Emi-Jay Inspired Hair Ties

A couple weeks ago, I bought the girls some Emi Jay hair ties from GMA's Deals and Steals (apparently they are VERY in with celebrities).  They are generally pretty expensive, but the deal was for a little container a bunch of their new skinny creaseless hair ties and 2 headbands.  The girls have some similar ones that they got for Christmas and the pop of color is fun.  They have to still have an elastic under them to hold up their fine hair, but the color is still fun.  I actually really like the 2 headbands that were included.

Anyway, long story short, I decided to buy some elastic and make some of them for much cheaper.  I googled hints ("how to make emi jay hair ties") and what kind of elastic to buy.  I found several tutorials.  Here is one I liked.  So I ordered some fold over elastic, and it arrived today!  I bought it in a multi-pack on Etsy at a shop that specializes in it. They even had polka dot styles!

It's pretty easy.  You cut it to length.  Run the end through the flame of a lighter (being very careful) to seal the cut edge, and knot it.  Easy peasy.  Go make yourselves some.

My first pillowcase dresses!

I posted a while back on Facebook that I wanted to learn how to make a pillowcase dress.  I'd seen pillowcase dresses online at Hanna Andersson, a company that makes darling kids' clothes, for up to $28 a piece.  I KNOW that they aren't that hard to make, and I am fairly proficient at sewing, I just needed a tutorial or some size recommendations for my girls.  

Here's the $28 one I was trying to mimic:

I put together some of the recommendations and tutorials I found myself, and went fabric shopping.  I found some batik and tie-dye type fabric that cute and put both dresses together in a couple hours.  The ironing took the longest.

The girls love them and both wore them to church today and looked super cute.  I'm happy with how they turned out and we talked about maybe making another set, but maybe they can help pick out the fabric this time around.  :)

Pretty girls!

Valentine's Crafts

Happy Valentine's Day!

The girls and I did a couple heart inspired crafts yesterday in honor of Valentine's Day.  

It seems as though I've seen this toilet paper craft everywhere lately, and I finally decided to try it.   You bend your rolls into a heart shape and then use them as a stamp.  This project was definitely more suited for Lily's age.  Abby was a little bored by it, even though hers turned out pretty.  We used pink and red paint.

For the second project, we used watercolor paints.  I gave them an idea of what they could do, but no major rules.

 This was my example:

This was a project much better suited for Abby's age.  It was one that was designed to take longer.  Lily was much to impatient to try to paint hearts and make it take a long time.  She was done quickly and then playing in her room while Abby was still painting.  Abby filled her entire page with small hearts.

We had a good time.  I've kind of fallen off the art/craft wagon.  We cancelled our Kiwi Crate subscription last fall, so I need to do a better job of making a concerted effort to do arts and crafts.  The girls and I both enjoy it.  Here's to doing more!

Five, projects, and more snow.

So, winter continues....

Our schedule has been crazy with school.  I'm not sure we've had a regular week since we've been back from Winter Break.  It's nice to have lazy mornings with all the 2 hour delays, but the lack of routine is pretty crazy.  On days that Lily has preschool when there is a 2 hour delay, her schedule is unaffected, so Abby stays with me while I take Lily to preschool drop off.  

One morning we took advantage of this and stopped for breakfast burritos after drop off.  Abby LOVED it.

We also celebrated Lily's birthday last week.  Five.  Can you believe it?  We've only had a small celebration with the 4 of us because weather and illness (and honestly, busy schedules too) keeps getting in the way of other family joining us. 

She got her first big American Girl Doll- the Doll of the Year, Isabelle.  This is the moment when Abby figured it out and Lily just looks a little smug.  I love it.

Here is Isabelle begin introduced to Molly and Kit.

Last week I worked on a new project:  a princess-playdress.  I bought a pattern and tutorial on Etsy and just dove in.  I made my first attempt for Lily, as a Rapunzel dress.

I'm really happy with how it turned out.

We again got a ton of snow.  Again.  This time, however, we have a new snowblower!  It definitely makes clearing the driveway so much easier.  Matt was in a much better mood when he came in than when he shoveled in the past.

We decided to go on a quick walk after lunch to get some fresh air today.  It wasn't completely bitter cold out and we thought we'd just walk down the street and back.  The girls had so much fun.

This picture got a ton of "likes" on Facebook, but you didn't see the second shot, which, when together, clearly shows who the ham in the family is.  At least for this moment.  Good grief.  That girl.

And... you put a giant mound of snow in front of the house and someone is going to want to climb it.  

If you look close, you can see the snowball, in air, that Abby threw at me as I took the picture.  Sneak.

And, finally, the forecast for you all.... this made Matt laugh for about 10 minutes when I texted it to him a week or so ago.  Enjoy.

Catching the Sun

The girls and I have big craft goals this summer.  As in, we want to do some.

Today we did our first craft.... suncatchers.  I bought kits that include those little crystals that you put in the metal frames and then bake so that the crystals melt.  It was a painstaking process putting all the colors where we wanted them, and NOT where we didn't want them.  

The oven didn't melt them quite as it was supposed to.  We baked them for double the time and they are still ripple-y.  But, the girls are happy with them.  The look lovely in our new kitchen.  :)

My latest Pinterest knock-off

With Christmas season upon us and Pinterest browsing, I've been getting the crafting itch. I found a pin I wanted to try to recreate.

My latest project inspiration:

Source: ikea-download.de via Carrie on Pinterest

I visited The Dollar Tree for my supplies.  I didn't find "exactly" what I wanted, so it took me a few minutes to think through what colors I wanted to use. I ended up spending a grand total of $2 on ornaments.  -and I picked up some ribbon for $3 at Target (which I came no where close to using all of it).  Milo (the cat) can't be far away if there is ribbon out to gnaw on.


Yes, that means it cost me $5 to do this and I think it looks pretty good. :)

I did buy 2 other large ornaments that I use in the project. I ended up trying something new and hanging them outside in one of our small trees. We'll see how they last....

Any crafting at your house?

Making our own Farmer's Market

Our most recent Kiwi Crate was one of my favorite to date, so I thought I'd share...

The theme was Farmer's Market, and the first activity was to create aprons.  They included fabric crayons, aprons, and a couple stencils.  I  have never used fabric crayons, but I really liked how easy they were for the girls to use.  All I had to do when they were finished was iron over them (according to the enclosed directions) and now they are permanent.    Love 'em.  As you can tell, even Lily had no problem writing on the fabric.

The second part of the project was to lace together fruits and vegetables and stuff them with cotton balls.  Then, they had money to punch out and they could set up their own Farmer's Market to play.

They had a terrible time, can't you tell!?  :)

(I love that they made price tags- that is soooo Abby)

Everything looks fancier on a canvas

I've decided that all artwork looks fancier on a canvas, and though canvas is more expensive than paper, sometimes you can catch them at a deal, and they aren't too bad.  I bought these at JoAnn's in a 2-pack, and they were 50% off.

We got out a bunch of paint colors and the only rules were that they couldn't paint any "real" pictures- you know recognizable.  It had to only be colors and shapes.  No white space.

I love them.  Now they are hanging in our entryway.

Medieval Fun Dress Up

Today we did the second project in our Kiwi Crate. The girls got to choose whether they wanted to make a princess hat or a knight's mask. No brainer.

This project had a high messy factor and a high parent involvement scale (their words, not mine).

The first step was to dye the play silk with a Kool Aid packet.  Abby kept talking about how good it smelled- it was Cherry.  :)












Then, while the dye set, we put the hats together. (I didn't take too many pictures. Sorry!)





And, once the silk was rinsed and dried, we put it all together...