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We have 2 of our grandchildren with us for a large part of this summer. They are ages 7 and 9. Besides having the fun of being together with them when usually we are far apart, I am their Summer School Teacher and activity coordinator. We have a bit of a schedule that they've been very good about sticking with. The schedule includes school in the morning, swimming lessons, playing board games, cooking and crafts! There isn't a lot to go and do because of the pandemic and trying extra hard to keep them healthy. One of the skills that we are going to work on at home together while I have this captive audience is sewing.
I know that many of you have been struggling with entertaining children since school was cancelled months ago. I thought that I would share with you some ideas, aside from the basic decorative bed pillow, that you can make together with your kids. A couple of them only require scraps, so you won't even have to buy fabric or go to a store. But, if you do need fabric, here are some places to order it online:
Now, check out these tutorials to teach some sewing skills!
All of these projects will definitely require adult supervision and help, but they are projects that you can definitely enjoy together and use afterwards! I love that about them! Let me know if you give any of them a try!
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This project began when Lindsey sent me a video of her daughter and herself baking banana bread together. My SIL was doing the filming and he asked my granddaughter if she was wearing an apron. She replied, "Yes, I'm wearing Mommy's apron." I knew right then that I wanted to make an apron for her and the rest of my granddaughters. Maybe some of my grandsons, too. A couple of them enjoy cooking as well. But, so far I've only made them for the granddaughters, so that is why my post is directed to little girls.
I began by scanning Pinterest for patterns for kids, but nothing stuck out to me. Then, I looked at one of my aprons that my DIL Jessica had made me for Christmas a few years ago. Mine is made from about a yard of fabric on each side (it is totally reversible), it has a pocket on each side and it is super cute! I figured that I could use that as my starting point and just reduce the size for my grandchildren. They came out adorable if I say so myself. I have three of them finished with just 2 to go for my older girls. Those may take a little more than 1/4 yard fats if I want them to be able to wear them for any amount of time. So, for now I'm going to show you how I've done the 1/4 fat aprons. Click on the photos for instructions:
These aprons are very quick and easy to make and a good project to be doing while in quarantine! Fat quarters aren't as easy to find now because everyone has also been making masks, which is a great thing to be doing. Luckily, my niece was getting rid of some fabric during a move that was passed on to me! So, I have plenty of fabric to do both and the prints are so cute. Thanks Laura! My granddaughters are going to love these! (I hope)
Let me know if anyone gives this project a try. Oh, and here are the buttons for the pocket patterns. You can adjust the sizes to how big of small you wan them to be. This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support! When I was a young mother, I would work so hard to do everything during the holidays to help my family feel the true meaning of Christmas. I wanted them to know why we celebrated and I also wanted them to feel the magic of the season. We watched every Christmas special, we drove around and looked at lights, we did acts of service for others, we sang carols, we read about the birth of the Savior, we went and saw Santa, we put up the tree and decorated it, we got gifts for each other and had fun secrets. I baked and made candy and decorated the house like crazy. I loved it! My kids loved it! But, now that my children are all adults, it has been quite a transition to not being the one that everyone looks to to make Christmas special. I have grandchildren and their families have their own traditions that they are creating and plus other grandparents to be involved with. This year, I had decide to take a look at what really puts me in the Christmas Spirit and to concentrate on those things. Here is what I have realized about myself:
It took me a while to come up with what I could make this year. But, as you know, I have been loving the buffalo plaid decor this year and I actually had purchased a Christmas Tree from Walmart for my table. I decided that I needed more of them and wouldn't it be great to use a cinnamon stick as the trunk and a wood slice as the base. I thought how great to give a little tree with my plates of goodies! So, I whipped some up and here is how I did it: Supplies: Coordinating plaid flannel fabric Cinnamon sticks Fiber fill Wood slices Sewing Machine Thread * I used the tree that I already had as a guide to make a pattern. But, I also made smaller ones and then cut out two pieces for each tree. Then, with right sides together, stitch around each tree, leaving the bottom open a few inches in the center. * Trim the seams and points of the branches and then flip the tree right-side out. * Stuff Fiber fill into the corners at the top of the tree. Wrap a cinnamon stick with fiber fill around the top portion and push it up through the opening at the bottom. Then, fill around it with more fiber fill, especially shoving it into the corners. * When it is nicely stuffed, stitch the bottom closed with a whip stitich across and going around the trunk. Tip: When choosing a cinnamon stick, try to get one with a nice round end so that it will fit neatly in a whole the size you have a drill bit for. * Drill a hole through your wood slice and glue the cinnamon stick in it for your tree to stand. How Merry! What gets you into the Christmas Spirit? I would love to hear from you! For more great ideas for DIY gifts, check out this post, a Zero Waste Gift Guide!
**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. But, all opinions expressed are my own.
Lindsey and I were talking about Thanksgiving plans for this year and it got me to thinking about a special project to show my family and friends how thankful I am for them. I decided it would be nice to do a little gift on each place setting this year. I thought about hand lettering something at first, but that would take a lot of time with questionable results. Then, I remembered the set of stamps that I purchased from the Target One Spot a couple of years ago. I hadn't used it yet, but now I knew I had the perfect project to use them for.
If you can't find these stamps at Target this year, there are of course a lot of others that you can find and use. For example...
I had some little wooden circles left over from our Christmas in July projects. I chose 3 colors of acrylic paint that I felt would coordinate with my dishes and tablecloths and painted the circles. Then, I used a black stamp pad to stamp the design on the light colored circles and white on the dark colored circles. I love how they came out. Even the spots where the ink is a little missing add to the rustic look.
I decided to use jute as the hanger on these little ornaments. I cut about a 6" length of jute and glued the ends with a glue gun to the front of the ornament. Then, I tied a bow with another length of jute and glued that over the ends. This way, there are no unfinished ends on the front or the back.
Now, on Thanksgiving, I want to slip them in a napkin on each place setting. I want to use cream colored napkins, but I didn't have any. I could only find white! So, I purchased some fabric and made my own.
A couple of years ago I had to purchase a new sewing machine. I got a Singer Brilliance (that is a refurb version) and I have loved using the special decorative stitches that it has programmed into it. Here is the newest version, called Sew Mate. These are nice machines at a reasonable price.
These napkins were simple to sew. I just folded over the edges twice and used a decorative stitch to make them special.
Once the napkins are sewn and pressed, you are ready to fold them! Here is a gallery of pictures to show you how to do it.
If you know me at all, you know that I love dishes! So, I am using two different dishes to try out a place setting to use these special projects on. Which one do you like best?
If you don't want to wash napkins later, you could always use nicer paper napkins. But, I am so happy with how these came out. Here is a close-up of the decorative stitching.
Look what I found!
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
June 2024
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