Pinewood Derby Award and a tutorial

I volunteer in our church Cub Scout Program.  For our Pinewood Derby I volunteered to make the prizes for the boys.  Our committee chair has seen this on Pinterest and we thought it would be great to make for our boys.  I looked for a tutorial after I made it and found one similar but I thought since I document things anyway that I would try and make a mini tutorial for how to make it.

 

Here is one side.

 

 

 

All twelve together with the  1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in the front.

 

What you will need:

 

• 2x4
• Cars (I bought mine 3 for $1 at Dollar Tree.)
• Spray paint - Blue and Gold
• E6000 or a super strong glue
• Vinyl - I used white and gold

HOW TO:

Cut 2x4 at an angle.  My first idea was to just cut a piece about 3 1/2 inches and then cut it in 1/2 on the diagonal, of course when you let the engineer/woodworker do it, he has his own idea and thinks that that would be to small.  So he cut the diagonal the same, but added about 2 inches to the bottom.  So if you look at it on the side.  It is 5 1/2 inches to the top of the piece of wood and where the slope comes down it is 2 inches.  Does that make any sense?  Just wing it, it will look okay how ever you do it.

 

Next you need to paint the pieces.  We had a nice warm day and so I got to spraying the blocks.

 



 

I used this paint (leftover from my Race car Birthday Party.) It was shiny and perfect for the job.

 

 

Then I painted the cars with Gold Metallic spray paint.

 

It took a couple extra sprays to get all of the nooks and crannies of the cars, so the color wouldn't shine through.

 Here is the paint I used for this part.

Then the gluing began.  You could use any super strong glue.  I used something like E6000.  We had to adapt the cars a little bit by adding a very thin piece of wood underneath and between the wheels so the car would stick.  I didn't get a picture of that part.  We just painted the wood so you wouldn't be able to see it.

 

Next I got out my Silhouette and cut the vinyl for the sides.  I used the font Tan Patty, it looked a lot like the font used on the Official Site from the Boy Scouts of America for Pinewood Derby.

One side had the pack number on it.

 

The other side had Pinewood Derby and the year on it.

We decided to have a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner and so I tried for the first time to layer fonts.  It isn't all that hard when you have something small like this.  But I am sure it would take a little bit more work to do something larger.  Here is a link to the video I used to help me figure out how to LAYER.

Turned out pretty good for my first try.  I am also adding a link to my Pinterest board for my Silhouette helps.  I find sometimes if I have only done something once I can't remember how to do it the next time and so I use Pinterest as my brain.  Hope you enjoy.

Vinyl and Easter Eggs

Do you wonder where I am going with this?  As we were dyeing our eggs last weekend, I decided that I had some leftover shapes from previous vinyl projects and thought I might try using the vinyl on the eggs, then dye them and then peel off the vinyl.  It worked perfect.

Next year I think I will cut out more shapes and maybe try some stripes or something.  The kids thought it was awesome.  The first two I just put the shape on the white egg, but the last one I colored the egg, let it dry, and then put the vinyl on and dipped it in the next color.  I was the cool mom and that point.  (Good thing we cooked a couple dozen eggs or we wouldn't have so many cool designs.)

If you plan on doing this, to get a really clean shape you need to make sure the egg is dry and that you have rubbed it on pretty good.  Any place you don't rub it on well enough will leak the dye in.  You can see it on the purple one.  I probably didn't let it dry long enough.  I was too excited.  Another thing is that the smaller the shape the better it holds on and doesn't have to curve over the egg.  So use smaller shapes like the star and the heart in the middle. 

Here is a snowflake that I found and put on.  It actually worked better then I thought.  If we hadn't been almost done, I would have whipped out my Silhouette and made some cool designs.  Next year we will have the coolest eggs on the block.  I almost can't wait, except that I don't want to do winter over, I am so ready for spring!!

Three quilts for Charity

 

These quilts are ready to go and when my kids are not sick we are going over to our local women's shelter to deliver them with a card talking about how quilts are like love.  Here is the card I made.  It turned out pretty cute.

 

 

 

I think I started some of these quilts 2 or 3 years ago.  They have been a challenge in the fact that I was trying new techniques that I was not used to.  So let me tell you a little bit about these quilts.

 

The light green one was an experiment.  I think I bought the fabric over 5 years ago.  Then a couple years ago when we were making quilts for a Relief Society project I think I started it.  I wanted to try making blocks on a quilt.  The fabric is from my grandmother's stash.  After she died I was able to gather some of the fabric in hopes that one day I would make quilts like grandma.  Maybe one day I will but for now I am an amateur.  After piecing the top together I experimented with a quilting technique.  I was trying to use many of the fancy stitches on my machine and just played around with it.  I decided to do some free motion quilting but I didn't like doing it with my machine.  And so there it set for a couple years waiting for me to finish.  Finally I decided it needed to be done and so I figured out that Kirsten's sewing machine has a free motion foot and it fits on my machine.  So I was able to free motion the squares that were green.  It turned out okay.  I have a long way to go on my free motion quilting but it is kind of cute and has a unique look to it.  I added a premade binding and it turned out okay.

 

 

For these two quilts I used a couple different techniques.  I sometimes watch the show Fon's and Porter on PBS.  I love the idea of making a quilt but lack the confidence to do more then very simple quilts.  Years ago I used a technique from the Bend the Rules sewing Book and made a couple lap quilts by piecing together strips.  But as I was watching the show Fon's and Porter I saw them demonstrate a quilt made on the serger.  The Serger Ruffle Quilt seemed a fairly easy way to make a quilt and so I thought I would make these quilts into that.  It is fairly straight forward but I found there were a couple problems with quilting with the serger.  Mainly that you are going over 6 layers of fabric and batting.  My machine did it fine but I found that sometimes I would not catch one layer.

 

 

So I ended up having to modify how I did it.  After I would serge one layer I would have to cut the layers to match up all three layers before adding the next layer. 

 

 

I then would move the new piece on top over about a 1/4 of an inch to insure that it would get sewn into the seam.  After that I picked up all of the fabric into the seam and didn't have problems. 

 

 It took a little longer then I expected but they turned out pretty and cute.  Of course I love the pink and purple one but the purple and green one has grown on me. 

For binding the quilt I found a tutorial that showed you how to bind it all on the sewing machine. The tutorial is here Quilt Binding tutorial.  That saved me hours of time that I would have to sew it by hand.  I think it turned out pretty nice too.
I found somewhere where someone had wound their binding onto an old thread spool.

  I liked the idea and I was even able to put it on my second thread holder while I was adding it to the quilt.  It moved smoothly and made it easy to put on.  Just one of those things that made the binding part easier.  I cut all my binding from scraps.  I like using scraps for binding, it adds color and fun to the binding.

Hope you enjoy and I hope those at the shelter can feel the love I put in to these blankets.

Kindness Inspires Kindness

 

One of my goals for this year is to do 12 Acts of Kindness in 12 Months.  My plan is to do one act of kindness each month.  It seems like a doable thing.  It was all inspired by a post I read on the blog Power of Moms, the specific post was a podcast about a lady named Amy who decided that for her 40th birthday she would do 40 acts of kindness.  After I read the post I WANTED to do this.  But I had passed my 40th birthday and I wasn't sure if I could do 40 acts of kindness in one year so I put it down to my size - 12 in 12 months.  That meant I only needed to do one act of kindness each month.  That seemed doable and I was off. 

 

I had just reorganized my craftroom and found 3 quilts in various stages of being done and so I set about to get all 3 done and donate to my local women's shelter.  BUT time was working against me and the end of January was fast approaching.  I felt frustrated and unsure if I really wanted to do this.  Then an opportunity fell in my lap.

 

A young girl at our church has heterotaxy syndrome among other numerous problems.  A fund has been set up in her name to help the family to pay for the many hospital bills that occur monthly.  If you want to read more or contribute to her family here is a link to her website - Helping Hallie

I decided that I would make my Act of Kindness to make a donation to her fund.  It wasn't much but it was a start to my 12 acts of kindness.

 

 

12 Acts of Kindness

 

JAN: Donation to Helping Hallie

 

FEB:  I was able to complete all three quilts for the local women's shelter.  Now I just need to make an appointment or find out when I can deliver them.  I will show you the quilts and give you some of the info about how they were made in a follow-up post.  I had some good times and some struggles getting them done.

 

 

MARCH:  My plan for March is to deliver to an assisted living center fabric flowers for Easter.  I am hoping to make somewhere in the range of 30 to 50 flowers.  I am going to ask my craft group to help and hope that we can take them before Easter with my family and any others that may want to come to the residents.  I will make them with alligator clips so there is no worry about pinning the residents. 

This was going to happen in April and then I realized that Easter is the last Sunday in March again.  Ugh, I guess I will work hard to get this done.  Now I am done with the quilts, I should have plenty of time.  (Said with a laugh.)

Here is a collage of the type of flowers I want to take.  Really I don't care which kind and actually think it might be fun to make different kinds.  I have fabric I can make some of these with and hope that I can make many of them without purchasing much extra fabric.

Pinterest link

 



 

April:  For April I am going to walk a 5K for charity.  Our county has a race called the Human Race.  It is where runners or walkers can support any local charity.  I have decided that I want to try and raise $360 dollars for the West Suburban Community Pantry.  Why $360?  Well for $360 they can buy a ton of food.  So that is the number that came to my head.  If you would like to help by donating a little bit you can either use my paypal account under amy (dot) kirstensmom (at) gmail (dot) com or send me a message for my address.  Every little bit counts.

Now I hope that I can find other acts of kindness I can do through out the year and hope that by being kind I can inspire kindness in my family and in the community.

MIA Blogger

Sometimes life is just crazy.  I have a couple of things I have been working on lately but I need to finish them up before I can post them, but I realized the other day that I did not show you my creation for my daughter's baptism.  In our church the children are give the opportunity at the age of 8 to choose whether or not they want to be baptized.  Our daughter Kirsten made the decision and on December 29th she baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).  I was watching Martha's Sewing Room one day and a guest showed how to make beautiful designs on a sheer material with the serger.  (I can't find the link, sorry.)  I knew right then that I was going to make Kirsten's dress that way.  So here is a picture of my beautiful daughter in her dress.

I created the cross work on my serger on to a sheer organza material and then lined with the white satin fabric.  It was a lot of stress.  I did the serging first before I cut the pattern out.  I am grateful to my mother that did all the handiwork on it and helped me figure out the zipper.  Kirsten just radiated and the dress was the finishing touch.

After the baptism we had a lunch at our house.  It was crazy with over 30 people in my little house but it was a lot of fun.  I had found this beautiful dress on Pinterest and knew that I needed to make it for Kirsten's baptism luncheon.  It was fairly easy once you figured out the rhythm out of how to make the flowers.  I used my largest star in my pastry set and went to work.  To make the Buttercream recipe more white I just used half the butter it called for and substituted the shortening for the butter and used clear vanilla from Wilton.  It turned out adorable.  I sprinkled a little bit of white sugar crystals on top to make it "shine" and bought some pearls from the Wilton store for the waistband.

So much fun!  I love getting things together for a party.  We had a great time and enjoyed having friends who could share this special day with us.

Winter Wreath

I needed a wreath to hang on my door during January. I wanted something white...maybe it's because we have had NO snow and I'm tired of gray and dark and dreary. I followed the tutorial found HERE. I LOVE how it turned out! I added silver ribbon because I didn't want it to look too Christmasy {although it would be super cute with a red ribbon too!}

If you have left over felt you can make these projects HERE. Happy Winter!!

 

Pinterest Projects

I LOVE Pinterest. Recipes, project ideas, tutorial, ALL with PICTURES! Best idea ever!!!!

I have found so many cute things to make on Pinterest. {probably too many}. Today I just wanted to share a few.

Last year I saw this ruffle Christmas tree skirt and I KNEW that it was what I wanted for my Christmas tree. Over the years, my Christmas decorations have evolved into a LOT of white/red, candy canes, and peppermint candies. I wanted my tree skirt to look like a big peppermint, with white and red fabric.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how it turned out.....exactly what I wanted! I can't wait to put it under my tree.....

I followed the directions on pinterest, except I sewed each row, instead of hot gluing. I think it will hold up better and will last longer.

I also made a cute little elf hat {in the same colors}....for a special someone on my gift list. {a baby doll for my niece!}

I used THIS PATTERN from Oodles4Noodles and adjusted the size smaller to fit a baby doll.  {mine is only 34 rows instead of 43. She includes instructions to make them bigger at the end of the pattern. I hope her baby doll likes it} :)

Getting Ready for Christmas

I've been trying really hard this year to get in control of my never-ending list so that I can enjoy the holidays. I started early working on a few projects {and I lowered my expectations and didn't add so many new things to my list this year}. It might be because I work full time this year and I KNOW that I don't have time to add new things to my list.

I redesigned one of my designs and added a little more to one of my aprons.....I added an extra strip of the green striped fabric to the top and the pocket. I added three smaller ruffles to the bottom and then covered it up with a strip of the green. It turned out super cute. {too bad I made it for someone else to give as a gift...oh, and I can't find the Christmas fabric this year}

Just in case you are wondering: The original tutorial is HERE, I added a 2" strip to the top and pocket. The strip across the ruffles is 1" and the ruffles are 4" each.

Pink and Purple Baby Shower

I haven't had the chance to post much but have been busy at work making lots of things, mainly I have been trying to get my house back together after our major remodel.  It would go a lot faster if I would just get the painting done.  Soon enough.  Pretty soon I will be in the Christmas crunch and will be frantically trying to get things made and mailed before Christmas.

But in the mean time here is a baby shower I got to help set  up.  It was pretty fun and with a budget much bigger then I am used to I got to be the "decorator".  It was great fun and I just wanted to show you a couple of pictures from the event.

Our theme was teddy bears and since it was Halloween we decided to use the Halloween colors but add hot pink and purple with polka dots, too.

 

 The cake was made by a bakery in Clarendon Hills that makes the most adorable cakes, but this week was her last week of making cakes.  I am sure there are a lot of sad people wishing she was still in business.

 

 

I just love the place mats that Allison found.  They were amazing.  It doesn' help that she has an adorable house and it was very easy to dress it up.

 

 

 I spent a little time making this diaper cake for the mom to be.  It was fun and I loved that with just a couple simple flowers and ribbon, it made it so adorable.  Here is the link to the YouTube video I used to help me figure out how to make it.  http://youtu.be/bFwZOvn4AqI

Here is the spread.  Chicken salad on croissants, cheese with crackers, strawberry spinach salad, pasta salad, grapes and vegetables.  It was all so yummy.

We placed all the gifts in a bassinet to continue with the baby theme.  It is covered in this picture, but you get the idea.  They were overflowing and it made such nice place to keep them until we were done.

Here is a picture of the cute mom to be and her mom next to the huge teddy bear they got to take home.  The were a little surprised that they got to take it home, but I think she was pleased.  I am not sure it will fit in her apartment but she can figure out what to do there.  We hope that everything goes well and that cute little girl is born safe, sooner rather then later.

 

INDIANA DUNES

Just a reminder. We are going to the Indiana State Park {the Dunes} next Wednesday August 15th. Meet at the church at 9am to carpool or meet us at the dunes at 11am. It costs $10 per vehicle to park so it's best to carpool! PLEASE let us know if you are coming so we know to look for you. Bring lunch, beach chairs, umbrella, beach toys, and sunscreen! It is a very FUN day! Let me know if you have any other questions. Here is a map from the church to where we usually go! PS. Who wants to ride with me? I have an empty van!!

Here is the map to the location we go to:

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=7201+Woodridge+Drive,+Woodridge,+IL&daddr=Indiana+Dunes+State+Park,+1600+N+25+E,+Chesterton,+IN+46304&hl=en&sll=41.655295,-87.057381&sspn=0.008689,0.01929&geocode=FYEnfQIdBnPA-ikDUDI7iFAOiDHAubYkTw5sfA%3BFeadewIdk6XP-iFhW0hGamxMKCnD_OE2sKQRiDFhW0hGamxMKA&oq=7201+Woodridge&mra=ls&t=m&z=10

Jewelry Holder

Ta-da!  I am finally posting this.  I made this back in March and haven't posted it yet.  I kept meaning too but I have a conflict with the computer.  When I spend too much time on it, the kids spend too much time making HUGE messes all over the house.  It is hard.  I have been working hard on making all kinds of other things that may or may not get up here on the blog.  Anyway - you don't really need my excuses.  You are thinking - okay get on with it.  How did you make it?  Well, as the name of the blog says, I redesigned a pattern I found in Marie Osmond's Heartfelt Giving Sewing Book.  In there she has one that is for taking with you.  I knew I would never travel with all my jewelry but Liberty has said she saw something like it and it triggered something in my head that said "I NEED THIS" and "I CAN MAKE I."

I am not sure that I changed it all that much from the original idea.  I did make my pockets to fit my watches bands and other jewelry I had.  I also used a different kind of hanger and I would suggest that you find the wood ones because it gets very heavy with all the jewelry in it. 
If I didn't have 3 very "helpful" children, my OCD tendency would have led to making sure that all the jewelrly was color coordinated and that earings were near matching jewelry and the like.  But as you see it - they "helped" me put everything in and my 1 1/2 year old seems to think it is a play place for her.  I have moved it to the back of the closet so she won't take it all apart.

Here are some close ups of the pockets and the jewelry.

I think the best thing about it was that it only cost me the price of the hanger.  I had the clear vinyl, velvet material and everything else in my closet.  I love it and love that I can SEE all my jewelry in one place.  Maybe one day they will let me organize it in the way I want it too look.

Christmas in July Craft Group

We are pretty excited that Meagan Johnson has decide to do Christmas in July for our next Craft Group activity.  She has some ideas that she is putting together.  Here is the link to her pinterest ideas.
http://pinterest.com/meaganjohnson/christmas-in-july-ideas/ (see pictures below also)

Date:Friday July 20th from 6 pm until we are done.

She is looking at doing one craft in each of these areas:

• Home Decor (paper star wreath or stocking advent)
• For Kids (laminated nativity puzzle or file folder game)
• Christmas Cards (the reindeer one will be really easy...I also have an ornament punch and stamp set that would be really easy)
• Gifts (the glass ornaments and tags for brownies in a jar)

She is trying to keep each craft super simple! 

More details are coming as we figure what exactly we want to do.

http://pinterest.com/meaganjohnson/christmas-in-july-ideas/

A closer look at the ideas.