Quilt Scrap Dress--Sew-vivor Entry!

So I bumped into a new-to-me blog that is having an AWESOME sewing competition!! Its called "Sew-vivor" from the Family Ever After blog..(you can read about the contest here). What I love about this contest is that its just sewing, (which is really the only crafting I'm good at!!), and she has gotten incredible sponsors. Also, even if you aren't entering, she's having a giveaway a week during the competition, so check that out!! One ends today!! I'm entering my Quilt Scrap Dress...and I have my fingers crossed!!! Wish me luck!!

The Story: So, I was making my daughter a quilt for her 3rd birthday, (you can check it out HERE if you want), and I had a bunch of leftovers that were just too cute to throw away. I started racking my brain for what I could do with them..and then it hit me! I could use my leftovers to create "fabric" for a dress to match the birthday quilt. My 3 yr old will love it, I will love it, and I won't have to just throw the scraps away! So, after some configuring, here's what I came up with.

(Couldn't coax any smiles out, she was little nervous about her debut..)

What I love about this dress:

1. It is totally bright and fun! 2. It's economical..you could make this dress with leftover scraps from any project, or hang onto clothes that get stained and cut them up into squares to create your own "fabric". 3. This dress is almost all rectangles, so you don't have to have a pattern. 4. It matches her birthday quilt...what little girl won't love that?

Here's a quick close up of the bow knot, can you tell I just love it??

Valentine's Day "We Love You Because.."

So, I've been seeing those " I love you because..." walls where they use vinyl and sticky notes for a Valentine's decoration..and I LOVE IT! But..I am renting, and the paint in our house comes off a little easy, so I'm too nervous to put vinyl on my walls. So here's what I came up with instead...

Here's how I did it...its super easy!!

1. Paint an 8 inch piece of a 2 x 4 red

2. Cut out phrase in vinyl w/craft cutter, or make stencil, and paint on

3. Staple cute ribbon to the back

4. Make little love notes

5. Attach with clothespins, paperclips, etc..

6. Make that loved one feel super special! (We plan to leave a new note everyday until Valentine's day)

Family Assignment Board

This is a fun craft for the whole family! Even the youngest child can help pick out their own personalized name tag. This is also versatile, although we made one for F.H.E., it can be easily adapted to a chore chart or any other alternating responsibility board.

Materials:

1. unpainted wooden board- easy find at the craft stores in your area, there are many styles and sizes, choose according to the size of you family or number of items you want it to have on it
2. pegs- this is a personal style preference, (my hubby picked out the ones you see in the picture and wanted them upside down). There are many options at craft stores; don't feel  like you have to stick with wood, I have seen it with nails, etc.
3. Screws- to attach the pegs (may not need these if you are doing nails)
4. Spray Paint- color and texture according to preference (we chose brown with different color speckles)
5. Paint Pen- to write the various assignments on the board (I did mine free hand, but you may also use a stencil instead) There are various size tips in the pens, I bought a fine point and medium point, since I had large and small words.
6. Individualized wooden pictures- also found at any craft store, you can even get them unpainted and paint them yourselves. (have everyone choose one for themselves that matches their personality or likes)
7. Yarn, twine, or ribbon- for hanging the wooden pieces
8. Drill- to make a hole in each wood piece to string the yarn through.

Procedure:

1. Spray paint board and pegs separately and let dry according to directions on can.
2. Once dry, screw the pegs to the board, try to evenly space them using a ruler and pencil to mark on the board.
3. Using paint pen, write words (Family Home Evening, or Family Chore Chart) whatever you come up with! Also write the smaller assignments, mine says “prayer, song, lesson, activity and treat”. Don't forget to write the names on the individual pendants too. The tricky part of this step is evenly spacing the letters and words. Since I was doing mine free-hand, I practiced on paper first.
4. Drill holes in each wooden piece, sting yarn, twine, etc. through the hole and hang over each peg.

Easy peasy! You have a family assignment board, the kids love to change their name to the next spot when its time, and it makes doing work a little more fun! I hope you enjoy.

Sydney

Mac & Cheese with Tomato

Guys it's been too long! But I just wanted to drop in and tell you about this great recipe that I saw on Cooks Country TV show (the same people that do America's Test Kitchen). It looked pretty simple so I decided to give it a whirl and it was pretty good. A nice change to the normal mac and cheese. I got the recipe from here. Try it out guys it's good!

When I made it, I only made a half batch and put it in a 9x9 instead of a whole recipe in a 9x13. Also make sure that you let it sit for like 15 minutes when it's done cooking otherwise it'll be soupy.

INGREDIENTS (SERVES 8-10)

• Salt and pepper
• 1pound elbow macaroni (see note)
• 1(28-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
• 6tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4cups half-and-half
• 1cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 4cups shredded mild cheddar cheese
• 2cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1. COOK MACARONI Adjust oven to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large Dutch oven over high heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon salt and macaroni and cook until just al dente, about 6 minutes. Drain pasta and return to pot. Pour diced tomatoes with their juices over pasta and stir to coat. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until most of liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
• 2. MAKE SAUCE Meanwhile, melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat until foaming. Stir in flour and cayenne and cook until golden, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in half-and-half and broth until smooth. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture is slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Off heat, whisk in cheeses, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper until cheeses melt. Pour sauce over macaroni and stir to combine.
• 3. BAKE MACARONI AND CHEESE Scrape mixture into 13 by 9-inch baking dish set in rimmed baking sheet and bake until top begins to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
• MAKE AHEAD: Macaroni and cheese can be made in advance through step 2. Scrape mixture into 13 by 9-inch baking dish, cool, lay plastic wrap directly on surface of pasta, and refrigerate for up to 2 days. When ready to bake, remove plastic wrap, cover with foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Christmas Crafts Part 2

The Sparkling spruce

One of my favorites!

What you will need:

• 2x8 piece of wood, or whatever size fits your fancy (all depends on how large you want your tree)
  
• Sage colored Burlap, or clothe of your choice (i.e. white felt), cut into 3”-4” strips         *we bought the left over scrap pieces they have at the cutting table so they were marked down!
  
• Glitter. I used silver. Spray glitter will also work.
  
• Spray adhesive. If you use spray glitter, you won’t need this!
  
• Hot glue gun with sticks.

The Steps:

1. Cut a triangle out of the 2x8. The dimensions of my tree were  16”x16”x7.5” (the true width of a 2x8). I used my husbands circular saw, but a hand saw should work as well!
   
2. Cut ~1-inch flaps in the strips of fabric. Don’t cut too deeply, however; halfway through should do the trick.
   
3. Take your hot glue gun and squeeze a strip of glue along the bottom of the triangle. Place your strip of fabric on the glue so that the flaps hang off the wood. Then turn the wood piece and do the same on the small side, then the back, and then the other small side, so that in the end you have completed a 360, and fabric completely lines the bottom of the tree.
   
4. Continue with these same steps over and over as you move up the tree. Make sure to overlap fabric so that no wood shows when the flaps come up.
   
5. Optional: Once the tree is covered with fabric spray it with the spray adhesive and dust with glitter. (This would also be a good time to curl the edges of the fabric up if you want them to stand up more). 

Have some fun!
Sydney

Christmas Crafts Part 1

Christmas Trees that are Sure to Please!!

Nothing adds to the spirit of the season like a few festive decorations placed around your abode! For starters, here are a few crafty ideas for some cute Christmas trees!

The Poster-Board Trio: All these trees have the same base, a poster-board cone!

 

The Fall Leaf Tree

This is an easy tree to make, and best of all, you can make it for under $1!!

Materials:

• A single sheet of poster board. It doesn’t have to be thick, any gauge will do!
  
• clear tape such as scotch tape or packing tape
  
• A can of spray adhesive.
  
• Hot glue gun with sticks.
  
• Colorful fall leaves, size and color of your choice. (I would go with already dried or close to dry, otherwise they end up drying once they are already glued and may flap up in a way you don’t like.)
  
• Glitter. Again the color of your choice.

Steps:

1. Take one sheet of poster-board (I used white but a color with work as well). Make a cone, I followed these steps. I ended up using the reverse steps because I wanted mine to be taller and skinnier and felt like the reverse instructions were easier to do that with (if you want shorter and fatter trees, feel free to make them that way as well). Also my tree ended up being about 14 inches tall, but fit your cone to whatever size you want your tree to be.
   
2. Plug in the hot glue gun and allow to heat up. Get a bag or bowl full of the leaves you are planning to use. (You’ll need more or less depending on how big your tree is so just round up a bunch so you don't run out!)
   
3. Starting from the bottom of the cone squeeze a strip of hot glue around the poster-board. Then place leaves all facing the same direction along the glue. (Don't make too long of a glue strip because you wont have time to place all the leaves before it cools down). Continue around and up the entire poster-board. Make sure to overlap the leaves as to eliminate any open spaces through which you can see the poster-board.
   
4. Optional Step: Once all the leaves are on, if you want to put glitter on it, spray the tree with spray adhesive and then gently shake glitter over the tree. Set aside and allow to dry.

 

The Winter Wonderland Tree

This is a very quick and simple tree! (It may need a touch-up each new year if you plan on storing it; it loses its flakes fairly easily)

Materials:

• A single sheet of poster board. It doesn’t have to be thick, any gauge will do!
  
• clear tape, scotch or packing tape                                                        
  
• A can of spray adhesive.
  
• craft glue or Elmer’s glue
  
• one paint brush, used for brushing on glue
  
• One package of Twinkle Flakes (confetti will also work but then most likely it will be a different color)

 

Steps:           

1. Refer to step one of the Fall Leaf Tree
   
2. Pour twinkle flakes out into a flat pan with an edge (I used a cookie sheet)
   
3. Using the paint brush, quickly (as to not allow for much drying) apply a layer of glue around the entire poster-board.
   
4. Roll the tree into the twinkle flakes so all the glue is covered as best you can.
   
5. Spray the tree with the spray adhesive and roll in the flakes again to give it another coat
   
6. Optional: You can follow up with another coat of spray adhesive.

   *Dump the leftover flakes back into the bag to use next year or for another purpose later!                                                             

The Beaded Tree

Also very simple, not as fragile as some of the other trees either!

Materials:

• A single sheet of poster board. It doesn’t have to be thick, any gauge will do!
  
• clear tape such as scotch tape or packaging tape
  
• Hot glue gun with sticks
  
• String of beads, can be simple or fancy, I used a three stranded bead string that I found at my local craft store! (depending on how large your tree is and how long the strand of beads are, make sure you buy enough to cover the entire poster-board)

Steps:

1. Refer to step one of the Fall Leaf Tree
   
2. Heat up glue gun and once hot, begin gluing the beads to the poster-board. You can start at the bottom or the top, either works since you wont be overlapping. Glue the beads in a circular motion, like a spring, all the way around the tree.

  *one tip, the white poster board shows through on this one, so you can either use colored poster-board or take a simple acrylic paint and give it a coat before you wrap the beads. (I coated my poster-board with a yellow acrylic paint and sprinkled some gold glitter over it before I wrapped the gold beads around it.)

          
These are the first three of six total trees! Thanks for reading, let me know what did and didn't work for you.
Sydney

Santa Suit Nails

Now that it is finally the Christmas season I can start doing some fun festive nails! These are the first ones I tried. They are my Santa suit nails and are not too difficult. They do take a little time though, so keep your patience if you try them!

Alright first you start off with the base red coat. I would say do 2 coats to make sure its not see through. Next you do the white stripes down the center and at the bottom. Personally I thought that it would look better with a thin white line at the bottom but after I did them I decided that it would probably look better if it was a little thicker. I also think the line would have looked better if it was straight across my nail instead of following the shape of my nail. But hey that's all up to you! Which ever way you would like best is what you should do! Next after the white is the black stripe across. Don't do it too thin because it is supposed to be a belt. And lastly is the belt buckle. All you do for that is paint a square around the intersection of the white and black stripes. I used silver for my belt buckle because that is what I had but gold would look great as well!! Don't forget a clear top coat to protect them from chipping too quickly!!

Just a reminder I used thin brushed nail polishes for all the stripes and detailed work. I use Art Deco by LA Colors nail polishes. You can get them at Dollar Trees generally! So they aren't too expensive. If they don't have the colors you want I know Sally Hansen makes some too and I'm pretty sure you can get those at Walmart or Target. I hope they work out for you if you try them, and I'd love to hear how it goes!!

(P.S. Sorry the picture is so horrible, but my camera wasn't working so I had to take the picture with my phone and it doesn't have the best camera!)