Quick and Easy Craft: Prettifying Basic Mittens or Gloves

Halfway to the weekend! It's been a rough week so far, maybe today will turn the tides. :)

I've decided to share some of my sewing projects from Rose & Ruffle on this blog, since sewing is such a big part of my life. Feel free to skip over if this doesn't interest you in the last, ha ha.

Here is a super simple craft idea to transform basic mittens or gloves into something a little cuter, ie prettify them. I used leftover scraps and some buttons I already had in my jar, so this was free. Easy AND free? Hooray!




Decide what shape you want. Choose something fairly simple to cut out, like a heart. Using two to three strands of embroidery floss, stitch the shape in place wherever you would like it on the mitten. I thought about doing a few more on the top before settling on just the ruffled edge.

I added the button for extra detail, but it isn't necessary. Or you could sew a smaller shape onto the first, maybe a contrasting color and thread. Totally up to you!


Another unexpected perk of this little project: doing this personalizes your child's mittens, which makes them easily identifiable at school. Everybody knew exactly whose mitten belonged to Isabelle, students and teachers alike. :)

EASTER STUFF

I'm feeling nostalgic so I dug out these photos of our first Easter with Isabelle. Excuse me while I go curl up in the corner and sob my eyes out for a while. I mean, really. I seriously cannot take the cuteness.

 Look at these cuties! And my house! I miss my house so much.

Having been a boy Mom for all those years, I had never ever bought white patent leather Mary Janes or white tights with little flowers on them or baby dolls, or made Easter dresses or bonnets. I will never forget how excited I was to become a girl Mom, too.

I don't think I blogged about our Easter craft last year, but I should have- we all loved it. (I pinned the original from here.)
Step 1: Cut out a cross and a semi-circle from scrap paper
Step 2: Using cray pas, color in blocks all around the edges of the cross; use greens and yellows to go around the edge of the hill (semi-circle)

Step 3: With painter's tape, affix the cross to the paper, then the semi-circle
Step 4: Use your fingers to "push" the colors from the hill onto the paper, taking care to leave out the area where the cross stands; in other words, you'll have an empty space in the hill for the bottom of the cross  

Step 5: Remove the hill stencil and next spread out the colors all around the cross

Step 6: Paint the surrounding sky and grassy hill with watercolor paints

A close-up of pretty girl's Easter dress... I adore that pattern and love the way it fits Isabelle. I literally just made up my mind about her dress today, so I'd best get to it! I think it's going to be so lovely and pretty.

Her special belt, so, so easy to make! A little hot glue, some fabric cut into circles, then folded and glued, and then glued onto a faux ribbon bow. I love this little belt!

I also loved her Easter barrette, which was super easy to make. I don't have an exact tutorial for this, but it's very similar to her birthday brooch I posted about here. You should try one!

We're definitely going to be making these again! We are loyal peanut butter egg/cup fans, but there is just something extra fabulous about these homemade ones. They're so fresh and light and delicious, downright irresistible.

 Homemade Peanut Butter Eggs

Or...jazz up some classic Rice Krispie Treat Squares. Chop up some Oreo cookies (in pretty Easter colors, of course!)- here I used both chocolate and golden cookies. They add a little extra texture and crunch to the squares and they are so, so good. We're having these for dessert tonight, in fact.  =)

Every year I find so many wonderful and meaningful ideas for things to make together, and I simply run out of time. Or I forget. Or I have a bad day and just don't care for an afternoon/evening. (Yesterday was a horrible day.) You can see my Pinterest Easter board here...hopefully I'll be making some of those things in the next day or two!

EASY KIDS' ART PROJECT

It's early Monday morning and I can hear the arctic winds blasting through the trees and rattling the windows. It's such a change from yesterday, a day when we finally got to enjoy being outside in the sunshine without having to dress like the Michelin tire man just to ward off hypothermia. It was fabulous. Fabulous! Another exciting tidbit: it's no longer pitch black at 5 o'clock. Even on a cloudy day, it's still fairly light until 5:30. Now if we could just get those temperatures to cooperate, we may actually be able to be outside and enjoy it a bit...

This weekend, I was looking through ancient photos (and not bawling my eyes out over how fast my babies have grown, no, of course not!) and happened upon a fun art project that I never ended up sharing. The kids really liked this one, so if you're stuck indoors too, maybe you'll enjoy this as well. One word of caution: this is a two-step project, which requires painting and drying time, so you do have to plan accordingly. We did the first part in the morning, and by afternoon the paint was dry and we were able to finish. You could also complete part one in an evening and save part two for the next day.

MATERIALS

cardboard/stock paper (the inserts in calendars and photo frames work great!)

crayons

acrylic paint + semi-wide brush

paper clip

paper towels/ table mat

First, let your kids draw all over the cardboard in whatever designs, colors, shapes, etc they want. You want to have every space colored in.

Second, place a small amount of paint on a paper plate or other surface; paint the entire surface, covering over all the crayon. Painting in solid lines/strokes from top to bottom worked best for these little fingers. Black paint covers the bet, but we used other colors, too- they may just need a second coat of paint to completely cover the crayon drawings.

Set aside to let paint dry completely.
And just sit back and stare at this sweet little teeny-tiny hand. Or maybe that's just me?

Once the paint is dry, you are ready to create complete your masterpiece.

Bend out one end of a paperclip- we like the coated ones- or you can use a bobby pin or other similar item, and let your little artists etch out a scene or design on the painted surface, revealing the hidden colors underneath. It's like magic.  ;)

Voila!

I helped Isabelle paint her cardboard, but the boys wanted to do it all by themselves. They did a great job, and they were truly proud of their work, without any interference from Mom (who has a hard time relinquishing control, ahem...).

I hope you have fun if you and your artists decide to make some of these fun little projects! They are such a great way to use up those cardboard insert odds and ends from calendars and such, so you're being environmentally conscious as well. Woo-hoo!

Handmade Gift Bow//Step by Step Instructions

I know most everyone has been thinking about the tragedy in Oklahoma this week. Honestly, I can't imagine what it might feel like to lose every single possession, family photos, treasured notes and cards from my children...that, on top of losing your home. Can't fathom it.

There was a sweet 94-year-old woman from Oklahoma on the news the other day. She had suffered the loss of her home back in the nineties from another tornado, and then a second home this week. This woman was smiling! Her face bore the bright peace and contentedness that accompanies those who have endured the trials of life and come out stronger. With a twinkle in her eyes, she told the reporter that God had been with her the first time, and He was with her now. Period. End of story. That was all she needed. I've been thinking about that all week. How I long for that to be true for me, too.

While I keep those affected by the tornado in my mind and heart, this post is actually about something lighthearted. And cute....how to make an easy gift bow! My mother has made these my entire life and I just figured everyone on the planet also knew about them. I guess not! People constantly question me about them at parties and such, so I though I'd share a quick step-by-step so you can make your own gift bow.

This is the perfect way to use up those leftover pieces of wrapping paper! You'll want a good sized square or rectangle since you'll be folding it in half. As you can see, no need to be nice and neat!

I cut through the double layer to make the strips -- you can certainly open the square back up and cut strips individually if you prefer. Be careful not to cut too close to the fold at the top.

Forgive this lousy shot -- the strip of paper should be taut, and it looks pretty slack in the photo. Basically, you're going to hold the top of the strip by the fold with your thumb and index finger (to keep it in place) while you run the edge of the scissor blade down the back side of the paper to form the curl.

The tightness of the curl depends on how tightly you pull the blade down the paper. If there is a lot of tension in the strip as you pull the scissor blade down hard, the curl will be very tight. Loosen up and the curls loosen up. You can see the difference below.

Don't worry about tearing off a strip or two (or five) -- it happens a lot until you get the hang of it. Here it is after you've curled all the paper strips.

 

Now fold the rectangle in half.

The gift bow will be adorable on its own, but if you want to add a little something, curl some long pieces of craft ribbon, holding onto the center. Staple through all the layers in the center, or place the ribbons on the folded bow and staple through all layers.

Fold the wrapping paper rectangle in half again and secure the ribbons to the center with either tape or a staple.

The last thing to do is fold one more time, enclosing the ribbons in the center. Staple again to secure this last fold (tape works too). And that's it! You did it!

I usually put a piece of tape on one side of the bow to attach it to the gift -- sometimes the bulk makes it a little tricky and you have to play around with it. 

It looks so pretty when you're all done!

Frugal and festive...win win!

This bow works well with a taller, vertical gift, too -- cut the trips longer and thinner for a cascading effect!

Sharing with//

Sew Many Ways

Sew Can Do 

Piggy in Polka Dots 

Sugar Bee Crafts 

Funky Polkadot Giraffe 

The Girl Creative

Our Big Girl's Big Day

It's birthday time...

Okay, a little disclaimer here: this is the third attempt at writing this post...my pictures are not uploading correctly, and blogger is making them appear sideways.  Grrr...

So please bear with me if you suddenly see sideways, upside-down, or otherwise awkwardly-displayed photographs in this post.

Thanks to all of you who commented on Isabelle's birthday shirt!  Yes, I did make it, and you know what?  I also learned a valuable lesson- I'd been saving that shirt for this project, and while it fit beautifully just a month ago, that gorgeous little girl of ours did the unthinkable and GREW!  The sleeves are too short now, ha!  But she didn't really care, and neither did I.  I was really happy with how it turned out, and of course next time, I'll make sure the shirt still fits!

 What says Happy Birthday like taking a bath with Luke?  :)

We were getting her all gussied up for preschool (yes, it was the day before the big day, but she wanted to show her teacher & friends her special shirt).  

aw, blogger, you're killing me here!

 I don't know what it is about this picture, maybe because I can see so much of her baby face in her expression, and those beautiful brown eyes and big, bouncy curls...I just love it!

This was her down time watching Diego, waiting for preschool while I worked.
I laughed at the sight of this-

and this...

Everything was spotless just 24 hours earlier!  How does that happen???




Here we are heading to preschool.
Well, we weren't actually sideways...

She was SO excited when we arrived!
We brought in her pink & purple snowman & lightbulb lollipops to share (I forgot to take a picture- boy, did they look ca-ute!)

 

 lunchtime with all her pals

And then suddenly the BIG day was upon us...and my baby girl was turning four.  For real.

I'm so happy, but at the same time, there is such sadness and loss that also comes with each birthday.  Not only is she growing up, but birthdays are such painful reminders of how much we missed in her earlier days.

She has been remembering and expressing some very early memories, trying to sort out details and such, which is actually pretty exciting, but that's for another post.

Donuts for breakfast!  What a nice birthday treat!

Okay, so I always get one package of basic cinnamon donuts when I grocery shop, but this time I bought one package of cinnamon AND pumpkin!  Whoa!  I am just that adventurous!

I was upstairs for a minute, probably gathering laundry, and this is what I see when I come back...

She'd removed her pajama pants and pulled on her ballet skirt, ha!

 

Here's my little ballerina at dance class...wearing the shirt...again, ha!

Glad she liked it!  :)

Someone was VERY excited to see these beauties sitting on top of the counter!

Wednesday nights are cheapo nights for kids at some of the restaurants in town, so out to dinner we went!

Here is Isabelle getting her way...

Here is Isabelle not getting her way, ha!

It has been so much fun to watch her blossom this past year- she is such a charming, sweet, funny, and SMART little girl!  I think she is going to give us a run for the money when she's a teenager!

After sitting down, I realized we were shy one boy.

I found him filling out a raffle card by the entrance.  ha ha

The funniest part?

He actually knew the first part of our email address, but instead of "yahoo" had written "yoohoo".

I laughed hard over that one!

 

 Jonah was on fire with the tic tac toe!

the usual horseplay

Yes, I was there too- proof!

Anytime someone would ask, "Who has a special birthday shirt?," she'd laugh and yell "Me do!"

At least she got some good use out of it since it isn't going to fit at all in another month, ha!

We left the restaurant and headed home for cake and presents.

In hindsight, I should have told everyone at church that I wouldn't be attending youth group that night, but I thought it would be no big deal to squeeze everything in.

I didn't like having to rush my own daughter's birthday along in order to get Ethan and I to church.  At least I'd told them we wouldn't be on time!  And we weren't.

LOVE the look on her sweet little face when Daddy took the present off the counter for her

Isabelle Kate's first big girl baby doll (no, it isn't American Girl- I'm not ready for that investment just yet)

she wouldn't stop looking at her and touching her- so cute!

the other present was matching pajamas for Isabelle and her new baby

I had so much fun making those!!!

Oh, would you look at that?

An actual smile from Mr. Too Cool, ha!

Look at the way Isabelle adores her big brother, awwww!!!

More rushing...onto the cake and candles...

This was probably the most pitiful cake I've ever made, but Isabelle loved it!

When we celebrate with family and friends in January, I think I'm going to do a farm animal themed cake.

Happy Birthday My Little Princess!

Here she is the next morning...

 

And here we are, almost one week (and many posts-to-be-written) later, and I've got to get to work in the kitchen!  Have a great day!