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!

Halloween legos

These are some of my favorite costumes I've made, and I've made a lot of costumes over the years.

More fall crafting

I think I've been eager this fall to do more crafts because my new house needs some sprucing up. The super Saturday I went to also helped with some home decorating. The list of stuff I want to do just keeps getting longer though.

An easy, not fancy "BOO" set up. I wish I had a cricket to cut the letters out cooler looking. (hint, hint for Christmas) I also added some styrofoam ball/pipe cleaner spiders to the "BOO" sign, crawling all over it.

Super Saturday sign.

Trick or Treat banner already hanging on my loft railing. Banner and buntings are my new favorite thing and I have lots of plans.

Felt finger puppet animals

I have discovered that I love felt. I wish I had more felt. I wish the less expensive fabric store around here had a bigger selection so I didn't have to go to the more expensive fabric store and buy it. Haley and I did this project that I again stole from a friend's blog. Haley takes hers on babysitting jobs and I am waiting until Austin is big enough to not swallow the wiggly eyes and then he can play with them. We made little draw string bags and also a little girly purse to keep them in.

Halloween stuff

I am realizing I want new decorations for holidays in my new house. The old stuff is well, old. I love this Halloween bunting that I got the idea for from here. Then I added the scary/gross mice that I got the idea from a friend's blog and she found it here. I have so many more decorating things I want to do but then I remind myself I have six children and I can do more next year! Carter (4 years old) got a kick out of the mice. I'll see if the hubby thinks they are funny when he gets home from work today.

Non diaper bag looking diaper bag

So the much needed diaper bag is now finished. I had leftover scrap fabric I used so it cost me the price of a zipper and some large snaps. It has two small pockets with velcro closures on the ends, two large outside pockets with velcro closures on the front, and a zipper pocket on the outside back. Inside there are elastic topped pockets and it's fully lined. I like how it doesn't look like a diaper bag but a carry all bag, and I'll probably use it when I'm done toting diapers around. I'm excited to use it! Maybe even make some more for baby presents.

Side pocket and strap attachment.

Zipper on the outside back.

Finished Fall Art

This was one of the easiest projects I've done in awhile. Take some scraps, iron them with wonder under, transfer to a canvas, DONE. Now I've got to find somewhere to hang it. Got the idea from here and made it into wall art instead of a pillow.

Bags, Bags and more bags

I love bags. I wish I had more reasons to make bags. I do need a new diaper bag. Maybe that'll be my next project. These are some bags I've done over the years.

This is a pieced tote bag I made for myself last summer. I ended up loving the colors, all from fat quarters. I use it to go to church. Most weeks I wish it was a little bigger.

This is my favorite bag that I've made. It's a scrapbook bag for Haley. It's HUGE and holds all her supplies and a big scrapbook inside. I like that she has somewhere to keep everything. I did buy a pattern for this bag and it took quite awhile to make. I had a friend use her embroidery machine to make her name which I then sewed on.

There are pockets all around the bag for supplies.

This is an insert that goes into the scrapbook bag to hold more supplies.

This is an easy "hobo sack" that we keep some play food in. I got the pattern from a friends blog and have made several already.

This is a scripture bag that Haley and I made. I didn't have a pattern but just used my know-how from other projects to make a coordinating lining and handles.

Keeping Track of the crafts

I thought I'd start this blog as an off-shoot of our family blog to keep track of some of my crafts and sewing projects I'm working on or have completed through the years. I don't claim to be a super seamstress or crafter, but it's something I enjoy when I have time. Looking at some of my past projects, I feel rather inadequate compared to a lot of crafters and seamstress out there but I stopped comparing myself long ago! I do it for the fun and often the necessity of saving money on store bought expensive items! I guess I'll post past projects and then I'll add additional projects that I finish or am working on.

Basket Liners for Dani's baby bedroom.

Hanging baby supplies organizer for Dani's baby bedroom.

Crib skirt for Dani's baby room. Also has some valances for the windows.

American Girl Doll skirt.

American Girl Doll bed (I tried to make it look like one in the catalog that cost $80!) My mom made the little pillow.

Denim BYU blanket. It will have a pair once I get more fabric to finish the back. These will be on the boys beds in their new bedroom.

Baby boy blessing outfit. This was made for my first son 10 years ago out of left over fabric from my wedding dress.

My friend Chrissy helped teach me how to attempt decorating my first real cake. Okay, she did most of it! This is a hobby/craft I'd love to learn more of when I have time someday.

This is a cross stitch I made when my oldest was a baby- 12 years ago. I entered in the county fair this year and got a 2nd place ribbon (I think I won $6.00- more money for my next craft project!)

Christmas Eve pj's 2009. It's a lot of work to make 4 pairs of pj's! I bought Carter's for $3 so I didn't make his. Kids love getting homemade pj's rather than store bought though. THis was a tradition started in my family as a kid.

Caterpillar cupcakes for 1st grader birthday. I think I've made this particular treat for 3 different birthdays because the kids love it.

This is the one and only quilled thing I've made. I took an intro to quilling class and it's another craft/art that I would love to learn, when I have the time.

I think I've made over 30 Halloween costumes over the years. This was for my first son about 7 years ago. Go Cougs.

Coloring wallet. It has pockets inside for paper and crayons.

This is a horrible picture of a table my dad and I made one Thanksgiving holiday. It's my favorite piece of furniture in the house. It is no longer being used to store toilet paper (as seen in the picture) but is in it's rightful place in our entryway of our new house. I would love to build furniture sometime too and I've checked out the website called www.knock-offwood.com and I'm determined to make some stuff from there someday.

Cleopatra Halloween costume. I had a bunch of scrap stretchy fabric that I don't think I would've ever used for anything else so this worked perfectly.

Probably my favorite project is making matching girl and doll outfits. This was a Christmas dress for Haley and her doll several years ago.

This is a dress that I bought the fabric for off of the internet. I hate shopping for fabric on the internet because you can't touch it and see it while choosing. This turned out alright though.

Matching girl and doll dress for Erica.

I didn't make anything in this picture but I did put the leg work into finding the bedding Haley liked, choosing paint and accessories and putting it all together. I even "got" to paint the walls these bright colors. Her room is fun and energetic. My sister Alicia made the wall hanging of Haley's name.

Family Home Evening Chart. I ended up not liking the color I chose and the lettering on top could've been smaller. The empty place was reserved for our last baby who didn't have a name at the time because he wasn' t born yet! (Of course I still haven't made the name and he's almost 6 months old.)

This blurry picture shows one of the 13 pairs of shiny egyptian pants I made for a dance recital a few years ago. Yes- THIRTEEN!!! Nothing compared to the 8 Minnie Mouse costumes or 10 "Purple People Eater" shirts a few years earlier. Not the easiest fabric to sew with.

Easy Easter dress.

Another easy Easter dress.