12 Days Of Christmas Crafts!

It is time once again for my 12 Days of Homemade Christmas gifts/crafts.  I have been MIA lately with my posts, but I had so much fun creating the gifts last year, that I wanted to try it again!  So, here it is: 

On The First Day of Christmas - Felt Fishing Set

My sister had posted this felt fishing set as a Christmas idea for my oldest niece Eva.  I looked into it, and the Etsy shop no longer had the set available for sale.  I also thought it was something that I could try to make myself.  So, I did!

 I started by finding different fish shapes online and created stencils using plain card stock.  Then I chose colored fabrics and cut out 11 fish shapes.

Next I cut small numbers 0-10 out of white felt and used embroidery thread to hand sew them onto the middle of a piece of colored felt. Then I placed the fabric on top of two pieces of the coordinating felt with the number facing on the outside.   

I sewed around the outline of the fish.  I made sure to leave enough space to insert a round magnet in between the fabric and felt, before completely closing it up.  Then I secured the magnet towards the mouth of the fish by sewing an outline around it.  

I had Mike help me with the fishing pole.  He cut a piece of dowel and drilled a hole towards the top of it and through a round magnet.  Then tied them together using some kite string.  I would have loved to have included a cute little fabric worm on the end, but I was worried that the magnets would not be strong to "catch" the fish.  

Twenty Four Months

Happy Birthday Braden!

**Hopefully a separate post to follow - all about his birthday festivities**

A little summary of the month:

* knows his whole bedtime routine: "brush teeph", pjs & "change diaper", picks one book, afterwards he will go turn on the sound machine, turn off the light & shut the door himself.  Then he will make his way back to the glider for snuggle time.

* has learned a few basic shapes: circle, square, triangle, star, heart

* LOVES books, "read book".  Caught him reading brown bear to himself and practicing signs with the baby signs book

* has discovered how fun it is to splash and jump around in puddles

* favorite book Goodnight, Goodnight Construction site and loves to name all types of construction vehicles

* will say the poem "round round the garden" to Sage and try to tickle her at the end

* first kayak adventure 6/15

* experienced his first really thunder/lightening storm, one boom really made him jump and he did not like that "under"

* Peaks Island trip with some of his friends on 6/25

* likes to play baseball and hit the ball using a water bottle for a tee

* first trip strawberry picking with Joanna, Olivia, Sarah & Carter

* really starting to put more words together and stating longer phrases and there are way too many new words to keep up with

* 24-month check-up stats:  36.25 inches (95%), 29.1 lbs (57%)

Twenty Three Months

One more month and I will officially have a two year old.  How did that happen?!

A little summary of the month:

* loves to sing and has learned a few more songs: itsy bitsy spider, happy birthday, and round & round the garden

* he loves to drop/fall onto pillows and/or blankets (from the couch to the floor or jumps on them while I am trying to make the bed)

* visited Kelly while she was in Littleton (5/10 - 5/19)

* visited Peaks Island with Dada & Grandpa

* went on a trip to Ferry Beach in Scarborough and had so much fun in the water, he went in much further than I thought he would.

* new phrases "I have" "No, mine"

* started saying his own name and refers to himself as Braden in pictures

* states "bless you" when someone coughs or sneezes.  

* during dinner will ask "grace?", will hold hands and say amen at the end

* went on a disc golf adventure with Kelly, Grandpa & Dada

* went on a little adventure at Mimi's house

* visited Smiling Hill Farm

* went pee on the potty for the first time 6/3 (two days in a row)

Nineteen Months

A little summary of the month:

* last incisor finally broke through (TR - 1/20)

* learned a few new animal sounds: pig, horse, duck, cat, dinosaur

* still working on correctly identifying family members & friends

* he talks so much I am having a hard time keeping up with new words & phrases:

       "football", "basketball", "mimi", "vroom vroom car", "let's go", "there it is", "love you", "help", "hurt", "up", "down", "excuse me", "come" (when calling the dog), "spot" (stuffed dog), "sit", "paw", "high five", "pee pee", "water", "spoon", "fork"

* puts a tissue up to his nose and says "achoo" 
* identifies more body parts "knee", "shoulders", "foot", "toes"

* more comfortable in the bath tub - splashing and pouring water on himself

* new signs: help & hurt

* working on sitting on the potty for short periods of time

* will say "excuse me" at appropriate times

* had his first haircut 1/22

* doing great with family babysitting - date night & Scentsy event

* he loves to help with measuring and pouring ingredients when baking/cooking

* still working on catching the ball

* prefers to walk up and down the stairs with help

* went sledding for the first time (front yard) 1/9

* becoming more comfortable with paints & getting his hands dirty
* affectionate loves giving family, Sage, stuffed animals hugs and kisses say "muah" and "awh"
* will sometimes catch him attempting to count or say abc's

Feeling Crafty

Now that things with Watching Me Grow have slowed down after the holidays I have been working on a few projects of my own.  Thank you Pinterest!

New curtains for the living room window!  I found a great tutorial on how to make my own roman shades and there is NO sewing involved!  I have only finished one shade, so I will post a complete picture (hopefully soon)!

I also put away the Christmas decorations and needed something new for the mantle.  So, I made these cute little snowmen (found here) and then added some winter subway art.  I am still waiting for my sign "Let it Snow" from It's The Thought to complete the look.  

In the next couple of weeks I will be trying some new things with Watching Me Grow.  I need to add the ruffle bum options for girl onesies and I am brainstorming some ideas for the boy option!  I am also hoping to make Braden his own alphabet set, including lower case letters which I attempted just before Christmas!  

On the 8th Day of Christmas

my true love made for me, a Star Trek quiet book

This project has taken a LONG time, and I am so happy to say that it is finally FINISHED!!!!!  A mom friend asked me to make it for her sons 1st birthday.  I initially started working on it at the end of August - September.  But, I had to take a break to start getting ready for craft fairs in November/December.  I picked it back up again after Thanksgiving and have just finished tonight.  

I had no idea how detailed the book would be and it required much more hand-stitching than I expected.  Unfortunately, I can not include a tutorial here, but if anyone is interested the pattern can be purchased through Etsy.  There are also Star Wars and Harry Potter versions available.    

Here are the pages that I created, and the creators version can be found here.  

On the 6th Day of Christmas

my true love made for me the cutest Santa tutu. 

On Pinterst (surprise, surprise) I found the most adorable Santa outfit for a little girl.  I pinned it thinking that I would make it someday for my own little girl (fingers crossed for the future).  But someday came sooner than expected, because I made one for Miss McKinli.  

The picture was found on Etsy for sale at $89.99 (regularly $115.00) - YIKES!  So, Heather and I brainstormed ideas for the materials and then I tried different things to create my own version.  

Materials:

5 yards of red tulle

white feather boa

felted ribbon

buckle 

1" elastic

thread

Tutorial:

There are so many tutorials out there on how to make a tutu.  I had Heather measure McKinli just under her armpits and cut the elastic to be 1 inch shorter.  Then I sewed the two ends together to create a circle.  

Next I cut the tulle to be 5-6 inches wide & the length needed to be 12 inches, so I cut it at 24-26 inches.  Once everything was cut I put the elastic around my leg and began the tying process.  

The finished tutu

The next step was to figure out how to attache a feather boa to the top.  I originally thought I would have to hot glue it.  But, instead I decided to tie a piece of thread around the tutu and then continuously wrap it around to keep the boa in place.  I ended up going around the top of the tutu twice.  Then I cut the excess feather boa pieces off.  

Finally, I used McKinli's measurements again and cut the black felt ribbon to that length.  Then I sewed the ends together to create a circular belt.  If using a real buckle be sure to secure it on the ribbon before sewing it.  

I also wanted to make sure it would actually fit around her, so I made a second belt that tied around her (just incase).  Then instead of using a buckle, Heather was going to add a little bling in a square shape to create the look of one.  

The complete Santa tutu (without the bling)

I can't wait to see pictures of how Miss McKinli looks in the completed outfit!