Play Mailbox

My husband and I are getting ready

for a little get-away.
I know it will be hard on my children,
and even though I am excited, hard on me.

I decorated this cute little mailbox for them to open everyday,
inside will be little activities,
family pictures and little treats to cheer their day.
I hope it makes their experience a little happier.
And it turned out cute!

You can find these little Mailboxes at Hobby Lobby, Micheals, and Joanne's.
I decorated mine with scrapbook paper Mod Podge, Ribbon and Felt.

A little gift, for a little friend

This weekend I made a cute, inexpensive gift for a 2 year old birthday.
It is a watercolor kit.

I was inspired by what I saw here. Amazing...and simple!

Do you remember the Water Coloring Books,
from when you were a kid?
You paint with water and then colors appear on the page.

It was simple to do.

You need: Watercolor paper, and watercolor pencils (and a place to print) Believe it or not...I picked both of those items up at Walmart for under $6.00. I am thinking cute little Christmas gifts...my girl can give to her little friends.

Cut your watercolor paper into squares the size of the book you want, I folded my paper into 4 squares and cut them. Then you can print clip art onto it, or draw pictures in pencil. I drew mine. Then take you water color pencils and go around the borders of the picture, and color in lightly. Ta-Da! Include a few little paintbrushes in an envelope...super cute. Here are some of the pictures I made:I am planning on making a BLUES CLUES book for my daughters birthday.

30 Days of Thanks, A November Calendar

I just finished this really big project, and the month of November is 1/2 over!!
Ah...well, there are many years left to enjoy it...and tie a big Orange Ribbon on top!

I think family traditions are a really big deal.
I love them and I want my children to have them, but I am still trying to find the ones that fit our family. When I came across this advent calendar, I knew I had to make one. I altered it a little to make it my own. So happy with it...even if it is a little lopsided!

I call it my "30 Days of Thanks", inside each pocket are little laminated cards, with a picture (for the little ones) and an activity to show gratitude. For example: I am thankful for Grandparents, make a special letter to sent to your Grandparents. You can find ideas for the pockets HERE.

I bought a 1/2 yard of felt, and attached 30 pockets out of scrap peices of fabric. The numbers are on felt, and I sewed them on but they could easily be hot glued on too. I used fabric paint and a stencil to do the "Give thanks". You can make your own stencil by printing and cutting out the phrase on regular printer paper. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby for 50 cents. This entire project cost me $4.00...and I am anticipating the many happy memories it will bring.

I am hoping it will inspire our little family to be noticing all of our blessings during this month.
And know...that the whole time I will be thankful for spending time with my most precious gifts, a little boy and girl.

Happy Upcoming Thanksgiving!

Tutorial:Toddler Towel Smock

My toddler and I are getting ready to paint pumpkins this week.

It will be her first big art project---so I made her this cutey little smock.Fold the towel 3/4 of the way down

Fall Wreath Tutorial

Leslie here again. First off, can I just say that I love Clarissa? How cute are those Tinkerbell slippers? I can't wait to see Little #1's Halloween costume! But, in the meantime, since Clarissa is a busy and amazing mother, I will post a wreath that I made today. I bought most of my supplies at a local thrift store, except for the leaves. I got a huge (well, not huge, it was little, but probably had over 25 leaves in it) bag of leaves from Target for $1. I love that store! I mostly only buy the items in those discount bins when you first come in (well, at my store at least), but it's still a great store.

So, Step 1: Buy and gather supplies. A wreath, some ribbon, some leaves, and a garland (or you could do picks, flowers, etc.)
Step 2: Disassemble garland and place leaves, flowers, etc. in individual piles.

Step 3: Make a bow. I didn't take a picture of bow making, but it's pretty simple. You start with a small loop first (this will become the little loop in the center of the bow), then make progressively bigger loops behind/underneath it until you get to your desired fullness. I did three on each side. Then, before cutting the ribbon off the spool, leave a tail on one side. For your other tail, you will cut another piece of ribbon, of equal length and attach it with wire. I used a tie from a bread bag, but took the paper coating off. That same piece of ribbon is used to tie the bow together, so it doesn't fall apart. Use one end of the center loop to hide the wire under. Voila! You made a bow!

Step 4: Arrange your pretty things into desired design. I didn't quite do this, which I should have done.

Step 5: Start gluing things on. I started at the center, which was kinda good, kinda not. The smart thing would have been to arrange everything first, then glue, starting with the bottom layer, but I forgot to do that, as illustrated by my picture.
Voila! You have made a cute fall wreath.
The awesome thing about this wreath is that when I added up how much I spent on this wreath, it came to $5, and I didn't even use everything. I only used about 1/4 of one garland (I got two four foot garlands for $2), less than a yard of the ribbon, and six leaves from the bag from Target. So now I have a ton of leaves from the garland, and a few flowers and stuff to make a centerpiece. I want to make one of those horizontal wreath things to go around a raised bowl I have on my table with a candle in it right now.

Tinkerbell Slippers Tutorial

TinkerBell Slippers Instructions

Halloween is a little over a month away, and so I have started getting costumes ready for my dear little ones. My almost 2 (in every way) year old is going to be Tinkerbell, with a cute little Peter Pan side kick of a brother. Costumes-are simple. I made my daughter these simple little house slippers for her costume--and she adores them. In fact I had to some serious negotiating to get them off her for bed!

Here's what you need to make your little sweet some cute Tinkerbell slippers.
1. *Fabric-enough to trace a pair of your child's' shoes on
2. Corded Elastic
3.White Pom Poms ($1.20 at Hobby Lobby)
*You will also need coordinating thread/a sewing machine.

*Any type of fabric will do, depending on how you would like the slippers to be used. I used a regular cotton blend because I was trying out the pattern and was just hoping for a shoe slipcover to be worn one time only. Now that they are a hit, I am going to make another softer pair for her.

Now...to Get Started.

1. Lay out your fabric. Place the shoes on, and trace the shoe adding about 2 inches on every side. This does not have to be exact, it will not be noticeable if one side is a little shorter--so don't stress about perfecting it.

2. Cut out shoe pattern.

3. Edge the pattern (simply sew around the little fabric piece in a zigzag stitch) This will keep your fabric from fraying, and keep your shoes from falling apart.

4. Fold the fabric in 1/2 inch and pin. This is the most challenging part of the project. Just as if you were sewing an elastic waste band on a skirt or hemming--you want to use a straight stitch and leave an opening to thread the elastic through.

5. Glue/Hand stitch your fluffy little pom pom to the top of the slipper. If you are making a Disney princess slipper other than Tinkerbell-you can put a princess sticker on cardboard and glue/stitch to the shoe. This works well for Snow White and Belle.

If you want your shoe to be a little more sturdy, you can add a thick fabric covered piece of cardboard to the bottom. Otherwise those little shoes are perfect for your little princess to tink around the house in.

Sorry there aren't more pictures. I will add more with the next pair I make, and maybe bribe my foot model with goldfish crackers.

Super Easy, No-sew Tutu

Hi, my name is Leslie, and I'm a craft-a-holic. Ever since Clarissa started this blog I've been begging and pleading to do a guest post. When she did her trunk I was going to finish mine, but I still haven't started it. And then I thought about doing a curtain tutorial, but since those aren't done either I was able to convince Clarissa to let me post this terrific tutu. But, before I get too ahead of myself (Oops, I might have done that already), let me introduce myself. My name is Leslie, and I've been married for four years to Clarissa's husband's (Rod's) cousin. I have two kids, Abigail, who just turned three on the 22nd, and Bryant who is one today! Wow! In my free time (if I had any) I like to read, sleep, eat homemade caramels (waaayyyy better than store-bought), digi-scrapbook, and play Settlers of Catan. I also am a Master Gardener, though my yard and garden need serious help right now, as they've been slightly neglected due to being pregnant and trying to keep track of a toddler last summer, and trying to make sure my little man doesn't get into things he shouldn't this summer. Oh yeah, and Clarissa and I have never met in person, owing to the fact that we haven't ever attended the same family reunion, I live in Idaho, and she lives in Texas. No humidity for me thank you. And...Clarissa and I went to the same high school, but I graduated a year before she moved there. However, we are kindred spirits (at least I like to think so). So, without further ado, the tutu:

To start off, you will need the following: an elastic headband, at least 8 yards of tulle, some ribbon and other embellishments (I've seen ones with pom poms glued to them), scissors, and a pattern (there are ways to enlarge the one I used, I'm sure, but I just drew mine free-hand). A few pins might be helpful too. By the way, that ruler is two feet long, by 16 inches wide. So the pattern is approximately 9.5 inches wide by 14 inches long.

To start, fold the tulle in such a way as to not waste much fabric. I have no idea how mine was folded. We just kept folding until it was a nice size. The pattern will have to be flipped over halfway through, unless you want to cut through double the layers of tulle. I don't have a picture pre-cutting, but I do have one post-cutting. After the fabric is cut, very carefully take four layers of tulle at a time and loop around the headband, like so: Then pull it somewhat tight, but not too tight, as this tends to stretch the headband out, and then it's too loose to fit around your little girls waist (unless she has a waistline like an adult). Continue to loop until you are out of tulle. I used seven yards (one more yard would have been nice) and ended up with 14 sections. Eight of one color (four yards) and six of the other color (three yards). The pattern I "borrowed" this idea from used somewhere around 11 yards, and was very full. I think this one turned out quite full enough though.

Once all your tulle is attached to the head band, add ribbons, etc. I tied the ends on each of my ribbons, so they wouldn't fray too bad, then looped them around the head band the same way I looped the tulle. All in all, this took maybe an hour to do. I accidentally bought the expensive tulle (although I used a 40% off coupon), so the price came out around $10. A little bit more than I had hoped for, but I did buy three yards of fancy beaded ribbon which was a dollar a yard, at the Dollar Tree. If you have lots of ribbon lying around you will save some money. I did have the silver and plain white already. If you used wired ribbon, pull the wire out beforehand, so you don't have to worry about it scratching a child. Although you can probably buy a tutu for cheaper at the store, this one is so much cuter, and tailored to your child's personality. My daughter loves the blue, and I do too. But pink, purple, yellow, orange, red, etc...all would be way cute. Usually you can only find pink tutus at the store, and I don't do pink.