The Toddler Tie

My boys looked so handsome on Easter wearing these ties...
About a month ago Lil Blue Boo had a free toddler tie download. All you have to do is "like" Lil Blue Boo on facebook. (I'm not sure if you can still do this, I hope so.) So, my friend Haley and I decided to make ties for our boys. They were much easier than I expected. The pattern has step by step pictures. It's really easy to follow. However, here are a few tips:

• The tie fits a 4-5 year old best. (I had to cut it down a little for my two year old and add a little for my 7 year old.... and it was still a little small for my 7 year old.)
• The tie takes a fat quarter to make... not too much fabric.
• Use light (not heavy) interfacing. (I used heavy interfacing on one of my ties and it's as stiff as a board;)
  

All in all, they turned out super cute.... Getting them to wear them... now that's a different story:)

My Swiss Heritage

This Easter we decided to dye eggs like our Swiss ancestors dyed eggs. My sister in law came across the idea on You Craft me Up. I'm always game to try something new... especially if its crafty.
So, the idea is that you go hunting for weeds with a red root. We asked my dad where to find such roots and he knew exactly where they were because this is how his grandma taught him to die Easter eggs (his grandma is Swiss).
So we put him to work digging up weeds for us.
Then we took them home and washed the roots. And cooked them up.

We decorated our eggs with leaves.
And cooked them in the root-dyed water.

They turned out very colorful and it was a lot of fun! For a more detailed tutorial, visit You Craft Me Up!

I've been scrapbooking

I'm in the mood to scrapbook. I sneak down to my craft room and do a little here and there. Sometimes all I do is pick my papers... sometimes I crop a few pictures, but little by little the pages come together. Here are a few of my favorites...



To see more of my scrapbook pages, check out my Flickr gallery.

The UN-singed Flower Tutorial

So, I had a lot of fun with the singed flowers... and so did Brenner. However, the main reason I decided to try to make them was for my niece's baptism. I wanted to make her a pretty white flower to wear and so I thought I'd try a flower with the scraps I had lying around. However, when I went to buy white fabric, I got thinking, "these are going to be kind of ugly with burnt edges... it won't be pretty and white." The funny thing is that when I was in line at Joann's buying the fabric, the clerk asked me what I was making with the fabric. When I told her I was making flowers she told me to use my Heat Embossing Gun instead. I tried it out and it worked perfectly... no dark edges.

So, here is my tutorial on the UN-singed Flower
(the tutorial is not on the white fabric because white doesn't take great pics on a white table.)

1. Cut out your fabric. I chose flower-shaped, but you can also just do circles.
2. I used something to hold my flower down... I used a metal piercing tool, but you can use a pen or pencil or anything... just don't use your fingers or you will get burned. Use your heat embossing gun to melt and curl the edges. Don't get too close or they will curl up and shrivel up fast. You will want to kind of angle the heat gun so it blows from the inside to the outer edges.
3. You will end up with a lovely pile of flowers that are nice and curly and they don't have ugly black or burned edges.
4. Layer your flowers. I use tulle, but I did not heat it because it just shriveled up too fast. I left it how it was. Sew the layers together with just a needle and thread.
5. Add a button or beads. I sometimes sew the button on and sometimes glue it on.
6. Cut a circle from felt so you can adhere your hair clip to the flower.
7. Put a circle of glue on the flower.
8. Stick the hair clip to the flower with the felt in between the tongs of the hair clip.

7. You now have a lovely gift to give to your niece for her baptism.....

or for whatever occasion you prefer... maybe I'll even be adventurous and wear one:)

-Anisa

The perfect "BOY" craft.... singed flowers!

Have you ever made these flowers....?
Well, neither had I. I've seen tons of tutorials for them on craft blogs, but I don't really have much of a need for cute flowers.... since I have 3 boys. But, I felt like making them just because... and I have a niece I wanted to make some for as a gift.

So, I cut my fabric out and got Brenner to work.... what boy doesn't want to play with fire!!! He loved melting and burning the fabric for me.
So far, we've made a little handful of these adorable flowers....
I love anything that I can do that my boys can enjoy with me:)

-Anisa