Here Kitty Kitty Treat Bag

Something about Fall makes me want to craft. Colder weather? More holidays? The fact that my eldest son is in school 1/2 days 4 days a week?

Anyhow...this little kitty is one of my latest creations. Halloween crafts are super fun and many of them are pretty easy to do too. This one I made in a few hours. Super easy but a little tedious.

Basic components are:

Felt-brown/black, green, purple, and orange

Embroidery floss-white (I actually used fake sinew for mine because I had some lying around)

Basic directions:

1. Cut out a cat head shape twice

Cut out eyes, including pupil components

Cut out nose and mouth

Cut out two strap pieces

2. Begin the tedious job of blanket stiching the face on one of the cat heads, I also added whiskers by looping string through and tying a knot at the point where it comes out of the felt. Then I cut the end of the loop and untwist the floss to give whiskers.

3. Next stitch the bag straps to each cat head

4. Last but not least blanket stitch both cat heads to each other

Eventually I will fill the little bag with Halloween treats and give it to a friend. Next I'm going to try a pumpkin head!

BTW I am loving the new hair color. Not sure if the bangs were a good move though. :o)

To Dye or not to dye

So I decided that I am bored with the hair as of late. It's long, it's brown, it's BORING! What do I do?

Apparently I buy the cheapest hair dye there is-pick an even darker brown color and wait until 10 pm to color it. Oh, and I cut my bangs too. :o)

I thought that maybe at 10 p.m. I would be able to do this without kiddos coming onto the scene. However, a few minutes ago I heard the unmistakable tip tap of feet in the hall. Kieran decided to wake up and want some snuggles. I had to wake up Sleeping Beauty and have him take Kie to our room. Not so good at snuggling with dye dripping in my hair.

I wonder if I will regret the decision to dye and cut tomorrow am?

Robots Attack!

Okay even though my son's birthday isn't until December I have been working with him on a theme. We've rocked the dinosaurs for 2 years now and I am so not into it for year #3! I think I have finally convinced him to do ROBOTS!!!!

So I have been googling like crazy for robot related stuff. And I have found some cool stuff.

Which as the next few months unfold I will probably post here.

My first exciting endeavor is to make a robot out of cloth. Luckily I have stockpiles of fabric in my garage. I let Kieran pick out some acceptable patterns-he chose a star print and grey swirls.

I have this great book of patterns for stuffed animals and I just modified one of the dolls into a robot.

Anyhow, the end result is 2 pretty lame robots but not bad for a first attempt.

Wish me luck on the next try.

Autumn Leaves

So every fall I try to do a few leaf related crafts. This one is super easy. It just takes some contac paper, some squares of tissue paper, and construction paper.

Basically you cut a leaf shape out of the construction paper. I am lazy and didn't want to find a leaf shape online, print out, etc. so I just free handed a couple. Anyhow, once you have a leaf shape you then cut out the interior and leave just a leaf outline.

Next you cut a piece of Contac paper that is just a little bit bigger than your leaf outline. Remove the backing and then press the leaf outline down.

Then put the squares of tissue paper on the contac paper. They stick really easily and you can do some overlapping.

Last but not least you then cut around the leaf shape and hang the finished product in a window. In my picture the laziness factor got the best of me and I didn't cut around the leaf-although the extra contac paper proved a useful way to hang the leaf up on my sliding glass door.

BTW my 2 yr old rocked this one. Super easy for him to put the tissue paper squares on the leaf and feel like he really did the project. His is the 1st leaf.

Here we go again

So I always think that I am going to keep up with my blogging. Doesn't happen though. I think part of the problem is that I have been self censoring in the past. This go round I have decided to bare it all. Happy, sad, crafty, lazy. It'll be here if I'm feeling it. Wish me luck...

Lately I have been feeling guilty. My oldest had my undivided attention when he was younger. We read books, did crafts, learned our letters, etc. If he wasn't sleeping I was with him trying to engage.

My youngest, as is the case with most 2nd children I'm guessing, is not getting that undivided attention. Yes, when his big brother is at school I read with him. We talk and play and go on trips together. But I know he is NOT getting enough of me. I spend time cleaning, doing laundry, and sometimes just vegging out. I am tired. Almost 5 years of hardcore mommying is tough. Not that I mean to complain. I want to be a stay at home mom. I love the time I get to spend with them. I feel lucky that my hubby has a job that allows me to be here. But sometimes I get burnt out. And unfortunately for my youngest he is much more easy going than the oldest and he gets the shaft mommywise.

So along with trying to keep up with my blog, and making time to workout (been trying to go to Zumba 3x a week) I need to add in that I should be a more attentive mom to my youngest. I know that it will pay off in the long run.

tree time

We have this great oak tree in our back yard. I love this time of year because the leaves start to turn these amazing colors. Reds, oranges, yellows. The boys and I often go out there and look at the leaves, well I look at them and they rip them off the tree and tear them to pieces. Anyway we picked quite a few leaves and brought them inside. We each picked a backround piece of construction paper and then cut out our trees from brown construction paper. Next we used glue dots to stick our leaves onto the tree and on the ground.

Little Monsters

Big man's class sent home a calendar with ideas for each day to improve literacy. One idea was to turn a paper plate upside down and create a face. We opted for monsters. With googly eyes of course. I love me some googly eyes. I went with the classic big head little body monster. Big man, on the other hand, went for a swirly purple body, 3 eyes, and a cool pumkin tie. Super easy and super fun.