Fragile Little Elf

Like most kids,  mine love their elf in the shelf.  The girls understand they can't touch her or play with her,  but Ronan just doesn't care.  He knows he's not allowed,  but does anyway.  That's why this happened:

Do you think this will get it into his head?  No,  I didn't think so either.  But at least this way I don't have to come up with new creative ways to pose or elf! 

2 Fast and Easy Minecraft Projects

So my daughter chose a Minecraft theme for her 7th birthday party!  It was pretty exciting, except that there's no Minecraft party goods in stores (not that I have found anyway).  So I made a few projects at home.  They were so easy, fast, and inexpensive! Can't beat that.

I started with the Steve head.  I made this the morning of the party, and it took less than 30 minutes!  Unfortunately, I didn't think to get any in progress photo's for you, but really -- I think it's pretty obvious when you look at the finished product.  Then literally 5 minutes before kids were set to arrive, I said to my husband "we don't have any games!  Maybe I should make a 'pin the tail on the pig' game and we could use the Steve head as a blind fold?"  He looked at me like I was crazy.  I knew he was thinking 'you have 5 minutes... it'll never happen.'  But I already had it in my mind how I could very quickly make this pig, and in less than 5 minutes! 

So I did.  And below you'll see a quick and dirty explanation of how I went about making these projects so you can do them too!

 

Steve Head:

1. Start with any box that is roughly square, I used an old box from baby wipes

2. Use full sheets of brown to cover sides of box.  You can use any adhesive you like. (If you prefer only one face, cover 3 sides)

3. Stack several sheets of black construction paper and cut them into squares that are roughly 1/6 the width of your box.  It's better to err on the side of too large because you can always overlap them;  too small and you'll have gaps between your squares, or you'll need to add an extra and they won't line up.

4. Following the pictures above, use 6 squares of black across the top of the face, then one on each side of the face just below the top row.  Then to create the mouth use 3 squares, centered on the bottom, and a half square above each side of the mouth. 

5. (optional) follow step 4 on opposite side of box to create another face. 

6. Create the eyes using a square of white, with a half square of black placed on top and position on face.

7. Use a small square to make the nose.  I did not have a good color for this, so I simply cut a square of brown packaging tape and stuck it on for the nose.

8. Cover the entire top of the box with the black squares (and back of head if you chose not to create the optional second face)

9. Following the second picture above, apply 2 full rows of black squares along top of box, then continue down center until you reach the bottom of the box (or for one face, continue down 2/3 of box, leaving brown exposed next to face).



 

 

Pin The Tail on The Pig:

1. Start with a large sheet of paper, foam board, cardboard, etc.  I didn't have a single large sheet, so I used invisible tape to piece together two sheets of 11x17 printer paper.

2. Place a full sheet of pink construction paper for the pigs body.  It should be slightly to the bottom right of center.  Perfection is NOT necessary! Leave a space un-stuck for the legs to go under.

3. Use 4 rectangles of pink for the pigs legs and place them under the body as pictured above.

4. Cut a square of pink paper about 6"x6" and place as shown for head.

5. Cut a square of red paper about 2"x2" for the nose and place on face.  (Optional: cut a few smaller squares and place on pigs back for freckles)

6. Using black and white paper, create eyes as shown above that are slightly wider than they are tall and place on face.

7. For tail: cut a long strip, about 2" wide of pink.  Cut a long strip about 1/2" wide of red.  Using invisible tape, tape them together as pictured blow.  Then cut along dotted lines (about 1/2" thick) to create tails.

 

And you're done!  Have each kid write their name on their piggy tail and affix a small piece of tape to it.  Spin 'em around a few times, and see who gets the closets.  Enjoy the laughter the ensues.

 

Happy Minerafting,

Nicole

Free Printable Recipe Cards

With the holidays on their way, I've been getting out those old family recipes.  I love seeing my mothers and grandmothers handwritten cards - but they're in very bad shape.  So, it's time for an update.  Here's a set of 10 vintage recipe cards, in 4x6 format.  (click each card to view large, right click large image to save)

Use these cards to store your own family recipes, or attach them to home cooked goodies as gift tags so your friends and family will be able to recreate your delicious treats.  

And, as an added bonus: Two of my favorite recipes!

Always a hit with my family.

Thanks,

Nicole

DIY Silicone lights

When Zach and I first started living together we got a hand me down Christmas tree.  That first year, we didn't have any ornaments so I tucked all the Christmas cards we received in it and we loved it.  After the holidays that year I bought a crap ton (technical term) of ornaments for 90% off!  They were all golds, rich reds, and purples.  The following year we purchased lights for the tree.  What I didn't realize then, was that the new LED lights that were clear are actually 'cool white,' which shines a sort of silvery blue.  I was thankful to have lights on our tree, but I've always hated that they aren't the same golden yellow of the old fashion lights that I love, and that would match my gold ornaments much better.

SOOO......

I'm exploring ways to change the color myself, since buying a new set would run me around $50 for the whole tree.  Today I tried tinted silicone:

Looks good, right?  Not perfect, sure; but they look like candle flames.  Actually, these would make GREAT bulbs to simulate candles.  Well, back to today's business.

Here's what you'll need:

DO use 100% silicone
DO protect your skin with rubber globes
DO this project in an extremely well ventilated area
DO practice a lot before the real deal
DO NOT get the silicone or mineral spirits on your hands, it can burn
DO NOT make too much at once; it'll cure before you can use it

Mix a batch of the paints you chose to use.  If you plan to use the color paint straight from the jar, skip this step. 

 

Squirt your silicone into the cup, you want to make sure it's deep enough to cover the entire bulb, but don't make too much at once.  Add a dollop of your paint.  You can choose to thin it out a little bit with the mineral spirits if you wish, though you don't have to.

Mix, mix, mix, until you get a gloopy, evenly colored glob.  It helps to cut the top of the cup off at this point so it's easier to dip your bulbs.  Work fast now, because it will start to cure in as little as 5 minutes (which is why you don't want to make a huge batch of this stuff.

Dip your bulbs in the silicone until it touches the plastic at the top.  If you don't dip it in all the way it'll have a hard time adhering to the bulb and you'll find a lot of it just slips right off.  After the bulb is covered, slowly pull it out to create the nice little tail.  If you've thinned it out, you should have something like above.  It's covered in a very thin layer with a short tail.  If you want a thicker layer with a longer tail, leave the silicone full thickness and pull the bulb out VERY slowly.



 

Take your time with this.  It's not hard to do, but it takes time to learn the best technique to achieve the look you desire.  If you don't like the way it's looking, wipe it off with a rag soaked in mineral spirits before it cures and you can try again, no harm done. 

This is so much fun, and I can see the applications year round!  Can you just imagine the Halloween lights?!  Oh, I'm daydreaming again.

 

Happy Holidays,

Nicole

 



"Gingerbread" trees

I love doing crafts with my kids, and holiday crafts are no exception.  The problem with Christmas crafts?  They're all so messy and time consuming!  Maybe they're meant to be done while everyone is on Christmas holiday from school and work, but in my house, there still doesn't seem to be enough time. 

Growing up, I always LOVED making gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and royal icing, but even the thought of doing that with my three kids is daunting.  So instead, we're making "gingerbread" Christmas trees:

 

 

These are so much fun, and can be as long or short a project as you'd like.  It's simply a waffle ice cream cone, turned on it's head, frosted with green icing, and decorated with anything you'd like!  Including a zebra, and zebra droppings... My family has a twisted sense of humor, but that's how we like it.

My 5 year old had the patience to fully frost hers and thoroughly decorate, but my 3 year old just globbed some icing on, a few m&m's and started eating.  Oh well.  I wasn't at all disappointed because I hadn't invested hours into the prep the way my mother used to when my sister and I were younger.  (I appreciate it mom, but I just don't have the patience for it myself).

I hope you make some of these, and come up with some GREAT 'ornaments' to put on your tree.  Send me some pictures of your edible holiday creations, I'd love to see them, and even share them here on my blog!

Have a sweet night,
Nicole

doodle shoes

So my daughter wanted some shoes that were "not boring," but all we could agree on in the store were glittered or sequined.  While I know they're beautiful and tempting to buy, they're expensive and don't wear well.  Since Quinn is very active, I knew we needed something that would last better. So I took this old, well worn pair of $5 sneakers that she wouldn't wear anymore, and made something she wanted to wear:

Obviously, they aren't perfect.  But I saved them from the landfill and gave them at least a few more months of life.  These are nothing more than freehand doodling with a paint pen.  Because these shoes were canvas, the paint soaked into them well and didn't rub off for anything.  I didn't use any coating on them or anything, though I'd imagine you could use a waterproof canvas coating to give them a really long lifespan. 

[update: She outgrew these shoes before the doodling wore off.  She wore these shoes for months and the doodling only wore off slightly on the toe where she drags her shoe when she walks.]

Happy Doodling,
Nicole

Painting Cheap Skulls

 So, we all know I truly love Halloween.  I don't know why, but I really do think about it all year long.  I also am truly cheap.  I hate spending any money on anything!  So, when I spotted some plastic skulls at the dollar store, I picked up two, with no real plan in mind.  Of course they were really cheap looking, solid beige, with no real definition. With a few colors of paint, and some paper towels, I created these:



 Unfortunately, I don't actually have a tutorial, but if there's any interest at all, I'd certainly make one!  In the meantime, I'll describe what I've done here.  I started by blacking out the eye sockets, nose, and jaw area with some black craft paint.  Then I painted the teeth white so they'd have a little bit more contrast (I'm not sure if this step was necessary).  Next I 'aged' the whole thing by applying dark brown craft paint all over the skull and wiping the paint off the raised surfaces with a  paper towel;  this is a very typical patina method.

 At this point, they looked much better and I could have easily stopped there, but I wanted to add some more interest to them:

 I continued to age the skull with some more dark brown and even a little black.  I then used some dark red and black craft paint to make some bloody areas around the eyes and a couple of wound marks.  I used both a wet and dry paper towel to blot them out a bit making them look a little streaked and clotted.  I used some of the blood in the teeth area too which added a great depth to them.



 The last step is to use a very fine brush to make the 'fractures' in the skull with some black craft paint.  Just make some jagged lines that get thinner as they spread out.  I tried to make the skull on the right here look like it'd been smashed with a hammer. and the one on the left like it'd been stabbed with a kitchen knife or maybe chopped with a machete?

 As you can see here, they don't need to be perfect up close, because no one is likely to be studying them this closely.  Use your imagination here, there's so many possibilities!  If you scroll back up to the very first picture you can see there where I used this technique to make the eye socket look a little broken.

Happy Painting,~Nicole

Tonto and The Lone Ranger

I've finally decided on (some) of the costumes for the family.  Hooray.  I'm going to be Tonto, and Ronan will be The Lone Ranger!  I'm going to follow Johnny Depp's 2013 version relatively closely, albeit a female version.  I threw together a 5 minute sketch to visualize what I'm thinking:

Since Depp played Tonto bare-chested, I needed some coverage.  I have a brown overbust corset that has beautiful stripes I think would suit this costume well.  I'll need to make or find some sort of beaded chest piece like Depp wore in the movie to help a bit with the coverage also.  I'm not sure if I'll try to wear some sort of shirt or not, I suppose it will depend on the weather; last year was so miserably cold I almost wish I hadn't gone out at all!  Keep your fingers crossed for some warmer weather.

Oops, got off topic.  Back to it:  I'll need some feathers and beads and such for my hair, bandanna, bracelets, and belts.  I'm not sure if I want to stick with the pants (like Depp's character wore) or go with a skirt?  I think some nice flouncy fringed pants would look great with a pair of knee high, fringed, red moccasins. 

My cousin, Amanda, of Amazing Moments, does unbelievably amazing face and body painting, so I'm relying on her to give me a hand with the face paint, and some of the tattooing/war paint.  Right Amanda? ............Right?

Oh... and I need to find a dead bird.  wtf.

Kindergarten Ready!

If you read this post about carseat safety, you'll know my oldest will be starting school this fall.  Just like every parent who's ever crossed this bridge, I'm asking myself 'where has all that time gone?'  I'm so not ready for this yet!  But she is.  So it's my job to make sure she's ready in more than just willingness.  So, we've been practicing our upper case and lower case letters, letter sounds, counting, and simple math.  I try to make it fun for us.  Usually this involves a craft!

So, here's what we've come up with so far to have fun practicing for kindergarten (without spending any money):

 

I just cut out some t-shirt shapes with dots on them.  I purposely didn't align the dots so she wouldn't 'memorize' the pattern of the dots quite so easily.  She clipped the clothespin with the corresponding number.  Great start, but it only lasted a few days before she was beyond this.

 

So we moved to some simple math.  The same set of clothespins with numbers, I just made a two sided card.  This side had a "+" and "=" while the other side had "-" and "=" on it.  She could clip them on, add them up, then clip the solution.  The cool thing about this is that even though she hasn't grasped subtraction yet, when you turn the card over the clothespins that say "4+1=5" on this side will say "5-1=4" on the reverse.  So when she gets to subtraction she'll be able to see the two working together.

 



 



And this shape puzzle game was something the kids got for Christmas from grandma.  They love this game.  I always try to do something a little different, asking "what shape is the yellow?" "How many triangles are there?" or "what color is the square?" etc.  The greatest part for me is that she doesn't even realize it's educational!  It just fun for her, so she wants to learn. 

 

And now, we're working on a letter matching game.  Letting her help me make all the pieces and get it ready really gets her invested in the game and the learning.  I hope to have it finished soon and get some pictures of it up here.

 

Have a good week.

~Nicole

 





DIY belts

I've had my sewing machine out quite a lot lately, mostly just fixing things that don't quite work for our family any more, but it's sure got the creative juices flowing.  One of the things I don't have, that I'd really love to, is a few nice waist belts.  I guess I've never bought any because they seem so expensive and usually I spend the little bit of money I do have on shoes (lol). So, I've found a few examples that you could make yourself and they look quite nice.

Wide obi belts:



Obi Belts
Left: SoCo Vintage, Center: Eloquii, Right: Mimi G Style

While the left and center belts sell for $20 and $35 respectively, you can make your own Mimi G Obi Belt. She has a printable pattern, and tutorial video that is very easy to follow. If you can sew a straight line, you can sew this belt.

leather:

So, Katie Startzman, over at Duo Fiberworks made this fun little number. While I have no leather working skills, she says its quick and easy to cut, plus you don't need any hardware to wear it. How cool is that?

double buckle:

In her original post, Rachel says this belt is kind of hard, then revises to say she was just frustrated with it, plus she's got it all figured out for us. I'll give it a try too, and let you know my opinion. Either way, it's really cute with lots of possibilities. Her tutorial, here, is very detailed with templates and in progress photos.


And of course, I'm a sucker for a nice thick, almost corset like belt:

Tutorial here. Scroll down for the instructions. This one looks a little more difficult, but perhaps more sturdy.  Maybe I'll give this one a try this week?  We'll see.

Much love all,
~Nicole