Ornaments for Primary

I have been trying to come up with something to give my primary class for Christmas this year. I've been thinking about it for weeks and nothing was working out. After searching for ideas again yesterday (Saturday) and not coming up with anything I about gave up. Then while lying in bed about to fall asleep I had this idea. That only gave me Sunday morning to make them (the only good thing about afternoon church), but I am glad I did it.

They are baby food jars turned into ornaments. I printed pictures of the nativity and mounted them on scrapbook paper and stuck them on one side, then printed out "My gift to Jesus" and mounted them and stuck them to the other side. Then I hot glued fabric and twine to the lids.

In class we talked about Christ's birth and then we talked about what we could give Jesus for his birthday. The kids had great answers. Some of them were "our love," "being a good example to others," "being kind to others," and "being good." Then we wrote on strips of red paper our gift or gifts and put them in the jars. And they took them home to hang on their trees.

Tree Skirt

I planned on making this much earlier in the season (I bought the supplies in October). But, better late than never.

I cut two pieces of fabric in circles as large as I could get. Then I cut small (6" diameter) circles out of the middle. I sandwiched them right sides together with the fringe in between and sewed them together. Then I turned them right side out and folded over the raw edges of the small circles and top stitched. It was very simple and didn't take very long. I like the way it looks under our tree. Now we just need to cover it with presents. :)

Snowflake dress

This is another pattern that I tested for Amy at peek-a-boo pattern shop. It was an easy dress, but the skirt took forever with all that gathering. It turned out really cute though, so I am happy. And Lena seems to like it a lot too. :)

I haven't posted much on here lately. I have been working on some things, but haven't finished them yet. Hopefully I will have some more things soon!

snowmen jars

We're into the baby food stage again at our house. So, I have a ton of baby food jars that just beg to be crafted. Since it is close to that winter/Christmas time of year, what would be better than little snowmen jars?

I painted the lids black and the jars white. Then I added a construction paper cylinder to make the hat and drew faces on with sharpies.

Then I filled them with candies.

Then I made a few more.

And a few more.

Kids Costumes

This year Landon wanted to be a tiger for Halloween. So I decided to make us all big cats. Thayne was a lion, Lena was a black panther, Landon was a tiger, I was a leopard and Aaron was a cougar. I made everyone's costumes, except for Lena I only made a tail and ears. Thayne's was by far the most difficult and time consuming. But I think it turned out super cute. The thing I loved about them is they are all basically jammies with ears and tails, so super comfy!

Thayne's mane took forever, but I think it is cute.

Adorable little lion

One of the times he wore it we even painted him a little black nose.

Lena was the cutest black panther ever, so of course she looked like a kitty cat. Her costume varied day to day, sometimes she wore a tutu, sometimes not, sometimes she wore a leotard, sometimes a shirt. But she always had the ears and tail.

They wanted to wear the face paint, but they always ended up smearing it. But who cares, right?

And this guy was so excited to be a tiger. It was the first time he has wanted to be something, which was really fun for me too.

Aaron and I's costumes were a lot like Landon's but I didn't have a hood with ears, I had a headband with ears.

Yay! for fun Halloween costumes.

Fun house/ spook alley

My husband and I got to help put together a funhouse/spook alley for our church Halloween party this year. It was for little kids (2-12), so nothing scary. We did so many things for it; we figure I spent 30+ hours working on things for it this week. Plus there's all the time my husband and the other people that helped put in. I drew all the pictures that we put up on the walls. I drew 53 panels that were each about 3' x6'. I made 10 hanging bats, 8 hanging ghosts, 20 glowing jars, and put together various other Halloween decorations. We had black lights, Halloween music, huge boxes to crawl through, etc. The pictures really don't do it justice. It looked so much better in person. My camera had a hard time with the dark rooms, but the pictures with the flash lose the effect. Anyway, it was SO MUCH FUN!


Room 1: Haunted wood

Room 2: Mad scientist lair

Room 3: Graveyard

Trick or Treat bag

I've made simple trick-or-treat bags for my two oldest children. I made Landon's two years ago and then another one for Lena this year. I wanted something that would store easily (those big store-bought pumpkin pails are cute, but take up a lot of space) and would stay open so that my little kids wouldn't have to worry about trying to get the candy in the bag. I made a simple fabric bag with a handle. At the top I made a casing and slid a bent wire (from a hanger) through it, duct taped the ends of the hanger and sewed it shut. They have worked perfectly and were very easy to make.

knit dress

I got to test another pattern for Amy at http://naptimecrafters.blogspot.com/ for her shop http://peekaboopatternshop.bigcartel.com/. I had been given this fabric and since I was testing the pattern was free. So it is a cute, new, free play dress for Lena. The knit is nice and comfy for her and I got some more practice working with knits.

Inexpensive Halloween Decorations

These ghosts are made from white tea towels that I cut and frayed the edges. I used a sharpie to draw the faces. Then I spread mod podge on the middle of it and placed it over an upside down cup and let it dry so it would hold it's shape, but the edges would still be flowy. Then I threaded some string through the top and hung it.

I saw this idea on a blog last year, http://www.dana-made-it.com/2010/10/bats.html, but I didn't get around to it until this year. It is just black bats cut out of construction paper and taped to the wall. The template for it is at Country Living, http://www.countryliving.com/cm/countryliving/data/bat.pdf. I really like the look and it is so easy.

Halloween dress

I love making dresses for Lena! This dress was so much fun to design and make. I love Halloween (not the scary part, but the fun stuff). So when I saw all the cute Halloween fabrics I really wanted to get some and this was my excuse!

It looks better when the ribbon is pulled a little tighter, but Lena likes to mess with it and try to pull it out. I think I will have to double knot it next time she wears it.

She loves putting it on and usually wears at some point throughout the day (she changes clothes a lot).

Sorry the pictures aren't that great. She is so busy and my camera isn't very good.

The skirt is a circle skirt with tulle gathered and added at the hem. In these pictures she is wearing a black tutu under it, which I think looks fine, but I like it better without.

The back is pretty much the same as the front with the ribbon criss-crossing.

Now to make our Halloween costumes...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!