Kids Crafts Saturday - Felt Garlands and Necklaces

Ok...it wasn't a Saturday - but for some reason any time we do crafts with kids I feel the need to call it that. I came up with this idea as a way to entertain the neighborhood kids one afternoon during Winter Break, but both of these projects would be FABULOUS Valentine's Day ideas!  All photos courtesy of Busy Bee Photography.

Felt Garlands
Assorted colors of felt
Die capable of cutting felt - I used Sizzix Circles #2*
Die cutting machine - I used my Xyron Creatopia with Shapez component
Xyron Creative Station with permanent adhesive - any size 5" or larger
Baker's Twine
*For the instructions I will refer to the circles, but they can literally be any shape you want.  How cute would hearts be!!

Using your die cutting machine, cut your circles out of felt (two per color/size).

Run one set of circles (one of each color/size) through your Xyron Creative Station.

Lay the other set of circles out in a line across your work space in the order you want them to be on the garland. Leave as much or as little space between each circle as you like - we left about an inch between each.

Lay the Baker's Twine across the center of your line of circles.

Take your set of adhesive backed circles and "match" them to the set of circles on the table.  When you press down to adhere the circles together, this will also hold your twine in place.

Custom Necklaces
Go to the jewelry aisle of any mass craft store and you can find pendant trays of every size and variety, as well as the glass cabochans (toppers) and chains that go with them.

You can also buy them in bulk on etsy and other online sites if you want to use them as a fun birthday party craft or school activity! I bought (and will refer to) 1" square trays.

Pendant Trays
Glass Cabochans
Photo, patterned paper, cartoon pages, etc
1" square punch
Xyron 1.5" create-a-sticker
Clear drying liquid glue - I used Diamond Glaze

Punch out your image from photo, patterned paper, etc and run through Xyron 1.5" create-a-sticker with image facing up.

Place image in to pendant tray - adhesive on the back will hold it in to place.

Place a small drop of liquid glue in the center of the image and quickly press glass cabochan in to tray. Hold for 10 seconds and then set aside to dry.

Several of the kids made these with their own photos inside for grandparent gifts.  What a wonderful idea!

One of the moms brought a toy catalog and the boys LOVED making necklaces with pictures of their favorite superhero.  I thought that was genius!

Last but not least - our neighbor Eleanor wanted nothing to do with crafts but is so stinkin' cute I'm just going to give her a shout out anyway.  Those sunglasses are the best quarter I ever spent!

Make a Change Monday - Using your Gifts...and ANOTHER giveaway!

I am always amazed by people who find a way to use their gifts to help others...and my friend Amanda is no exception.  She has recently turned her interest in crocheting in to woobiesfor.com:

"Woobies for" is a project that hopes to spread positivity from your creativity, talent and generosity. I was unable to sleep one night and an idea hit me. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could gather a community of people who knit, crochet, quilt or sew to create blankets, or woobies, powered by a specific positive emotion. Knit a blanket while focusing on love. Sew a quilt dedicated to hope. Then we could gather those beautiful works of art and donate them to children in need. Children's hospitals, homeless shelters, and the families of our brave troops. Giving children in need these woobies filled with such powerful emotions to give them strength to face what's ahead. The recipient would receive their woobie and a one word explanation like "bravery" or "comfort" so they know what the woobie represents.

One of the things I love most about this project is that Amanda is not asking for money - she is asking for gifts from the heart.  She is not asking for a specific amount of time or commitment - she is asking for creativity and love. For blankets and quilts and cards created out of joy and strength and a sense of reaching out to someone in need. I am proud of her for starting this - and am honored to share it with you.

To celebrate the launch of woobiesfor.com (and because you know I love a giveaway!) - please leave a comment here and tell us about how you've shared your creative gifts, or if you know of other charitable organizations that crafters might be interested in supporting (Operation Write Home is another of my favorites).  Someone is going to win an Anna Griffin Fabric Squares Collection - and these patterns are gorgeous!

I have offered to make cards to go with the blankets and quilts, and to spread the word about woobiesfor.com - because those are my gifts.  My hope is that you too will be inspired to share your creativity and bring a little joy to someone who needs comfort.  What a wonderful way to make a difference!

Have a great week everybody - woobies for all!

PS - deadline to enter is midnight Eastern on Wednesday February 22nd. Good luck!

Flat Kurt

This is our friend Kurt.

Kurt is a funny friend, easy roommate (he accidentally lived with us for six months last year), great husband, wonderful father, getter of Dairy Queen after dinner, dog lover, motorcycle rider, and soldier.

Next week he is leaving for a year to Afghanistan.

His wife Shealyn is also funny and fabulous and I would do anything for her, so when she sent me this message and photo:

Hey crafty lady, if I were to send you a good photo of Kurt, could you use your sticky goodness to make me a few of these so Daddy can go everywhere with us?

I was in.  I have been lucky enough to have Don home with me for the past year and it is a blessing I do not take for granted. So while I would make a million of these if it would help some of my fellow military families make deployment even a tiny bit easier, I wanted to post the instructions here (even if you don't think you are crafty it is VERY easy) for anyone who wants to make their own.

DIRECTIONS:

First, I took Kurt's photo and cropped it as tightly around his head as I could.

Then I printed out several copies on to 8.5x11 photo paper.

Now...here is where I am revising my original instructions - which were to cut out the face, put it on the chipboard, then cut it out again.  Why do it twice?  So sort of ignore the fact that the face is already cut out in some of the photos.  :)

I ran the 8x10 photo through my Xyron 9" Creative Station*,

adhered the 8x10 on to a piece of chipboard (you can use an empty cereal box in a pinch)

and cut out the face - for the FIRST time. (to quote Don: "Kurt needs to shave his head.  I can't cut out all these little pieces of gelled hair.")

Then I just took a paint stirrer (they are free at any home improvement store), added a little glue, and let dry!

*if you don't have one of these you can use a glue stick or a tape runner - just be sure to cover all of the edges as smoothly and evenly as you can.

I had to put these in the mail ASAP - Don was having a little TOO much fun with them.  Our dog - as you can see - was not.  :)

So these Flat Kurts are on their way to Texas - to two precious children who will spend the next year doing what military children have done for generations - growing and learning and playing and loving all while waiting for the day that their daddy is home to give them bear hugs and tuck them in at night.  If you have a friend, family member, neighbor or co-worker getting ready for a deployment with small kids, ask for a photo of their soldier and make a few of these. What a wonderful gesture and tangible way to let them know you are thinking of their family.

Love you Kurt and Shea and James and Sammi - already waiting for the day Kurt is back home safe with you.

Death of the Christmas Card?

I LOVE handmade Christmas cards.  LOVE them.  Almost as much as I love family Christmas letters - give me a handmade card with a family Christmas letter inside and I am yours forever!  But I digress.  Handmade cards - I eagerly anticipate them, display them, talk about them, and - at the end of the season - put them away carefully in a box as inspiration and ideas for my own future Christmas cards. Since I work in one of the biggest "handmade" industries in the world - I always looked forward to LOTS of handmade Christmas cards.  So last year, when the handmade cards were coming in few and far between, I mentioned something about it to Don. I ranged from the paranoid (no one likes us) to the over-scheduled (I bet people are just late getting their cards out) to the blame-the-post-office (well - we DID move - so maybe they are all just lost in the mail).  Then Don, in his blunt, wise way said "Maybe people just don't make them any more".

I was CRUSHED. Could it be true?  Could one of my favorite holiday traditions be disappearing in front of my eyes?  In the world of digital this and downloadable that was my Christmas joy being lost in the shuffle? Was I the only one who still cared?

Then - a few days before Christmas, I came across this article about how the internet is, in fact, killing the Christmas card industry as a whole.  I stayed strong - finished up my last batch of cards (because while I love getting handmade cards, I often procrastinate and/or underestimate the number I need to make and so I completely stress myself out and sometimes they don't arrive until...say...New Years) and merrily made my way through the holidays, enjoying and appreciating the handmade cards I received even more.

With the holidays over I set aside my cards, made grandiose plans to start my 2011 cards in February, and - I admit - sort of forgot about the whole thing. Until, a few weeks later, I found something between redemption and clarity in the form of Dear Abby.  On page B7, right next to the comics, was this...

Dear Abby: Five years ago, when my niece was 9, we came up with the idea of making Christmas cards and sending them out to special friends and family members. We both work hard to make sure each is attractive and in good taste, and we handwrite a personal note inside. We also print on the back that the card was “handmade with love.” This has become a tradition for the two of us, and the cards are quite beautiful.
Last year, after we sent them out, I received a card from a friend with a small check inside. The card read, “I’m sending you this check so you can afford to buy ‘real cards’ next year.” I was, to say the least, hurt and offended. I wondered if others felt similarly, so I asked around and was shocked to learn they, too, thought I was “cheap.” Although it cost more money and time to create each card, no one appreciated them.
We won’t be making the cards this year, but how do I tell my niece why?
Blue at Christmas
Dear Blue: Tell your niece what you were told — and by whom — so she won’t waste any more effort on these rude and unappreciative individuals. Better she hear it from you than one of the recipients.
As to the “friend” who sent the check, I hope you returned it and deleted her from your Christmas card list. What she did was uncalled for. 

I was further heartened when, a few weeks later, Abby printed an entire column full of letters from readers who thought the "friend", for lack of a better word, sucked.  Many readers commented on how much they enjoyed receiving handmade cards and Abby herself thanked fans who sent her handmade holiday cards.  And then it hit me.  Some people DO care about making and receiving handmade cards - but not EVERYONE. It doesn't have anything to do with how much they like me or whether I send them a handmade card or whatever other reason had been whirling around in my mind - it just isn't that big of a deal. And you know what? That is a-ok.  In fact, it is more than ok - it is actually quite freeing!

So this year I've vowed to make some changes to my Christmas card list.  I'll still be sending out my bajillion cards, but some will be handmade and some won't.  I'm sure Don's single 25 year old brother doesn't give two hoots about a handmade card, but I know his elderly aunt treasures them, and that brings me a lot of joy.  My pre-school teacher and Don's grandmother would both disown me if they didn't get a handmade card (in fact - one year when we had just moved and I didn't send out any cards, Don's grandmother called my mother-in-law pissed off to ask what was wrong with me), but I don't think my hairdresser will miss it.  Will I have to fine tune my list down the road?  I'm sure.  Will I still have years when I am behind schedule and feeling stressed and wonder why I do it in the first place? Guaranteed.  But then I'll get a handmade card from my friend in Germany, and a photo card from our friends in New Mexico, and an ecard from my boss who has five kids, and I will remember the most important thing of all.  We are loved.  Electronically, mass-producedly, or handcreatedly. We are loved and remembered and treasured with glitter and singing elves and video clips, and I couldn't be more grateful.

Unless it includes a family Christmas letter.

2 balls + 4 t-shirts = halloween genius!

Thank you Pinterest, for the world's greatest Halloween costume idea.

Thank you organized craft room,  for letting me find a long enough piece of pink felt.

Thank you beachballs.com, for existing. (Have you ever tried to find a beach ball outside of the state of Florida in October?)

Thank you husband, for being man enough to be called "a giant boob" and letting other dudes fondle you all night.

Thank you said fondling dudes, for being aware enough to know what the pink ribbon stands for and thinking it was "pretty cool of you to put that on your costume" before going back to your jokes about motorboating.

Thank you Christy and Dave, for having a Halloween party. Apologies for our giant boobs knocking both plates and people to the ground throughout the evening. It was Don's fault - he doesn't know how to handle his boob.

Thank you Mom Jones, Karin, my Conyers, Lisa and all the other warrior women who remind us what strength and beauty really mean. Love the ta-tas!