Great Fabric Ages with Time

I'm sure you have heard that a fine wine ages with time, right?  Well, I think a fine piece of fabric ages just as well too!  About six years ago I had these grandiose plans to make table runners for all the different holidays.  I bought every holiday/season print that I could find; Christmas, Spring/Easter, July Fourth, and Halloween/Fall. The runners were going to be a gift for some friends, but unfortunately the fabric hibernated in my craft bin.  Luckily, it stayed as part of my stash and moved from Pennsylvania, to New York, and finally to Maryland!  Throughout the years I always knew in the back of my mind that I had this fabric but I had no idea when or if I was ever going to use it.  Partly because I was intimated by the sewing machine, partly lazy, and partly just busy with every day life.  

Thankfully, there was a reason I never used the material.  Last Halloween, I was watching a television show were a grandfather gave his grandson a personalized trick or treat bag.  See, I just need the inspiration and I am good!  I thought to myself I could make a bag just like that for Sean. And, these days when I get an idea in my head I go with it.  That same day, I found a pattern, figured out how to set up my machine and started cutting and sewing.  I even cut out letters from felt material to finish it up.  Here is a picture from last Halloween with Sean using his special bag!

Connor was just a wee little one last Halloween and did not need a bag for loads of candy.  This year, he probably does not need the candy, but he is getting a bag just like his big brother!  I had tons of Halloween fabric left over so all I had to do was find the time to whip up another fun bag. Here are the results!

To add to the festive mood of Halloween I figured I might as well use up all of my material so that I can make room for more.  I found a very easy way to make a no-sew pennant banner.  It was so simple and I was able to make it in less than an hour.  All you need is a triangle template, some stitch witchery, an iron, fabric and ribbon.  This is a great way to make use of left over material and also a great way to decorate a large space.  I think I might make some more with all of the other holiday fabric I have stashed away!

The Torch Broom has been Passed

I was lucky to have my parents visit last week. When they are in town we complete a ton of projects, but this time we threw in some crafts. Since I've been on a "creative kick" the past couple of months, my mom took advantage of my interest and showed me some of her old tricks. Given the spirit of Autumn my mom brought a hodge podge of Fall items, and taught me how to make a beautiful (and cinnamon smelling) broom!

My mother is a wiz with a glue gun, but this festive broom was completed all by myself!  The wisdom of my mom was right there cheering me on, but I used my own eye when it come to the placement of each leave and pumpkin.  When it comes down to it, it is very simple.  Start from the bottom up, remember that you don't have to be symmetrical, and just glue away!  All in all, this project was also very inexpensive.  My mom found a great deal on the broom ($2.99 at The Christmas Tree Shoppe), I already had the glue gun, and the silk leaves, flowers and pumpkins were sitting in my parents basement being unused.  I love it and it adds just a little bit more of Fall love to my home.

Oktoberfest Part 2 . . . Sweets Edition

I was really trying to figure out what would go well with our German themed party for the dessert part of the evening.  But really, you can't go wrong with anything that is sweet and scrumptious! For the adults I went with my first ever made trifle (or as I sometimes mistakenly say, truffle).  It was a pumpkin spice cake layered with pumpkin and vanilla pudding and cool whip.  I was very pleased with how it turned out, but more importantly how it tasted.  And it tasted delicious!  I previously tested out the mini mason jar apple pies, and they passed the test with flying colors.  Knowing that I was going to be doing a lot of baking and cooking for the party, I prepared the jars two weeks ago.  I was skeptical of the process, but trusted all the other bloggers about how easy it was to freeze.  I went ahead and froze the jars unbaked.  I defrosted them in the refrigerator overnight, and took them out in the morning.  I was worried that my crust would break, but there was not one piece of crust out of place!  I baked them and when I saw the apples bubbling over I knew I was successful.  In the end, the mason jars were more work than I expected but the end result was perfect!

Even though this was an Oktoberfest party, we had lots of little children running around in their Halloween costumes. Beer and wine for the adults (= happiness), kids wearing their Halloween costumes as much as they can (= double happiness)!  In the spirit of witches and pumpkins I went with a more festive dessert for the kiddies.  The ghost goodie bags were so simple to make, and were a huge hit with the kids.  All I needed were pretzel bags, a marker, and mini marshmallows.  I was all about making things as easy as possible.  So going along with that them I went and made witch hats.  They looked adorable, but the best part was there was no baking necessary!  Simply get Keebler Fudge cookies, Hershey kisses, and some icing (any color would do), and you have yourself a perfect dessert for Halloween.  Lastly, who doesn't like cupcakes?  Especially cupcakes with tootsie rolls and M&M's? I actually made these cupcakes a couple of years ago, so I guess I'm starting to recycle some of my ideas.

Sometimes it scares me that I actually enjoyed the whole process of planning this shindig. Who knows maybe we'll do it again next year. Or better yet, we'll do it sooner. You can always make an excuse to have a party!

Oktoberfest 2011 . . .

What do you get when you combine crisp Fall weather, yummy food, lots of beer, wine, and of course friends? Our first annual Oktoberfest extravaganza! (I say first, but that is not a guarantee there will be a second...we'll see about that). It was a lot of work to put together, but I really enjoyed all the stages of planning. Since it was an Oktoberfest, I really wanted to stick to a menu of German themed food. I may have gone a little overboard but all our guests enjoyed the grub and left me with very little food. (I guess that's a compliment, but I was hoping that I wouldn't have to cook for a couple of days:-) The menu consisted of, cheese and beer fondue, beer bread, bratwurst, potato pancakes, perogies, apple sauce, macaroni and cheese, smoked brisket (kudos to my hubby) and mummy hotdogs (had to throw a little Halloween into the mix for the kids). I even had fun with the table cards. On a side note, I do not speak German (a website helped with the translation) and can't guarantee that it is correct, but it looks good and my friends thought it was a nice touch.

Now, you can't have an Oktoberfest party without beer and (German) wine! I thought it would be fun to give each person their own glass.  Each guy had a beer mug with a personal name tag.  The ladies each got a wine glass, where I painted the bottom with chalk board paint (aka my new favorite thing).  I tied some raffia on the glasses and created a fun way to enjoy some adult beverages!  With the chalk board paint, the girls could mark their glasses and nobody would be searching for their missing glass.  How many times have you been to a party where you couldn't find your drink!?  At the end of the night each person brought home their glass.  Just a little reminder of their fun filled night!

I thought the night was a huge success!  The kids had a blast playing in their costumes, the adults enjoyed some "semi-authentic" German food and who could complain of the beer and wine! Of course it would not be a party without sweets.  You'll just have to save some room for dessert and wait until my next post of all the scrumptious goodies I whipped together.

Ghosts of Halloweens Past

The countdown to Halloween has begun in our home. Although at times, it seems like everyday is Halloween because a certain 3 year old just loves loves loves to play dress up. His latest preference is of course a very cool super hero . As the big day approaches I am reminded of some of our past Halloween costumes. Let's take a walk down memory lane! While we take this walk we can guess which costumes are homemade and which ones are bought:-)

Dorothy & Scarecrow

As you can see even before kids, we had fun with this holiday. Chris was a good sport wearing his costume, which we put together ourselves with some old clothes, raffia, and an old ladies sun hat. My costume was borrowed from a friend, but I love the Christmas basket I used to carry my little dog Toto!

Roar!!!!!!

Sean's first Halloween! He was a Roarin' Lion and took his costume very seriously. This was purchased because I had yet to find my Halloween costume creating bug.

A very happy Cat in the Hat!

I absolutely love this costume! Sean really enjoyed reading Dr. Seuss books (and still does) so I thought this would be perfect. He had a blast wearing it, and I had a great time trying to figure out how to make it. In the end it was quite simple. All I needed was a black sweat suit, black and white craft fur, red ribbon and white gloves. The hat was the hardest part of the costume, but once Nanny found it in the store we were set! And, how could you have Cat in the Hat without Thing 1 and Thing 2?

Don't they look yummy?

As you can see I'm all about "themes" when it comes to costumes. I wasn't sure what to do for Connor's first Halloween since he was only 3 months old.  I came up with an idea of making them into M&M's. Sean loves the candy, especially the green ones. Yes, I do know the green M&M is a girl but Sean didn't know and I really didn't care. For Sean's costume I cut out foam into a circle and made a casing with green fabric. I cut out the "M" on white felt that was a sticker on the back. Since Connor was still a little guy, the bunting M&M bag was the perfect solution to have him dressed up and nice and warm.  I sewed yellow felt into the shape of a bag, and cut out the label with white and brown felt. So easy, so cheap and so cute!

I'm looking forward to unveiling this year's costumes....but we will have to be patient for that post!

Sean's Wall of Art!

I love to display all of Sean's artwork. It took a very long time for him to actually like to color and paint, but now that he does we have a LOT of "masterpieces." I was getting a little anxious because I knew once he started pre-school he would be coming home with even more creations. What was I going to do with all of his artwork? I mean my refrigerator is big but not that big! And I wasn't going to throw them out. He would totally call me out on that! I thought maybe I should create a little display area that Sean could be proud of and double as a great way to decorate the play room.

So I had an idea, but didn't want to spend a ton of money. Thanks to my friend Emily, I finally took her advice and hit up some great thrift stores in our area. I came away with four picture frames that were inexpensive and perfect for my project. (I also went home with a lot of other great deals too, but that's another story. Even my mom would be proud of my thriftiness.)

I felt like I needed to easily rotate all of the artwork so I came up with a way to just clip the papers to the frame. As you can see from the picture it works great for all the different sizes of art. In addition to the frames, I made a big "clipboard" using clothes pins and painted it with my favorite new craft tool; chalk board paint!

I am thrilled with the results. Sean loves it too! When he gets home from school the first thing we do is hang up what he made. I can't wait to see what he brings home today!

One day of Pre-School fun!

A fun way to display!

It was a pie kind of day!

I love this time of year. The crisp Fall weather, the changing of leaves and of course apples! It has been a family tradition to go apple picking and then bake homemade apple pies. Yum! In my home, my husband is the apple pie maker. He makes the homemade crust and everything. I, on the other hand, get the more labor intensive job of peeling, coring and cutting all the apples. It is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

This year I wanted to put my own spin on the whole apple pie making scenario. Cue the cute mini mason jars! I'll be the first to admit once I get an idea in my head I am a little OCD about it. For the past couple of weeks I have been eyeing the new world of mini mason jar pies. I mean come on, how cute is that?

Since we were already making pies, I decided to "experiment" with some of the jars. All I had to do was chop up the apples into smaller pieces, put the crust into the jars, fill them up and have fun creating different designs for the crust topping. I love the weave pattern the best.


The best part was not only did the look great they tasted great too! I think my hubby will have to play second fiddle to these cute little pies. Although, he does make a delicious pie!

Especially . . .

I'm not sure if you can call me "crafty". After all, in my younger years I was a tomboy who spent weekends on the playing field, not in the house sewing and crafting with my mom. This has been a slow evolution, emphasis on SLOW! Everyone in my family has some type of artistic talent. But for me, I consider myself a "jack of all trades, master of none." So I am going to try and become a member of the blogger world. I have been a lurker for a long time, and as my husband says it is time to contribute.

I first became a "closet" crafter when I started to crochet. My grandmother was an amazing crocheter and could create anything you asked her. She tried to teach me when I was about fifteen years old, but as a teenager I had absolutely no interest in making blankets or sweaters. But sadly she passed away before I could gain any of her wisdom when it came to creating precious keepsakes. Amazingly, once she was gone I was able to pick up a crochet hook and make blankets as if I was doing it forever. It still baffles me today. So my crafty side started in a very unusual way, but even still I am very thankful that it did.

I am a busy stay at home mommy to two extremely active boys. I am thankful for nap time, because now it gives me an opportunity to be creative and have some fun. Hopefully I can share some of my creations, that are especially made for you!