Brown Kraft Paper

I love shopping at Lowe's.  It is one of the few places to shop (other than the grocery store) in our small town.  A couple of years ago I came across brown kraft paper and my life has never been the same.  I bought a large roll and it has so many different uses around my house.  This past weekend, I was at the dollar store and saw that they sold rolls that were smaller in width.  I snatched them up and am planning to use them to cover a kids' table at a birthday party in the near future.

Here are some other ways I've used kraft paper.

1.  Large scale artwork

2.  Gift wrap (You know....the whole 'brown paper packages tied up with string' thing.)

3.  Use as a matte to frame children's art.

4.  Sewing pattern

5.  Birthday banner

6.  Paint with chalkboard paint to make a diy chalkboard

7.  Kid's craft

What are some creative uses that you've found for kraft paper?  I'd love to hear your ideas!

Amish Puzzle Ball

I love homemade toys.  I love their simplicity and the many ways children come up with new ways to play with them.

Although this toy looks a little complicated to make, it is pretty simple.

First, make your template.  It is essentially a football shape.  Don't fret about how wide or narrow it is, as long as all the material is cut evenly, the ball will turn out just fine.  I wanted to make my ball fuller, so I did make the sides a little wider.  You can see in other people's tutorials that narrow footballs make larger openings in the ball for little ones to grasp.

Textured fabric works great for this project, as well as interesting prints.

I used one of my husband's old plaid shirts, and an old curtain for the project.

36 footballs will be needed for this project.  When I make these balls I like 24 pieces to be in one fabric and 12 to be in a second fabric, but really you can choose your material as you wish.  As I was looking online, I noticed a lot of people choose to do 12 footballs in 3 different fabrics, and a few do a multi-colored, no two footballs are alike approach.

Next it is time to sew.  The magic number for this project is 3.  First 3 football-shaped pieces are sewn together, then after they are clipped, turned right side out, and stuffed, three sections are connected together.

The first section I sew is the one that I leave an opening in to turn it right side out.  

After these two pieces are sewn up one side, I fold open my pieces, and lay a third football on top.  I then sew completely around the football shape, being careful to sew two layers together (not four).   

Next snip around the edges, turn it right side out, stuff it, and stitch closed the opening.  Then repeat 12 more times

Now, it is time to assemble.  Sew three sections together at their points.  Then connect the line of footballs into a triangle/circle.

Once you have 4 groups of 3, it is time to start assembling the ball.  Connect the triangle pieces like the photos show.

When it is sewn correctly there should be four point connecting at each place.

All finished and ready for playing.

Quick Tip Monday

Learning site words can be tough (and boring).  To add some fun and avoid the flashcards I made a game of it.

Pre-Kinders has some free printables for pattern blocks, so I printed off a few of those on cardstock.  Next, I grabbed my mini post-its (the tab kind), and wrote out words my daughter is learning.  You could skip this step and write directly on the paper if you'd like.  Since I am cheap frugal, and save the printouts for various other activities I used post-its that can quickly be removed or changed.  

This activity is quick to set up, and pretty self-explanatory.  My daughter puts the pattern blocks over the words as she reads them.  She gets to play with one of her favorite manipulatives, and she is learning to read in the process.

Mario Apron

I have had the same apron pattern for the past three years.  I found it online but couldn't track down the link.  It has become one of those pinterest pins that leads to no where (womp womp).  But no matter, I am here today to show you how to modify your favorite apron pattern into a Mario apron.  (aaaahhhh!  Since writing this, I've found it.  Go here for an apron like the one in this post.)

You will need red, blue and white material and two bright yellow buttons.  It can't get much easier than that, my friends :)  (So sorry.  I forgot to take a picture of the yellow buttons.)

Follow the basic steps of your apron tutorial, but to turn your apron into Mario:  4 additional steps.

1.  You will want to use the red fabric for the inside of the apron and the blue fabric for the outside and the straps.

2.  Cut out a piece of red fabric for the shirt to make the top of the apron look like Mario's bib overalls.

3.  Add the yellow buttons.

4.  Personalize the pocket by making it red and adding a white circle and a red M for Mario.

That is, as my daughter would say, easy peazy lemon squeezy!  This apron will be a hit for all boys--both young and old alike, I promise!

Baby Blanket

My 'due date' is quickly approaching, and I have been busy making lots of fun little things for Little Mister.  The next few weeks, I will be sharing lots of fun baby items I have been making.

I decided to forgo the typical baby style baby blanket, with the soft pale colors and go for something that fit our family a little better.  After rummaging through my fabric stash, I headed over to my box of unfinished projects and came upon a quilt top I had started several years ago.  At the time I couldn't find a good material to back the quilt top, and I was frustrated that all the squares were not perfectly lined up, so it has been sitting in a box for me to decide what to do with it.

After pulling it out, I decided this would make a perfect baby blanket for our little mister.  First, it was the perfect size.  Second, it has a masculine feel to it, without the typical baby boy colors.  This time around, I found some material for the backing, and set to work.  

Pretty much anytime I see hand-quilted work I am impressed.  It is such a tedious task.  I feel like it takes forever.  After 3 days of working on the hand quilting whenever I had the chance the quilting part was complete.

I will be the first to tell you that it is not perfect, but I would rather have a completed, usable blanket that is imperfect, rather than an incomplete, unusable blanket that won't ever see the light of day.

Do you prefer your baby blankets to be the traditional pink/pale blue/pale green?

Do you make your own baby blankets or buy them?  With my daughter, I was told I would need dozens of blankets.  I made several blankets myself and then received even more at baby showers.  I am sad to say that most of the blankets went unused.  We found our few favorites pretty quickly and stuck with them.  How many blankets do you think a new baby needs?  

Quick Tip Monday!

Today's tip comes to you by way of video.  It isn't about organizing or crafting, but it is about saving money.  And I think every mama can appreciate that one.  Hank, in the video, is speaking to dads, but I think the female race can appreciate these tips, too.  While all of the tips are great, the one that stuck with me was the razor one.  It starts at about 2:28.  I saw this awhile ago and was doubtful.  But I've tried it and it works!  I have saved myself so much money by making my disposable razors last for a looooong time.

Did you know this? Have you tried it and had great success like me? What random money-saving tips do you have? Do share!

Play Kitchen Dishtowels

I was planning on making some Valentine themed dish towels for my kitchen.  But when rummaging through my "Stash 'O Stuff", what I had thought were dishtowels were actually napkins.  So I decided to make some play towels for the kids' kitchen.  They like to play restaurant and make food and now, perhaps, they'll have fun cleaning up!

Here's what I used.  Napkins (or dishtowel) and ribbon.  The supply list is pretty simple :)

Cut one piece of ribbon for each napkin.  Measure the length of the napkin and cut the ribbon 6 inches longer.

Fray check the ends.

Iron the ribbon in half.

Starting at one end, sandwich the napkin inside the folded ribbon.

Pin the ribbon along the edge of the napkin.

 Make a loop at the end.

Sew along the edge to secure the ribbon to the napkin.

Hang your beautiful new towels in a convenient location ready for little hands to grab and dry those dirty dishes.

Rice Bag

Has your family discovered the 101 uses of rice bags?

Here are a few of what our family uses them for:

-bumps and bruises (we keep a few small ones in the freezer)

-sore muscles (you can heat up the rice bags in the microwave or the oven on a cookie sheet at 200 degrees)

-small rice bags can be warmed up and thrown in coat pockets before you head out the door on those super cold days

-large flat rice bags can be placed under casserole dishes to help the food stay warm/cold

-toys (they are great for practicing throwing into a bucket, stacking into a tower, or using as doll pillows)

-segmented rice bags (like the one I am making today) can be placed across the lap of fidgety children to help them focus on schoolwork

-placed in drafty areas (like in front of the door) help keep your toes toasty

-warmed up and placed in bed a few minutes before you head to bed is a great way to avoid climbing into bed with all those cold sheets

Normally, when I make these bags, I just sew two squares/rectangles together leaving a small gap to fill with rice.  Super simple.

However, the larger the rice bag, the harder it is to keep the rice evenly distributed.

As I was packing my hospital bag and preparing for the arrival of baby #2, I decided I needed to whip up a segmented rice bag to take with me.

It starts of the same way as any other rice bag.  I cut a long rectangle 7 inches by 42 inches of flannel.  I sewed a zig-zag stitch on both 7 inch sides of my fabric so there would be no fraying at the end.  

Next, I folded it in half, and sewed up the two long sides and then clipped the corners and turned it right side out.  

Now it is time for the rice.  I used a 1/2 cup of rice per section to make sure they were all about the same size.

After I poured in my rice, I realized I was going to need to some type of temporary barrier to keep the rice in place and out of my sewing machine.  I pinned a few needles across the top of the rice as the close to the rice as possible.  Then of course sewed a dividing line down the rice bag, making sure to backstitch at the beginning and the end.

If you are working on a flat surface gravity will be working against you, so hang the rice bag from the edge of the table to make sure all the rice stays in place.

Pour the rice, hang the bag the edge of the table, pin in place, sew it up, and repeat until you are close to the edge.

The last section I filled with about 1/4 cup of rice, pinned and then sewed along the edge.  

All finished, and packed in my hospital bag ready for labor.  What do you use rice bags for?