Clothes Pin Bling

I ordered alphabet cards for my new alphabet prints and I want to be able to hang them from a ribbon.  I thought it would be fun to give the clothes pins I am going to use a little punch.  I am a big fan of glitter and I had an unopened bottle of Mod Podge calling my name so I gave it a go and am thrilled with the outcome.

The process was as easy as could be.  I added one layer of Mod Podge to the top surface of each pin and sprinkled on some glitter.

Nothing is more annoying than a glitter project that sheds all over the place so in order to secure the glitter I put on a second coat of Mod Podge with one more light sprinkle of glitter.

This method secures the glitter very well.  I am also planning to add some strong magnets to the back of some of them and use them on the fridge to hold our favorite art projects.  I love 'em!

A Halloween Celebration

Our Halloween festivities started on Friday and have finally come to a sweet and tired close tonight.  I made some Halloween treats and my three year old and I made homemade play dough to share with friends throughout the weekend.

I made some worm infested ice cubes (thanks for the idea Martha!):

These were a HUGE hit:

Here is the candy corn shaped play dough we made using this perfect play dough recipe:

My son's favorite part was adding the glitter:

I also made some ghost and pumpkin cake pops, using my own easy recipe (doughnut holes dipped in chocolate):

Easy dinosaur mittens

I came across a tutorial on MarthaStewart.com recently for embellished mittens and was so excited when I found an inexpensive pair of fleece mittens in our closest that were to big for our son last winter.  I think he will love his new dinosaur mittens this winter.

I tweaked the original design so that the spikes would stand up like and look more like stegosaurus and less like a dragon.  First, I sketched out a template for the spikes and cut out a green piece of felt and then pinned the same template to blue felt and cut it a little smaller than the green piece.  Then I folded them in half, pinned them together and hand stitched them along the spine.  This caused them to stick up when I tacked them to the mittens.  Lastly, I sewed on some buttons for eyes.  It was a little tricky stitching the pieces onto the mittens and I found that using a short needle really helped.

Giving a boring hat a little more pizzazz

The weather seems to suddenly have changed in New York but I have't uncovered the baby hats I knitted when my first son was a baby yet.  We needed a warm hat and I found this one but it was so plain.  I decided to give it a little "umph" with some embroidery.  I have absolutely no embroidery skills so I think this can be done by anyone as long as you sketch out your design first.  Here is what I came up with:

I used this print as my inspiration:

From boring to cute in about 30 minute!

Tutorial: Box of Crayons Applique Onesie

My parents recently brought me my sewing machine, which I had been storing at their house and I got right to work making a onesie with a felt applique of a crayon box.  I picked this design because I have a ton of colorful wool blend felt that I have been itching to use.

Here are the pieces I cut for the applique.  I ended up adding a green oval to the crayon box and small navy ovals to the crayons.  If I make this design again I would probably add those small details by hand...I think it would be easier than fussing with the machine.

After cutting the pieces I first sewed the crayon box to the onesie and then I attached the crayons to a scrap piece of fabric so that I could attach them to the onesie as one piece:

Here they are attached:

I then attached the crayons to the crayon box by sewing along the outer rim of the set of crayons and I used a zig zag stitch along the top of the crayons to make them look a little more realistic.

I really like the way it turned out and I might make a long sleeved version for the fall.

A Rainbow While I am Under the Weather

My little one came down with a high fever yesterday and then I seemed to have caught it last night (for me it is taking the form of strep throat...bleg) so I am a little behind on my blogging.  While I recover, I thought I'd share a few more photos from our weekend candy excursion.  On our way from candy store #1 to candy store #2 we had the good fortune (not sure if my husband would agree) of passing right by Purl Soho.  If you haven't heard of it, Purl Soho is a gorgeous store that sells yarns and fabric as well as craft supplies.  They have impeccable taste and their store is an explosion of color...any knitters dream!

Purl Soho has a wonderful website and an even better blog call the PurlBee where they have beautiful tutorials like felt citrus coasters.  I hope Purl Bee inspires you!

A Yummy Cool Treat and a Great Summer Gift

One of my favorite cool treats is homemade ice pops. They can be made with any fruit juice you have in your fridge (they take about 4-6 hours to freeze completely) or you can get a little fancier (and more sophisticated) with combos like coffee with vanilla ice cream, or mojito flavored pops for the adults. These are also great for that peach or watermelon that is a little mealy or not so sweet. You can just put your fruit into the ice pop mold and then fill it with fruit juice. The juice will increase the sweetness of the fruit and the mealy texture disappears when the fruit is frozen.

Ice pop molds also make a great summer housewarming or birthday gift. They cost about $5-$15 and can be purchased at stores like Bed Bath & Beyond or Williams Sonoma. An added nice touch is to gift them with the pops already made. I recently gave this set as a "Thank You" gift to some friends who were extremely helpful when our second baby was born. These pops were made with homemade lemonade and organic strawberries. I will post the lemonade recipe shortly.

For a more substantial gift, you can also include an ice pop recipe book. Here is one I recently bought for my parents from our favorite bookstore in Vermont, the Northshire Book Store. If you are ever in Manchester, VT you should definitely stop by.