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favecrafts blog hop: felted sweater fortune cookies

valentine's day fortune cookies

The FaveCrafts Blog wants to know what you have finished on the 15th. Over here, we’ve officially finished Valentine’s Day. How do I know? My daughter asked if we could replace the heart bunting with spring flowers.

I couldn’t move on to Spring without showing you these cute fortune cookies we made for a few special Valentines. I found the project over at The Sassy Crafter. I wish I had those cool glue dots! Instead I used hot glue, so I prepped the first part the night before. The next day, I had my daughter help me fold them and add the fortunes. (The pdf download includes a fortune template.)

stash: Felted sweater scraps from my stash, of course! If we make these again, I might try some brown wool felt instead.

Check out other finished projects over at the FaveCrafts blog.

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valentine’s day pencil cards

valentine's day pencil toppers

We are doing very simple Valentine’s Day cards this year. I wanted to keep my daughter involved in the process, but between preschool and nature school, she’s got over 30 classmates. Even though she loves crafts, I can’t imagine her staying interested in such a big project.

valentine's day pencil toppers

We picked out Valentine’s pencils together and we used what we had for the cards. You’ll notice that she didn’t use any of the supplies I gathered, but chose her own stickers and pencil for the project — such crafty independence!

Using the big scallop paper punch, I cut out a bunch of flowers. I told her she could decorate them anyway she liked, but she had to make sure she put her name on them. Once finished, we taped them to the pencils.

We started this project early and she’s been doing a few a day. We’ll see if they get finished by next week or if I’ll have to make up the last few.

What do you do for Valentine’s Day cards? Buy or make? Include candy or not? Is your child involved in the process?

from the archives: handmade valentine’s cards, valentine’s day heart bunting, tiny crochet heart pattern

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unadilla willa pop-up groundhog puppet

After another Snow Day filled with crafting, we’d like to introduce you to Unadilla Bill’s sister, Unadilla Willa. I know many of you probably follow Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day, but my daughter thinks it’s very cool that Nebraska has its own groundhog.

ground hog puppet

Willa logged a few hours of checking for her shadow before I took this photo and she’s holding up pretty well. We had a lot of fun making her, but my one complaint with this and some of the other projects in this book is that you are instructed to use regular school glue.

Elmer’s just doesn’t cut it when gluing fabrics, especially felt. After Willa lost her eyes and ears a few times, I had to get out the hot glue gun. Once all of her parts were secure, Willa went back to predicting Spring for the rest of the afternoon.

ground hog puppet

All in all, I have to say this was a cute, easy and fun project. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and in the 20s. It seems like Willa was correct with her prediction. School will be back in session and our crafting marathon will be over. Phew! It’s been an intense few days!

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48 hours of craft

ice sun catcher

Tomorrow is our second snow day in Lincoln. All of our waking hours since Monday afternoon have been dedicated to crafts: drawing, coloring, cutting, pasting, stamping and sticker-ing. (Every creation has been adorned with at least one heart sticker. It is February, you know.) It’s been more intense than my 24 hours of craft weekend.

So far the only planned project has been ice sun catchers. Yesterday we put bits of my daughter’s nature collection in some containers from the recycle bin and added water. It didn’t take long for them to freeze and she’s been asking all day to hang them up outside. I managed to convince her to wait until the 30+ mph winds are gone so they don’t crash on the deck and break into pieces.

Tomorrow we’re making a groundhog puppet and Valentine’s Day cards. If she’s off on Thursday, I just don’t know what I’ll do.

project details: The sun catcher and groundhog puppet projects are from our favorite winter craft book, blogged about here and here. I’ll be taking pictures of our Valentine’s Day cards and posting a tutorial later in the week (hopefully!).

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handmade baptism gift: prayer pillow

prayer pillow

This weekend I went to my first Mormon Baptism. I did some research to see if there was a traditional gift, but turns out it’s pretty much like a Catholic Baptism (except the children are a little older and get a little more wet).

I kept seeing prayer rocks popping up in my search. I never heard of these before, but liked the idea behind them — the prayer reminder, not the bonking-in-the-head and stubbing-of-the-toe with a rock part. I decided a prayer pillow would be a nicer, gentler gift.

prayer pillow

I was excited to use some of my retro automobile fabric for this project. I made a matching drawstring bag, too. I used ink-jet iron-on transfer paper to print the poem and personalize it. It turned out so cute! The only thing I would change next time is to trim the iron-on paper with some fun patterned craft scissors instead of a plain rectangle.

prayer pillow

I think this would make a great gift for anyone celebrating an important faith milestone: Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation.

stash: Everything for this project was in my stash. My daughter helped me stuff it with polyfil. It was nice to involve her in the project. Prayer pillow poem can be found here.

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finished: noro mittens

noro mittens

This weekend I finished the mittens to match the Kitty Cat Hat. My daughter loves them, but wants to know when I’m going to add a cat face. Really? Can’t we just be happy they got finished before Spring?

When I bought this yarn I asked the store owner if he thought two balls would be enough to make a hat and mittens for a four year old. He didn’t think so and recommended I buy a third ball. I weighed the remaining yarn after I was finished and I had just over 50 grams, which is a little more than one ball.

If you’re thinking the same question, the answer is yes, it’s possible. You’ll use every bit of yarn, but may not be able to match color changes as nicely without a third ball from which to pull.

leftover yarn: I wonder if my daughter would wear a cowl?

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finished: kitty cat hat

hand knit hat

The Kittyville Hat is finished! This was a great pattern and I loved knitting with Noro.

I messed with the color changes a little bit to make sure there was enough pink, red and purple to make my daughter happy. (Yes, I know it’s really dark pink, but I sold it as red, which is her favorite color, so just go along with me, ok?)

Here it is in action:

hand knit hat

She loves the kitty ears and I love that her ears are covered. It’s a win/win! I’m currently working on a set of matching mittens and messing with the color changes even more. Thank goodness for spit and splice wool.

Pattern notes here.

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wardrobe refashion: puppy nightshirt

This nightshirt used to be a pair of pajamas. Repeated washings have caused them to shrink, but instead of getting smaller all over, they got shorter and wider. I tried to convince my daughter they were ready for the donate pile, but the “doggie pajamas are her most favorite.” She asked me if I could turn them into a nightshirt like her Mickey pajamas.

pajamas turned nightshirt

Since they were so wide, all I had to do was remove the elastic waistband, sew the pant legs into a tube, and attach them to the shirt. I added a rolled hem to the raw edge of the waist to match the shirt for a little more ruffle action: pink hem original, green hem mine.

pajamas turned nightshirt

technical note: I had a serious problem with skipping stitches on this project, no matter what my tension, regular or ball point needle, even different thread. When I switched to a muslin scrap the stitches were fine. I figured it must be the fabric so I tried putting a piece of paper tissue under the presser foot. It worked like a charm and the tissue tore away easily. I’m not sure where I first read this idea, but I’m glad I remembered it!

wardrobe refashion: I don’t think the life of these pajamas really need to be extended much longer. We’ve had them awhile and they are well loved. I’m curious how long they’ll last in their new form.

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fave crafts blog hop: finished baby sweater

Every Day is a New Sweater Day from Yarny Days

I did it! I finished the little sweater. I was really pleased with the pattern and my yarn choice. My only wish is that I could have blocked it before the shower. Oh, well. I’m sure no one else noticed.

details: Every Day is a New Sweater Day and Aunt Lydia’s denim quick crochet cotton from my thrifted stash.

Check out other finished projects over at the Fave Crafts blog.

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my creative space

crochet cardigan for baby

In my creative space today is a crazy idea. I’m thinking of making a baby sweater for a shower on Saturday. Yes, this Saturday. (I told you it was crazy.)

It also looks incredibly small. So small, in fact, that I dug out one of my daughter’s infant sweaters for comparison. You know what? It is the right size, and my daughter really was that tiny. Oh, my!

pattern: Every Day is a New Sweater Day from Yarny Days. If you are new to her blog, take a moment and look around. Her work is beautiful!