Diaper clutch

I needed another diaper clutch, I mean I wanted one. 'Nough said.

It holds a few diapers, wipes and a changing pad.  I love handles lately. It makes everything more useful to put it all on my wrist.

Future Halloween

Oh I'm so excited for October. While at the quilt store today, I bought some clearance Halloween material. I'm going to have Halloween covers for my pillows. I think it will be darling.

Chocolate Bunny Easter Wreath

I finished my Easter wreath last night. I love it in fact so much more than my shamrock argyle wreath. I was going to wait until after St. Paddy's day, but I loved it too much. Don't forget to notice the chocolate bunny figurine inside. The wreath form is wrapped in gray yarn then green tulle.

I used these tutorials for the flowers

For the felt flowers

The Tulle puff

The calico flowers

The lace rosettes

Magnets

You know how you get a new phone book like once a month? And you wonder why they deliver so many because who actually uses phone book anymore. Well they load the cover with magnets. I save magnets and recycle the rest.
I've use some of those magnets for one of my favorite free crafts. I make magnets from my favorite quotes on Pinterest.
I know it makes my fridge a little white trash but its good to see the reminders to be good. The holy magnet actually came from an "oh holy night" printable, but we are being encouraged at church to be holy women, so I wanted the reminder not to yell at my family while I'm hungry and making dinner.

Green Ruffle

I decided the window needed a ruffle in the girl's room, since I recently took down the curtains. They were too hard for a four year to wielded. (Come summer when the Colorado sun come up at 5:30, we might go back to heavy curtains.)

This tulle ruffle was about the easiest thing to ever make. I bought a roll of tulle and measured 5x the window, the cut two pieces that size. Sewed two straight lines. I didn't even gather, because it bunched on the rod.

In case you couldn't tell the room is pink and green. (The quilt my mom made.)

Here are some other pink and green diy-s for her room.

Lace Ruffle Lampshade

Temple Frame

Clippie Holder

Girly Clock

Thankfully we repainted the room from that awful hot pint.

Anniversary Card

Long ago, back in December, I made my husband an anniversary card, and put mini snowflakes on it. It was fun to make paper snowflakes the size of half dollars.

While I was doing that, my daughter, drew a picture of her brother.  I love it, he is wearing glasses, then its his nose, then its a big pink mustache.  She knows he loves mustaches.

St Patrick's Day Rectangle Door Wreath

I made a rectangle St. Patrick's Day wreath for my front door. I love my wreath. I also love that I created it myself, instead of imitated something on Pinterest. I've recently realized most of my crafts lately come from what I see on Pinterest-- it feels good to create my own stuff again.  It was quite happenstance that I made it.  My friend wanted to make a moss covered clover for her door, and so we went to Hobby Lobby.  The moss was a few dollars more than I really wanted to spend. But I was so drawn to the green raffia, I had never seen spring green raffia before.  I decided to buy it, and figure out what to do later.  (BTW, Her clover turned out excellent, it was really cool looking.)  That night my husband was fulfilling his scoutmaster duties on a winter campout, so I was left alone with the raffia.  I ended up using my go to craft supply-- cardboard, and made this wreath. I ran out of green raffia, so luckily I already had plain raffia.

I couldn't resist making more rosettes, so I make another shamrock with rosettes.  Everything I already had other than the raffia.  Each package cost $3, perfect price point for my door.

That story has a happy ending, unfortunately I have another wreath with not so happy ending. This story happens before the previous one.  On February 18, my kids didn't have school, and I wanted a St. Patrick's Day wreath.  I thought I surely have enough supplies at home to make a wreath.  I had bought some Pipe Insulation, for just such an event.  I also found an burlap rice sack, and some green felt, what else would I need?! Perfect right?  No, I hated the wreath, luckily it was free.  Also it turns out foam insulator is a terrible wreath form.  Because it has no form!  The longer it hangs on the wreath hook, the more oval it gets.  I'm done with diy wreath forms, if I want a wreath, I'll get a coupon and go to the craft store.  Naturally something this ugly couldn't go on my front door. So I made the raffia wreath. I think if it had a real wreath form, and a different color green felt I wouldn't have hated it.

Fabric Bangles

I've wanted to make fabric bangles for about a year, but I have no old bangles sitting around my house. The other day during cleaning, it clicked! My kids always gets those silly rubber band bracelets (you know those livestrong style bands). They are every where in my house. So I collected a few and pulled out my glue gun, and cut thin stripes of calico scraps.

I have to admit after I finished these I wished I had scraps from all of my kids baby blankets.

Possibilities

Last night I fed the kids frozen pizza, when I removed the pizza there was of course a cardboard circle underneath, I looked at it greedily, and though oh the possibilities what crafts could a perfectly formed circle create.....?
I decided a flat wreath form. If you wrap a wreath in something full or fluffy then flat doesn't matter. Actually with a full medium sometimes flat is good so the wreath isn't too huge.

Cardboard is one of my favorite mediums lately. Mostly because its free and I seem to have an endless supply in my garage.

I have yet to have problems using cardboard.  Pinterest has ideas about cheap wreath forms but in my experience they don't work.  

Pool Noodles-- kink 

Insulation tubing-- stretch over time.  

Cardboard no complains, definitely not foam, but works well in its own right.

Better or worse

I kept thinking there was something wrong with my argyle wreath. When I wore argyle socks, I realized my zig zag should be a complimentary color, not the same. What do you think?

7th Birthday

My oldest turned seven. He doesn't really like cake, but he does love chocolate chip cookies. So this year I made a Chocolate Chip cookie icebox cake. It was seriously the easiest thing ever, as long as you planned ahead.

I also borrowed a stamp set from my friend and made him cute little birthday cake bunting for his cake. It was so fun, but also took about TWO hours! I need to get a mini stamp set, it was super fun, I stamped all sorts of things!

Back to the icebox cake, I made the cookies Wednesday, and practically burnt them on purpose, and then stuck them in the freezer until Friday. You want your cookies crisp, to say the least, because by the time you eat your cake, they will be as mushy as mush. I put a ¼ cup less flour in my dough, used butter instead of butter flavor shortening (since it has a lower melting point) and baked my cookies for an extra 5 minutes or so. See the difference.  The top one is what my cookies normally look like, the bottom one is for the cake, maybe I should have used less flour. 

Then on Friday night I made fresh whipped topping, from whipping cream, I made four cups because the whipping cream comes in cartons of two cups, but three would have been plenty for the LARGE cake I made. We fed 14 people this cake, and still had almost half a cake left over. Next time I make this, I think I would only make half a batch of cookies for my cake. Once my whipping cream was made, I covered a plate in one layer of cookies, then put a layer of whipped cream, a layer of cookies, a layer of whipped cream, and on so until it was as big as I wanted. Then let chill over night. Just for the record I was going to make this on a cake stand, it was his 7th birthday after all, but my husband told me to make it on a paper plate. I thought it was weird he cared so I listened, well turns out he thought we were making it for the party we went on Friday night.

So yummy, so much easier than frosting a cake. Next time I want to try with oatmeal cookies. I think it will taste like a Little Debbie Oatmeal creme pie, without all the store bought chemicals. You can also make mini cakes with this. 

For the past two years I've made my son cookie crème sandwiches, for his birthday in school, but to make sandwiches for enough kids you need two packages of cookie crème, and that is almost $6 for just the crème! So I think next year, I'm just going to make sandwiches with whipped cream, and refrigerate over night, I personally like whipped cream better than the cookie crème. Remember my son doesn't really like cake, and he thinks all those cupcakes everyone brings into school are exciting which I get. But at the same time, I don't want to bring in cupcakes for a child who doesn't really like them, normal chocolate chip cookies are too boring for such an event as a birthday, but apparently cookie sandwiches are not too boring.    

I also ate a fourth of the cake in left overs, none one else in my house wanted it, and it was too yummy to waste in my opinion.  (I did give a fourth of it away.) But I got a little sick of the chocolate chips, I'm wondering how it would taste if you either use none or less chips, and made chocolate whipped cream.  Or if you ground up the chips, and then used chocolate whipped cream.  It has so many possibilities. The chocolate chip icebox cake idea I orginally found in Martha, but I found this recipe the most helpful. Back to Martha I did not use mascarpone cheese or whiskey. Mascarpone is apparently expensive and it tastes similar to cream cheese, and my kid doesn't like cream cheese.  I blame that on my husband's genetics, I don't understand how any human being can not like cream cheese. 

Argyle Shamrock Wreath

Well another holiday is come and gone, and its a month until the next catholic holiday, so I made an Argyle St. Patrick Day wreath for my wine rack. Ever wonder why the Saint Patrick and Saint Valentine are special enough for all of us non-catholic Americans to celebrate their days? Me not so much, I just love to decorate. Back to my argyle wreath, other than wrapping the yarn which always takes an eternity the wreath went surprisingly quick. I won't explain how I did it because there are many blogs that already have.
The wreath sort of reminds me if the Boston celtics during the early 90s. My brother was a fan when I was a kid.

Nattie Girl Cupakes

Back in December my daughter turned four. I made Nattie face cupcakes. I saw a similar idea on Pinterest. I made a million of these, including 20 gluten free ones, for preschool. I didn't give her a friend party so I also made them for playgroup.

Love Sign

Here is the end of my valentine crafts
A love sign, like the ones all over Pinterest. I recycled the letters from an old craft so I just had to glue! So easy!

I made these love birds for a wreath, but it just looked too old lady and kitschy, in a wreath, but I thought they were cute on their own.

Lastly these hearts I didn't make, I bought them years ago in clearance. Turns out they are my favorite decoration this year.

Valentine Envelopes

I made my family PB hacked felt valentine's envelopes. Then my daughter wrote all over hers. :(