Cute as a Button!!

Pioneer Fun Day #3 Sewing Lesson--Cute Button Headband

Ok.  I stole, yes STOLE!, this idea right off of another website.  I lifted the idea right off of her site and put it on my own.  I have only changed one thing~ the girls in the pics.  And the buttons used.  And the technique is probably lacking in finesse and accuracy. and oh well you get the picture...

Step 1: choose your buttons and measure out a strip of elastic.  I used the girls heads to measure and made sure that the elastic overlapped so it could be sewed together.  Ended up using about 19 inches of elastic per headband.  I chose black elastic because I know my girls and white elastic would end up dirty way too fast.  Took the girls with me to the store to pick out buttons.  If I was more crafty I would have already had a ton, but I only have the random buttons that come extra with a shirt or pants or whatever...cuz the clothing manufactures have so much faith in their workmanship that they KNOW you will be needing the extra buttons, or else they are saying "ok.  here you go clutzo we know you are going to end up ripping the buttons right off so we got your back."  If they only knew that I am WAY too l-a-z-y to reattach the stupid buttons that come off, cuz I usually end up ripping the pocket buttons off cuz I am a clutzo....

Anyways buttons were on sale at the store MY lucky day 50% off!!! so we got TONS!  More cute headbands to follow....good thing my girls LOVE wearing headbands.  Let them each pick a package of buttons then I picked a few and then I noticed that there were some specialty buttons for .50 cents a pack on clearance so I picked a few more and then a few more.....ended up coming out of the store with like $10 of buttons and $3 of elastic.  I measured out about 11 inches of headband and had the girls each line up their buttons (11 inches worth).  The website that I STOLE from recommended gluing the buttons onto the elastic so we did this with just Elmer's glue.  (I figured that it would dry clear and any excess would just flake off...well it worked ok, but Sariah didn't like the end result and I think I agree next time we'll just line them up and go from there.  The buttons didn't seem to want to stay attached and ended up falling off  which is fine cuz they are going to be sewed on anyways, but kind of a pain...ah well  live and learn

  Each of the girls was already able to thread a needle-THANK YOU MERE'S-so I just gave them a quick review and away they went.

sewing fun!

I let Leah play with the camera while they were sewing and these are some of the shots that she got...

I did get to teach the girls how to know their thread...pretty cool trick I learned from a wonderful Sister in an previous ward.

Mommy messy hair and all..but as you can see by the buckies we are having Fun!

Sleepy girl with her mi-mi...yes we still have a mi-mi, but at least she's potty trained.

Here is my youngest sporting the finished product...pretty cute if I do say so myself...well of course she is, but so is the headband.

Paradise Island Birthday Cake

Two years ago I decided to go out on a limb and this is what appeared.  I have a magazine rack in my bathroom...and since I don't subscribe to any magazines the only ones that are there have been "gifted" by friends/family and will stay in place basically until the fall apart.  (by gifted I mean either hand me down mags or stolen from their coffee tables ;-) )  Any whoooo....I digress.

This one magazine I kept around because the cover was a super cute cake in the form of an island.  It looked so fun, but I thought it was WAY out of my league.  Well when my oldest daughter turned 8 she wanted a luau party so out came the mag and I used it for my inspiration.  With some help from my SIL Serena I was able to finish the cake which if I do say so my self came out super cute!

This is acutally bigger than the cake in the mag, but oh well.  I used TWO yellow cake mixes in rectangle pans to get it deep enough on the sides.  The frosting is tinted tan on the top and blue for the sides.  The "sand" is just crushed up Nilla cookies.  The sides have green fruit roll up sea weed and goldfish crackers.  I added white frosting bubbles on the sides for cuteness...and black frosting dots for the eyes, there might be some gummy fish on there too.  There are some Teddy graham beach combers (with frosting bathing suits)  The pool is jello (a highly concentrated mixture).  The palm trees are my FAVORITE part!  The mag used pretzels, but I decided it would be yummier to use piroutte cookies.  Plus the cookies have a cool wrap around detail that adds authenticity.  The leaves on the trees are made with green melting candy put in a baggy.  Cut the corner of the baggy off and squeeze and draw a leafy shape on some wax paper.  Let harden and attach with more melting chocolate.  The palm trees have a variety of things attached...cocopuffs for coconuts, then little fruits like bananas and oranges that are candy.

My birthday girl looks pretty pleased with her own personal island...the luau was a success even for my littlest luau girl...

The smiles say it all!

Washer Fun

I betcha thought this would be a post all about laundry..tee hee!  NOPE

A few weeks ago I saw a cute post about making washer necklaces using washers and a steel stamp set--at poppies at play.  Upon mentioning it to my husband he reminded me that he just happened to have a steel stamp set in the garage.  So...I dug thru his drawers and emerged with a few washers...

the post I saw mentioned hammering the washers so I began to bang away...at first I just put the washer on the back step and wacked it...but my husband brought me his anvil and that helped a lot.  The concrete banged washer looks a bit distressed (still cute tho), then the second one I did using the anvil and it looks a lot better, and the one I pictured I didn't bang on at all.

Mason Jar Candles

This isn't the first idea that I have borrowed/stole to make my own, but it is the FIRST that I have blogged about!  WOW my first ever crafty blog entry...what is the world coming to people, my mother-in-law (MIL) just joined the facebook community, my parents send me text messages, and now I have a crafty blog.  People get your 72 hour kits prepared, cuz the end must be near ;-)

ANYwho...

I got my inspiration for this idea here...The Idea Attic

Step 1: get a mason jar...I have probably like a million that are un-used.  I always have illusions of canning grandeur, but I forget that canning season is in the fall--and my tomatoes and other canning things usually all ripen during the first two weeks of school--not convienient for a teacher...altho somehow lots of other teachers and other busy people can be canners --I don't know how people do it!  we shall see if I am able to actually follow thru with this whole blogging thing. 

back to the project...

Step 2:  take your clean mason jar and attach stickers...the idea that I stole from used star stickers and since I have a very limited imagination (AND it is the 4th after all) I really wanted stars...plus I have a star infatuation right now...I had a dandy of a time finding star stickers...anyways I found them and was able to stick them on...

Step 3:  get some spray on frosted glass found in/near the spray paint section...you only need to spray on one coat and since I did mine in like 80 degree weather outside they were dry in less than an hour.

Step 4:  you remove the stickers...I have discovered that the kind of stickers that work best are plastic stickers.  I used some cute daisy flower stickers but they were a papery kind and they work ok but take more effort to them get off...

Step 5:  get some twine to wrap around the top for decorative purposes and insert a tealight candle and....

sooo cute and festive...I ended up making about 20 of these to put outside on the deck. 

and was able to let the kids help.  One of my daughters designed this jar with an R for her first initial and even picked which beads to use.