JOY Jars

I always tend to have a last minute Christmas present that I need to make or get and am clean out of ideas. Anyone else? I love to give handmade gifts but sometimes I run short of ideas.

So last week when I went to my mommy group Christmas gift exchange I loved this idea and totally went home to make some of my own! Many thanks to Melissa for this great present!!!!

 These little jars certainly brought some joy to my day and week as I made them for friends and family.

Psst.....If any of you see this in your Christmas present bag you'll know where my inspiration came from.

Take some glass jars and decorative rocks and fill your jars a couple inches deep.

Then using a Cricut and some scrapbook paper...I used scraps from previous projects, make a background 3x5 card and round the edges and cut out your letters for JOY.....

You can also do different holiday cards so you just have to change out the cards from one holiday to the next.... Hearts for Valentines Day, 3 ring clovers for St. Patrick's Day, MOM for Mother's Day, EGG for Easter, DAD for Father's Day, USA for Fourth of July, BOO for Halloween, or just put 3 pictures on paper to keep in the jars while you wait between the seasons.




I love these holiday settings because they can become functional all year without having to redo much in your home.

Making crayon fun!

For some of my Christmas presents I made my nieces an art smock and wanted to add something else with a personal/crafty touch. Rather than buy new crayons, I raided my crayon stash at work (I'm a full time teacher, so there were plenty of broken crayons in my classroom.) and had the kids peel off the paper for me. I took some silicone ice cube/baking trays from the local dollar store (and some borrowed from a friend) and made my own homemade crayons!

Note: This project did get a bit messy with crayon bits all over my kitchen floor and under my nails, so be prepared to clean up.

I baked mine for about 25 minutes about 200 degrees.

1- Peel crayons, break into small pieces and sort into colors. Or you can mix up the colors if you like.

2- Employ small children to help you break them- oh, so much fun!- and then sort them. Talk about a learning game.....productive and entertaining for mom and kids!

3- Lay out your trays on top of a cookie sheet or flat baking surface so it easier to remove.

 

4- Let your crayons cool in the pans and harden. then carefully pop them out.

5- Sort them out into little plastic baggies and you've got a great little gift!

 

 

Fireman tee shirt

My little man loves firetrucks, firefighters and all such things....so I redid a plain red shirt and decorated it just for my little fireman want to be.

I found the tee on clearance at Target, but little man isn't a fan of plain shirts. It had a pocket on the front of it, which I removed with my seam ripper. I used some June Taylor transfer paper and ran it through the printer with this little decoration then cut it out and ironed it on top of where the pocket had been. Big hit with my boy!

Now if only my warm Florida weather would return so he could wear it!

Wubbzy Art smock

I've got a sweet little girl that is a dear friend of ours up in the cold region of Minnesota. So I wanted to make sure to send her a Christmas gift she could use in the nice heated indoors. Being that I know her and her mama are both crafty ladies I decided on making her an art smock, chalk mat and then a little zippered tote with art supplies to use. And yes, there is a lot of Wow, Wow Wubbzy fabric involved in this gift set!

Here's another art smock I used for a previous birthday present....I see a few more being made before the Christmas holiday!

Pillowcase Dress Duo

I've made a little girl dress in the past, but this past weekend I worked on a matching set of dresses for some adorable cuties and their Christmas outfits. 

Maybe because it's Florida, but we're not always in full Christmas attire this time of year, so the mama went for a fun flirty pattern they could use year round with our weather. Love the versatility of these little dresses. 

I also enjoyed the flowers that I added to the dresses, felt like a nice little touch.

Fabric Baskets!!!!

LOVE these little baskets! After scouring all over Etsy and planning on buying one from a shop, I scored an awesome pattern from Nestings. After searching through some fabric and a quick late night trip to Wal Mart for some craft fuse here are a few samples I have of the little fabric baskets.


These Cars ones below are going to be for my little man at Christmas time. I have a few sets of Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars that I've already purchased for him and I'm going to toss them in here with tissue paper for under the tree.

This little one was my sample with handles. Still not sure which way I like it better. The basket is a little small for the handles, so I am afraid it looks a little funny. But at the same time, I might use it as a gift holder for small toys or treats, in which case little kids might enjoy the handles. 

I have already started planning the big baskets and will post photos of those once I get them made.

Let me know what you think about the baskets....and handles or no handles.... :)

It's here...long over due

So after a huge, terrible, frustrating, infuriating ordeal with my local sewing store (from which I did purchase my sewing machine a couple years ago) I finally was able to track down an embroidery card that is compatible with my machine so I can add names, monograms, and personalized touches to my projects!!!! YEAH!

After sewing some projects together today, I went ahead and set everything up to transfer my machine from sewing into embroidery station and give this thing a go. I get it all ready and lo and behold my embroidery hoop for the machine is m.i.a.! Seriously, after all this time, I can't find the hoop! I know I have it somewhere, but it's not in any of the places it should be :(


So frustrating. Oh well, I suppose it will just be something I have to go purchase tomorrow. Grrr. to the local sewing store. Grrr... to me misplacing my hoop.

Happy Halloween

Well I couldn't resist the holiday shirt opportunity and since I've gotten past the yucky part of pregnancy, I thought I would come back to life with my sewing machine, so I made MJD a little shirt for our visit to the Pumpkin Festival yesterday. 

 

Not exactly a super fantastic picture of the shirt, but one of the best I had. It does read "BOO" on it and the little man was the one who picked out the fabric for it. 

Hope you had a fun and safe Halloween!

Spicing things up

So there's a new banner on the blog, and on the store. Wanted to spice things up a bit and have a little change. What do you think?

Been a while....more than a while....

So I finally got back to blogging. Don't take it personally, my family blog has been bleak too. So here's why. I was suffering through the first trimester of my second pregnancy!!!

Yes, this crafty mama is expecting her next one to the crew!!! Maybe it's because last time I was pregnant I didn't have a crazy man toddler to chase after so perhaps that is part of the reason I felt better. But this baby has been kicking my butt, plus the fact that I found out I was pregnant right when I went back to work and the busyness of work plus pregnancy was not too easy.

Nevertheless......the rough patch is over! Praise God. I finally am starting to feel a little more normal. And I am contemplating returning to my sewing machine and crafting. Yes, my poor machine has been lonely the last couple months.

Be on the lookout....Holiday projects are on the way!