Wooden Peg Sorting & Matching Dolls

 I love simple toys like this. Ones that are easy to make and adored by my little girl.

I found this idea on Chasing Cheerios, but wanted to customize them a bit more. I found my pegs and cups at Joann's in their unfinished wood section.

 I painted each doll and matching cup with acrylic paint and then applied a clear coat of spray paint. After they were dry, I used a thin sharpie pen to add the faces.

 Kaylee loves her "babies". She has had so much fun matching them and it drives her CRAZY if she sees one in the wrong colored cup. Aaron likes to switch them on purpose :) The boys like playing with them too.

 Concentrating...

 The cups make great hats too!

 

Simple Valentine's Day Topiary

 

I had a lot of fun putting this topiary together. I first saw the cupcake liner idea on here, and decided to make a topiary instead of a wreath. I found these cute liners at IKEA last year and forgot about them...until today!

 

I know that everyone uses styrofoam balls, but I didn't have any. So I balled up some newspaper and secured it with packing tape. Perfect...and free!

 

 Then I began hot gluing the liners to the newspaper ball. Simple as that. The other ball will be used in another project that I will share another day.

 

 I had some flower pots in the shed, so I grabbed one and painted it black, then sprayed it with a clear coat and added black beans to hold the dowel in place.

 

 Added a ribbon and some contact paper trim to the pot (cut with my cricut), and I was done!

 

Thanks for looking!

My New Bag & Wallet {patterns included!}

Patterns and tutorials are listed at the bottom of the post.

 

I have always been in denial as to how large of a bag/purse that I really need. I always go smaller and end up stuffing things in to make them fit...and then I can't find anything! Even after adjusting the pattern for my last purse to make it larger, I still had that issue. So I've come to terms with being a mother of 3, one still in diapers, and made myself a bag to fit. Smaller than my diaper bag, but large enough to fit everything and some extra space. Perfect.

 I purchase a yard of Amy Butler's morning glory fabric on etsy. A quick trivia fact...Amy Butler

lives in the next town over from me. Her studio is 15 minutes away from me, yet she remains closed to the public. Was it too much to hope for an Amy Butler fabric outlet to be connected to her studio for locals like myself? Maybe...until she comes around, I'll order online. 

I had a heck of a time finding a fabric to coordinate with this one at any shops in town. Then I decided to go through my closet. Sure enough...a pair of greenish/greyish/brownish (I have no idea what color it is) cords that I got at a thrift store for $3, matched PERFECTLY. And I never wore them anymore.

A polka dot print for the lining, and magnetic closures to secure it shut. I will never use any other fastener again. EVER. I had no idea how simple these were to add to a bag or wallet. And inexpensive.
 

After I finished my bag, I went on to working on a matching wallet.

A pocket for receipts...
 

 6 card slots, another pocket for bills, and...
 

a large zipper section for coins, etc.
 

WASP BAG PATTERN from Machen/ Machen

**Update 11/17/2011**
The Wallet Tutorial that I used is no longer available online. :( I'm not sure why, I can't even find her blog anymore. But here is another one that I have made and the tutorial is fantastic.
Wallet Pattern

Bright and Cheery Re-Do

I made this little set as a Christmas gift for Kaylee. I found the little doll pack 'n play at a yard sale over the summer. The fabric was cute (pink and black polka dots and flowers), but was a bit too trendy for my two year old! I had this popsicle fabric and thought it was perfect. I cut the old fabric into pieces to make a pattern for the new pack 'n play and it was a nightmare to get it snug. It is still a bit too loose compared to the old one, but it works.

 I used some scraps to sew up a baby blanket and pillow to go inside so that she can cuddle and love whatever stuffed animal or baby doll that she chooses.

 And then I saw this adorable owl on Make It and Love it. And to sweeten the deal, she had her step by step instructions and pattern here. It is a fantastic tutorial and I love how the little "who who" (as Kaylee calls it) came out!

To enter the Caroline g. giveaway, click here! Ends 1/24/11
Linking this project up on Today's Creative Blog!

A Couple of Valentine's Day Ideas for Kids!

 Here are a couple of the fun Valentine's Day projects that we made last year! We are planning on making more fortune cookies this year, and we have other ideas that we'll share next month. Thanks for looking!

 Homemade Fortune Cookies are SO good! The almond extract really comes through and they are so simple to make. They do take a bit of time however since you can only cook 3-4 at a time. We also made some Dipped Fortune Cookies. Yum! We made these for Dallin's teacher and bus driver last year and he wrote out his own "fortunes". Aaron also made some for members of the family. Most had a little picture instead of a fortune. It was very cute.
I also made a big batch and brought them into Young Women's. They were a HIT.

Target has these little mailboxes in their $1 section again this year! I saw them last week :) The kids made these last year and had a lot of fun sending and receiving mail all month long. We still have them, at least 2 of them (I'm still looking for Kaylee's).  I am going to put them out again this year to spread a little love.

Linking this project up on Today's Creative Blog!

Our Favorite Play Dough Recipe

 Our play dough was needing to be replaced, so we made some more to re-stock. This is our favorite recipe. If kept in a air tight container, it will keep just as long as the store bought stuff. You can even tint it with kool aid packets instead of food coloring and it will smell too!

Play Dough

3 c. flour

1 1/2 c. salt

3 c. water

2 T. oil

1 T. cream of tartar

food coloring

Heat all ingredients in sauce pan on med heat*. Stir until dough forms and pulls off the sides of the pan. The dough might be a little sticky still, but should be hard to stir. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Knead 4 or 5 times, then play! Store in air tight container.

*If making several colors, don't put the food coloring in with the other ingredients. Knead it into each ball individually after the dough is finished.

Going...

 Going...

 Gone.

We gave the kids this Snow Globe kit from Joann's for Christmas and it turned out to be such a fun activity! The kids created little figures with modeling clay...just plain old modeling clay...that came in the kit, pressed it down against the base, filled the lid up with glitter and water, and screwed it to the base. Super easy! I think we'll have to make more with the left over clay and put them in baby food jars!

                                       
                                               Linking this project up on Today's Creative Blog!

January Decor...and lots of it!

I am always sad to see the Christmas decor go, but it is amazing at how fresh and clean the house feels...and BIGGER! Suddenly, I have empty shelves, counters, and floor space. Much more than I remembered in November. This year we spent New Year's organizing our Christmas boxes and getting rid of things that we never used. It was nice to get it all in order. As nice as it was to have it all clean and put away, the house was so lifeless without any seasonal decor compared to last month. So I made a few things to brighten up the place without cluttering it...well at least I don't think it looks cluttered...  

 These sad candles were from a craft project gone WRONG. Instead of having my stamps heat adhere properly, I just melted craters into the candles, lol. Oh well. I'm glad I didn't throw them out though, the other sides were still smooth and I was able to turn them into these:

Epsom salt. I'd never thought of using it as fake snow until I saw this. I brushed mod podge all over the candles, then rolled them in the salt.

Perfect!

 More Epsom salt, and kosher salt (I ran out of Epsom) in these glass vases and some items out of the Christmas box that could double for winter decor.

 The snowflake in this vase is just cut with my cricut out of scrapbooking paper and stuck into the salt.

 I cut out more snowflakes with my cricut out of white contact paper and stuck them on the wall in the entry way.

 Along with this blue plate (more white contact paper) and these frames that my sister, Stacy, made us for Christmas. She included silhouette inserts for every season! I LOVE them.

 The only thing I bought for my decorations were these bulb lights that were 50% off at Target. It's hard to get a good picture of them, but they brighten up the kitchen and I love them! I may leave them up year around under the cupboards. The slowflakes on the microwave are actually a reflection of some on the wall across the house, lol.

 Aaron's January Ornaments from last year were the perfect touch for the kitchen.

 .10 plates from the JC Penney outlet store and a little black vinyl for the shelf in the living room and more contact paper snowflakes.

 Our very simple mantel decorations.

 Super cute art made by the kids. This will be over flowing by the end of the month. Aaron has already started making his coffee filter snowflakes.

 An 8x10 frame that I only put 5x7 pictures in. I like taping them to scrapbooking paper and changing it out seasonally. A photo from my brother's wedding with all of us siblings.

Last, but not least, my new FAVORITE candle. A gift from Dallin's school teacher. I volunteer in his class weekly, and she was so sweet to think of me. It's hard to describe the scent, but it is cinnamon-y. I love anything with cinnamon in it.

If you've made it this far, thanks for looking! Enjoy the new year!

               

                                        Linking this project up on Today's Creative Blog!