New Cricut fun!

So I've been wanting a Cricut machine for a LONG time and I finally got a really cute green one for Christmas. It's gotten a lot of use already and I love it! I started out with birthday invitations for Camille's birthday next week. It was a lot of work but I learned some ways to use it and some ways to not use it. Camille said, "Aren't people just going to throw these away?" Probably! But I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have a new fun machine to use!

Then I made the little super hero girls to give as a party favor attached to a picture of the birthday girl and friend.

I made use of the black vinyl that came with my Cricut to make a cute saying on my laundry room wall. Grant is concerned that I'm going to label each room in the house. But, I won't. The laundry room just happens to have a blank wall and I liked the saying that I found!

Each of the kids chose a few pictures for me to practice for them. This is a cute train.

I found a possible way to hook the Cricut up to the computer and use some software that gives you endless possibilities. I'm excited to try it!

Felt Food Exchange

I have some talented family and friends so I knew I could organize a felt food group and get some good stuff! We spent the fall making our food and then we exchanged it in time for Christmas.

My pizza creation. I also made a pan and a box for those I exchanged with, never got them put together for myself!

From Omaha, Nebraska- My sister Dani's baking set with baker's hat.

From Canby, Oregon- my talented friend's breakfast set.

From Powell, Wyoming- a new friend's campfire/s'mores set.

And from Powell, Wyoming- my crafting friend's lunch set.

The happy recipient of a neat gift!

American Girl Clothes

I can not pay $30 for a doll outfit and I admit that I don't even pay that much for a new outfit for my own daughters. So, when they drool over the outfits in the American Girl catalog, they know they aren't getting any! I do wish I could buy them one of each outfit, but that won't happen in this lifetime. SOOOOO... I break out my creativity and my pattern making up skills (didn't know I had them until now) and try to copy cat the outfits in the catalog. This was my first attempt to copy something from a picture and I have some room for improvement, but overall they turned out pretty good. I saved about $25 on each outfit, minus about 5 hours of my time. Hopefully it'll feel like a "priceless" moment on Christmas morning.

American girl outfit- $30

My outfit- $2.50, plus 2.5 hours of my time. I can see that the shawl needs to be shorter- I've shortened it twice already! Back to the sewing machine. Those boots were HARD to figure out. Don't know that I'll attempt any more of those.




American Girl outfit- $28

My outfit- $5 plus about 2.5 hours of my time. I still want to find or make the little white socks. The ribbons on the shoes kinda bug me too but they'll have to do for now!

I have one more outfit in the works but it's proving to be a little tricky. Hopefully it'll be done by Christmas....

Pinecone garland

I saw a pinecone garland at a Christmas shop in Omaha, NE a few years ago and loved it. I also immediately said "I could make that!" My parents in OR have an abundance of pinecones every year, thanks to many pine trees in their yard so I asked them to save me some. My mom gave me two large garbage bags full and I got to work wiring them to a piece of rope. I'm still not convinced at where I hung them up in my new house but they do add some "festive-ness" to the house and they are a little different from traditional garlands. Also reminds me of OR!

Sweet treats

Every Christmas I want to give people who I appreciate a small gift and this year I saw a great cookie in a jar recipe at this website. I modified it a bit and spent part of an afternoon with two of my kiddos putting some together. I was lucky to have an abundance of jars so I didn't have to purchase those, found some fabric at a craft fair for cheap, used what I had on hand for all of the ingredients except the M&M's and chocolate chips. Hopefully I can make another batch next week for all of those teachers, bus drivers, piano students, and friends that we appreciate.

Birthday Banner

Well, it turned out OKAY but I'm not completely sold on it. I used only scrap fabric that I already had. I used a blanket binding that looks like it was from the 1970's (probably "borrowed" from my mom when she cleaned out her fabric stash a few years back), and I cut out the letters by hand. It was easy to make but I wish I had used a smaller binding for the ribbon and could've bought cute matching fabrics for the triangles. I wish I could've used a cricut to cut it out. BUT- after all that complaining, it still told my 11 year old twins HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Give Thanks board

I got this idea from this blog and I love how it turned out. It's finished about 1/2 way into the month of November but we're going to start writing what we're thankful for now and put them in the pockets so we can look at it next year and add to it. We have so much to be thankful for. I'm not sure I really like using Mod Podge yet because it wrinkled the paper, maybe I used too much. It matches my kitchen and dining room perfectly!