Little Mouse

Hey guys. I've been ultra-busy last month and I'll bet you've all been very busy this month as well! ...and we're only four days into December. Yikes!

Just thought I'd pass along a link to a fun little project to do with your kids. This craft is based on something my grandma used to do with her grandchildren. Little felt mice. They are painfully cute and even more painfully easy to create. Have fun!

On the path...

Happy Easter

From our house to yours: We hope you all had a happy Easter holiday...




Getting back on the path...

Felt Hair Barrettes - A Tutorial

Christmas is definitely upon us - only 15 days away! I, like most of you, have been way too busy with a pile of to-dos for this holiday. A scarflet to knit, a quilt to finish and MANY other items to bake, sew, knit, draw and stamp. Many apologies for not posting for almost a month!

I wanted to share with everyone a quick tutorial for a very fun and pretty stocking-stuffer: Felt Hair Barrettes. They are really very easy and very fun to make and since I love free guides and tutorials, I am posting this in the hopes that it might inspire.

Step 1: Supplies


There aren't very many supplies that you will need in order to make one of these barrettes - but it is very easy to build upon those supplies to create a wide variety of styles. The basics are: Felt squares (real wool or synthetic. I find that the synthetic goes through the punch machine easier), a glue gun, snap barrettes in varying sizes, decorative or plain buttons (1/2" or smaller), craft punch machine (I used a Sizzix - or you may cut our your decorations by hand), ribbon (5/8" width for the regular sized snaps and 3/8" width for the mini snaps), Fray Check, and a needle and thread.

Step 2: Cutting the Felt

If you have a punch machine, this makes cutting the shapes much easier and faster. But don't let that stop you! If you only need to make a few barrettes, just cut out the felt in simple shapes in varying sizes.

I used the Sizzix Sidekick machine with Cricut punches! I used the round flower cutouts in varying sizes in order to make the layers in my barrettes. Cut the felt down to the size of the punch (see picture) and run through the machine. Cut out enough sizes to make a few layers for the flower.

Step 3: Cutting the Ribbon


Okay, so now I have a nice assortment of flower shapes cut out and I want to choose a color scheme. I think I'm going to go with the pink and brown to match this pink and brown ribbon. I am going to use a mini-snap clip for this tutorial but will provide additional measurements for a regular snap clip as well.


Using the 3/8" wide ribbon (5/8" for the regular snap clip), cut approximately 3 " (approx. 4.5" for a regular snap clip) to cover your mini snap clip. Seal each end with Fray Check and set aside to dry.

Step 4: Assembling the Flower


While your ribbon sections are drying, heat up your glue gun and put together some layers of cut out felt to see how they look (this is important to do before you glue!). I am going to do a small brown flower on top of a larger pink flower. Just one dot of glue will hold, any more and the felt will be too saturated. I top off my flower with a little white silk flower, but you may also top yours off with a small button. If that is the case, sew the button on to the top (smallest) flower FIRST before gluing it to the larger flower.

Step 5: Assembling the Barrette


Okay, my flower is glued and ready (see it up there in the top left corner?) and I've set it aside to dry. Now, back to the ribbon we sealed with our Fray Check. It should be dry by now so take your glue gun and put a dot of glue on one end of the ribbon. Lay the top edge of the clip onto the glue, leaving about 1/4" of ribbon to fold over. Immediately fold over the tip of the ribbon onto the other side of the clip (see top clip already glued), using the additional glue from your initial dot to seal the sides. I only suggest using one dot of glue for each end so the barrette will not be oozing with glue out the side of the ribbon!

Now, on the end of your clip where the three holes are, place a small dot of glue and bring your ribbon along the top of the clip, pushing it into the glue and guiding the ribbon along to the underside, pushing it into the glue on the other side (your glue should have come through the three holes to give you adhesive on both sides). Please be sure to guide your ribbon into the curve of the clip before you guide it into the glue on the other end so that you will leave enough room for the clip to close once you've lined it with ribbon.

CAUTION: You do not want much glue on this end of the clip. If there is too much glue on the end of the clip where it snaps, the glue will act as a block to the clip and your barrette will not close or will not hold very well.

Finally, put a dot of glue about 1/8" away from the end and fold it over the bottom tip of the clip and seal the folded edges.


Okay, this is what your clip should look like. NOTE: there is no glue on the top middle or bottom middle portions. This allows the clip to close and open easily. Test your clip!

Step 6: Finishing


Glue your flower onto the back end of the barrette, leaving the two tips of the barrette open (see photo).

You are finished! Congratulations on your first felt hair barrette. Now go make some more!

Stay on the path.

Works for Me Wednesday

I've been reading Rocks in My Dryer for a long time, but have never participated in Works for Me Wednesday. So, here goes...

I've posted about this before but this activity is OFTEN requested (demanded) in our house. I have a 2 1/2 year old and a 1 year old, so I find that most crafts and activities are very short-lived, or just too complicated for a boy with the attention span of a fruit fly and a little girl who likes to lick things and then throw them.

One thing that my son will play, for a long time, is BEANS. He loves to play with dried lima beans. The beans are the perfect size for pouring, sorting, stirring, lining up and shaking. They are too big for ears, nostrils, and your baby sister's nostrils.


We love the beans so much that I use them as a special treat at the end of a long day. Perhaps I have a future accountant on my hands?

Head on over to Shannon's blog to pick up more helpful tips.

Stay on the path...

August!

Isn't August supposed to be The Dog Days? Well, I guess I can't complain about the 70-80 degree weather, but some mornings we've had to break out the sweatshirts around here. So, that means that my tomatoes are still green! Okay, for those of you that think that Michigan is so cold that we can't even grow vegetables, don't worry. I'm growing them in pots which makes them go a little slower but the cool weather and lack of sun has made them very sleepy.

The above picture is about how far my basil has grown since May! I expected them to be as tall as trees by now, but they are only little guys. I am glad, then, that I planted so many! I'm hoping for a warmer, pesto-laden fall. My little tomatoes are still green, but I'm still hopeful. I'll keep everyone posted (as I browse your blogs with harvest tables full to bursting - grrr).

I am ready to block my toddler tunic! I'll send a picture as soon as I get her blocked. I am very excited. I bought enough pretty red yarn for a long dress, but we all know how that turned out. Sigh. So I have some leftover yarn that I'll turn into these ultra-cute legwarmies. Give it a try if you have some small ones to knit for!

New on the store-front: I've added red, white and blue to my cache of barrettes. My friend, Em, suggested that I add those colors because a lot of private schools use those colors in their uniforms and how great is it to color-coordinate? Thanks, Em! So I whipped up these lovelies for her darling daughter, Taylor Anne. I hope you like them, T.A.! Thanks again, Em. I'll be posting a set of these guys on my store site next week.


New on the kid-front: frozen monsters! I went garage sale-ing last weekend and ran into a really cool mom and her boys who shared with me the fun activity of freezing small animals/insects/dinosaurs in an ice cube tray. The PERFECT toy for bath time, swim time ... anytime! Chandler had such a great time watching the ice melt in the bath last night. Of course, the downside is that fits are thrown when it's time to put the Ice Age animals away and go to bed. Such is life.


And I have been loving the iced coffees this summer. Recipe courtesy of my uber-creative and fun SIL:


You can find the recipe here.

Oh, and for your Mid-Week Lift:


Did that make you smile?

Stay on the path...

Show Your Spirit

I am so pleased to finally reveal a small project I've been working on, planning for and losing sleep over: College Sweethearts!

I have been crazy over the felt hair barette craze and bought quite a few before I decided to finally sit down and try to make some myself. After trial and error, I think I finally have come up with a high-quality formula that turns out the best hair pretties, and they are so much fun to make.

I grew up in a family that was crazy over college sports, I lived in a town that had a specific color scheme, I married a college sports-lover and now live in a college town. So, it was pretty easy to come up with this formula.

I love the fact that I can get T-shirts and outfits for my little ones to show their school spirit, but I haven't been able to find cute enough hair clips that will actually stay in my daughter's hair. So, I came up with these:


And these:


And these:


And then I opened up shop at bigcartel.com:


As you can see, I only have green and white in the shop right now. That is because I am only allowed to show five items at a time in my current status as a Big Cartel shopkeeper. If my business grows, I will be able to post more clips to the site. Don't worry! As soon as one set sells, I will immediately post another set to take its place.

Please don't fret if you are not a green and white fan, I plan on branching out very soon and adding all the Big Ten schools to my site. If all goes well, I will branch out into some SEC schools and go from there.

So, if you have any thoughts or advice, I would gladly take some (please be nice - I'm highly excitable since I am low on sleep). I would also gladly take some free advertising! So, if you know someone who might be interested, please direct them to my shop or email me at jennyem1atgmaildotcom.

On the path...

Apologies!

I must apologize for my absence in blog-land. Last week I went on yet another business trip for a couple of days and came back with a lot of things to do for work so I've been in my office churning things out since then. How have you been?

I have had a craving for fruit and chocolate lately so I'm really having fun with the fresh strawberries and pineapple drizzled with chocolate sauce. Yum! It really satisfies my sweet tooth.

Well, there are babies, babies everywhere. So, I'm working on a couple of cute outfits as well as these super-cuties. Check them out! They look scary to make but are so easy. Give it a try! I just googled how to make a loop in knitting and off I went. I have a couple finished, except for the face, so I'll post those soon.

Oh, and I also got a quilting foot for my birthday - an early present from my hubby. So, even if my quilt-a-long quilt looks crappy, my quilting will look fun!

Back on the path...

Home Improvements

Spring always brings about the itch to do something to our house to fix it, liven it up, give it a face lift, or something along those lines. I usually do a few small things each year like replacing rusted out old shower curtain rings with new ones or doing paint touch-ups around the house.

This year I am thinking of trying to do something a little more drastic like replacing the linoleum and floorboards of our upstairs bathroom (Are you reading this, honey? Sorry!) or re-painting a room, or trying to talk my dad into replacing some more doors on our first level to match the new doors from last year (Are you reading this, Dad?).

With this kind of re-construction comes power tools, and with power tools comes all sorts of potential dangers. Especially with me. I have been known to slice a finger or two in my art school days (and beyond). But I will NOT be a victim like these poor, unfortunate people. Luckily, I don't think we have a nail gun like that. We have a power drill, but I think I'd notice the drill was digging into my finger well before the bit got anywhere serious.

All that said, please be careful in your spring fixer-uppers this year!

Also, I have been working like a mad woman on my Etsy shop. I try to squeeze in time mornings when my son isn't up yet, or at night, when everyone's asleep. I know you crafty moms all know what I'm talking about! I am in the process of getting it all set up and getting some inventory to fill it with. Hopefully all 10 or 15 of you can mosey on over there when it opens and tell me nice things about it. Oh, and check out this new shop. I really enjoy reading her blog and seeing all of the beautiful things she creates and now some of them are for sale! I'll definitely be shopping Etsy (and the philigry shop) for future holiday gifts.

Getting Ready...

I am so ready for spring! I am back to listening to bruddah IZ on my computer and dreaming about Hawaii. I am thinking warm thoughts, putting on an extra layer and sometimes, just turning up the thermostat. I wonder if my little oscine friends outside are thinking the same warm thoughts.

I have been restless being indoors for so long. That has turned out to be good for getting projects done around the house. I've decided to cut up all of my old baby receiving blankets (they were so small and my children were so large that they only ended up being used for about a week anyway) and make some home made baby wipes. The first couple of wipe sessions have gone well and I know that they are gentler on my babies' skin. Of course, we'll be taking the disposables on the road. I'd like to say that I'm THAT hard-core but I'm not. I can be a weak woman when it comes to diaper changes sometimes. Whatever is easy and quick, right?


Springtime will come on soon I'm sure, now that I've got my seeds started. I planted them last night and have them all snuggled up and thinking green thoughts in their warm, wet dirt beds. That's a grow light shining on them. We don't always get much sunshine here anyway and when we do, the room they are currently residing in isn't always the sunniest. Grow lights rock!


And since all of the stores around here are all out of rock salt, I must tread carefully on that path!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is our valentine craft for Chandler's V-day party today. What 2-year old wouldn't appreciate googly eyes?

Celebrating the path ...

Winter White

We've been trying out all kinds of indoor activities to beat the stir-crazy blues in our household. The big activity right now is so simple, so elegant, yet offers all kinds of fun for some busy little hands. That activity is ... Lima Beans. Yes, hard, dry, white lima beans. They are too big to fit into a nostril or down an ear (believe me, my son already tried) and they make such a nice sound hitting a glass bowl. We've been busy making pretend soups, transferring the beans from a large bowl to smaller ones using mugs, wooden spoons, our hands and cups. My son routinely requests the "beans" every evening after dinner. It doesn't matter what I do to try to distract him to do something different. Fun, fun for everyone!



Now is the time for all of you northerners to get out and use your handknits! I've been outside shoveling the snow and ended up taking photos of the beautiful, velvety goodness. Of course, I say that now, and in a few weeks I'm going to be wishing for spring. My husband already wishes for it. Probably has something to do with shoveling the driveway at 6AM this morning. Hmm...





On the path...