Chess Set for Dad

We made these for father's day. It was inspired by this post over at Gail's blog, but instead of making a set of dominoes, we did chess pieces. :)
I have 2 daughters. One did the black pieces and the other did the white pieces :)

Gifts

For Valentines my Valentine gave me very pretty roses. We visited my mother in law as well which is always fun.

 Also that day a dear friend, Terri, send me a surprise after reading this.

Gorgeous unscented soap!

Berry Sunset Soap (Smell delicious)!

I didn't blog for a few months and didn't even realize she and her family had started a soap business. Please
visit Nubian's Delight when you have a chance. I have started using the Pure and Simple, it is beautiful. It doesn't dry my hands and it is really unscented. I can't tell you how many unscented things are really scented.

If you enjoy blogs, you will love to visit Terri at Our Crazy Farm too. She is a great encouragement to me. Thank you Terri for the soaps <3 They are lovely!

Today is my oldest 18th Birthday. I feel like she's turned 18 already because we have been helping her prepare for college, lots of forms and applications. Happiest Birthday dear Cayla!

Lil Hands, Lil Crafts, Big Gifts

Lizzy made me a potholder <3

Taking care of my oldest

My oldest (who will be 16 in a week) got her wisdom teeth taken out this morning. Her face is still numb but is wearing off and getting tingly so she blogged a bit while she is still feeling up to it. Lizzy made her an adorable mini "Magnadoodle-thingy" (easel) and a mini painting of an apple to go on it that says "I hope you can chew soon." Her little easel is here.

I really enjoy having both of my girls home!! One of these days my oldest will be off to college. She is in her Sophomore year of high school this year. I cherish the time I have with her.

Hair Ribbons

Pom-pom bows can be made easily and will out-last the ponytail. I made these 6 years ago and they still look great. To start you will need ribbon. I used grosgrain and satin ribbon for most of the bows I made. You will also need pony-tails or clasps, and jewelery wire. For tools: you will need scissors, wire cutters, needle-nose pliers, and fray check.
1. Folding: These ribbons shown here were folded 4" wide to make 2 folds or loops on each side so that would be around 20" altogether.
2. Fold centers: Although this step is a pain, if you do not fold down centers and are using grosgrain or a heavy ribbon you will notice that the center is too chuncky when you secure it with the wire and it will not lay nicely.
I made 2" bobby pins, you can see one in the center under "Supplies". When you are holding your ribbon it goes easier if your wire is ready.
(It would have been great if I had 3 hands. If you have something like a clasp or clamp tool it may be very helpful in this step.)
3. Twist and trim wire to 5/8".
4. Turn sharp end downward toward bulk of ribbon to prevent someone from getting poked or scratched.
5a. When making more than 1 color you'll need to make each color a bit smaller than the bottom one. I didn't want the silver to stand out that much so I made it the same width as the blue layer.
5b.After you figure out how you want it to look, stack it and add a ponytail or barrette, and secure it with another piece of wire. Trim your ends and use fray check. I've noticed that some fray-checks leave a white residue so always test first.
6. Last step is to cover the wire with a scrap of ribbon and sew it where no one will notice.

Apron -- Gift for Sister

I am so thrilled with how this vintage apron came out! My girls modeled it for me b/c my sis is little :)

There is a huge pocket as you can see! You can fit alot in there if you need to :)

I love the high waist band! It give the apron a clean dressed up look! Even the back is cute!

Thanks for calling today sis! It was great to hear your voice, I miss you like crazy and I am glad you like your little gifts! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Zakka's ornament idea

I thought this was really cute. You can find the whole thing with more pictures here: http://zakkalife.blogspot.com/2008/12/kokeshi-doll-christmas-ornaments.html I made something like this a few years ago with clothespins, eye hooks at top, but made carolers, skaters and the like. For skaters I used a piece of stiff gray felt hot glued to feet to make the blade of the skate.

Zakkalife was busy making kokeshi doll ornaments for her daughter's nursery class. She decided to give ornaments since she's been told no one throws away a Christmas ornament. Do you think this true? Have you ever thrown away Christmas ornament? The only ornaments most of us have ever thrown away were broken ones. Curious to hear your thoughts.Directions to make Kokeshi Doll Ornaments here. She also made a gift tag to go with the ornaments, see her page, she offers for people to copy and use it if they wish.

Gifts for Sister

The girls and I have been working on gifts for my sister's 4oth birthday party.

My oldest daughter made her a pointy kitty. Thanks to WeeWonderfuls you can make your own too, she just asks that you do not sell them. I made her a quilted pot holder, and a few crocheted dishcloths.

For her party we made a few Sunflower decorations. To make the little sunflowers we used a Martha Stewart, Cosmos Craft Punch, punching out 4 from yellow tissue paper and 1 from yellow printer paper. (I found that this type of paper looks cleaner than construction paper.) When I stapled these 5 papers together I put the printer paper sandwiched in between the tissue paper. I then cut out green circles (printer paper) for the back of the sunflower where the ribbon is, and brown (craft foam) circles for the front. I found a cute leaf punch from Target a few years ago (for $1), that seemed perfect for the sunflower leaves which were glued with a hot glue gun. Be sure to have a bowl of water next to you when you work so that when you burn your fingers you can cool them immediately.

The big sunflower below the vase of sunflowers was made by my oldest daughter and she used brown craft foam and yellow tissue paper.

My youngest daughter wanted to make something for "Anty" as well. This would be a great summer project for kids. She cut out the letters by herself. This side says, "Sun," and the other side says "flower". We used a Popsicle stick to support the stem. We covered it with green paper afterwards. We also added a ribbon to hang it from.