Feeling good about crafting

Months ago I was thinking it would be fun to get some friends together and make something for someone in need in our community. A great thought but I never got around to it. I became quite busy with the felt play house.

Yesterday I was looking at the website Made when I came across a new book called Craft Hope.
It's a book with lots of creative crafts that can all be given away to someone in need. The part I find really neat about this book is that at the end of each craft is a charity or organization that is in need of this object.

(Craft Hope by Jade Sims)

I'm in love!

I haven't bought the book but would definitely be interested in organizing a group of people that would be interested in crafting for a cause. I think it would make for a great church activity or a great way to get together with some friends or a great way to connect with friends via the web.

If you click here you can find more pictures and information from the website Made. I also learned Craft Hope has a website with projects to do on a continuous basis.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has any interest in doing a project together. Let me know!

Balloon Birthday Bash

Yes we gave our one-year-old a birthday party and yes we know he won't ever remember but we will. Parties are fun and I had fun planning my child's first birthday party. My little guy loves balloons so we decided to give him an overload of balloons for his party.

Theme: Balloons

Invitation: Evite-it's free!

Decorations: Helium balloons and a balloon garland around our apartment. I got the garland idea from Martha Stewart's website.
My husband set-up a balloon screen saver on our TV/computer.

Activities: "UP" play fort, toys, and bubbles.
Bean Bag Toss. Box-diaper box, wrapping paper, construction paper. Bean bags-old jeans, left over fabric, pinto beans.

Treats: We did kid snacks, and adult snacks and tried to find puffy, circular things like quiche, creme puffs, jalapeno poppers, lil crunchers, watermelon balls etc.

Cake: When we were brainstorming balloon cake ideas I remembered that one of my roommates from college recently made an "UP" cake for her daughter. We totally stole her idea. The big difference is she does cake decorating and we do NOT. However, my cute hubby was the chief architect and he did awesome!

First I baked three cakes on Thursday night and froze them in the freezer. I found some helpful cake tips here on the website Make it and Love it. Friday night Mike used an electric turkey carver to cut the cake and he began creating using butter cream frosting to glue it together.
I made fondant to use for the roof, windows, door, and bushes. I also found my recipe for fondant on Make it and Love it. The recipe and directions are here. I used 3 tablespoons of water and I live in a humid climate. It worked much better than 2 tablespoons which is the suggested starting point. After the cake was finished on Saturday we used a kabob skewer to hold the balloons in place. See below for our end result.
In the end the cake was destroyed by the birthday boy. A proper ending to a 1st year birthday cake.

Of course we couldn't let our guests eat this cake so I made some cupcakes. I topped with mentos and teddy grahams.

Party Favors: Balloon, Bubbles, and lollipops. However, in the shuffle of things only about half of the kids and parents got their parting gifts. Sigh.

Lots of leftover balloons!

Thanks to all our guests who came. You were adorable!

The big ONE

I had one craft goal this year and it was this ONE. A gift for my son's number ONE birthday. I saw this first on Homemade by Jill and I fell in love. I loved it and it was the first ONE of its kind I saw. It seemed super ambitious but I decided to make it a goal for 2010. Now I am happy to say it's completed and it feels great.

Welcome to Matthew's home
The Entrance
I borrowed many of Jill's templates for the entrance. Pick the flowers or look for mail.
The Garage
Garage with truck parked outside. Window is open so you can peak out of the car. Car has squeegee and sponge in a bucket in the truck's bed.
The Side Yard
In the side yard you can peak through the window, shoot some hoops, or pick some oranges off the tree.
The Garden
In the garden you can pick some vegetables, pick the oranges, hang clothes on the clothesline and crawl through the secret hideout entrance.
Birds eye view
After many months and hours of cutting, sewing, and creating I got my reward. Take a look. It makes me smile.
I have to give credit to my husband who designed the truck and had the clever idea for a bird's nest and clothes line. He is awesome!

Anthropologie inspired

I saw this...

so I made this...

I made my skirt longer and went for a black elastic waist band. The hardest part was pulling the elastic band tight while sewing the skirt onto it. This required a second person to help pull the elastic. I also had to relearn how to do a blind hem stitch but I think I could whip up a second skirt fairly quickly now.

Husband's Handiwork

Our garden grew and grew and needed a new home so my handy husband built two troughs for our tomato and pepper plants.
Now it's time for those tomatoes to make their debut!

My first garden

Sometimes I assume that I'll be a natural at gardening. Fairly presumptuous-I know. I'm equating the love of the outdoors to measure up to mad gardening skills. I decided to start my first garden with plants that grow easily. I've found myself calling my mom many times asking questions about watering, pot sizes, etc.

It's exciting to watch a plant grow from a tiny seed and so annoying to see that some bug is munching on my basil! Grr.

I'm growing two types of tomatoes, green bell pepper, and several herbs: oregano, basil, cilantro, chives.

I look forward to having a yard someday. There is something so rewarding about being outside soaking up the sun and enjoying God's beautiful earth.

Land of the Free * Because of the Brave

Time for some Fourth of July Crafting. This is an easy fun craft that would be great to do with children. I saw this idea done for Christmas and Halloween so I decided to try it out for another holiday.
Take a look at these cute ones right here and here. I'll be making some of these when these holidays roll around.

To make these jars you will need:
Mod Podge
Tissue Paper
Napkins or paper
Tea Candles.
Jars. I used baby food jars.

To make add a layer of mod podge onto the outside of the jar. Layer tissue paper onto the jar. Spread another layer of mod podge onto the jar and place on decorative napkins or paper cutouts. When dry apply one more layer of mod podge. Add a candle and watch it glow.