Summer Fun In A Jar!

I enjoy spending time with my kids, but sometimes it's hard to come up with fun things to do on the spot. This idea is perfect for that because it takes all the thinking out of it!!! My kids are ages 2 and 4 so I adjusted the activities for their ages and for where we live.

I found this idea on The Crafting Chicks and also on Happie by Abby: The Blog.

First I typed up the activities list and rounded up a jar and scraps of cute paper and ribbon. I liked the color coding idea, so I did all of the outside activities on yellow and the inside activities on orange.

I made this fun tag using my cricut and "Candy Randy" font from my computer. You can download free fonts at www.scrapvillage.com.

Last I folded up all of the papers to place inside and tied some ribbon around the jar and stuck on my tag. This really didn't take long because I just kept it simple, but I am sure you could jazz it up a lot more if you wanted. Anyway, for now I am going to let my kids choose one yellow and one orange for the week, and see how it goes.

52 Reasons Why I Love You Card Book! ! ~Mindee

I used this fun idea from Tip Junkie to make for my husband on our anniversary, but this would work great for Valentines Day to!

Materials:
Deck of Playing Cards
glue stick
metal ring or ribbon
hole punch
sheets you've created.

Instructions:
I found it most helpful to go on my Microsoft program and create a table: four columns by 5 rows (I copied and pasted this for 3 pages). That way I had nice little squares to type my sayings and insert my clip art. I found most of my clip art on my Microsoft program, for the other images I just looked it up on the Web, "example: skittles image (in the search box)" and then right clicked to copy image and then went back to my page and pasted it. I used fun fonts I already had that you can download for free at scrapvilliage.com. After I had my pages done I printed, then cut them out. Then I pasted them using a glue stick on each card. I decided to use the backs of the playing cards so it wouldn't look so cluttered. Then punch a hole in the top left corner and insert either some ribbon or a metal ring and your done!!! (you could also punch a hole in the bottom corner to make more of a book)

P.S. If any of you have any cute anniversary/valentines ideas please post them or share in the comment box! I am always in need of new and fun ideas!!!!

Car Seat Canopy - Mindee

I have made quite a few of these and through trial and error I think I finnally have a way that works best for me. These instructions are for a basic car seat canopy. Enjoy!

Materials:
*1-1/8 yd top fabric
*1-1/8 yd bottom fabric
*matching thread
*two large buttons (got mine at Wal-Mart)
*two 1 inch pieces of Velcro (make sure it is not the sticky back stuff or it will gum up your *machine!)

1. CUTTING YOUR FABRIC: Cut one yard for the top and one yard for the bottom. Next cut 4 strips for the straps measuring - 4in. x 10 in. each.
*Idea: If you are making this for a girl you may use coordinating gross-grain ribbon for the straps instead and tie it up like a bow!


2. MAIN CANOPY: Take your top and bottom yard cuts and put them right sides together. If you want, you may round the edges using a bowl or you can leave them square. Pin around the edge making sure to leave a large enough opening so you can turn it right side out. Using a strait stitch, sew all the way around using 1/2 seam allowance. Turn it right sides out!


3. After you have turned out right sides out it is important to iron it flat, making sure all edges are crisps and neat. I go around the edges pulling out the fabric as I go to ensure a nice edge . I use a spray bottle to help with this.
4. Then I sew around the edge of the canopy using a fun squiggle stitch, but zig zag would be fun to!

5. THE STRAPS: I like to use a piece from each pattern of fabric. Place these right sides together and iron. Then pin around leaving an opening and sew using a straight stitch with 1/4 inch seam allowance. Turn right sides out and iron flat. I always use a spray bottle filled with water because I want it really flat. Once ironed flat, sew a strait stitch all the way around. Repeat steps for second strap.6. FOLDING THE STRAPS: First decide which side of the fabric you want to show on the canopy. I personally like to use the contrasting fabric. Then you are going to fold it into thirds as shown. Spray heavily with water and iron flat, this will ensure that you have visible crease lines which you will use as a guide when sewing your straps to your canopy.
7. THE VELCRO: Next take your velcro and sew onto straps as shown making sure both pieces of velcro line up.


8. Once you have sew on Velcro you can now sew on your buttons (or you can do it at the very end, it's up to you).
9. SEWING STRAPS ON CANOPY: I found this way to be easiest. Fold the main canopy into fourths (in half and then in half again). Then iron the middle corner flat, so that when you open up your canopy you will have visible lines to follow.
10. Next, you are going to take your ruler and measure 4 inches from the center out to your right for the first strap. Make sure the bottom crease of your strap lines up with the horizontal crease on the canopy and pin. Do the same thing with your next strap only measure 4 inches from the center of the canopy to your left. Pin and sew using the creases you have made with the iron as a guide.
11. They straps should now be directly across from each other unless if it is like this one that I did below. I made it special for a car seat that had a zig zag handle (but if you look at the main picture the straps are strait across from each other!)
12. Hooray you are done!!!!

Eye Spy Bags!

~FRONT~

~BACK~

These really are so fun and so easy to make! When I taught first grade, this was always the most popular activity that I used in one of my centers. These are also a fun quiet activity for church as well.
I would recommend using fleece material as a first choice (because it's a little easier to manipulate the bag and objects), but I have made them using flannel and old jeans as well and it has worked fine. For this bag I used some left over flannel that I had on hand.

Prep:

• Two 7 inch squares of material (or as big or small as you want)
  
• a 4 inch square of clear vinyle for your "window"(at least 4 mm or thicker, I found this at my local grocery store but have also seen at Wal-mart on a big roll)
• 1 inkjet fabric sheet (found at most craft stores)
• rice or poly pellets (I used rice)
  
• about 30 small doo-dads (ex: buttons, scrapbook stuff, household odds and ends, paper clips, penny, etc.)

Assembly: (you might want to start on the ink jet sheet first which is # 6)

1. First you need to make a square cut out for your "window". Fold first square in half (iron flat) and with a ruler find the center, mark with a dot. Then measure 1.5 inches out from the center on each side and trace.

2. cut out.

3. Unfold, you should now have a 3 inch square hole in the middle.

4. Lay your 4 inch vinyle piece on the back of the cutout and tape down the edges.

5. Flip square over and first sew a strait line all the way around the edge, then go back over it again with the zig zag stitch to reinforce, you don't want any rice getting out!

6. Next grap your fabric ink jet sheet (you may want to do this step first so it can be soaking while you are sewing). These are so cool. Just go to your regular word processing program and type up which doo-dads you are going to add and if you want you can personalize it with a name or whatever (you can type it in a 3x3 text box to make it easier). I did a fun little font for this one and then changed the ink colors on my computer to match my material. They say that dark brown is better than black because it is not as blurry, but I have done black as well. Make sure to trim off any excess string that might be hanging from the sheet before you place in your printer. Then place ink jet sheet in your printer like it's just a regular peice of paper and hit the print button ( I did mine fabric side down for my computer). As you can see I have a lot of the sheet left over, so you can easily fit more than one set of instructions on here, I was able to fit six on one sheet when we made them for a RS activity.
7. After you have printed your sheet cut out, peel off the back, and soak in cold water for 10 minutes to set. Peeling off the back was hard for me to do, so I soaked it first and then rubbed off the back. Make sure it is dry before you continue (I iron it to make it dry faster).

8. On the remaining 7 " square, place your your instructions in the middle, pin and sew all the way around. You only need to go around it once.

9. Then, your going to take both squares and place right sides together (not shown). Sew all three sides together (1/4 inch seam), leaving one side open for filling. Turn so the right sides are now showing. (I did it this way so my edges would not frey, but if doing fleece you can just sew around the three edges with wrong sides together and then you wouldn't even have to turn inside out, it's up to you). Press seams flat with iron avoiding plastic window.

10. Add all of your doo-dads and as much rice to fill the bag, but not to full, you still want to be able to manipulate the bag and objects. A good way to measure is to fill the bag to the top edge of the window, but it's all a personal preference.
After you have filled your bag with the doo-dads/rice mixture, pin shut and sew last open edge using 1/4 inch seam, make sure to back stitch.


Your Finished!!!!

Please leave any questions you might have in the comment box!

Simple Baby Cards

I have to admit, I really don't know much about card making, but I was itching to use my cricut the other day and I needed some baby cards in a flash. So with what I had on hand (which really wasn't a lot) this is what I came up with. I used some left over rub ons, card stock and scrap paper. That was it, oh and my cricut of course! I know there are much fancier cards out there, but this was simple and I was in a hurry:) I think they turned out cute enough!