A Little Tie-Dye

Small T wanted me to show you all her new shoes.

What do you think?

She bought them off of a couple of teens (from the next town over) that are "making" them.

Disney Character

Today, we shopped for supplies (the Good Will store is fabulous for this) and once we got back home, we have been crafting two Disney Character costumes for school on Tuesday.  We have finally finished Little Ty's costume.  :)  Now we're working on Small T's.  I'll show you hers later.

Here's a small photo collage of what was going on this past hour.

 Small T making Little Ty's "hat".

 A quick shot of them "cheesing" for the camera.  Small T is fitting her "retainer".  Good thing we have wire hangers around the house.

Now...for the good stuff.

Little Ty's photo shoot.

 Um...this is a little boring, Ty.

 Finally...some emotion.  See the smile.

 Oh all right...I'll do something.

 Now what?  Well, do something that your character would do.

 No...not that.  I'll put it on Facebook!!!!

 Ok.  Stoic again.  Really?  That's the best you've got???

Finally!  A good photo.  Sort of.

(Sorry for the "guns" in the photos.  I didn't realize you could see them in each and every photo.  You can tell that we live in the country, right?)

Now...can anyone guess who Little Ty is going as?

I'll give you a guess....Jasmine will be happy to see him.

Yep, you're right.  He's Aladdin!

Craft Day

A couple of weeks ago, Gumdrop and Pattycake came over and spent the day with me and we had a "Craft Day".  Both girls love to craft and so does Aunt Shelly.  I found each and every one of the crafts we did on Pinterest.

 Gumdrop is painting bobby pins with some fingernail polish.  She was making fancy bobby pins for her hair.

 Pattycake is learning how to braid.  We were making anklets with beads on them.

 Gumdrop is making a circle woven necklace.

 Both girls....enjoying a bit of a break on my front porch.

 We even had an "at home" spa treatment in the afternoon.  We did pedicures.

 Look at those sparkly toes!!!

And here is a couple of anklets I made for myself.

Today...

Today, July 4th, I did the following...

Worked at the pool....

 started a friendship bracelet for myself....
(here's the link for how to do these http://www.michaelannmade.com/2011/07/woven-friendship-bracelet-tutorial.html )

 rescued the chocolate chip cookies that Small T forgot about in the oven....(she was in the shower)...

 finished the 12th and final quilt square that I am cross-stitching...

 watched Medium J and Little Ty do fireworks...this is a 5 minute smoke bomb and it really lasts for 5 minutes...

 made S'mores....

and worked on a puzzle with Little Ty and Big C.

It's been a good day!

Crafting with Little Ty

We took a break from shooting off fireworks last night...

 and treated ourselves to an ice cream cone.

They don't look really pretty, but they were great tasting!

 Then, Little Ty wanted to make his own necklace.

So, I cut out a cardboard circle, strung it with embroidery floss, showed him what to do...and off he went.

He's a dedicated crafter.  In a short amount of time, he already had this much finished.

As you know from previous posts, I love to craft with my nieces and nephews, and Little Ty is no exception.

Crafting

While I was visiting Gumdrop and Pattycake, they just had to show off the crafting they've been doing.

 Gumdrop likes yarn crafts.  Here, she's showing off the straw knitting that she's doing.  She's making a belt. Her class learned how to do the straw knitting in Art class at school this year.

Pattycake likes to sew.  She's making a quilt.  Her mom is a quilter, so she has a good teacher.

I enjoy seeing what the girls are making and I'm thrilled that they love to show their projects to me.  :)

Crafting with the Girls

I finally got the girls going on their friendship bracelets.

 Pattycake is moving right along.

So is Sassy.

Their mom told me this evening that they are both basically ready to tie off and wear the bracelets.  Except they will be anklets, like Aunt Shelly's.

They worked on these diligently today.  Way to go girls!

Now I need to find another craft on Pinterest.  lol

A Quick Craft

 Hey...How are ya?

Long time, no see.

It's good to be back.

I thought I'd share a current photo of myself.

I'm already starting to sport a pair of "racoon eyes" from my big sunglasses that I wear at the pool everyday.

Anyway, I found this great craft on Pinterest that I'm going to share with you all.  Small T and I have been watching a couple of my nieces this summer....Pattycake and Sassy.  So I've been trying to find a few things for them to work on while they are here in my home.  I think this craft is going to be something that they will love.  So, here are a few photos and the link to the craft so others can give it a try as well.  Go check it out....seriously.  It's a lot of fun to do, super easy, and I finished mine in a couple of hours.

Woven Friendship Bracelet Tutorial

http://www.michaelannmade.com/2011/07/woven-friendship-bracelet-tutorial.html

 A shot of the bracelet in progress.

 Getting close to being done.

The finished project on my right ankle.

Weaving Projects

 My nieces, Pattycake and Sassy, have been working on some weaving projects with me.

I saw this done in the Art Room at school this year, so I decided to try it with the girls.

We took the projects with us when we went fishing and Big C stepped in to help Pattycake with hers.

The girls have also been latch-hooking.  They each got a kit for Christmas this past year.

Simple Gifts

I love giving gifts. Whether they are homemade or even simple gifts. These are the types of gifts that I put a lot of thought into and really enjoy giving.

My family has several magazine subscriptions. We love reading them! But, we hate to throw them away. So...each year I make books for a few family members which contain all the highlights or pertinent tips and recipes that I think they would enjoy. I can't show you any of the books I made last year, but I can show you one of the books I've started for this year. (By the way, this is what I spent most of yesterday working on....instead of crocheting or knooking.)

Here's the cover of Small T's book. I use a basic spiral notebook and tape the cut-outs to the pages.

This page has 3 cut-outs at this time. (I try to fill each page but it doesn't always happen at the same time since I have to fit different sized cut-outs into a page.) Some might think that information I have chosen might not be something Small T would use, but trust me....it is. For instance, "How to Pee in the Woods" is very appropriate for her. We spend a lot of time outside and she just refuses to pop a squat. She thinks that she MUST have a flushing toliet. Boy, does she have a lot to learn! The other tip using spare buttons to hold your earring studs is a good tip in my opinion. That way you don't lose one. The same goes for doing your Kegels. Teen girls don't always want to hear what their mom's have to say so...if I put it in here, she might be more apt to take in the information.

On this page, I've included info on straightening your hair and keeping it that way as well as using rubber bands on your hangers to keep your strappy shirts and dresses from falling off.

The page tells about preventing cold sores and also features an idea for outdoor twister (for a crowd).

We travel a lot and she has decided she likes to pack her own bag, so here's info on how to pack your carry on.

Here's a good tip on how to tell a joke.

And these are tips about falling asleep when you can't as well as how to fold a fitted sheet.

I always hope that my family enjoys getting these little books from me, but I don't know. I know that I enjoy putting these books together and I try really hard to put information in the books that I think they might need or find useful.

What do you think? I'd like to hear some feedback.

Friendship Anklet

I needed a quick break during my crochet time yesterday, so I whipped myself up a Friendship Anklet (instead of a Friendship Bracelet). If anyone ever wonders about whether or not you will use all those things you learned in Girl Scouts at a later point in life...let me set the record straight...yes you do use some of these skills. This photo is proof of it! :)

Altered Book

I made mention to a friend that I make "altered books". She requested to see some pages from one. Well, I went one better and scanned in the whole book. Now, I want to add that this is one of the first books I made and I'm by no means artistic. So, keeping that in mind. I am more than happy to share my pages. I used a children's book that I found at the thrift store and scrapbooking items. I was learning techniques as I went, so....that accounts for the similarities between some of the pages. Hope you enjoy what you do see. If you don't, please don't tell me. LOL