St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Garland

When it comes to holidays, I've always had the best intentions of decorating. I mean, I DO go all-out at Christmastime, but other than that I've been a pretty pitiful decorator. I'm not sure why...maybe it's a lack of time? Or maybe it's just too much work to scoot the kid-induced clutter out of the way to stick some cutesy holiday what-nots in its place.

So this is why it's somewhat amazing that it's only March and I've already decorated for 2 holidays this year. Granted, it's just my mantel so far, but it's a start, right? My Valentine's heart garland was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest. I came up with this St. Patrick's Day shamrock garland because I so enjoyed having something there the whole month of February. Once the hearts came down, I just HAD to have something to go up in their place.



Plus, I'm over half Irish, so of course this is a holiday I have to celebrate!

I started by tracing a shamrock-shaped cookie cutter onto a piece of paper. Then I enlarged it by extending the outline free hand. I cut it out and traced it on fabric. Now, normally I would have used my disappearing fabric marker for this, but it had apparently been "borrowed" by Not Me, so I resorted to a ball-point pen.



I made a sandwich of my traced shamrock, a square of cotton batting, and another matching piece of fabric, right sides out.



Then I pinned them together and stitched about 1/4" inside my lines. If the shape wasn't so convoluted, I would have stitched ON the lines and then cut it out 1/4" outside the lines, but in this case I think it would have messed up the shamrock shape.






My stitching lines aren't perfect, but since they have a sort of scrappy look anyway with the unfinished edges, that's okay.



I thought they needed something else, so I stitched a button to the center of each shamrock. I then attached them to a piece of 1/4" green ribbon using a tiny dab of hot glue. I think they turned out pretty cute!



Now I just need some decor for the top of my mantel...and I really should figure out just WHAT the boys did with the piece of wood they broke off that scroll-y piece on the front of the fireplace!

Inspired by Pinterest -- Cute Ribbon Flower!

Who else is loving Pinterest?!! I love how visual it is...I used to bookmark sites I wanted to return to, but then when looking at a list of bookmarked sites, I never could remember why I had saved it to begin with. Now with Pinterest it's all visual, and categorized, and shareable...what's not to love?

Anyone else find themselves pinning, repinning, and liking tons of stuff but then never finding the time to actually DO the ideas you are pinning? Yep, that's me!! So many great ideas out there, so little time.

So I've decided if I'm going to play on Pinterest, I'm going to take the time to try out some of the recipes, crafts, school ideas, and decor ideas I am finding there. And, of course, I'm going to share them with YOU! :)

Yesterday I tried out a tutorial for a ribbon flower. The original tutorial can be found here. Here is the one I made:



The instructions called for using a wood burning tool and a washer to trace, cut, and seal the ribbon at the same time. While that sounds amazingly cool, I don't own such a tool. So I made do with a thread spool and a pen.






I used 1.5" grosgrain ribbon cut 2" long, and heat-sealed all cut ends with a cigarette lighter.



The instructions weren't specific on how to sew them together, so I ended up sewing it once, taking it apart, and then sewing it again. Turns out it worked better for me starting and ending with the needle on the right (printed) side of the ribbon, instead of coming up from underneath, which is how I did it the first time.



I stacked 3 buttons of different sizes and sewed them onto the middle of my flower.



Then I covered an alligator clip with matching pink ribbon and hot-glued it to the back of the flower.



And here it is in use by the resident girly-girl:



She, of course, loves it. She loves ALL things cute and girly!









Cute, silly girl!!

It was very quick to make, maybe 30 minutes or less. I do like her other bows better, so I don't think I'd make a bunch of these. But it did turn out cute, and was super easy. The site with the tutorial looks like it has a TON of bow-making info. I haven't explored the rest of the site yet, but I will!!

In other random news, did y'all know that March is National Frozen Food Month? I usually take advantage of the great sales on frozen foods and stock up my freezer. While I'll still do that to some degree, I'm also going to celebrate by doing some serious cooking of freezer meals this month.

Last October I made over 30 freezer meals over the course of a week, so that I could relax during the holiday season with about half our our dinners already made. It made life SO MUCH easier! Those meals are now long gone, so it's time to feed the freezer again.

I'm working out plans and menus right now, so that hopefully I can start shopping and cooking next week. Check back later as I'll be sure to share the process (and links to recipes) here!

Valentine's Day totally sneaked up on me this year! I mean, I knew it was coming and all, but not so quickly. I'm not ready! This is not a holiday that I make a huge deal out of, but I have several things I've been working on for the loves in my life, and they're not done yet! I still have this evening, right?

This is my lone Valentine's Day decoration this year:


A heart garland made out of red and white felt. It was inspired by something I saw posted on Pinterest, which is my new internet obsession. Like I have time for any more internet obsessions. Anyway, the original is here. I thought hers was cute, but since I didn't have the bead-looking things to put between them, I thought I'd add dimension by making the individual hearts multi-layered. I started with 3, but my sewing machine totally balked at that. Two it is, then.

We had a super-cold weekend, so we spent lots of time sitting around playing games and drinking hot chocolate. Jeremy found us a new Mille Bornes game, since our old one had too many cards missing to really play it.

It is.....Cars themed! The little boys were thrilled.


The draw/discard decks sit in a plastic Lightning McQueen. How cute is that?



And the cards all feature characters from the Cars 2 movie.


For some reason, several of my children weren't allowing me to take their pictures...


It might have something to do with the iPhone app I downloaded recently that makes the subjects of your photos have cool facial hair or bald heads. I thought they would find that amusing. You never can tell with these guys, though. Apparently Josh, Jordan, and Joseph don't trust me with a camera at the moment.

But Jon let me take his picture:



And so did Josiah:



Well, I've got Valentines to prepare and very little time left. Got to get to work!!

$1 Ribbon Spool to Adorable Korker Bow

I love the dollar bins at Target. I'm always picking up little things for the kids, either for holiday goodies or for school activities. Sometimes I have a specific use in mind; other times I'm just "collecting" until the fancy strikes to actually use these things!

For the past few holidays and seasons, they have had these little spools of ribbon. I've picked them up each time, mostly because they're so darn cute, but I've never actually USED them for anything...until yesterday, when I made a sweet little korker bow for my girly-girl. I took pictures of the process, so y'all could follow along and maybe even make some for the princesses in your life.



Cute Target Valentine's Day ribbon--6 different prints, 18" each.



Wrap ribbons on 1/4" diameter wooden dowels and secure with oven-safe clips.



Bake at 275 degrees for 20-25 minutes.



Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes until you can handle them comfortably, then remove clips and slide ribbons off dowels.



Cut ribbons--I cut mine every 5th curl, which ends up being about 3" long. You will want to seal the ends to prevent fraying. While I heat-seal the ribbons for the other bows I make, I find that it is easier to use Fray-Check on korkers.



Thread a needle (I used 2 strands of embroidery floss) and thread the ribbons through the center onto the needle, keeping them all on the needle as you go.






Pinch the ribbons together at the center, then pull the needle through. I sewed through the whole stack a few times, then secured with a couple small knots at the back (or bottom) of the stack.



Glue onto a lined clip.


And get ready for uber-cuteness!



Miss Joanna modeling HER bow. She immediately lays claim to all bows and other girly things as I make them, lol!




Enjoy!

Works in Progress...

With all the spare time I've been swimming in lately (Ha!), I've added a few little projects to my growing list of "works in progress." After all, the newest little J-boy needs some hand-made goodies, and I need the brief moments to relax. I'll probably never understand why having a bunch of unfinished craft projects is therapeutic, but it is. Maybe it's having lots of choices when I have a spare minute or two. Maybe I'm actually certifiably insane and haven't recognized it yet. I like to think it's the first option, but who knows?

This is a simple crocheted blanket I started while Jeremiah was in the NICU. After spending a full day alternating between staring at the walls in the cafeteria and staring at the walls in the lobby between baby feedings, I knew I HAD to have a project. Then the other nice folks in the cafeteria and lobby could stare at ME, while I alternated between crocheting furiously and nodding off to sleep.



These flannel squares are going to become a rag quilt, or rather 2 rag quilts--one for Jeremiah, and one for a friend. I had the hardest time selecting the fabrics for these. Little boys are harder to sew for than little girls for sure. The fabric selections are just not even comparable. I have an orange fabric that I'm still trying to decide on. We'll see if it makes the cut.



The finished quilts will look like this one that I made for Joanna:



While I love the finished product, I think I vaguely remember promising myself I would NEVER make one of these again. Cutting all those seams was a beast. A trip to JoAnn's for spring-loaded scissors might be in order. I just got a new 40% off coupon that needs to be used...

And while I'm aware that it is only August, these fabrics have been calling to me as well:



(After all, playing with Christmas fabrics in August is much more fun than grading math or cleaning my bathroom. Which are what I SHOULD be doing.)

I bought them on sale before Christmas LAST year, and didn't do anything with them. I'm thinking they might become advent calendars. Hopefully before December, so we can actually use them.

I also need to get back to work on this quilt. I kind of lost interest in working on it because I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. But now I know the perfect place for it to go!

Now to go tackle the boys' math workbooks. (The bathroom will still have to wait!)

My Crafty Kid!

I love it when my kids get creative! Well, to be more accurate, I love it when my kids decide to channel their creativity into cute little projects that don't destroy whole rooms with their messes, rather than turning the playroom into one enormous blanket fort full of hundreds of puzzle pieces and millions of Legos.

Yesterday, Joshua got bitten by the creative bug and decided to make a stuffed bird for his little sister. He made a pattern on paper and then cut it out, sewed, and stuffed it entirely on his own (while I took a nap! Yay!!) I think it turned out pretty cute!

I'm choosing to overlook the pins left on the table, scissors under the table, and felt strewn about the floor, and just focus on the cuteness:



Cute, huh? I love that he thinks about making things for his siblings. He also made these fun bean bags (scroll down to the bottom) for Josiah's birthday last year, which also turned out really nice. I think I'll encourage him to make homemade gifts for Christmas this year--and clean up after himself when he's done!

Cough, Cough, Sneeze...

I had 3 children under the weather today! I just hate it when my guys don't feel well, poor babies! Jordan started out with a cough yesterday, which has turned into some sort of tummy bug today. Poor kid spent all day on the couch cuddled under a blanket! Jonathan skipped the cough altogether and went straight to the tummy bug...he's much more efficient, that child.

I feel SO BAD for them, but I have to admit I'm glad it's not the babies...at least the older boys can reliably make it to the potty before being "sick." Hopefully that doesn't sound too awful of me!

Even Joey spent a good part of the day on the couch. I still can't figure out what actual symptoms of illness that boy has--he didn't seem to actually be sick. But I know something is just. not. quite. right when that child lies quietly for any length of time during the day.

I got online after lunch to look up a recipe at The Pioneer Woman Cooks (love ALL the recipes I've made of hers so far!) and found that she also has a photography blog. Since everyone who was awake was laid out on couches (and therefore not making any trouble) I poked around for a while.

After all, I SO need to learn to actually USE my nifty (and expensive) camera that I convinced Jeremy over a year ago that I just HAD to have. The guilt is starting to set in--I'm basically just using it as a point-and-shoot right now. I could have spent a LOT less and bought an actual point-and-shoot. But I didn't. So I feel obligated to actually learn to use the thing.

About two weeks ago I downloaded the most recent Photoshop Elements trial onto my new computer. The version on my old computer is about 5 years old and waaaay outdated--as in I can't find a "Photoshop Elements For Dummies"-type book that goes with it. My plan is to purchase the newest one, which runs about $80, when the trial runs out. So I'm looking through PW's regular Photoshop tutorials and marveling at all the fun effects that Photoshop does. Naturally I think, "I should look into the full Photoshop instead."

A quick mosey over to the Adobe site reveals its $699.00 price tag. Yikes!! Yep, I think Elements will do me just fine, thank-you-very-much!

At any rate, I'm going to take some time, maybe over the weekend, to dig out my camera manual and play around with some of the settings. I'm aiming for stunning and amazing things. We'll see what actually happens in reality. At least I have some really cute subjects running around here...cute subjects make up for a lot of shortcomings in the actual talent department, after all.

All the little people are sleeping peacefully now. I'm hoping and praying that all are well in the morning, and that the 3 that are currently well STAY well. After a day of quiet resting, I really miss the normal chaos of 6 healthy, boisterous kids running all over the place!

Progress...

I've been making a point this week to set aside an hour during nap time each day to sew. I figure it's good for my sanity to do something I enjoy AND slowly but surely have something to show for it as well. Not that I don't enjoy teaching my children and keeping up with household tasks, of course, but it's nice to do something that's both fun and completely not required. No pressure! :)

It's also a good thing to use up some of my quickly-growing fabric stash. My husband has finally noticed that more fabric is coming into this house than is turning into finished products. So if taking time to complete projects will make him happy, well, then it's a sacrifice (he he he) I'm totally willing to make!

Here is my disappearing 9-patch progress so far...obviously the "disappearing" part hasn't happened yet:


It looks solid in the picture, but it's really just nine 9-patch blocks so far...I'm just slapping them up on the wall as I complete each one, then I'll cut them up and rearrange them later. I'm finding that I can make 3 blocks in each hour-long sewing session. This includes time spent redirecting my home schoolers who are supposed to be doing their reading, as well as wrangling the occasional little one who decides naps are optional.

Here is the back third or so of (what will soon be) my super-fabulous craft room! It's in our finished basement, and is open to the play room, which makes it very convenient to use while the children play. I have grand plans for this space!!!


I made myself a makeshift "design wall" over the weekend, which I am loving so far. I had a big piece of flannel yardage that I'd bought to line some Christmas stockings, then didn't use it after all. Yes, it's just stapled to the wall, with the extra hanging down the side. :) I want to use it for a bit and decide 1) if this is the size I want and 2) if this is where I want it to live permanently. Once I know what I want, I'm going to use molding of some sort to make a frame around the permanent version, so it looks more decorative and "meant to be there."

I'll post more pictures of the quilt-in-progress when I have all the patches done and rearranged. I'm hoping it won't take longer than a week or so to get to that point!

A New Quilt Project...

I'm doing what I told myself I'd stop doing--starting a new project before finishing the current one. I finally got the back to Josiah's quilt pieced, after realizing that the original backing fabric I had purchased wasn't going to be big enough alone. Apparently I'm not as good at math as I thought I was. His quilt is sandwiched together and basted...all ready for quilting.

So of course it makes perfect sense that I spent my last couple hours of sewing time cutting up these:



Yes, this fabric is girly to the extreme. I purchased this (and a whole lot of other girly stuff) last February when Joanna was only a couple months old. What can I say, though? After having 5 children in just under 9 years and not being able to buy a single pink flowery thing for ANY of them, I was bound to go a bit overboard when my first girl finally came along!



I've been putting off using this because I couldn't decide which item on my mile-long list of Designs I Want To Try Someday to actually make with it. One of the items on my list is a disappearing nine patch, so when my friend Shana posted a picture of the beautiful disappearing nine patch she is making on Face Book recently, I was inspired to go ahead and cross that item off my list.



My stack of fat quarters yielded the pile of 5" squares above, as well as these strips and rectangle scraps, which will someday be used for something else. Oh, the possibilities!! In case you're wondering, the fabric pattern is Birdie by Me & My Sister for Moda. I love the pinks, greens, and chocolate brown!

I'm thinking I'll go ahead and piece my squares, then while I mull over how exactly to arrange them for the final quilt, I'll go back and finish Josiah's. And I'll try not to even LOOK at all the other fabrics in my stash that are calling my name until these are done!!

Yes, The Packaging Is STILL the Best Part!

When you were a small child, do you remember opening a gift, only to set it aside and play with the box? There is one Christmas that stands out in my memory because my mom got a large appliance of some sort, and my sister and I turned that box into a play house and spent hours in the front yard playing in it. I don’t even remember what the present was!

My children are the same way…they love a good box! Over the years we’ve turned boxes into houses, rocket ships, trains, and the like. Their cardboard sides have been used for crafts of all sorts. I’ve started doing more of our shopping on line, and whenever a package is delivered, I have several boys begging for rights to the box! But now, we’re finding that the packing box has another treasure to offer…cornstarch packing peanuts!




Yesterday when Joshua’s new grammar books arrived, I handed a few of the packing peanuts to the boys. They weren’t impressed, until I told them how to dampen the ends and stick them together. Then all hands flew to that box…they had so much fun building with them! It wasn’t a very big box, so the peanut supply was small and they were used up quickly. But oh, they were fun!




Another package was delivered this morning. It was so funny--as soon as I opened the box, the boys grabbed a few peanuts and licked them to see if they would stick! They were more excited about those peanuts (yes, they are the sticky kind, not boring ol’ styrofoam!) than they were about the can of yummy freeze-dried strawberries the peanuts were protecting. I put them away, telling the boys that we would build something with them once they finished their schoolwork. Nothing like a good incentive to keep them on task, right? I can’t wait to see what they will create this time!



Jordan's expression after licking a peanut...he decided he'd rather lick his finger and touch it to the peanut instead! The other boys didn't seem to mind the taste and licked away!




I’m thinking about ordering a big bag of these for the boys. I did a little bit of research, and you can buy colored ones, called Nuudles, specifically for kid’s crafts. Or you can order plain white ones from a packing company. They’re hard to compare price-wise, since the former are labeled with a piece count and the latter by cubic feet. I suspect that the plain ones from a shipping supply store will be less expensive, though. I’ll let you know what I find.




What would you do? Would you spend extra for the fun colors? Or would you stick with cheap basic white, knowing that your children would still have fun with them?