In honor of our first snow day of the school year, I thought I’d revisit one of my favorite posts from last year.
Revisit: Snow Ice Cream
Posted by in Cooking | Food | For Kids | Projects | Stuff I Like - (0 Comments)A brand new Trader Joe’s opened up in my town and I’ve been there more than my fair share. When I saw these giant gingerbread men kits, I thought my kids would really get a kick out of them. I was right!
The kit comes with everything to make a suitable gingerbread man but you could certainly add your own candies and sprinkles to make it a little more special. My kids were perfectly happy with what came in the box so I didn’t even bother bringing out more candy!
I’ve been having a lot of fun so far this Christmas. The kids are 7 and 5 and are really getting into the holiday. I hope they’ve been good this year so Santa will make a visit to our house!
Thick n’ Quick Mittens and Button Hat
Posted by in Craft | For Kids | Knitting/Crochet | Patterns | Projects | Thick and Quick Mittens - (0 Comments)
I was determined to make my kids some super warm hats and mittens before the weather turned cold. I managed to do all the knitting over a couple of nights in September. I didn’t manage to sew on the button until after the first snow. Small victories.
The hat is from this pattern. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick. I chose that yarn because it is machine washable but still has the warmth and water repelling qualities of wool.
For the mittens, I didn’t want to go out and buy some larger double-pointed needles. So, I used what I had and made up my own pattern. These are knit flat and then seamed up the sides. It really isn’t my first choice but, I was too cheap. Below you’ll find the pattern for the mittens. They are easily adapted to accommodate larger sizes of hands if you’d like to make some for yourself!
Thick and Quick Mittens Pattern
1 skein Lion Brand Thick and Quick yarn (you’ll use approx. 1/2 the skein) or other bulky weight yarn
Size 11 needles
Stitch markers, stitch holder or spare yarn
Plastic needle for seaming
Size small (my daughter is 5) as written. Larger sizes (M, L) written in parentheses.
k= knit
p=purl
pm= place marker
m1= make 1 stitch
k2tog= knit 2 together
Cast on 21 (23, 23) stitches.
Starting with a knit stitch, work k1 p1 rib for 7 (9, 11) rows.
Work in stockinette stitch (k 1 row, p 1 row) for 5 (7, 9) rows.
Next row: Knit 10 (11, 11) stitches, pm, m1, k1, m1, pm, knit to end (3 sts between markers)
Next row: purl all stitches
Next row: Knit to marker, m1, k3, m1, knit to end (5 sts between markers)
Next row: purl all stitches
Next row: Knit to marker, m1, k5, m1, knit to end (7 sts between markers)
Next row: purl
MEDIUM AND LARGE SIZES ONLY:
Next row: Knit to marker, m1, k7, m1, knit to end (9 sts between markers)
Next row: purl
Next row: Knit to marker, m1, k9, m1, knit to end (11 sts between markers)
Next row: purl
ALL SIZES:
Next row: Knit to marker, place sts between markers on a stitch holder or a spare piece of yarn, knit remaining stitches.
The stitches on the the holder are your thumb stitches. Just leave them be for now.
Next row: purl
Continue in stockinette stitch for 2 (4, 6) more rows.
Next row (right side): *K2tog, knit 6 (7, 7), k2tog* repeat to end
Next row: purl
Next row: Knit all stitches
Next row: purl
Next row: *k2tog, k 4 (5, 5) k2tog* repeat to end
Next 3 rows: stockinette stitch
Next row: *k2tog, k2 (3, 3) k2tog* repeat to end
Next row: purl
MEDIUM and LARGE SIZES:
Next two rows: stockinette stitch
ALL SIZES:
Next row: *k2 tog, (k 1, k 1) k2 tog* repeat to end
Cut yarn leaving a tail of approximately 12 inches. Place on seaming needle and thread the yarn through each of the remaining stitches on the knitting needle. Pull taught and leave until you’re ready to seam up the mitten.
THUMB:
Place all stitches from stitch holder onto knitting needles.
Knit in stockinette stitch for 7 (9, 11) rows.
Next row: k2tog across all sts
Cut yarn leaving a tail of approximately 10 inches. Place on seaming needle and thread the yarn through each of the remaining stitches on the knitting needle. Pull taught. Using the mattress stitch, seam the thumb to the edge of the mitten.
Using the tail from the main mitten, finish seaming the side of the mitten using the mattress stitch. Hide all yarn ends.
Repeat for second mitten.
Homework Station
Posted by in Challenges | Craft | For Kids | Homework Station | Patterns | Projects - (10 Comments)
This project was made for the Elmer’s Can You Top This contest #CanYouTopThis. A couple of weeks ago I was prepared to go in a whole different direction and even had many of the elements completed (nativity puppet show). However, a few days ago I realized that this could solve a major problem in my household.
I have two school-aged children (one with autism) and when they sit at the kitchen table to do their work, they are easily distracted–by each other. I decided to come up with this system to give them their own space at the kitchen table that can allow them to focus on their own work.
SUPPLIES:
Elmer’s Tri-Fold Board
Chalkboard paint
Tempera paint
Elmer’s Multi-Purpose Spray adhesive
scrap cardboard
Clothespins
Velcro
Small boxes (I use these)
Paintbrushes
Box cutter
Bone folder
Step 1: Cut your tri-fold board in half. You’ll be using the 35.5″ side so measure in 17.75″ and cut with your box cutter. This is probably the most difficult step in the whole process–which should assure you that this project is easy peasy.
Step 2: Measure in 2.5″ from the fold. Score (using a bone folder) the board parallel to the existing fold. Repeat this step for the other fold. The following picture shows you what you are trying to achieve. You want some space when you fold up the board.
Step 3: Mark off a space in the middle of the board for the chalkboard paint. I used a box I had lying around that measured around 10″ X 12″.
Step 4: Apply chalkboard paint. Use instructions on bottle. Mine said to paint one coat in one direction and the second coat the opposite. It also needed to cure for 24 hours. You can complete the rest of the steps while that is happening.
Step 5: Paint the front of the board. I used tempera paint (pink on the sides and black surrounding the chalkboard paint) but you can really decorate the front however you want (decoupage, anyone?). You can also see the second homework station I have in the background. This is a 2 for 1 project!
Step 6: These directions will be intentionally vague. You can put whatever you want on your homework station. Customize it for your child and their age. I’m showing you how to make a box using spare cardboard. This one is for an eraser. Wrap your cardboard around to make sure it fits. Fold up a small piece at the bottom.
Cut slits in the bottom so you can fold it around to form your open-topped box. Using the Elmer’s Spray Adhesive (or other strong adhesive), glue the box together.
Once the glue is dry, paint the box. When it is completely dry, attach it to your board using the Elmer’s Spray Adhesive.
Step 7: This step involves the rest of the little things you can attach to your station. I used velcro strips to attach boxes of chalk.
I always have a few of these boxes on hand. I save them because they are great sizes and fun colors. I attached these to the board using Elmer’s Spray Adhesive.
I also attached 4 white clothespins across the top of the board (2 on each side) using the spray adhesive.
My daughter loves her finished board! She is going to decorate it more in the coming days. Really, the sky’s the limit! For my son’s board I will probably add a magnetic strip along one side to hold some magnets, scissors, etc… and a pouch for papers (instead of the clothespins).
This was a fun project to make and I’m glad I had the contest to motivate me to get it done!
Speaking of contests… November challenge entries are due tonight! There will not be a challenge in December so you have a few more weeks to purchase your packet for January! Happy crafting!
Despicable Me Crafts: Thumbprints to Unicorns
Posted by in CHA | Challenges | Craft | Events | For Kids | Paper | Projects - (0 Comments)This post is all about my creative process and how most of the time my ideas don’t work and I come up with something completely different.
I had some really great craft ideas surrounding the movie, Despicable Me. Most of those had to do with the little minions. My kids LOVE those little guys. I thought I might be able to make a lot of little minions using thumbprints. I was smart enough to practice.
When it was clear that my thumbprint minions needed some work, I changed directions and started going in the fluffy unicorn direction. You can see my amazing rendition of a fluffy unicorn. Drawing is not one of my strengths.
Cricut to the rescue. There is a sweet unicorn in the Once Upon a Princess Cartridge. I cut that out and decided to cover it with fluff.
Recognize the card? It was part of the Dinotalk Scrapbook Invitational. The fluff is cotton layered on top of some tacky glue. I also had to throw in a rainbow for good measure (also on the Once Upon a Princess cartridge). The clouds received some fluff, as well.
It is all on top of some glittery paper and, because it is a product from Dinotalk, it talks! The inside says, “It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!”.
So, there you have it. That’s how I went from thumbprints to unicorns.
Dinotalk is the sponsor of next month’s craft challenge. If you’d like to try out their products, you can sign up for the challenge until Sept. 30th. I have a limited number of the products so when they’re gone, they’re gone!
Sewing Cloth Baby Shoes
Posted by in Craft | Events | For Kids | National Sewing Month | Projects | Sewing - (1 Comments)This is a project from a couple of years ago. I got on a baby shoe kick and made a ton to have on hand when friends have babies. I gave away another pair yesterday so it reminded me that I haven’t yet posted that project on this site.
This is a super quick project and uses very few supplies. Here is the link to the Cloth Baby Shoes Pattern.
Since I made only the smallest size, I omitted the bonded fleece for the sole. If you’re making these for a toddler, I would add that for sure. I also didn’t add the interfacing because I found that made the shoes a bit too stiff for an infant shoe. Again, if you’re making these for an older infant or toddler, I would include the interfacing.
I made a card to match. How sweet is that? I used my circle punch to make the dots and one quick stamp layered on some paper finished off the card. Super quick and easy!
I made some bibs, too. We’ll save that for another day.
I started working through the projects for my online Home Ec class this past week. I’m on my fourth project but I’ll show you my first two in this post.
I’ll admit…I wasn’t too motivated to make cloth napkins. It was a super easy project and I didn’t really need to learn the “lesson”. However, when I signed up for the course I was determined to make every single project in order. So, I bit the bullet and did it.
I used some green cotton fabric from my stash and white thread. I didn’t have any ric-rac in my house (seriously? How could that happen?) so I “borrowed” some from my friend, Kelly. It’s got a bit of green on the white ric-rac and it looks pretty cute on the double napkin.
Remember how I didn’t want to do this project because I didn’t need to learn the lesson? Karma. My single napkin picture is showing the only part of the zigzag stitch worth showing off. The rest looks totally mangled. I didn’t think I needed to change my sewing foot from when I worked with the vinyl for the cuff project. I was wrong. Lesson learned.
The next project was a tote bag. It was a pretty basic tote and it didn’t give me any problems. For this, I chose some Clifford the Big Red Dog fabric that someone had given me. This tote is going to be a library tote for one of my nephews.
To go along with the tote, I made a fabric panel book. This has nothing to do with the Home Ec class, but I figured I better make it while I was one a roll! Fabric panel books are super easy to do and make great gifts for babies or young toddlers. You can find fabric panels at most fabric shops–although the selection is usually underwhelming (at least where I live).
What did you make last weekend?
DIY Wipe Down Kids Table
Posted by in For Kids | Home Decor | House | Projects | Tutorials | Upcycling - (6 Comments)I bought a few wood end tables at a garage sale a couple of years ago. The kids use them for coloring, eating, playing, kicking, etc… They’ve been well loved. I think I only paid $5 for both of them and they were already a little worn so I never really worried about them.
We’ve been restructuring our downstairs area and those tables were getting a lot more use and were getting harder and harder to clean off. I decided to come up with a solution. I’ve been thinking about it for some time and the other day at Joann’s I saw a remnant of vinyl. This isn’t the sticky vinyl I’ve been using in my Cricut. This is car upholstery vinyl.
I cut a strip big enough to fit the top and started to cover the top of the table with Mod Podge.
The Mod Podge probably wasn’t the best choice of glue. But, it is what I had handy. For the second table I used yellow carpenter’s glue and it seemed to have a better hold. In the end, neither one of them held it on perfectly but I came up with a good solution.
Why didn’t you just staple it on, ChristyNelson.net? Good question. That was what I was planning originally. Then, I decided that it was too loud to do at night and I didn’t really want the vinyl to wrap all the way around the edges of the tabletop.
This is Duck Tape brand duct tape and you can find it in all sorts of designs. This one I found at my local Super Target. I thought this would be just the thing to put around the edge of my end tables. It will cover up the rough edges of my vinyl (I just trimmed it with scissors–that was the easiest way I found) and it would also hold down the edges where it was kind of easy to peel up the vinyl.
I placed the tape along the edge and did one side at a time. I folded over the corners with the first bit of tape to reach it and then started the next side by overlapping it.
I call the covering my “permanent placemat” and will be easily cleaned with just a wet cloth. One down…one more to go!
“My Own Monster” from SEI Crafts
Posted by in CHA | Events | For Kids | Projects | Reviews - (1 Comments)[Hi, I’m Kelly/refibered. My "day job" is being mom to a darling 4 year old, and creative genius behind "refibered" -- sewing aprons and clothes for kids and making quilts. This past week I was Christy’s minion/assistant at the Craft & Hobby Association Trade Show in Chicago, where my mission was to seek out interesting booths and report on new products. ]
SEI crafts has a fun new line called “My Own Monster” – it’s a sheet of pre-printed iron-ons with a monster theme. There’s a basic body shape, and several pieces that can be used as eyes, freckles, noses, hair, arms and feet. (You can also add your own fusible-backed fabric to make purses and other accessories.)
Their booth samples show several of their iron-on lines, all of which are darling! This seemed to be the most popular booth at the show, since there was always a line of people waiting patiently for their chance to make-and-take a fun t-shirt. Every monster was different, and it was fun to watch people making these.
The project assistants at the booth suggested cutting out the body shape, but the other pieces could be peeled off. (One assistant did say the body could be peeled, too.) Peeling the shapes was a little tedious, and there were a few ripped and torn pieces, but that could still work for a monster.
Making “my monster” might be a fun birthday party project, letting kids build their own (ironing should be supervised, of course).
The make-and-take participants could choose either the pink or blue monster, but there are other packets in this line, including a little vampire, witch, Santa and snowman. The green monster packets can be purchased online and all lines should be available soon in larger craft shops (Michael’s, JoAnn, and Hobby Lobby).
-k
Amy from Things We Make is hosting a friendship bracelet swap and with my friendship bracelet history (here’s the post with the shrinky dink charms), I thought I’d join in on the fun!
I made my traditional friendship bracelet but decided to add a little bling. I added three pink beads in the center of the bracelet. To do that, all you do is place the bead on the middle two strands of floss when you get to the place where you would like one, and then continue on.
