Smooshy, Gooey, and Warm!

Kool Aid Play Dough

2 kgs. Kool-Aid
2 Cups of flour
2 Cups boiling water
1/2 Cup salt
2 Tbls. oil
Combine flour, salt, Kool-aid and oil; mix until water is boiling. Add water. Mix until cool enough for your kids to mix it themselves. This is part of the fun.

We made some this morning for Morgan and her very best friend Kate to play with. They actually played for almost 2 hours. That is good fun!

Then Camille, Chris's love made a creature. The girls felt the need to make matching creatures.

I can not wait for Chris to see this creature in his bedroom!

Keeping Busy

I have 2 cute neighbors who have new babies. One was born on Christmas day and the other the 28th. Yipee!! I get to snuggle babies. So because I love them both and really need to stay busy so that I do not kill anyone while waiting for the cravings to go away, I made cute blankets. Well I made 1. The other I will save for tomorrow. Same concept, minky on one side, super cute cotton on the other, cute fabric to make binding with. All together, honestly it does not look like it should take me 4 hours to make. But it did, so is that more about me or the process, or the lack of caffeine? Either way I sorta love the colors on this blanket.

Family Tree

This is one of my favorite paper crafts ever. It is so simple.

First you pick a nice background paper. I like the stripey one.

Truth be told the one I am scrap lifting is actually pieced together

with several different papers, little strips glued to one

background paper. I thought there were so many cute

paper patterns that I would just cut out that step. OK, so

I don't have a "Cricut" machine but my friend does. She

generously cute oodles of ovals out for me in each color. The

exact amount is about 20 in each color. Way more then you

imagine you need. Next I used a stamp pad, brownish in color

to edge and distress the leaves. I also folded them in half to give

them even more dimension. Then you just write the

names of your family members on as many leaves

as you need. I just did my immediate family but

extended family would be really cute too.

Then I just free hand drew a tree trunk on the

back of the brown paper. Then I cut it out, next I used glue

dots to adhere the tree trunk to the paper. Then you add

the leaves, making sure to evenly distribute the names

and colors.

Last I added a cute little quote about how

money does not grow on this tree,

that it is a tree where love grows, and finished

it off with our family name and date of marriage!

Kids and Friends

A few days ago my friends Sara took my kids, her kids, and a couple other kids

to Pioneer Village. This was so very nice to her, and maybe just a bit insane!

The kids had so much fun. Especially Morgan, she got to ride

a horse. Chad tells me he is too old for pony rides. Well

poo poo on him for growing up! Morgan made a corn husk doll,

which is super cute and simple. I think that the favorite part

of the day was dipping candles. They both dipped

their own and loved telling me all about it. So we put them in a

cup of popcorn to help them stand up and lit them up.

I think the best part of the day for them was the sense of

satisfaction they both had by making something for

themselves. A good thing to remember.

By the way....they both think we should make our
own candles from now on! Good Grief! One more thing
to try to fit in! Just kidding, we live in 2008
for a reason!

Embellished Bag

I saw this super cute bag on Martha Stewart yesterday. I was so excited to try it! My friend has a birthday today so I made her one!

First thing is buy a canvas bag in the size you want, or you can make one. I actually bought this one, but I found canvas in cute colors at Walmart so the next ones will be made. You also need wool felt in the colors you want. OK...so you seam rip the bag open on the sides and turn it inside out.

Next trace a word or letter "backwards" on the inside of the bag. You do it backwards because it shows correctly on the front!! You can print something out or just get crazy and freehand it! Which is what I did.

Then you pin 2 layers of wool felt to the front side. You only need them to be large enough to cover the word or letter you choose. I just did one initial for the 1st time.

So then its kind of like tracing with your sewing machine...they said to use a special foot, but it worked fine with my plain old one, nothing fancy. (SORRY NO PICTURE) After you sew over the word you traced on the inside...you turn it right side out and remove your pins.

Next you first cut away the top felt, close to the seam about 1/8 an inch, I think smaller scissors would have been better but who knows where those are... I will have to check the dogs bed or the barbie box! Then you cut around the second layer 1/8 inch from the first cut!

And the finished project! I think it is pretty cute.. I would not choose such swirly letters next time; it was kind of hard to cut around. On the show they made simple flowers, words, names and initials. I have grand plans for my family!

From Trash To Treasure

I found this table at a garage sale for $10. What a deal. It is in excellent condition, just painted an unattractive minty green on top. I love the idea of the drop leaf farm house table. I think that having an extra table for game nights or a kids table when we have a lot of company over or for what I plan to use most often, a entry table. So check back to see just what I end up doing with this cute table. A hint?? I paint everything, my husband HATES it. He is color blind so he does not see the problem with the way they are. If I were to leave our furniture the way they come we would have a mahogany bookshelf, a pine side table, a cherry hope chest and a bright yellow bench. All of which is now painted black and looks quite lovely next to each other. So lets just see how I make this item fit with the rest!