Homemade Christmas Present Roundup Vol. 1

These are a smattering of presents I have made in years past.  Not to brag, but to share ideas.  Some were made from others tutorials, some I just improvised and some are both: tutorials that I have improvised on.  (Note: the captions are links to the tutorials..)  Happy present making!

DVD travelling art kit

No tutorial for the capes.  Just a hemmed rectangle of fabric, with an elastic casing at the top, and a craft foam applique.  Really easy.

Lunch Money Cuff tutorial: Lemon Squeezy Home

bowtie: Lemon Squeezy Home.  Hat: Sew Liberated

Wall-E instructable, EVE instructable.  Both modified

I know I have more... but I figured I would publish this now, and find more later. Instead of saving this as a draft yet again, because I don't need any more unfinished posts.  Thus the vol 1.  Maybe I'll get around to vol 2 this year, maybe not.   If you ask nicely I probably will though!

 (You can also check out my other tutorials..)

Tutorial: Upcycling cereal boxes into carboard mailers

This is so easy I can't believe I haven't thought of this before.   It is brilliant if I do say so myself.  I wish I had thought of this when I was bothering with all of the promotions and whatnot to get a tiny bit of sales with my etsy shop.  Though they will be useful for the new printing run I'm doing of my Ted book.  Just in time for the season of gifting and shipping everything.  Either way I am super happy that I found such a great use for the waste from the grotesque amounts of cereal my children consume.   I will certainly never need to buy another small mailer again! 

 

See, totally easy!  I know I'm going to be using them from now on.  Are you?

Kid Project: Upcycling old broken crayons into swirly coloring sculptures

I did this last year with my kids for their friends, and since it was for gifts, I didn't blog about it then.  That and I'm pretty awful about blogging.  But in honor of the upcoming gifting/making/shopping madness, I wanted to get more homemade gift ideas out there and in my tutorials.  So, this random post which was half written (and of course not finished) was dug gingerly out of the pile of my squandered molding ideas, and with a little spit polish here and there, I present it to you for your crafting pleasure.

These were from candy pretzel molds, so I had to tape up the end so the wax wouldn't run out, but overall it made a great shape for coloring with.

Upcycled Fancy Crayons

Step 1: Peel old crayons.  (kid step)  Perfect job for kid helpers.  You (the adult) can make it easier by taking an exacto knife and cutting through the length of the crayon paper wrapper.


Step 2: Sort out the colors into like piles.  (kid step)  I used a ton of leftover crayons, all different brands.  Some of which had different wax and sparkles and whatnot other components, so it wasn't all totally homogeneous.  Not the best thing, so I would suggest maybe sticking to the same brand.  It still worked though, but next time I think I'll go with all the same sort of crayons.

Step 3: Melt them double boiler style.  (adult job)  You can use a variety of things for this purpose.  But just know it will probably ruin whatever container you use.  So think recycled.  You can start collecting rinsed out tin cans, or I used glass baby food jars.. anything that isn't going to melt with the crayons.  (don't use anything plastic)  And put them in a shallow pot of boiling water.  Make sure the water doesn't go into the crayon containers.

Step 4: Pour the molten wax into molds.  (adult job)  Use tongs or oven mitts or something, because I guarantee whatever you used to house the molten wax will be super hot.  Be careful when you pour!  You can use all sorts of different molds to shape the wax.  I used candy molds this time.  But you can use old ice cube trays, or muffin tins, old prescription bottles or even hollowed out egg shells.  The possibilities are really endless.  (you could get real fancy and make plaster casts of objects and fill it in with wax..)  I also like to swirl and mix two or more colors together.  I try to stick with colors next to or close to each other on the color spectrum (or mix with neutrals, white, brown, greys and black) to avoid really ugly combinations, like what happens when you mix complimentary colors that cancel each other out.  Because they will mix up a bit.  The mixing colors is my favorite part.  Go crazy and have fun with it though!

Step 5: Cool them off completely.  Cool off in freezer (where the wax will contract, making it easy to pop right out of the mold!)



Step 5:  Remove from the mold and color.  (kid step)  Make sure it is totally cooled off and cold, and not even slightly warm at all.  If so it should come right out and be ready to color with!

re-purposed glass baby food jars work great for gifting and/or storage (as well as for melting) can you tell I did this when Liam was still eating baby food?

 There you go!  Enjoy!  It is really fun, and they make fantastic gifts.  If you want more gift making tutorials let me know!

my briliant anti-cold-cereal solution

You may have noticed previously my stark and vehement dislike of cold cereal.    But I seem to have come up with a quasi solution to my problem of too expensive, too soggy, too processed, too boring and not lasting until lunch; cereal complex.  One that I will even consent to consume, nay even enjoy.  (pause for actual cereal eating break... seriously, I just realized that this is JUST exactly what I want.  right now).  Now to continue with out spilling milk on the keyboard..  ahem.

Make your own.

No, not another sort of breakfast (though you know, that is good too, but tends to always dirty more dishes... so, you know, kind of evil... but we're not talking about dishes now, are we?)  But make your own cold cereal.  I've made granola before, and its fun for a bit, but really quite sweet and pretty heavy on the stomach.  By itself.  BUT of the few cereals that I eat voluntarily at all... they seem to have the 'bunches of oats' or 'oat clusters' in them, which duh, is granola.  Then they just add flakes and dried fruit or nuts.  Pretty simple.  I've been meaning to do it for a while to see how my homemade version worked out.  Then I finally did.  And it does.  So I'm breaking my blog silence by deciding not to be selfish with my self proclaimed profound discovery.

The instructions are actually pretty simple.

-make granola.  (easier than it sounds)  You do not need to be Crunchy to do so.  From my brief stint of habitation in Portland, I learned thus: apparently I'm only a wannabe hippie.  I had only deluded myself that I knew anything about true earth love.  And footprints of carbon.  They are professionals.  However, for this you do not need to be.

combine in saucepan and bring to a boil:

1/2 c. water,
1 1/2 c. brown sugar,
4 tsp. vanilla,
1 tsp. almond extract (optional) and
1 tsp. salt.

pour the hot syrupy stuff you just made over this in a big bowl:

8 c. oats,
1-2 c. coconut,
1-2 c. slivered almonds, or other nuts of your choice (cashews are heavenly).

Mix it all thoroughly and spread out onto a large cookie sheet.  Bake at 250 for a couple of hours, or 200 or lower all night.

Break up into small chunks and add dried fruit.  I prefer cranberries, though raisins are good as well.  I haven't tried dried bananas, but they might be tasty (especially the non freeze dried ones) or cherries.. anyway, that is what truly makes it taste good, so don't skimp on the dried fruit.  Then mix in a whole box of corn flakes.  (you could go all authentic and mix in different kinds of flakes, like bran flakes and some frosted flakes... but I just used corn flakes... I'm lazy like that.

It actually makes quite a bit of cereal.  So it lasts a while, and my cereal reserves (that I don't even eat!) don't get depleted quite so fast.  We've been going through cereal like its going out of style! 

Liam does his part with the rampant cereal consumption.

Disclaimer: It does get soggy rather fast.. (which I truly despise) so I have taken to eating very small quantities at a time, repeatedly until satisfied.  Example, pour half a cup of my granola/flakes into a wide mouthed vintage tea cup.  (note to self, good excuse to go thrift some more beauties).  Add milk.  Inhale.  Repeat 2-3 times.  We can pretend that I actually stop at 3.

On organization

I'm crap at it. But seeing as it is a recognized (though not celebrated) weakness of mine, I'm always trying to come up with (or find) ideas that just might help me be not-so crap at it. Occasionally out of sheer volume of trial and error, I come across some things that have miraculously worked for me. I will share them with you on the off chance that perhaps they might help you too. Or you could alternately point and laugh because A- you are already an organization pro, or B- of course my silly ideas wouldn't work for you, or C- you are rich enough to pay someone to do your dirty work for you, or D- you have no children to negate your organizational prowess. At which point you have at least been amused by my misfortunes, so my rantings haven't been in vain after all.

Idea Uno.

I especially suck at cleaning my house. I just don't LIKE it, and it gets messed up again so fast, why bother cleaning it ALL of the time. So I used to let it slide until I went absolutely mad with disgust and annoyance at which point I'd go through and angrily clean the whole thing up, only to have it last roughly .00318 milliseconds before the next tornado hit. Seriously, what was the point.

Or else I was forever picking things up, but it never stayed as such long enough to vacuum or sweep before other toys, coats, backpacks or shoes would drift in of their own natural volition, thus preventing any actual cleaning of the cluttered surface. * So, even I who have a moderately high tolerance for clutter, was seriously annoyed. Next, I tried a chore chart, which didn't really last. Then I tried having everybody help clean up every Saturday. It wasted the day, and made everybody cranky. Everything I tried never really lasted longer than a couple of weeks. And took lots of effort.

* (Sir Isaac Newton, had he any progeny would have certainly discovered this fourth undeniable law of thermodynamics which is as follows "areas in clutter must remain in clutter unless acted upon by the STRONG force, which exists only in the nucleus of atoms, so good luck with getting that to work for you", but fortunately for high school students everywhere he didn't manage to fit procreation into his rather busy schedule and there is, for now, one less law to memorize.)

So... I came up with only cleaning one room a day. Every day, except weekends. That's it. Ignore the rest of the house (except the dishes.. yeah, that can't be ignored, and laundry I suppose..) and only focus on one room. Then the next day pick a different room. It actually has a chance to get all of the way clean, not just picked up, but thoroughly scrubbed (and half of the time organized) because I'm setting a realistic, small goal. And because it is realistic, easy and small, I do it again, and it actually lasts beyond a few weeks. The surprising thing is it helps me to be more productive, because once my one room is done, I don't have to do any wasting-time-avoid-cleaning-syndrome things, I get to move onto whatever project I am currently working on sans guilt. Then not only do I have a great feeling of accomplishment, but it actually stays a lot cleaner for some reason. (this part I don't get, except that as a whole, each room gets completely cleaned about once a week, which is probably more than ever did before in my house) And if happen to be feeling lazier on a certain day, I pick a room that isn't so bad. (if I have something too structured, I feel stifled, so I don't have set days for each room) Even when I miss a day, or days, I don't catch up and clean more than one a day, I just start again. I turn on music, and make my kids help me, and its not so bad. I really like it, and even if it doesn't work for you, I'm really, really relieved that something works for me. Sure it means all of your entire house isn't spotless at the same time, but when did that ever last anyway. Its scientifically proven. Nature truly does abhor a vacuum. Lucky for us, 21st century narcissistic Americans abhor Nature. So, it all evens out.

Point deux.

I am rotten at making real dinners consistently. Five o'clock rolls around, and I spend an hour thinking of things I don't feel like making, and then having to force it upon my unwilling subjects. By six, I am in somewhat of a panic... oh crap, now I have to do something ELSE and quick, because we should be eating now, or thereabouts. Pancakes, oatmeal, cold cereal, grilled tuna or cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, or mac and cheese are now the options. Gross. Well, except for the pancakes, which we have quite a lot of, but aren't really that great for long term hunger fulfillment. ANYWAY... as aforementioned and is now glaringly obvious at this point, I'm not organized enough to know what I'm making beforehand, which would solve all but the forcing-to-consume part of my problem. I also am a booger and can't be bothered with sticking to a fixed schedule for meals. How am I going to know on Monday what I'll feel like eating (or making) on Friday? Sometimes I think of a few I want to make, and I write them down before hand, but only occasionally, but it really helps. So I should be able to write out a list of seven meals that I might wish to make through the week in no particular order, and in varying degrees of time allotment required to prepare. I make sure I have ingredients on hand, or go get them all at once... So, I thought if I had a cool specific place to write all of it, then maybe I'd be consistent at planning ahead. So instead of dinner, I made a blank menu idea list I could print more of whenever I needed to. And then I thought of a cool way to put them on my fridge... So, I thought I'd share how to make it, and perhaps it can benefit you too, so that my kids having oatmeal for dinner yet again won't be in vain. I'll even give you the finished printing layout because I'm that kind of person.

print THIS out.



I didn't put borders on it, because my laser printer doesn't DO borderless printing, so make sure when you print it out it is with a border. And its not perfect (hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, I made it for you, quit whining) they're all not going to line up exactly and the edge borders are going to be bigger than the middle ones, but get over it, and just cut it off.

..and then if you went through all that bother, you might as well make the holder. (its really easy) And you can use a random ugly or boring magnet you don't care for to hold it up.

Cut a clear vinyl strip. 3 1/4" x 10 1/2"

Fold the strip of clear vinyl once backwards, and once forwards. Adjust to fit.



Sew the edges with cool colored thread. (I sew each seam twice so its thicker, and stays better, and you don't have to backstitch at the beginning and end because that looks silly on vinyl)

Slide the magnet under one flap.



..and the blank lists into the other.

Fill with ideas. Place on fridge. Feel sufficiently motivated and inspired to make dinner before bedtime.

Figuring out how to get your picky kids to eat the dinner, without giving them therapist fodder? No clue.

(and hey, make it all you want for you and friends or family, but don't rip off my idea as your own and try to sell them or anything K, that's just rude!)


Solution drei.

ha, ha, just kidding! I don't have another one. yet. I just wanted to use another random language number, so it looked like it was on purpose. (Kinda like I'd be cool like Bono and do my own version of weird counting, and not just totally copy his 1, 2, 3, 14 in spanish.) I know I'm lame, just checking to see if anybody is still actually reading by now. You can officially stop though. I'll let you.

I promise.

Tutorial: How to make a baby headband from an old tee shirt

here is the tutorial finally, which I realized I'd already written ages ago, but only hadn't added the pictures... silly me.

So, I finally caved and made some headbands for my bald baby girl Lucy. I do normally get rather bored with her being mistaken for a boy, despite the bracelet she usually wears and/or pink clothing or dresses she may or not be wearing, but I am rather used to it. I had lots of practice getting used to it with my first bald baby girl Sohvi, who stayed that way until age two, at which point she started to BARELY have enough to tell it was curly.
So Lucy especially needed something feminine for our HUGE family pictures (all of my parents progeny) for which she was to be dressed all in black. So, I messed around and came up with a darling headband. My sister really liked them, so I offered to make one for my cutie niece and since I was on a roll I made a bunch more for Lucy. I love them, and am amazed and delighted that she usually leaves them alone. They are incredibly easy to make even for someone who has almost no sewing skills and most others could probably copy them easily WITHOUT the instructions.. well, here they are anyway. I still prefer to follow someone else's directions anyway (and most especially their measurements).

Supplies:
old tee-shirts -or- cute stretchy knit fabric
fake flowers
beads, or like adornments for the middle of the flower

Tools:
cutting mat and rotary cutter -or- scissors and measuring tape
hot glue gun
sewing machine

-Plug in the glue gun, so it will be ready to use later

-Cut open one of the side seams of the tee-shirt so it can lay flat.

-Cut off the bottom hem of the shirt.

-Measure and cut the fabric 3" wide for a narrow headband (smaller flower) 3 1/2" for meduim, and 4" for large. I used about 16" long for one of Lucy's, she was 14 months old then, and they still fit at 22 months (she has a big head too)... it also depends on how stretchy your shirt is. Fortunately being stretchy makes being exact not matter so much. Measure your child's head and if you're using normal tee-shirt fabric add an inch. If it has lycra or spandex in it, don't add anything.

-fold lengthwise with the right sides together

- stitch with a zigzag seam with a 1/4" seam allowance. (or serge it, if you are lucky enough to have one)

-turn right side out. You can press it if you are the kind of person who uses an iron while you sew, but its knit so you don't need to.

-fold in half

-sew the ends together with a straight stitch and a 1/2" seam allowance.

- open up the seam in the middle.


-over stitch the ends of the seam so they lay flat.

-trim off excess material.

Head band is done if you don't want to embellish it with a flower (like if you had cute material to start with)

Adding decorations: (you can also add a loop around the band and add flowers to clips and have the decoration be interchangeable, but for kids the more parts there are that come off, usually do)

-take apart your fake flowers (pull apart all the plastic stuff) so you only have the fabric 'petal' part. I usually use more than one set of petals even if they weren't meant to be that way, it gives the flowers more depth and they look fuller and therefore nicer.

-glue each set of 'petals' separately to the middle of the headband. (that way you can wear it on either side of baby's face)

-glue on the middle embellishment, bead, crystal, middle of the fake flower (cut off whatever you need to, to make it glue on flat) whatever.

-put it on your darling bald little baby girl and hope she leaves it on.


You're done... see, its really easy! And pretty dang cheap!