When Boredom = Creativity

When a bored teenager gets ahold of a box of felt, a needle and thread:

Monster Backpack

 Monster Wallets

 (inside view)

 (Back view of left wallet)

Monster Snail

Loch Ness Monster?

Haven showed me this one just moments before she was about to cut up an old stuffed animal for the stuffing. I rescued the duck from its impending doom and gave Haven polyfil instead! I'm super proud of her because she figured out how to make it 3-D without any kind of pattern. This little guy really makes me smile!

The thing about Haven's sewing that really impresses me is that it's all hand sewn! I tried to get her to use the sewing machine but she sews to fill time, not for the finished product. For a teenager that really impresses me.

Weekend Update

I think this may be a record... I actually took down the Christmas tree BEFORE Valentine's Day! I love looking at the tree, so it always makes me sad to take it down. But since it's a live tree it needed to go back outside.

So I mentioned before that my New Year's goal was to FINISH projects. Well, I'm off to a good start! First off I did some mending for Rob and Ethan. Then I did some cleaning and organizing of the craft room. That led to pulling out these really old practice quilting pieces. I took Machine Quilting about 6 years ago and these were practice pieces. They were just squares in a box until I finished them yesterday and turned them into pillows.

These are faux trapunto. I looked for a website to link to to define trapunto, but I didn't really like what's out there...so you'll just have to endure my explanation. Trapunto is a method of quilting where you have a raised puffy design that is surrounded by a compressed area created with tight stippling (curly quilting). In true trapunto after you do the quilting you would cut slits on the backside and add extra stuffing to the puffy sections. I didn't do that step, which is why I called it faux trapunto. 

I also hung a shelf that I had been putting off because it required climbing on the furniture. And I hung some wreaths that were stacked on top of the shelf, which aided in the cleaning and organizing. And I cut out the pieces for a striped shirt that ended up being a bit of a puzzle to cut out! Hoping to finish that today. It feels great to get things crossed off the list!

First sewing of 2012!

I don't make new year's resolutions, but I do usually enter a new year feeling fresh and hopeful. One of the things I really want to do this year is finish projects! I have a tendency to purchase fabric knowing exactly what it will become, but then take forever to get around to it.

I figured I better hurry up and finish this one before it was too late to wear snowflakes!

 Not that we've seen much snow around here... It's been a very mild winter.

 Did you notice my sparkly feet? I wish I had finished this outfit before New Year's, but oh well. There's always next year. When I put on the shirt I thought, some sparkly silver shoes would be perfect with this shirt... So I made some.

They were really simple so I posted a little picture tutorial over on the Shop blog. They do shed a bit... I look up some online tutorials and some of them recommend a clear acrylic spray over the top. I'll have to see if that's something I can get over here... They aren't something I would normally wear, but I have to admit they are fun!

UPDATE: I redid the shoes by mixing outdoor mod podge and glitter and painting it on in two coats, letting the first one dry before adding the second. MUCH BETTER. I did have some trouble in the rain, so I guess they aren't water proof... I think part of my problem is the type of shoe I started with, but I'm still happy with them. They'll just be dry weather shoes.

Happy New Year!

Is it too late to say Happy New Year? It is still January... and my Christmas tree is still decorated... so it must still be ok to say Happy New Year!

We stayed in and had a Chuck Marathon! We got season 4 for Christmas and watched it until Midnight. This didn't really please our teenage daughter who reeeeaally wanted to go somewhere cool... 

 Fireworks in our village. 

On New Year's Day the church service started late in the afternoon and included a little finger food fellowship afterwards. I loved that we started the first day of 2012 with the Lord's Supper and a baptism.

We also all put candles in the baptismal water. It was all in German, but I think it was to represent that God's power makes it possible for us to keep our "flame" alive even through troubled waters. 

Pretty beautiful way to ring in the new year.

Merry Christmas!

Here's the highlights from Christmas, and maybe an explanation of why I haven't blogged since November...

I found the cutest Christmas tree (live in a pot) that's not tooooo small, but sits perfectly on top of our desk in the living room. The presents don't fit up top with the tree, so they go under the desk. It's maybe not traditional, but it works great. I couldn't find my tree skirt and it wasn't high enough on the list of handmade priorities... maybe next year. I did decide on a whim to make a fabric garland from scraps of Christmas flannel! It turned out super cute! And the cinnamon gingerbread garland is from HERE!

Thanks to my new Pinterest addiction I may have gone slightly overboard with handmade gifts this year. Here's a rundown of what I REMEMBER making and links to where I got the ideas (if they weren't my own):

Sugar Scrubs for hands and feet

Rice pocket warmers

Citrus Coasters

Tree Stump Coasters

Peppermint Marshmallows

Silhouette Ornaments

iPhone/iPad Gloves

French Macarons

iPhone clip case with zippered pocket

Panda phone/camera case 

"Whatever" Clock

Money Gift "Wallet"

Braided Bracelets

Mug Rugs
Ruffle Pouch
Letter from Santa (to explain why Ethan was getting a used video game....)

(The pictures in the links are the inspiration. 
I forgot to take pictures as I was making stuff!)

Whew... I was a little busy. During that time I also learned how to make my own deodorant and laundry soap!

We had a very nice Christmas celebration. We started off with a Christmas Eve service at the German church where all four of us played a part. Rob was playing the piano the whole time, Haven, Rob and I all sang, and Ethan played the HARP!! That's right! He was at the practice with us and kept trying to play Ariane's harp, so she just brought the baby one for him. And he performed on Christmas Eve with the rest of us! It was SO cute! I don't have pictures yet, but hopefully some good ones were taken.

Christmas Eve was lovely and quiet and full of music and friends and food and fussball!

And then there was the storm of wrapping paper, ribbons, tissue, and squeals of delight this morning! I was busy notating everything the kids got as they shredded paper, so there aren't many pictures... 

These are just a few things I snapped pictures of. The circuit board on the bottom is pretty cool. It's like legos in that it snaps together, but there are real wires and circuit boards to connect and make it run stuff. Ethan loved testing his own designs and then trying to figure out why they didn't work! The kit came with instructions for 100 different circuit configurations!

I heard about the book "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" from a blog I read and Haven bought it for me for Christmas. The pictures in it are really interesting to me. They are all vintage photos which are clearly manipulated, but BEFORE photoshop. So those editors had some skills! The funniest quote of the day came when I opened the book and Haven said, "Don't drop my bookmark! I'm not finished reading it!" HAHAHA!! Yes, she was pre-reading her gift to me. Whatever, as long as she reads. :)

And the other really exciting gift for me (which I get to talk about since I'm the one typing...) is that Rob got me a Jo Totes Camera bag! These bags are super cool! I swoon over how organized my bag is now. I can fit all my junk in it - in an orderly fashion - AND fit my DSLR camera!

Presents are nice, and we are very grateful for the things we received. But the main thing that was so touching to us is the gift of family and friends. With all the "interesting" and, to be honest, painful experiences of 2011, we treasured our Christmas together. We survived 2011 and we have faith that God will continue to direct our paths in 2012.

And if the zombie apocalypse happens to occur, I know how to sew clothes, make soap and deodorant.
So I guess we're set.

Froehlichhe Weihnacten und einen guten Rutsch!!

That's a Christmas color... right?

Braces and blue hair. My baby girl is growing up! :)

Childhood Memory

Anyone else remember the Snoopy Snow Cone maker? I saw this at the PX and wanted my kids to also have the pleasure of slaving away grinding ice cubes for a tiny cup of shaved ice. =)