Tag Archives: handmade

Apr16

Dress Up Veils

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Dress Up Veils

If you have girly girls, you know how much fun dress up can be. You also know that the stuff you buy in the store is expensive on the wallet, but doesn’t last long because it is made so cheaply. A couple of years ago, we were in Claire’s oohing and ahhing over all the jewelry and accessories when one of my girls pulled a veil off the shelf. She was so very excited to pretend she was “getting married”.

She wanted to buy it, but because of the $13 price tag, and the fact that she had no money to spend at the time, she wasn’t able to. Knowing her birthday was coming up, I took a close look at how the veil was made and decided that might be a good handmade gift. I made two, one with pink flowers on the comb and one with purple (I know that when one of the girls is dressing up, the other usually wants to also). Just before I took the pictures last week, one of the dogs got ahold of the purple one and chewed it up! The kids have had them for a year now and they were good as new. The dog got it for 5 minutes and destroyed it.

Because it was such a simple project, and cost only about half of what I would have paid in the store, I wanted to share it with you. Since they are already made I don’t have step by step pictures, but I’ll try to make the directions clear.

Items Needed:

White or Clear hair combs (I paid $5 for a 2 pack at JoAnn’s, but I’m sure you can find them cheaper at Wal-Mart)

Tulle (Measurements on this depend on how long you want to make them and how wide the fabric is on the bolt. Get a piece double the length that you want the finished product to be.)

Decorative Ribbon or Flowers

Needle and Thread

 

Directions:

This is one of those projects I was able to do while watching TV in the evening. I think it took me two evenings to complete both veils. Not bad for a birthday present that actually gets played with a year later!

Fold the tulle in half lengthwise. Take the folded end and begin to hand sew it to the comb as shown in this picture. You’ll have to scrunch the tulle a little with each stitch until it fits the width of the comb. (You can click on any picture if you need to enlarge it.)

Once you feel the tulle is secure on the comb, repeat the process with the ribbon or flowers. I know it takes more time to do the sewing twice, but I couldn’t keep the tulle in place while trying to do the flowers at the same time. I’m sure the extra stitching can’t hurt. You’ll want to tuck the flowers/ribbon around the back edge of the comb like you see in the picture, otherwise it will unravel and show on the front.

That is really it. Tulle won’t unravel, so there is no hemming necessary. You could even get fancier and tack some ribbon around the bottom edges of the veil. I figured it was a toy and the extra ribbon and time weren’t necessary. Here’s the cost breakdown:

2 pk. combs         $5

Tulle                      $5

Flower edging     $3

Total for 2 veils   $13 (as opposed to $13 for one at Claire’s)

2 layers allows them to have a front veil if they choose

Do you like to sew? Or would you rather pay the extra to purchase things already made?

Dec16

“Decorating”

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“Decorating”

I mentioned  earlier this week, that my girls love to “decorate” things. They like to take the job of setting the table to a whole new level by adding things to the table to make it pretty. They decorated their room for Christmas a week or two ago, with things they made. We made a bell in art class, so they hung that in their room. Then they made various other pictures to put up in their room.

Yesterday, when I got out of the shower, Clare runs in and says, “Mom, you have to come and see Grant’s room. Miranda and I decorated it for Christmas!” I was curious what they would have used, since I put away all our spare decorations downstairs. When I opened the door, there were lots of these little pieces of memo paper with trees and wreaths on them. They had stuck them anywhere they could find, without using tape ’cause mommy won’t let them without asking.

My favorite part of the whole idea was the heart behind these little pieces of paper. They were excited to serve their brother–and believe me he was happy with his decorated room! They also had a desire to take something ordinary and make it beautiful, which is what decorating is all about, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do your kids find ways to “decorate”?

Nov22

Heirlooms

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Heirlooms

Now that I’ve begun reading Treasuring God in Our Traditions again, I am reminded of the many things that make our family special. Her first chapter is about family heirlooms–things of value that are handed down from one generation to another.

I have a handkerchief and a hand-made quilt from one of my great grandmothers, and a creamer pitcher from another. I am so thankful to have these few items from a past generation. I have to say though, that my most treasured heirlooms are from my daddy. I wanted to show you how he has filled up my house with beautiful things that my family and I will treasure forever.

First, my bedroom set that dad started when I was still living at home (including the bed that my dad lost a finger making…literally. You think I’ll ever forget what went into this heirloom? Not a chance!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special Note Here: This mirror is extra special. Jason and my dad worked on this project together one year at Christmas time.

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t want to stuff this post too full of words and pictures, so I figured I’d just carry this on into a new post later in the week. Officially To Be Continued….

Nov8

Simple Homemade Gifts

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Simple Homemade Gifts

Since I posted about homemade Christmas gifts on Friday, I just thought I’d give you some examples of things I’ve done in the past. Now, when I made these gifts, I didn’t always take pictures, so I had to have my parents take pictures of the things they had at their house.

And these are simple. I’m not an elaborate person (as you can tell if you ever take a look at my walls–there are minimal decorations around my house), so I keep the gifts simple and to the point. I’m sure you could come up with many ways to make them “prettier.”

Idea #1

"Who Am I?" packets

 

The point of this craft was to let the kids be a part of their gift to Grandparents. I also wanted to record some of their favorites that they can look back on in a few years and see what has changed.  This is how the gift was given. All wrapped up and tied with a ribbon. I’ll include some pictures underneath of this opened out. You can do favorite colors, foods, places to visit,activities, etc. I did their eye and hair color and birthdays. Each flap had a little more information to help the grandparents figure out who was who, then on the inside was their picture and I had the older two sign it in their shaky 3 and 4 year old handwriting.

Outside

 

 

Inside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Displayed on Grandpa and Grandma's piano

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Idea #2–Vanilla Baskets

Homemade Vanilla

 

I made a few “Vanilla Baskets” for family/friends last year. Inside I included Homemade Vanilla, Vanilla Candied Almonds, and Vanilla Biscotti and Hot Chocolate. The vanilla takes 6 weeks or more to “steep” so you have to start now if you want it done by Christmas. The longer it sits, the stronger the vanilla becomes. My vanilla beans came in this cool little tube, and there are enough beans that I can start a new jar once the original one is too weak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Idea #3

Art Frame

 

This frame was made 2 years ago, just before Elsie joined our family. Miranda was doing pretty well with her handwriting at age 5, and Clare was drawing perfect “kid art” at age 4. Grant was still too young to hold a pencil, so I just signed his name. I took a cheap $5 frame from Michael’s, and attached scrapbook paper to the matboard. Then I placed their work on a coordinating background and the frame was finished. I know there are few earthly things more valuable to my dad than the Scriptures and his grandchildren, which is why it is no surprise that this hangs at eye level on the wall next to his recliner.

 

 

Idea #4

Homemade Crayons

 

We did these homemade crayons the year we were preparing for our adoption. We didn’t have a lot of extra money lying around, and these were cheap! I bought several packs of Crayola crayons when the back to school sales were going on (I think they were only $.15 for a 24 pack). I bought the silicone molds at IKEA for a couple of dollars each–they had several molds to choose from. Then it is as simple as peeling off the labels (that isn’t as easy as it sounds when you’re doing a bunch of them!!!), dividing them into colors, and melting them down. We used vegetable or soup cans that were cleaned out to hold each color, then popped them in the oven on a cookie sheet to melt. The kids can help with everything up to this point. They can peel, and they can sort colors, but once the cans came out of the oven with melted wax, it was difficult to let the kids help. We tried to let them use an oven mitt to hold the cans with, but then the can just wanted to slip out of their hand. Jason and I ended up doing most of the pouring of the hot wax. The kids did help us decide which colors to pour in which order. They didn’t take long to cool, and they popped right out of the molds. It was fun, and the kids enjoyed giving something they helped to make.

I asked Steph if she had any pictures of her homemade creations from the years past, but unfortunately she does not. Last year, during the summer, she picked blackberries from her yard and froze them. Then in November or December, she pulled them out and made blackberry syrup/jelly. She paired this with a homemade pancake mix to give as gifts. I’m pretty sure the year before that she made some layered jars of ingredients for cookies or something.

I would love to compile your homemade gift ideas into a post. If you have made anything as gifts, send me your ideas (along with pictures if you have them), and I’ll post it next week. I have my supplies for this year’s homemade gifts, but am always on the lookout for simple ideas to use, so load me up at dressesnmesses at gmail dot com!