Custom Eye Chart = Perfect Valentine for my Other Half

So I found this site that lets you customize an eye chart with your own letters, or in my case, sentence. Sticking with the eye chart theme, I decided the perfect valentine for Other Half would be, "I hope you can see that I love you so." Once I typed in my words, I right-clicked to save the image as a JPG file. A little cardstock and a binder clip and I had the perfect valentine hung in our entry when he came home.

Hard Lotion: You Gotta Try This!

Sometime last summer in my bloggy reading, I came across an enthusiastic recommendation for MadeOn Hard Lotion Bars. I had never heard of hard lotion before, but I was intrigued by the all-natural ingredients and the enthusiastic testimonials. In checking out the site, I was amazed to see that the owner, Renee Harris, even posted a video to teach you how to make your own lotion bars. She believes so strongly in her product that she's willing to teach you how to make it yourself for free!

You would not believe how simple it is to make these lotion bars, as you only need 3 ingredients: beeswax, coconut oil, and shea butter. I melted the 3 together and poured it into an Altoid tin to set up. The first time I had to put it in the freezer to pop the lotion bar out of the tin, but it's so convenient to carry with me in my recycled tin. And we use this stuff for everything: chapped lips, dry skin, my kiddos' itchy toes...

With the winter weather, I've been telling so many friends about hard lotion as this has been the one thing that works for our family for both winter chapped lips and dry itchy skin. My friend Brenda was frustrated with her baby's itchy, rashy skin, so I packed up my crafting crockpot and 3 ingredients and headed over to her house to make a batch. That weekend, she let me know that her baby's skin was 90% better already!

Brenda and I made enough lotion that day that we decided to make samples for our MOPS group. I found this Wilton silicone mold at JoAnn's last month and knew it would be perfect for trial-size lotion bars:At first I packaged them in little baggies, but then I found these little plastic Valentine treat boxes at the Dollar Store and was so thrilled that the lotion bars fit:This hard lotion has become the only lotion our family uses and I can't recommend it highly enough. Renee has even put up a DIY kit for sale this week in case you'd like to get all your ingredients in one easy package. And no, she's not paying me for this post either -- we just love our hard lotion that much!

Update 3/28/11: Today Stephanie over at Keeper of the Home reviewed the DIY hard lotion kit. She gives a handy tutorial on making the lotion bars and lip balms and even calculates your savings!

Making Pasta Beads with Food Coloring

School is out for Bug tomorrow, but she's getting a jump on her summer art plans today. She was making a picture with glued macaroni when I picked her up from Pre-K yesterday, so I asked her if she'd like to make something with colored pasta. As soon as I showed her the colored pasta necklaces on Make and Takes, she was ready to go! This is such a simple craft as you only need tubed pasta, food coloring, and rubbing alcohol. Here's how she did it:
Since Bug wanted 6 different colors of pasta beads, we put our pasta into 6 different sealable sandwich baggies. Each baggie then got 4 drops of food coloring (orange = 1 drop of red + 3 drops of yellow and purple = 3 drops of red + 1 or 2 drops of blue) and 1 tablespoon of rubbing alcohol. We zipped the baggies shut and then tumbled them gently to coat all the pasta pieces.
Bug spread out her baggies and gave them a quality control check to make sure they were all saturated with color.
Then we spread them out on a pan to dry. Instead of letting the pasta dry on paper towels, I put tissue paper underneath, remembering a post on tie-dyed tissue paper from Parent Hacks. Bug's brother turns 7 tomorrow and she's hoping it will all be dry in time for wrapping his present.
Make and Takes puts it out in the sun to dry faster, but unfortunately our Oregon skies are a bit rainy again today. Bug is thinking hopeful thoughts at least. We don't have it spread out real thin, so it might not be dry by tomorrow, but we'll post a creation when she gets to craft with her new beads.

Summer Plans in the Making

Last summer I collected all sorts of ideas to keep summer boredom at bay -- you can read all about my plans here -- but the kiddos weren't too interested! Bug was only 3, though, and hadn't discovered the world of school. This year, the kiddos are 4 and 7, and they both have interests they just can't get enough of in school. Bug never gets to do enough art (unless you count coloring, which I don't) and Mugger could do science experiments every day of the year (which is why he's getting a science kit for his birthday next week.)

For collecting our plans, I found a great summer calendar template to print off here at Thirty Handmade Days as part of her Funner in the Summer series-- isn't it cute?
The kiddos and I then came up with a theme for each of the weekdays and I've been on the hunt for projects. Our themes will be...

Masterpiece Mondays: This is our art day for Bug. I've got lots of art projects lined up thanks to The Artful Parent and all sorts of craftiness via The Crafty Crow. These 2 sites have to be my favorites for kiddo arts and crafts. I also have 2 books I'm pulling lots of projects from, Preschool Art by Mary Ann Kohl (definitely not just for preschoolers -- this is a fabulous process-based art book) and The Kid Concoctions 10th Anniversary book (which is 4 Kid Concoctions books in one and has all sorts of paint and dough recipes, among tons of other things!)

Play in the Park Tuesdays: Our MOPS group meets at a different park every Tuesday morning in the summer, so I'm looking forward to checking out some new parks with the kiddos. After 2 years here, I still feel like the new kid on the block sometimes!

Wacky Wednesdays: This is our science experiment day for Mugger. He's receiving the Sciencewiz Chemistry Experiments and Book for his birthday and also has Gizmos & Gadgets and Things that Go Boom! to find projects in. Those, along with some good concoctions and contraptions in the Kid Concoctions book, as well as some projects I've bookmarked, mean we'll have plenty to keep us busy on Wednesdays.

In the Dirt Thursdays: This will be our nature exploration day. Some Thursdays we'll hike or explore a local waterfall, while other Thursdays we'll tackle nature craft projects like drying flowers or attempting woodworking with sticks and twigs! Thursdays are also the night we leave to go camping which leads to...

Family Fun Fridays: Other Half's day off is Friday, so this will be our family field trip day. Some Fridays we'll be at the pool or camping, but we do have a couple of bigger field trips planned like the Salem children's museum, Enchanted Forest theme park, and OMSI. Can't wait!

And not on the schedule but whenever we feel like it will be all our food activities: berry picking, making jam, gardening, making ice cream in baggies, cooking outside in the new fire pit, and baking new recipes. My mouth is watering already!

So what about you? Any big plans? We're always game for more ideas if you have winners you'd like to share.

Oh, and one last note, this is my 100th post. I haven't exactly been a faithful blogger, but I've made it this far...

Spool Doll Nativity, part 3

Well, I don't know if I'm going to be able to hold onto my self-awarded "craft-challenged" title much longer. My little spool doll nativity (part 1 and part 2) was featured in today's Christmas Roundup on One Pretty Thing. This site is one of my favorite sources for crafty inspiration, so I'm truly flattered. I even get to post a cute little button on my sidebar...

If you're stopping in from One Pretty Thing, thanks and welcome!

Links I'm Loving...

Usually I just post links I like to my Tumblr, but I've found that I don't have a great way to organize that yet. Here are some that I don't want to get buried there:

• From Zen Family Habits, "5 Ingredients. 5 Minutes. 5 Meals" If ever there was a menu plan for me, this is it! Some day I'll get real brave and write a "My Life as a Housewife" post, but I am the world's most timid cook. A perfectionist/procrastinator who never really learned how to cook is not the most ideal person to let loose in the family kitchen, but sometimes the task falls to me. If you have any simple, can't-fail meals like these, I'd love to have them.
• Don't remember how I found this one, but here's a simple recipe for homemade powdered laundry detergent. I don't know if Borax and Fels Naptha are the most eco-friendly detergent ingredients ever, but I'm all for them if this frugal combo works. And I don't have to melt soap on the stove, so even better. If you've made this, I'd love to hear how you liked it-- I'm considering springing this on my MOPS group for a "craft" in the spring...
• From SugarDoodle, this Thanksgiving Thankful Countdown-- liked it so much I submitted it to our MOPS newsletter. I love the idea of counting down to Thanksgiving with daily deliberate gratitude rather than relegating it to the holiday we rush through between the excesses of Halloween and Christmas.
  
• If you saw my posts on the spool doll nativity, you could probably guess that I have a lot of leftover wooden spools. So when I saw these spool Advent calendars on Just Something I Made, I knew I had found my next spool project. I happen to have a bunch of green ones, so I'm tempted to put mine on a wire and have a wreath-shaped Advent calendar. Hmm, maybe there will be a photo op in that one...
• And finally, the gem of Christmas preparation posts (pass this one on to the grandparents!) would be "10 Clutter-Free Gift Ideas for Kids" by Megan (of Simple Kids) on Simple Mom. We've discussed this with my folks (and they're on board!) but haven't with the in-laws yet. Wish me luck!
  

Photo Tutorial: Spool Doll Nativity, part 2

In our previous episode of Crafts for the Craft-Challenged, we tackled a small spool doll nativity consisting of Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. This time, I'd like to show you what I did for the shepherds, the wise men, and an angel, in case you're inspired to create the whole cast.

Shepherds: I did them identical to Joseph-- the only difference is a lighter shade of corduroy!

Wise Men: They each got robes of purple corduroy, though I gave them each a belt from a different trim so they wouldn't be identical (like the shepherds.) I used some gold lame ribbon for their crowns, but if you look at the top of their heads, you can see the hole that goes through the bead!

Angel: She had her gown and wings made from some Christmas ribbon-- I tied a bow with a piece of string and glued it on the back. She also got a pipe cleaner halo glued into the hole at the top of her head.

And here they all are! If you make your own spool doll nativity, I'd love for you to leave a link here. I'm sure there are several out there who are much less craft-challenged than I and will come up with all sorts of cute ideas to add to this.

Photo Tutorial: Spool Doll Nativity, part 1

Welcome to another episode of Crafts for the Craft-Challenged! Last time, altered Altoid tins; this time, it's a simple spool doll nativity. I chose this craft for our MOPS group so that the moms would have a somewhat childproof nativity for their kiddos to experience the Christmas story. This post will get you started with Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Once you conquer those, feel free to move on to the rest of the cast of Christmas with Spool Doll Nativity, part 2, which covers the shepherds, the wise men, and an angel. Click on any of the pix to make them bigger if you need the details...

Supplies: you'll need a hot glue gun, 3 spools (2 around 2 inches and 1 around 1 inch), 3 doll bead heads (I got these prepainted 1-inch ones off of Craigslist), some hemp cord or other string (about a 12" piece), and some fabric scraps. I used 3 linen pieces that were cut a little over 3" x 4" for Baby Jesus' wrap and Mary and Joseph's headpieces and 2 scraps of corduroy that were about 1 3/4" x 4 1/2" for their bodies.

Step 1: If the labels on your wood spools are old and loose, I'd suggest peeling them off so that they don't cause a head to fall off later! Then hot glue the 3 heads onto the 3 spools. By the way, I found tons of spools by searching "wood* spools" on eBay.

Step 2: Glue the fabric pieces around Mary and Joseph for their bodies. I liked the frayed look, so I trimmed them at the exact size of the spool. Feel free to leave your fabric a bit longer and fold it under if you don't want the fraying.

Step 3: To do the headpieces, fold back a bit of the 4" edge on a linen scrap. I anchored that fold with a dot of glue in the center, mostly to help me find the center. Then put some hot glue on the head to adhere the headpiece to Mary or Joseph's scalp. I then glued at the edge of the spool covered by the headpiece so that the linen would lie down. Finally, I made 2 folds in the back and anchored each of those with a dot of glue for more aesthetically-pleasing folds.

Step 4: To differentiate Joseph from Mary, wrap a 12-inch piece of hemp string around his waist and knot it in the front. Feel free to secure the knot with a dot of hot glue-- I'm a firm believer in using plenty of hot glue!

Step 5: Baby Jesus was the tough one to figure out, so check the pix above. My linen scrap had a selvage edge that I loved, so notice how I lined up the piece to make sure it would show on the final fold. I started by putting a dot of glue at the back of the base of the Baby Jesus spool to secure the back of his swaddling clothes. Then I flipped him over and folded down the edges triangularly (is that a word?) and glued them along the front. If your scrap is just a bit big, like mine was, you can fold under the edge that wraps around his face so that he peeks out just right. Next (3rd pic), you fold over one of those triangle flaps and glue it down and finally, fold over the flap with the selvage edge and secure it with hot glue.

You did it! Hope your kiddos enjoy their very own spool doll nativity!

Photo Tutorial: Altered Altoid Tin

I happen to be the Creative Activities mom for our MOPS group this year, which is a fancy title for saying that I'm in charge of the crafts. I consider myself "craft-challenged" (in spite of my Etsy shop), but since the MOPS philosophy is that any craft should be well within the capabilities of your typical frazzled mom who never has time to finish even the smallest project, this works for me. My personal philosophy for MOPS crafts is that they should be fun and functional: something painless that you wouldn't mind doing again and might possibly have a future use for. So, for our first craft, I chose to explore the joys of Mod Podge by decorating some cute little Altoid tins (which I actually ordered fairly cheaply from here since I needed 2 dozen faster than I can eat Altoids!) I think these little tins would be perfect for holding gift cards or stocking stuffers or other tiny treasures, so I'm posting my first photo tutorial here in case anyone from the group wants to make more. So, here goes:

Supplies: You'll need an Altoid tin, some origami or scrapbook paper (I like origami as it's a bit thinner and you get several patterns for your buck), and some Mod Podge. (I used the Gloss for a lacquer finish.) You’ll also need a pen or pencil, scissors, & a paintbrush or foam brush for the Mod Podge.

1. Use the lid of the tin for tracing your piece of paper.

2. Cut inside your guide line so the paper doesn’t hang over the edge of your tin lid.

3. Brush a moderate layer of Mod Podge onto the tin lid and place the paper on.

4. Use the brush handle to smooth out any bumps.

5. Place a thin layer of Mod Podge on top of the origami paper to seal. Voila!

For our group, we added a business card with all the MOPS meeting dates for the year, so we repeated the process inside the lid. At the meeting, we also realized we had enough paper to do the inside bottom, so we added a bit more pattern there. Didn't get the picture of that step, though.

Hope you enjoyed my first tutorial for the craft-challenged!

Etsy Love: Craft Pudding

If you've been around the shop lately, you may have noticed that I've gone a bit ladybug crazy. It all started when I got my long-lusted-after Shinzi Katoh fabric and made these buttons:First, I made that little ladybug my shop and Blogger avatar and then I worked her into my shop blog and shop banner. Well, that wasn't enough. I stopped by Craft Pudding, the coolest little stamp shop on Etsy, and asked her to make me a ladybug stamp of my very own. And here's what she came up with:Isn't she just the cutest ladybug ever?!?!?! I can hardly stand it and can't wait to stamp her on shop tags, business cards, and fabric for buttons. And while I was there, I also picked up a fat quarter of Craft Pudding's fabric from her stamp designs. Won't it make great fabric buttons?So, if you haven't checked out Craft Pudding yet, you are really missing out! Go now, but you can't have my ladybug-- she's mine, all mine!

Books for the Craft-Obsessed

You may have seen this post, in which I explained my recent craft obsession. Here are some of the titles I'm using to feed my addiction, mostly via my library card so far:

• blanket statement: one thrifted wool blanket repurposed into 40+ projects -- Easier than Warm Fuzzies: 30 Sweet Felted Projects though I do love the idea of using all those cute sweaters to make cute little cupcake pincushions and such. Blanket Statement has the advantage of needing just one wool blanket for the bulk of your supply list and has some simpler projects, while Warm Fuzzies has more projects that would be beyond me, I think, though the boy's robot vest is awesome-- how often do you see projects for boys? Incidentally, both Betz White and Vicki Haninger have great blogs-- and Vicki's a local (who was so sweet to autograph our copy!)
  
• Softies: Simple Instructions for 25 Plush Pals -- Just finished reading this one from the library, but with my limited sewing skills, I don't know that there are many projects in it I'm ready to tackle, seeing as how several of the projects are rated as "moderate" or "challenging." I think I'm probably going to need Softies Kit: Instructions and Tools for Creating 15 Plush Pals as it's a kit that comes with everything you need to sew the cute little cake project from the first book. And the animals on the cover are way cuter on the kit! The first Softies book is a goldmine of info, though-- I love how Laskey has given the websites of the 25 project creators, so that I can go digging on the web.
  
• Doodle Stitching: Fresh & Fun Embroidery for Beginners -- OK, I can't draw at all, but I love the idea of "drawing" with thread! Her designs are all so great-- they make me want to decorate all of Bug's jeans or something! Of course, if I ever got into clothes decoration, I'd have to get this title, but since it's in Japanese, I'm going to have to wait until I develop some skills!
  
• Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens -- I first put this one on hold at the library when I wasn't sure how I wanted to make my hand-printed fabric buttons. Seeing as how I've been selling them since January, but only checked out the book in February when my turn came up in the hold list, I obviously didn't wait for any professional advice! However, if I decide to print on anything besides muslin or try techniques besides rubber stamping, I'll have to pick this one up. I love the organization of the four chapters, especially how she has 2 projects for each technique. The four chapters include Getting Ready to Print (with tips for choosing a surface, a design, a printing method, and inks or paints), Stamping (custom rubber, foam, and carved rubber), Stenciling (freezer paper, contact paper, and mylar), and Screen Printing (paper stencils, screen filler stencils, and photographic emulsion stencils.) I liked this one better than Lotta Prints: How to Print with Anything, from Potatoes to Linoleum though Lotta does have some beautiful designs.
  

Then there's the whole crafty side of me that's more about being resourceful and living a more sustainable life than making things. Two recent reads have been Made from scratch : discovering the pleasures of a handmade life by Jenna Woginrich as well as The prairie girl's guide to life : how to sew a sampler quilt & 49 other pioneer projects for the modern girl by Jennifer Worick. They're both excellent reading, but I don't think we'll be raising chickens anytime soon. For now, I'll just hope to get the vegetable garden in and that my little foray into bread baking sustains itself!

Bookmarks 3.29.09...

In an effort to keep track of the thousands of bookmarks I seem to have (on 2 different computers!), I'll start posting the best of my finds here. So, new to me this week would be:

• a great tutorial on making (and painting!) a salt dough bead necklace with a toddler. Bug isn't exactly a toddler anymore, but anything to cut down on the mess at art time makes this Type-A Mama happy! Probably found via kiddio, along with the next one...
• a tutorial on making mini clipboards. This would be perfect both for Bug who does mass amounts of coloring in church and for Mugger if we get him into letterboxing one of these days. Seems like a fun intro to hiking-- of course, then I might have to get Hubby to fire up the sewing machine to make him a field bag!
• Kiddie Records Weekly, found via this post at Sarah Jane Studios -- incidentally one of my favorite children's artists on Etsy. (I so would love to have this print in Bug's room!) Anyways, Kiddie Records Weekly looks like an amazing resource as our kiddos love to listen to stories.
• another find at Sarah Jane Studios, the Rosetta Project, where hundreds of vintage children's books have been scanned in for your viewing pleasure. I love-love-love vintage illustrations!
• this post called "Children and the Pressure to Buy" at Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op. If you worry about protecting your children from developing an appetite for materialism in the face of an onslaught of messages from the media and their peers, don't miss this one.
  

My Reawakened Crafting Gene

If any of the moms I went to my first MOPS group read this, I'm sure they would get a good laugh as I was always the mom at the table who said, "Creative Activities? Why do we have crafts at MOPS? I'll just throw it away when I get home." But this blog ain't called "Holes in my Shiny Veneer" for nothing, so here goes:

I'm going to guess it's because I'm an at-home mom now and I'm one of those people who has to have lots going on or I don't what to do with myself, but I have become overly crafty, no, make that craft-obsessed, since the move to Corvallis last summer. Yes, I had been doing my ribbon clips for awhile, but in California, that was all the crafty outlet I needed. Soon after moving here, though, I decided to expand my hair accessories endeavor, and I added in the cover button clips and ponys that now make up the bulk of my Etsy shop. And now that I talked my mom into getting me a Cuttlebug die-cut machine for my birthday, I hope to add wool felt clips to the inventory sometime in the near future...

Yet that doesn't seem to be enough for me! I toyed with the idea of making glass pendants or coasters for Christmas presents and ended up making hand-stamped necklaces and keychains for all the sibs. Some turned out better than others:
Maybe someday I'll add those into the Etsy shop, but they've taken the back burner to other things. I was really hoping to make Bug a set of peg dolls and a dollhouse for Christmas, but we had plenty of Christmas presents already, so the unpainted pegs are hanging out in a craft drawer. Aunt Jen taught Mugger and me how to knit at Christmas, but whenever it's not raining, he'd rather play outside and if he has to be inside, he'd rather play chess or some other game.

Guess this little obsession is one way to deal with my domestic deficiencies!