Crafty Craze

When I look back and consider that these craft projects are the culmination of all of 2013, it seems a little pathetic. Cakes are, in some ways, easier. There's a tight deadline and I can justify letting the house become a tip for a few days to get a cake done. DH understands that too. Sadly, I can't use that justification all the time.

Proof of knitting:

 My one and only knitting project of 2013 (and likely 2012 if I were to look back). It now has a huge mistake in it that needs to be taken out and reworked. Something that requires time, patience and no interruptions. I fully expect it to sit in the box its been relegated to until 2018 or so. I can tell that this is an early 2013 picture by the fact that Youngest has no hair (he now has ringlets and, when his hair is being washed, it extends down to his shoulder blades. I haven't had the heart to get his curls cut off yet), Eldest has short hair (he's now shaggy as he's growing his out) and Middlest's hair looks to have been cut by a professional (he's cut his own hair five times over the past year and it shows).

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I really tried to do well with teacher gifts during Eldest's first foray into school. I think I set myself up though. One child with one teacher wasn't too bad but Middlest goes to school this September and Youngest follows two years later. I love how I set these impossible standards for myself!

Most of the following projects are a direct result of Pinterest.

I found this project on Pinterest from the Pearle's Rosebuds blog. I didn't follow the instructions though, just winged it myself with what I had. I put natural cotton quilt cotton underneath the letters to add dimension and frayed the raw sides of the letters to give them a more rustic feel that I thought suited the linen I used for the fabric. (from my stash).

This pillow is a play on a Scrabble tile. I had a problem deciding
whether or not to say 'A +' like a report card or stick to the
original.

He used a fabric marker for his signature. Very Kindergarten-ish;)!

This present looks great but was ridiculously easy. Why I have not taken the time (what's that?) to make an updateable (new Patty word) subway art frame for myself is beyond me. I used the free subway art that I found on Pinterest from the Eighteen25 blog printed at Walmart then painted a $5 frame from Value Village with chalk paint.

A little closer view of the paint job.

Eldest and Middlest had a pirate themed birthday party this past summer. Until I manage to devote an entire post to the festivities (if), here is another sample from the day (the pirate ship cakes were others). I carved my own pirate stamp and used it to stamp onto paper bags for loot bags. Easy peasy and more environmentally friendly than plastic loot bags.

In keeping with the pirate theme, I spruced up plain $6 Walmart t-shirts with pirate intent. Eldest wouldn't wear his to his party but did wear it on his actual birthday day a few days earlier.

You'd think the child knew who Vanna White was… He's a
cuter demonstrator in my opinion. He has grown so much in nine months!

When I was growing up, we almost always camped in a tent. Now that my siblings and I are grown and moved on, our parents are still confirmed tent campers as are DH and I. We have a camping coffee carafe similar to this one belonging to my parents but ours came with a Neoprene cover to keep the coffee warm. Mudder and Fadder's did not. For Mom's birthday in August (naturally she received it later in the fall), I made her her own coffee carafe cosy. I love stipple quilting with my sewing machine.

I bought the fabric at an online Canadian fabric store called
My Fabric Spot. I have ordered from Karen a couple of times and I
LOVE her selections. This fabric is from one of her pre-cut packages.
I used this one.

It was another handmade Halloween with respect to costumes this year. Eldest designed his own costume (he drew it out and I sewed it up. Not bad for a six year old).

Middlest's tiger hoodie and face paint. I LOVE using face paint.

Pants and tail.

Eldest was a caveman and the other two tigers (Youngest wore a
costume I bought at Winners a couple of years ago that ended
up being too small for Middlest two years ago). I had to cut corners on the
costumes somewhere;)!

I found something like this on Pinterest from The Pink Couch blog before Christmas and came up with my own version for one of my SILs for Christmas. As I'm so slow and wanted to get this present in the same box as the rest of the presents for my brother's family, the whole box arrived well after Christmas. Apparently they enjoyed a really late second Christmas though.