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Honestly, I've actually been published a couple of times, and for some reason have never shared. But this time I promised myself I'd post it...
See how it's all pixelated? That's because it's a crappy cell phone picture. Who cares? I'm published! This is a Sew News special issue that comes out once a year and has a bunch of cute sewing tutorials (mine included, ahem - did I say turn to page 76 yet?).
Here's my oldest, modeling my project for me. It actually takes me back a little...
When I saw these garlands on the Land of Nod website I knew I'd bumped into an easy craft that would turn out cute enough to actually use as decoration. 10 sheets of felt and a bag of tiny clothespins later...
I was actually prepared for the possibility that this particular Christmas project would be a bust. Every Christmas season I wander the aisles at Michael's with ideas from 14 different Christmas magazines in hopes of finding fun things for the kids to do. And somehow usually my ideas never make it out of the craft bin, or they wind up completely lost on the kids altogether. This one was a winner in every category: Cheap. Fun. Easy-enough-for-a-three-year-old. Entertaining-enough-to-hold-their-interest. Pretty-enough-to-hang-up. The key ingredient, it turned out, was the Time To Do It. I am so glad I took time off this season to hang with the kids...
It was (fittingly) a snow day on Sunday. Daddy was on Guard duty out of town. The kids were bored (and I'd already played outside for my quota of 30 minutes in the cold).
And the activity lasted long enough for Daddy to join in when he got home:
Materials:
How to:
I know. It's September. The final days of summer were weeks ago for most. This blog has been on the bottom of a very long list that includes three small children, a household, photography, client galleries, etc...but I miss it. I miss all of my dear readers. I am going to resolve to post a bit more.
I took this picture after waking up one morning, panicked by the sudden realization that my oldest daughter was about to start Kindergarten - and I had spent most of the summer at my computer instead of with her, much less contemplating these final days before "real" school. I cried a little, forced to digest that time really does move forward whether we're ready or not. And regretting that I hadn't used more of it to be more present with my girls.
I decided to shut down my work and computer for a few hours that afternoon, and decided to work on a small project with Evyn.
More than a year ago, Evyn started talking down to herself. She seemed sincerely hard on herself. So I turned to a promise in scripture, and wrote it out for her on a slip of paper, repeating it for her when I thought she needed to hear it. Some time ago I ran across the paper, and decided to use it in our project:
Evyn was excited to finally use the fabric markers that had been lingering out of reach in the top basket of our "craft tower," and when she was done you could barely see the words buried in rainbows and hearts and swirls (which is why I snapped this picture midway).
A few tries with a mallet and snaps later, we had this quasi-80's accessory:
If you buy a pair of very expensive jeans, do not attempt to color your hair in them several hours after purchase. Because they will wind up being a very expensive craft project.
Ugh. For the THIRD year in a row I've remembered that Evyn is having a Valentine's Day party, but forgotten to actually MAKE valentines with her to pass out. This is supposed to be every crafty mom's favorite holiday - and you'll see little pretties all over blogland - pictures of children with paint and paper and ribbon, drumming up some fancy little thing to give to their friends, family, teachers. Me? I was so wrapped up in my own work (I had a newborn shoot to do the afternoon of the party) that I completely blanked on this fabulous girly crafting opportunity. I've never been good with designated dates for things. Even though I'm a planner, I am one of those people who waits for inspiration to hit before I buy a gift, send a card, or make something for someone. Which means I'm really bad at birthdays and showers...and Valentines Day. I woke up at 4:40 a.m. in a panic that my poor daughter would be going to school without anything special to take.
As soon as we woke up, I threw together a batch of cookies from a mix, thinking that would be cute. But I burned the cookies. Plan B: surf the web for something easy from some mommy-blog. Melted crayons in a heart shape? That looked easy. I remembered we had some heart-shaped muffin cups and gathered the girls at the table sure I'd just found the easiest, cutest little craft.
After twenty-five long minutes of arduously peeling and scraping paper off of most of the crayons we owned, I finally got our little ditties in the oven. I wish I had pictures of the mess this "easy" task entailed - bits of paper everywhere, half-eaten crayons on the floor and table (Ash? the dog? not sure which), overturned chairs from a milk-spilling incident where I grabbed the rug too fast in an attempt to shove a towel underneath, vegetable spray all over the table and chairs, several abandoned half-peeled crayons, and two kids who seemed pretty oblivious to the point of it all.
In the end they were cute but I think if this happens again I am totally stopping at the drugstore for some cheesy punch-out cards with kittens on them.
I love giving gifts with a story...whether it be the recipient's story or even my own. In this case, I wanted to give a token gift to a bride. Coffee and cookies...not typical, I guess. But the thought behind it is sweet, I think.
When James and I first married, we moved from Tennessee to upstate New York just two days later. No honeymoon (unless you count the half hour staring at water at Niagara Falls). And when I say "upstate" I'm not talking about Buffalo; I'm talking four hours NORTH of that. Snowtown, USA.
We rented a very drafty upstairs apartment (with a remove-able wall...don't get me started) and had only two months together before James was to deploy the first time. We spent our Saturday and Sunday mornings in the breakfast nook over our version of espresso and homemade biscotti. At the time I was a bit lonely...far from my huge network of friends, co-workers, and alumni in Nashville, and suddenly thrust into military life in the coldest corner of the country. Those mornings with James were sweet and dear to me. When he deployed a few weeks later, I would make batches of this biscotti in care packages to him, hopeful they would bring comfort. I think baking it just helped me pass the time with the only newlywed memories I had at the time.
So when I saw these sweet little espresso cups at Crate and Barrell one day, I knew they'd make a charmed little gift paired with biscotti...I'd pass my little newlywed story on to the happy couple and picture them sipping coffee on Saturday morning. This gift is for the daughter of a blog friend of mine. Whether the bride likes coffee or not is beside the point. I think the story conveys a thought...wishing her many charmed Saturdays as a newlywed...
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A few days before I sent the gift I ran across this little idea in my Green Craft magazine (love that magazine - great, REAL ideas) and thought it was so clever. Imagine my surprise when I flipped the page and saw that the designer of the project was the bride's mother!
And, yes, that's an office supply tag you see inside my toilet paper pocket. I've found they make great gift notes.
I often save the scraps of my projects, planning to someday glue them to a fancy journal and keep this neat little creative book of sewing memories. Those scraps have mostly just sat in my fabric stash.
I found a better way: office supplies.
Can you guess what it is? I made a thrown-together terry cloth version of this several years ago for my grandpa when he had to use a walker. Now it's Nana's turn. She's asked for it several times and I just know she's going to be proud to "wear" it to the cafe at her new assisted living facility.
One side has pockets; the other is one large pocket for magazines and larger items. It secures over the bar of her walker saddle-style with these two snaps, which are my only disappointment. I wanted to use vintage buttons. But I couldn't find the button hole maker and Ash was due to wake up any minute.
The ties on the side are kinda cute - but they're meant to be tied to the side bars of the walker to keep the whole thing from flapping annoyingly as she scoots.
Can you believe it? That I made something, I mean. It's been so long! And I have another nursing-home project coming up soon (well, "soon" is relative). I think we may have a whole new category of crafty-things here!
A while ago (okay, over a year ago), after years of pain and paperwork, dear friends of ours finally brought their baby home from China. Beautiful little S., one year old.
This blanket shouldn't actually take a year to finish. It got put to the side after some rough times in the Butler house. And you know how that goes...so when the whole house got sick a while ago I decided to just buck up and finish it. Within a few days, I had this:
And I almost don't want to give it away.
I am horrible at edgings, so I chose rows of single crochet in a pretty lilac. I love it.
I hope S. does, too. Congrats, Lex and Justin!!!
Crochet Notes: Bernat Cotton Tots in "Sunshine" & "Lovely Lilac" (I love this yarn!), Spiderweb pattern similar to this.
You probably wonder if I sew/crochet/create anymore. I do - but only the easiest stuff. With two kids and so many activities in my life I have a short attention span. Just ask the half-emptied dishwasher.
This sweet blanket and burp cloth set is my go-to project when I want to feel crafty again but don't have much time. This time it was for a newborn in my Sunday school class. (I used this bunny applique)
I let Evyn help me pick out the fabrics, not realizing she thought we were making the blanket for her. The girl thinks I live to make things for her. (I've told you she thinks I can make anything, right? Today she asked me if I could make her a "roly poly." Wha?)
She was so disappointed that we wouldn't be using the "easter fabric" for her that she convinced me to use the scraps to whip up a doll blanket while she took a bath. Half an hour later she emerged from the tub and waited in the chair next to me while I finished up her piece.
She has a short attention span, too. She loved it for all of 24 hours. ;)
Evyn loves art. Her friend K loves art. I love doing art projects. Sounds like a regular art day is in order!
We had our first one last week. We made our own clay beads, then painted and strung them to make bracelets.
The girls loved making the clay dough:
1 cup salt
1 cup warm water
2 cups flour
We rolled them into balls and poked large holes with a skewer. It's important that the holes be a little exaggerated because the beads plump in the microwave (microwave on high about 2-3 minutes total, turning the beads over halfway through).
Once the paint dried, I took the beads outside and sprayed them with a gloss sealer to make them a little shinier. Whew that stuff is toxic!
The girls watched a princess move and read There's a Mouse In the House to each other while the everything finished drying.
Then, we strung the beads on a bit of Magic Stretch (we used 1mm but I would use something just a bit smaller) and called it a day!
We're already planning the next Art Day. With so many bloggy, crafty moms out there I have too many ideas to choose from!
Check these places out for some artsy sensory fun stuff:
