Our kids have been collecting various ‘holy treasures’, especially on our Catholic Bookstore tours. We have been known to pack up the kids for a driving trip, solely planned around Catholic Bookstores we want to visit. This may sound odd, but when we discerned that we would self-publish the book A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families, we were just very eager to get the word out and meeting Catholic Bookstore owners was a lot more fun than cold calling by phone.
Family Traditions: our newest Homemade Gift
June 13, 2012 by 2 Comments
Family Traditions:
our kind of homemade gifts for our favorite people.
Over the years, we have made some pretty cool, customized gifts for family and close friends.
We’ve made family presents like a our-family-centric
Customized Perpetual Calendar (you can too!)
or customized board game (find templates for your customized Guess Who game here!)
…and made one for each of our sibling’s families and our parents.
Custom 3D felt Car Mat
April 26, 2012 by 2 Comments
Sometimes I just have to make something…with my hands …and Adam’s 2nd birthday this last week offered the perfect opportunity. With left over felt from the Felt Castle Fort I made last year for Bridget, I just started cutting felt, beginning with an 8 track. I knew I wanted houses, garages (pockets) to hold the little cars and a few things to make it different from anything I have seen.
I found a link for Homemade Car Mats and I liked some of the ideas I found. I still plan to put a drawstring in the seam so that it can close and carry the cars. A circular mat would lend itself better to the drawstring closure, but I think that this will work too.
Handmade Ipod Nano Holder
December 29, 2011 by 4 Comments
Kelly loves the ipod nano that she received for her 13th birthday. It’s just that it’s so cute and SMALL! That’s our Canadian quarter beside it…see how small it is? It’s a little too easy to lose! I thought I’d make her something to keep it a little more safe and visible!
I made a little ipod holder out of felt.
I chose orange felt to match Kelly’s tangerine colored ipod nano.
Sorry…I don’t have a pattern…I just made it up as I went along. It was also night-time and I didn’t take any pictures. I put the whole thing together while we watched The Mentalist. Not bad for one hour’s work!
For the open window of the ipod holder, I wanted to reinforce it, to make it extra strong to keep the shape. Using the sewing machine, I sewed the white square of felt onto one of the orange pieces, before I sewed all the pieces together. I used a tight zigzag stitch to make it really strong. After it was secured in place, I carefully cut the inside square out of the white felt, and then the orange felt to reveal the window of the ipod nano.
I used the machine to sew the two pieces inside out, together with a third (white) piece to make a pocket for the earphones.
I sewed the white flap into the side seam with the machine…and just had to double check it before I sewed the other side seam. I was just a little surprised that this worked! When I turned the felt right side out…it was just want I wanted!
I like the chunky handmade look of the felt with hand stitches, so I reinforced all the edges (and the bottom of the earphones pocket) with hand stitches.
I used the machine to reinforce the button hole…not so neatly.
I didn’t mind reinforcing the earphones cable hole by hand. I wanted to get the right location for the earphones cable hole, so I did this after the rest of the ipod holder was sewn together.
I was pleased at how secure it feels.
Clearly, I am an amateur at sewing, but I think the imperfections are part of its charm!
(That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)
I like the look of it and Kelly likes it too! She now has a cozy home for her ipod nano and earphones.
I was inspired by these “mixed tape” felt cases. These are infinitely more professionally made and available for purchase at this etsy shop.
Homemade Nativities
November 27, 2011 by 2 Comments
My clothes peg people are missing now…I’ll post a new (close-up) photo when I find them. They are made with traditional wooden clothes pegs, a painted face (with facial features added with sharpie) and material. The arms are pipe cleaners. These are sample crafts from A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families.
What’s the theme here? Where’s Baby Jesus? These are all Nativity figures I have made over the years with toilet paper rolls, egg cartons and wooden pegs…but Baby Jesus is missing in each one!
I need to start re-making Him…
I remember the egg carton Baby Jesus, was just a small piece of the egg carton for a cradle, with construction paper “straw” sticking out behind a fabric bundle of baby.
I’ll post pictures when I either find my original or make a new one.
I find that Baby Jesus either gets misplaced by one of my kids parading him around the house during Advent (before Baby Jesus is supposed to be in the manger), or in transit from one of the Catholic conferences we attend. We have actually had the odd sample craft made from A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families stolen from our booth display!
These Holy Family Felt Friends are made with felt over a pipe-cleaner body, felt clothes, embroidery floss hair and facial features. I know, I need to make a Baby Jesus version here as well.
I added a quick Baby Jesus for this post.
I made this Nativity before we were married and it’s our special one-of-a-kind family Nativity. I think I found a pattern for the little bodies and then I improvised for the clothing. (Can you tell ? =)
I engineered the manger myself with the little skylight for the star to poke through.
The brown manger material already had verticle lines in it, so I quilted it to make it a little more durable. The manger also has a couple wooden dowels in it, but it’s not too “stable”. I usually use a little pillow to prop it up. I didn’t make the tree, but it looks cute with the set. I like the lighting on the close-up picture…I think it looks like they’re sitting by the fire.
Linked up to the Nativity Activity Linky!
IKEA helped me with my felt fort!
June 6, 2011 by 3 Comments
I can’t believe that IKEA is selling these soft fruit, vegetables and carpenter tools…and that I discovered them just when I finished making my FELT FORT for Smidge’s birthday!
They are a whole $10 per kit, with anywhere from 9 to 15 pieces, but they are already made and come with little material baskets or a tool belt! They have more sets too! I think I saw cupcakes and a whole breakfast tray of food.
Felt Fort for Cool Kids!
May 31, 2011 by 14 Comments
all those years of architecture school finally paid off…This was definitely not a quick craft project, but it was a lot of fun and we can still add to it! We decided Smidge needed her own little castle fort, that fits over our kitchen table! I didn’t make it too girly…just so Adam will think it’s cool for years to come.
Cardboard Box to Puppet Theatre
May 11, 2011 by 4 Comments
Years ago, I cut two windows in a cardboard box and covered it with black fleece. I strung a simple curtain over one of the openings using some black cord and added some shiny trim.
This has been our finger puppet theatre for about 10 years…
Good Deed Beads Bracelet for LENT!
March 2, 2011 by 7 Comments
As Moms, we have all worn bead bracelets and necklaces, proudly strung by our kids.
Also not exactly formal wear, these thick cord, pony bead
Good Deed Beads Bracelet will help us
with our Lenten sacrifices too.
Inspired by St. Therese, this bracelet works similar to other good deed bead bracelets, as the beads slide and stay in place, recording each good deed, extra prayer (foregone opportunity to complain) or sacrifice.
SNOW DAY! Castle and catapult craft for everyone home in their castles!
February 2, 2011 by 2 Comments
OK, so it’s a bit of a stretch to tie this in with our Armor of God…
I just really want to include it because it’s very cool and very fun.
Check out how we revisited this craft for another Medieval Birthday Party this year with 10 year old boys.
