Craft Spur

It seems that once school is in full swing, and all the birthday's, holidays, and chaos that comes with them is over, I am left with a little "extra time" in the winter months to get around to all the projects I have had my eye on. You see I really love to craft once in a while. But I will admit that many of my other hobbies (reading, biking, hiking, gardening) take over most of the time, and I can't seem to fit in my craft obsessions. So I fit in as much as I could and maybe just maybe I can be a little more consistent in the future. (Don't hold your breath...the garden will be needing some attention very soon!!!!)
And I actually can't take credit for this one, my cousin made this up and sent it to me a few months ago, after I had admired the idea on her blog, thank you! But I finally did take the time to apply it to the wall, that in and of itself can sometimes be the hardest part...taking the time that is! I decided to apply it directly to our wall in the sun room/playroom. And we have loved it. I want to find a way to record different kids heights with corresponding ages with it...any ideas????

I decided to put my flower arranging class to good use and make some topiaries to decorate the top shelves of our built in entertainment center. Super easy and cheap project. I just used straight pins to attach the sheets of moss I found at the dollar store to some foam balls and put them in some vases I found at the local thrift store.

I did seven in all, and it took me a few hours and only about $20. Maybe it will motivate me to find some other things to decorate with?

Like most kids, mine can't seem to resist collecting their favorite rocks and shells and can't bear to part with them. And like most mom's, I tire of finding them all over their rooms...and in their pockets on laundry day...and, and, and...! My mother in law and Dave's sisters gave me this fabulous idea to give each kid a jar to keep a collection in. Love this! I took it a step further and put my new cricut to use making vinyl labels for the kids. Sorry the picture is kind of pitiful, they really are super cute.

I also made vinyl words for our bean jar, which is so cute but no picture for now...I've got to finish the job chart before I share that one.

And while I had the cricut out and had finally figured out how to operate the thing (it only took me two months), I decided why not cute out Valentines for the kids for school??? Yikes I forget what I get myself into some days! To give the kids credit they did most of the work and they did turn out super cute. Amanda continues her owl obsession, so this idea we found on familyfun.com was a great match...

She put pixie sticks through two slits we cut on the bottom to look like the owls were sitting on branches, and she came up with the matching box herself.
Maren was all about hearts, wish I had gotten a better picture, because they really were cute. She put a pencil through hers like an arrow.
Spencer and Jacob were happy just to decorate a few cookies with some neighbor friends and sing a few store bought cards for their friends...whew!

And of course I can't leave out our annual making of the heart shaped pizza's , for dinner...yum!

Maren also had a project from school that kept the whole family busy for a few days. She built a balloon racer.
The rules were to build a vehicle powered by a balloon that could travel 5m. It was tricky, especially because the wheels had to made of something that originally was not a wheel. Obviously none of us are engineers at our house, as hers barely made the required distance, but it was fun to get everyone's ideas in on the action.

And finally the project that has been dragging out since we moved here...the girls finished their Louisiana scrapbooks!!! Amanda and I started this tradition back when we moved from Wisconsin. While I worked on Maren's baby book, Amanda worked on her scrapbook, which ended up being a priceless memoir of our days in Milwaukee through her eyes. Since then the kids have made books after each of our moves. This last one I had them do digitally on mixbook.com, and I loved that. No mess and they make it easy for kids to operate with pre-made formats and such. The kids were so excited when they came in the mail. It was fun tradition to do with the girls one last time.

And for my last project you'll have to wait to see. I saw this idea for making a cute skirt out of a sheet here...

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2011/12/petticoat-skirt-tutorial.htmland

So far I have one done, and one in the works for the girls for Easter this year. They are more work than I thought they would be, but so cute, and a fun sewing project to include the girls on.