teacher gifts: ombre zip pouches

For Teacher Appreciation Day, our preschool parents decided it would be fun to pool our money and send the teachers for a well-deserved spa treatment, so I offered to make zip pouches to use as the gift card holders. 

I whipped up these little ombre zip pouches using Anna's lil' cutie pouch tutorial and one of Target's fun ombre tablecloths. While at target, I also picked up some leather boot laces for the zipper pulls.

I love giving handmade gifts, but I also know how much teachers love to get gift cards, and these pouches offer the perfect combination the two! They came together in no time at all, and I still have a ton of fabric left over that would make really cute matching tote bags! ... Mother's Day gifts?! Maybe!

 

Thank you to all of the wonderful teachers out there - we appreciate everything you do for our kiddos!

backpack doll

A cute little friend of ours is turning 4 this week - finally, an excuse to make girly stuff. Yippee!

Having never made a backpack before, I went with a very simple design - a rectangle with rounded corners.  Using my son's backpack for reference, I measured out a rough* size, and then sketched a pattern.
 
*next time I will adjust the height just a little - 3" shorter and it would have been perfect.

 

The backpack was new territory for me, but when the time came to make the doll I felt pretty confident. A few years ago I went through a doll making phase and, in the process, created my own doll pattern which came in handy for this project.

Unfortunately, I lost every ounce of that confidence when it was time to draw on the face (as you can tell by the blank face in the photos). Messing up meant I would have to make an entirely new doll, and I REALLY didn't want to do that. It took me nearly a week to muster up the courage.

The skirt was inspired by the Market Skirts from MADE. I just adore this pattern, and when I came across the leftover fabric from the last Market Skirts I made, I knew I had to make a mini version. (It would have been really fun to make a matching big girl skirt to tuck inside the backpack.)  

I had such a great time making this gift, and I really hope I get the chance to make more in the near future.


Happy Birthday Miss Nora!

starting my morning with a POW!

I finally got my hands on one of these handy-dandy little lids for my morning coffee. For years we have been using mason jars as drinking glasses, so when I heard about these cool lids I had to have one. And just for the fun of it, I whipped up a super easy Cuppow cozy out of recycled felt.  How fun would it be to personalize these and give them as gifts!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

late night crafting:: valentine's day gifts

I'm up late tonight trying to get the bulk of the boys' school Valentine's Day gifts finished, and I wanted to pop in and say HI! Nothing like a little proCRAFTination to get the creative juices flowin' at midnight!

 

I hope EWE have a great weekend!

full of adventure

 We ended 2011 and started 2012 with some fun adventures!:

New Years Day: snowshoeing

1. New Years Eve: "Yukon Do It" 5K race (my little runner's third 5K of the year)

2. Chrismas Eve: Snowflake Fun Run 5K - DIY medals

3. Gifts for the boys: DIY Race Boards for keeping all of their race numbers and medals

4. Christmas Eve: We hosted our own 5K race (Snowflake Fun Run) and invited a few of our favorite little running buddies to join us. (Originally, we had planned on signing up for a Jingle Bell race, but I procrastinated too long and it sold out.  So, we decided to host our own race - medals and hot cocoa for all the finishers!)

5. DIY: Race numbers (to hang on the race boards)

Camping on Christmas Eve: I think we can add this to our end-of-the-year adventures too - twinkle lights and all!

Here is to a new year full of exciting adventures!

mini icebox cakes

Yesterday, I shared one of my favorite quick and easy desserts from my childhood over at MADE as part of the Sweets & Treats event going on all month long. Icebox Cake.

This recipe is very rich, so a little goes a long way. I thought it would be fun to make mini icebox cakes.

One thing I love about this recipe is that it is SUPER easy to make and you can store the cakes in the freezer for two months!  

Mini Icebox Cakes:
Famous Chocolate Wafers (I was able to find them at my Safeway store)  
1 pint (2 cups) heavy whipping cream  
1T vanilla extract
2T sugar   

 10-12 - 1/2 pint wide Mouth Jar Canning Jars  
 

Whip the cream until almost stiff. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until cream holds soft peaks.

Scoop about 1/4 cup of whipped cream into the bottom of the jars. Add a wafer. Keep layering in this pattern until you have 5 scoops of whipped cream and 4 cookies.  Then pop them in the freezer (if you want to eat them the same day, then refrigerate for 4 hours before serving). 

When you are ready to eat your sweet little treats, remove them from the freezer and let them thaw for 1 hour. Then grab a spoon or fork and enjoy!

Share them with friends and neighbors, or maybe enjoy one while putting the finishing touches on those last minute gifts.  

Happy Holidays!

freezer paper shirts: turkey trot 5K race

 Turkey Trot 2011

Running the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, with our friends and family, is something we look forward to all year long. This year it was especially wonderful because both of my boys ran the race in record time - with smiles!

At our pre-race craft night, we traced, cut, and painted our design on t-shirts - a lot of fun, but a lot of work!  Next year, I think we might try our hands at making our own silkscreen.

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

sand toys for big boys

Over the holiday weekend we headed to the ocean to dig for razor clams, and...

when we arrived, we were shocked to find a vehicle nearly completely buried in the sand.

 Of course, we had to check it out.

 After a while, we continued down the beach...

 

to scope things out.

And enjoy the sun.

As we headed back to the truck to gather up our clam diggin' gear, we noticed this coming down the beach...

 could it be? No way? What are the chances?

For these two little construction enthusiasts, this was a dream come true - the ultimate sand toy!

After the excavation, we got down to business. Clam business.

mmm, dinner!

 

Oh, what a perfect day!