equally cute version.  I didn't even hot glue them or put a string on them.  I just nestled them in the branches. Done.

The next was more involved but the concept just as simple.

Terrarium Ornaments:

1.  Gather up moss, plants, sticks, rocks, you name it.
2.  Get a clear glass (or plastic) ornament and remove the cap.  
3.  Start with soil, about two tablespoons will do it.
4.  Put your plant(s) in.   I used Creeping Jenny.
5.  Then add about the same amount of mulch as soil.
6.  Pack it all down with a cotton swap or chopstick.
7.  Start adding your moss.  You may need to add a little more mulch to even things out.
8.  Now the fun part, add sticks, berries, stones, beads or even tiny little ornaments.
9.  Add a little water to keep everything growing.
10. Use a cotton swab helps helps clean off the inside of the glass. 
11. Use a little twine to tie them on the tree.

All finished!

The kids helped me gather the plants, moss and mulch from our yard and we had the clear glass ornaments left over from Christmas's past so our craft was FREE!  We even packed a few up for teacher gifts with the caption "thanks for helping us grow".  A brown kraft box with some paper shreds kept them safe and sound for transport.

Now to see if we can sneak in a few others before Santa comes!

[make] waiting room crafts - part 2

So technically I did these in a hospital room proper.  Sis had been admitted by this point and since I was the designated overnight watch, enter felt leaves and flowers.

My inspiration were these little roses, this looped up flower from Infarrently Creative and the straight cut version. I also found these really neat leave headbands J Market sells on her Etsy shop.

I started with the leaves and found that I preferred the more narrow (orange) version.  I so love the combination of felt and a plain stitch with embroidery floss.  It was as simple as cutting the base, a few leave shapes, and then sewing them on.  Easy peasy.

Next came the roses and yet again, I preferred the smaller orange version.  Instead of sewing these I hooked up the hot glue gun.  We were in a room after all and I had my hot glue gun of course.  I followed the tutorial and despite having to fold the bigger yellow one over several times, I really like the result.

My favorite out of the bunch though had to be these little beauties.  They were super simple and with some hot glue in lieu of the heat tape, felt and scissors they take no time at all. Mom's favorite was the tri-color little one in the center of the photo which was even easier - same technique, no fold and honestly, it was made out of the leftover scraps from the other flowers.

Now, what to do with them.  I'm open to ideas.  Hair bow, wreath decoration, scarf pin?  Yea, no clue here.

[make] waiting room crafts - part 1

I recently spent a great deal of time in a hospital waiting room.  My sister had a scheduled surgery, so I came prepared with a bag of what I hoped could keep me occupied for at least eight hour stretch.  I started with pom poms because I had seen these super cute pom flowers on Pinterest.

I tried the fork version to no avail (the baby teal ones pictured below).  Either I put too much yarn or I didn't get it tied tightly enough.  They came out all sideways and weird. So then I went to the hand method, also pinned, but then they were loosey goosey and so again, craft fail (more weird but larger teal ones).  At this point I've gathered the attention of my mother, brother, father and niece who are all giving me advice on what I'm doing wrong.  This is not to mention the rest of the people in the waiting room and the fact that I've commandeered the waiting room trash can.  So because "she said so", I tried Mom's version.

(1) The piece of "tying" yarn is threaded between your middle and ring finger and then them you close your hand tightly and (2) wrap until you can't feel the ends of your fingers anymore from lack of circulation.  (3) Tie off the yarn in the middle as tight as you can, wrap the yarn around and tie it one more time for good measure and then (4) cut the ends.  Trim and trim some more.

So Mom as usual, completely and utterly correct - see the nice shaped cream colored poms?  I guess you should trust the person who made all those pom poms for your skates so many years ago.  Now to put them on stems for my flowers!  I did pack my glue gun but I finished up the pom flowers when I got back home with these results.

 Thanks Mom!!

[make] scrappy skirts

I found this scrappy skirt on Pinterest and my Halloween costume plans for the twins took a very sudden turn from girlie robot to rockin' cowgirl.  First I found the boots at Target.  Pink.  I was going for brown, but the girls  voted pink.  They always vote pink.

Now to raid my fabric bins.  Since the boots were a pretty rosy pink, might as well go shabby chic.

The cutting begins.  I really dislike measuring so I let the fabric do the work for me.  I folded the fabric in half, selvage sides meeting and started strips 1" to 2" wide.  I cut those in half at the fold.  So, if my math is correct, on 48" fabric, my pieces were approximately 24" long by 1" to 2" wide.  I angled each end and cut all the strips with pinking shears.

Step 1, basically cut a lot of strips.
Step 2, the elastic.  A length that fit around my little one's waist sewn together at the ends to form a circlular waist band.

Steps 3 and 4, tying the strips on.  Just like with other tutu tutorials, I simply folded the strips in half and slid the two end over the elastic and through the loop made at the fold to secure them to the elastic.  Repeat and repeat and repeat.  I used five different fabrics and tried to scatter them randomly around the elastic band.

Step 5, tying the final fabric. I used was a very lightweight cotton.  These I tied in a simple knot, just like in the Ten Minute Tutu, to make the skirt a little fuller and to fill in the holes.

The twins love it and it has such a different look than the standard tulle tutu.  A couple of notes to keep in mind.

1) The heavier the weight of the fabric, the thicker the knot around the elastic is going to be.
2) The elastic is going to stretch a lot more while you are tieing the knots than with  tulle.  Apparently the cotton doesn't let the elastic slide through as easily which meant I had to add a fabric strip laced around the knots to tighten the skirt a bit and make sure it didn't fall off the twin's hips.
3) To give the skirt a little more length but not have to cut your fabric different you can just vary the lengths of your ends. In other words instead of folding the fabric in half and knotting it, you can fold it off centered and not only get some more length but make the skirt a little fuller with the varied lengths of your ends.

To complete the outfits, I added some suede roses that I picked up at the Dollar Store to a natural straw cowboy hat.  Then I cut out two 24" x 24" squares for the bandanas out of some of the leftover fabric from the skirts and two cowgirl costumes are done.

The cost?  $22 each for the pink boots at Target, $6 each for the hats also at Target, $2 for the suede roses and fabric that I had in my stores.  Since I figure the girls would have gotten a pair of boots this season anyway, I'm claiming that the girls' costumes only cost me $7 each.  Not too shabby, just shabby enough.

I'd love to see your versions if you give it a try and maybe you will even get a little help like I did. The little monster that happens to be in all my tutorial photos is my new "helper" according the the girls.  The twins help a lot with cutting and "sewing" my scraps but apparently the little monster is the scrappy skirt spokesperson.




Thanks to Sherry, Katie, Erin and Ana for hosting the fall edition!

[make] mini-mummies and sticky ghosts

Super easy and super quick, there's no need to stray too far from the classics.

Mummies and Mini-Mummies:

Directions:  Glue the end of some white crepe paper to the candy bar wrapper (I used Hershey Bars) and simply wrap.  Wrap the crepe paper around until it's all covered and then tear the paper and glue the end to the bar's wrapper.  Glue on some google eyes and move on to the next one.

Blow-Pop Ghosties:

Directions: Take a single tissue and center the sucker in the middle.  Fold the tissue around the pop part and tie off with a ribbon.  I opted to go with black yarn to tie secure the tissue to keep it retro. Use a black marker to may eyes and a mouth if you'd like.

The great part about both of these - the kiddies can help you assemble and make the faces.  Especially if you are trying to put 50+ of each together!  Add them to a clear bag with a fruit roll-up and a ribbon and ready to give.

[make] scary fun

Nothing like waiting to the last minute.   Some Halloween inspiration:

All the images and ideas along with lots of others can be found on my Scary Fun board via Pinterest.  Do you have holiday boards full of so many ideas that you would never be able to do all of them?

[make] plump pumpkiny success

I love my new pumpkins.  LOVE them.  They are soft and warm and completely perfect for fall.  I wish you could hold them and hug them and love them like I do, but you can make your very own to love.  I will tell you how.

First you need sweaters.  Mine are thrifted for a whole $3.75 a piece.  I got three in the biggest sizes I could find in the colors I wanted.  Then cut them to pieces. Sorry very nice, and at one time very expensive, red cable knit sweater.  I also chose different knits, tight knit, ribbed, and cable for a little more interest.

1 - Now for the circles.  I used a serving bowl for my pattern on the smaller one and then just kind of eyed it for the larger circles.  I use the term circle loosely obviously.  My smallest pumpkin's circle was about 12" in diameter with my largest being nearly 24".

2 - Time for the embroidery thread.  I just find that with gathering and pulling things really tight, I prefer the heaviest thing I can find.  Plus I have lots of colors.  So pick a matching thread, and start a running stitch around the edge.   You can fold the edges over if you'd like, but I found that just added to the bulk when I gathered.  My sweaters didn't unravel at all, so I ended up just going straight around the edges.

3 - Once you get your running stitch all the way around start gathering.  Don't cut your thread though, you'll need it. When you are mostly gathered, time to stuff.  I started with polyfill and then added rice for some weight and then more polyfill.

4 - Time to finish the gathering, pull it super tight and tie off your thread.  Don't cut it yet!

5 - At this point if you will most likely still be able to see a great deal of polyfill.  Start sewing the hole together and tucking the raw edges down into the body of the pumpkin.  At this point you can start shaping the pumpkin a little too.  Tie off your thread nice and tight but once again, don't cut it.

6 - Now it's time to really give your pumpkin some shape.  Take the thread around the outside of the pumpkin and push your needle straight up through the bottom center  until you can get it out of the top center and pull it a little taunt.  This is your first "crease".  Run your thread around the opposite side of your pumpkin, coming back up through the bottom to the top of your pumpkin.

7 - Continue doing this until you have 6 to 8 thread creases running around your pumpkin.  Tie your thread off and NOW you can cut it if you haven't already had to re-thread and start over.

8 - Now make more!

Oh yeah, the stem.  I explored lots of different options including sticks, shells, burlap, and felt but landed on the more simple real deal.  A little hot glue and all done.

They are perfect, warm, fuzzy, and pumpkin.  The rice gives it such a nice weight and feel, too.  AND I have leftover sweater for a Christmas project maybe?  Or more pumpkins! Let me know what you think, if you try it, and any ideas for the leftover knits!




Thanks to Sherry, Katie, Erin and Ana for hosting the fall edition!  AND, thanks to Rachel at One Pretty Thing for featuring this post!