Christmas Center pieces

Once again... Its been forever since I posted here...  we just finished up hosting the Christmas party for the Mom's circle at church, and I just thought I'd share the centerpieces I created.





If you cut a half circle out of poster board, then cut the circle in half and you can make two cones.  I first covered one in gift bows.

 And the other with garland and it looks like a mini tree :-).

 A pre-made garland tree and added bows

Another with ornaments.

Some gift boxes glue guns together.

A yard light and some quilt batting as the north pole.

And of course, a visit from Santa.

Juice Box Cosies

Hey all!

I recently started being in charge of crafts for the children during the moms circle at church, so I thought I'd share my kids crafts too

Our first craft was Juice Box Cosies


I started with the small Foam Sheets  ( about 6" by 9").   Cut in half the long way

 Then cut it at about 7 1/2 inches through both strips.  This will make 2 juice box cosies.

 Take the small piece and put hot glue on half of one end

 Then put that half over the edge of the long piece as shown below.

 Put the juice box in the cosie (so you can get the dimentions right) and fold the edges up like below.

 Put glue across the front of the bottom piece.

 and wrap the front around the juice box.  Then flip it over and o the same thing across the back

 Then run a strip of glue up the back seam and your done!




 TA DA!! 

For the craft with the kids I took a bunch of random shapes and let the kids make their own Juice box monsters for Halloween!  They had a blast :-)

Check back for more fun kids crafts



Happy Crafting!

How to make a cute skirt out of jeans

 What to do when my favorite pants get a hole in the crotch... Turn them into a skirt of course!

 Cut the bottoms of the pants off just below the knees.

 

Cut the inseam out of the pants.

Seam rip the inseam open up to the zipper on the front

and up to about the bottom of the pockets on the back.

Fold over and pin the front seam to make a straight seam.

Stitch it!  (I did two paralell rows of stitching to mirror the style of stitching on the rest of the pants)

Do the same thing on the back seam (ignore the millions of pins below, I was also sewing a patch to reinforce where the hole was :-) )

Stitch it!

 
Cut one inseam and the bottom hem off of the leg pieces you cut off before.

Place the resulting piece of fabric inside the skirt, fold the edge and pin it to both legs

Stitch it!

Do the same thing on the back with the other leg and cut the extra fabric out from the back of the seams.

 Fold the skirt so the inseams are lined up.

Cut across the bottom to even the hem out

 Fold and stitch the hem.

Perfect for looking out at the falling leaves with the baby bear!

Isn't that Sew Cool!

Happy Crafting Everyone!

Dishwasher Detergent

 Ok... so I posted my recipie for Laundry Detergent earlier, so I figured I'd give you my dishwasher detergent too.

What you need:

1/3 cup Borax
1/3 cup Washing Soda
1/3 cup Salt

2 packets Lemon Kool-aid

Bowl to mix it in (i used my food processor because I made this just after making the laundry detergent so it was out and already covered in cleanser powder and its easy to get it well blended this way.

Mix everything together....

 TA DAA!   its that easy :-)  Use 1/2 - 1 Tablespoon per load depending on your dishwasher and how dirty your dishes are (I use a heaping half tablespoon).

Make sure to store it in an air tight container as it has a big tendency to clump.  It still works just fine clumpy and they disolve just peachy in the dishwasher, it just looks kinda janky.

 

If you really want to keep it from clumping throw a silica gel packet (like comes in shoe boxes or inside new purses etc) in the container to absorb any moisture. 

If, when you are using the detergent you get a kindof dusty/mineral film on your dishes (i only notice it on the plastic or clear glassware) it means your water is a little harder than mine (I made my soap weaker so I could show you below).

 The film wipes off so you can see pretty easy, I wiped off the top of the glad box above and the left side of the measuring cup below.

If that happens add another package of Kool-aid (the citric acid in the drink mix helps everything rinse cleaner).

Another option to help everything rinse better is to put white vinegar in the jet dry compartment in the dishwasher.

Hopefully this helps.

Its so much cheaper than store bought detergents and it doesn't take much time at all to make.

Isn't that Sew Cool!

Happy Crafting Everyone!

Laundry Detergent

OK, now that I've got a good mix and an easy preperation (as well as I ran out again) its time to post my recipe for Laundry Detergent.

Its really really easy.

What you need:

1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1/4 cup Baking Soda
1 Bar of soap (I use Ivory, other blogs say Fels Naptha, but I can't find that anywhere.  I wouldn't recommend using a moisturizing soap because I would think it would have an oil or something in it that could make your clothes greasy, but you can use any soap that tickles your fancy)

I use a food processor, but you can use a bowl and spoon to mix your powder just won't be as fine.

Put your bar of soap on a microwave safe plate (i recommend using paper or a silicone baking mat, cause sometimes it gets a little sticky) and microwave until big and fluffy (mine took 1:30)

I think it looks kind of like clouds :-)

Toss everything into your bowl or food processor and mix well.  Microwaving the soap makes it break up alot easier.  Or you can run the bar of soap over a large hole greater (like a box greater) but this is fast and its fun like microwaving marshmallows :-)

 Pulse everything together until its a fine powder (Before you pull open the lid let the dust settle down for a little bit or you will breathe in soap... it smells lovely, but it doesn't feel so hot in your lungs).

 Put in a lovely container and use 1-2 tablespoons per load depending on how dirty your clothes are.

This detergent does work for cloth diapers too... though occasionally you will want to switch up your soap to something like the 7th Generation if they start to repel.  Though a couple washes with that will fix that issue then you can come back to this because its SOOO much cheaper than the store bought detergents.

    

Isn't that Sew Cool!


Happy Crafting Everyone!

Sock Hobby Horse

I've had a couple of pairs of socks that I bought on sale that are super cute, but I can't actually wear because my calves are too big :-(.  So I decided to make a gift for my neice. 

It was super fun to make so I'm going to make more and list them on my etsy, but for now, you can make your own.

You need:
A Sock
Yarn
Stuffing
A little Felt
A dowel rod (I used a 7/8th 36" dowel from walmart)
Needle and thread


Put a little stuffing in the sock foot

Wrap the yarn around your fingers a bunch of times. I recommend using a bunch of different colors to make an interesting mane

Cut the yarn and make a little pile to work from

Thread your needle with one of the pieces of yarn and stitch it through the center of the heel and tie it in a knot.  Repeat going from the center of the heel to about 2 -3 inches from the top of the ankle.  Stitch as much yarn into the mane to make it as full as you like, and bring it as far forward as you like. I like to bring the mane a bit more forward of the ears because it gives the horse a cute, more pony like appearance.

Speaking of ears (sorry I forgot to take a picture of the process) cut a triangle of felt then gather the triangle a bit to make it curve.  Stitch the curved piece of felt to either side of the mane

Cut two ovals of white felt and two small circles of black felt.  Stitch them together, I used a pink thread to give the horse a pink eye color

Stitch the eye onto the horse straight infront of the ear.

To make the nostrils, take your thread up and back down through the toe of the sock like below.

Tie the thread like a shoelace

 and pull it tight

 and knot it and trim off the extra thread

To make the bridle take some of the yarn (about 5 arm lenghts of each color) and braid the length.

Wrap the braid around the nose of the horse

And tie the end of the braid to the opposite side of the nose loop creating the reignes

Cut 2 felt circles big enough to cover the knots

Decorate the circles however you wish, it is just to cover the knot holding the reigns.  Stitch the circle over the knot.

Lay the dowel rod out next to the horse with the top of the rod about equal with the ears and mark two dots about an inch apart about an inch above the bottom of the sock.  Using a drill with a fairly small bit, drill through your dots.

Insert the dowel into the horse

 Spread some glue around the dowel between the holes (not neccesary, but I like to make sure that the horse is really secure.  Thread your needles with some string or yarn.  Stitch through the holes and the sock.

 

Wrap the yarn around the bottom of the horse and knot it.

 

Spread a little glue over the string, again this isn't really necessary, I just want to make sure its secure before any kids play with it.

 

 Once the glue dries your new horse is ready to play with!

 

... Too bad my baby bear isn't quite old enough to play with it, though it didn't stop him from tasting it (its delicious by the way)

TA DA!

Isn't that Sew Cool!