paint cut paste

now for the handmade holiday gift we created for all of the wonderful little friends in our lives — samosa bean bags!

i first saw this idea on the artful parent back in september, courtesy of five green acres (who provides a great tutorial.) i dog-eared it (digitally, of course) as an idea for the holiday season. in november, i got out a stash of fat quarters in all sorts of patterns, and began cutting away!

whatcha need:

• scraps of fabric, each cut to  5 1/2″ x 15″  (one scrap of this size makes 5 weights)
• thread
• sewing machine
• filler material: dried rice, beans, etc. (i used organic split peas, you know, incase the littlest ones put them in their mouths.)

reprinted here for your convenience, the directions in the words of five green acres (in plum), peppered with my photos and my words (in black):

1. Fold the fabric in half the long way, right sides together.  Your piece is roughly now 2 1/2″ by 15.”  Sew each of the 3 open sides closed with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

the bean bag factory in effect!

2. Cut into 5 equal pieces by measuring every 3.” Each piece will be roughly 2 1/2 by 3.”

3.  The first and last piece will already be sewn shut on one end.  Set aside and sew the remaining 3 pieces shut on one end also.

then came the most exciting part of this for me — choosing sets of 5 to be packaged together for which child. i *love* coordinating and playing with colors and patterns! it was a fun process, but photographed very dark because i did it at night. i have to share anyway.

4.  Turn right side out and fill with the rice, beans, etc.

5.  Fold the open ends inside 1/4″ and pin the seam closed, making sure that the seam runs perpendicular to the bottom seam.  You’re not trying to make a rectangular pillow, but rather a sort of pyramid that’s easier to grab… (it turns out like a samosa! love that!)

pinned up

6.  Sew shut, either by hand or by machine.  If you go the machine route, you might have to remove some of the filling to fit it under your presser foot flatly.

too cute!

then comes the packaging! i stamped a slew of cloth bags with a fun dandelion and the word “PLAY” for each set of bean bags to live in.

i printed out little inserts that read:

a few games kids can play with bean bags:

• hot potato
• toss them back and forth while singing a song or rhyme
• throw bean bag in the air & see what you can do before you catch it (clap your hands, turn around, kneel down…)
• toss the bean bags into a bowl or box to see how many “baskets” you can make
• set up hoops or targets for aim
• bean bag “bowling” (set up paper towel rolls or milk jugs)
• learn to juggle
• a child’s imagination will make them into so many things!

*fyi: they’re filled with organic split peas. enjoy!!!

we attached a gift tag and a salt dough ornament to each one, and sent them on their way to the homes of many of our little friends.

more handmade holiday goodness revealed! N and i created a bunch of these lovely lavender sachets for friends this season.

much like we did when making N’s lavender dream pillow in the summer of 2010, we used lavender from our backyard, poly-fill, linen squares left over from all of the flag making we do over here, thread, and stamps we already had on hand. first we cut rectangles or squares of the linen to match in size, and frayed the edges. then N and i went to town stamping one side of each pair.

yep, we put a bird on it. (our stamp collection is heavily avian, oddly.)

sewed them up on 3.5 sides… (gosh, this is all probably self-explanatory.)

filled them with poly-fill and a few teaspoons of lavender…

finished sewing up the opening -

i attached a cute little note with baker’s twine and sent them on their way… into the bureaus of those near and dear.

hope your holidays were relaxing… and if they weren’t, take a whiff of lavender and chilllll into the new year!

oh my, this was a risky gift for me to create in my attempt to go handmade for the holidays. i am a verrry beginning seamstress, as you know, but i must say that i’m trusting that my friends are kind and forgiving, or at the very least – polite. i sewed up these cute little heart-shaped handwarmers to warm their hearts (and hands) for the holidays.

such a simple idea – saw it on pinterest, of course. all you need is:

• flannel (or another soft, natural fiber. synthetics can burn when microwaved!)
• thread
• rice
• a funnel would make life easier
• gift tag & ribbon

first, fold your fabric in half, and then in half again. cut some heart shapes on the edge — two at a time (so you have a pair that is the same size.)

match them up, and sew them together. (um, it is not that easy to sew curves, if you’re green like me, but i am patting myself on the back for giving it a go.) i left about a 1/4″ edge around them, and left a tiny pocket open so i could fill them.

i used a little funnel (that came with my spice rack) to pour white rice inside. then i sewed that little part up with the machine.

voila – super cute! (and visibly handmade… hey, it adds charm, right?)

then just find a pretty ribbon to attach a note with instructions that say to microwave them for 2 minutes (or under, if tiny) and put one in each pocket. i gifted these to some of my girlfriends who live in pretty cold climates.

also a fun gift for your sweetie or friends on valentine’s day!

from our home to yours…

wishing you and your families a holiday season full of love…

...just like rudolph & clarice

a time of friendship — those tried & true and those new & unexpected…

just like hermey, yukon cornelius, rudolph, and bumble

a very magical night before christmas…

may all your wishes come true!

have a merry christmas day!

don’t forget to have some hot cocoa and get some rest when it’s all said and done!

*all drawings courtesy of my sweet little N (done randomly throughout december.)

ooo, that title sounds yummy, cozy, and wintry! happy winter solstice! (which, by the way, is also my birthday!) we posted about paper snowflakes last year, but this year we let our coffee filters and cupcake liners help us out with creating snowflakes!

one of our advent activities was “make snowflakes!” and it came along with this lovely book full of photographs of real snowflakes, for inspiration. (since we can’t observe the real thing where we live.)

the thin papers coffee filters and cupcake liners are made from are so kid-friendly to cut in thick, folded stacks. their round shape is perfect for snowflakes and makes it easy to fold them into six sections, as snowflakes are six  sided. so we put on the christmas carols, prepared some pear cider, and got to work.

i also realized that if i left pre-folded cupcake liners on N’s art desk, snowflakes would spontaneously appear – like magic!

we taped ours to a front window in our home, to be admired by passers-by. day by day, the snowfall is thickening around these parts… happy winter!

i think we’ll leave these up all winter long!

here’s a festive treat to try – peppermint bark popcorn!

all you need is:

• a bag of microwave popcorn
• peppermint bark
• candy canes

just pop the popcorn and put it in a large bowl. then melt your peppermint bark in a double boiler. okay, ours looks weird because the peppermint bark we had in the cabinet was both white and dark chocolate with crushed candy canes in it. ideally, if you wanted to make this look wintry and lovely, you’d get the white chocolate peppermint bark. you can add some peppermint extract if you want it mintier.

then crush a candy cane or two (or 4 mini candy canes, which is what we did) in your food processor. quick, easy, and LOUD.

sprinkle the crushed candy canes onto your popcorn, then pour on the melted peppermint bark. then stir it until it’s evenly coated.

lay it out on wax paper to dry.

pardon the gross photos - nighttime creation, once again. grr, winter.

then enjooooy it by your tree with a little nog and some great holiday specials on tv (which is just what we did.) or you could serve it at a holiday party for those near and dear.

you could even package this up in cute tins to make for a great holiday gift!

i think this is one of the cutest ways i’ve seen to upcycle those random buttons you might have around… make button christmas trees! (wow, i’m on a tree kick this holiday season, huh? most of our holiday artventures have been tree-oriented.)

i first saw this idea on modern minerals, via pinterest (pinned it this summer for later use.) we modified her tutorial a bit to make it more kid friendly, and let me say that it was a total hit! in lieu of using string to bind the buttons together, we used pipe cleaners – so easy for small hands to maneuver. N and i gathered up various buttons we had around (including a lot of white and green ones,) some pipe cleaners, and a few shank buttons (the kind with a loop on the back of them) we had around to use as “tree toppers.” (you can see the shank buttons on the left in the pic below.)

(yes, as you can see we've also been painting more wooden ornaments - we do this each year)

we started by bending the pipe cleaner in half, and putting the shank button on first.

then we put the two ends of the pipe cleaner through two opposing holes in each button, working from small button to large button.

it was fun to experiment with various color schemes. N was really into making pink and purple trees!

here are some of our trees before we cut the pipe cleaners off of the bottom. (they’re kinda cute like trees on sticks – i bet they could be used so many ways like this, too!)

then we twirled one side of the pipe cleaner around the other side to create a “trunk” look at the bottom. [you can also use small brown (or other color) buttons for a trunk.] i cut the extra length off of the pipe cleaners.

we tied a bit of baker’s twine through the hole of the top shank bead and hung them on the tree. (and tied a few to some lucky gift recipients, as well.)

(some of these remind me of wedding cakes – with the right color scheme and topper, this could be modified for weddings or bridal showers in some way, too!)