Super Easy Stockings

I love the first week in January because all the Christmas stuff is super cheap at 75% off. Now is a great time to buy pretty Christmas placemats for making super easy stockings. I bought each of these placemats for $1.25 or less, which comes out to $2.50 or less for each stocking. Booya!


On the back of one placemat draw out the stocking shape you want, trying to get as much stocking as you can from the material. Then trace around that shape again giving yourself anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 an inch for a seam allowance. (I try to get 1/2 inch because I'm not very good with a sewing machine). I also make the top 2 inches of my stocking a bit wider so as to give enough room for a folded cuff.


Now use that first stocking cutout as a template for the rest of your placemats. Now comes the only tricky part to this. In order to make the top cuff of your stocking (and you don't have to have a cuff if you don't want to, or you could even add your own fancy cuff if you are so talented, but I'm not) you need to:
1: Put two stocking shapes together with the right sides facing (make it look inside out). Then, starting 3 inches, or so, from the top, sew around the edge of your stocking and stop 3 inches, or so, from the top on the other side.
2: Turn stocking right side out. Now, sew up both sides of the stocking top. Does that make sense?

See, here I've sewn most of the stocking, turned it rightside out, and am finishing up the top.

See? On the green one I made the mistake of only sewing the cuff part inside out. With the cream one I was smarter and added an extra inch to that insideout seam.

The reason for adding that extra inch is so that the raw edges on the inside aren't so near the top (which makes them visible and sloppy looking). See?

And here they are, all finished. Now I will use a stencil and some gold craft paint to personalize each one. Another reason I like using placemats is that most of them have some sort of interfacing inside them which makes them rather sturdy. I didn't add any loops to hang them from because we rarely have a fireplace and usually just prop them up on the couch, but I'm sure you could easily add a loop before sewing it together.

Or you could just buy the premade pretty stockings on super clearance. But what fun would that be?

A Little Obsession

Some times a little obsession can be a dangerous thing. Back when I was holding my brand new infant in my arms, at 1am in a sleepless stupor I stumbled upon a lovely kid's craft blog called Crafty Crow. Have you been there yet? I love it. While blog hopping around Crafty Crow's amazingly talented blogroll I found myself on Betz White's blog. If you have ever heard of Betz White you must know about her deliciously adorable felt cupcake pincushions. If you haven't heard of Betz White then, please, run for dear life and don't ever look back. Don't look at the cuteness, the craftiness, the recycling chic-ness, and run from the must-make-it spell that she will put you under. I was one of her many casualties and after reading her blog I set out on my quest, to make many adorably delicious felt cupcakes.
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And just a mere 8 months, 5 sweaters, 2 flooded rooms, 15 buckets of water, 1 busted washing machine, 1 nervous breakdown, and several eye twitches later I have achieved my dream. And if you try to follow this dream then take my advice: DO NOT CUT YOUR SWEATERS BEFORE WASHING THEM!!! No matter what Betz White says on the very useful video at marthstewart.com don't do it. Oh, and make sure you clean out under your washing machine as well because when the lint plugs your machine's water pump, and gallons of water start gushing all over your floor, those lost socks that found their way under your machine and blocked the emergency drain might cause the water to reroute itself under the wall and into the room next door. It just might possibly make you cry. Hysterically. On the phone with your husband. And he just won't understand what "@#%$&#@($& CUPCAKES!!!!" means. .

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.But it was all worth it. Ok, maybe not, but I have to tell myself that or my eye starts twitching again.
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I love these little darlings. They are so cute, so colorful, so whimsical, so girly. I don't do girly. I made an exception for these.
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I loved sorting through my button box with my kids picking out the perfect button "cherries," and spacing each pin in just the right spot to look like I had just throw a few sprinkles on top. I want to just take a big ol' bite of one of these and lick all the frosting from around my lips.

But the thing I love most about these little beauties is that Betz White sells these for 30+ bucks each and I made 12 for a grand total of 10 dollars (I bought the sweaters for a buck each at Value Village, and the ribbon for a buck each at Micheal's. The pins were the most expensive part). That's less than a dollar each. And that is one sweet deal.

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Now I just love that I am done with these. I love that I can send these to some of my loved ones for Mother's Day. And I especially love that I finally get to fulfill my long ago promise to send something to three lucky people who participated in my blog reader drawing waaaaaay back in January.

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And the winners are....

Sea Star

32 Flavors

and Mia Katia

Please email me you addresses so I can get these in the mail before Sweet Terror sees them and demands they be hers.

If, after reading all my warnings, you still find yourself wanting to make these yourself then get your hands on a copy of Betz White's book, Warm Fuzzies, where she gives you all the instructions for cupcakes and lots of other felt fun crafts. I will warn you (I'm just full of warnings today), it is a popular book and I had to wait 2 months to get it from the library.

Valentine Puzzles

Here is our first fun Valentine idea: Popsicle Stick Valentine Puzzles


First line up your popsicle sticks on a strip of masking or painter's tape. Try to get them as close and straight as possible. The kids were all surprisingly good at this part.

Next, draw your Valentine message. It is a good idea to make a border around the edge. It makes it easier for the kids to put it back together. And if you are making these for teens you could use more sticks to make it more challenging.

Remove sticks from the tape and mix them up (flip some upside down too)

Gather them together with a pretty elastic band and add a note that says, "It is puzzling how much I like you!"

Monster Man (6) enjoyed lining these up but got a bit frustrated trying to draw on them. Cookie (10) and Pablo (8) were able to do the whole craft without help and we all had a lot of fun making these and putting them back together again.

We adapted this idea from the book Fun To Make Crafts For Everyday

Pipe Cleaner Fun

I love pipe cleaners. Anytime I want a little peace and quiet from the kids I can always toss them a big package of pipe cleaners and escape to my room with the baby and a book.

Last week I spotted this fun craft idea from Bella Dia via the Crafty Crow: Tinsel Trees

Ever since first seeing the Charlie Brown Christmas Special I have been a bit obsessed with the idea of those tacky aluminum/plastic Christmas trees. Now, I get to indulge that obsession by creating millions of tiny tacky tinsel trees just for me.

Nothing says Christmas like gold and pink tinsel!

For that extra special bling at holiday parties you can always loop the stem around for an out of this world ring.

And if you get so caught up making trees that you neglect to decorate the real tree don't worry. The kids will decorate it for you. =)

Almost There...

Way back in May I was picked for a bloggy pay-it-forward. Way back in August I finally picked my own pay-it-forward people. Way back in September I finally figured out what to make them. Way back to last night I finally finished what I was making them. At this rate I might actually get these delivered by next year. Does anyone know how best to mail jewelry and where to find the materials to ship them in? I would greatly appreciate the info as I have never mailed jewelry before. Thanks. Jewelry making is fun, but it makes my back hurt, bending over those tiny beads. All of these contain repurposed beads or buttons in their making, you know, 'cause I'm green and recycle, and am going to heaven for it.

Fallfleur, these are for you.

Becky, I know you like red, I just hope you don't hate turquoise.



Michal, I gave up some of my preciously hoarded buttons for this.
Hope you like it.

P.S. Photographing jewelry is HARD. I had to take like 20 pics before I got these, and they still aren't that great. But see how professional I was laying them on props with the pretty fabric background?

Let It Begin

How do you know it is October in the Ice Cream household? When you open your underwear drawer and find a plastic spider, or the bread bag and find a plastic rat. Yup, that's what passes for funny around here. Halloween is upon us in all its glory. There will be major shortages in black construction paper and green crayons will be worn to the nub as we start the ghoulish process of decorating. One of the rules that I try to live by in life is never buy what you can make (so long as it's cheaper and not to hard to make yourself). So, when I saw these cute ghosties from Crate and Barrel:

I thought, "We can make those!" And make we did. Using white and black Fimo/Sculpey clay we got to work:

After baking them we taped them to some votive holders:

Voila! Or, should I say... "BOO?"

Magic Pictures

Poor white crayon. You never did anything to deserve your bad reputation. It isn't your fault you "don't work" and thereby cause many kids to angrily toss you to the floor in sad disgust. So, there you sit in your box, barely used, wondering what your purpose in life could be...

Well, wait no longer, Mr. White. We need you! We will use all of you up making our MAGIC PICTURES.

Have you ever used the white crayon to draw pictures on your hard boiled Easter egg? It's cool because the dye won't stick to the greasy surface so you are left with a clear white drawing on your colored egg. Well, the same technique works with paper and water colors. You have to press down rather hard with the crayon, and I've found this works best on cardstock, but the kids love it. I will draw the younger kids a picture and then they just slop the water color on however they want to find the picture. My older kids love using this technique to write secret messages to their friends. Here is a secret message that we will be sending next week:

At first glance it only looks like a blank piece of paper (we will have a note on it that says: "We were really busy. Please paint your own Father's Day card. Thank you.")

But what is this? There seems to be a message showing through.

TA DA!

P.S. Some daddy's might not have very much patience for water coloring. If so, make sure to use a large paintbrush, like the one I show here, so that the painting can go quickly. =)

Messy Messy Messy

I am loving Scribbit's Winter Bazaar and all the fun things that people are coming up with.

My contribution for today is "Messy, messy, messy" eggs. Or felt fried eggs. You will need a plastic egg, some white and yellow felt, scissors, thread, a pinch of stuffing, some pins, and something round (hence the bottle of paint).






Fold your white felt and cut out two fried egg shaped blobs. Trace a small circle onto your yellow felt and cut it out.








Blanket stitch (or regular stitch, I just think the blanket stitch is pretty) the yellow circle onto one of the white blobs. Before you come full circle, shove a pinch of stuffing into the yellow circle and then stitch shut. Now place the two white blobs together and blanket stitch around. (I stitched my whites together first and it made sewing the yellow circle on more difficult).




Now your kids can crack eggs on your kitchen floor all day long while repeating the famous line from Frosty The Snowman, "Messy, messy, messy," until you go a bit batty. My daughter got one of these for Christmas and I'm not kidding about going batty.




I'm going to make one of these for every kid and hide them with the rest of the Easter eggs. If I were industrious like Scribbit I would have made a bunch of them and offer to sell them to you but I'm too busy eating my new ice cream to be that cool.

Oh, and if you happen to have, or can get your hands on those thick round magnets you can use them in your yolk so the egg can do double duty as a fridge magnet. The magnet also helps the eggs fall from the egg shell better (more like a real egg).

Here Is A Little Peek

Just like Toad from Wind In The Willows, "I have a new mania." For over two years now I have had an intense desire to make felt food. It all started from a chance encounter with a felt slice of pumpkin pie that I found on the internet and then grew to Captain Nemo-like proportions upon seeing a felt banana. I. Must. Make. Felt. Food. The only things I had standing between me and my Martha Stewart Dreams were the fact that you have to go to a craft store or Wall Mart in order to get felt, and you must have at least 5 minutes with which to, in a sane manner, pick out colors for your food items, and I have had four kids with me AT ALL TIMES. Have you ever taken four kids to the craft store? They start out just as sweet as cream as they point out all the fun things they see. But this isn't the toy isle in K-Mart, and I will not let them pull everything out to play with it. Therein lies the rub my friends. Suddenly everything is boring to them and they just want to go home and they make sure that you, and everyone else in the store, knows it. I usually end up running for the door with a few things that I managed to grab from the check stand displays and crawl home in utter defeat, only to realize that I once again am without my precious colors of felt. So, what has changed, you ask? Did I sell my soul to the Devil? No, no, no. I actually found someone who is willing to exchange babysitting with me... on a regular basis.... I'm so happy I could cry!!! I watch her kids for a few hours on Monday and she returns the favor on Thursday. Last Thursday I spent a heavenly, quiet, relaxed hour and a half at Michael's Craft store and came home with two bags full of perfectly planned projects, and one of those bags was full of my variously hued felt. Thus far I have whipped up two spears of broccoli, two carrots, two hot dogs in buns, half a dozen pink frosting sugar cookies, and I am currently working on 6 slices of double layer chocolate cake with white frosting and strawberries on top (this is my piece de resistance). Next I plan to make some frosted doughnuts, some cupcakes, maybe a sandwich or hamburger set... the possibilities are endless. I will just keep sewing until a new mania hits me, which I'm hoping will be the paintings I am planning for the kids' bedrooms.

P.S. No, these are not photos of my felt food (curse my camera/computer issues) but if you click on them you will be taken to sites of people who are far craftier than I who can inspire your crafty minds.