Falling Snowflake Decor

This is one of those projects that popped in my head while I was laying awake for hours at night. I had to give it a try in hopes to sleep better the next night :)

It was really easy and fast. Here is how I did it.


I started with a piece of wood I found in my husbands wood pile. He confessed to me the other day that he has a problem with collecting scraps of wood. I told him I had no problem with this, and together we could have quite the fabric and wood collections. A match made in Heaven.


Then I gathered up 3 different shades of blue paint, and a white.


I squirted them on the board and swirled it around.


This was the result.


Then I went to Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon and got this stencil.


I then stenciled on the snowflakes randomly.


Once it was dry I sanded it down really good.

Now if only I had a pretty mantel piece to put this on. Hmmmm.

Handmade Kids Christmas- Project #2

These hooded towels are project #2 for our handmade kids Christmas. I think I've been meaning to make these for 2 years now. It took barely a half an hour to do both, and I'm wondering why I dragged my feet for so long.



Here is my favorite tutorial I found for the hooded towels. It's super easy and I really like how the hood is double layered and the edges of the towels are not exposed.

I was supposed to have several other projects done by now, but puking kids and long nights have consumed my last 2 weeks. I sure hope I'm ready for Christmas and a new baby when it comes!

Handmade Kids Christmas- Project #1

This is going to be the beginning of posts showing what handmade gifts my husband and I are making for my 2 sweet girls this Christmas. Most of these projects have been on my to-do list for at least a year. It will be nice to get some of them done.

I searched the web over for the best kids apron tutorial, and I found this one to be exactly what I wanted. stardustshoes.blogspot.com has some amazing tutorials she has done for the Michael Miller Fabric designs. You'll have to check them out! Her tutorials are great for beginner or experienced sewers.

Her child size apron pattern was still way too large for my 2 and 4 year olds, so I will explain some of the adaptions I made with the pattern to fit smaller kids, just in case anyone out there is the least bit interested.

My changed measurements on the Apron pattern are as follows:
On the fold: 19 inches
Bottom: 8 inches
Right side edge: 12 inches
Top: 3 inches


For the pocket piece I actually did two pockets. The contrasting back pockets is made using two pieces of fabric 6" x 10". The front pocket is made from 2 pieces of fabric 5" x 9". Follow her same instructions to make the pockets, only sewing the one on top of the other.


The straps I wanted to be kid friendly and so I didn't have kids coming up to me all the time asking me to tie their straps.
Neck strap: 4" x 18.5"
2 Waist straps: 4" x 7 "
I then used a strip of Velcro on the waist straps so they could put them on themselves.


The chef hat tutorial was great! I only changed the band measurements from 8" x 24", to 7" x 24".

This was a very inexpensive gift to make. I found the fabric on clearance at Joann's for $1.50 per yard. I only used 1 yard each of the purple and pink fabrics, and 1 1/2 yard of the black polka dot fabric, and I still have leftovers.

It's just killing me to try these on my cuties!

Christmas Crafting Kick-off!

I'll be honest. I am one of those people who tend to skip over Thanksgiving in my head, and jump straight to Christmas mode once Halloween ends. Don't get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving day and getting together with the family, but for the moment, I have Christmas on my brain. Perhaps even more so this year because of the baby in my belly that is due December 30th. My husband keeps asking my why in the world I have all the Christmas shopping and projects scheduled to be done the next 2 weeks. Hello dear! We are having a baby! This crazy mamma is in full blown nesting mode and Christmas mode at the same time. It's a little crazy around here.

What really got me going was when my friend asked me to help her pull together a craft night for the ladies in our church. She assigned me to the sewing projects, which surprisingly not many people sign up for. I guess most people are afraid of a few stitches. But that is okay because it gave me a great excuse to start sewing some Christmas pillows. So me and the few ladies in my group will have a blast sewing more.


This pillow was done using the freezer paper stenciling method. This link will show you how to do that. I mixed silver and turquoise fabric paints to get the blue I wanted. My fabric measured 12x17 and after I painted the letters on, I simply sewed it right sides together, leaving a gap for turning. After turning and pressing, I stuffed it and sewed the opening shut. Quick and easy.

The bow pillow started with fabric squares measuring 14x14, and some silver ribbon. I sewed the ribbon on first in a plus sign shape on the fabric. Then I tied a bow, and stitched it on in the center. Next I sewed, stuffed and closed the pillow.

I'm also teaching key fobs at our craft night. You can throw these together in minutes using this awesome tutorial. Great for gift toppers.



The gathered clutch was sewn using this tutorial. It was actually made as a gift for my sister's birthday but would be great for Christmas gifts as well.


And I can't help but show you the rest of the craft projects my friend is doing for our ladies night.


Temple blocks, found here.


An adorable wooden silhouette nativity.


And a wooden H-O-M-E, fit for all seasons.




The home was a big hit with the ladies!
More fun stuff that night will be older ladies teaching us their candy making techniques, a free gift tag making class, and a digital scrap booking class. It's going to be fun and I am so grateful for any distractions to keep my mind off of how uncomfortable I am right now.

I would love to hear any ideas you might be doing too with groups of ladies this crafting season!

Make sure to come back and see what awesome projects I'm making my handy man husband create in his wood shop (our garage). We are doing a handmade holiday's for our kids this year, and I'm excited to share them with you!

He won't be getting away with any of this from now until Christmas.
And neither will me and my sewing machine.