Flower Cupcake Pin Cushion

The folling is a tutorial on how to add this cute addition to your sewing room. First  you need to find the size of can you want. I used the can chicken that you get from Costco. You also need to pick out what fabrics you want. And if you would like flower you need to get that to. I found this flower set in the scrapbooking department.

First you measure the depth of you can, and cut a piece of fabric that is 3/4 of an inch to an inch longer then the depth of the can. Then you glue it on to the can. I used elmers spray adhesive glue. I also used hot glue. Go around your can be sure to cut your fabric longer so that you can fold the one end and have a nice finsh.

Then spray your bottom and pull the fabric in a circle so that you have a nice even edge on the bottom.

Next cut a circle that is about 1/4 of an inch smaller all the way around, and cover with fabric. Cut it bigger so you can fold the fabric over to have a nice finshed edge.

Then glue it to the bottom of your can.

Next take your fabric for your top and cut it two inches bigger than the diameter of your can. Sew around the circle. Make sure you stitch is the biggest stitch so you can gather it. Gather it and tie it off. Then stuff it. You can stuff it with anything, but I think that stuffing works the best. At this point I would sew on your flower if you got one. I also put a button in the middle of my flower. Then I would glue a little stuffing in the bottom of your can. Next you put hot glue around the edge of the can. Put your topper in and hold until it is dry or cool.

Next, you can add a little bling. I used rinestone beading. You could also use any type of ribbon or fabric.

The Annual Traditions!

Are you tired of writing the same Christmas Letter each year?  Here are a few ideas if you are stumped on what to send to friends and family this year.

Multiple Choice Test - Give them a little pop quiz to see if they can guess what you did this year.  Give answers on the back.
Send Love- Cut out little hearts, put names on one side and a little blurb on the other, put them all in an envelope, when they open it all the "love" will fall out.
Top Ten List- Give the top ten things you did this year
Short Story- If you enjoy writing create a short story to tell of all your adventures this year.
Point of View- Write it from the point of view of somebody/something else besides you. Ex-cookie jar, new baby, dog, ect
Extra Extra- Write up a news paper column, or a newsletter
Trading Places- Have someone else close to you write yours and you write theirs
Become Famous- Write your letter like you are being interview for a magazine
Rhyme and Rhythm- Put those grade school skills to use and rhyme away

Hope those helped in you Christmas writing this year!

Neck Pillow

A lot of time the Prince of Persuasion will fall asleep in the car. I always feel so bad for his little neck it looks like it will just break right off. So I started searching on line to see if I could find a free pattern to make a neck pillow. These are also great for those long holiday car rides.

My mom actually found the pattern and the brillant lady said to find a stuffed animal to put at the end of it so that it would better support there bobbing head. I thought it was just adorable.

So of course we had to make more then one, so we made one for my nieces and nephew. I think that this little african safari is just too cute! The girls are the monkey and the hippo. I couldn't leave it just like that I had to put bows on it because hey girls have to have bows.

This is the Prince and daddy sporting the finish product. He loves it he already tries to put it around his neck.

Edible Pilgrim Hats

We had a thanksgiving play group at our house today, so for a little treat I made Pilgrim hats. These are the ingredients you will need:

First take you chocolate and melt them on low heat over the stove.  While the chocolate is melting lay the cookies that survived the trip in the grocery store, from your children fighting over who got to hold them.  You will want them facing down.

Take the marshmallow and cover 3/4th of it with chocolate if you want you can cover it all with chocolate, but I wanted to have a little "belt" so I left a little bit of the marshmallow showing.  Use a little bit of chocolate to "glue" it to the cookies.  Use your yellow frosting to draw a square for the buckle.  I did around 30 of these and it took me about 20 minutes!  Happy Thanksgiving

Cake Stands

Here are some fun Christmas designs for the cakes stands that I did earlier!

Name Tags

If your in charge of Thanksgiving, here is a great idea for name tags.  I found at our local craft store some little pumpkins, in fact I think they were squash because I think they were greenish colored originaly, but anyway they looked liked pumpkins to me.  I sprayed them gold to match my other decorations, and printed out names on cardstock, and tied it to the stem of the pumpkin.  You could make these pumpkins any color to match your table settings, very fun, and very easy!

Preschool

This week the lesson is
"Heavenly Father has a Plan for Me"

Mon- Read and discuss lesson and sing songs.  Some might include I lived in Heaven, Families Can be together Forever, I know my Father Lives, I will follow God's plan for Me, He Sent His Son

Tues- Go to Library- These are the books we got. . .(the way we went with this lesson was the plan was to come to Earth to get a body-so we are studying the Earth this week)- Earth cycles, What's so special about planet Earth?, On Earth, Little Rabbit and the Meanest Mother on Earth.

Wed- Play a game- there are fun online games about Earth Day that you could use, or you could get blocks out and make a "plan" to build a house for the cars

Thur- Draw big circles on papers, and have your kids color the "planets" then hang them up for everyone to see.

Fri- Go play in the leaves!

For Freeeeeeee!

This year we got a new addition to our family which meant we needed a new stocking. I like when all of the stockings match and I didn't have enough things to do one for my Princess, that I had done for our family. We are a little strapped for money right now as my husband is finishing up school, so I had to come up with stockings for free. Thanks to my mom who always keeps plenty of fabric around. I have teased her over the years with the amount of fabric she stores, but living her I have greatly benefitted from her pile! I am so grateful. So here it is tada. This is made out of everything that was just lying around.

The snowflakes up close!

Alright see what you have laying around and that you can come up with for free!

Hats Anyone?

Last year I made these cute pilgrim hats, out of felt.  They turned out really cute.  I don't have step by step pictures so I will try to explain as best as I can.

Boy Pilgrim Hat:  I measured the head and made a circle that size.  Then draw a circle two to three inches bigger.  You now will have two circles, the smaller one inside the bigger one.  Then you cut out the smaller circle,and cut around the big circle, so you will now have a ring, two to three inches wide.  You will now made a rectangle that has the long side the same length as the circumference of the head, plus enough for the seam.  So for example I measure my kids head and it is 22 inches.  I would now cut a rectangle 23 inches long, which gives you 22 inches, plus a half an inch seam for each side.  You will now add your embellishments, like the belt strip and the buckle, then you will put the rectangle right side together and sew down the short side-it will now look like a tube.  Right side together sew the tube top to the circle base and turn.  I cut down the back side of the hat so it looked a little more "pilgrimy" instead of a top hat. 

Girls Pilgrim Hat:  Measure the girls head from cheek to cheek and any extra length you want to hang down the sides.  Then cut a rectangle.  Make a casing on both long sides of the rectangle. For the casing on the back you can make it little-it just needs to be wide enough to fit the elastic in.  Pull the elastic tight so that it will gather and make a little "pocket" for the head.  

If you have kids coming to your thanksgiving this is a fun thing to have!

A fun idea for Thanksgiving dinner

Thanks to my mother-in-law for letting me in on the planning of Thanksgiving dinner, she showed me a cute idea for Thanksgiving that would be great if you have kids. So what you do is you take your sweet potatoes and you make them like you would for thanksgiving with all your special ingredients like brown sugar, molasses, onion. Whatever you like in your sweet potatoes. Then what you do is shape them around a marshmellow and roll them in corn flakes. Freeze until you are ready to cook them. Then you cook them at 350 for 15-20 minutes. The picture shown has coconut on the outside instead of corn flakes. You can use either. If doing it for kids I would do corn flakes.

New Found Love

The kids and I found a new great snack.  I am guessing since it has snowflakes on it, it is probably a seasonal thing, so I wanted to let you know about it so you can get in on this too!!

Look at that yummyness!!  It is a medley of Honey Roasted Peanuts, Peanut Brittle, Cashews, Pretzels, and Yogurt Covered Raisins.  We all just loved it!  Pick it up for a party or if you can tell, you can eat half a can by yourself :)

Kids Oven Mitts and Pot Holders

I also made these adorable oven mitts and pot holders. If you have and embroidery machine... These are done all in the hoop and it took no time at all. Only the pot holders you have a tiny bit of hand sewing.

Gospel Preschool

I have started with my kids a preschool that follows "Behold Your Little One" Nursery Manual.  Every Friday I will be posting the lesson and ideas of what I will be doing with my kids for the week.  I have been searching for something like this, and haven't run into anything I love, so I have decided to do my own.  Hope you can join us!

First Lesson  "I am a Child of God"

Monday- Go over the lesson and explain what the theme for the week is and sing songs.  Some songs might include:  I am a child of God, I'm all made of Hinges,  Every star is different, I'm thankful to be me, I am like a star, Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam. (these songs are all out of the Primary Children's Songbook click here to find the songs.

Tuesday- Find books at the Library that go along with the theme.  Here is what we got: No matter What, Love you Forever, I take care of Myself, A color of his own, and One beautiful baby. Our Library has a website that you can reserve the books you want, so they have them already pulled when you get there, check to see if yours has this program it saves so much time!

Wednesday- Play a game to go along with the theme- Go take pictures of your kids,and then develop 2 of each of them, go home and play the matching game.

Thursday- Spell names out with playdough.  Here is an easy recipe using kool-aid! And the best part it smells good :)
1 c. flour
1/2 c. salt
3 tbsp. oil
1 sm. pkg. Kool Aid (any color)

Combine flour, salt, oil and Kool-Aid. Add 1 cup boiling water. Stir together. Knead mixture until it forms a soft dough. This play dough will keep indefinitely if kept sealed when not in use.

Friday- Lunch at Burger King to get a King's crown. Or if you don't have money for that, make your own crowns at home, and decorate them.
Have Fun Learning!

Easy Fleece Blanket

My neices were both born durning a very busy season, so I needed something fun and easy. This would also make great Christams gifts. You need a surger for this project and some pearl cotton or crochet thread. All you have to do is read your manual to see how to set up your surger for a blanket stitch and wala... a blanket. My mom has a Brother embroidery machine that has Disney on it. So I embroidered Daisy Duck on the corner to add a little more.

Cleaning your Clippers

I am doing this post, because a lot of you out there have resorted to cutting your own husband's hair to save money or for whatever reason.  I just thought this would be a great post to help you keep those clippers lasting longer, and saving you money longer!

Things you will need:

Clipper Oil, old toothbrush/bristle brush, screw driver and clippers

Next, on the back of the clippers there should be two screws.  You will want to unscrew these carefully and make sure you pay attention to how they go back together.  I know some clippers have extra little parts inside, but most are just the two plates. 

Then you will want to take your brush and clean out all the hair, be careful not to blow the hair down into the clippers, you want the hair to some out, so if you need to hold it upside down while doing this step, that works too!

After you get all the hair off the plates and out of the clippers, you will want to oil them before putting them back together. I like to put one strip right down the middle and then a little on the teeth of the clippers. 

Now put it all back together.  Before tightening the screws all the way down, flip the clippers over and make sure the teeth align, this doesn't mean they have to be the same height, but you don't want them farther apart on one side then the other, or the hair won't be cut straight.

Hope this was helpful.  Enjoy your nice clean clippers!

Kids Play Aprons

For Christmas we are making our kids a play kitchen. And if they have a play kitchen they need everything to go along with it. Therefore I made aprons. It is super easy and you don't need a pattern. First you measure accross your child's chest my son was 6 inches then you measure across their bellies, what you want the apron to cover. Make sure you add 2 inches for seam allowance. Then you measure the length and add 1 inch. Then you cut and interfacing to match the top. Do the straps, and your done. I used a overall buckle for one and little D rings for the other. My mom has an embroidery machine. I was able to embroider the cute little saying.

Mom's Quick Breadsticks

My mom has this great recipe for bread sticks, they are fast and easy and very delicious.

Mix together:

2 cups Flour

2T sugar

1tsp salt

1T yeast (I use the rapid rise)

Add:

1 1/2 cups hot water

slowly add 1 1/2 cups of flour

I mix mine in my Kitchen Aid, and so after the flour is mixed I let the mixer knead it for me, but if you are using just a bowl, you will need to knead it for a few minutes. After kneading this bread is perfectly fine to be rolled out immediately, if you want to let it rise that is fine, but there is no need.

Next I add butter,and cheese and a little sprinkle of garlic salt with parsley. Just put the cheese on the bottom half because you will be folding it in the next step. 

Next you will fold it in half and using a pizza cutter cut it in strips.  Then you take the top and bottom of each strip and twist in opposite directions to give it a spiral look. Place them on a cookie sheet or stone to rise. I then let them rise for 15-20 in a warm place, and then cook them at 400 for 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

I completely forgot to take a picture of them all done, and my kids gobbled them up so fast there weren't any leftovers, so you will have to make them to find out what they look like all cooked!!

Breast Feeding Cover

I have a 6 month old baby. I am breastfeeding her and I find that the covers are totally awesome. I came up with this design because the other breastfeeding covers I had didn't cover right. Though this cover is a real cover. And you can do it yourself. E-mail if you want the instructions. 2 dollars for the pattern. kissing.frogs6@gmail.com

Turkey Placemats

I made these turkeys with a bunch of friends.  I wasn't the one with the pattern, and I am not sure where the pattern came from, so I can give credit.  But I thought they turned out so cute, and it would be a simple thing to copy, even without the pattern.  The shapes are very basic.

What you will want to do is get heat n' bond aka wonder under.  You will want to make all your shapes on the heat and bond, cut around them, and then iron it on to the back of the fabric you want to use. Then cut out the actual shape.  After you have all the shapes cut, peel off the heat n bond, and layer them how you want on to a piece of fabric.  I used just a simple muslin.  Make sure you hold the iron on long enough to make them all stick. Then cut the turkey out, so you can't see any of the backing.

 For the stitching I hand stitched using embroidery floss around the feet, face, gobble and eyes. Then used my sewing machine and a basic zig-zag to do around the body and the feathers. 

These were super easy and went together fast, they only thing is the hand sewing, but I just took it when I sat and watched my daughter at the gym.

I plan on using them at Thanksgiving with a fun tablecloth and accessories, but for now they are enjoying our table.



This fall I just can't get enough of the colored leaves. It is probably because I live somewhere that the leaves don't turn... and I am missing the beautiful autumns I grew up with. I got some free chargers from a friend. She was cleaning out her craft closet and she gave me these red chargers to do something with. She also had some leaves. So I took the leaves and some mod podge and I made this.Then what I did was layered the leaves how I liked it and glued them on. To get the shine I added gold dust to the glue.

Then I added some gold lettering and.... Tada! 

Crown Keychains

I was in need of an idea to go along with a lesson I was doing and this is what I came up with.  Very easy and you could do it for a gift, birthday favors, or even wedding favors, if you wanted.

First you take Shrinky Dinks.  I found mine at Michael's in the scrapbooking isle.  I got the Frosted Ruff n' Ready-not sure what that means, but that is what was recommended on line when I did some research.  I drew a simple crown.  You can trace any clipart or any other crown you like.  Read the directions on the shrinky Dinks, because you have to trace on one side, and then if you want color, you color on the other side.

After coloring, make sure you punch a hole in it before you bake it.  Follow directions to bake it and it should shrink a third the size.  This particular one in the picture I didn't color.

I attached it to the keychain, added beads and little sticky jewels(also found in scrapbook isle) to give a little bling. I used a jumpring to hang the crown on so it would jingle a little bit and not be so tight. This one I colored a light pink.  FYI: The color gets brighter after baking.  These were quick and very simple. Simple enough to do at a little girls birthday party :)

Cost
Shrinky Dinks- 5.99 for 10 sheets
Beads-Used ones I had at home, but they sell them for 1-2 dollars at Wal-mart
Key Chains- 2.99 for 20
Bling-2.99 for 150

I made 37 little crowns, and I still have 7 sheets of Shrinky Dinks left, and a few blings!

And so it should have begun....

So I should have had this done months ago since I started before May, but I am bound and determined to get it done. I am doing a quiet book for my kids for Christmas. My friend was actually the one who was convincing me that this is a great project and it sounded like so much fun. But now that I am into it. I keep thinking to myself what was I thinking. This is going to be a very extensive quiet book. I think the finish product will be 28 pages. So I am almost half way done. I wanted to share some of the pages I have done.