One Line Drawings

I recently watched my niece and nephews. This was a fun project to keep the older ones (Hunter and my niece, a second grader) busy, and it also made them think! I got the ideas for One Line Drawings from Family Fun Magazine.

Bird Feeder with Crisco and Bird Seed – An Alternative to Peanut Butter

Since Hunter has a peanut allergy, I was happy when I arrived to his Cub Scout meeting to find they were going to make pine cone bird feeders with Crisco instead of peanut butter. It was also much easier to spread!

March is Craft Month!

March is Craft Month, and being a crafy person, I’m going to share some fun crafts throughout the month.

Today is a Penguin craft we made a few weeks ago when we counted birds. I got the idea and instructions from Family Fun: Antarctic Auditions: Penguin Craft

I didn’t do the hats, and we put too much water in with the black paint and it mostly dripped to the bottom instead of covering the inside, but the kids and I had a blast. Painting the styrofoam heads proved to be the most challenging part for the kids since it rolled off the table a few times and got black paint on the floor (and anything else it hit on the way down). We also found dabbing was easier than painting and helped spread the paint out better. Cutting the slots for the beaks was a parent job and the hardest part for me. Since we kept ours inside I didn’t put sand in the bottom and they stay upright just fine.

The penguins are now hanging out in our living room, but I have to confess, I can’t wait to replace them with something associated with warmer weather!

Christmas Crafts for Kids

Fleece Tote, DSi Case, Crayon Roll and Scarf with iPod/Cell Phone Pocket

I was thinking of something fun and useful that my kids, niece and nephew might actually like for Christmas and decided to make scarves, totes, crayon rolls and DSi/Leapster cases, each with his or her own pattern. I made everything out of fleece, which is durable enough that it doesn’t need lining or interfacing, plus they don’t fray so they don’t need hemmed. Fleece comes in tons of cute patterns and is also very affordable. I bought mine while it was 50% off so each yard was $5.00. They were a big hit!

Tote

Fleece Tote

I started with Simplicity Pattern 4391 that was on sale for $0.99 and I simplified it. I used the D messenger bag and taped the flap pattern piece to the body. I cut one piece of the body only and one piece of the body and flap. I cut it so the pattern on the body only was upright and on the body and flap was upside down, so that when the flap was over the front of the bag they would both be upright. I made the strap from 2 pieces of fleece, each a yard long and about 2 inches wide, sewed together with a zigzag stitch in the middle and sewn to the front top of the bags, also with a zigzag stitch in a square. On the one in the picture I added velcro but decided it wasn’t needed (and also a bigger pain than I expected) and didn’t add it to the others. The flap is long enough to stay down on it’s own.

DSi Case

DSi Case

I used the same Simplicity Pattern 4391 as inspiration for the DSi Case and modified the measurements for the iPad Case I created for my boss (pattern from Dixie Mango), except I wanted it to go in longways and didn’t cut the flap into a point. I cut one large rectangle, using the DSi measurements and adding an inch in each direction, doubling the long end and adding about 4 inches for the flap. I also added a little pocket on the bottom by cutting a piece of fleece the same width and about 2 inches high (the Leapster Explorer case for my one nephew is made the same way, using the Leapster Explorer measurements). I folded the bottom up, placed the bottom pocket after sewing a 1/4 inch top stitching on the top, and then sewed the while thing together using 1/4 inch seam allowance. I top stitched the flap to make it look nicer and reinforced the openings.

Scarf with iPod/Cell Phone Pocket

Scarf with Pocket

I made scarves for my daughter’s teachers, and decided to make scarves for the kids as well. You can read the scarf instructions first, the only thing I added was a pocket about 3 by 4 inches, about a foot up from one end. If you know the dimensions of the item you can add a half an inch for seam allowance, plus the thickness of the item and make the pocket to size.

Crayon Roll

Crayon Roll Open

I saw crayon rolls on Etsy and decided I could make them myself. I found a great tutorial at Skip to My Lou, made in felt. I used the dimensions and instructions, but since I was using heavier fleece I only used 2 pieces – the back and the crayon holder, using the smaller dimensions. The kids loved them and my niece, who I didn’t make one for because I wasn’t sure if she was too big for it, said she wanted one so I’ll whip one up for her soon.

Crayon Roll Closed

Happy Crafting!

Time for Preschool Teacher Gifts

Every year I give gifts to the teachers at Autumn’s day care. She’s now in preschool, but I give gifts to everyone, 10 in all, since she sees all of them at some point during the year. The past two years I have made earrings, but this year I decided to make scarves. Autumn and I headed to JoAnn’s and I let her select four fleece fabric patterns. She ended up selecting 10 and we carefully narrowed it down. They turned out great and Autumn loved handing them out, telling the teachers “We made you a scarf!” I told the teacher that there were four patterns and encouraged them to select the one they liked the best.

Fleece Scarves

They are very easy to make and were a big hit with the teachers. There is no sewing involved, all you need is a sharp pair of scissors and a flat surface. Autumn’s favorite pattern was the pink with the colored flowers (top in the photo). She declared it to be “Beautiful, MaMa.” I had enough to make 16 scarves, and there were 10 teachers, so I kept one for her. I think she’s going to be very excited!

Fleece Scarf Instructions

1. Select fleece fabric (I bought 1 yard of each, each scarf is 9 inches wide so I was able to get 4 scarves from each yard).
2. Trim the salvage edge (the edges that were not cut at the store – it’s usually a little rolled).
3. Lay fabric flat in front of you and cut 9 inch strips (I kept the fabric folded in half and cut both sides together, but only do this if it’s straight, otherwise you’ll get a weird cut at the fold when it’s opened).
4. Cut the bottom of the scarf into 1/2 to 1 inch strips, cutting about 6 inches into the fabric. Mine are just about 1 inch wide. I kept the fabric folded and cut both ends together.
5. Give or wear! See, wasn’t that easy?

Fleece fabric runs about $10-$15 a yard. We lucked out it was on sale for half off (if you’re not a frequent JoAnn’s shopper, they always have 40% off coupons in the Sunday paper that can be used on a single regular priced item, which includes 1 piece of fabric). Since we didn’t buy licensed fabric (Disney and Steelers are the more expensive choices) the fabric was $5 a yard, costing me $20. I got 16 scarves – that comes to $1.25 per scarf! That’s a great price for a nice, thoughtful gift.

Christmas Project: iPad Case

My boss got an iPad for Christmas, so I thought about a nice accessory and settled on an iPad case. I looked on Etsy and CafePress and found some really nice cases, but all of them were out of my price range. So I Googled and found some great patterns. I settled on this one from Dixie Mango.

 

Dixie Mango's iPad Case

Here’s the one I made:

 

My iPad Case

I’m really happy with how it turned out. I lined it with fleece so it would be soft and protective. I had the flower fabric, green fleece, button, ribbon and thread in my craft supplies so I didn’t even have to make a trip to the store!

Here are some other iPad Case and eReader patterns if you have someone you want to make one for.

• Dixie Mango – Envelope Style iPad Case
• One Pearl Button – Book Style Cover (for Kindle)
• Junie Moon – eReader Slip Cover
• Polka Dot Chair – eReader Slip Cover with Ribbon

Tip Nute has a selection of iPad and eReader cases and covers as well.

My next project is a Nook case for my sister! Happy crafting!