On the Go Car Mats

This project has been on my to-do list for a long time. I knew that my boys would love this from the first time that I saw it on Fiskars.
But I never got around to making it until now. It seems like the perfect project to make as we are getting ready for our trip to Argentina and Peru. I know that we are not going to be able to pack that many toys, but I wanted the boys to have something to play with during the down time, especially during the night time when we are in the hotel.



Here is the first one that I made, and orginally I was only planning on making one, but then I thought it turned out so well that I ended up making two. One for each of the boys. The first one is pretty much a copy of the one on the Fiskars site. Except fo the fact that I put the car compartments on the wrong side, but it still worked. And just like the Fiskars one I put ribbons on the side, so that you can tie it closed. Our oldest is at the age where he needs to learn how to tie a bow/shoe, so I thought this would be another place where he could practice.




The car wash is my favorite station on the first mat. I just think it is so cute, especially with those clear buttons /bubbles.

Here is a picture of the second one that I made. So like I said after I finished the first one I decided that it would be a good idea to make a second one, so there would be more places for the boys to travel to. I remembered that Homemade by Jill had also make a car play mat for her son, so I looked at her's and got some ideas for the four places. I decided to do friut trees, our church building, our house and a playground. We live in Las Vegas, so that is why I used ric rac for the roof of our house. I was trying to make it look like the tiles. And then we have a car port on the side of our house, so that is the tunnel looking thing at the side of the house. Also on this one I made it so the roads extened, so that the roads could connect to the roads on the first mat.

Here is my favorite place on the second mat. I love the tectured felt that I found at Michaels. I used it for both the walls on the roof on the church building and then again for the walls of our house.

And the apples and oranges on the fruit trees. We don't have any fruit trees, since we are renting and we live in Vegas, but one day I hope we have fruit trees.

Then instead of adding ribbons to tie it closed I used hair elastics and buttons. I figured that this would be easier for my younger son.

So once more here are the two mats together. I can't wait for the boys to see these.

I'm Linking to: Be Different Act Normal , A Little Lovely Blog, KoJoDesigns, I Heart Naptime, Creative Itch , Made By You Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Keeping it Simple , Sugar Bee Craft Edition

Tatertots and Jello,

Super Snowflakes

I saw these Super Snowflakes last year on MADE . And ever since then I knew that I wanted to make them, especially since we moved to Las Vegas. I knew that they would make the house feel a bit more like winter.

I followed the tutorial and made five super snowflakes. Then I had my DH attach them to the ceiling down our hallway. I love walking under them and seeing them glitter. It really does add an extra element to the house.

Now I just have to find a good way and place to store them, to use again next year. And I have to figure out a way to stop them from curling in. Any ideas?

My First Silhouette Project

Yes, I was lucky enough to get a Silhouette for Christmas from my DH. Now my DH was surprised that I just didn't start cutting right away. I have been playing with the Silhouette on and off again the last month, but I haven't cut that much yet. But I do have alot of projects that I'm currently working on.
But here is a look at my first project:

I got a navy blue plate from D.I. and then cut a white snowflake vinyl image and attached it to the plate. I think it turned out great, and I looks really nice on our enter way table. I also made the snowballs in the small basket. For those I just took a plain Styrofoam ball and covered it with Mod Podge and then rolled it a plate of Epsom salt and glitter.

Margaret Bag

Say Hello to my new bag!!!

I just love it!!! I use the tutorial from Oh Fransson Margaret Sling Bag.

Yes, I saw that Elizabeth has retired the pattern, but I wanted to make sure to give credit where credit is due. If you can check out her blog Oh Fransson, her quilts are amazing. I love her Tokyo Subway Map quilt. I only wish that some day my quilts will be as good.

This is the second bag that I have made, and I must say I really like making bags/purses. I'm sure it won't be my last.

Things I love about this bag:

I love the fact that it's a cross body sling bag. With two little boys always at my sides it nice to know that this bag is not going to fall off my shoulder

I love how big and roomy it is. I can easily fit everything inside that I need to take on my day to day adventures.

I love the material. I have had this material for couple of years now and it just seemed perfect for making a bag. plus I didn't have to buy anything new to make this bag-always a plus in my book

Lastly-I love this button. I just think it's pretty

Snowflake Art

After Christmas I had three empty frames hanging in the dining area. I wasn't sure what to with them. Then as I was shopping some of the after Christmas sales, I found some foam snowflake stickers.
Since are studying snow/winter during school time this month, I picked them up to do an art project with the boys. Well there was plenty in the bags, so with the extras I decided to make snowflake art.

I put the snowflakes on gray paper in hopes that the white snowflakes would stand out. I was trying to do something similar to the Halloween Specimen Art found at Tatertots and Jello. They were super easy to make, especially since they were stickers. Here is a picture of them hanging on the wall, sorry for the glare. I think it would look better it the frames were white. What do you think?

Christmas Ornaments 2010

This is the last Christmas post-
Every year we have the boys make a Christmas Ornament. They have been different each year. I remember making Christmas Ornaments at school, but I don't think they do that anymore. And I wanted the boys to be able to look back at all their ornaments and just remember how much fun they had. So for this years we made Snowman hand print Ornaments. They turned out so cute.



The tutorial for these is found here at Confessions of a Homeschooler

A couple of Christmas Gifts

There is a wonderful older couple in my ward that I wanted to make a little Christmas gift for. Usually I make a plate of goodies to share, but this couple is watching their sugar, so I knew that my stand-by gift wasn't going to work for them. I went to the many blogs that I love and found this tutorial on Make it Do: Cozy Bed Warmers.

It was the perfect gift. The tutorial was easy to follow and it was the perfect nap time craft. I loved them so much that I ended up making 5 of time. I was only planning on making 4, but then my DH wanted to try one, to make sure that they didn't explode in the microwave (which they don't). Well he ended up loving it that he asked if I could make him one as well.

Then while I was looking at all the cute crafts on Make it Do, I came across these cute Christmas Hair Clips.

I had so much fun making the Thanksgiving Hair Clips of my nieces that I decide to make them some Christmas ones as well. I had everything on hand, but the gold button. I didn't end up using Calli's template, but I followed the rest of her tutorial. The template I followed is found here at Wee Folk Art.

And since I went up to Utah the week before Christmas I was able to give them to my nieces myself. I think I have the three cutest nieces in the world. But, unfortunately I didn't take a picture of them wearing them, but trust me they looked cute.

The Stocking Were Hung

I know that this post is late, but I wanted to share the stockings that I made this past year. I have wanted to make stockings for several years, and never got around to it. SO this past December I made it my goal to make stockings. I finished them on Dec 23rd- just in time.

I used the template for the stocking and cuff found here-at moda bake shop. The stockings are made out of red velveteen and the white cuffs are satin. And then for the semi-circle idea I followed this tutorial here at Pleasant Home

I had the names embroidered on them: red-for mom and green-for the guys. One day I would like to learn to embroider.

I love the way they turned out. And the boys were excited to have stockings.