CHRISTMAS CRAFT #3

Snowman Kit

I came across a very creative blog called Creative Bubbles and on it I found this snowman kit, an idea from this site.

Anyway, I thought the whole thing was a great idea. I have 5 nieces. So I made one for my brother's girls (ages 6 & 4, his 2 year old will get something else), and one for DH's brother's girls (also 6 & 4).

I made mine a little different, here is the breakdown of my kit.

Snowman bag from the dollar store. I think it's very cute.



















Christmas box from the dollar store. In it are 4 decorative buttons for his tummy, a bow(wirh red button), 2 black buttons for eyes and a smile made of black buttons and pony beads. These all have pipe cleaners twisted together in the back to stick into the snow. I am hoping this makes them less likely to fall off and get lost. This is why I didn't make the black rocks for a coal mouth, I liked it, but figured they would be lost quickly.

Mittens. I got these from the dollar store. I also got a pack of 5 dowels from Michael's. I stuck the dowels in the mitts, secured with a hot glue gun and tied tight with some red yarn.

Nose. For the nose, I liked the fake carrot but did not see any. I got stiff felt (4 for a dollar), cut a large triangle, put wrong sides together, sewed it together and clipped seam allowance. I turned it the right way out, stuffed with stuffing. Then I cut a circle to fit the end, cut a + in the center and sewed circle to bottom of nose, stuck half a dowel inside. Then I cut a rectangle, cut three slits in the end, wrapped around the dowel, spread the end over end of carrot and secured all with hot glue gun.

Scarf. I bought a red fleece scarf and a white fleece scarf from the dollar store. I found a pic of a simple snow flake by googling "snowflake" in google images. I traced it, and cut it out of the white scarf. I sewed one on each end of the red scarf and decorated with coloured glitter glue sticks for my glue gun.

Top Hat. I bought this from the dollar store too. It was a hat in the toy section. I cut the string out, cut a strip of white from the white scarf, hot glued it to the hat as a hat band. I cut holy leaves from some green fleece I had in my scraps, and hot glued them on with some red pompoms I bought from the dollar store.

I am really happy with this and think it will be a great present for the girls.

STRESS HIVES

This is a Mommy post about Mommy things, eventually.
Last year I started getting hives in my armpits everytime they got a bit sweaty. To some the solution may seem obvious but I have over 90 allergies. There is one Mens deodorant that I know of that I can wear. I only wear it on special occasions afraid that I will become allergic to it as well. I could not figure out how I could be allergic to my own sweat. Grandma Claus wondered if it could be nerves. In the end that seemed like the only explanation. I got more comfortable in my new job and the problem stopped.

Last night as I climbed into a hot bath before work the inside of my legs from my thighs down to my ankles broke out. They were RED HOT. I wondered who had switched bathing or shampooing products. No one. I could not figure it out.

When we picked up Grandma Claus from work she suggested nerves again.

I, still wondering who was using new bath stuff went to scrub the tub this morning before I bathe for work. As I scrubbed and scrubbed I re thought Grandma Claus' words. It occurred to me she was right. When I was worried about being the stinky Woman at work I got hives when I sweat. And last night when my moon time came I was worried because I was having a very heavy flo. So I broke out where I would leak. Crazy. I am allergic to my own insecurities.


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CHRISTMAS CRAFTS #2

Birds


When u first moved out of my parents house - 20 years ago :0 I decorated my first own christmas tree with birds (and other things). I have always since included birds in my decorations. We always had a tree (or shrub in apartment years) that was decorated with suet balls for the beloved birds (and other little creatures).



Then two years ago (just after Xmas) our family decided we should live in the more traditional extended family. This meant some give and take. And last Xmas trying to decide how to decorate our tree we made ALL edible ornaments. I missed my birds.


This year I am making decorations with the kids, on my own, perhaps Aunty S Claus will help. We will also purchase some decorations together. Aunty S and I saw some today I picked up two birds. Then I thought I could make some birds. Not to be insulting Aunty S wondered if they would be as nice. She really was just wondering as she respects my sewing a great deal. And the store birds were very inexpensive. So I said I'll buy these and see what I can make. I googles in "images". Clicked on one I liked and "Ta-da!".


I live it. I got them from this site here. I did mine my machine, on my own but the kids could do this too. It is so lively and simple :). Enjoy!!

My friend who watched this go from google search to bird in under 30 minutes was delightfully surprised an said "I could even do that". Yes, anyone with basic sewing can do this, so go ahead and try. She kindly modeled the birds for me :)

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KNITTING VANDALS

Knitting vandals have struck our city. Cozily decorating our city. I am a huge fan! Here is a pick.

CRISTMAS CRAFTS #1

Patchwork Christmas Trees

I got this idea online here. they have many wonderful sewn decorations to make. Many of which I am planning that the kids and I will make. At first I thought 'that's gonna be alotta shoppin at fabricland'. Something Dh isn't always thrilled about :) But then I decided to check my scraps. There was a lot that wouldn't work, my many Native prints were too big or not right, but there were others that I found. I came up with a good sizable collection (there is a pic of it down a bit) Now on the site I found they used pinking shears on the edges but since I have a lot of satins, that doesn't work. Satin frays to much.

We got started making cardboard templates for all out ideas, and then I called it quits. I was sick with the kids bug and could not go on. However this evening I felt more up to it. I was very hot and turned off the heat. Advil helped the fever pain and we got to work. SW, not thrilled, I may end up making his. Ko-Ko and Runner did very well though. Unfortunately the pic of Runner and his tree did not turn out. I will retake tomorrow and add it in if I remember. OK here is Runner's. You may notice we forgot the tree trunks. We will add them in today with some brown


As you see we made a few changes. The pinking shears I mentioned for one. Also I chose not to use green thread. I thought using red would look more like garland on our trees. I like the results. I may make a few with velvet and cotton and the pinking shears. Ko-Ko's has velevet and cotton but she backed it in satin.

RUNNER GETS SPARING GEAR

Runner has been very dedicated to his karate. He just loves it. So when the Sensi said she was putting in orders for sparing gear DH though it was worth it. It arrived Wednesday at karate and Runner came home with a huge mesh bag filled with his new treasure. He tried it on for us.

Today he wanted to practice his karate in his sparing gear. I said yes. He shared his joy with little Indy, who had a blast playing with Runner and the gear. I know it's not a toy but Runner wanting to share with his little brother is special. I know that this is something that brings him joy and sharing that is a good thing. Indy loves playing with him too. He sat so patiently after Runner agreed to put the gloves and helmet on him and he was so happy after.

STORY STARTERS

& how to make fun of your brothers.

I found some simple story starters at the dollar store. Since my kids are struggling with the idea of writing I have decided to work on Their confidence. I want just a bit of writing showing them that they are creative. So Letters, journal entries, story starters and other bits of creativity. I have created a few story starters myself but with a broken printer this will do for now. They leave less room to write then mine did, but it is confidence I am after at this point.
Here is Ko-Ko's story


It was the day of the big wedding. The fabulous movie star Lulu L'Amore, was going to marry Leon the Lion. All the photographers were there. Suddenly, all the lights went out and nobody cared. Before they got married the Lion dropped dead. Then An old man named SW (that did not look sexy), married Lulu. Because nobody cared about him he would clean for Lulu. She would give him a dollar a day because he did not have a job. And they lived happily ever after.


Here is a pic of SW proving his sexiness after the story. Like a good Mom I did my best not to laugh...I failed completely


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