Rainy day fun...

We are tired of winter at our house, ready for some nice dry grass to play on. And all of the rain we got yesterday didn't help, between that and the melting snow, we ended up with water in the basement which is where the playroom is located so I haven't been letting them play down stairs because they'll just play in the water instead of with their toys and actually part of the carpet in their play area got wet, so we're drying that all out too. A few weeks ago I found these cute little canvases at Michael's in their dollar bins and picked a few up as I thought they'd be great for daycare, turns out Paul and Addie loved painting them, even though Paul wiped his off because it wasn't how he wanted it to look, so he now has a blank canvas to paint over again. But it kept them busy for a half hour or so. I'm going to have to pick up a few more the next time I go to Michael's.

Future Picasso?

Mr Serious. That's a tattoo on his cheek from St Patty's day...not dirt!

DIY Christmas Ornaments

I had three drop-in's yesterday for daycare during the day, and I thought since it's December it'd be a good time to make these for a project. The two littlest ones didn't make them because they are under 1, but all of the other kids made them with assistance from me. I squirted all of the paint in the ornaments because I'm a control freak like that. Actually I was trying to eliminate a mess on little fingers and clothing! They had a great time making them and after the paint was swirled inside, I wrote their names and the year on them with a paint pen. It was a super easy craft and fun to make. Just have to be careful because the ornaments break easily if dropped.

The supplies---clear glass ornaments and acrylic paint

• Remove ornament top
• squirt paint in ornament
• replace top
• turn ornament to swirl paint and cover the inside

Finished product.

Ornaments the kids made---except for Stella---I made hers. Amelia didn't get her name on hers before I took the picture.

Paul has two ornaments because he insisted when the big kids got home from school that he needed to make another one and he wanted to write his own name on it. He did a pretty good job despite the "u" being upside down.

Super Stella

I made Stella's Halloween Costume this year, she was going to be a "Peapod" but we decided we wanted her to be something more girly and something we could buckle her into her carseat in. She has gotten the nickname "Super Stella" at our house because when we hold her up out in front of us, her legs always go up straight behind her and she looks like Super Man flying, so I decided she could be "Super Stella" for Halloween. I used things I already had at home so her costume basically cost me nothing. I took a long sleeve bodysuit, some fabric that I had bought over a year ago to start a "blanket" for Adeline, it was a remnant and still rolled up and in the Hobby Lobby bag from when I purchased it. The white fabric is something left over from our wedding. Her leggings are a pair of "Baby Legs" that I had purchased for Adeline and they happen to match the pink stripe! I cut out the cape, sewed all of the edges and then sewed it onto the back of the bodysuit. I cut a circle out of the fabric and cut out an "S" that I had printed from the computer and sewed that onto my circle and then sewed the circle on the shirt. I don't sew, I've had a sewing machine for almost 5 years now and this is the first "real" project I've done with it. The costume is nothing fancy and I wouldn't let anyone look at it up close, but I like it and it'll work for her first Halloween!

DIY Projects...

The last time I was at Crafts Direct (2 years ago) I saw these glass blocks with lights in them and I've been thinking about them ever since, I thought they looked really cool. Since we're in the process of moving Adeline upstairs to share a room with Amelia, I thought I'd make them a nightlight for their room. This is how it turned out, I think I'm going to still mess around with it a bit and try to adjust the lights inside it better and I may do something else for the bow on the outside, I haven't decided yet and I love the vinyl saying I picked out for it, it fits the girls perfectly.


I made this for my laundry room to cover up a hole that remains from the vent from the old water heater. Kevin's grandma use to have some random Home Interiors thing hanging there that just wasn't my style, though it remained until we remodeled the laundry room. I had bought another laundry room hanging a couple of weeks ago at Gordman's, I got it home and decided I don't really like it and it doesn't really fit my style, so I'm going to be returning that. So I've been searching for that "perfect" thing.

I found this vinyl saying at Craft's Direct, I really liked it and thought it'd fit well in my laundry room. But I was scratching my head on how I could use it, then I saw the 12x12 piece of canvas and decided that I'd paint it, apply the decal and hang it over the hole in the laundry room. I think it turned out really well. This is the end result.

No-Sew Tu-Tu

I finished my first, okay my second no-sew tu-tu. The first one I never actually finished. I had run out of tulle and since I bought more, I've been putting it off and have forgotten about it. Soon, I will finish it for Miss Amelia. The tu-tu above that Amelia is modeling is for our niece Brenna. Shana had asked me back in March if I could make one for Brenna. I've had the tulle since then, we're finally seeing them tomorrow, so I thought I better get the tu-tu done. It took me maybe a little over an hour.

How I did it...
-cut a long piece of ribbon (I never measured it, but you need enough to fit around the waist along with enough to tie the tutu into a bow on the back.)
-tulle cut into 18 inch strips

fold a piece of tulle in half over the ribbon and double knot it. Continue this until you have enough to go around the child. leave enough ribbon to tie a bow.

Finished product...