Blanket Ladder

As I prepare to share the beginnings of my coffee table refinishing project - stay tuned - I thought that I'd post the pics of my Very. First. Ever. woodworking project. This heady attempt - and the several months cooling off period that followed - *may* have given me an inflated sense of handiness that prompted me to take on a project that I wasn't really qualified for . . . yet. That's how we learn quickly.

About 9 months ago, my very own mother sent me this Hallmark Channel "Home & Family" segment of a project-gone-right! I was smitten by the relative simplicity and utility of the project - give me all the blankets - and knew that I needed to make one! or two! I've painted small items but I'm going to go ahead and place this blanket ladder in the elevated category of furniture-making. Even with the excellent tutorial, (truly, it is), I had to ask a lot of questions and be a little bit patient with myself. I phoned more than one friend and relative to ask about pretty much every phase - sanding, staining, assembling and sealing. Also, I borrowed tools. 

 This picture illustrates what I learned about my first stain choice: multiple coats will not make it less orange.

 Although not a terrible hue, it wasn't quite the crowd-pleasing color that I was attempting.

 A second trip to Home Depot resulted in this Hail Mary attempt to color-correct my stain by layering a darker stain on top of it (to avoid having to sand and start over). It worked! Although, to be truthful, I didn't have time to start over anyhow.

 Here's the finished project, sprayed with a finishing coat of poly, drying in my garage. Pardon the lighting, there was no daylight remaining.

 Ready for blankets!

But, in the end, I ended up with a project that I was proud of contributing to my Annual Handmade Holiday gift exchange. And, I think, in lieu of a patch, I have earned a Furniture Camp shirt to add to my novelty tee collection. 

Tombstone Trophy Tutorial

I found these great tombstones in Bullseye's Playground at Target and immediately thought that they would make great (and easy) trophy's for the Annual Halloween Party and Chili Cook-off at my church. It's a really fun event - especially for children - with a costume contest, "trunk-or-treating" (trick-or-treating to various decorated car trunks), a pumpkin carving contest and a chili cook-off. Lots of opportunities to win a trophy! 

Last year, a friend and I made the awards together - and had a lot of fun doing it - but they were very labor-intensive. Since my bestie moved away, I came up with this far simpler idea that can be made in one evening! So, let's gather up some supplies and get crafting.

You'll need: tombstone figures (or another figure with a flat back), Halloween scrapbook paper (I used a 6 x 6 paper pad), foam brush, Mod Podge or glue (I used Mod Podge Matte), scissors, craft knife, chalkboard paper stickers, white Sakura jelly-roll pen. You may also want wax paper or a paper plate to protect your crafting surface and a cutting board or mat to go under your project when you're trimming with a craft knife.

Flip your paper over to the wrong side and trace around the tombstone. Cut it out just inside the line.

Using a paintbrush or foam brush, spread Mod Podge on the wrong side of the paper and the back of the tombstone. Stick them together, smoothing out any wrinkles or bubbles. 

Allow to dry for 10-15 minutes.

Place the tombstone on a cutting board and carefully trim any overhanging paper with a craft knife.

Fill out your chalkboard paper stickers and stick them to your trophy. 

Admire your work! 

Placemat Throw Pillow

For my crafty friends.  Because someday you will see a super cute placemat and think of this easy craft.  I initially got the idea from this great pin about using a fun, shaped placemat.

Take a placemat.  It *could* be one you found on sale at Target for about $3.  It should be cute! :)

Top stitch 3/8" around the placemat leaving about a 4" opening, or big enough to squeeze your hand through.  This will create a little border around your pillow, sort of like piping would.  I like that look but, if you don't, just skip this step and move on to the next.

Unpick the existing stitches that run parallel to your opening or 'gap' that you left so that you can open it up.  I had to do it twice because there were two sets of stitches on my pillow, front and back.

Open up the gap.  Insert stuffing.  I used Poly-fil.

Stitch closed.  Merry, merry!  Keep pillow for yourself so that your kids will stop telling you that you don't decorate the house enough for the holidays -OR- Think about all the people you know who need a happy pillow like this (and how brilliant they'll think you are).

Update, one week later:  I kept mine.  Currently, the kids have a rotation for who gets it during nightly story time :)

The Reluctant Mermaid

Doesn't that sound like an old-school romance novel . . . or a Lifetime Original Movie (like you've never secretly watched those)?  Nope, just everyday life around here with a mercurial two-year-old.  Happy. Sad. Happy. Sad.

About a month ago, Evelyn announced that she wanted to be a mermaid for Halloween.  I waited to see if the idea would stick and it did - yay!  Problem? Evelyn doesn't really like The Little Mermaid.  She can't get past the terrifying Sea Witch AND there are hardly any non-Ariel mermaid costumes for toddlers.    I checked the local Halloween store, online and pretty much all my normal shopping haunts with no luck.  Enter Costco (love!).  They had an awesome mermaid costume with lots of accessories that I never even imagined that a mermaid would need:  a headband, bracelet, necklace and teeny tiny cape.  Hilarious!  Evelyn was smitten with it too.  The smallest size was way too big, but I decided to take it home and see if I could 'make it work.'  I really had to do some significant alterations to make sure that she wouldn't trip over that darn tail all night while we were Trick-or-Treating.

It went from this (wrong color but you get the idea) to

Wait for it . . .

Wait for it . . .

This!

And after all my hard work, she HATED it!  Maybe she'll calm down?

Nope.

 

Here, Evelyn is trying to hide.  But it doesn't work, mwah ha ha!  She's inadvertently showing off the cute ruching on the bum.

 

What if big sister tries it on, making it cool by association?  Yeah, no.  Also, you can tell by the drooping shoulders that Abby was not happy to get dragged into this mess.

Oh well.  I figured that if she didn't wear it on Halloween, we'd pull something from the dress up cupboard.  But remember what I said about toddlers?  Happy. Sad . . .

Happy Halloween!

Happy Heart Day!

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day! We love all holidays around here. In fact, we love them so much that we make up some extra ones (like birthdays for favorite stuffed animal friends).

I guess the blame/credit might rest upon my shoulders because the kids and I love any excuse for a celebration. On Oliver's 100th day of school - after his class party - we took a little field trip to the dollar store. Each kid was able to spend their 100 cents on anything their little heart desired. We didn't want the fun to end and, for $2.19, we had a special afternoon that they still talk about. Oh, and they learned about sales tax so it was highly educational ;)

So . . . back to Valentine's Day. I thought I'd share this year's Valentines and some snapshots from this year's celebrations.

Maybe you've seen this type of Valentine before - they are becoming quite popular - but it seemed perfect for Miss Abby. She loved handing these out to her friends and was so proud. The photo of a photo washed out the colors a bit - these were even cuter in person!

Oliver handed out these pun-ny, candy-free valentines to his friends at school. He matched up the animals to the correct phrase and addressed them all himself. I found the printable for them here last year and was hoping that Oliver would like the idea as much as I did when this year rolled around.

We knew that Nick would miss most of Valentine's Day since he had to fly to Detroit for work so we gave the inside of his office door a "Heart Attack" to surprise him before he left. The kids were really excited to show off their handiwork. I helped cut out some of the hearts but they definitely colored and glued a lot! They really put their hearts into it - ha! ha! ha!

A picture of Oliver at his school Valentine party. Love it!

Abby sipping a Shirley Temple at our church's party.

Oliver making cards for his friends.

Oliver and his buddy Aidan. Wish I had a picture of the Valentine that Aidan made for Oliver - it was awesome!

I am involved in the Primary (children's) organization so I spent that day making sugar cookies for the kids to decorate.

The cookies turned out very fancy!

Evelyn had fun too!

Handmade Holiday 2010

For family, some pretty and practical embellished dishtowels. Actually, kind of disappointed with how much these wrinkle after washing. I used this tutorial on Sew4Home. They used Crate and Barrel dishtowels - not Ikea's - so I'll try those next time.

For some of the greatest Yo Gabba Gabba Fans we know, Brobee and Foofa shirts.

For Abby, just for fun. Turns out lightweight mittens are super easy to make so I made a couple pairs from this tutorial. Really lightweight I guess because she is wearing them with a sundress in this picture.

For our neighbors and a couple of friends, dish soap in glass bottles. One of Martha Stewart's classic "Good Things" that my friend Wendy suggested.

For the kids on Christmas Day, cupcakes featuring leftover candy canes. I found the idea here and thought it was brilliant since we usually end up throwing them away.

Halloween: The Costumes

Halloween is one of my kids' favorite holidays of the whole year. I think it might even trump their birthdays. They love everything about it: pumpkin patch visits, trunk-or-treat and, of course, the costumes. They love planning what they are going to be and don't feel restricted in any way by what the stores are offering because they have complete confidence in my ability to whip up anything. This confidence is a little bit misplaced but I think it is sweet that they feel this way and I really do try to make it happen. I think there is something magical - almost Cinderella-like - about being anything that you want to be for one night. Actually, my kids wear their costumes repeatedly throughout the year so perhaps the magic lasts a little bit longer than that.

This year, we almost didn't make it. Abby came down with a horrible virus and Nick left town on a job (hooray for work!) as I was frantically trying to finish sewing a Bowser, Jr. costume and a Snow White dress. Oliver caught the dreaded whatever-it-was and ended up missing his school's Halloween Parade that he had been so excited about. Long story short - and not without help - we survived. I had a "make it work" moment with Abby's dress but she was Snow White on Halloween. We missed a lot of fun Halloween activities due to sickness but still made it to a friend's birthday party, the Trunk-or-Treat and actual Trick-or-Treating in our new neighborhood with family and friends. Sadly, I don't have very good pictures of the kids dressed up but they loved their costumes and had a great time!

Oliver as Bowser, Jr. He's actually really happy but he's doing his tiny villain's pose.

I think my grandpa might be proud of my engineering of the spikes.

One of Oliver's friends dressed up as Bowser. He was thrilled and wanted to Trick-or-Treat with him all night.

I love how animated they got!

Abby at Trunk-or-Treat. I got her to wear her Cinderella costume from last year because I wasn't finished with Snow White yet.

My sewing area shortly before everyone showed up for our little Halloween party.

Abby's friend Amanda, aka Dorothy, and Snow White herself.

Kind of a funny picture but at least Abby's looking at the camera!