Mar 22, 2012

Flower Bobby Pins

Hey Friends!

Phew!  It has been a busy couple of weeks for us over here!  
I have busily been sewing away in preparation for the big competition coming up in April.  I've got a good head start, but I'd like to get a little more done before the first round so I don't get caught with an unfinished sewing project if I advance in the competition.  


With Easter fast approaching I've already got Addie's dress ready to go, and goodness, it's cute!  I can't share it with you just yet, but I can show you the little hair accessories I made to go with her dress.  

These five-petal flowers come together quickly and are a great way to jazz up a simple braid, ponytail or bun.

I followed this great tutorial for the flower basics.


Then I attached the flower to a bobby pin.


Then I popped 'em right in Addie's hair!


A perfectly cheery Easter hair-do!

I'll be linking up to a few of these fine link parties:

Make-It-Yourself Monday - An Original Belle
Made with Love Monday - Sew Chatty


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Mar 14, 2012

Guest Post: The Party Works

Today Lisa from The Party Works is here to share some fun party ideas for children's birthday parties.  Welcome here, Lisa!  Thanks for visiting!  ~Jen

Craft Ideas for Children’s Birthday Parties

If you’re a mom who loves crafting, you probably love crafting with your kids too. One of the best ways to have a successful birthday party is to plan out activities ahead of time. If you keep the party structured, the kids will be less likely to get into trouble.
 

Some of the most enjoyable party activities for kids involve making crafts. Most schools don’t dedicate as much time to arts and crafts as they used to. So, kids jump at the opportunity to express themselves creatively. If you want to make crafting a central focus of your child’s birthday party, here are five fun craft ideas for kids:

1. Cookie Decoration

All you need are some sugar cookies, icing of different colors, and sprinkles for this activity. The kids will love to make their own cool looking cookies and then eat them.

2. Make Your Own Funny Sunglasses

You just need inexpensive plastic sunglasses, craft glue, confetti, buttons, seashells, and sequins for this activity. The kids can glue the flair onto their sunglasses and be as creative as they want when it comes to designing their own shades.

3. Origami

Some pretty paper and a few origami instruction books is all you need for this activity. The kids can have fun for hours making their own paper cranes, frogs, and other paper animals. This isn’t necessarily always the best activity for kids who have a lot of energy. Origami requires a fair amount of attention and patience, and it’s often considered a better activity for girls’ parties than for boys’ parties.

4. Card Decoration

This activity gives the kids a chance to draw and make something nice for a family member or friend. You may want to give the kids some construction paper and markers for this activity. Or you could get some watercolors or finger-paints for them to decorate the cards with for some extra pizazz.

These are just a few of the easy crafts you can try out with kids at your child’s next birthday party. Depending on the age of the children, crafts can be more or less advanced. No matter what crafts you decide will work for your child’s party, the kids are sure to love them. And you should be proud for encouraging creativity!

About the Author: Lisa is a mom and guest writer. She writes a variety of online content about raising children, married life, and even things like Super Mario party supplies.

2 splendid comments

Mar 7, 2012

B-I-G News!

Oh man, I am feeling a little queasy right now.

You see, I did something back in January, without really considering the possibilities that might ensue.  I might have tossed my hat in the ring....or in this case, Addie's dress in the pile of insane talent over at Family Ever After for the intense Sew-vivor competition.  I did not ever even entertain the thought of actually making the top ten...but guess what?  I DID!!!


As I scrolled down the top ten post and saw my Addie dancing on the side walk in her Bustles of Love Dress, the first thought through my mind was, "Oh crap!"  So my friends, I am about to bring out the big guns and try my very best to swim with the big fish and compete with all I've got!  You can check out the ridiculously talented competitors here and you'll also find details on the competition.

The first round takes place April 4th, and the challenge is a judge inspired tutorial where I've got to make any tutorial from any of the judge's blogs and add my own flair to it.

I guess my little blog break is officially over and it's time to get down to business.  I'm both incredibly excited, and super nervous!  I'll be sure to keep you all updated on what my entries are and how I fare in the competition...plus I may throw out a few reminders to vote, vote, vote!

I know I can count on all of you for encouragement and support!



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Burned Flower Pins

Well hello!  It's been awhile, I know!
But it's good to be back, and it's good to feel good!

What have I been up to?  Living life, enjoying my kids, and crafting, of course!

One quick and fun project I just completed was making a handful of some fun burned flower pins.  And, I gotta say, I love 'em!  They're perfect for slipping into a quick up-do to take it up a notch, they're great for dressing up a little cardigan, and they're just the thing to add to gift wrapping to make it extra-special.   


There are only a million burned flower tutorials out there in blogland, so I won't bother
 adding my method to the madness! Search "burned flowers" on Google or Pinterest and you'll be swimming in options in no time.  Just in case, here are a couple of tutorials from Jones Design Company and Make It and Love It.  


I used a simple alligator clip on the back of each flower for easy pinning, and no poking!  And in the middle of each finished flower, I squirted a healthy dollop of hot glue and piled on a bunch of beads or pearls.  Let the glue dry and voila!  Instant accessory!  

Enjoy!

Be blessed,

  I'll be linking up to a few of these fine link parties:
Make-It-Yourself Monday - An Original Belle
Made with Love Monday - Sew Chatty

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Mar 1, 2012

An Update!

Hello out there!

Hi friends, I'm here.  I'd like to take a quick moment to say thank you for the kind words and support while I've taken a couple of weeks to "just be".  It's been lovely.  We've had a lot of changes in our family over the last year...and I think it all caught up to me in an overwhelming wave of busy.  

Do you ever type a word, then look at it too long and wonder...is that how you spell it?  Does that mean what I think it means?  Am I losing my mind?

That just happened to me with the word "busy".  I know, pretty simple, right?  But it looked funny to me, for just a moment.  So I looked it up, just to make sure.  The definition: sustaining much activity.  That, my friends, is the perfect "nutshell" phrase for the last 365 days!  Sure, we've had our lulls, but overall there has been a constant hum of change and learning.  

I think somewhere in it all, I lost sight of the boundary of balance.  I started blogging because I wanted to do something for myself, and have some accountability to finish projects I've started.  And blogging has been just that, I've completed so many projects, big and small over the last year...I've surprised myself!

As with any time a person loses their balance, there is a time to readjust and that's what I'm up to right now.  Over the last couple of weeks I've removed a few things from my daily life that pulled me too far one way or another.  Those decisions are hard, but feel so good once they're made!  I've decided I'll be letting go of the link party I had been hosting for the last couple of months.  It adds more fluster to my day than it's worth, so with thankfulness for the wonderful participation, I'm saying good-bye to that part of blogging.

I think I'm going to take a few more weeks to "just be" and to allow a little more time for readjustment.  When I do come back, I won't be following the same schedule that I had been, I'll be blogging here and there, as I feel like it.  

My brother teased me that I'm taking a break when my blog name is "I Can't Stop Crafting", ironic, no?  My answer to him was that I haven't stopped crafting, I'm not sure that's possible, but I have stopped blogging, even if it's just for a bit.  So thank you so much for understanding, and checking back now and again, I'll see you all in a few weeks.

Be blessed,


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