Hand Warmers

At Christmas time I made these really easy therapy packs.  They were a great gift and everyone has enjoyed them, especially my kids.  They love to use their small ones as boo-boo packs, and occasionally try to sneak my larger one to warm up with in bed.

Since we still have a few more weeks of chilly winter weather, I decided to use up some of my scrap fleece to make some hand warmers.  It's still pretty cold in the morning, in the van and waiting outside of school, so I thought these hand warmers would be helpful to keep tiny fingers warm.

I made them the same way I did the therapy packs, just smaller.  I used about a half cup of rice in each hand warmer (maybe a little less).  We warm them up just before we leave for school.  I put one set in the microwave for 30 seconds, take them out and shake the rice around a bit, then put them back in for another 30 seconds.  That usually does the trick.

 

Power Cuffs

Both of my kids love to dress up, so when I say these cool power cuffs over at 4 Crazy Kings I knew I was going to have to make these for my kids.

I used felt I already had on hand to make our power cuffs.  I started by cutting two 10 inch squares for each set of power cuffs.  The white will be for my daughter's and the black for my son's.

Next, I cut some felt in different colors that would be the fringe.  I folded each felt square in half and pinned the other felt between.

 

Then, I ran a straight stitch using my sewing machine to hold the pieces together, and cut the fringe.

The kids really liked these and instantly got dressed up to play super heroes.  I really liked that I had some scraps on hand to whip these up quickly.  If you don't have a sewing machine, I bet you could use hot glue to hold these together too. 

Christmas Cards

Every year, I put my kids to work and have them make their own Christmas cards for their classmates.  This year was no exception. 

For this year's cards we used some cardstock I already had on hand, some scrap paper, a rubber stamp, and paint.  I cut the cardstock to make the cards, and cut my scrap paper into triangles (for the tree) and rectangles (for the tree stump).  I used my decorative scissors to cut out the shapes and the kids glued them onto the front of their cards.  They used a q-tip with white paint to make dots of snow on the front around their tree.  Last, we stamped "Merry Christmas" inside the card and they signed their name.

Although these were very simple to make they turned out really cute!

Reusable Felt Gingerbread House

I made this reusable gingerbread house for my kids last year and really wanted to share it with you now.  I'm making another one as a gift for my daughter's preschool class, so thought this would be the perfect time to show you how I did it.

I started off by checking our recycling bins for old boxes I could use for the house.  I'm sorry I didn't mark down my measurements, I just cut the pieces to the size I wanted the house to be.  Those are the 2 roof pieces, 2 end walls and 2 long side walls.

I used my hot glue gun to glue the pieces together.

Next, I used a combination of spray adhesive and hot glue to attach the brown felt to the sides.  I started by adhering the felt to the end walls first, with pieces cut to match.

Then I adhered a longer piece that covered the long side wall, across the roof, and down the other long side wall.

I used the hot glue to fold over and keep the short ends down.

I used hot glue to adhere large white rickrack to cover the ends and add a decorative touch.

I glued the house to a base made from a thick piece of cardboard covered in batting.  Then I used my felt scraps to cut out a door, windows and lots of yummy candy to decorate the house with over and over again!

This was SO EASY to make!  The longest part was cutting out all those cute little candy decorations, but it was totally worth it, because my kids love it!

I am sharing this craft at the following blogs:

Paisley Passions

Fireflies and Jellybeans

Somewhat Simple

House of Hepworths
Black Kat's Design
Life as Lori
Yesterday on Tuesday
What Allie's Making Now
Suzy's Artsy-Craftsy Sitcom

Monogrammed Tote Bag

We have a birthday party to attend for two little friends, and I had the idea to pretty up some plain canvas tote bags to stash their gifts in. They actually came together pretty quickly. I used some leftover ribbon, and made their initials and a ruffled flower from some fabric scraps.  I love how the bags can double as a gift bag and a tote bag, for whatever the girls want to tote around.

Ribbon Ponies

Every once in a while, my daugter will skip the headband and ask for a ponytail.  We have some basic ponytail holders, but nothing too fancy.  And, I keep seeing these really cute decorated ponytail holders, but always figured I could make them myself.  So, I gave it a try!

I bought a pack of 100 ponytail holders at the dollar store, then raided my ribbon scrap jars to see what I could come up with.  Grab your glue gun and a lighter too - they will come in handy for this project.

I started off with one ponytail holder and some coordinating ribbons.  For this first one, I decided on two ribbons to keep it simple.

Next, I tied the smaller of the two ribbons onto the pony, pulling the knot tight.  Then, I tied the larger ribbon right on top of the other knot, again pulling tight.

To cover the knot, I cut a smaller piece of one of the ribbons, hot glued one end and wrapped it around the knot.

                                

With everything in place, I trimmed the ribbons and used a lighter to seal the ends.  All you need to do is move the flame close to the end of the ribbon and it will melt it.  This helps to keep your ribbon from fraying.

Here is the finished ribbon pony!  I think it turned out pretty well and looks really cute.  I love how easy they are to make, so I made another one in pink as well.

Ruffled Flowers

Ruffled flowers are my all-time favorite thing to make right now.  Not only are they really cute and fun to make, but they are so easy!  And you can use them to pretty-up so many items, like headbands, skirts, tops and necklaces.  I've seen these all over the crafty blog world, and once I tried them, I was hooked!

If you haven't seen these before, here are the simple step-by-step instructions.  I guarantee that once you make one, you'll make many, many more.

The first thing you need to do is gather your supplies.  You'll need some fabric scraps, scissors, pen, needle, thread and the items you want to use to create your circles.

Start by using your items to trace circles on your fabric.  I like to do a 3-layer flower.  I used the bowl for my largest circle, the top of the cup for my medium sized circle and the bottom of the cup for my smallest circle.  Cut the circles out of the fabric.

Next, you'll take each of your circles and fold them in half three times, then cut a small part of the tip off.  Each of your fabric circles will then have a small hole in the center.

Using the needle and thread, use a simple stitch to go around the opening in the center of your fabric.  Once you get all the way around, pull the thread tight and tie it off to gather the fabric.  Do the same for your other fabric circles.

Layer your fabric circles and stitch them together.  I like to add a button to the center for embellishment.

I made a few of these, because I'm feeling very patriotic this summer.  I think I'll use them to pretty-up a headband and plain white skirt I have.  What will you pretty-up with yours?