Monster Shirt

I had meant for this to turn out more symmetrical than it did. I suppose it looks more monster-ish this way. I think next time I will need to use heat & bond to adhere the picture before stitching it down so that it will keep from moving. Plus, it's not as easy to stitch something on an already assembled toddler-size t-shirt.

Dinosaur Hat

I saw a crocheted dinosaur hat on some blog and thought it was so cute and knew I could figure out how to make one from fleece. My son has kind of a big head, so I thought I would use the adult small earflap hat pattern I had. Only thing is that the earflaps are kinda long since adults must have taller heads, even if his circumference is the same as a small adult head.

The pattern actually called for velcro on the flaps, but since they are long for him I can tie the ear flaps under his chin easy enough. I stitched this while he was napping, so I didn't have a chance to try it on before I started assembling. So, now I need to think about how I can alter the lenth of the earflaps when the stitching is on the inside and is closed. But for now I can tie it. It might not look too bad if I just so a straight stitch where I want them to end and I can use my pinking shears to create a pointed edge. That's the great thing about fleece, that I can leave an unfinished edge or use pinking shears and it's not going to fray. I think that might be what I do.

Iced Candles

My daughter and I had fun making these. We made three in total, two for her teachers and one for a crafty-gift swap. All you have to do is paint glue on the candle and sprinkle on epsom salt. Let it dry. Tie on a sweet ribbon. And tada! It looks like ice on a candle.

I also made three containers of lavendar-vanilla bath salts using epsom salt, sea salt, oils, & food coloring. I have already given those to friends as Christmas gifts (forgot to take a picture) and they loved how they smelled.

Homemade Ornaments

These are the homemade ornaments that they kids made this year to give as gifts. My daughter really enjoyed making her handprint santas. I was only able to get one handprint santa out of my son, but did get him to fingerpaint on some tree. I laminated the ornaments since these were on paper and we want people to be able to keep them and use them for future Christmases.

Stitching Projects

So, I joined a Stitch & Bitch group a couple months ago. And while the daytime meetings I usually can't make, I have been able to get to a couple evening get togethers.

Last winter I bought myself a knitting board and did about 6 inches on the above scarf in this wonderful alpaca yarn (so soft!) and never touched it again. But this was a good way to get this project finished and start some more.

The knitting board automatically double knits everything (well, I haven't learned other stitching methods with it yet, I need to watch the DVD, this was what was explained in the paper handout on how to make a scarf) and it took quite a long time and got boring. So, I kept putting it down.

But then I thought I would pick up some Knifty Knitter hoop looms and make some hats. The above hat I made for a friend for Christmas and am in the process of making an identical one for another friend. The hats featured below are all gifts too. The small infant purple hat was given to my neighbor's new baby. The other three hats are Christmas presents for my husband, daughter & son.
I have also bought a different little tool, which I made a scarf & mitten for my daughter's baby dolly for Christmas presents for her. I still need to take a picture of those (and wrapped).

I do want to buy the set of flat looms to make scarves & blankets, etc.

Turkey Finger Puppets

This evening, while I watched a movie I made these finger puppets for the kids for Thanksgiving. I do realize I have made the second holiday themed finger puppet for them (made them bunny finger puppets for Easter) and at some point my daughter will probably ask me to make finger puppets for other holidays. I think I will skip on finger puppets for Christmas this year since I have other gifts I want to make the kids, maybe do every third holiday or something.

Anyways, the idea & pattern for thee puppets came from the website, Frog Prince Paperie. I had considered making a different turkey puppet, but I really liked the hand stitching on this one. Although, the other one would have been much quicker to create. Let me know if you make the other one. I do like the Groundhog finger puppet on that website, maybe that will be the next one.

Homemade No-Sew Birthday Banner

I have seen these banners on several different blogs. I always thought they were pretty cool, but worried about how time consuming it would be to cut out 13 triangles and 13 letters. It wasn't so bad. I just sat down and made this and made the most of my son's first birthday crown while I watched a movie.

I did all this free hand, no stencils. And I have to say, I think I did a pretty good job. The supplies I used was: felt, ribbons, school glue, hot glue & glue gun, and scissors.

I first cut out all the triangles, then started cutting out letters. Then it was time to glue it all together. I used white school glue to adhere the letters to the triangles and hot glue to adhere the pennants to the ribbon.

I love that it was no sew and I could do it sitting in the living room while watching a movie.

I had decided to do it in a variety of colors because then I can use it for any birthday. But I did make it for my son't first birthday. I had made several things for my daughters first birthday and wanted to make him some special things as well. So, for him I made this banner, am making a crown and a shirt. I did buy some small round cake molds so that I can make his personal birthday cake (for the photo op too).

Anyways, I figure this cost me around $3 to make. Certainly MUCH CHEAPER than buying a fabric pennant banner, probably even cheaper than buying a paper one that would get wrecked after one use.

Making Floss Balls

This was a project I did this week. It seemed simple enough and was pretty. I used water balloons that we had at home and left them small to keep them as round as possible. On each one I used a 1/2 skein of DMC floss. To make these I poured some liquid starch in a bowl and soaked the 1/2 skein of floss in it. Then wrapped the soaked floss around the balloon. Then placed the balloons in a single layer in a bowl to dry for 24 hours. After the floss was dry we popped & removed the balloon and now we have a pretty bowl of floss balls.

Bunny Finger Puppets

So, I made these for the kids for Easter and after I looked at the link that inspired me to make these, I realized I REALLY need to add tails, they look so much cuter with tails. So, these are semi-finished in this picture.

Korker Bows & Puffy Bow

Here are some new bows I made for Isabel. I made a big puffy bow which she loves and 2 sets of korker bows (one with pink accents and one with yellow accents). I actually made 2 sets of the pink accent korker bows so that I can give one set to one of her friends who has a birthday coming up soon. I think Isabel likes that I make her bows. I know she loves choosing out what to put in her hair and will say "I look so pretty" when she has one in she really likes.