Sunday School Teachers

We are appreciating our Sunday School
teachers and helpers tomorrow.

Have you heard of Wordle?

The kids have been working
the entire year
on learning a song
with all the books of the Bible.

Let me tell you,
they rock it!

So I put all the books into Wordle,
played around a bit,
and came up with a few choices.

Books of the Bible I:



Books of the Bible II:



Books of the Bible III:



I think it's gorgeous as art,
but it's practically a puzzle
because I can't help
but start to look
for the books in order!

My biggest tip would be to put a ~ where you want the words to link together.
For example, I put "1st~2nd~Chronicles"
and it came out "1st 2nd Chronicles"

Have fun!
Feel free to copy these if you're interested.

Teacher Appreciation

I agreed to head up
Teacher Appreciation Week
again this year.
I love doing it.
I love our teachers.
Our school is the perfect school for us.

Have you discovered picnik yet?
LOVE it.
Like really love it.

I used it to make this subway art for the teachers.


It could not have been easier!

I googled "gray background image"
and uploaded that to picnik.

Then I edited the image to a perfect 4x6 size.

Next I added all the words
and played with their fonts and colors.

I used some obvious words for appreciation
but I also included words unique to our school
to make it really special and personalized.
Our school has dual-immersion, so I included "thank you" and "gracias."
I included our school motto "safe, responsible, respectful"
We have an incentive program where the kids collect "gotcha's"
I even thought about doing individual prints
for each of the teachers
that had their own name on it.

Then I remembered I have four kids.

:o)

This was easy and fun.
I will definitely do it again!
Go try it!

Handwarmer Tutorial

This Mom-Of-Four thing is killin' me.
And I mean that figuratively,
of course.

My craft time is close to extinct these days
but my mamatime is through the roof.
Through. The. Roof. I tell ya.

So hang tight.
I'm planning on a homemade Christmas.
I've got the materials
now I need the time.

Here are some handwarmers
that I whipped up
out of necessity
during One's soccer season.


Cut four pieces of fabric (mine are 4x5)
I did two cotton and two something-fuzzy



Put front and back pieces right sides together
and stitch around all four sides
leaving a hole for turning



Turn inside out and stitch around outside again
still leaving the hole open (this time for filling)



Fill (I filled mine with rice) and sew opening shut.

(I will probably fill with something bigger than rice next time.
Maybe lentils? I'm hoping they might hold the heat longer.)

That's it!
I used scrap fabric.
It took about 10 minutes.
Super easy and would make a great gift
for teachers or any number of other people.

Just microwave and enjoy!

Two's Crafty Gift

A crafty girl needs a crafty gift!
And at 5yrs old, it needed to be "big girl".
I picked out an embroidery hoop
and loosely woven embroidery fabric
needles, needle threader, and needle holder,
embroidery thread in her favorite colors,
and her own pair of craft scissors



and packaged it in a cute carrying case.


It was a total hit!!!

She loved it and very much appreciated
what a big deal it was to get real crafting materials.
She's already asking for a sewing machine!

Two's Birthday Party

Two had a ballet party this year.
Her friends wore dance clothes to the party
and I hired a teen from our church
to come as "a real ballerina"
and teach them all a dance.


They had so much fun!


They even put on a performance at the end.

For party favors, I made each girl
a monogrammed bag.
The bags were $1 each from Joann's
and a quick test told me I could not applique
directly to the bag, (the bag totally melted!)
so instead I ironed on the letter to some coordinating fabric
and then hand-stitched that fabric to the bag.


Although in all honestly, they weren't all done
when guests started arriving,
so several of the moms helped me
tack the fabric onto the bags!
ha! What're friends for?!?
I think they turned out really cute!

It's a cinch!

I needed a gift for a little superhero
who is turning 5 this weekend.
I decided to make a cinch bag
mostly using this tutorial from Martha
and some spiderman fabric from my stash.


First, I cut a 14-1/2" x 32" piece of fabric
and folded in the short ends 1/4 inch
and then another inch to make the tubes
for the drawstring:


Sew up your sides, but
stop before you get to the tubes!
You can also sew in short loops of ribbon
at the bottom for later.
(See Martha's tutorial or my picture at the bottom)


Then I cut letters of the superhero's name
out of interfacing
b a c k w a r d s
(remember that part)
(I do it wrong first everytime)
and ironed them onto some
coordinating fabric:



Cut out the letters and
sew them onto some black fabric:

I had red thread in my machine
and white thread in my bobbin...
something was definitely wrong with my tension
but in this instance,
I actually really like the outcome.



Cut two lengths of nylon cord - 50 inches
(heat seal the edges so they don't fray)
and slid them through the tubes at the top:

And knot them through the loops you sewed
into the bottom of the side seams
because you were too cheap
to fork out $22 for a grommet punch!

And there you have it!
A super-fun, personalized gift
for a superhero!

Flower Girl

I made this cute little outfit
for a little girl who was turning 4.


Two picked out the shirt
and the fabric was a find from the remnant bin
of Joann's Tutti Fruitie line!

Hurray!

I cut out one of the larger flowers
from the skirt fabric
and appliqued it onto the t-shirt
with some green fabric from my stash
to create a coordinating outfit.



I also used my hem foot to make the skirt hem!


It turned out nice but let me tell you,
I felt like I was doing it wrong
the entire time!

I found several tutorials that showed you
how to sew with the hem foot,
but none showed you how to start
sewing with a hem foot!
So that part was a disaster
and when I sewed the sides together
I just left that part out!

Beaded Serving Spoons

Have you seen these at the craft fairs?


I think they are gorgeous
and I knew I could make them for cheaper
than I could buy them.

I used:
20 gauge wire ($2)
thrifted spoons (50 cents each)
bead collections from Joann's ($2-4 each)

I used the tutorial found here.
They came together so easily!
Two picked out which bead we used
and also strung them on the wire.


(Not only are the beautiful serving pieces,
apparently they are also great
to accessorize that perfect outfit!)


These would make excellent gifts!
If I can bear to part with them,
they might be headed to One's teacher
for Teacher Appreciation!

Memorial Weekend Friends & Crafts

We had wonderful friends come visit
over Memorial Day Weekend.
Our children's god-parents.
Their children are the closest thing
our children will ever get to cousins.
We loved having them here.
But six kids, three days....
We needed some plans!


So we roasted marshmallows:



Had a huge sleepover:

(Yes, that's 5 out of 6 kids down there on the floor!)


Played outside:


Went to the park:



Ate outside:

(Our dog thought it was her lucky day! All those food-dropping-kids at one table!)


And of course, crafted!
I went for double duty.
One day we painted small flower pots,
the next day we planted flowers in them!







So now, even though we live far apart,
we can grow our flowers "together".



Here is Three's traced hand and Two's princess
(how happy was I about that request?!?):


ps. I'm going to spray them with some
clear coat spray paint
so they can endure a life outside.

By the way, these little pots
would make great gifts for the grandparents!

The One Hour (ie-Three Day) Tote

I've had this bag, a basic tote,

on my to-do list for awhile:

(pic from sewmamasew)

The tutorial looked easy,
you can find it here.

Well, come to find out,
the tutorial is from the sister
of a girl I know!
As soon as I found that out,
I had to make it right away.

Okay, confession time:
What should take about an hour
took me three days.
Want to know why it took "only" three days?
Because Four took an insanely
long nap today! Hurray!

I made mine with home dec fabric
I had on hand from
the remnant bin at Joann's:


and decided to line it as well:


Then I decided the floral
looked a little granny
so I turned it inside out
and like it so much better:



There you have it!
If you're looking to make a bag,
it's a great pattern.

You could also
fill it with some fun things
and make it a gift!