quilting can be an art form , or it can be a treasured family keepsake . Whatever is is for your home , its always appreciated . Quilting at first can seem like a tedious ,overwhelming task but if you work at it piece bu piece , and try not to to it all in one night it wont be that bad . When your finished you and your family will have a treasured homemaking item .
basics
heres what you need
2 differnt color fabrics (the softer the better )
Lots of sewing string
A needle
template /a piece of paper to cut out what your block size will be so all your pieces will be the same .
sharp scissors
Take your template cut it to what size you want your blocks on your quilt to be
put it over your fabric ,
cut around the block.
cut out as many squares as you want depending on the size of the quilt .
do this with the both color fabrics
Thread your needle , then turn your quilt square over to the side that is not pretty , take another square of the opposite color , put them side by side then take the two corners .
push them up so you have the whole sides of the two squares together .
sew along the edges , continue doing this to all your squares , once all squares are sew on , add a border finish if you would like , then pick up some quilting backing . never sew your patches on by the pretty side , this makes it look really nice when finished .
kids, highschool ,weddings , fads , kids first boyfriends / girlfriends
friends
activities
*************************
Craft idea of the week
use stamps and food coloring to decorate cookies
*************************
Make a country doll
make a country doll to decorate with
what you will need
two yards of fabric that will be used for the body
yarn or pre made doll hair
flowers , bows , whatever you wish for her hat
beads , buttons , for the eyes
black felt for mouth
stuffing
glue gun
and pretty fabric and lace for the dress
1 . Make the body fold fabric in two cut out the shape of the body
2 . sew the body together
3 stuff it
4 .The fun part make the dress adorn with ribbon , lace , flowers ,or even nothing whatever you prefer .
5. put dress on doll
6. cut out felt for mouth , hot glue on beads or buttons for eyes , take yarn braid it together or make a hairstyle that you like (or attach premade hair )
step 7 and 8 optional
7. Make a hat
either out of paper or cardboard .
this is where you can get really creative
you can glue fake flowers ,beads, ribbons , fake fruit .
8 . make little shoes out of the felt or fabric
and voila your beautifull doll is finished this makes an adorable decoration for the home .
Here are some creative arts and crafts ideas to do with young children ages 2 to 8. You can find most all of the supplies right in your own backyard or around the house!
Enjoy!
Apple & Pear Prints
Supplies: Apple & pear cut in half, paint and paper. Directions: Use red paint to dip the apple, light green for the pear then have your child stamp prints of each on paper, cardboard, tile etc.
Leaf Bracelet or Rose Petal Bracelet
Supplies: Masking Tape and leaves or rose petals Directions: Wrap a piece of masking tape backwards (Sticky side up) around your child's wrist, let them collect leaves or rose petals to stick to their bracelet.
Nature Collage
Supplies: Glue, paper plate or construction paper, leaves, flower petals, seeds, twigs, pebbles, sand. Directions: Before you start this project, have your child go on a scavenger hunt for the items to use in the collage. Then have your child spread out glue over entire surface then arrange all of the nature items that they found right on top.
Macaroni Necklace
Supplies: Macaroni that is tubular in shape, hand sanitizer (or rubbing alcohol), food coloring and yarn.
Directions: At least one hour before, color the macaroni by mixing in a bowl or ziplock bag. 1 cup of macaroni to three squirts of sanitizer, add three drops of food coloring then mix. Spread out mixture on a wax paper covered cookie sheet, let dry. Have kids string the noodles with yarn for necklaces.
Music Shakers
Supplies: 2 toilet paper tubes, beans, seeds, pasta or rice (uncooked), paper, tape, markers and stickers (Optional). Directions: Fill the tubes with beans/seeds/pasta/rice then wrap with any kind of paper, like you would a gift by folding up or tying the ends closed. Let the kids use their imagination and decorate with markers, crayons, stickers or paint.
Glitter Rocks
Supplies: Small smooth egg sized rocks, Elmer's glue, and glitter Directions: Have children role rock in glue then cover completely with glitter, let dry for 30 min. to 2 hours, depending on how thick the glue is, then add a top coat of Elmer's and let dry completely.
Stick Picture Frame & Magnet
Supplies: Four straight Sticks the same size, old pizza fridge magnet, photo, glue and paper plate. Directions: Glue photo to paper plate place sticks around picture, glue down and let dry overnight. Cut around picture and frame. Attach magnet to the back.
Flower Wreath
Supplies: 10-20 flowers (dried or fresh), card board circle or paper plate, glue and ribbon. Directions: Cut out center in cardboard or paper plate. Place a substantial amount of glue all over your card board/paper plate, place flowers all around let dry, tie a ribbon around the top and use to hang up.
Pine Cone Bird Feeder
Supplies: 1 small pine cone, or you can substitute a small milk carton (cute) or juice box. You will also need peanut butter, bird seed and yarn. Directions: Have children spoon the peanut butter onto the pine cone, then role into the bird seed. Hang with yarn or wire.
Grass Mat
Supplies: Grass, dandelions, clovers, contact paper and scissors. Directions: Cut contact paper into two equal lengths, let children gather grass, clovers, dandelions or anything you would like. Remove the backing from one side of the contact paper, have children place there collection on the sticky side. Cover with the remaining piece of contact paper, press and cut to size.
~By Christy Camburn-Child Care Finders Christy Camburn is a busy mom of three and the editor of ChildCareFinders.org- A website dedicated to parents and child care professionals. For information, ideas, resources, and support. Visit Child Care Finders at http://www.ChildCareFinders.org or Contact Christy by email mailtochristy@ChildCareFinders.org
By the time your teen is in high school, you probably aren't taking as many pictures of them as you used to. I have to keep reminding myself that I only have a couple of years left and no time to waste trying to capture fleeing teenage memories.
You might be thinking that I'm really organized to be already working on scrapbooking my daughter's high school memories. To be honest, I have a shoe box full of pictures of my daughter waiting for me to get to someday.
But if I wait until "someday" to continue taking pictures because I already have so many pictures I haven't done anything with, then my daughter's teenage years will come and go while I try to catch up.
I don't want to chronicle every detail of my daughter's life (nor would she want me to!), but I was trying to think of some memories that she might want to laugh about and maybe even treasure someday. So how do you do that without ending up with pages and pages of memories?
I decided to do two large (12x12) pages (facing each other in the album) for each year of high school. I will challenge myself to use this space creatively to tell the story of each year. When I started thinking of all the the possibilities, it really inspired me to start getting organized and collecting some great memories. And don't limit yourself to just photographs, your scrapbook pages can really be accentuated by other types of memories. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Photograph Ideas:
High School Dances First Date/Boyfriend School Building Church Events/Retreats Braces (the day they're removed) Hair Styles Clothing Fads Learning to Drive First Job First Car Best Friends School Plays/Concerts Family Vacations Favorite Family Pets Babysitting Sports/Band/Cheerleading Musical Instrument Practice
Other:
CD Covers (scanned) Favorite Song Lyrics Drivers' Permit First Pay Stub Programs from Play/Concerts College Brochures School Newspapers ASB Card Awards/Certificates Ticket Stubs (concert, movie, sporting events) Report Cards
You can be creative when you're arranging your layouts. Don't be afraid to cut pictures down or cut out portions of play programs or school newspapers. Just cut out enough to accentuate the other items on the page. You will create the overall effect from the entire page, not necessarily from an individual item.
Have fun and don't worry if you don't get it done all at one time. I figure if I can do one every summer for the previous school year, by the time she finishes high school (she's a freshman this year), all of her high school memories will be recorded in the family archives.
Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For recipes, tips to organize your home, home decorating, crafts, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com. To subscribe to their monthly newsletter send a blank e-mail message to FreeRecipes-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
A family memory journal is a fun, easy way to preserve family memories. A couple of years ago I was sorting through a pile of unused journals (many given to me as presents!) and was trying to come up with a way to put them to good use.
One day after a family gathering, I sat down and wrote a short description of the gathering in one of the unused journals. I wrote where the gathering took place, the occasion we were celebrating, the names of the people who had attended, and anything about the day that had stood out in my memory. I did this for the next couple of family get togethers and then just stuck the journal in a drawer somewhere.
It didn't seem like that big of deal at the time, but probably a year or more later I pulled out the journal again and looked at the entries I had made. It was really fun reading them again. I had already forgotten some of the things that had happened, or thoughts that I had at the time that fortunately I had thought to write down.
I've been really forgetful about writing in my family memory journal, but in the past couple of years have probably chronicled two or three family events a year. When you think about it, 25 years from now, the journal will be full of family memories.
Family journals are a great thing to pass down to your children and grandchildren. At the time they don't really care about what's going on, but some day they will appreciate being reminded of some of their childhood memories.
In the past year or so I've really gotten into scrapbooking. I was just thinking that my memory journal will be a great resource for my scrapbooking projects. Sometimes it takes months to get your photos ready and pages laid out. By that time you will forget any memories you had to go along with them. If you have your family memory journal, you can use it to add journaling to your scrapbook pages, with your memory as clear as if you had taken the pictures yesterday.
Don't let time pass you by and let those special family moments get away from you. Sometimes an event as routine as "another family birthday party" might make a great memory later in life. Especially when older relatives start passing away, it's special remembering the times they were involved in family get togethers. Someday when you're that older person, your youngest family members will enjoy reading about their great- and great-great grandparents.
Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For recipes, tips to organize your home, home decorating, crafts, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com. To subscribe to their monthly newsletter send a blank e-mail message to FreeRecipes-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
These thoughtful, inexpensive keepsakes are easy to make and personalize for any friend or family member.
I decided to make mini cloth-covered photo albums for my mother and mother-in-law. These instructions apply to any size photo album--you just have to measure the album to get an idea how much fabric you're going to need.
Materials:
- 3-ring binder/photo album (doesn't have to be new--you are going to be covering it) - Pages for photos (add when album is finished, or you might get glue on them) - 1 large sheet white poster board - 1 can spray adhesive (3M works well) - Craft glue or glue gun - Scissors and/or rotary fabric cutter - Fabric—1 piece long enough to cover the outside of the album, and 2 pieces to cover each of inside covers. Allow extra inch to fold over edges of album. - Silk flowers, appliques, beads, ribbons, lace (optional)
You will need three pieces of fabric. You want the piece on the outside of the album to be one piece that folds around the outside of the album. Leave 1 inch of material around the edges.
Use spray adhesive (available at most craft stores) to glue the fabric. Make sure to lay newspapers all around you and spray carefully or you'll end up with a big sticky mess. Also try not to let your fabric stick to the newspaper. Spray the glue directly on the outside of the album- -one side first, then the spine, then the other side. Smooth the fabric as you go, gently smoothing out any wrinkles quickly beforeit dries (you have a few minutes). You should now have the outside totally covered with fabric with 1 inch extra all around the edges of the album. Glue the extra inch of material on the sides down to the inside of the album. Now fold the top and bottom edges down and glue in place. The inside of the spine will still be visible after the inside covers are in place, so fold the extra inch at the spine in half first, then again and glue in place. The remaining exposed top and bottom edges will be covered with the inside covers.
The next step is to make the inside covers. Cut 2 pieces of poster board approximately 1/8-inch smaller (on all sides) than the inside covers of the photo album. Make sure to lay them in the photo album after you cut them to make sure they're the right size. You want to make sure the album can still open and close easily when they're in place. Cut 2 pieces of fabric to be 1/2-inch bigger (on allsides) than the pieces of poster board. Using spray adhesive, glue each piece of poster board to a square of fabric. Fold over the remaining ˝ inch of fabric on the top, bottom, and sides, and glue to the back of the poster board. You should now have completed inside covers with no exposed fabric edges. Using spray adhesive, glue the inside covers into the inside front and inside back of the photo album,again making sure the album can open and close easily. You're done! Now you can add the pages for the photos. Here are some more options:
- If the album is big enough, you can cover a photo mat with fabric and glue it in the center of the front of the album. You can purchase the mat already cut, or you can make your own out of extra poster board, making it any size you want.
- If you want to have lace around the edges, glue the lace around the edges of the album after covering the front of the album with fabric, and before gluing in the inside covers. The inside covers will hide the bottom edge of the trimming. Glue in place with craft glue or a glue gun.
- Embellish the cover with appliques, beads, and silk flowers. Glue in place with craft glue or a glue gun.
After you practice on one of these albums, you'll see how easy it is and you'll be able to see all the millions of possibilities. These albums can as fancy or simple as you want, and can cost a lot or next to nothing. I made one for my sister as awedding present that cost about $50 after I bought the nice fabric, appliques, lace, etc.
For Mother's Day, however, I found some mini photo albums on sale 2 for $3. They hold up to 4 x 6 photos. I'm going to find a photo to cut down a bit to fit on the front cover, one for my family, and one for my husband's. If I get in a bind for time I will try to find some fabric on sale (should only require approximately ˝ yard each for the small albums). If I have time I'll do a little yard sale shopping and try to pick up some fabric that way. If you sew or do many crafts, you may already have some fabric on hand. It's also a good idea to stock up on different sized albums when they're on sale. Keep on the lookout for extra trimmings on sale and at yard sales. Don't forget the unconventional, like sequins and buttons. These thoughtful albums make great gifts for all occasions.
Originally published at http://www.suite101.com. Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com.
bravenet.com
