ready to collect botanicals 🌾💛☀

Yesterday I took the Awesome trio for a wagon ride around the block and were graced with the sight of sooo many flowers!  What made it especially noticeable was that the flowers blooming now seem to be a variety of colors!  Sure in the spring with the first bloom there's a remarkable variety but where I live they seem to be mostly yellow. Perhaps now I'll need to pay better attention though because the color spectrum most likely is present then too!   🍂I'll stop going on now and show to you how easy it is to make your own flower presses practically for free 

💕 Each of these are made of 8 cardboard 5 inch squares stacked with pieces of wax paper folded into quarters in between, then secured with rubber bands, and that's it!  Of course they don't have to be 5 inches or even perfect, but they make for a fun day project and flora for another days art! 

torn to treasured

Ive mentioned in a previous post about my lovelies tearing up books. Sigh..... we have another victim of their 'passion for reading' - : P  Admittedly though the story was pretty thin and i got it at a thrift store for 50¢ and for the illustrations anyway : )

 

Got some bonus, beautiful fridge art though! compliments of my Katie Kat : )

and with some extra cutting and modge podge later..... a sweet planter

 

for my experimental garlic propagating :) below is after one week

 

and below here it is at the present: 23 days after planting a clove : ) and looking mighty dandy!

(not so) puzzling paper makeover

I had the need for creativity yesterday and while my  soul wanted to create a fine piece of art my motherly responsibilities dont afford me such time : ) eventually : P. What i did do ive wanted to for a while. Another paper and modge podge revamp : D
My toddlers have been back into puzzles big time lately and  while my son is having fun with shapes,animals, and colors my daughter  has gone onto  letters and numbers :  )  She  is  going to be 4 already in just a few weeks! and already trying to spell! <(proud mommy moment)


When she was about a year and a  half we got alot of puzzles but because of her being so young some pieces  have suffered chewing.... none as bad as this number puzzle though, which also had some film layer on the surface that  was extra fun to peel off......

Some paper and  modge podge later, its life is lengthened and ready to be used by all three sweeties : )

A torn  up copy of green eggs and ham (what?! a torn up book?! kids dont do that! lol! suuuure...) even got second life in the project : ) (they really tear up  a lot of books but i cant bear not letting them look in them or throwing  away good collage material : ) <#4 traced on page

pumpkins for winter

Have any pumpkins lingering around still? Just today I finally took the orange ones off the front porch (I may do something w/the lg white one) and adorned the tree behind our garbage can with them, lol, they made it bright and pretty back there! : ) Since my kids are little I cant help picking up little pumpkins for them throughout fall. Especially the white and green. They dont go bad for a long time and my conscience doesn't want to toss them but I came up with an idea for turning that bit of autumn into winter.  A Pumpkin Snowman! The little guy came out soooooo cute! and it was a Really fun project!

We went from this:

To this:

I used construction paper, green fleece, buttons, beads, and sticks. For decoration on the hat: feathers, a lg. sequin, and some faux mini holly berries too.  Use what you have, I say! : ) That's what makes it individual, doesnt it?
Other materials used were: hot glue and gun, glue stick, scissors, small branch pruners, compass, and white charcoal pencil.

First, I cut the stems off the pumpkins and found a 'balance' for them, mostly at this point to know which would be the head. Then,  using my compass I determined what the width of hats brim would be.  The circle was drawn on black construction paper and from the same point another smaller circle was drawn inside and then cut out.  I probably would've used a stiff black felt if I had any. 
To get the height of the hat I cut a long rectangle roughly 3.5 times the diameter of the smaller circle to have glueing room for the cylinder.

Here you see the arm branches cut, the fleece cut for a scarf (which is twice the length of the black rectangle), the hat circles, and rectangle measureing 3.5 times the diameter of smaller circle.
The black rectanglehas been folded somewhat accordian style and slits have been cut to the fold on both top and bottom perpendicular to the folds.

 the rectangle has been inserted into the larger circle and the seam glued to be as wide as it needs to be

the tabs have been glued to the underside of the brim

to attach the top part, smaller circle, i used the glue stick on the perimeter of the circle insted of on the tabs to make it easier

then the the details were added : ) honestly before this, i havent used a hot glue gun in probably 6 yrs or more, lol

Next, to make the carrot nose out of construction paper i cut a long right triangle the length of a page. It's height is only about 1.25 inches.

On one side I glue sticked : P

Starting from the wider end and with glue on top rolled the triangle like a making a paper bead but keeping a flat edge

Then came hot glue assembly : ) and snowman was complete ! and ready for his close-up : D

one hot dog : ) or warm anyway

My daughter Katie LOVES dogs : ) unfortunately us having one right now is not a reality. She compromises by taking wonderful care of her 'puppies'. She is a fabulous caretaker of these stuffed animals. This includes washing, dressing, and bandageing their booboos : ) She is a major sweetie and I'm really looking forward to seeing her with her new baby sis in few months!

One night she asked for some clothes for her puppies I had a thought! About a year ago when I sorted through my husbands socks he had a lot of loners : P of which I thought we could use and make some sock puppets one rainy day. We haven't done that yet but I discovered a couple cuts will repurpose a wool sock into a really cute sweater for a little dog, real or play : )

I personally think it's cute enough for a real dog. If I had a little doggie, they'd be sporting one in this colder weather : D
NO SEW! folded to fit and the scrap turns into a mini cute beanie : )  Too Easy!!!!!

green gift wrapping

I'm pleased with myself this year for my economical gift wrapping !

By buying attractive inexpensive boxes that can be used for storage in anyone's home I minimized the need for wrapping paper (thanks IKEA!) the box gets to be part of the gift and not a landfill : )

Then by using this lovely blog tutorial : http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2009/10/make-gift-bow-from-magazine-page.html
I made a bunch of magazine page bows using gluestick instead of a bunch of staples (no unneccessary metal use) hope she doesnt mind my sharing! : P

My ribbon was primarily salvaged gift bows with the staple pulled off (carefully as not to tear) taped and wrapped around a tube to get the creases out. <>

Finally my gift tags are actually personalysed ornaments. I had the idea for these last year but didn't have the time. They were made with cinnamon dough and the recipe is below.

Every year since I started giving gifts as a kid I have tried to do something different in the wrapping process. Last year instead of ribbon bows I used fake poinsettias and another year I made origami stars. Thank goodness for the internet and all these ideas at our finger tips!

TO YOU AND YOURS, HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON!

or

HAPPY CHRISMANUKKAHWANZAADAN!




cinnamon dough

3/4 cup cinnamon

1 and 1/8 cup flour

1 cup salt

1 cup water

1 Tbsp. ground nutmeg (optional)
1 Tbsp. ground clove (optional)

Mix dry ingredients. Add water to form dough. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. With fingers (because dough is very sticky!) flatten enough to use cookie cutter and pull dough from sides before lifting cutter on the parchment. Or mold your dough. Make these about 1/4 inch thick. Use a toothpick to make stringing holes. Bake in oven @ 350 F for 15-20 mins.

*if you let dough sit for a little bit it stiffens (the salt seems to dry it moderately fast) If you want white tops let air dry a little while before baking. Mine became white on top because I had to keep stopping to attend to my 8 month old... happy accident? maybe : )

**sea salt creates pretty little sparkly flecks :)

recycle an old sheet into a laundry bag

I haven't had a new project to post in a while, instead I've had a new baby to take care of : ) Harrison Matthew Taylor was born two months ago healthy and handsome : D Of course my creative energies have been boiling inside me but I haven't been able to satisfy the fire, nor will I be able to as much for a while. This project was out of neccessity for me right now. If you've read my other posts you may know we live the apartment life right now, and that means I take our laundry to our parents' houses. I've been using a normal bag and the insert part of my hamper. The insert doesn't cut it, : P it's too small and awkward to carry. I have some twin size sheets I dont have a use for anymore and instead of giving them away or throwing them out I thought this project would be a great use for them.

What you'll need:

one 54inch by 35inch piece of fabric (doesnt have to be a sheet but it's awesome to repurpose!)

one 64inch by 4inch peice of fabric or 64inch cord or rope; this is your drawstring so it really is up to you, and the length really only needs to be at least 54inches

thread : )

Your bag will have a seam on the bottom and one side. To begin fold the large fabric right sides together to have it 27 by 35. (I should've taken more pictures of the process to show more rather than describe things that would seem obvious)

The edges will be sewn twice to make the bag strong enough to carry heavy laundry. First, I used the zig zag stitch on my machine with the triangles to finish the edges together. Secondly, about a 1/4inch from its edge I straight stitched the seam.

Sew the bottom completely across and when sewing up the side leave about 2inches at the top unsewn.

Fold the top edge over ( this is for your drawstring ) And then from its edge fold back inside, so you almost have a fan effect, and pin.

Sew, full circle, with the same double seam.

Now where you left the top 2 inches of the side seam unsewn you can insert your drawstring.

To create mine I made it like a strap. I folded it in half in folded the sides into it and straight stitched the edge. Just like in the cloth diaper prettifying http://shift2theheart.blogspot.com/2010/02/pretty-little-burpies.html . So 4inches became 1inch. I turned in the edges and sewed them closed.

sock monkey

I had a very home-made Christmas this last year and enjoyed it so much. Years ago it seemed I always made at least one gift, but it had been a while. And this year I got too much joy from it. I may have to have more homemade Christmases even if finances aren't a factor. : ) One thing I made for my daughter was a sock monkey. Randomly looking for doll patterns online I came across this super simple tutorial. I used a pair of knee highs I found at the dollar store, but you can use an old pair you already have. What is great about this was it so easy, only took a few hours, and it's a great repurposing project with very little waste ( the only part left over is one of the toe ends, so it would be a great way to use a pair of socks with a hole in one of the toes : ).

http://www.craftbits.com/project/sock-monkey


In retrospect, or for another, a cute bow, some flowers, ruffles, or other decoration would be nice to personalize it. Also, I think I should've used white buttons for the eyes for a more friendly face. : ) I probably will use a larger sock size than my own too. The bigger the socks the bigger the monkey : ) men's socks would be cute.... hmmm... if I make another it'll likely be argyle. Have fun and enjoy!