Playhouse link

I know I've already linked to a little fabric house, but I loved the "extras" on this!! So, so cute. So far in my Christmas crafting I've made 1/2 dozen fabric eggs, and a handful of strawberries. lol. I better get sewing! I just wish we had a joann's closer so I could just go pick up a lot of felt easily. The felt I'm using for the food is wool felt from a quilt shop. Quality and beautiful, but way too expensive to do a play house!

Felt Playhouse found at homemade by jill
A spin off of hers is also found at fireflies and jelly beans

September Challenge

Hi! It's Maren here and I am going to post our challenges for this month. I can't believe it is September already!!

I am so glad that Celia included LeAnne's Trick or Treat Tote in the challenge last month because that is on my list to do before Halloween. I was scrolling through some of her tutorials and remembered that she also had a cute felt Halloween banner which would be another fun Haloweeny thing to whip up for a decoration this Halloween season.

Since I have girls I am going to post a few links of some girly things that I have been working on or that I have been thinking about working on. They are great for either the little girls in your life or for yourself.

First: Fabric Hair Rollers from Life with Monkey. Have you ever tried those pink foam ones. Well check out this little girl's hair using rollers from this tutorial. WAAAY better results. I think I will be wearing these to bed.

Second: Shirring. I have been hit by the shirring bug. And I have LeAnne to thank for this! She did a tutorial for a cute little summer dress and tipped me off on some patterns that were for sale on etsy. I manged to snag a few patterns before the shop closed forever and I really have enjoyed them. I'll post more about them later. I think that LeAnne did a great job with her dress tutorial and the great thing about shirring is it is so easy and so cute and so versatile. You can add wide hems of coordinating fabric, ruffles, different types of sleeves. wider strips for cap sleeves, ribbons, spaghetti straps etc. You can even make a top for yourself as well!

 LeAnne also did a great tutorial on shirring. I am so glad that she included a picture of what the elastic thread should look like. Months before I started shirring I picked up some elastic thread at JoAnns because I knew at some point I wanted to give it a try. My thread was on a plastic spool. I kept hearing that it has to be on a cardboard one. I went back to JoAnns to find the stuff that I needed and could NOT find it. I even asked someone and they were pretty clueless as to what I was even talking about. The label on the thread I got said it was meant for shirring so I used it. And it worked. However, The first day my daughter wore her dress I noticed that some of the thread broke and now I will have to go back and do it again! Not Fun. So I will be finding another way to get the proper elastic thread. Just a word to the wise.

Third: I have really been wanting to make my oldest daughter some cute flower hairclips/headbands to wear to preschool. I love these kinds of projects because they don't take a lot of time and you can make a whole bunch in one sitting. Here are a few tutorials. These flowers can be used for anything - brooch, clip for a purse or bag, gift topper etc. No sewing machine necessary! (sorry I was not able to get any of the pictures up - but go ahead and click. You won't be sorry)

Felt Peony
Felt Flower - the scalloped roll method
Felt Flower - the glue method (love the button center)
Satin Flowers - the candle method - I soooo want to do this one
Rolled Fabric Flower
Fabric and Paper flower roudup from Little birdie secrets -I love the painted newspaper flowers. It would be a fun one to do with  kids to give away to someone special (Mother's day, Valentines day, birthdays etc)


 Recipe: Triple Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I love fall desserts and I love this one. I made this on a couple of different occasions. Once for my son's first birthday and now that I have an October birthday I think I am going to make it for my baby's first birthday next month. It is very yummy. I have done it with three layers, but it would also be yummy as cupcakes or made in a regular old cakepan. Delish!

XO

Maren

May challenge TBA shortly (hopefully tomorrow)

Sorry folks, I have one boy with an eye and ear infection and another with the stomach flu. Anyone have ideas for May challenges? Requests or things you want to tackle this month?

Some ideas I have kicking around: a skirt for myself, the picnic table, a new recipe organizer, continue the photo books, activity ideas for toddlers (folder games and what not).

Any requests for types of recipes? I just got a new bread pan, so I was thinking something along the lines of Ezekiel Bread (I've been curious about it, but haven't ever made it. two variations are found here and here) or just a good ol' wheat bread. But I'm game for finding/posting whatever others are interested in.

April requests?

April is fast approaching girls. Any requests for the challenges?

Quiet books? Quilts? Something with wood? Dinner, breakfast or side dish?

Requests for March Challenge??

Just wanted to see if anyone has anything in particular they want to do next month? I know a few of you expressed interest in the Felt Mr./Mrs. Potato Head. If anyone has an easy but delicious recipe you've [recently?] discovered and want to share for the challenge, please do. I'm sure I can always link something in each category if no one has anything in particular in mind.

Birthday Calander Template

Has anyone started on their card organizer yet? I just sat down to start it and I found this great birthday calander template if anyone is interested. I love it. I also typed up all of my addresses in Excel and realized I have a lot of old addresses! I still have to get a binder. Any thoughts on size for those of you who may have started already. Can't wait to sit down and try my hand at making a few handmade cards and envelopes. (I googled evelope tutorial and found tons). I'm actually really excited about this project. It is going to stretch me a little bit since I am both unorganized and un-paper-crafty.

Chore cards

I know Lis mentioned she was interested in pictured chore magnets for her kids. I remembered these free printable cards for morning routine and thought it should be easy enough to make these for any sort of chores. Laminate them and use magnets or punch a hole to use on hooks maybe. What chores are you thinking of picturing, Lisa? I think it's good for kids to get in the habit of chores, but I'm still trying to decide what a 2 year old can/should be expected to do...

And do you use some sort of reward? Or do they just do it because it's part of their routine?

Lisa's input

Maren, I love the header - very cute! Its the shadow of the toy machine you got for Bella - how did you do that?

Mdawg, I definitely appreciated your post :) I bet you'll be able to teach your girl to sew buttons herself pretty soon!

So, instead of sending another email I decided to post things here. Sorry I don't have links for all of the ideas. I really should go do laundry instead of searching internet right now!

These are things I've been wanting to make:

Cloth baby toys (I have a friend that made these for her little girl)

chore magnets (pictures of chores to do for me and kids)

boy dress-ups (cowboy, prince, animals, etc...)

girl hair barrettes

more felt food

table runner


I also like these projects from your list (I've been wanting to make these too):

Montessori works

greeting cards

headbands

bean bags

apron

felt food

while looking at links I found this table cover, too which I've recently thought of making but hadnt found a picture yet, though I'll make mine simpler.


After making this list I'm realizing that I've been wanting to do lots of these things for a long time! I bookmark cute crafts all the time and am usually only motivated by making them as gifts or for my children. Realistically I probably wont be up for making much this year, so my ideas are not very weighty.

I've found that when I want to do something, if I have a place where I record it, it puts my mind at ease, even though I may not have time to do it for a long time, so it will be nice to have all these ideas in one place to look back at when I do have time!

Most of my free time is going to reading and I want to research a bunch about montessori. I'm not planning on sending Ruth to Kindergarten next year and I'd like to do some homeschool at home (based on montessori). I have made a lot of younger montessori works and have collected a lot of materials to make others, so of all the projects, this is probably the one I should focus on, though the others are so fun!

This is a very fun idea, Celia!