Whatever Wednesday #16

Hi all!  Hope everyone had a great Christmas!  Ours was AMAZING!  We had a great time with family and friends and I hope you had the same.

This weeks Whatever Wednesday is just plain cute...

Jack has a courageous fashion sense.

He was standing for a picture but got a little shy.  He decided to dress himself the other day 

(he loves to dress himself)

and he chose an orange and tan stripped shirt with blue plaid shorts...both on backwards.

What a cutie-pie!

Ginger

SSB

Tak'n a Break!

Hey folks...sorry to disappoint you but Mad Skills is taking a week off.  

I'll resume next Monday!

See you then!

Ginger

Merry Christmas with THE BIG REVEAL!

Merry Christmas everyone!  And here is the big reveal...finally.

Just in time, huh?

For the finishing touches, we used glitter...a lot of it!

I used plain ole Elmers glue for detailed parts and spray glue for larger areas.

Here are my candy canes...

And my north pole...

My angel...

And my other angel...he wanted to be one too.

We cut bowes for the present instead of painting them on.  We glued them with wood glue and weighted them down.  Same with the star for the tree.

So now I have some beautiful yard decorations for Christmas to used with love for year after year!

It was a lot of work and took me a lot longer than expected, but I am pleased with the results!

Happy Holidays!

Ginger

SSB

Revealing What a Kid I Am...

So, I have to admit...I'll watch Christmas movies year round.  And my absolute favs are the old Christmas cartoons that everyone remembers.

Here is a walk down a Christmasy memory lane...

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Rodulph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Frosty the Snowman

And a Charlie Brown Christmas!

Enjoy!

Ginger

SSB

Whatever Wednesday #15

When I was a kid, my mom would let me hang a few ornaments and then touching the tree once completed was forbidden!

But I want Jack and Sam to remember decorating the tree (and Christmas as a whole) as a fun and joyous time with family...not that my childhood Christmas weren't, but it wasn't fun to not be included in decorating fun.

So I came up with some fun games and activities involving your Christmas tree!  

A great way for your kids to enjoy the tree, but also learning to respect and treat it carefully.

Activities:

1.  Let them pick out a special ornament from the store.  If its an ornament of their very own, they will be more likely to treat it carefully.

(This year, Jack picked out a Buzz Lightyear ornament...he carried it home like baby and still points it out to EVERYONE!)

2.  Make paper ornaments (snowflakes, etc.), popcorn and cranberry garland, or hand-painted ornaments.  Jack felt a great sense of accomplishment once he knew he contributed something to the tree.

Games: 

1.  Enjoy looking at some sentimental ornaments.  Include a story about that character or how you received that ornament.

2.  Spy some Christmas shapes!  Find all the bells, stars, or angels on the tree.

3.  Christmas Color fun!  Find all the red, green, or white ornaments on the tree.

4.  Christmas Counting fun!  Count all the different ornaments...or even the presents underneath the tree!

5.  Christmas fun with textures!  Look at all the different textures...is it a shiny ball, or a glittery angel?

Hope you have a happy tree!!!  Enjoy!

Ginger

SSB

Garbage Catcher Tutorial

So I made some cute garbage catchers for the car for all the ladies in the family...

and here is the promised new and improved tut!  

 

The best thing about this project is that you can use up a bunch of scrap...I only bought fabric for one bag because my mom is picky because my mom requested a certain color scheme.

You will need:

(4) 7.5 x 11 pieces of fabric (2 for the main fabric and 2 for the liner)

(1) 7 x 3 piece of fabric for the loop

thread, scissors, iron, sewing machine, etc.

Step 1:  cut out your 4 main pieces and the loop piece

Step 2:  tri-fold and iron the loop piece long ways, then sew right down the middle with a zig zag

Step 3:  sew your 2 main pieces (right sides together) in a basic bag form

Step 4:  sew you liner pieces (right sides together) in a basic bag form with a hole in the bottom to turn inside out

Step 5:  now it can get a little tricky...lay the completed piece (outside fabric) down on the table and lay the piece with the hole (liner fabric) right on top.  So counting the "sheets" of fabric, there will be 4 on top of one another (the bottom 2 sewn together and the top 2 sewn together).

Pinch the VERY BOTTOM sheet and the VERY TOP sheet together and fold the 2 middle pieces down inside so you will not catch them in the sewing machine.  

Step 6:  Fold the loop in half and place IN BETWEEN your pinched layers with the TRI-FOLD SEAM FACING DOWN.  Pin in place.

(so to re-cap, loop seam facing down pinned between the top and bottom layers...the middle layers smooshed down so as not to catch them in the sewing machine)

Step 7:  Sew the fabric all the way around; double up around the loop for extra support.

Step 8:  After sewing, it should look like this.

Step 9: Then, turn right side out thru the little hole we left in the liner.

Now it look like this...much like a pillow case.

Step 10:  Sew the little hole closed.

Step 11:  Then stuff the liner part into the main part.

Step 12:  Iron the bag flat a little and top stitch around the opening.

Step 13:  Reinforce the sides about an inch down for extra support...and this helps the bag to not "gape" open when hanging in the car.

All done!  

And quick too...it only took me about 20 minutes to make!

And a quick way to present it to a friend...

I took a regular sticky Christmas name tag and stuck it on some card stock.  Roll up the bag, punch a hole in the card stock and tie with a ribbon!

Enjoy!

Ginger

SSB

I'm linking:

Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do
Tot Tuesday at My Delicious Ambiguity
Creative Juice Tuesdays at These Creative Juices
Fingerprints on the Fridge 
Keeping It Simple
The Trendy Treehouse

Mad Skills Monday #38 CHRISTMAS EDITION!

Happy Sunday all!  Everyone getting ready for Christmas!?

I have had TONS of projects going on...the most exciting are my wooden Christmas character cut-outs...in which the BIG REVEALING is coming up soon!

I've been working on some other fun Christmas crafts including my Quick Holiday Bags and 

some too cute DIY Poinsettia Ornaments.

And now on to Mad Skills Monday!  Last weeks show stoppers are...

The Poor Woman's Cupcake in a Jar from Stuff by Ash...too cute!

This awesome glitter tree by Clean & Scentsible

And I am in LOVE with this golf ball ornament from Full of Great Ideas

Thanks so much everyone for all your awesome projects!  All the creativity is just too much!

Due to time constraints, I was not able to post comments to each and every link.  I will try my very best in future parties to post to every link, but may not be able to.

If you were featured today, please feel free to snag the featured button for your blog!

    <br>        <center><a href="http://www.superstinkyboys.blogspot.com/"><br><img alt="Photobucket" src="http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae124/appleseedgifts/toytruck3.jpg" border="0" /></a></center><br>   

This week, I'm linking up our Hand-Print Christmas Tree Kids craft!

Now its your turn

to link up something CHRISTMASY!

1. Link up something crafty, creative, or fun that you wanna share that is Christmas or Winter Holiday related! 

2. Please link to the blog post and not your main page.

3. No shopping pages please.  An offer to buy your item at the end of a tut is welcomed!

4. Snag the Mad Skills button and include it on your tut post so others can see where you've linked!  (PS- this button was designed from my sons art work....if you are interested in a custom button, please contact me!)

5. PLEASE VISIT AT LEAST 2 OTHER LINKS IN THE PARTY AND LEAVE SOME COMMENT LOVE!

This linky party will end on Friday the 24th at midnight.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!





<br><center><a href="http://superstinkyboys.blogspot.com/2010/12/mad-skills-monday-link-party-38.html"><br><img alt="Photobucket" src="http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae124/appleseedgifts/Christmasbutton-1.jpg" border="0" /></a></center><br>

 

Kids Christmas Craft and Keepsake

A Hand-print Christmas Tree painting...I saw this the other day, but I don't remember where for the life of me...

but this kids craft has been floating around since I was a kid, so I think it'll be okay.

These make great keepsakes to remember little fingers!  Remember my quick Father's Day keepsake?

We were going to do one for both kiddo's, but Jack elected to play Lego's instead.

Here's what you need:

construction paper

green paint

yellow paint (we ended up not using it)

paint brush
green glitter (optional)

puff balls

marker

We painted Sammy's hand green with the paint brush and made hand prints in a triangle pattern.  You can do a yellow hand print at the top for a star (but we ran out of room).  We put a yellow puff ball on top instead.

Next, sprinkle a little green glitter and glue down some puff balls for the ornaments.  Lastly, I wrote Samuel Glenn 2010 at the bottom with a black sharpie.

All done!

Happy crafting!  Enjoy!

Ginger

SSB

I'm linking:

Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do
Tot Tuesdays at My Delicious Ambiguity
Creative Juice Tuesday at These Creative Juices

Stylish Blogger Award...Yippee!

So Tricia over at Mom is the Only Girl was kind enough to bestow 

The Stylish Blogger Award to me!!  Yippee!

So head on over and say hi for me...Thanks bunches Tricia!

 
So lets see, the rules.
1.  Thank and link back.  Done.
2.  Share 7 things about yourself.  Got it.
3.  Pass it on to 15 bloggers.  You bet.
4.  Contact and congratulate those bloggers.  ABSOLUTELY!

Seven things about ME:
1.  I never make my bed.
2.  I take my shoes off at work.
3.  I wash the ice cube trays in the dish washer.
4.  I never use dryer sheets.
5.  I make my husband clean the toilets.  Ug.
6.  I talk in my sleep...so my husband says.
7.  I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

15 fab bloggers (some are old favs):
1.  Life in Rehab
2.  Sand to Pearl
3.  This Present Life
4.  Clean and Scentsible
5.  Super qt on the Hill
6.  Serving Pink Lemonade
7.  Increasingly Domestic
8.  Three Boys
9.  Keen Inspirations
10.  A Good Balance?
11.  To Sew With Love
12.  It's A Priceless Life
13.  Sew Super Sweet
14.  20 Something
15.  Pot Holes and Panty Hose

Alrighty!  All done...phew!  Congrats everyone and thanks so much for making SSB a regular hang out!
You guys make it special!

Ginger

SSB

More Garbage Catchers for Christmas Gifts

So you remember my easy garbage catcher for the car?

I made a few more for some girlfriends as Christmas gifts and I think they turned out pretty darn cute!

I snagged this cute paisley fabric out of the remnant bin at Hobby Lobby and loved it!

I didn't include a liner in my first design and though it did the job of "catching garbage" it was kinda flimsy and I didn't like seeing the raw side of the main fabric inside.

I used a pretty coordinating fabric and made liners for these...

They are now a lot stronger and can withstand all the "garbage catching"...

...plus they're cuter!

I plan on making a heap of these for family and friends this year!  I think I may come up with an updated tutorial too, so check back for that.

Ginger

SSB

I'm linking:

Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans
Hooked Up at House of Hepworths
Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge
Plant a Seed at Punkin Seed Productions