Toddler Friendly Christmas Advent

I'm nervous to let my 2 year old have access to the advent calendar I made him last year - since it's not indestructible.  So, I went searching for an advent that he could participate in.  And I found this one.  It's the paper chain idea - but out of fabric/velcro so that you can reuse it from year to year. 

I had a hard time finding Christmas fabrics that had small enough print and matched eachother (but I did buy them in September to make as a possible Super Saturday project - so there was less of a selection then).  Surprisingly, I don't have pinking shears, so I had to borrow my Grandma's.  This was an easy craft to make, but very time consuming - measuring, cutting, ironing the pieces together . . .but the worst was sewing all the velcro on.  24 strips of fabric means 2 pieces of velcro per strip = 48 little squares to sew on.

But my son loves it.  He un-velcros them and then connects them as a long string instead of loops.

A Late Turkey

. . . but I DID have him made in time for Thanksgiving - just not posted on the blog.

I've seen this idea from Craft Goodies  posted on tons of blogs, but in case you missed it, you can find the tutorial here.  I didn't notice until I was writing this post that the example has the turkey feathers a lot shorter - thus avoiding the large spacing between the feathers - So I think if I made this again, I would shorten the sticks so that they wouldn't show a large gap next time.

I don't know about anyone else, but sometimes I find great crafts for a holiday after the holiday is past.  So I don't forget about it, I make it and put it straight into the box.  It makes the holiday next year fun to pull out new decorations I didn't use last year and had forgotten I made.

The fun part was that I already had everything - a scrap piece of 2x4, a paint stick, and the giant popsicle sticks (if you buy the Provo Craft vinyl for your Cricut, it comes with a stick to rub the vinyl on - just save those and you'll have a ton of sticks to use on projects!)

Mirror Coat Hook

I've wanted one of these for a while, but they were always so expensive.  And then I realized I can make it!  I didn't have to spend the huge money when I already had the supplies.  I made this about 4 months ago but forgot I hadn't posted it yet.

It was hard to get a picture of the shelf, but there is a shelf between the mirror and the board with the hooks. 

I had a nice hanging mirror that went over a door, but i didn't need it anymore since my closet doors are mirrors.  And we had scrap wood from working on remodeling the house to use as the shelf and hook board.

The only thing I had to buy was coat hooks.  But those are expensive at Lowes or Home Depot.  So I looked around for a while and found them at WalMart.

We painted and screwed the 2 boards together, then added the coat hooks.  The shelf/hook boards are actually not connected to the mirror.  We didn't want so much weight on the mirror when the coats are hung up . . . just in case it pulled it down and broke the mirror.  So they are attached to the wall seperately to make them a bit more stable.

But that made it tricky to try and hide the screws on the hook board.  So my husband came up with the idea of screwing it to the wall first, then adding the coat hooks - and have the hooks cover the screws.  It worked great!

Turkey Placemat

I've been on a felt kick lately. . . hair clips galore, turkeys, and some more I don't remember right now.  When I saw this idea last week on Punkin Patterns, I knew it would be my next project (even though I have at least a dozen projects I'm already in the middle of.  But what crafter isn't in the middle of several projects at the same time?

Anyway, I made this for my son since he's enjoying turkey's lately.  My hope is to make at least one more for my daughter, but I would love to have 3 so that the kids can use them at Thanksgiving this year.  I just need to dig through my felt drawer to find more brown felt.

Thankful Jar - Thanksgiving Countdown

I saw this idea last year on Somewhat Simple.  And we made these at this year's Super Saturday (a craft day at chuch).

I altered the word strips a bit for my family.  Some wouldn't work due to my children's age, and then I also added some more - but the link above has the original word strips so you don't have to think of 28 or so on your own.  My kids are still too young for this,  but I'm hoping next year might be easier to get them to understand a little about giving thanks.

The letters on the jar were cut on my Cricut, and I used the "pharmacy" font.

We found these jars at the dollar store, but there are twist lid jars at Walmart that would look good for this too.  Once all the white strips of paper were in there, it seemed a bit bland, so I cut up some different shades of brown cardstock and folded them up to add a little color (and fill some space).

Turkey Hair Clip

I found this idea on Nancy's Couture - featured on several different blogs already.  So chances are, you've already seen this project.

I was making mine for an infant, so I wanted it smaller.  I cut my ribbons shorter to 2" and still ended up cutting more off when I got them positioned on the turkey body.  My turkey body measured 1.25" instead of the 2" in the tutorial.  Plus, I wanted it to not overwhelm her head - especially since she has no hair to add cuteness to.  So the clip would be the only focus on her bald little head.

And changing the headband changes the look altogether.  I think I like the yellow or brown headband the best.  The white just makes it seem a bit plain and boring.  But the ruffle or lace gives it a girly touch.

Since my turkey is smaller, I didn't have small enough googly eyes to use . . . so I had to paint the eyes on. 

2x4 pumpkins

On The Creative Crate, I saw these pumpkins featured.  So I dug through our scrap wood from remodeling projects and made myself a set.

She didn't say the sizes she cut them at, but here were mine . . . 3.5", 4.5", and 7".  And the brown stems were random scrapsthat are about 1" tall.  My picture doesn't do them justice, so be sure to check out her pumpkins on the link above.

And does anyone know where to find green rafia?  All I can find is the tan, but I like it better with the green. . .

Fall Wreath

I made this wreath last year, but it was swiftly put into moving boxes without ever hanging up, so I finally pulled it out of it's box and get to enjoy it!!  I like the look of the square wreath - all the rest of my wreaths are circles, so this is a fun change.

This was a really easy and inexpensive wreath; here are the supplies:

• wire coat hanger
• fake leaves (from the dollar store - I think I used 3 or 4 packs)
• wired ribbon
• mini hole punch

First, bend your hanger into a square.  With the opening at the top, thread the hanger through the leaves.  The leaves were hard to just poke through with the hanger, so I punched a hole in the center with my mini hole punch. 

I used wire cutters to cut off the loop (the top of the hanger) and bent the ends in toward the leaves to hide them.  Then attach the ribbon and hang!

Felt Turkey for Toddlers ...w/ template

In an effort to get my 2 year old to understand different holidays, I figured I would try and introduce the Turkey in a fun way for him.

I cut out turkey pieces in felt - with the idea that he can move the feathers around.  We remodeled our bathroom earlier this year, but I kept the old drawer fronts with a the hopes of using it in a future craft.  So I glued white flannel to the drawer front and lined the edges with ribbon.  I would have used white felt, but my board was too wide for the felt piece (9.5"x11").  I also glued down the body, feet, head and face pieces. (you need a felt or flannel background for the feathers to be able to stick to - unless you want to use velcro).

At first, I kept the feathers plain, but they seemed too plain after looking at it for a couple hours, so I took embroidery floss and hand stitched some feather lines.  I love the way it turned out - though the feathers don't stick as well to the flannel with the stitching now, but they still hold okay.

And here's my son playing with it when he woke up from his nap (evident by his bed head).  And I quickly learned that I was going to need 2 turkeys.  My 11 month old wanted to join in, and my son wasn't having any of that.  So even though she probably won't really use it till next year, I made one for my daughter too.  But to keep the feathers separate and avoid future fights, I made pink and purple feathers for hers.  And luckily, I had two of the same drawer fronts to use.

It took me a while to get the proportions right for the head and feet, so if you want to make one but don't want to draw the pieces yourself . . . DOWNLOAD the template I made HERE!

The fun part is I didn't spend a thing on this project.  I recycled the drawer fronts, and used felt/ribbon scraps I already had.  I LOVE free projects - though my husband likes to point out, it technically isn't free since we bought the items at some point.  But if I already had it in my craft stash, I count that as free!

THE 'Stache

This one's for you Kari!!  I don't understand the mustache craze either, but it sure looks cute on a 2 year old.

I don't think my son even knew what a mustache was, but he's been saying "mustache" ever since he got up from his nap and I fit the elastic on him to finish this.

I saw this idea while scrolling through the archives at Sew Mama Sew - from 5 Orange Potatoes.  Since it would be worn by a 2 year old, I sandwiched the ends of the elastic between the 2 layers of felt because I'm guessing he would have it on backwards half the time - so this way, both sides are finished and presentable.

He tried to give his best "sinister" face.

Next, I'm gonna have to make a "Respect the 'Stache" shirt . . .

Keep Calm and Carry On - knock offs

I saw a "Keep Calm and Gobble On" poster (which is free to print if you want one - here) and definately wanted one . . . but I'm out of colored ink in my printer, so I opted for the next best solution - cut it out on my Cricut and glue it to some brown paper!

I still like the original better at Craftily Ever After, but this works as an alternative.

 

I also did another version on a huge canvas (20"x30") for my sister-in-law to put in her classroom (she's a teacher and their mascot is the sailors)  She found a picture of one she liked and then I spray painted the canvas and cut the boat and letters with my Cricut.  I don't know where she found the original idea for this one, but I think it was on Etsy ... 

I love these "keep calm and ..." posters.  They are everywhere in blogland and on etsy.  The possibilities are endless with different versions.

Halloween Costumes

My mom is amazing!!  She made 4 halloween costumes this year.  (And she's done this every year since Emma's 1st Halloween 10 years ago.)  One day, she'll decided she has too many grandkids and stop making them - but until she gets to that point, I enjoy her mad sewing skills and am grateful for them.  I'm going to try and round up pictures of all the costumes she's made for a future post so you can see her skills too!

This year, she made a Pirate


a Raggedy Ann


a Witch


and a Mermaid  (the costume wasn't "meant" to be able to wear the tail like this, but she figured out how to do it on her own)

The tail was actually hooked to a loop that she wore on her wrist so she could walk around.  Best mermaid tail I've ever seen!
 

And, she made this Lion costume 10 years ago; the grandkids wear it on their 1st Halloween.  This year, was tricky though - we had 2 babies who had their 1st Halloween this year, so we tossed a coin :) and it went to Max - my baby girl was Raggedy Ann this year, but we still put her in the costume for a picture so we can say she wore it.

Here's Max as the Lion - and not too happy about the headpiece.


And here was Emeree a couple weeks before since we had to mail the costume for Max