A Lil’ Home Project

Ever since we moved into this place, I wanted to take those shutter blind things down because 1) they’re ugly, 2) some were missing, and 3) they’d break or fall down pretty easily. After Finn pulling one down again this week, I told TJ we would be picking out curtains that night because I was done with them. We picked out simple white curtains for both the door and windows, then headed to Home Depot for wood to use as the rods. I love it so much and can’t believe it took us so long to do it!

Playgroup

We hosted playgroup at our house last week where we did a bunch of crafts and read a Christmas story together. I kept the craft stuff out for the rest of the week and Eva was a crafting machine!

Christmas Craft Exchange

I hosted another craft exchange last week and it was another hit! I need a bigger house though haha! I forgot to take a photo of everyone’s crafts but there were so many great ones! Some wooden plaques (one wood burned, some with chalkboard paint), advent calendars, Christmas bulb magnets, peppermint sugar scrubs, homemade cards, Christmas potpourri, peppermint mason jar candles, and more!

I didn’t get a great photo of the craft I made this time, but here’s a duplicate version I made for myself below. I cut out pieces of felt and sewed them together (using a fancy stitch on my sewing machine, which is a first for me!). It was super easy but turned out really cute, I think. Thanks to Sarah S. for this awesome idea! I saw it on your instagram and had to make one for myself.

Thanks everyone for coming! Can’t wait for next year’s! Or maybe we should do an Easter exchange 😉 !

Holiday Craft Exchange

A couple months ago, I invited some ladies over in my church congregation to come over for a craft exchange. I had done this in the past around Christmas, but wanted an excuse to get together with people from church, so I bumped it up to Halloween time. Everyone brings a craft that they made, wrapped, and then we go around and pick one from the pile to take home and the person who made the craft tells how they made it. There are some serious crafty people in my neighborhood! That being said, I’m going to do another one in December, so if you’d like to be a part, let me know!

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The craft I made was the Christmas bulb wreath. It was so easy to make and cost about ten dollars! I strung 50 large ornaments and about 20 small ones onto a wire hanger, tied it to together, then put a little greenery on the top.

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Fleece Mermaid Tail

For months now, I’ve been wanting to make Eva a mermaid tail blanket. Now that I have a sewing machine, one afternoon after school, I took Eva to the Hobby Lobby where she picked out her fabric then I got to work that night once the kids were in bed. I should have used a pattern, but kind of wanted to try my hand at doing it all by myself. I made it a little shorter than I planned, but Eva likes it that way because it fits more like a mermaid. So, win-win!

It was really easy to make and only took me a couple of hours!

  1. I cut out the top leg parts (blue) using an elastic waisted maxi skirt of Eva’s as a guide.
  2. Hemmed the top of both sides so there was room for elastic
  3. Cut out the bottom fin parts
  4. Sewed one pink fin to one top blue part, repeat with second set
  5. Sewed the two pieces together
  6. Hand stitched the sequins ribbons to the top
  7. Looped elastic inside the waist (upon Eva’s request) so it would be tight and stay up around her stomach
  8. Have Eva wear it nonstop for days… I didn’t have to make her do this, she did it by herself, obviously!

 

Sewing Project: Tulle Skirt

I got a sewing machine for Christmas from TJ which is probably one of the best gifts I have ever received! The first project I used it for (which actually barely required the use of the machine) was to turn an old tulle skirt of mine into a maxi skirt for Eva. I bought it online a couple years ago and it looked terrrrrrible on me. I held on to it because Eva always liked to wear it and have me tie it up one her. So I finally took in the elastic then cut off a couple inches so it goes to her feet. She LOVES it and wears it all the time!

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Christmas Craft Exchange

I hosted a Christmas craft exchange party this week and was blown away by my crafty friends! Everyone was so shy about having their craft be opened, but each one was as awesome as the next!

So, everyone brought one craft wrapped up, then we played the left/right white elephant game and ended up with someone else’s gift. We went around and opened the gifts and the person who made the craft told how they made it. It was so fun and great to see some old friends and chat with new ones!

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Decorated presents (made out of boxes and wrapped with tinsel and garland)
Paper Trees (made from books, folded every thirty pages)
Homemade Purse
Wooden elf block set (decoupaged)

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Floral Arrangement
Leather Baby Moccasins
Advent Calendar
Christmas Print
Ornament Magnets
“Jingle All The Way” Shadowbox frame with bells inside
Burlap and Lace Christmas Trees
Wall Decoration-Wooden Star
Christmas Trees (Wooden and painted)
JOY letters (Wooden and painted)

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Gold Christmas Tree (Folded magazine, spray painted)
Mason Jar Candles with Snow (Epson Salt as snow)
Wall Decoration-Joy (wreath as the “O”)
Crocheted boot toppers

I really love hosting parties, but especially loved this one because not only was it Christmas themed, but also it was so fun to see what everyone came up with to create! Can’t wait for next year!

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The Penguin Pumpkin

T.J. has done three pumpkins this Halloween so far, and this one was my favorite. He has been watching the new show Gotham which is how he got the idea. He’s really amazing! Just in case you’re wondering, he uses pottery tools and an exacto knife. It took him about five hours to do this pumpkin.

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Crevening: Recovering Pillows

Crevening = craft evening

We bought a new rug recently and it clashed with our colors, so I couldn’t stand it much longer. I bribed a friend of mine at church to take me to a fabric store so I could buy some new fabric and recover my pillows. Pam studied interior design in school… it turns out she was the perfect person to take me shopping! I wish she’d decorate my entire house! Then Ashley lent me her sewing machine and I went to work!

The first pillow took a while because I hadn’t sewn for a long time. I even sewed the wrong sides together… rookie mistake! I ripped out the stitches and tried again. Once I figured out the first one though, I got a hang of it and did eight covers within a couple of hours! They were so easy to do using this guide and I can’t believe I didn’t do this earlier! Oh, and I also added extra fluffing in some of the old pillows because they had gotten flimsy. The extra fluff makes them look much nicer, I think.

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Before

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Tassel Bracelets

Have you seen this new trend of bracelets with tassels attached? They’ve shown up on my Pinterest feed a couple times and two blogs I follow posted about them:

Salted Sugar
Life on the Homestead

Well, I was in M&J the other day while I was in the city, and saw these adorable tassels. Every color imaginable, all different sizes. I couldn’t resist buying a couple packs to make my own bracelet!

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I was planning on making the rest of the bracelet when I go home next week. There isn’t a Michael’s or Hobby Lobby close by me here in Jersey. But I was browsing the Forever 21 accessory section, and saw they had gold chain bracelets for very cheap! Cheap and easy… Win/Win!

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Then I just attached the tassels this morning and boom… tassel bracelet completed! Not too shabby looking either, huh?