Yardzee

Holy Cow, how awesome did these turn out! I'm super proud of myself and my giant "yardzee" game I made. I took a 4x4 and had them cut into square pieces, thanks to my brother Lars for helping. Then I sanded each block to make sure they did not have any sharp edges. The wood burner I had actually came with a round tip! I was probably most excited about that part. With some staining and polyurethane, they look professional! The card itself is 11x17 and laminated for reuse with a dry erase marker.

Bottle to Glass

Dakota and I decided to be crafty today and try to use old glass bottles and turn them into glasses. After watching a few how to videos we decided to test it out ourselves.

First you score the glass, we put it in an empty can to help keep it straight

Then you heat the line that you scored

After heating it, stick it in ice. You might have to heat it again and ice it again. We had to do it twice

Sand the edge smooth, this is the trickiest part

Now you have a new cup :)

Hunting Fleece Hats

It's hunting season and I am experimenting with sewing new hats! By law, and for general safety, there needs to be at least 20 square inches of bright orange on your head when you are out in the woods. For obvious reasons, you want to make sure that other hunters can see you. I bought the fleece for the hats on black Friday for a less than the cost of a fleece hat you could buy at a store. The best part is, that I bought enough fleece for at least 20 hats! How great is that! Sure it may take some time for me to do this, but I am double layering and taking my time and making a sturdy warm hat that I know I can use for a long time.

Opa's 80th Birthday decorations

I got to use my "creative" eye in a different way this past weekend! Here are the center pieces I helped create for an 80th birthday party in my parents' barn. It's amazing what you can do with some burlap and a hot glue gun! I was also able to use my fancy Ti5 camera and take some beautiful photos of my parents' barn and the party.

Box Craft

Today's craft we used jumbo craft sticks, also known as popsicle sticks. This craft was good to work on patience for a 4 year old to wait for glue to dry. She also had to focus on lining this up so she would not have a lopsided box. Each layer of sticks are alternating which you can see in the photos. Otherwise you end up with wide spaces in the sides for things to fall out of your box. It's also pattern practice for the child making it!

Making Crayons

Making your own crayons can be loads of fun and easy. It's also a great way to get rid of all your broken crayons! All I did was preheat oven on to 350 degrees, then while that was warming up I had the kids tear off all of the wrappers. Once we had enough unwrapped crayons we broke them up and put them into muffin tins. You can do it without the muffin cup papers but makes it way easier to clean up if you have them. It takes about 10-12 minutes in the oven. Once you take them out it will be liquid so they need to sit and harden, just like a melted candle would. Try not to stir them, part of the fun is having multi-colored crayons :)

Styles today

Here is another hair style to do on girls. They called them pony Mohawks. Addy has 7 because she is 7. Avery has 4 because she is 4. Like their logic?

And when big sisters have little brothers.... You can see what happens.

Flower Hair piece Crafts

Here is an image of one of our flower experiments. I think it's cute but I think it may be something I can easily do with the kids I babysit. Not sure if it is my style but it was certainly fun to make!

Hair dos!

Remember when you were 4 and you had so many pretty hair clips and couldn't decide which one to use?? one of my favorite parts of babysitting Is being able to play with Avery's hair. I let her pick out the hair clips she wants and I try to use them all!

She always cooperates and doesn't fuss if I comb out a knot. It's great. Since I'm at the beach this week we decided to try and make our own hair pieces. We are using things found in a craft store. Plain head bands, bobby pins, feathers, fake flowers.... I even have some sea shells from the beach I'll try to include. Hopefully it works out! I'll posts the out comes in the next few days.

Success!

Avery loved making the butterfly snack with pipe cleaners and pom poms! I put the hot glue on and she stuck the pom poms on. She also insisted on being in the pictures :)

You Know You're a Babysitter When....

Today I found this really neat craft online! I can't wait to try it this afternoon with the kids I babysit. This is the kind of thing that really made me want to be creative growing up. And now I get to do it again! The photos pretty much explain how it's made. Other ideas for in the baggy are cereal, grapes, m&m's, gummy bears.... Anything small and snack like.

Stuffed Animals

I have never sewed stuffed animals before so I wanted to challenge myself and use up some leftover fabric. I found this really cute pattern that required fleece fabric which happens to be a fabric type that I have tons of. I was at my grandmothers house in Pittsburgh and needed a birthday present for my niece turning 1 the next day. My grandmother is like me and also had tons of fabric leftover. So we decided to watch a movie and sew and this is what I came up with. The yellow one is my second attempt at the same pattern. I think they came out super cute :) And had to make one for myself.

Before he had stuffing

Cutting out the pattern

Being silly and putting the horse in jail :)

Handsome Stud, Leif

Here is a watercolor I am working on. I started with a light grid and lightly drew in basic shapes with a 6H pencil. 6H doesn't seem to smudge when painted over. I'm also using my first watercolor block. It seems to be working so far. And the paper is really nice too.
So far I have only used watercolor pencils. Caleb got me a nice set for Christmas and I am still learning how to use them. I think I have gone as far as I will with them in the face. I'll continue with paints to get a smoother look. I like the texture I'm getting on the cape and still need the detailed pattern in the shirt. It's coming along though. Something about the face still seems a little off to me but at least it looks like him. Hopefully as I continue to paint it will get better. I think part of what is throwing me off is how intense the eyes look. If I wanted it perfect, I would have just made the photograph larger right?

So much knitting!

Some times when I have a lot on my mind I need to do something with my hands to either occupy my thoughts, or, to be able to do it so I can think and be productive. For Christmas gifts this year I decided to knit wash cloths for my family and some of Caleb's relatives. After the first 3 they became so easy so I was able to work on them during any free time I had. It also gave me time to think about everything that I might have been stressing about. It was definitely a way to make me relax and calmly work through some things. Any kind of project like this is very helpful. I guess you could consider it a type of therapy. So if you are ever feeling overwhelmed, make something. The feeling of completing a project definitely helps! And gives you time to think through problems you may have or things you may worry about, or just kills some time when you are waiting for it to pass.

I also have some cute ideas on how to wrap them or present them. There are some pictures showing that too. So far I finished 16!