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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Cool Pencil Pouch!

My son had a hard time finding a pencil pouch he liked for school this year, so we bought a plain one with plans of making it much cooler.  I've been practicing my hand embroidering and wanted to give it a try as we turned a plain black and gray pencil pouch into a really cool pencil pouch featuring his favorite book character!

I printed out pictures from the internet and pinned them to the pouch.  Then, using embroidery floss, I stitched right over top of the design on the paper.  When I was finished, I just tore off the paper leaving only the stitching behind.  I think it turned out looking really cool!  My son is really excited as well and can't wait to show it off on his first day of school!







 

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Back to School - Repurposed Shirt

Every year before my kids head back to school, I drag the big totes out of the eaves that contain all their fall and winter clothing.  We pull everything out, try things on, and see what we might need to replace since we've outgrown things. 

Trying to save a little money this year, I decided to look through the pile of outgrown clothing and see if there was anything I could repurpose.  One thing that caught my eye, was this simple but cute penguin shirt.  My daughter and I both loved this shirt, but the long sleeves had become too short on her this year.  But paired with the sleeves of another too small shirt, we might be able to get another season of life out of it.



So, I took the blue shirt and cut the sleeves off.  I cut a straight line across at the arm pit.




Next, I cut the sleeves off the penguin shirt, leaving about 3/4 of the original length of the sleeves.




Then, I turned the blue sleeves inside out, slipped them onto the white sleeves and pinned them in place.



I used a straight stitch to sew the sleeves together.  When I was finished, I removed the pins and pulled the blue sleeves down and right side out.



Although the length of this shirt was still ok, I thought it couldn't hurt to add a little hem from the blue shirt to match the blue sleeves we added.  So I cut the bottom hem off the blue shirt, plus a few inches.



Again, I pinned this into place along the bottom hem of the white penguin shirt, and sewed the two hems together with a straight stitch.



I think it turned out really cute!  And I'm glad we were able to save another shirt for another year!


Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Sticker I Spy

My kids have TONS of stickers!  They love getting them, but for some reason they don't like using them, so we have an entire shoe box tote full of stickers.  So, I thought I'd put some of these stickers to good use and made I Spy Sticker pages.

They were really simple to put together.  I took a piece of cardstock and covered it in stickers.  I used a few big ones, filled in a majority of the space with small to medium sized stickers, then filled in the small spots with those really tiny sticker chart stickers.  There are easily over 100 stickers on the page. 




I slipped the cardstock into a page protector.  I printed a page that had a list of all the stickers that were on the page and slipped it in the page protector behind the sticker page.  This would be a great little game to keep in the car.  The older kids can read their list on the back to find things on their own.  Or the kids can look at each other's sticker page and tell the other what to find.




What do you spy on our sticker pages?

Sharing at...

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Blogiversary Winners!

I apologize for the delay in announcing the winners for the Blogiversary Giveaways.  I honestly bit off a little more than I could chew, trying to host the giveaways and plan and prepare for my daughter's birthday party.  Sorry!  But, here are the winners for the three giveaways, chosen using Random.org.


The winner for day #1, the eye spy jar, is...


Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
1
Timestamp: 2011-08-03 00:05:02 UTC

"Christie said...
I would love to win this for my girls! I keep meaning to make one but never seem to find the time or materials to do it.
July 12, 2011 12:28 PM"




The winner for day #2, the mosaic pot craft kit, is...


Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
6
Timestamp: 2011-08-03 00:00:55 UTC

"annakim23 said...
This looks like a perfect craft to do with a toddler!
July 14, 2011 10:27 PM"


The winner for day #3, the journal giveaway, is...


Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
8
Timestamp: 2011-08-06 22:05:10 UTC


"Heidi @ Mom's Crafty Space said...
I'm a follower :)
July 21, 2011 12:53 PM "

Congratulations to all of the winners!  Please contact me at themuddyprincess@gmail.com with your full name and mailing address.  Please contact me by Thursday, August 4th.  If I do not here from the winners by the end of the day on the 4th, I will choose a new winner.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Pirate Princess Birthday Party

My daughter recently celebrated her 5th birthday with a Pirate Princess party.  My inspiration came from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, a new show on Disney Junior, and one of her favorites.

I started by making this invitation to send out to all her pirate friends.  I found the adorable pirate girl graphics HERE.



With the extreme heat, we knew this year's party would definitely need to revolve around the pool, so the decorations went up around the pool area. 

I made the "Pirate Lagoon" sign on a piece of butcher paper and attached it to a hula hoop coverd in black crepe paper.  The pink bunting was made from a vinyl shower curtain I bought on clearance at Target.  I cut out the triangles and sewed them together.



I purchased the white net from Oriental Trading Company and made the pink/black/white scrap banners with some leftover fabric I had.



I did add this extra bunting and wooden X in our front yard by the mailbox.  This would help guests find where X marked the spot for the party!


For the party, we provided some pirate goodies for our guests.  Pirate friends who attended, each received a pirate bandana and a handmade eye patch.  For the eye patch I purchased stretchy headbands and sewed on a pirate patch shape cut from felt.  The pink designs were cut using my Cuttlebug, and attached with sticky dots.




I made newspaper swords for big brother and his friend, following the tutorial at Filth Wizardry.  The pirates also decorated a wooden treasure box.





The birthday pirate princess had a special outfit to wear for the day as well.  I didn't get many pics of her in this because most of our time was spent in the pool.  I made the pirate skirt a while ago and created this shirt to go with it.  And Heather, over at Celtic Tide Creations, was kind enough to create this Izzy (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates) hair clip.





Besides lots of giggling and splashing in the pool, the pirate friends also went on a treasure hunt.  I made up some clues for the kids to follow.  To make them look old, I tore the edges of the paper, then soaked each piece in a bowl of soda and soy sauce.  They ended up with this nice vintage looking color.





The pirates found the treasure where X marked the spot -  in the sandbox!  Then everyone gathered around to collect their loot and add it to their treasure boxes they decorated when they arrived.  Treasure included rings, necklaces, pirate coins and tattoos.  I even made some of the pretty pink pirate coins into old looking coins for big brother and his friend using gold spray paint and brown acrylic paint.






Of course, no party is complete without a birthday cake.  Here is the cake and cupcakes I made.  The same graphics I used for the invitations were the same ones I used for the cupcake toppers.




It was a fantastic party had by all!  My daughter had a blast celebrating with her pirate princess friends.  Seeing all those big bright smiles behind pink frosting covered faces and pink bandana covered heads was all the proof I needed to know, "this was the best birthday ever!"  :)


Sharing our party at the following blogs: