She's Crafty- Ruffle Tshirt

I really am.  It's the finding the time to do it.  The pulling all the stuff out of the closet.  The cleaning up afterwards.  I can come up with more reasons to not.  But in the end I'm usually glad that I did.  Pull all the stuff out I mean.  Cuz I really do like to craft and sew and create.  Especially when my little bug is so glad to wear what I create!  She truly is my biggest fan.  I put together this cute little ruffle shirt for her yesterday.  They are everywhere on etsy.  But since they are so simple to do I thought I'd make one.  Or two.  Or three.  Look out, I'm crafting!  

Of course, we had lasagna for dinner and that meant that the shirt ended up in the laundry about an hour after I made it.  Oh, well.  I do know that it lasted through the wash.

A close up.  I just cut some strips extra long, serged the edges (but you could sew the edges under or just leave them raw to fray), sewed two basting stitches to gather the fabric, then I sewed it on a tank I bought from Old Navy.  Voila!  And I wasn't the only one who crafted this weekend.  The girls made their own ribbon flip flops:

The girls got so many compliments on their "Fiesta Flops", as they now call them.  So they are very proud to wear them.  

Hope Carrie is crafting this week because I finally have something to show off!  She hosts Crafty Tuesday.  I'm so there this week.

Pinwheels

Who doesn't like a pinwheel. The girls made these from a kit that contained the paper, tacks, and sticks. But pinwheels are simple enough to make. All you need is decorative (or decorated) paper, straight pin, and a straw. Here's a link to a template, trace it, cut it out, and fold.

On the Sixteenth Day of December

I helped the girls make homemade cocoa mix the other day.  YUM.  We packed them up, added some cinnamon sticks and will deliver them to friends in the neighborhood tonight.  Such a great teacher's gift, too.  And very easy to make.

On the First Day of December

The countdown begins today I guess.  The girls couldn't be more excited.  The trees are up, shopping has begun, we listen to Christmas music ALL the time.  As I look at my calendar, I try to figure out how we can possibly fit everything we want to do in the month of December into the month of December.  High on that list is to visit the Alamo and the Riverwalk (it's very pretty this time of year with the Riverwalk lit up and decorated), Boerne Dickens on Main (small town Christmas fun), and we hope we can make it to Shlitterbahn Christmas (usually a water park but they are freezing some pools for ice skating.  Cool.), and to make Christmas cookies.  Whew, I think I'm tired already.  But I really think that is what makes the holiday fun. 

Today we had our always fun friends over to play while their Momma and Daddy spent a couple of hours out doing some holiday shopping.  They had a blast.  We just can't say enough about how lucky the girls are to have been able to have such wonderful people to grow up with.  They played games, played baseball outside, did lots of arts and crafts, and watched The Grinch (the original cartoon version.) 

I found these cool unpainted nutcrackers and each kiddo got one to paint.  They loved them.  Trevor spent so much time on his.

Natalya the artist.  She wanted her's to look like a real nutcracker.  She added lots of detail.

These will be My Best Shots for today.  Hope that your December is starting off with a bang.  A good one.

Feeling Crafty?

It seems that I haven't really been too crafty lately.  At our last two girl's craft days (a few of us mom's meet once a month) I arrived with an unimpressive tow.  So I was a little inspired when I read Stacy's post about a craft pay it forward idea.  Cool, but, darn, I just missed Stacy's deadline.  So I followed a link on her blog to the fab blog of Alissa.  Great photographer, really great.  Anyway, the idea is to create and pass it along.  It can be whatever you chose, big or small, fancy or plain, just handmade.  So, I commented at Alissa's blog saying that I would love some of her handmade goodness (her photos) and then I post here to announce that I have goodness to give.  Confused yet?  I need three takers. The first three (3) people to comment here will get something that I have hand crafted.  But don't forget that you too have to create and pass on.  Don't know what I'll create yet but I will get my creative juices flowing and let you know.  Ready, set, go.