Christmas Stockings

This is a project I've been dying to do for a couple of years now; due to a couple of maternity leaves, I had to prioritize due to the cost!!!!! You'd think making a couple of felt stockings wouldn't be that expensive...my husband would disagree as I'm sure he thinks I should own stocks for Fabricland!Having said that each stocking cost approximately $8, which in my book is fantastic considering they are personalized for the individual. Take a look:

I flat out admit they were inspired by Ms. Richardson's stockings!!!! But I love that this is a fun family keepsake. Maybe in a couple of years we won't use them, but it's fun for right now!

Thanks for reading.

Terrific Tot Tuesday: Salt Dough Ornaments

With the holiday season among us, and a busy toddler who is very excited about helping decorate the house, I thought I could pass on a tradition my mom did with me; salt dough ornaments. I found the recipe online...and now can't find the site to reference! But it was quite easy: 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of water, blend together and knead for about 5 minutes. My little helper was great at getting involved and pouring the ingredients into the bowl. From there, on a floured surface, roll out your dough. 

I went to Superstore and they had a huge box of cookie cutters. The cookie cutters had themed shapes for Easter, Halloween, sports and of course, Christmas. K-man helped pick the shapes and cut them into the dough. Only problems was getting him to understand not to overlap, so he didn't destroy shapes he had already cut! I then took a straw to poke a hole near the top so you can later feed ribbon or string through the ornament to hang on a tree.

This was the interesting part, you bake the shapes in a 200 degree oven for 4-5 hours. The salt dough needs to dry out, so that's why it takes so long.

Once baked, your little artist can get to work and paint them anyway they want. We had a lot of blue on the ornaments! 

Here is K-man's hard work:

I will be take some better shots once they are on the tree. Try it out!

Thanks for reading!

Preservation

When Sarah Richardson refinished her farmhouse, in particular the kitchen, she used oil cloth on her bar stools. As a mother I thought this was a great idea, especially with young ones. As we know, little people have a tendency to spill, or colour, or touch with the help of gooey hands everything. So with this in mind I went on the hunt for something similar to oil cloth to be proactive in preserving our kitchen chairs a little longer. At Fabricland I found this material with the colours and pattern that coordinate quite well to our colours in our kitchen. It's vinyl, and with a wipe of a cloth they are clean after every meal or craft!

Take a look:

So what do you think - will the chairs a little longer????

Thanks for reading.

Here we go again!

I think I have created a monster (but in a really good way!!!). My amazing hubby got the bug to do something around the house, and took on 2 projects that I have been anxious to do. The first is to add crown moulding to the powder room. I had posted about the crown we had installed about a month back in our living and dining rooms. My hubby saw some of the installation and wanted to try it himself. So off to Home Depot we went to get supplies!!!! What I like about this type of installation is it doesn't involve messy plaster moulding, and to me it seems more secure when put in place. Instead of plaster you use stripping, just plain wood you cut at a 45 degree angle on one side and screw directly into the ceiling; this way you have this extra support to nail gun your moulding in to. Here's what the stripping looks like:

Now to measure (twice), and cut and install the moulding....

While that was started, hubby also wanted to tackle the wainscotting in our front hall. You may remember from earlier this year we installed our own shaker panels in our front entrance. I had always said I wanted this site line continued in the hall...and today it was started! Take a look:

You can see how I've traced the panels right onto the wall as a rough template to help us measure and secure on.

So there you have it, just your plain old weekend project!!!!

Terrific Tot Tuesday: Potty Training

So the saga begins; we are trying to get our older toddler interested in the potty. For starters, we are trying to just get him to sit on the seat...easier said than done. This was met with tears, repeated "No!" yells, and a kid grabbing on to me or his father for dear life. Enter new strategy. Now we are sitting him on the potty and then reading him a story (a Thomas story of course). Success!...now, if we could read for an hour, maybe he would do his business! Baby steps!

What strategies have you used? What's worked? What hasn't?

Leave a comment below and share your ideas!

Thanks for reading.

Halloween Delights

Yesterday was our party for the little kids and we had a blast. We made crafts, decorated cupcakes, ate junk, got some treats and we dressed up!

Here are a few snapshots:

Spooktacular times!

Terrific Tot...Wednesday!

I am falling behind on my posts! But to make up for it, here are two ideas for celebrating the Spooky season!

On Sunday I showed these bags that I had started to make. They didn't have some of the finishing touches I wanted to add. All I used were simple craft materials: foam circles for the outline of the eyes, googly eyes, felt for the noses, hair and teeth, decorative cord for the mouths and a good, ole Sharpie marker for the "stitches" on Frankenstein's face.

Then, as part of our decorations for our up-coming Halloween get-together, my little artists helped to create our Halloween themed banner:

If you have a great craft idea for Halloween I'd love for you to share in the comments below!

Thanks for reading.