A few shout outs...

Unfortunately, I am not Super Woman. I know, you are all so disappointed to receive such awful news, but I had to give it to you some time.

Due to this horrific reality, I was unable to make gifts for all of the people on our Christmas list this year. Fortunately, I was still able to buy homemade for a few. For those that I couldn't, I was able to find appropriate, yet unique gifts via Pinterest (oh, what a wonderful online tool).

My father is not a professional photographer, but he loves learning about and practicing with his Nikon DSLR (the same one he so graciously allows me to use for all of my "photography"). That's why I knew he'd love this.

 No, this is not a real Nikon lens. Why? Well, because we do not have a money tree growing in our backyard. (But that would be pretty awesome, wouldn't it?) It's actually a travel coffee mug!

I got this from the PhotoJoJo Store. You should really check out their stuff. They've got plenty of pretty cool photography accessories, for you and your camera. If you love photography, or know someone who does, you'll definitely love this shop.

My father-in-law is always difficult to buy for. He loves baseball, so this year I went that route when I started my idea search. Surprisingly, I came across a pretty cool idea early in the shopping season.

 A "home plate" welcome mat. I thought it was awesome. If I was into baseball (I find the sport incredibly boring), I wouldn't mind having this at my front door. I bought it from UncommonGoods, another place to find unique gifts for some of those "hard-to-buy-for" friends and relatives.

Jewelry is always a good option for mothers and mother-in-laws.

I ordered each of them one of these aluminum cuff bracelets with the words "love my grandkids" stamped on the inside and little boys and girls stamped on the outside to represent each of their grandchildren.

They were handcrafted by Hope of My Heart Designs, but I actually got a great deal on them through a fantastic site called Groop Dealz. They sell handmade items at great, reduced prices for a limited time. If you're looking to buy handmade, you should most definitely put yourself on their mailing list!

The last handmade gift that we purchased was for my nephew, Oliver, who you may remember from my post about his robot themed birthday party. In sticking with the robots we got him this cutie.

Isn't he the cutest little thing? He was handmade by LittleBrownByrd Creations, who makes these oober adorable robots in different sizes, versions, and themes, each with a little heart on its chest.

Even though I couldn't make all the gifts we gave this year, I enjoyed buying a few, especially those that were handmade.

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Sorry for the Radio Silence...

What a year it's been so far. I know, I know. We're less than three weeks into the year. Yet, it feel likes it's been an eternity.

First, my baby boy got extremely sick just after Christmas. My spunky, energetic Ayden was suddenly a grumpy, cuddly toddler and I'm not gonna lie--it scared me. Within a week we made a trip to the emergency room and 3 trips to the doctor's office. We never actually found out why he was so sick (the doctor assumes it was a virus of some kind), but when he finally woke up one morning with his usual perky smile on his face I was relieved.

So even though my baby was back to being himself, our house was not. I swear, it looked as if a toy store had vomited all over our living room. Dishes had been piled up for days. Laundry hadn't been done in probably two weeks. Man, oh, man, was I overwhelmed.

Lucky for me, I got caught up on the house work just in time for this:

One full day of ice, followed by one full day of snow. We got two snow days in a row, right before a three day weekend.

The first day was great. I sewed all day (I was testing a pattern for Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop...more on that in another post) and when they announced the second day off I was super excited to be able to finish up before the weekend.

{The branches on this tree are normally too high for us to reach when standing underneath.}

But...did you know that sewing machines don't work when you loose power? Yeah. Neither does the television, the internet, the stove, the microwave, the coffeepot, or the HEAT. It got boring and COLD pretty darn fast.

We packed up and ate dinner at my parents', who still had power, and planned to camp out at the in-laws, who didn't have power, but do have a propane fireplace. Fortunately for those of us who prefer sleeping in our own beds, the power came back on at 7pm.

 

But why stop there? A sick child and a huge ice/snow storm just didn't seem exciting enough for the first few weeks of the year.

Let's add in a little surgery too. That's right. I had my gallbladder out on Monday, so I've had my butt pretty much parked right here for the last three days.

I'm doing alright, but I'm pretty sore. My wonderful hubby has been a huge help. He had Monday off for the holiday and then took yesterday off to be with me. He's been keeping my "supplies" fully stocked for me.

My mother has also been great by taking care of the kids so that I can have some peace and quiet to relax and heal. I do miss them and being able to cuddle them, but I'm not allowed to pick them up. And Ayden's still too little to understand that his momma hurts, so it's best that they have their fun at Grammie and Poppy's and I rest on my own.

My grandmother did surprise me with a super sweet (literally) gift yesterday.

She made this cute chocolate box for me. And then filled it with chocolate strawberries.

It was much fuller, but I may or may not have already eaten most of them.

So, while I'm on the road to recovery there won't be much crafting going on around here, but I promise to get the posts going again soon. :o)

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Build Your Own Fort Kit

If you're on Pinterest (and why wouldn't you be--it's like the coolest, most addicting website on the face of the planet), then you've probably seen different versions of the "fort kit" floating around. I pinned this one as inspiration for my nephew-to-be's Christmas gift. And this was my end result...

I made a cube-ish bag with a shoulder strap to hold all of the fort "materials." I got the basic design from the Ruffled Silhouette Tote Bag made by Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous. I just modified the measurements of the bag to what I need to put inside and the strap to the little one who would be carrying it.

 Every fort needs a sheet or two, but sheets with ties attached are much better. So I stitched the edges of 16-inch strips of double fold bias tape closed and then attached one to each corner off a twin sized sheet.

I did this for two sheets because two sheets means a bigger, cooler, awesome-er fort. And who doesn't want that?

 

Other things I included in the kit: rope, flashlight (with batteries), large clips, and clothes pins.

To pull it all together I printed off the "Deluxe Fort" tag (which I modified slightly from the original using Picnik), laminated it, and attached it to the handle of the bag with a book ring.

And there you have a Build Your Own Fort Kit.

This project was featured:

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Toy Car Storage

My nephew, Peter, loves toy cars. He loves toy cars in all sizes, but the kid has a backpack full of matchbox cars. So when I came across Kimbo's toy car storage idea over at A Girl And A Glue Gun, I knew it was a perfect Christmas gift for him.

Here's how his turned out...

I changed a few things from Kimbo's design, like using a double layer of felt to give the backing a little more stability. And I made more pockets in each row.

Peter also loves the Disney's Cars movies, of course, so I used a Cars themed flannel for the pockets.

I also used a dowel across the top, but used cording instead of ribbon, because I thought it would hold up a little better. You know--Boys will be boys!

And to personalize his car storage, I used a freezer paper stencil to add "Peter's Cars" to the top.

I wouldn't recommend using freezer paper to stencil on felt, as it didn't adhere very well and I had some of the paint seep under the stencil. I may try a vinyl stencil instead.

But the outcome was great, and now his toy cars can be proudly displayed instead of stuffed in a backpack!

This project was featured on:

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Little Chef Hat & Apron

Last year, my sister had my grandfather make my niece a super cool custom play kitchen for Christmas. (Sorry, I don't have a picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it.) She still loves playing with it all the time, so I thought this year I'd make her a whole bunch of felt food. Then my sister rained on my parade and said she already had way more play food than she could ever use.

Well, phhhft. Fine then. I'll just make her this super cute chef hat and apron instead.

I tried to get pictures of Kaeleigh modeling it for me before giving it to her just in case because Christmas is super hectic and I wasn't sure I'd remember to snap a picture then. Most of the pictures, however, looked like the one above. She was certainly in a silly mood that afternoon.

This hat was so quick and easy to make. I followed Amanda's tutorial over at The Little Giggler.

The apron was just as fast and simple. I got the tutorial from Jess at Craftiness Is Not Optional.

 

 

It just ties in back so she'll have plenty of room to grow.

 

And guess what...

I actually made my own bias tape for the first time for this project! I was surprised at how easy it really was, so I'll definitely be doing it more often. It's a much cheaper option and ensures a perfect match to your project!

Turns out I did have a chance to snap a quick picture of Julia wearing her new chef hat and apron, though.

She loved it! :o)

And just for good measure, one more of the goofy K-ster...

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