Frankenstein

In my cruisin' on the web today, i found this on Nap Time Journal
here is our version:


it was perfect for today's crafting session. I love her blog. Great ideas.
Here is Neve's interpretation:

Kinda looks like she has a mustache. I'll have to ask her. I do know that she was pretty consistent in putting warts on all the noses, much to the unhappiness of her brother. I had to make new noses.

Here is a teeny one i made for my nephew's 1st halloween. Too cute. I made a few more with felt for the kids and glued it on cardstock. They can wear them as pins. I don't have a picture at present, They are being treasured at the end of their beds.


Many halloween parties to attend tomorrow between 9 and 1. Hope I can keep up. I'm sure they will be well sugared!

thanks for looking,
Amanda

boa scarf

here is my boa scarf. It is sooo warm. i love it.


I used 2 layers of pink and 2 layers of purple fleece.


I alternated the layers and sewed up the middle of them. The scarf is 60x 4 inches. I then laid the scarf on my cutting mat and cut at 1 inch intervals, stopping short of the centre sewline.

The purple fleece was from my stash years ago. Like before I had children. i was going to make my niece something. There is quite a bit of it. I just bought a pattern for an unlined coat for Neve, so maybe in the spring. It has a lovely machine embroidered flower on it. So for now, I'm enjoying the fabric myself.


There are many tutorials for boa scarves online. I just googled it and took what I wanted from many of the designs. I like the smaller cut, as in 4 inches instead of 6. makes it look fuller. There is one more kind of folding I want to try with this idea before I put it to rest. I'm seeing it in cream and brown. Another time.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

felt cupcake..on a card!

First off, let me apologize for the quality of photos. it's a dreary day here and the lights in my kitchen cast a yellow glow. The colours are kinda off.
My mom's bday is in a few days. Since I have to mail this card, it will probably still be late.. so here you are mom, your card!



I had fun making the felt cupcake. Just some machine stitching on the base and a few beads on the icing.


And I thought this inside up all by myself!


My son built up his muscles punching out all the candles. He got bored, distracted, otherwise entertained at about 46. not bad.


Gluing them all on with an almost finished bottle of zip dry glue was not fun, let me tell ya. ugh.


Candles are Quickutz, polka dots are Papertrey Ink and the HB stamp is Stampin' Up!

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

pumpkin loot holder!

I wanted a sewing project for craft time today. here it is...


It's a pouch that the kids can put treats in. After halloween, they can choose a few treats and put them in their pouches. After their treats are gone for that day, they are gone!! A lesson for them to learn. Gorging or spreading it out. I'm intrigued to see what outcome this will have over the days of chocolate and too much sugar.

And here are the happy pouch wearers who have a few early treats, thanks for Tia Rosemarie. thanks Mishie!


Rafael sewed his own pouch and Neve chose the colours of thread for hers.

Thanks for looking.
Amanda

i haven't forgotten about the boa scarf I made, I just can't get anyone to model it for me yet. Well, Rafael said he would, but I found a way out of it for him! lol

slide christmas ornaments

Howdy!
As promised, here are some of the ornaments I've made from microscope slides and copper foil. I love making these. The blog limits only 5 pictures per post, so you'll be seeing more of these in the future.



The trees are from cuttlebug and the snowman, gingerbread people, reindeer,mittens, (oh, my mitten one is missing) and hearts are from Quickutz.




These are a little different than last years, as I put paper on the back of these. Last year, I left the glass open so that you could see through it.

I made 2 boa fleece scarves tonight. one for me and one for Neve. they were that much fun to make. I'll get a picture tomorrow. I can't believe I made something for me and Neve to be all matchy poo!

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Noah's Blocks

I finally got to meet my new nephew today! joyous babies. He's 7 weeks old and a charmer. I so did enjoy him and no, I didn't have baby pangs. I'm done! lol

Here are the blocks I made for him. the idea came from Amanda Blake Soule's book, The Creative Family .







I look forward to making these again, soon, sometime soon.....

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

crayon wallets

Valerie on Frugal Family Fun Blog had a giveaway the other day. I didn't win, so I set about to make my own crayon wallet. Can I say how fun it is to make these? Look at the blog where she got the pattern and idea from,JCasa Handmade



I think I'm good for little prezzies for the kiddos' friends and may have room to make a few more. i'm not sick of making them yet. Just getting into the groove.



I've been very productive these past few dyas, but my projects are in varying states of done-ness. Good for you, more to blog about!

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

ornamental sneak peek

Happy tuesday! Whew! after 2 turkey dinners this weekend, I ended it off with a nice batch of beef stew and pumpkin pie. yum.
Here is a sneek peek of this year's version of my ornaments. So excited about them. Fun and fulfilling,



Catch ya back later...
thanks for looking,
Amanda

the Maple Leaf forever!

Did that bring a song to your ear? Alexander Muir wrote the unofficial national anthem"Maple Leaf Forever" back in the day, before "O Canada" became the official national anthem. Cool thing about it, he wrote it while living? visiting? staying? in a little house a few minutes from here. He was inspired by the maple tree in the yard. A few years ago, the city fixed up the house, called it Maple cottage and it is now used for local events and city run programs. I was invited to sing in a quartet at the opening ceremonies. Was a neat event and nice enough memory to tell you about it!

So..... anyway.....,,

we've been playing with the new Quickutz maple leaf die. They requested card making for craft session today. I love when that happens. All gathered around the cuttlebug on the floor with bits of paper and smiles all around as they glue, glue, glue.
Man, am I a little talkative tonight or wha? enough of that.

here is a card:


And another

It was very hard NOT to add anything else to this card.

And here is a card where I added TOO much. I loved the natural paper, then went a little crazy on the pearls. Oh well.


I cut out more in felt, music sheets and print. Oh yes, and some cork. I'm off to play.

Thanks for looking and Happy Gobble Gobble weekend to you.
Amanda

a crayon wallet giveaway

Howdy!
We had such a wonderous day here with the weather. I brought lunch to school and we had a picnic in the yard and the kids played and played and played. (wishing I had brought my crochet for all of that focused playing) then we went to a farmer's market with a pumpkin fest. the kids were wired! Fun fun.

Well, Valerie, over on fugal family is having another giveaway. here This one is perfect for us at the moment. Neve is really into "doing her letters" right now. She is carrying a little notebook and crayons in a purse so she can do it when it is improtant to her. This would make it so much easier. I'm hoping to try making one of these in the near future. But we know, that doesn't always happen. Think I would put a handle on it. She wants a big handle so she can put it over her shoulder.

The craft time the past few days have been sewing buttons. I'm going to do a series of 10x10 cotton squares with different art techniques on them. they will do them and I will sew them together to make a big wall hanging for their bedroom. I wanted them to own the art on the big wall. I bought some embroidery hoops. So now, they are happy sewing buttons. Big buttons, sparkly buttons, different shaped buttons.

Here's a tip when little kids sew: Don't double the thread. Often times, they sew from the bottom when it should have been from the top or make a big mess. If it is double threaded, you have to cut the thread, if you just make it a single thread with a little tail on the top and tie one knot at the eye of the needle, you can untie the knot and take the thread out of the problem area. Also, they kept pulling the thread out of the needle. This was a good solution for us. Did that make any sense to you?

And we've been working on our seasonal shower curtain. Yesterday, my LSS had a sale on Quickutz maple leaf cookie cutter dies. SCORE!! I've been holding out, looking for felt leaves, now we have made our own. I'm sewing them on the curtain under the close direction of Mr Rafael. I'll show you the autumn curtain. then we'll work on the Halloween one right away. Many ideas there.

You still here?!!! Thanks for hanging in. And I don't even have any pictures tonight.

Check back tomorrow.
Cheers,
AP

autumn tree tutorial

Yesterday, we were going to go leaf hunting to do some autumn crafts. By the time we finished looking for a few things at the store, we got rained out on the way to the park. Plan B.
I've been wanting to do a mac tac leaf craft for some time and kept changing my mind on what to do.
Yesterday, this is what came out. Here is a little tutorial.

I cut out the tree from the paper on the back of the mac tac, not through the plastic.


The kids used some gold sand I bought at a yard sale this summer to cover the tree trunk. ( I have no idea what this stuff is, it is very gold. Maybe some stuff we shouldn't breathe in there??!!)

I then cut off another layer of paper for the torn tissue paper and one for the feathers.


then I tore off the rest of the paper and let them put leaves on there. These came from Walmart and have glitter on them. I was hoping to use real leaves, but these are fine.


After they were done, i measured another piece of mac tac that was bigger so I could wrap it around the picture and fold it under to ensure it all sticks together. When the picture is so full, the top and bottom pieces don't stick together so well, so the overlapping helps this problem. I used a brayer to roll it together.


there it is... I plan on hanging them in the window after i get the eyelets, cropadile, ribbon and picture all in the same room at the same time.

Try one yourself. Neve also did one, but abandoned it at various stages. I would finish a stage and she would come to do the beginning of the next one. She was cranky from a cold. yeah me. All that to be said that it is a good craft for varying ages and stages.

thanks for looking,
Amanda

weather in a felt block

ok, I'm on a roll here. I would have loved to show you the nature block all done up, but I sold it. guess I'll have to make another one, gosh darn!

Really, haven't you noticed that I make something over and over and over until I'm full up of it, then move on to something new? (check out the bag tab on the side). Well, now it's felt blocks.
here's my latest--- weather in blues, greys and white.


It was hard to come up with 6 blue-y weather things. Bit of rain for ya and some clouds.

And some moon light and a snowflake from Stampin' Up last year.

The last block was my interpretation of the winter sun. I really wanted to stay with the blues and greys with the exception of the rainbow. Love it with the strings hanging out at the end. I'll be using that one again.


Hopefullly, I'll be able to show you the finished product this time. I put a little ribbon loop in one of the corners so I can be attached to stroller, car seat, mobile, etc.

I'll have our latest kid craft for you tomorrow.
thanks for looking,
Amanda

Felt preview

I'm so excited I finally got this project started. it's been in my head for weeks after seeing it in Amanda Blake Soule's The Creative Family.



I'm enjoying looking at many projects in felt and hope to do many more.


This project will be turned into a block. Just have to find a suitable stuffing.


This little owl was as fun as the mushroom.
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmPktOQeG9GQXZ2oRujLZUaMqVX1hNIjsg08qiNgqbJ_zpEpZrFWoKTyWmw5Jg1VuF1ihaH6xVvN6Dj2UCZRSsWdnNTZvK6aFHO204bfemCzO0pn0ac38Qlg8xUF4JeX1kfEBPIu_msKNt/s1600-h/felt+blk+owl.jpg">
I'm thinking of signing up for Betz White's Felt stitch workshop

I know I would like to have some inspiration and incentive to make Christmas presents early! And these days, I feel the need to sit and sew. With my hands. And felt is so wonderful.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda