Craftin' Texan

Growth Chart

2011-06-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

After all the building that I have been doing I have amassed quite a pile of scrap wood in my garage. Since we rent I decided to use a piece to make a growth chart for the Princesses. I had a scrap of 1/4" plywood that was 1'x6'. The perfect size! I sanded it and painted it white (the same white I used in my bedroom makeover. Use what you have, right?)

Once it was dry I got out the craft paint and painted a green vine and leaves with a 1" foam brush.

Next, I used my Silhouette to cut the flowers out of scrap book paper the Princesses picked out. I glued them on using Mod Podge. I didn't, however, seal it with Mod Podge because I didn't know how easy it would be to write on it with a pen.

Then, I painted some round wood pieces that I had in colors to match the flowers. Once they were dry I used a hot glue gun to attach them. I also painted some wooden butterflies and hot glued them on too. Then, I used a small paintbrush to draw the swirls on under the flowers.

The final touch was measuring lines. They don't really show up in this picture but I used a rose pink paint pen and a tape measure. I made the inch lines one inch long and the feet lines two inches long. I also wrote the numbers just to the left of the feet lines with the paint marker.

Now I can't wait to decorate the rest of their room with this flower and butterfly theme!

Finished Quilt

2011-06-16T17:14:00.000-07:00

Some of you may remember the post Q is for Quilt. Well, I have finally finished sewing it! I had the front/top all sewn and pinned together for quilting about two weeks after that first post. However, it sat in my sewing room while I tried to decide how to quilt it. This past weekend I finally decided to use stitch in the ditch so that the squares would really stand out. After all the princesses really worked hard on them!

Here it is in all its glory! I'm thinking that Princess Little is going to be my sewer. She was in the sewing room with me through the entire process. You never know, though, Princess Big may surprise me :)

Duvet

2011-06-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

The finishing touch for my bedroom makeover was a duvet cover. It was really easy! I used these instructions from Design Sponge. I love it! Now I need to make one for the Princesses.

If you are wondering why you never get a photo of the entire room at once it is because of the icky color on the walls. I'm sure you are thinking "just paint them" but we rent and that is not an option right now. However, if we ever move someplace where the wall color "goes" I'll be sure to show you :)

Dresser Change

2011-06-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

After the end of bed bench I repainted the tall dresser that we had in our room. I also made new drawer pulls for it and here's how it turned out.

End of Bed Bench

2011-06-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

I know it has been forever since I last posted anything but I haven't been idle! Here is one of the projects that I have been working on.

It's my end of bed bench! You're probably thinking that the construction might be a little faulty with a sag in the middle, but I assure you it is just that I didn't pull the fabric evenly when I was stapling it to the top. I used the same plans from Ana White that I used for my fabric storage. The measurements are the same, I just added one more cubbie. After this picture was taken and King Daddy sat on it I decided it needed one more leg in the middle so I cut a piece of 1"x4" the same width as the bench, painted it and screwed it in through the inside of the 3rd cubbie.

Even with the fabric problem, which is an easy fix when I have the time, I like the way it turned out.

Drawer Pulls

2011-05-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

The next piece of furniture to get a makeover was my bedside table. I started by sanding, priming and painting it white.

This is the original drawer pull. I knew I wanted something different that matched my new blue and white color scheme. After looking at many pulls online I couldn't find one that had a 2" screw placement that I liked and could afford (I have another dresser to do and I want them all to match). I decided I could make my own.

I bought some balsa wood strips from the craft store. I used a 3/16"x3/8" piece that I cut to 3" for the base. For the sides I used a 1/16"x1/4" piece. I cut two small pieces for the ends and then two pieces for the sides. I attached them together with wood glue and let them dry.

Next, I used a 3/8' dowel and using a 1/8" drill bit (this is the size bit to make a pilot hole for a #8 wood screw), made a hole in the center. Then, I cut two pieces 1/2" long. To get the placing correct for gluing them on I screwed them into the drawer, added a little glue and let them dry.

After all the glue was dry I painted it with metallic silver acrylic craft paint and let it dry. Next came the bling. I poured some glass seed beads into the tray and then covered them with some Mod-Podge Dimensional Magic and let it dry.

Once dry I screwed it into place. After that I gave it a try and the pull came off the dowel pieces. Maybe I didn't use enough wood glue. No big deal, I pulled out some super glue and it hasn't come off again! For the price of two pulls I loved online (~$20) I can make 15 pulls!

Dresser Cover

2011-05-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

The first piece of furniture to get a makeover was the dresser.

It was the one King Daddy grew up with and his parents had it refinished. Needless to say it holds sentimental memories for King Daddy and he didn't want me to touch it with any paint. In fact he asked me to make a cover for it so it doesn't get scratched.

The first thing I did was measure the top and cut a piece of fusible fleece. You can find it in the fabric store with all the fusible interfacing and such. Then I measured the top from underneath the overhang across the top and underneath the other overhang (and front to back). To that measurement I added two inches on both the length and width.

After cutting the fabric I ironed a 1/4" fold then a 3/4" fold and pinned it. Then, by hand, I sewed the corners down. Once that was done, I sewed around the inside edge, leaving a few inches open, to form a casing for the 1/2" elastic.

After sewing the casing I centered the fleece inside it and ironed it to the wrong side of the fabric per the instructions that came with the fleece.

Once the fleece was on I measured around the dresser and used about 1.5' to 2' less elastic than the measurement. The elastic I had was very stretchy and I wanted the cover to be snug so the drawers wouldn't get caught in it. I pinned a safety pin to the end and pushed it through the casing all the way around. Then, I overlapped the ends about an inch and sewed it together.

Once I got the elastic all spread out evenly I sewed the opening closed and slipped it on the dresser. It turned out much better than I thought it would. It fits the top perfectly and the drawers don't get caught at all. They also close all the way without getting any cover closed in them. I couldn't be happier and King Daddy thinks it's perfect!

New Bed

2011-05-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Well King Daddy and I finally did it. We got ourselves a new king size bed! We've been talking about for quite a while now and we finally saved up enough money to do it. We went with an organic natural latex mattress that requires a special kind of box spring or a slat bed frame. We didn't get the box spring because originally I was going to build a slatted bed frame for it. But then, my wonderful parents-in-law said they had a slatted frame in their basement that we could have (they really are the most awesome parents-in-law for many reasons that I won't go into :)! They brought the frame over and King Daddy and I put it together and the next day the mattress was delivered. The only thing wrong was the mattress was too short for the frame. So, I built a box spring for it.

If you can imaging a mattress instead of this wood, this is what it looked like. Definitely the mattress was too short! All I did was build a frame using 1"x8" boards cut 78" down the length and 77" across the width. Then I screwed them together. Next, I added a 1"x6" cut 78" down the center and flush with the bottom of the frame. After that I added 1"x6" boards cut 77" across the bottom of the frame. Then, I flipped it over (not the easiest thing I did all day!) Once turned over I added a 1"x4" board cut 78" on top of the center board to create a "T" for the slats to rest on. Next came the side rails. I used a 1"x2" board cut 78" and screwed it in every 8" or so. I didn't want the wood to show so I chose a bright blue canvas to cover it. I just stapled it to the inside of the side and foot of the frame. I didn't do the back, no one is going to see it. I used the slats that came with the bed frame and screwed them down.

Everything rested on the center support and side rails of the bed frame. Then we just slid the mattress back on (easier said than done!) Now it sits just above the bottom of the headboard. Perfect!

Now on to the rest of the furniture!

Easy Nightgowns

2011-05-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

As you may remember, Queen Sallie sent me some wonderful girlie material not to long ago. I used some of it to make curtains for the cardboard playhouse but there was still a ton left! After giving it some thought I decided to make some nightgowns for the girls. I have made them some before and didn't like how much time and effort they took (we've all been sick here and I have been feeling pretty lazy). So, I scoured the web looking for some ideas. Needless to say, I didn't really find what I was looking for but I found lots of moms out there that were looking for the same thing I was! I knew I wanted to make sleeveless ones but that requires an extra piece to be cut for the bodice and like I said I was being lazy. What to do... Then I was in Wal-Mart and found tank tops for $2.50 each....SCORE! I got several for each of the princesses and here's what I did.

First, I measured the princesses in the back from just below the neck to the length I wanted to use. Then I took the tank top and cut it about 1.5" below the arm hole.

Then, I cut the material. To get that measurement I took the full length measurement subtracted the length of the cut tank top and then added 1.5". (The 1.5 is the seam and hem allowance I used. If you want to do a proper hem use 1.75" instead of 1.5".) For Princess Little the finished measurement was 23" and the tank top length was 5.5 so the bottom length I needed to cut was:

23-5.5= 17.5 then 17.5+1.5=19". I cut my material 19" then trimmed the selvage and cut it in half.

I put the right sides of the material together and sewed the side seams using a 1/2" seam allowance. Then, I pressed the seams open.

Next, using the longest stitch on my machine (a basting stitch) I sewed just the skirt 1/2" around the top. I always start and stop my stitching for hems and such along the side seam where it is less noticeable. I did the same for this but I did not overlap the ends so I could gather it easily. Once the basting stitch was done I held the two strings on the wrong side and pushed the fabric back until it couldn't be gathered any more.

Then, I tucked the tank top in (making sure the right sides of the material were together) and matched the side seams and pinned.

Then, holding the pinned sides I gently pulled until the skirt and top were the same width.

Next, I adjusted the gathers until they were evenly spaced across the width and pinned them in place for sewing. Then, I sewed the top and bottom together along the basting stitch.

After removing the pins, I put a large zig zag stitch inside the seam allowance to keep the gathers in place and the raw edges from fraying too much. (I'm beginning to think I should look into a serger.)

Next, I ironed the tank top seam down toward the skirt and ironed the hem. I ironed the hem up about 1" and went around it with a small zig zag stitch. If I were making this for someone else's princess I would finish the hem properly by turning the raw edge under 1/4". Doing that would require me to add 1.75" in my calculation for the skirt cut.

Here's the final product. It was so easy I was able to make one for each of the princesses in under an hour!

Confetti Eggs

2011-04-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid my mom used to make confetti eggs for the Easter bunny to hide with the hardboiled eggs. It was, by far, my favorite thing about Easter (I'm not really a fan of Easter candy)! Here is how to make some for your kids.

First, take a raw egg and wash and dry it with soap and water. Next, with a pointed knife chip a hole in the shell. Try not to get shell in the hole. Once I get my hole started I stick the tip of the knife in it and pull up taking small pieces until the hole is large enough. (Can you tell that we have been dying eggs already?)

Then, turn the egg over, over a bowl, and chip a hole in the other side. This one doesn't have to be as big. Next, blow through the hole (this is why you washed with soap and water) you just made until the egg falls in the bowl. Then, I rinse the egg out by pouring a little soapy water in through the big hole while keeping my finger over the little hole. Then, I put my thumb over the big hole and give it a little shake. Next, remove your fingers from the holes and let the soapy water drain out. Then, rinse with water and prop it up on a paper towel and let dry. Since I don't want to waste the egg I do this over a few days when I make scrambled eggs for breakfast. Because I do it this way they don't get decorated until I have all the egg shells I intend to use. My mom just left them undecorated but I like the challenge of deciding which ones are the confetti eggs (they're lighter than hardboiled ones). This year I colored them using this method from Pink and Green Mama. I just put a small piece of tape over the holes so the color didn't get inside. Last year I put tape over the holes and put them in the same dye cups I used for the hardboiled eggs but they float so I had to figure out how to weigh them down. This year's method worked much better.

Once I had the egg shells decorated I glued a square of tissue paper over the small hole.

Then, through the larger hole, I stuck paper confetti in. This part takes a little patience. If you make your hole large enough you can use a funnel and pour the confetti in, however, I always get the confetti stuck in the funnel. I find it easier to just gently push small pinches in.

Once you have the shell filled glue another square of tissue paper over the large hole and you're finished! When your kids find them they can surprise each other by breaking them on each other. Just a tip though, it can hurt when these get broken on heads! My rule for the princesses is that you break them against shoulders only. When they're older they will be able to crush them in their hands over each others heads.

Crafting For Charity

2011-04-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago Queen Sallie turned me on to a blog called Craft Hope just as they were finishing their current campaign. I have been eagerly waiting for the next one to start and it finally did! Well, after reading this post from I can teach my child I decided my princesses are getting old enough to learn it's not all about them and the Craft Hope project was a perfect fit. We started by discussing the orphans in Russia and other places around the world and here in the USA. First, I gave them a definition for the word orphan. Because I'm not ready for them to think about King Daddy and I dying, I explained that sometimes mommies and daddies can't make enough money to take care of their children so they give them to the orphanage so that they will have enough to eat, a place to sleep and clothes to wear. Now, I realize that this isn't always the case but please remember that this discussion is for a 3.5 and 5 year old and they don't need to know the entire ugly truth, yet. After our talk we went to the craft store to get some supplies.

We got some 2mm elastic cord that is rainbow colored and a 1lb container of pony beads.

Once we got home I tied a piece of yarn to a large wooded bead, both out of our stash. Then, I taped the end so that the yarn wouldn't unravel with repeated use.

Then, I gave them the supplies and let them go to town. Princess Big was all about the patterns. Princess Little just strung whatever she picked up next.

Once their string was full they brought it to me and I transfered it to the elastic cord and tied it in a knot. This activity kept them busy for about 2 hours! I don't know about your little ones but in this house it's unheard of.

When King Daddy got home from work I explained what we were doing and what we had discussed. He was so proud of his princesses that he decided to get in on it too :)

I am planning on making some fabric bracelets too. When I do I'll be sure to do a post so keep your eye out.

Silhouettes

2011-04-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

When making the benches for my fabric storage I ended up with two scrap boards that were about 12" X 10". Instead of letting them take up space in the garage I decided to use them for a piece of art.

Before collecting my other supplies I sanded the wood. I started with a course (60) grit and went over both flat sides and all four edges. Then, I moved on to a finer (100) grit. Then, a finer (150) grit and finally the finest (220) grit that I had. Next, I chose the scrapbook paper I wanted to use. Once the paper was chosen, I picked a coordinating color of acrylic craft paint and painted the edges and about 1" of the flat surface.

After that, I traced the wood on the front of the paper. Using the tracing I cut the paper about 3/8" smaller on all four sides. Then, I used Mod Podge to glue it to the board. You can see how I ended up with an orange frame around the paper. You could make it larger, smaller or none at all if you want. Once it dried I gave the entire thing (except the back) two coats of Mod Podge and let it dry.

While the boards were drying I snapped these pictures of the princesses in profile and printed them out on regular copy paper in 8" X 10".

Next, I cut out just the head making sure I got as much of the detail as I could. After that I scanned them back into my computer. I put them on the tray with the back/white side down and put a piece of black paper on top. This way I could move it into my Silhouette cutting machine. After getting all the cut lines set I cut the silhouettes out of black adhesive vinyl. If you don't have one just print your picture on a piece of cardstock and cut it out to use as a template. You may need to enlarge or reduce it to get the right size. Once your template is set just trace it onto a piece of black paper or a sheet of vinyl that you can buy at the craft store near the cutting machine accessories.

Once the Mod Podge was dry I stuck the vinyl silhouettes on. They turned out better than I thought! The vinyl was surprisingly easy to work with and I can't wait to do more with it.

Fabric Storage

2011-04-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

When we moved from Texas, 4 years ago this summer, my fabric stash wouldn't fit in the truck. King Daddy asked if it was okay to give it away. I didn't really want to but I didn't have much of a choice. I agreed but told him he was going to pay for it. He thought I meant emotionally but actually I meant monetarily. I seriously had over $1000 of fabric in that stash! Over the last 4 years I have slowly been accumulating more fabric and it is time to store it in a way that I can see what I have. King Daddy isn't sure he agrees but it will actually save him money. I won't be buying fabric if I already have some that works!

Here is the mess that I started with. I had fabric stashed in several different boxes. I couldn't see everything and I didn't want to go through each box to see what I had. It is really so much easier just to buy more ;)

I started by making two benches like this. When the Princesses are older I intend to put an upholstered top on it and use it as maybe an end of bed bench. Anyway, I digress. I used this plan by Ana White as my guide. I only used step one and two and I changed the measurements a little. Each cubbie is about 16" X 11". Then I used this plan by Ana White as my guide to make a 16 cubbie shelf system. Again I changed the measurements a little. I used 8" boards and my cubbies are about

8" X 8".

Here is the finished product. All my fabric is now clearly visible. I love it!

Paper Towel Substitute

2011-04-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

"I'm back baby"!
If you do not watch Futurama, I am sorry for that reference, if you do high five!

A quick recap:
I am Sallie.
Even though I try really really hard my sewing machine and I have a love/hate relationship.
I am a big fan of simple projects that pack a big punch.

I have been trying for several years to rid our house of paper towels or at least cut down drastically on the amount we use. We use cloth kitchen towels as napkins but still have
a paper towel roll around for spills and messes. I never wanted to cross contaminate
the napkins (for hands and faces) with the chicken juice towel (ick), so I never used
the kitchen towels for spills. Now with a toddler running around I feel like I go
through a roll of paper towels a day, that may be a slight exaggeration.
Here is my solution to the paper towel conundrum.

Paper Towel Substitute

What you will need:
Paper towel holder - I used our existing one
Paint Roller/Stiff cardboard tube
Micro Fiber cloths
Velcro
Sewing machine/thread

I purchased a couple of three packs of micro fiber cloths from Lowe's for about $4.00 each.
I also used some Trader Joe's Kitchen Cloths, they were about $3.00 for two.
Both of these absorb a ton of liquid and can be thrown in the washing machine and dryer, however they should only be dried on low heat.

The paint roll fits snuggly onto my paper towel holder, it is too tight to spin but still works fine. An alternative would be to use a stiff cardboard tube and glue velcro to it.

I cut all of the towels and cloths in half and hemmed the cut edges.

After unraveling my ball-o-velcro (sad, I know) I pinned two pieces on each towel.
A female piece on the top side and a male piece on the opposite underneath side.
Then I sewed them, with only minimal sewing machine outrage.

Velcro all of your towels to each other and wrap around the paint roller.

They are not as tall as normal paper towels but they hold a lot more liquid and take up the same space. I use them and then toss them in the washing machine. A great way to not only save money but also be a little nicer to our planet. It really is the little things!

I can not thank Craftin' Texan enough, not only for letting me post
but also for sparking my creativity.

Cardboard Playhouse

2011-04-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of you out there in blogland! I know it's been a while since I've posted but I assure you I have not been idle :) I have been working on several projects and I finally have one finished to share, it's my cardboard playhouse. King Daddy's parents got a new double oven for their kitchen and asked me if I wanted the box. As I'm sure you've all guessed, I said YES! Here is how I transformed it from an ordinary (my kids favorite new word) box into a fabulous new playhouse.

Here's the box we started with. It's huge!

To start with I opened it up along the seam.

Next, I measured out windows on the two middle panels and cut them on three sides. My idea was to turn these flaps into awnings.

After cutting the windows, I laid the box flat on my dining room table and gave it two coats of white acrylic craft paint to hide the printing on the box.

The princesses just saw "Tangled" so they wanted to paint it the same color as Rapunzel's tower. I didn't have any purple tempera paint so I mixed a metallic blue and plain red. Here it is after two coats. The picture's not great so you really can't see that it didn't turn out quite the right shade.

That didn't matter. Once the purple was dry I mixed up a rosy shade with metallic red and white and gave it one coat over the purple. Again, the photo's not great but I finally had a color we could all agree on.

Once the "outside" paint was dry I painted the "inside" with two coats of chalkboard paint. I let that dry for a day or two and then primed it with the side of a piece of chalk. That way it can be a house with furniture or a grocery store or a cafe or whatever their imaginations come up with.

Next came the curtains. Queen Sallie sent me a box of fabric that she deemed too girlie for her house of boys. I couldn't be more pleased! There was plenty of fabric to choose from and Princess Little chose a white fabric with little bouquets of purple flowers. I also used some purple fabric left over from our quilt for the valance. To put it together I stapled the fabric to one side of a rectangle of cardboard that is slightly larger than the window.

Next, I cut a length of the white fabric a few inches longer than the window. I cut it in half and hemmed one side (I didn't have to cut off the selvage so I didn't have to hem that side) and the bottom of each panel. Then I stapled it to the cardboard adding little pleats as I went.

Then, I brought the purple fabric around and glued it (the staples went all the way through cardboard I used and I didn't want them to show). Then, I glued the sides too.

After letting the glue dry overnight I used my glue gun to attach them to the playhouse over the windows. I then used a piece of purple grosgrain ribbon to tie them back.

Now it's time to prop those windows up! To do this I cut five strips of cardboard. One of them is about four inches longer than the other four. The longest one went on the bottom and then I glued the other four on top of one another with the hot glue gun.

Using Mod Podge, I covered the middle with white paper. I thought about painting it to match the outside of the house but I decided I liked the white accent. I also didn't think I could get the paint exactly the same since I did so much mixing.

See those blue dots? They are a fabulous little product I found (review post to follow) to attach the supports to the window.

I think the windows and their awnings turned out great!

The final, for now, detail was some flowers growing around the outside of the house. Queen Sallie convinced King Daddy to get me a Silhouette for my birthday (way to go Queen Sallie!) I used it to cut these flowers.

I cut each layer out of a different pattered/solid paper in smaller and smaller sizes. Then, I glued them together in the center of each layer. Next, I glued a button to the center of the top layer. Once it was all dry I folded each petal up to give it depth. Lastly, I used a glue gun to glue them to the box.

I hope this has inspired you to turn "trash" into something beautiful for your kids!

Board Book Revamp

2011-03-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

Do you have a ratty old board book your kids destroyed? Not so much that it can't have a new life, but too much to pass it along to another baby. It seems like that's all I have :) Well maybe you could turn it into something like this.

I have to admit that this is not originally my idea. The problem is that I can't remember who's blog I saw this on. If you have happened upon this blog and recognize your work please send me an email so I can credit you! Since I can't send the rest of you to that blog I will show you how I put mine together.

I started with this ratty old board book my princesses picked to pieces.

I left the first three pages and last two pages alone. All the rest of the pages I cut the centers out of. I left a boarder of about 1 inch.

Next, I chose some corresponding scrapbook paper and cut one piece to go over the spine and glued it down with Mod Podge.

Then, I glued a piece to the front and back and tucked it around to the inside. After that I glued the first two pages together and all of the cut pages to the end.

Once the glue was dry I painted the whole pages with chalkboard paint and let them dry. Then, I painted the cut out pages and the sides with acrylic craft paint. When that was dry I gave the pink paint two generous coats of Mod Podge.

I found a small screw in the hardware box in the garage and tied a length of very thin pink ribbon (from our stash) just under the head. Then, I just screwed it in, the pages are soft enough. After this step I gave the entire outside two generous coats of Mod Podge.

Once it was dry I found one large button and one smaller button (think hubby's button down shirt). I used super glue to glue them together and then I glued them to the front of the book.

The only thing left was to cut a couple squares of scrap felt and find some chalk pieces. Now I can drop it in my purse and the princesses can play tic-tac-toe or draw when we have to wait for something.

T-Shirt Headband

2011-03-08T16:20:00.000-08:00

Hi, I am Queen Sallie.
Craftin' Texan is kind enough to allow me to hijack her blog and I am grateful.

A few things you should know about me:
I have a wonderful family
I curse at my sewing machine on a daily basis
It took me 4.5 years to make my godchild's baby blanket and I sewed half of it on backwards
Once I sewed straight through my finger, really freaked out the hubby on that one.
I have a Silhouette, not that it is important just really cool and I hope to add different tutorials on how to use it in every day projects.

After all of that why would you, lovely blog reader, want to follow any sewing advice I put out there? Every project I have attempted I have learned a great deal from, even something as simple as sewing a straight line (I am about 75% successful on most days). That means if I can do it, anyone can. Hopefully through my missteps and follies I can help you also sew a straight line, which is all the sewing you will need to do for this t-shirt headband.

T-Shirt Headband

(My lovely son modeling the finished headband.)

Supplies you will need:

old t-shirt
scissors
sewing machine/thread
embellishments - Silhouette Heat Transfer Material

Cut straight across the body of your t-shirt to make strips. My headband ended up about 2 inches wide but you can make yours any size. I had enough material to make 5 headbands total.

Cut a strip so you have a long piece of material. I just wrapped the strip around my head and pinched at the base of my neck, this is where I sewed. You can use an actual measuring tape to do this step as well.

Curse at your sewing machine when it eats your material.

Cut off the excess material and flip inside out.

Now your seam is on the inside.

I used the Silhouette I received for Christmas to do the embellishing on the headbands. It is an amazing crafting tool and fairly easy to use. I picked a design I liked from the on-line store (although you can create your own designs) and cut it out using the Heat Transfer Material. Cut your design off of the roll and peel the negative space off of the clear sticky side. Place it down on your headband, cover with a cloth and iron.

Peel back the clear material, if the Heat Transfer Material does not stick cover and iron again. DONE!

I also made a couple for St. Patrick's Day...my favorite holiday!

While writing this post I came across Craft Snobs headband tutorial found HERE.
She is far more talented than I am (I love her cuff bracelets)
and used fabric flowers to decorate hers.

Do not throw away the hem of your t-shirt! You can make a double headband in one easy step. Make a circle with your hem and sew a line at the end.
Ta Da...done!

I couldn't get the kid to sit still long enough to model so I used Mr. Pig!

Again, a big THANK YOU to Craftin' Texan for letting me post.
I am busy working on a couple of "green" ideas for our family
and hope to post those in the near future.

XL Building Blocks

2011-03-08T16:06:00.000-08:00

When Princess Big was a baby King Daddy found these really cool large cardboard building blocks in one of those boutique toy stores. The problem was that she was too little to play with them and they were really expensive! By the time she was old enough we had moved from that city and I completely forgot about them. That is until I stumbled upon this project at Vintage Image Craft. The vintage look really isn't my style but it made me remember the cardboard blocks and here's what I did.

I started with an empty half gallon milk carton and just popped the spout off. They peel right off if you stick a knife in under the plastic.

Next, I cut the corners.

Then, I used my glue gun to glue the flap down.

Once the glue was dry I noticed that the sides popped up a little. So, I put a drop of glue right in the center there and glued it down on both sides.

Next, just like the guys at Vintage Image Craft, I covered the cartons with newspaper dipped in liquid starch. Then, I set them to dry on toothpicks stuck in a piece of Styrofoam. I did that twice. Once the second layer was dry I used acrylic craft paint (2-3 coats) to give them that brick red color.

Here you have it! I only have 3 blocks right now. I wanted to make sure the process would work first. Now that I'm satisfied that it does, we need to drink more milk!

Entry Hall Finished

2011-03-05T18:35:00.000-08:00

I now have my entry hall finished! The last piece was a shelf to go over the coat rack with a few "baskets" to hold the winter hats and gloves/mittens.

I didn't make this a tutorial because I didn't really come up with this design myself. Instead I modified a design by Ana-White. You can get the original plans from her website here. The differences with mine are that I didn't put the overhanging top piece on and my coat rack is not attached (I already had that in place). In this picture it looks like the shelf is wider than the coat rack but that's just shadow, it's exactly the same width (there's a first time for everything).

The "baskets" are actually just a cardboard box (maybe I should change my name to Cardboard Queen) that I resized into 3 smaller boxes and covered using this method from Positively Splendid (and it is).

Oh, I also had King Daddy help me hang the art piece!

Here is Princess Big giving the new entry hall bench a try. I said I was finished but maybe some new door mats....hmmm.

Entry Hall Art

2011-03-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

If you've ever been to my home you know I'm not much of a decorator. First off I'm kind of a minimalist and second I just don't know what I'm doing! However, after getting the bench in my entry hall I was kind of encouraged to "finish" the space. I talked myself into it telling myself that it was a nice small area. I'm in the middle of another building project for our hats, gloves, etc. So, while waiting for the paint to dry on that I made this art piece.

I will be hanging it but I want to wait until I have the hat shelf on the wall first so that I can get the visual right. I also need King Daddy's help to hang it.

I think I first saw this idea at Mod Podge Rocks but when I went back looking for it I couldn't find it. I blame being sick. When I Googled "Paint chip mosaic" I found lots of examples so I'll just tell you how I did mine.

First, I went to Lowe's and Home Depot and got one of every paint chip in the color blue. Then, I sat down with my 1.5 inch square hole punch and punched out as many squares as I could. I already had the poster frame and I always keep the 'picture' that comes in frames. I just turn them around and put them behind whatever picture I'm putting in the frame. So, I took the "picture" which was a piece of thin cardboard (think cereal box cardboard) and started gluing my squares on. I used Mod Podge and a 1" foam brush to put one thin swipe down the center of each square. Since I was putting the finished product in a frame I didn't put a coat of Mod Podge on top (I think I would have, though, if I wasn't using a frame). After letting it dry I slid it in the frame at that was that!

New Blog Author

2011-03-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

Hi to all of you out there that read my blog! I have some exciting news! One of my very good friends, Queen Sallie (you may remember her name popping up in past posts), is going to start contributing to this blog from time to time. She got a new crafting toy for Christmas and I can't wait to see how it works and what she does with it! So, welcome Sallie.

Entry Hall Bench

2011-02-28T07:32:00.000-08:00

Well it's only taken a year and a half but I finally have a bench in my entry hall. We don't wear shoes in our house and my entry hall was a mess of shoes! We also had to sit on the stairs to get our shoes on and off and King Daddy and I are getting old and creaky and it just wasn't working!

I know I took a picture of just the mess but I can't find it now. If you look past the Princesses modeling their gear you can see the absolute mess of our shoes.

Here is the finished bench with our shoes neatly tucked away underneath :)

I came up with idea on my own but after participating in the Build {hers} Club post over at Sawdust and Paper Scraps I discovered I was not as brilliant as I thought. There was a post for a Traditional Outdoor Bench which had essentially the same design as mine. Instead of giving you a play by play on how I built mine I'll just give you the link to theirs (it's much more detailed anyway). So, if you go over to http://www.betteroutdoorlivingathome.com you can get the instructions here. There are a couple of differences. First, instead of slats, I just used a 1/2" piece of plywood as the top. I just screwed it to the frame and then upholstered it. Second, I added shelves.

To add the shelves I screwed these L brackets into the legs and slid a piece of painted plywood in as a shelf. Now that I see this picture I think I need to take a fine paintbrush to the "crack" where the 2x4's meet. I wondered about that while I was painting, oh well :) It's a learning process!

Let's Go Fishing

2011-02-24T12:48:00.000-08:00

Queen Mommy has been busy this week working on an entry hall bench (more on that later) and the quilt the Princesses designed (more on that later too). Add to that Princess Big got sick with something and had a fever. Needless to say, we didn't do any crafting together. This had me feeling guilty so I whipped up this little game for the Princesses last night while watching American Idol (I know). It's a little fishing game that I've seen all over the web but here's how I did it.

First, I made a fish template out of cardstock. Then, I traced it onto cardstock of different colors and cut them out. Next, I laid out a piece of clear contact paper and put a paper clip down under one of the fish cutouts. Then, I put another piece of contact paper over the top and cut all of the fish out again. You could just cut out the paper fish and put the paper clip on but I wanted something a little more sturdy.

To make the pole I took a piece of dowel rod that I had left over from my Quilted Sunnies Caddie. Then, I tied a length of string (I used cooking twine) to the end of the stick and ran my glue gun around it so it wouldn't slide off the end. Next, I tied the other end of the twine to a craft magnet and ran my glue gun around and under the knot to hold it to the magnet.

Here are the Princesses fishing. It has kept them pretty busy for the better part of an hour so far :) Time Queen Mommy used to put a first coat of paint on her entry hall bench!

Build {Hers} Club

2011-02-18T11:42:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone out there! I'm so excited to be joining in the Build {Hers} Club over at Sawdust and Paper Scraps. To join in or just check it out go here.

My contribution is the beds I made for my Princesses. Okay King Daddy helped a little. We joke, however, that when I'm building something he is the manual laborer. Since I don't have the best tools for the job or the best set up to use the ones I have, his job is mostly to hold the sheets of wood while I cut and sand them and to move heavy pieces around.

Here are the finished beds for both Princess Big and Princess Little.

To start with I built a frame. For Princess Big I used 2x6's and 3" screws. For Princess Little I used 2x4's. The platform is a 1/4" sheet of plywood.

The headboard and foot board, as well as, the sides were made from 3/4" plywood. The headboard and foot board are essentially rectangles with the top corners rounded off. After getting the pieces cut and sanded I upholstered them.

Then, I attached them with these L brackets in all four corners.

The whole process took about 2 days.

Valentine's For My Princesses

2011-02-14T12:53:00.000-08:00

Here is what I did for my special valentines for Valentine's day.

First I made this little treat box for the Princesses. You can see how I did it here at Life As Lou.

In the top box I put some home made lick and stick stickers. You can see how to do it here at I can teach my child.

The second box had a tiny heart barrette. You can see how to do it here at The Purl Bee. The third box had one of those washcloth bricks (you know the ones that are the size of a silver dollar in the package and when you put it in water it puffs out to a full size washcloth) from the dollar store and the last box had candy in it. King Daddy added a fancy ring and a tongue scrapper (I know it doesn't sound very Valentine'sy but the Princesses are very into dental hygiene right now).

Valentin's Day Frames

2011-02-14T12:13:00.000-08:00

Last week the Princesses and I spent time crafting for Valentine's day.

I found some wood frames at the dollar store (later I saw some at Michael's that were also $1) that I brought home and painted white with acrylic craft paint.

While the paint was drying I made these heart stamps. I just took an X-Acto knife to the unused eraser of some pencils I had. It was surprisingly easy, like a warm knife through butter easy!

Then, I gave the Princesses a bit of red acrylic craft paint and a stamp and let them go to it. After letting the red dry I gave them some pink and let them at it again.

Last but not least we took this picture. I just pinned a piece of pink fleece, from my sewing stash, to the wall. I used a toy box under the piece on the floor for Princess Little to sit on. They are wearing shirts that I painted with fabric paint. I cut a heart stencil out of cardstock and taped it to the front of the shirt. Then, I squeezed some paint and spread it around with a foam brush. Once it was all dry I wrote "Love". I really hope Mimi, Granddaddy and Grandma get their package before reading this :)

Q is for Quilt

2011-02-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

Last week we learned about Q for quilt. Queen Mommy loves to quilt. In fact, I have already made matching reversible quilts for the Princesses' beds (which King Daddy and I built).

I would love to pass on my love of quilt making to, at least one of, the Princesses. So, I decided to have them make paper quilt squares that I will then use to create a throw for the family room. I started Monday sitting with the Princesses and looking at quilting books and magazines. Then I gave them construction paper and scissors and let them go to it.

Well, I discovered quickly that THAT wasn't going to work. They decided it was just an invitation to cut paper. It was a huge mess! There were little scraps of paper all over the table, chairs and floor.

I started Tuesday by giving them squares and triangles in a few different sizes. That worked much better!

I showed them how they could use the shapes to make pictures.

Here are some that Princess Little came up with.

Here is one that Princess Big came up with.

The next thing I did was to map out our blocks on a throw size piece of paper (I ran out of bulletin board paper so I just taped together regular copy paper). You can't really see it but each color is already labeled with the cut size of the fabric. Now all I have to do is add up the cut sizes so I know how much fabric to buy. I know the middle looks blank but we do have an idea for it. This quilt tells the story of the things we love and one of those things is ballet. I don't know how to make a ballerina quilt block in the same way we made the others. She just wouldn't come out looking as graceful as she should! Instead we are going to try to find some fabric with ballerinas in different poses. Then I will create shadow box squares highlighting them. Stay tuned to see how it turns out!

Baby Doll Changing Table

2011-01-31T21:14:00.000-08:00

I have finally gotten both Princesses out of diapers/pull-ups and, wouldn't you know it, for Christmas they got dolls that wet! Now I'm teaching my babies how to change a baby. Sigh! I don't know if any of you out there have these dolls but they only come with one or two diapers. Well, that just isn't enough. When I priced a package of doll diapers it was outrageous! My solution was to go buy the smallest package of the store brand for newborns. These fill well enough as far as we're concerned. Since it's just water (I didn't give the Princesses the "juice" that makes them "poop") we let the diaper dry, refold it and put it back in the stack. My only issue with this system was all the diapers around the house that didn't have a home :)

I started with, you guessed it, two cardboard boxes from my stash. I prepped the boxes in the same way I did for the dress-up clothes shelves which you can see here. I used the flaps I cut off to make the guard rail. I wrapped them in one piece of contact paper. Then I attached them by wrapping a piece of contact paper all the way around and into the box.

Next, I made a changing pad with some fabric from my stash. I just sewed two pieces together and stuffed it with a piece of quilt batting. After sewing it closed I top stitched all the way around the edges and twice lengthwise.

To make the boxes for the diapers I used the same method as for these using tissue boxes.

What self respecting changing table does't have wipes? I used an old empty wipes container that I had. Then, I filled it with paper towels. To get the pop-up action I folded each towel in half and then z folded. Next, I tucked the ends into a "chain".

The last element was a "dirty" diaper pail. I just picked one up at the dollar store. Now we need a wet baby!

Number Chart

2011-01-28T10:27:00.000-08:00

Princess Big can count to 100! She totally surprised me by doing it in the car on the way to ballet last week. Now Princess Little is in a hurry to catch up. She's 18 months younger but she doesn't get that. If Princess Big can do it then I can too seems to be her motto. In order to help her achieve her goal I made a number chart from 1 to 100. Of course I had to make it usable to Princess Big as well so here's what I did.

First, I punched out 100 squares with my 1.5" square punch. I did 10 different shades of 10 colors.

Then, I used sticky back velcro dots. I put one side on the square. Then, I put the other side on the velcro on the square. Then I peeled the second side off the paper and lined it up on my poster board and stuck it. This way I was able to get all of the squares lined up the way I wanted.

After I got all of the numbers on I printed out the letters from my computer and cut them out. I just glued them on to a piece of scrapbook paper that I glued to the top of the poster board.

Now Princess Little can practice counting to 100. For Princess Big we can start working on counting by 2's, 5's and 10's by removing the numbers we don't need.

Painting Snow

2011-01-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you're all wondering what I've been up to with the Princesses in the way of art and crafts for the last few weeks. To be honest it hasn't been much. I've been busy making things for them instead of with them. Well today I changed that. I found this great idea for painting snow here. Since we are doing P for Penguin this week I felt we needed to go play in the snow like penguins!

I got these spray bottles at the Dollar Tree and fill them with water and food coloring. I put about 20 drops in the bottle and that gave us a nice color. Then I made sure all the sprayers worked well and adjusted the stream to a mist.

Then, I had to get us all bundled up in our snow gear!

Here is Princess Big spraying yellow. No, I have not yet taught them to avoid the yellow snow :)

Here is Princess Little working with the purple. I found out that the bottles are a little hard to work with when you have such little hands that are stuffed into fluffy mittens. "Real" pictures just weren't happening. That's OK, we had fun anyway!

The best part about playing outside in the snow, according to Princess Big, is the HOT CHOCOLATE!

Magnetic Letters

2011-01-24T11:05:00.000-08:00

In our quest to better reading I spend a lot of time with the Princesses on spelling. King Daddy and I were given a game called Bananagrams. I don't know if you've seen it but it's like Scrabble without the scoring. I took it out one day to play, slightly modified, with Princess Big. She loved it and is constantly asking to play with it. Well, King Daddy and I also love to play it so I didn't want any of the pieces lost. That means the Princesses didn't get to play with it as often as they wanted :( That just fueled my creative juices and I made one for them with a few modifications. Here's how I did it.

I used left over art board from the lacing cards I made for Prince T back in October. I made grid of .75 inch squares and cut them out. This time I used a box cutter instead of my X-Acto knife and what a difference it made! According to the Bananagrams game I needed 144 tiles: A=13, B=3, C=3, D=6, E=18, F=3, G=4, H=3, I=12, J=2, K=2, L=5, M=3, N=8, O=11, P=3, Q=2, R=9, S=6, T=9, U=6, V=3, W=3, X=2, Y=3, Z=2

I took some time in deciding how to color the squares. I couldn't just leave them white, what kind of crafter would I be! I decided to go with covering them. I thought it would be easier than trying to paint them. I happened to have this 1.5 inch square hole punch so I took it to sheets of 12" x 12" scrapbook paper. I did the vowels (60) in one color, pink, and the consonants (84) in another, blue.

Next, I pulled out the Mod Podge and glued the art board in the center of the paper square.

Then, I glued the sides down. I'm not going to lie to you, the process was long and tedious!

Once the Mod Podge was dry I wrote the letters on each tile with a paint pen (I bet a sharpie would work just as well).

Next, I applied the Mod Podge as a sealer. I tried this method where I stuck a thumb tack in and "painted" the sides and top. I thought I would be able to let it dry while sitting on top of the tack. Didn't work. First, sometimes the tile would begin to rotate on the tack and then fall off. If I was able to complete the sealing and get it standing up right one of the children (that includes King Daddy) would bump the table and they would fall down. I finally gave up and just painted them in my hand and then laid them down on a piece of wax paper. Once the tops were dry I sealed the bottoms with a layer of Mod Podge. I probably should have done 2 coats but to be honest this part was also long and tedious and I just couldn't do it!

The last step on the tiles was to put magnets on them. I got this roll of magnetic tape and just cut it into squares. Then, I removed the backing and just stuck it to the center of the back. I'm not sure how that's going to stand up to a 3.5 and 5 year old but if they come off I'll just try gluing them back on.

Of course we had to have something to carry the tiles in. Bananagrams comes in this little yellow pouch that looks like a banana. I whipped this one up out of some scrap fabric that I had and a zipper that I got when my grandmother died and is probably older than I am.

Finally, I pulled out a magnetic dry erase board that was just sitting in a closet (I think it originally came from Target). Here are the Princesses making words. They were so excited that I got about 30 minutes of quiet while they worked! It's wonderful to watch them sound out words while spelling. Princess Big is also fabulous with helping Princess Little with the words she wants to spell.

Covered Boxes for Dress-Up Jewelry

2011-01-17T15:15:00.000-08:00

And now for our last installment of Operation Toy Clean-Up!

What's the first thing I did? You guessed it, I raided the box collection! Perhaps you're getting an idea just how big that collection is. If not, I'll just tell you I've barely scratched the surface ;) For this project I chose the smallest boxes I had. They mostly came from purchases from Amazon.com.

Next, I cut the top flaps off at the score mark. Then, I taped the bottom closed. To keep pieces of jewelry from finding their way under the inside flaps I glued them down.

While the glue was drying I let the Princesses choose the paper they liked from my scrapbook paper supply. Once all the paper was chosen I picked a paint color that could be found in all the different papers.

In this case the chosen paint is blue. As you can see I painted the entire inside and let it dry.

Next, I cut the paper. For the bottom piece I cut it about 1 to 1.5 inches bigger on all sides. For the two long sides I cut it 1 to 1.5 inches bigger on three sides (I left the bottom edge flush with the bottom of the box). For the short sides I cut it 1 to 1.5 inches bigger on the top side (I left the bottom edge flush with the bottom of the box and the side edges about .25 inch shorter).

I started with the bottom of the box by spreading a medium layer of Mod-Podge all over it. Then I laid the paper over it and smoothed it down to get the wrinkles out.

Next, I cut the corner and glued the overhang up the side of the box.

After doing this to both matching sides I did the other sides. Once those were done I glued the small flaps to the first two sides to close the corners. Then, using a medium layer, I Mod-Podged the entire bottom and up the sides over the polka-dot paper and let it dry, twice.

After the bottom was dry I started with the long sides. I glued the paper down with the bottom flush with the bottom of the box and the sides overhanging by the same amount (or mostly so, I eye-balled it). Then I glued the overhang down on the short side of the box.

Then, I glued the top overhang down on the inside of the box starting with the small side piece.

Next, I did the short sides of the box. I glued the paper down with the bottom flush with the bottom of the box.

Then, I glued the overhang down the inside of the box.

The last step was to Mod-Podge the entire inside and outside sides twice just like the bottom and let it dry.

If you look in the top left compartment and the top middle compartment you'll see four of the six boxes I made. Each one is filled with something different: necklaces, bracelets,tiaras and masks. The other two boxes I made were larger to store some musical instruments and some felt toys. Due to the larger size I used old wrapping paper but the process was the same.

Once I got this massive project done I was ready to go through all of the toys with the Princesses and decide what we should give to charity. Since we hadn't done this, ever, I ended up with two large plastic totes full of toys! I've decided five years is too long to wait!

I still have a few organizational projects in the back of my mind that run along the free or very cheap line but for now the results are fantastic! You can see the floor :)

Dress-Up Clothes Shelves

2011-01-17T13:59:00.000-08:00

Dress-up clothes shelves, as promised.

For this installment of operation toy clean up I, again, raided my box collection. If you have babies or toddlers still in diapers or pull-ups I highly recommend saving the boxes! I have used these for several projects, as well as, for moving. Anyhoo... I came up with 7 pull-up boxes of the same size. Then, I cut off the bottom flaps (these don't meet all the way in the middle).

Next, I used white acrylic craft paint to cover the writing on the sides of the boxes.

Once the paint was dry I connected the boxes by using a length of contact paper that I folded over the edges. I did this for all six boxes on both the inner sides and the inner top/bottom. I left the outer sides for the last step.

Next, I covered the sides. I laid the contact paper out and took the backing off. Then, I put the connected boxes on the paper and rolled it all the way around. I left a little overlap on the front and back. For the back, I just folded the paper up like wrapping a gift. For the front I cut a slit and folded the paper over the edges.

Here they are.

With the 7th box I cut it in half, wrapped it top and bottom in contact paper and slid it in one of the compartments to create additional shelves for the shoes.

Up next, covered boxes for dress-up jewelry.

Dress-Up Clothes Closet

2011-01-17T13:16:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but sometimes it looks like the toy monster threw up all over my house!

When it gets like this Queen Mommy begins to feel overwhelmed and she starts to go a little crazy! I was at a loss as to how to fix it since my crafting/home budget is next to $0.00 for a few months since we went to Texas for Christmas. The number one place to start, in my opinion, was the giant box of dress up items. I wanted to create a "closet" for all the dresses and shelves for all the shoes, hats, purses and jewelry. Here's what I came up with.

The first thing I did was go through my huge cardboard box collection to look for a box large enough to hang up a dress in. I, however, couldn't find one the right size (sigh). I ended up spending a little over $8 on a shorty wardrobe box from our local U-Haul store. I taped up the bottom and then cut out the front panel leaving a one inch border.

Next, I had to lower the precut hole the hanging bar goes in. If you've never used one of these, the bar sits high so that when you tape the top of the box, after filling it, the hangers won't come off. All I did was take my box cutter and extend the hole down about 2 inches.

Then, I placed the hanging bar in. Now I had enough room to put the clothes in from the front but there was a large hole on each side.

I fixed that hole by taping a little piece of scrap cardboard over it. I think in the long run it will help stabilize the bar as well.

The last thing I did was make it pretty. I used a green patterned contact paper (about $6), starting at the bottom wrapped it around the sides and top. The roll wasn't wide enough to cover the whole box so I had to cut a long strip in the remaining width. With this particular paper I did my best to match up the pattern. Next time I do something like this though I'll pick a paper that is easier, like polka dots or uniform flowers!

Next up, the shelves!

N is for Nose

2011-01-17T12:23:00.000-08:00

This week we focused on the letter N and the number 14. Our craft was making animal noses. Here is how we did it.

Our Supplies:

Felt

Toilet Paper Roll

Hole Punch

Scissors

Craft Glue

Elastic

First, Queen Mommy cut the toilet paper tube in half.

Next, the princesses spread glue on the end of the felt (Queen Mommy put a line of glue, equal to the length of the toilet paper tube, down first so they would know where to stop).

Then, the princesses put a line of glue down the length of the felt and closed it.

Now the hard part, waiting for the glue to dry!

Once the glue was dry Queen Mommy used the hole punch to make two holes on either side of the felt covered toilet paper tube. Then, tie a length of elastic through the holes.

Now I have two little elephants running around the house!

M Is For Moose

2011-01-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

This week in "Mommy School" we learned about the Letter M and the number 13. We studied about two states that start with M, Maine and Maryland. Our President was Millard Fillmore, the 13th US President. We also started talking about money. Princess Big got a bag of play money, both bills and coins, for her birthday. I didn't realize how difficult that was going to be to teach but we're very slowly getting the hang of it. Soon we are going to start playing store and I hope that will get us up to speed. I really can't wait :)

On the first day of the week I give the princesses a worksheet printed from here for the letter and a similar worksheet for the number (I've gotten them in several different places).

The rest of the week we continue to practice our handwriting. Here are the princesses writing "M", "m", and "13". In August I picked up maybe my best school supply purchase ever! I found these dry erase boards in the dollar bin at Target. One side is just blank dry erase board and the other is printed with the writing lines you find on elementary writing paper.

Queen Mommy is still a little crafted out from the holidays so we didn't really do much in the way of crafts this week. It all worked out though because the princesses received some makers and a giant coloring book from their aunt and uncle for Christmas. They have been so busy coloring with them I don't think they've noticed.

I did, however, come up with one activity (more so than a craft) for us to do. Since we were learning about moose I posed the question "What do you think it's like to walk around with 6 feet wide 85 pound antlers?" Here's how we explored that question:

I dug into our near limitless supply of cardboard and found these flaps from a box. The tube came from some wrapping paper that I finished off this Christmas. Next, I drew moose antler shapes on the flaps and cut them out with an X-acto knife.

Then, I taped them to the tube using clear packing tape.

Of course we had to try it out! I tried to attach the "antlers" to the princesses heads with a scarf wrapped around the tube and tied under their chins. I couldn't get it to stay, though, so we just ended up holding them in place.

I encouraged them to walk around the house holding the antlers. You can't really tell from this picture but this is Princess Big walking into a short hallway. Naturally she caught one side of the antlers on the wall and had to readjust. When she came out into the dining room she said "Wow, it's hard to be a moose!"

Princess Big Turns 5

2011-01-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all of you out there in blog land! We have finally settled down from the holidays around here just in time for Princess Big's 5th birthday. We just had a little family party but we did some things that would be great for a big party.

First I mad a "Happy Birthday" banner for the party. I looked at one in the party store that had Cinderella on it but I decided that I could make something cuter for less than the $6.99 they were charging! All I did was cut 4.5 inch squares out of solid blue cardstock and blue patterned scrapbook paper that I had in my craft stash. I glued them together after giving the scrapbook paper a .25 turn. For the letters I found a script I liked in word and printed them out in blue on my printer. Next, I cut them out and glued them on the scrapbook paper. Using a regular hole punch I punched a hole in the top corners of the solid blue cardstock. Next I strung them on a length of blue ribbon I had in my craft stash.

Princess Big and Princess Little needed a party shirt so I got to work with my sewing machine. I picked up a couple plain T-shirts at Wal-Mart and then dug around my fabric box until I found the scrap fabric from some shirts I made the girls last summer. I cut out Cinderella for Princess Big and Ariel for Princess Little (their favorite princess respectively). Then with the sewing machine I attached them to the T-shirts with a zig-zag stitch around the edges.

After cake and presents I set up the table with a large canvas (the girls and I painted it bright blue the day before so that it would be dry in time), photos and all of the assorted craft supplies that we had in our stash: sequence, small pom-poms, ribbons, glitter glue pens, tissue paper scraps, etc.(Those two cabinets in the back are our craft stash. Queen Mommy keeps just about everything "crafty" she lays her hands on!). Next we got down to gluing, using Mod-Podge of course! You can see King Daddy at work on his first addition and Queen Mommy's first addition there in the front, a photo of Princess Big in the hospital when she was born (tear, where did the time go).

Here are some close-ups of our finished product. King Daddy and the Princesses went a little nuts with the pom-poms :) Since it was a family party I used pictures of the family. However, had it been a party of little girls I would have asked each of them to bring a favorite photo of themselves to add to this. I would also have printed as many as I could of the Princesses playing with their friends. As a goody bag I would have put tiny canvases, a bottle of acrylic paint , paintbrush, and small amounts of tissue paper, sequence, pom-poms, etc.

Happy Birthday Princess Big!
We love you,
King Daddy, Queen Mommy and Princess Little

Cardboard Washer and Dryer

2010-12-09T14:29:00.000-08:00

Last month I made a post about a cardboard washing machine. I went to check on Princess Little upstairs and discovered her using her training potty as a washing machine for her doll clothes. Gross! So I told her we could make her one from a cardboard box. I was feeling a little under the weather that day and I just used a sharpie to draw the buttons on the front. I wasn't sure I could paint it because of the tape holding the box closed and I was at a loss on what to do. Well, my friend, Queen Sallie (from a kingdom far, far away) suggested I cover it with contact paper. Her idea was nothing less than brilliant! Fast forward about two weeks...I should have seen it coming...Princess Big put water in the washing machine! Needless to say, it was ruined. Oh well, it gave me an excuse to make a matching washer and dryer.

I started by taping the box closed and then wrapped it in contact paper. I used a small mixing bowl to trace a circle on the front. Then I used an X-Acto knife to cut it out leaving about 1/3 of the circle so they would open like the doors of my machine. I have a front loading machine and Princess Little wanted it to look just like mine.

Next, I used a piece of cardstock and paint pens to make the different cycles and times. Using rubber cement I glued the labels onto the boxes. When the glue was dry I used my knife again to cut a small x in the center of each one.

At Hobby Lobby I found these wooden toy wheels that are about 2 inches in diameter. I used the paint pen to draw the black pointer on the smooth side. At the hardware store I got these #10 1inch nut and bolt. Then I stuck the bolt through the wheel and then through the small x in the box. After that I screwed the nut on with my hand. Not too tight so that the wheel would spin easily. For the door handle, I used another wheel but this time I flipped it over and attached it in the same way as the others. I did tighten the handle more so that it wouldn't spin.

Here you go! A matching washer/dryer. If only they could wash their own clothes...

Stained Glass Ornaments

2010-12-08T09:03:00.000-08:00

Here is the end result of our recent crayon melt pictures, finally!

The first step was cutting out the frames and "glass". I used these stencils but you could cut them in any shape you want. I used the largest and smallest square/circle in the right column for the frame. For the "glass" I used the one in the middle. Make sure you cut out two frame pieces for each piece of "glass"

Next, the princesses put a trail of glue around the frame.

Then, they smeared the glue around to make sure the entire frame was covered.

After that, we laid the "glass"down. Just a note, if there is a lot of glue the velum will begin to curl up so you may need to go quickly or help you little one with the next step.

Next, just lay the other frame on top and press along all of the edges to make sure they stick together.

Here are our glued ornaments drying on a piece of wax paper.

Once they were dry (after the princesses went to bed) I used a hole punch to make a hole in each one.

Then, I used some curling ribbon that I had on hand to make a loop.

I added the date to the back and some ornament hangers so the princesses could hang them in the morning.

Here they are looking for just the right spot to hang. We were looking for spots right in front of lights so that they would "glow" when the tree lights are on.

I think it worked out pretty well!

2010-12-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

This year the princesses are getting a "divorced parents" kind of Christmas. King Daddy's parents will be visiting the cousins this year so we did our present opening with them this past weekend. It turned out great because we also had our first "big" snow (about 4 inches). It was perfect for snowballs and snowmen. For those of you in the south that may not know, our snow us usually too dry to stick together for that kind of thing. While the others were down in the basement wrapping presents I took the princesses out to play. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of us making snow angels and throwing snowballs. I didn't think the camera could handle being out in the cold and snow and King Daddy was busy. I did however get a picture of the snowman we built. I grew up in the south and had no idea how hard it was to build a snowman! It really takes a lot out of you and this guy is only about 3 feet tall!

Presenting Mr. Snow! Can you believe this picture was taken at 4pm? It really didn't seem like it was that dark.

Candle Holders

2010-12-04T15:01:00.000-08:00

Last night we made some candle holders for the dining room table. I got the idea for this from Pinkandgreenmama@blogspot.com.

Here are the materials:

Glass candle holders (I got ours at the Dollar Tree)

Mod Podge

Foam craft brush

Tissue paper

First, we painted a thick layer of mod podge over our entire candle holder. You can't see it in these picture but there is a piece of wax paper under the candle holder. The project will easily peel off the wax paper when dry.

Next, we stuck pieces of tissue paper on the candle holder.

Before letting them dry, Queen Mommy put a thin coat of mod podge over the whole thing, just to make sure the tissue is sealed in.

Once dry put a votive or tea light in. I used flameless tea lights that I got at the Dollar Tree.

Cardboard Puppet Theater

2010-12-02T13:37:00.000-08:00

This past summer I made a puppet theater for the princesses out of a cardboard box. I didn't have this blog up and going so I didn't take step by step pictures, sorry. The only pictures I have are of the finished product but hopefully you'll get the idea as I explain what I did.

I started with a Grand Wardrobe Box from U-Haul. The dimensions are 24" x 21" x 48".

The first thing I did was to cut off all of the top flaps (I did not cut off the bottom flaps). If you look at the picture of the box on the U-Haul website you'll see that one of the flaps on one of the narrow sides is longer than the rest. After that I cut a straight line all the way down the box and through the bottom flap.

Next I laid the box out flat and cut a hole 30" x 14" about 81/2" from the top. After that I got down to painting.The first two coats were just white acrylic craft paint so that the printing on the box wouldn't show through. Next I painted the sides in a metallic blue tempera paint with 2 or 3 coats. The center panel I painted with chalkboard paint so the princesses could write the name of their show on it. So that the boarders of the chalkboard wouldn't show I hot glued a strip of sequenced trim I got from the fabric store. I had hopes that the light shinning off the sequence would look like light bulbs around a marquis.

Next I made some curtains out of scrap fabric I had on hand. Instead of a hem around the sides and bottom I used double folded bias tape and just sewed it around. Once that was on I turned the top down and made a seam big enough to insert the dowel rod I purchased, which I believe was a 3/8", from Home Depot. I got the smallest size that didn't bend easily.

When the curtains were ready I put them on the dowel rod and used a knife to get a hole started so that I could push the dowel through. Then to secure it on the outside of each end I screwed on a nut, purchased at the same time as the dowel rod. I just took the dowel to the hardware section and tried different sized until I found the one that would screw on. As I twisted them on they made the grooves necessary. Note: I used a soft wood dowel, I think it is poplar. I'm not sure how easy this would have been with the oak dowel.

Once it was all finished I used binding clips I had on hand to secure the cut back flaps down to the side flaps. As you can see the inside of the box serves as a board for play notes :) They can be erased with a chalkboard eraser but they don't come off quite as neatly as they do on the chalkboard paint. That might be an upgrade for me, to paint the inside with the chalkboard paint also.

We had a few puppets already but I have also made more out of felt. Felt is great because you don't have to finish the edges and once you sew the sides together you can just use fabric glue to attach the details. As soon as I can figure out how to put a template up I'll do it for the basic shape of the puppet and then you can let your creativity take off!

Crayon Melts

2010-11-30T12:26:00.000-08:00

One of the art projects my mom did with us when we were kids that I enjoyed most was making crayon melt pictures. I was at a loss with how to duplicate it with my children because I didn't want to purchase an expensive hot plate just for this. Imagine my surprise when while at a thrift store shopping for something entirely different I looked down and saw the very same hot plate my mother had! Now for the whopping price of $1.71 plus tax I can pass this project on to my girls.

The supplies you need are:

Hot plate with a smooth surface

Aluminum foil

Old crayons

Paper (any kind)

Hot pad

Paper towel

Place a piece of aluminum foil over the hot plate and tuck the edges so it won't slide around. Plug in the hot plate and let it warm up.

Once the hot plate is warm enough to melt the crayons let your little one draw on it.

When their picture is done lay a piece of paper over the top and smooth it down using the hot pad. We used velum sheets here because we're going to make ornaments for our tree out of these. The velum doesn't soak up the wax like regular paper does so it works better for abstract drawings. When you use plain paper the picture will transfer to it the way it was drawn. After you transfer the picture use some paper towel to wipe the foil clean and you're ready to create a new picture!

Here are our finished pictures drying. Stay tuned, later in the week we will be showing how we turned these into "stained glass" ornaments!

Advent Calendar

2010-11-29T14:33:00.000-08:00

We didn't do much in the way of arts and crafts between Halloween and Thanksgiving! I know we were just too busy but for the life of me I can't remember what we were doing. I think I'm a little young for a "senior moment" but that's the best way I can describe it! Now, however, we are getting into Christmas time and I am sooooo excited! My princesses are finally old enough to start doing the crafts my mother did with me, as well as, some new traditions I want to start. We spent the Thanksgiving weekend getting our tree up. I had to get a new one that was bigger (our old one was only 4ft) to fit all of the keepsake ornaments that we have collected since Princess Big was born. I also wanted to have plenty of room to add the ones we will be making this year and in the years to come.

Here is our finished, for now, tree.

One of the new traditions that I have decided on is an Advent Calendar. When I was a kid I think my brother, sister, and I got one of those calendars that is filled with little chocolates once. I suspect that my mother told my grandparents not to send another one. I imagine we didn't share very well but how could you, those chocolates are so small! It was either that or the fact that my parents didn't want us eating too much candy. Now that I'm a mother I find myself thinking the same thing. I don't want my girls eating too much candy at Christmas either and it is very difficult. When I saw this idea I knew it was perfect. I can fill the little boxes with treats other than candy!

Here is the entire calendar.

Here is a close up of the boxes.

If you want to make one of your own you can see how I use the ideas from Mod Podge Rocks here.

Erupting Volcano

2010-11-29T13:42:00.000-08:00

Finally an update on our volcano project. We had to wait a few weeks until King Daddy had some free time to do the experiment. I thought everyone did this project for the first grade science fair but apparently I was wrong. King Daddy had never done it so, I wanted to let him do it with the princesses. It also gave me a chance to snap pictures of their faces when the "lava" came flowing out. I'm glad I did because they looked so surprised!

Here is Princess Little helping King Daddy pour in the vinegar which has red food coloring added to it.

Here comes the lava.

Look at those faces!

Cheers all around!

Quilted Sunnies Caddie

2010-11-12T09:11:00.000-08:00

My children have a million sunnies (our word for sunglasses). At least that's how it seems because they are strewn about the house, car and several of my bags. In an effort to organize them I made a sunnies caddie to hang by the door.

I started by cutting out my fabric. I cut two pieces of white flannel 13"x21" and three pieces of blue striped flannel 4.5"x13".

Next, I pressed the long edges of the blue stripped flannel down .25".

Then, using a zig zag stitch I sewed one of the edges.

Next, I cut a piece of quilt batting slightly larger than the white back ground.

Then, I pinned everything together. On the bottom is one piece of the white, then the batting, then the second piece of white, and last the blue stripped pockets. I sewed, using a zig zag stitch, the bottom of the pockets in place. Then, I sewed the vertical zig zag stitches that separate pockets. I did three pockets approximately 3.5" (I just eyeballed it).

To make the binding I cut enough strips of fabric 2" wide to go around the entire perimeter.

I turned them into one long strip by sewing them together like this. Pressing the seams open.

Then, I folded the strip in half and pressed it like this.

Next, starting in the center of one side I pinned the binding to the caddie with the raw edges lining up.

To do the corners, I stopped sewing about .25" from the end.

Then, I folded the strip up like this...

And then straight back down like this and pinned it. Then I sewed down this edge and repeated the corner process until I got back to where I started. Before I sewed over the end where I started, I folded the beginning edge over about .5". Then, I sewed the ending edge on top of the folded beginning edge. Once the binding was completely sewn on I trimmed the batting and fabric .25" from the stitching.

I made the hanging tabs by sewing a strip of fabric right sides together and then turning it right side out. Then, I cut it into three pieces. I folded the pieces in half to have ready for the next step.

Next, I folded the binding over the edge to the back and pinned it in place. Placing the tabs along the top edge. I matched the raw edges and then folded the binding over the tabs. This means that the top of the tab was pointing down.

Then, I sewed all the way around the binding in the seam. This is called stitch in the ditch.

Once it was all sewn I turned the tabs up to the top and stitched in the ditch over them. Now they are pointed the correct way.

Then, I cut a dowel rod the correct length and slid it through the tabs. I tied some white ribbon to the ends and knotted a loop in the center. The last thing to do was hang it by the door with a picture nail!

Word Wall

2010-11-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

When I decided to undertake the project of doing a home school preschool with my girls I wasn't sure I could do it! However, I am very lucky to have both a best friend and King Daddy's cousin who are Kindergarten teachers. They have both given me a wealth of information on what skills we should be working toward. Recently one of them asked me if I had a "word wall" to help with word recognition. I do but I don't think it's anything like her wall ;) We do ours in the bathtub! I took this great idea from Filth Wizardry here.

Each week when we talk about the sounds that our letter of the week make we also talk about words that start with that letter. As the Princesses list them I write them down on the foam and add them to our bag. In the tub Princess Big uses the words to make sentences and Princess Little uses the letters to make words. Just for the record we also have lots of shapes to make murals on the wall also :)

The Model is Dry!!!

2010-11-07T17:27:00.000-08:00

Our volcano is finally dry! So, today we are painting.

Here are the princesses painting.

Here is our painted volcano. Now all I have to do is take it outside and spray it with an acrylic top coat. Then it will be ready to experiment with King Daddy. I will post pictures as soon as we do it!

Island Lei

2010-11-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

Today we made a lei garland to hang around our island mural.
We used:
Length of yarn
Wooden beads
Fake flowers (I got mine in a box of 500 in the wedding aisle of the craft section of Wal Mart.)

I tied one end of the yarn to a large wooden bead. I also used a yarn needle for the other end but you could use tape around the end like a shoelace.

Then Princess Little and Princess Big strung the beads and flowers alternating on the yarn.

Here is our mural at the end of the day. Princess Little decided the volcano needed lava and some flowering trees added to it.

Day 3 for the Volcano Model:

Well, here is our volcano still drying. I want to make sure it is really dry before painting!

Island Mural

2010-11-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

Today's art project was getting our mural started. I drew an outline of a volcano and the ocean on our bulletin board paper. Then I got out the tempera paint and mixed a few colors, gave the girls a foam brush and here is what we got.

Then I gave them some sun pieces and asked them to arrange them. Then I put a little glue on the back and handed it to them to paste.

Here is our finished (for the day) mural.

Now for step 2 in our volcano model.
The first thing I did was to mix up some salt dough which is 1 part salt, 4 parts all-purpose flour and 1 1/2 parts hot water. Mix together and kneed for about 10 minutes.

Then we rolled it out to anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 inches thick.

While I was putting the finishing touches on this, the girls were doing this with the leftover dough. Once I was happy with the volcano (I hope to get a lot of use out of this), I put it in the oven at the lowest possible temp (which for my oven is 170F) for 3 hours. Then I just turned the oven off and left the volcano in there. I will leave it in there until I have to cook dinner tomorrow night. Then on Thursday we will paint it.

I is for Island

2010-11-02T20:18:00.000-07:00

This week were are working on the letter I and the number 9. Our states are Hawaii and Iowa. Our president is William Henry Harrison.

Since Hawaii is one of our states we are learning what's inside a volcano. It was a beautiful day so we moved it outside and Queen Mommy drew a picture of a volcano with sidewalk chalk. Then the girls filled in the details. We talked about how most of the volcano is underwater like with Hawaii.

For our science project this week we are building a volcano. You know the project we all did for the 1st grade science fair. Today we worked on the frame which we will cover with a salt dough. I used a glass jar from our favorite jelly. It is tall and narrow. Then I covered it with foil in a volcano shape. Tomorrow it's the dough.

Leafy Stained Glass

2010-11-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Friday was just too beautiful to stay inside! The wind finally died down and the sun was out so we headed outside to hunt for pretty fall leaves. Then we brought them inside and put them in a frame. Here's how we did it.

First, I cut out a frame using construction paper.

Then, I stuck it to a piece of clear contact paper.

Next, the girls placed their found leaves on the contact paper inside the frame.

Then, I placed a second piece of contact over the top and we smoothed it all over and hung in the girls bedroom window. Beautiful!

Spooky Spiderwebs

2010-11-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we made spooky spiderwebs. Here are the supplies:

Cold cooked spaghetti

Wax paper

Glue

Dip pieces of spaghetti in the glue and then place on the wax paper.

Let the glue dry.

Carefully peel the wax paper off the spaghetti.

We added some plastic spider rings to the webs after we taped them on the mural. Princess Little decided that we needed to add some of the plastic bat rings in the sky and Princess Big wanted to add the plastic skull rings to the windows of the house. I think it looks fantastic!

Paper Chain Skeleton

2010-10-31T20:53:00.000-07:00

We made some wonderful paper chain skeletons for our Halloween mural!

First, we made a basic paper chain with white construction paper.

Then, Queen Mommy traced and cut out the hands and feet and freehanded a skull.

Next, assemble the arms, legs, neck and back. Then, we glued the hands, feet, and skull on.

Here we are ;)

Tracing Pumpkins

2010-10-31T20:19:00.000-07:00

Every house needs jack-o'-lanterns! Being able to trace around something, like a cookie cutter (that's what we used), has to be an important skill right? That's what I thought so we made some pumpkins for our "haunted" house.

Here are Princess Big and Princess Little tracing the pumpkin cookie cutter.

Here they are coloring in the jack o' lantern

Then, Queen Mommy cut them out and put some tape on the back. The girls decided where they would be placed. As it turns out, both girls wanted to only put up one so they could play with the other one.

Here are our pumpkins. I had originally planned to have more pumpkins but sometimes you just let it go :) If you look closely just to the left of the top of the house you'll also see our glue ghosts.

Glue Ghosts

2010-10-31T19:41:00.000-07:00

Here is our glue ghost project! It's really pretty easy but it takes a few days to dry.
First I drew a ghost shape on a piece of wax paper with a sharpie.

Then I gave the girls a bottle of glue and let them fill in the ghost.

A note: don't let them just pour the glue in a big puddle in the middle. Princess Big, it turns out, had too much glue and it ran. So we had to try again.

Here they are all dried.

I have the updated mural on the next post :)

Alphabet Lacing Cards

2010-10-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

The son of one of my friends is turning two and for his present I decided to make him some alphabet lacing cards. They are a great way to work on fine motor skills and I figured the alphabet shapes could come in handy too. It has taken me a little over a week to finish them but now they are done!

I got this art board at Hobby Lobby in sheets of 15" x 20". It is slightly thinner than the chipboard you can get in the scrap booking section. Since I don't have one of those fancy cutting machines I felt this might be easier to cut with an X-acto knife. Yet sturdier than laminated paper.

First I cut the board down into 4" x 5" rectangles.

Then I freehanded the letters using as much of the rectangle as possible and cut them out.

Next, I sanded the edges first with a heavy grit sandpaper to get the corners rounded, as well as, the round part of different letters, like the B. Then I used a fine grit sandpaper to make sure the edges were smooth.

Next, I used a mini punch that I got in the leather working section of Michael's to punch holes in the letters over a piece of scrap wood from the garage. Then, another round with the fine grit sandpaper to smooth the hole edges. (In hindsight I think I should have saved this step for last. Had I used a larger piece of wood I would not have had to sand any of the holes. The rough edges only form when you try to punch a new hole in the divot of a previous hole and the next steps drip thorough the holes.)

Next, I painted the letters. I painted the backs white and let them dry overnight. Then, I painted the fronts with the colors of the rainbow and let them dry overnight. (I only painted one side with color so that my friend's son would know which is the correct direction of the letters.) The final step was to cover the backs with a coat of Mod-Podge and let dry overnight and then repeat with the fronts. As you can see on the B the Mod-Podge, more than the paint, seeped through the holes so some of them have "spots".

I decided he needed to have something to carry all those letters around in. So I cut these pieces to make a carrying case out of felt and used 3D fabric paint to print "My Alphabet" on the front piece and let it dry before sewing.

After sewing it together I added some Velcro to keep the flap closed. Don't want to lose any of those letters!

At the last minute I decided to add a handle. I know it looks a little like a purse but I had to make the strap long enough to make it easy to get the letters in and out when the flap is open.

Last but not least the strings. I got some heat fusible nylon craft cord and cut it into the correct length. I tried several different methods for sealing the ends but in the end decided to fuse them. There might be an easier way but I used a lighter and just brushed the ends with the flame (I would suggest a push button lighter instead of the wheel one, it got very hot!)

Hand Print Ghost

2010-10-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

Today we made hand print ghosts for our mural.

These are our supplies:

Black construction paper

White acrylic craft paint

Foam paint brush

Black sharpie marker

Googley eyes

First we painted the hand with the white paint.

Here is Princess Big showing off her hand.

Here is Princess Little showing off hers.

Then we pressed them on the black construction paper and let them dry.

Last we glued on the eyes and drew the mouths.

Here is our finished mural for the week. I have one more ghost project to post but it takes time to dry so we are going to use it on next weeks mural.

T-Shirt Dress

2010-10-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a project I first did in the late 80's with my step-mom. Originally we used plain t-shirts and hot glued big plastic buttons all over the front... oh the 80's :) I can only find plain short sleeve t-shirts in my girls sizes that they can decorate. So, I plan on making more with the girls in the spring when they will be able to wear short sleeved dresses. For now I took them shopping and let them pick out a shirt they liked (turns out they liked the same one so I'm only showing one). This project only took about an hour to do both dresses.

I'm sure you're looking at this thinking that is a plain pink t-shirt! The neck has some pleating on it though and I didn't know how easy it would be for my princesses to work around. They are only 3 and 4 and I don't want any frustration with a project that is supposed to be fun.

First thing I did was cut the shirt into two pieces right under the arms.

Next, I pinned the two shirts together. The pink pinned under the hem of the white.

Then I took it to the sewing machine (sorry I don't have a picture of this but I cant shoot and sew at the same time). I sewed the pieces together along the hem stitch of the white t-shirt.

Here is the completed dress!

Tissue Ghosts

2010-10-21T08:22:00.000-07:00

Today's ghost was made from tissues. We just made a ball out of two tissues and then covered it with a third. We secured it with a white twist tie and drew the face on with a sharpie. Nice and simple! However, my house is now covered with unused tissues. I guess that's better than used ones :)

Here are the princesses working on their ghosts.

I find it interesting that the princesses choose an area they feel belongs to them and all their ghosts end up in that space.

Ghost Fairies

2010-10-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

Today's art project was ghost fairies. I got the idea from Pink and Green Mama and you can see how to make them here.

Here is Princess Little working on her fairy.

Here is Princess Little's completed fairy.

Here is Princess Big working on her fairy. As you can see we are still having neck issues.

Here is Princess Big's completed fairy.

Last, but not least, is the updated mural.

We also made a few for our Halloween sensory box. The flowers I used to make the skirts had these glittery centers that I thought would make a good crown. Now we have a few ghost fairy princesses!

Ghost Mural

2010-10-19T07:40:00.000-07:00

We woke up this morning to a minor chiropractic event this morning, my older daughter got her first neck kink. Due to a trip to the chiropractor this morning we didn't get much school work done but we did paint our mural.

Here are the girls painting. The scarf around her neck is holding an ice pack on so she can paint! She was in too much pain to show it but was very excited to see how many ghosts appeared. We just used watered down tempera paint. I was pleased to see how well the tree and grass resisted the paint because I didn't press down very hard while coloring them in like I did the moon and ghosts.

Here's how it looked once dry and back up on the wall.

I think it looks great and I can't wait for us to add more ghosts!

Week 7 Lesson Plans

2010-10-17T21:08:00.000-07:00

Each week I create my lesson plans around the letter and number that we are working on for that week. Last weeks letter was F for Farm and our number was 6. We studied Illinois and Indiana as our states because those are the 2 states we most recently resided in and we could see corn fields all around our home. We also learned about the 6th president John Quincy Adams. We made butter by shaking heavy whipping cream in a jar until it formed a ball. We tried it on some bread and it tasted just like the unsalted butter we buy in the store! Every week I create a mural backdrop out of bulletin board paper that I get from the teacher supply store for us to display our art projects.

Here is our farm from last week.

This week we are doing G for Ghost and the number 7. We will be reading Ghost Eats It All and Ghost Gets Dressed by Janee Trasler (our library was a little limited in selection). We will learn about Georgia and Pennsylvania for our states. Andrew Jackson will be the president for this week. As for art, all of our projects will be ghosts. Our first one will be to finish the mural Mommy started by painting it all over with watered down black tempera paint.

I used crayons to draw and color in this tree and the grass. I also drew, which you can't see yet, a full moon and two ghosts. I can't wait to see my angel's faces when they emerge as they start to paint :) I'm going to use this opportunity to talk about why the black paint doesn't cover the crayon. I can't wait to post the "finished" project tomorrow and each day for the rest of the week so you can see how our mural progresses!

Presidents Game

2010-10-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

Another one of our weekly activities is to learn about the president that corresponds to the number we are learning. Last week we learned about the 6th president John Quincey Adams. Again, I realize that a lot of the information is really advanced for my girls and all I really want them to remember right now is the name and number of the presidents. So to reinforce, I came up with this game to play while we're waiting for things. It's small and fits easily in my purse.

I used free clip art pictures of the presidents and added their names.

Then I glued them to paint chips.

When we play I just mix the cards up and ask the girls to put them in the correct order. When they get a little older and understand the calendar better I will turn this into a matching game with the dates of presidency on another card to be matched to the president.

States and Their Capitals Game

2010-10-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

For the last 6 weeks I have been homeschooling my girls who are 3 and almost 5. One of our weekly activities is to learn about 1 or 2 of the states. They get to color in a picture of the state, while I read a book about that state. Once that is finished we locate the state on a blank map of the U.S. I'm aware they are so young and the only thing I really want them to remember is the name of the state and the capital. So to reinforce these things, I came up with game that we can play while we are waiting for things like our food at a restaurant, for ballet class to start, etc.

I used free clip art pictures of the states that I glued to paint chips.

Then I used another paint chip from the same card to write the name of the capital. I think, however, that I might have to change that plan. During the first game my older one figured the color scheme out and looked only for the matching color instead of the capital to match with the state.