So when the craft bug hit me, I decided to make a little ball for baby A, or Chuggity (new nickname that seems to be sticking) as well. You can find the pattern and instructions here. I didn’t have any batting, so I chose to fill it with grocery bags instead. Baby A loves that it makes the crinkly noise. It was so easy to make. It took me maybe 15 minutes TOPS. Next on the craft bug agenda: finish my many unfinished projects including birthday blanket for H and the remaining 9 bibs.
Baby A is at the age where she is eating food! Isn’t this stage so fun? I love seeing her reactions to all of the new flavors. Let’s face it, if I had to drink milk for 6 months straight foods like peas, sweet potatoes, and pears would be heavenly. We had one problem though. Would you believe we only had 2 bibs to our name. What the heck is that? Who has a baby and only owns 2 bibs? Us.
Well my brain went to brainstorming and I had a crafty bug take over. I decided to make some bibs. Here is how…
Supplies: cheap towel ($5 at Wal-Mart), bias tape, and Velcro.
DISCLAMIER: Before you begin I feel like I should warn you. My towel made 15 (FIVETEEN!) bibs! If you are not feeling quite as ambitious (mine is fading) buy a hand towel instead. Also, I bought one thing of bias tape and decided it would be too expensive to buy enough for ALL 15 towels, so I ended up using some fabric I had to finish off my edges. OK, I haven’t done it YET but it is in the plans. Just need to get a little ambition back.
Here it goes………..
{Step One}
Use an old bib (pretend like you don’t see the sweet potato stains) for your template. Pin it onto your towel and pin into place. Next, cut out your new bib.
{Step Two}
Using lots and lots of pins, pin your bias tape into place around the edges. Make sure you use enough pins to hold it into place really good. There are lots of little curves and if you don’t pin it well enough your bias tape will move and you won’t get a finished edge, or it might just look crappy.
{Step Three}
Sew your bias tape. Take your time! It’s easy to get going fast and than miss your back edge of the tape. Your have to make sure you get both sides in every spot or else your towel will fray like crazy.
{Step Four}
Sew your Velcro on and you’ve got yourself a handy dandy little bib. Sorry about the sideways pictures. I can’t get it to stay the right way. But you get the idea. I have loved using these babies. The towel soaks up all the nasties and wipes baby A’s face clean is a jiffy.
Best part: They wash up beautifully aka no sweet potato stains.
Yesterday we spent some time learning about Benjamin Franklin and making homemade kites. We read this book….
It is such a fun book! I had no idea that he was responsible for inventing so many things!
After reading this book we made some homemade kites in honor of Mr. Franklin. They are so easy to do. Here are some simple instructions:
Supplies needed are:
Yarn, computer paper, scissors, crepe paper, skewer, tape, hole punch, and markers.
{Step 1} Color your paper, or dont’, whichever you would like. My boys like coloring, so we colored it.
{Step 2} Fold paper in half and then fold like this…
About 3″ on one side and 1″ on the other.
{Step 3} Open paper with the folded part underneath like this….
and tape into place on the folded edges that meet in the middle.
{Step 4} Using a hole punch, punch a hole on the back side about 2 inches from top (top is the wider side, bottom is the smaller side). Does that make any sense at all? Oh just look at the picture…that explains it better. Cut your yarn about 3′ long and tie in the hole.
{Step 5} Cut skewer so that it fits from cornor to cornor and tape into place
{Step 6} Cut crepe paper about 4′ long and tape to bottom of kite (the shorter side). And you are done! [My picture won't upload, just know that the finished product is really cool]
Check out this easy and cute summer centerpiece. You will need these……
Salt Water Taffy’s, bamboo skewers, & a cute vase
All you do is shove the taffy’s onto the stick, put them in a cute vase (or in my case a mason jar) and you are done!
WARNING: Injuries are very likely. I suffered a few and after my kids were poked a couple of times they were banned from the project. Fine with them though. All they care about is eating the things.
I love these little “Loopy Flowers”. They are super easy to make too. Warning to reader: you will not be able to stop with just one.
Have at it!
Step 1: Cut 5 to 6 pieces of ribbon about 7 inches long.
Step 2: Lay 2 pieces of ribbon overlapping at the center to make a cross.
Step 3: Lay the remaining ribbon as shown.
Step 4: With a needle and coordinating color of thread, thread down through the center till the knot is at the bottom.
Step 5: Carefully flip the ribbons bunch over and begin by folding one ribbon over to make a loop. As you are folding it over, put the needle through the end in order to hold it in place…make sense?
Continue this step until all of the petals are formed.
6. Sew a button into the center of the flower. Make sure you sew through the layers a couple of times just to make sure they are good and secure. Tie off thread.
7. Hot glue onto an alligator clip. For instructions on how to cover the clip click here. Step 7 is all about covering the clip. 
Ta-Da! Cute huh?
Heres a little tip to stop the clips from sliding around while in your hair….you know that thin rubber sponge type stuff you get in the kitchen section at the store? It is used to help things not slide around in your cabinents or drawers. Well, if you get some of that, cut a little piece of it to fit inside your clip and then hot glue it to the top on the inside, your problem is solved.
After having two boys, it has been quite the adjustment switching into girl mode. I am not much of a girly girl myself, so to think about accessorizing a cutesy little gal was way over my head. Thank goodness for my fabulous neighbor! She got me going in girl mode quickly. She brought A a cute little bracelet and also showed me how to make some super cute and easy bows. So here is a quick and painless tutorial for you guys. Enjoy and let me know how it goes!
Materials needed:
Step 1: Cut ribbon to desired length. Mine is about 16-17 inches. If you want the bow big, cut it longer. A still has a tiny head so I didn’t want it to be enormous. The wider ribbon is a little harder to work with, so the longer it is, the easier it will be.
Step 2: This amazing little trick was shown to me by the “fabulous neighbor”. To keep ribbon from fraying after it has been cut, quickly (really quickly) burn the edges of it. A-MAZE-ING. You will need to do this on all of the ribbon ends…just in case I forget to mention it.
Step 3: Make a figure 8 with the ribbon like so…
Step 4: Squish the top and botton of the figure 8 into the center. (Imagine yourself making your 8 fatter by smashing the top and bottom…kapeesh?) Do you see your bow shape? Wrap a piece of wire tightly around the center to keep it in place.
Step 5: Add a little embellishment if you want. Sometimes its super cute to do another bow shape, just smaller, to add to the top of your bigger bow. On the one I am doing I just cut some smaller ribbon into about 2″ and added it to the top of my bow. The possibilities here are endless. And sometimes less is more. It’s completely up to you. (Remember to burn the edges of any ribbon you add to the bow in the step.)
So I can read your mind. You're thinking "That bow is not even on both sides." I swear it is...it is just the angle of the camera. I think I should have added more little white pieces too.
Step 6: Now we need to cover up the wire in the center. This step adds the finishing touch as well. The best ribbon size for this step is probably anywhere from 1/4″ to 1/2″. I am using 1/2″ on this bow. So without cutting your ribbon, tie it into a little knot that looks good. Then cut it with about 1″ on each side of the knot. Remember to burn the edges. Your bow will not last as long if you forget the burning steps…which is really easy to do.
Step 7: Now you are going to cover the alligator clip.
This is an alligator clip.
1/4″ ribbon works perfectly for this. Cut it about 4 inches long (burn edges) and begin by hot glueing it onto the back side of the clip (the underneath part of wear you squeeze).
Then glue on the inside of squeezy part to hide the springs.
Now cover the top of the the clip…isn’t hot glue amazing?
Step 8: Glue bow to the center of the top of the clip.
Step 9: Glue your knot to the center of the bow to hide the wire.
Now open your clip and wrap one end of the knotted ribbon to the underneath side of the inside of the clip. Trim of any extra. Then do the same to the other side, wrapping it around and underneath and trimming the extra. Quickly and CAREFULLY burn the edges of the knotted ribbon.
TA-DA…you are done.
Yup, should have added more white pieces. It's looking a little sparse.
Pretty easy, right? The more you do it, the easier it gets and the more creative you will become. Have fun!
