How to get inspired

So I was feeling blah today and then I got a message from Jessica at Mad in Craft, that she nominated me for a Kreativ Blogger award. It's very cool to know that people that don't know me in real life actually read and like my blog. So thanks so much, you have inspired me to post more often.

Okay, rule time:
~thank the person who nominated me for the award
~copy the logo and place it on my blog
~link to the person who nominated me
~list 7 things people may not know about me
~nominate 7 creative bloggers
~post their links
~leave a comment on each

7 Creative Bloggers

1. Filth Wizardry - super fun and neat craft project to do with your kids.
2. ikat bag - I just found this blog and love it. Great kids crafts and sewing projects. She has inspired me to get back to basics and make some pattern blocks and stop using commercial patterns that don't work like you want them to anyways.
3. Make It and Love It - Super cute craft projects for kids and adorable kids clothes.
4. Scrumdily-do! - great photos and fun projects.
5. The Activity Mom - just as the name states - great activities for your kids.
6. The Idea Room - this is just a beautiful blog. Her photos are amazing. Filled with tons of great crafts, recipes and tips.
7. Mad in Crafts - I know it's the person that nominated me but her blog is one of my favs. Lots of great thrifty ideas for the home.

7 things you may not know about me.

1. I'm a victim of the recession. My company did a bunch of restructuring just as I was returning from maternity leave - so when my position had been eliminated. I've enjoyed having more time off with my girls but now am itchy to get back into things but it's a tough time.
2. I've been sewing my whole life. I got my first real sewing machine when I was in grade 4 and have been sewing every since. I graduated high school with a vocational diploma in Fashion Technology and then went and got a BAA in Fashion Design.
3. I've tried too many crafts to name them all, I have a hard time sticking to anything.
4. I wish I could sew and craft all day - and maybe check out blogs :)
5. I have the 2 most beautiful girls in the world - seriously I think they are cuter than your kids :)
6. I have a hard time spending money on things, especially if I think I could make it.
7. I hate cleaning, my place is a mess and I hate it. I don't understand those people that don't have clutter and junk piles.

How to make princess hands

This was a project inspired by Mister Maker, BBC show that airs on Treehouse. He was making scary monster hands to surprise your friends with. After he showed how to make them he showed other options, included a queen hand. Lilo thought we should make pretty princess hands and not monsters since she didn't want to scare anyone. And since I had been saving some of my old rubber gloves it was easy.

First I stuffed the fingers with stuffing. Mister Maker actually stuffed the whole hand and put an old wooden spoon in the hand and tied the bottom closed. Then used a sock to put over your arm and to hold the spoon. Since I didn't have any old wooden spoons, we just put them on our hands and since the fingers were stuffed it worked on her small hand.

Then I cut out some nails out of craft foam and then we glued a bunch of stars and some flowers from a broken lei. We also added some stickers. I also had some white fun fur that I thought we could add a queen type cuff but Lilo didn't want it.

So, voila - beautiful princess hands.

But the monster hands were fun, they had furry knuckles and a few moles.

How to make a magnet board for the car or home

I made 2 magnet boards for my daughters for our road trips that we took this summer. It's super simple it's just a cookie sheet. You can use old ones or I picked this one up at Dollarama. Just double check to make sure magnets will stick since some aren't made from the right kind of metal.
Then I just covered with mac-tac (also from the dollar store). It fit perfectly on the kids laps in the car under their arm rests of the car seat. The mac-tac can be used as a dry erase board so you can bring dry erase markers and a cloth to wipe. Also bring magnet toys or letters. I made these plush coloured magnets for Isla since I was afraid of the magnets falling out of the plastic ones if (when) she chewed on them.

I got this fabric from a friend that is printed squares of colours. So I just had a layer of the printed fabric, a layer of white felt and a backing layer. I glued on a small magnet (dollar store) to the back of the felt layer and sewed around. I used fray check on the edges so they wouldn't fall apart.

Lilo liked the board for colouring books and Isla just liked the sound of things banging on it. Either way they were enjoyed and could be tucked easily away when they weren't being used.

This pretty one I made for one of the Pay-It-Forward people. I sent off 2 of the 4 gift, don't worry the other 2 will happen at soonish.

How to make Play Dough

I've seen a lot of recipes for play dough but after seeing this on Craftzine I thought I'd try it. They have a great printable recipe.

All you need to make it is 1cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon of oil. Mix together and put over med-low heat. The recipe over at Craftzine said to mix over heat for 10 mins but I'm not sure if my heat was too high or what but it took only minutes for it to come together.
Then take it off the heat and separate into balls to dye different colours. It's hot so be careful. I just put a few drops of colouring in and mixed it around. My sister-in-law said when she made it she put the hot dough in ziplocks to work the colour in. This way it's not as hot and you don't get dye all over your hands.
I realized the hard way that you don't leave the dye in arms reach of your toddler. She added a few more drops of green to the dough and counter (thankfully our counter is green) So I got a bunch of dye on my hands trying to quickly clean it.

I only had a few colours of liquid dye around so we had 4 colours - Lilo took off with the pink. Not sure if the gel dye would work - might try next time.

Just store in an airtight container or ziplock and it lasts just like play dough. I made it a few weeks ago and it's still soft. I also like that it doesn't have the chemically smell that play dough sometimes does.

How to make a poppy that will stay on your jacket

It's neat with Lilo in school now coming home taking about the things she has learned. She started talking about poppies and remembrance day last week. And she kept pointing out everyone who was wearing poppies. So I realized that we needed to get some but the problem with them is the stick pin that's in them and falls off easily and can poke you.
So I found some of my brooch backings (you can get these at the dollar store) and glued them on. First I took the pin out and glued the black centre in place. Then I glued the backing on. I used my glue gun but it didn't hold, it fell off Lilo's jacket after a game of tag on the way home from school. Now I'm trying Alene's jewelry glue - so hopefully that will work.
Then I made one for my leather jacket - one that I didn't have to poke a hole into my jacket. I first used wire cutters to cut the pin short (since I like the look of the silver pin on the front of the poppy)
Then I glued a magnet to the back (you can get these at the dollar store, too) - the glue also held the pin in place and I therefore didn't need to glue the back flower centre in place.
Then use another magnet on the other side of the collar and they will stick together and the poppy will stay. I tried it on my husband's thick leather jacket collar and it stayed in place.

On November 11th, please take a moment to remember those who have fought for our freedom.

Muffin Tin Mondays - Green Eggs and Ham

Last night while I was reading Lilo Green Eggs and Ham before bed, she asked if I liked green eggs and ham. I said that I had never tried them, maybe we could make them for lunch tomorrow. Since there was no set theme for Muffin Tin Monday I thought this would be fun.

So here are my green eggs and ham - along with the boat (that he would not eat them on)
The green eggs are egg white that I cut into circles using a cup and a scoop of avocado for the green yolk.
The ham was just painted with food colouring.
And the boat is a good ole PB&J with a cheese slice sail (that broke before I could get a photo)

Lilo will now say that she does like green eggs and ham and Isla liked the ham best - even though in the picture she has a funny face - she did like it :)

While I was making lunch Lilo got on the computer and remembered this site and wanted to watch/listen to the Green Eggs and Ham book - and then I also read the book to them while they were eating.

Check out more Muffin Tins here.

How to extend the life of hand me downs

With 2 girls I'm lucky that Isla has many hand me downs. It's fun to open a box that has been packed up for a year and half or more. So many cute clothes, some that were barely worn but others like these jeans that were well loved. So instead of just buying new ones, since I'm cheap, I mean environmentally conscience and not wanting to waste :) - I patched them up.

I played around with circle patches but they looked boring so I made the circles into flowers. I used some iron on adhesive on the fabric to attach them to the pants.

Then using a zig-zag with a super short stitch length I went around the flower. It was a little tricky to get up the pant leg and around the flower.

I love how the turned out. I have another pair of jeans that could use a patch - I'm thinking butterflies patches next time.

I love how they look like I bought them this way and not just patching up old pants.

Muffin Tin Monday - Outer Space

Muffin Tin Monday theme today was Outer Space. I had idea to make aliens and stuff but I thought I'd ask Lilo what she thought was in space. She said, planets, rocket ships, star and the world. So here's what I came up with.

Top row: banana moon, PB&J rocket ship (with a little help from some icing tubes), cheese star

Bottom row: apple planet and egg rings planets (hard boiled egg sliced with an old school slicer and the yolks poked out - Lilo sometimes likes the yokes but not today.)

And I was happy that Lilo almost ate it all. Isla on the other hand was more interested in my salad.

Check out Muffin Tin Mom for other Outer Space meals

How to make a halloween bird mobile

I saw this super cute bird pattern over at Spool Sewing and they made this colourful bird mobile. I thought it would be fun to do a Halloween version.

I made it last year and it looks much cooler when it's dark out but it's daytime now and I wanted to post this before Halloween this year (EDIT: I've added the night photo from Halloween night)I hung it outside by our front door last year and we had green lights behind it - very cool looking.

Anyways, I found all the different black fabrics I could find, velour, an assortment of vinyl, raw silk, spandex and a few printed fabrics that worked.

I realized afterwards that I really should have read the instruction instead of just guessing them like I usually do - since you weren't suppose to stuff their tails. So they could have been a big cuter and well balanced better maybe.
The hardest part was trying to get the birds to balance. Every time I glued them they would want to fall upside down - so some are. Maybe they are bat birds :)

In the dark you can't tell.