Valentine Boxes

Ah the holidays, always something for a Mom to do. My kids needed a "mailbox" to have their valentine's dropped into and I happened to be out of shoe boxes that we could cover with wrapping paper. This was a very happy problem, I love how these turned out. After valentine's day we are going to give these boxes a brand new life as our "family love note center".

Okay so first you have to run to your local craft store and purchase an unfinished kleenex holder. In my Hobby Lobby they were all in an aisle with the unfinished wood. I paid about $3.99 each for mine.


Then you just paint them all a solid color. I let the kids do this part. I was very specific for them not to paint the bottom, but I forgot to tell Chloe not to paint the inside. But I figure a little paint won't hurt anything.

Once they are dry, just use a pencil to outline what you want to paint and embellish to your heart's content!

Zhu Zhu pet sleeping bags

This was the kiddos favorite christmas gift. They love the zhu zhu pets, and I added a little home made sleeping bag for the critters to sleep in. I found the pattern at Little Birdie Secrets. I think they turned out super cute.

No Sew Easy Old Fashioned Shawls

Since it was so cold down here, when I stumbled onto this tutorial over at wee folk art, I knew I had to make this. We love anything that reeks of little house on the prarie. Plus, I had woven cotton taking up space in my closet. These are so easy, you just cut the fabric into a square, and then fray about 3/4 inch by picking out threads. I made five of them in about an hour real mom time.

The girls were using them as shawls, as lap blankets, and they even wore them as scarves under their jackets. Emma is modeling the sari look. Chloe has gone back to her Polish roots and is wearing it as a head covering!

Ps. Brandy, if you are reading this. Don't make it, I already made one for each of your girls.

Sew Nerdy

So I started sewing because it was so hard to find cute, affordable, non hoochie momma clothes that would fit my little girl who was super tall and super thin. Maybe I shouldn't have started this. Now I am just good enough for it to be feasible for me to do it, and it makes it harder to purchase retail clothes. Sigh, see that stack in the back of the photo, yeah, that's my "to sew this week" pile. I need at least three more hours in a day to make this happen.

Cute Hyacinth Paper Flowers

We decided to tackle this craft today. The girls loved it. I loved it too. We made about seven of them and put them into one of my vases. THAT made it super special. They really are pretty, I am hoping we can keep them water free for a very long time. Both girls loved looking at the centerpiece they made. John didn't join us for this, he is on a craft/school strike.

Emma told me, "Mom, these are the perfect flowers for you, you can't kill them. Maybe you can practice with these."

Gee, thanks kid....

"sole" mates

We were supposed to go to Emma's scouting troop meeting today. But I was ill, wretchedly, violently ill. Its no virus, just a side effect of a medicine that messes about with my pancreas, YIKES! So, we had to do something to stop the wailing, so we did a craft. I got this craft from Just for Fun. I have gotten so many good ideas from there.