Strawberry Shortcake Chore Chart

M&M needs LOTS of motivation.  To get anything done.  My kid has been potty trained for a year and a half, but needs to wear a diaper to bed.  Once that diaper goes on, it's like she HAS to poop in it.  sigh.  And she won't go to sleep until she's done her "job."

In comes the "chore" chart.  Or in our house, the poopy chart.  Don't get me wrong, my kid is awesome-ly amazing at be potty trained.  But we have the biggest Bedtime Battle that ends after she poops.  But this post isn't about her pooping habits, it's about her chore chart!

Every time she poops in the pot, or goes all night w/o a poopy diaper, she gets a sticker.  She rarely goes poop during the day, so I decided she can still earn a sticker to be excited, and maybe change the time of day she goes (fingers crossed!)

Her reward?

This orange Strawberry Shortcake car.  I got it off ebay with some other Strawberry Shortcake stuff and had put it away for the right moment.  Well, Dad opened up my hide-y spot and she saw it and that's ALL she talked about, so I told her I would make up a chart and when she filled it with stickers she could have the car.

This is the 3rd Chore Chart I've made since I can never find any good ones online.  It's made from free stuff you can find on the Strawberry Shortcake website, I just put it all together in Photoshop.

The strawberries are about ¾" and I found perfectly sized food stickers in Target's scrapbooking section for about $1.  

She's been doing ok with it.  Lots of nights she doesn't earn a sticker, but we talk about it before bed and the chart hangs where she can see it, so...I think it's helping!  She's got stickers, so that's saying something!

If you want a copy, I'm sharing it on Google Drive, click here.  

Happy Creating!!

Shibori Silk Bracelet Cuff

It all started with this bracelet from Alyson G. Design I found on pinterest one day last November:

I had to have one.  Of course, I could find no place that sold them locally (or online) and I think they were pretty expensive (for me, anyway).  

Hmm...how can I make these.  

Pinterest searching...Etsy searching...

Once I found a source for the Shibori silk, I was pretty sure I could handle making something similar.    It took me awhile to decide on the silk colors I wanted, where to buy decently priced cuff blanks, what to sew the shibori/beads to, and backing material. 

I made a total of 3 for Christmas presents, but completely forgot to photograph the first two.  This one is, by far, my favorite of the three!  

Purple is not my favorite color, but I've got friends and family who like it, so it ended up on the shopping list.  Beads are a purple mix I picked up from Hobby Lobby with some other randoms I found in my stash. 

The first couple I made had minimal beads on them.  Similar to the green/blue I found on pinterest above.  But for this one, I was like, my friend likes a lot of bling, let's keep adding beads and see how it looks!

I think the folds on this shibori just lended to having a lot of nooks and crannies filled with beads!  I was SO tempted to go back to the store and pick up more variety (size and shape) of beads, but my bead stash is already out of control, so I resisted the urge.  As in, I did not allow myself to even go into another craft store for the entire month of December...

The support material is Nicole's Bead Backing (similar to Lacy's Stiff Stuff) and available in lots of colors.  I used ultra suede for the backing.  Shibori is made by ShiboriGirl and can be found on her website and a few authorized people on etsy (here, here, and here).  I found 1" aluminum bracelet blanks for under $2 each.  I had thread on hand.  The cost of each bracelet (getting 3 bracelets per ½ yard of silk) would be about $10 - $15 each.   Not bad.

I'm going to get some more silk - a blue this time, and make one for myself...perhaps with a clasp instead of a cuff...

Happy Creating!

How Tos:

How to cover a bracelet in ultra suede:  here by Beadaholique on YouTube.

Shibori Ribbon Bead Embroidered bracelet:  part 1, part 2 by beading-arts.com

Bead Embroidery with Shibori Ribbon:  here by Jennifer VanBenschoten on BeadingDaily.com

Baby's First Christmas Ornament

I'm big on Christmas ornaments.  I TRY to get an ornament every year that represents something we did that year.  Sometimes, it's just a photo ornament or I pick something up while we are on vacation.  

Kids should ALWAYS get an ornament every year.  I did.  Sometimes from my parents and many years, I got a handmade ornament from my grandmother.  Some of those are still my favorites!  

M&M got a silver/pewter cow jumping over the moon with a hanging crystal with the 'baby's 1st Christmas' and the year, back in 2011.  So I had to get little dude something, too.  

At the Hallmark store I found this: 

oh, how perfect, I thought.  It's like the "I Love you to the Moon and Back" book.  Then I realized it said "Grandbaby's 1st Christmas".  sigh.  That won't work.

Then I found this one:

I even bought it.  And talking it out of the box to show my husband, I realized it's a little brown baby. Kudos (i guess) to me for not noticing the color of the baby's skin, but once I did notice, I just felt stupid.  So back to the store I went.

May I remind you that this is about a week before Christmas and the Hallmark store is located INSIDE the mall?!

This was kinda the only option I had:  

and I wasn't thrilled about it.  

Then I saw this one:

That will work (said out loud to myself, at least only my 6 month old was paying attention to me talking to myself).  Are grandparents the only ones who buy ornaments anymore?  What's up, Hallmark?!

I knew I could take the green scarf off and put a new one on that was a little more appropriate for Little dude's first Christmas.  

Here it is!

I used regular acrylic felt (soft) for the scarf...I know it doesn't hold up as well as wool and wool blend, but I did have/couldn't find any red or green in my wool stash, so acrylic it was!  I pinned the original green scarf down and just cut around it.  I tried a paint pen first, but it wasn't working with the fuzzies of the felt.

I hand embroidered "1st Christmas" on one part of the scarf, and "2014" on the other part.  Then tacked the two halves of the scarf together so they would be firm enough to stay sticking out.

Much better.  I would have preferred to have just bought a ready-made ornament, but this will do.  A little bit of both worlds, maybe someday (when he's an adult and has his own children) he may appreciate my handy work!

Happy Crafting!

Mermaid Doll

This mermaid is made from an altered Dolls and Daydreams pattern.  I made the pattern head more narrow and the arms a bit wider.  The tail part is my design.

The tail is one piece (one front and back).  I added a piece of quilt batting to the tail section before turning.  Then top stitched so that the fins would not get stuffed.  

The face is hand embroidered and the hair is made from my all time favorite fabric line, Out to Sea by Sarah Jane.  The yarn is multi-colored and "hairy".  

I loved her.  She kept me company in my craft room for at least a month before she went to her forever home (another mermaid lover).  I hope she gets lots and lots of love!

Happy Creating!

DIY Christmas: R2D2 and C3PO shoes

I think this may be the last year the brother-in-law gets Star Wars shoes as his Christmas present.  

I didn't really get a lot of joy out of creating these shoes and I'm not sure if it is b/c I was totally lacking the holiday spirit this year, or if the novelty of shoes has worn off...

And I'll be honest here, the major reason these shoes were made was b/c last year I couldn't decide between white and black so I got both.  Turns out (because of bonus points and coupons) one pair was free.  And I was too lazy to return free shoes.

I used gold paint (so it's a little shimmery) for C3PO, but needed about 6 coats to cover the black.  The shoes were pretty firm after that!  I drew on the face with a black sharpie, but wasn't happy with the coverage, so I went back over it with black paint.  I think his mouth is a little wide...

Like C3PO, R2D2 needed several coats, but because I used white fabric paint it was only 3 coats.  The grey parts are silver so they are shimmery.  Like my previous Star Wars themed shoes (here and here), I used stencils to get straight lines...

Overall I'm happy with the shoes, but Star Wars themed shoes have run their course and this is most likely the last pair.  Unless I hear demands for another pair from the brother-in-law, that is :)

Happy Creating!