Ariana's Handmade Valentine's

I love handmade valentine's. I knew that we would be making valentines for all of Ariana's friends instead of getting the store bought kind with characters on them. I also knew I didn't want to go too fancy. Pinterest can get a little crazy this time of year with mamas overdoing what should be a simple fun project for the kids. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of cute ideas out there, but some of them took too much parent involvement and I wanted something she could do as a weekend craft that would be cute and have a handmade touch.


We decided on something pretty simple. I had lots of different valentine patterned paper in my paper stash so I pulled out all the ones I could find and gave her a heart hole puncher and she went to town.

We cut some pink and white card stock (pink for the girls, white for the boys) into about 4x5 size and I rounded the corners. I helped her draw a heart in the center of her paper and she stamped "Happy Valentine's Day" in the center. Then we randomly glued on all those confetti hearts that she had cut out and finished off the whole thing with some red or gold glitter glue trim.

There are only 8 kids in her class, including her, so it wasn't too many to make. But she ended up making some for her teachers and us too, it was sweet. Making these valentines kept her entertained for a long time and we actually did it over the course of 2 days because gluing the hearts ended up being pretty time consuming.

On the back she stamped "love" (she loves stamps) and then wrote her name. Each valentine was personalized with the child's name on the front too.

How I Made My Baby Quilt

A few weeks ago I posted the triangle baby quilt I made for our little mister. I'm back today to share some details on how I made it. 

I made my quilt with help from blog posts here and here and this video about hand stitching the binding.

I ordered my fabrics from fabric.com. They are Kona Cotton in colors grass green, white, medium gray, teal blue, aqua, caribbean, nightfall and green tea. I got half a yard of each color except for the back fabric where I got an extra 2 yards and the binding which I had on hand already.

I used this white thread for my basic sewing and this lime green thread for my accent color. This hand quilting thread was used for the binding.

I spent a whole day cutting out all the triangles. They measure 6 inches. Then I stacked them up by color and began laying them out into a pattern. Some people just sew them together as they go not really paying attention to the layout, but I wanted mine pre-layed out so I would know what the outcome would be.

Ariana helped me find the right pattern. There are 17 triangles in each row and there are 11 rows. I stacked each row up and labeled them to keep track of how I want my layout to be.

Then I began sewing the triangles together. I started with sewing the triangles in each row first, then sewed the rows together (row 1 and 2 together, row 3 and 4 together) to make sets.

This was the fun part because you could start to see it coming together and lining up nicely. Not all the triangles lined up perfectly but they were close enough.

And then before I knew it, I had a quilt top. This is when I really kicked it into high gear. Seeing the quilt top come together really made me fall in love with it even more and I couldn't wait to see the whole thing finished!

Then I had to sandwich the top layer, the batting and the back together and sew it all together.

I went along each side of each triangle because I figured that since it was a baby quilt it would have a lot of wear and tear and washing and this would help it hold up. Then I hand stitched on the binding and it was done. You can see the rest of the finished quilt in my post here.

A Quilt for Little Mister! (& 34 weeks)

I'm not a seamstress y'all. I don't really sew, but...

I MADE A QUILT! 

I'm pretty proud of this project! I know it's the biggest sewing project I've done, and I'm pretty sure it's the biggest craft project I've EVER taken on.

I knew I wanted a pretty triangle quilt for the little mister when I found the first thing (a print) that inspired the nursery. I kept finding all these pretty quilts on Etsy but man were they pricy and none of them were exactly what I wanted. 

I knew I wanted to make my own triangle quilt when I thought about how simple it would be and how much I (and hopefully he) would love it. 

I haven't shared the nursery yet. It's still a work in progress but I'd say I'm 90% done. Just waiting on a few things to arrive in the mail and finding a rug has been frustrating to say the least. This quilt really brings it all together and I smile everytime I see it in there.

This truly was a labor of love. Hours upon hours of cutting, measuring, pinning, sewing, work. It was both harder than I thought it would be, and easier than I thought it would be at the same time. 

My blood, sweat and tears went into this quilt. Literally.

Blood - I pricked myself several times and cut myself once with my rotary cutter.

Sweat - I've been working on this on and off for the past month and a half in the 90 degree heat (with no air conditioning)

Tears - Ok so no as many tears but a few hot mad tears when I made a simple mistake and had to fix it and giddy tears when I got so close to the end and I was still in love with it.

I practically flew through the last of it once I got the quilt top put together. I could barely stand it I loved it so much. 

Sewing around each triangle was pretty time consuming but I love the way it looks and hopefully this will hold up nicely.

He's going to be very cozy this winter with his quilt and the baby blanket I crocheted a few months ago.

I'm working on a post to share my progress through the quilt and the methods/tutorials I used etc. But the colors are greens, aquas, turquoise, gray and white.

Not all my lines are straight but it's made with love and it's perfectly imperfect. I'm in love with it!

And since I'm feeling pretty round and pregnant these days, here is a photo of me from yesterday at 34 weeks. Technically I still have 6 weeks until my due date but I'm guessing he's going to come earlier than that. I have a growth ultrasound later this week to measure how big he is getting!

(34 weeks)

Constellation Craft For Kids

During our Spring Break road trip to Budapest, Vienna and Salzburg this year, we were in the car for a total of about 20 hours. That's a long time for a 4 year old to just sit.

I had to come different activities to keep her entertained. Of course I brought the busy book I made last year with a few updated pages and new coloring print offs.

But, my favorite little activity I created was this constellation craft that she could create in the car.

Constellation Craft

Supplies you need:

black construction paper

star stickers

white crayon

outlines of constellations (optional for older children)

I cut my black paper into 4 pieces to make them smaller and to stretch our black paper supply stash. 

With some of the papers I drew dots and let her connect them to make a constellation and then let her decorate her paper with the star stickers and drawings to make it a night sky picture.

With the others I drew a constellation outline (google was great for this before our trip) and she had to copy the constellation onto the black paper using stars and then draw lines with her white crayon to connect the star stickers.

The resulting constellations were these. We used fairly simple constellations: Leo, Pegasus, Orion, and the big and little dipper. She also practiced her handwriting at the bottom writing their names on each one. Then, we talked a little bit about space and stars and constellations in general. 

She loved this activity especially since she's told us numerous times that she wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. She loves anything learning and space related.

This is her in her Nasa outfit that Daddy brought back from the Space and Air Museum from his recent trip to Washington DC.

This constellation craft could be used for a car trip, plane ride, add to a busy book, space camp, preschool, or make them into cards for family and friends. Make it your own! Have fun!

Baby's First Blanket

When we found out we were pregnant, I knew I was going to want to make some things for this baby. I waited to find out if it was a boy or a girl before I started anything.

My first project that I've completed is this crocheted baby blanket.

I found these gorgeous and soft yarns at our BX one day and knew these were the colors I wanted. 

They are Red Heart Soft Baby Steps in Baby Blue, Baby Green and White.

I bought 2 skeins of each color, 6 skeins of yarn total and used it all.

I did a simple single crochet using all three yarns at the same time using a large size P crochet needle. The effect was really pretty and created a really bulky warm blanket for our September baby.

It came together pretty quickly when I actually had time to sit down and crochet it (usually while I was catching up on some of my favorite shows. Anybody else love Scandal!? Addicted! I have 2 more episodes left.)

It ended up being pretty large, measuring 52x42 inches but it's perfect.

 I can't wait for our little boy to be snuggled up with it!

DIY: Birth Stats Subway Art

A few months ago I came across this post where you could print out subway art to decorate with. From that I was inspired to create some pretty "subway art" of my own featuring Ariana's birthday stats.

I opened a blank page in picmonkey and played around different fonts, texts, sizes and moving it around until I liked how it looked. I used black, gray and yellow for my alternating text colors. Changing ended up changing the fonts to make each line stand out.

I printed it on regular printer paper and mod podged it onto a black canvas I had lying around. I painted the border of my canvas a matching yellow color and gave it a thin layer or mod podge over the top of the paper. It's not perfectly smooth but I like the textures it gives it.

It's displayed on a shelf in the living room by a picture of me and Ariana on my first Mother's Day.

It was a simple project for a personalized piece of artwork. You should make one too! It would even be fun to do with wedding dates, places, times!

Paper Plate Spiderwebs {Kid Craft}

Last week we had a Halloween Party for our squadron. Since I'm part of the spouses group, I signed up to help plan it. We had food, games, costumes, crafts, and fun decorations. Along with bringing food and decorating for the party I also signed up to do a craft with the kids. I came up with these paper plate spider webs and the kids loved them!

These are great for young kids, whether it's for a Halloween party, preschool craft, or just for fun this weekend with your kids.

Supplies needed:

paper plates (simple cheap ones work great)

scissors

hole punch

yarn

bobby pins

plastic spiders

tape

crayons and stickers for decoration

This is a simple but cute project that kids from age 2 to 9 enjoyed!

Prep your plates before hand by cutting a circle in the middle of the plate. I used a big stencil to trace my circle and then used scissors to cut out the middle. Around the inside circle punch 12-14 holes. 

To make the spiderweb tape a long piece of yarn to the back of the plate and tie a bobby pin to the other side. The bobby pin isn't necessary but it helps the kids be able to sew the yarn through the holes. Have the kids criss cross the yarn from one side of the plate to the other to create the spiderweb. 

When they are done cut the yarn and tape it to the back of the plate to finish. Let them color or decorate the plate. There weren't any halloween stickers on base this year so we just decorated ours with drawings with crayons. Lastly, glue (or in my case clip) your spiders onto your web and you're done. If you want you can punch a hole in the top and tie a piece of string through it to hang up the spiderwebs.

 Here are some of the kids at the party doing their spiderwebs.

 Ariana finishing up her spiderweb.

 Me and Ariana at the Halloween party. I was a witch (which the kids loved) and Ariana was Captain America's Daughter "American Dream".

I hope you enjoy making these spiderwebs with your kids!