Seasonal Word Blocks

I saw these blocks at Ben Franklin's as a kit last year, but since I had the supplies to make it myself, I didn't want to spend the money on a kit when I could make it cheaper. But I couldn't remember the letters that went on each block . . . so I searched the blog world and found it on a few blogs. Brown Paper Packages uses a lower case font and different color of paint, so it gives you an idea of the options in making these.

There are letters on 4 sides of each block, which gives you 16+ words to use throughout the year. I used the green because it matches the standard decor in my house, and that color works for most of the holidays.

Here are pictures with 2 of the words. The words they spell are:

• Welcome
• Friends
• Easter
• Dream
• Harvest
• Faith
• Mother
• Monster
• Spooky
• Family
• Freedom
• Winter
• Hope
• Home
• Snow
• Blessed

*And I'm sure there are some more to come up with, but this was all I could find between the different blogs that have this craft on there.


If you want to make these, here is the letter breakdown:
Block #1 - T F B W
Block #2 - E Y H D
Block #3 - D O M E
Block #4 - R T E P
Block #5 - A C R S
Block #6 - L N O V
Block #7 - K M I S

These are out of a 4"x4" post from Home Depot (but it's actually 3.5" wide, so I'm not sure why they call it a 4" if it's not 4 inches - oh well)

I cut out the letters with my cricut but ran out of black vinyl, so I used black cardstock - which makes it cheaper too!

Glitter BOO

Here's another idea I found at Eighteen25. I altered mine a bit - I didn't have glitter and didn't have it in the budget to get glitter and wood letters at the time, so I got the glitter craft foam in the kids craft isle at JoAnns. It was only 1.49 a sheet and I used a coupon, so it was less than a dollar, and I already had the paper and frames at home.

I just cut out the letters with my cricut on regular paper and traced them onto the craft foam to cut out. Then I just glued them to the glass of the frame. A super easy project.

Along came a spider . . .

I saw this idea on a guest post at Eighteen25 . . . they're doing a whole month of Halloween crafts - check them out if you haven't already.

Anyway, I liked this simple idea and made one in Photoshop very quickly. And the cool part, is I already had a frame and just printed the image on paper! Easy peasy!It might be fun to add some texture, so I might add some black glitter to the spider. But my 2 year old keeps freaking out when he sees this frame and screams"mommy, bug, bug bug!!!" So i guess to a 2 year old, it looks real.

Here's the pdf of the one I made if you don't want to spend the time making your own . . .

Halloween Orange Burlap Wreath

My mom bought me some orange burlap for my birthday (thank you Mom!!) And I finally decided how to finish the wreath.

I cut it into strips - similar to the heart one I made in February - and strung them onto a wire hanger bent into a circle.

I hung it with black tulle - it's hard to tell in the picture since the top of the tulle is at the window in the door, but I made a tulle puff at the top of the loop holding up the wreath.

Reusable Lunch Sacks

I have a problem . . . I see a tutorial or idea that I like and I make it before my kids are at the age where they need it. The pink one is for my daughter who is only 8 months and has no need for a lunch sack any time soon. Does anyone else do that cause the project just seems that fun? I've made her the ABC's in a can too. Just too excited.
Anyway, back to the lunch sacks. I followed the tutorial from A Lemon Squeezy Home. It probably took me 3 times longer to cut out the fabric, lining, interfacing, and vinyl than it did to actually sew it.

This was my first time using iron-on vinyl. It worked better than I thought it would. (The tutorial calls for vinyl fabric or PUL - neither which I had on hand or could find at Jo-Anns, so I tried the iron on vinyl.)

I tried different techniques with the bias tape . . . the pink one was with the instructions in the tutorial. I don't like how it ended up. I'm not too used to bias tape, so that may have been the problem, but I tried it different on the blue one. I kept it folded together and sewed it on in one smooth motion all the way around. I found it easier to stretch it around the curves and corners this way. And it doesn't look baggy at the top. I may just unpick the pink one and re-do it. We'll see how my mood is tomorrow.

Ice Cream Dress by Oliver + S

My Fabulous Mother-in-Law (and my father-in-law too) gave me the pattern for the Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress for my birthday. They also gave me the Birthday Party dress pattern as well!

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the neck has a "v" notch in the center and there are 2 pockets on the front. The pattern size I made was 6-12 months, but it's huge on my 8 month old, so I think it probably won't fit her till she's 1 . . . so I guess I'll just be making a few of these until then.

I've been wanting this pattern for a while . . . there are other variations to make from the pattern as well - a blouse and a three tiered dress too. This wasn't hard for me to make, but it was very time consuming. It took me 2 days of naps and one evening after the kids were in bed to make this, but it was well worth the time.

Birthday Banner

I made this banner last week . . . I used 2 different sized bowls to create the circles - the biggest bowl was about 6" wide and the other one was slightly smaller. I cut the letters out with my Cricut onto cardstock and then layered them all using a glue stick.

I also distressed the edges of the letters and the inner circle with brown ink to make them stand out a little better.

And then I used my crop-a-dile (just a fancy hole punch) to punch holes in the edges and tied them together with ribbon. We have an 8 foot opening between the living room and the kitchen, so I wanted it to be kindof big so it would span the whole opening.

Little Sailor Dress

I found a tutorial for this sailor dress. I had to modify it to fit my 8 month old, but the tutorial gives the instructions on how to modify it from her measurements. Just because I like to be different, I added piping along the pocket openings. I like the crisp line it gives to the pocket.It's a little big on her, so she should be able to wear it for a while . . . hopefully.

Daphne Dress Sew-a-long

My Mother-in-law got me the kit/instructions to make this "Daphne Dress" from Oh So Sassy . . . I'm so excited to make it . . . but then I opened up the instructions and they are very, very rustic. They are typed up but all the images are hand drawn and I've read it through several times and I'm still confused. I also got the Eliza Dress Pattern - and the same issue there. It's very confusing.

But guess what! I found a Sew-a-long on The Train to Crazy . . . Starting on Monday Aug 9th, she is doing a Daphne Dress sew-a-long. So I'm thrilled and hoping they have pictures to go along the way with clearer instructions. Or at least it may just be a support group to try and get the dress done.

Has anyone out there used one of their patterns before? Am I the only one that thinks they are quite "rustic"? And I'm not a beginning sewer. I make things with patterns or make my own patterns, so I'm shocked that I'm confused.

But I'm crossing my fingers that the sew-a-long will be helpful. And it couldn't have come at a better time. I just have to wait 1 more day to be able to start it. I fell in love with this dress once I saw it, so I'm dying to make it!

Smocked Knit Dress

I was at the dollar store yesterday and found these knit scarves that were originally from target and say they are for belts, scarves, or headband wraps . . . but I had a different idea for them.
After I washed and ironed them, I decided to make a smocked knit dress. I only needed 2 of the colors to get the length of the dress - and I only used half the pink and purple, so I can make a skirt for her later with them too.

I just sewed the purple to the pink and smocked the top with elastic thread and sewed up the side seam to make the full tube. They already came with the edges serged, so I decided not to make a hem. To finish it off, I just sewed on ribbon to tie at the shoulders.

I'll probably cut down the ribbon soon, but she wouldn't quit pulling at them long enough for me to measure and get good bows. So later, I guess. Next, I need a hair clippie to match. But I'd rather have hair on her head first - Im getting tired of only using headbands since she has no hair :)