crafty celebration

Yesterday was Melissa's birthday. To celebrate, she had a crafty party at the scrapbook store today. Ally baked cupcakes and put them into these adorable oven boxes. We bought them here. They were so much fun and easy to make. I think maybe we should buy some of her other styles too!

Anyways, back to the party. It was a gray, rainy morning, but wherever Melissa is there is sunshine. She just brings it with her! 

 We all made this beautiful layout. The flower had a zillion tiny pieces. Or maybe it was a hundred. A lot, for sure! I need to find some perfect photos to showcase in my layout.

 Ally is a whiz at crafty stuff.

After we scrapped, we all went out for a lovely lunch. Happy Birthday Melissa! Thanks for the wonderful day!

craft camp day four

Today the girls learned to do counted cross stitch. All of them made a good start on their butterflies and understood how to finish them at home. It was so much fun to watch the light bulbs go on over each of their heads as they understood how to read the chart and make the picture come to life on their fabric. These girls learned a lot in a week! So proud of each of them.

And now, I shall take a very long nap.

craft camp day three

Today the girls finished two projects. First, they made felt bookmarks. They learned how to make lazy daisy stitches to embroider flowers on their bookmarks. It was tricky but they all mastered it! We used this tutorial.

Next we made button bracelets. I have to admit I was a little hesitant to teach them these. When I made my sample, I got the thread tangled around the elastic many times. It was frustrating! I decided we would work in pairs, one girl holding the elastic while the other girl stitched on her buttons. It worked like a charm! As you can see, they all finished their bracelets and wore them home.

Tomorrow is our last day together. I've had a great time with these young ladies.

craft camp day 2

Well the girls all came back today! I think that means they are having fun. Today they sewed their shrinky dink buttons and some extra buttons onto burlap and added embroidered stems (and leaves and clouds and ponds.... I love their imaginations!). Then they all made pom poms using this tutorial and tied them onto pony tail holders. The morning went so fast!

craft camp day one

Four happy girls arrived at my house this morning excited about learning to sew! We had a great time and all of them enjoyed the projects....

 Today we practiced sewing stitches on cardstock sewing cards and using shelf paper with holes (the internet is full of ideas for sewing with kids!). We also made buttons from shrinky dinks to use in a project tomorrow.

you can download these to print here 

Check back tomorrow to see what else we do!

teaching kids to sew

After working with junior high girls on sewing projects for a year (and yes, we plan to continue! Their summer schedules have been crazy) I decided it would be fun to teach a group of younger kids to do hand sewing projects. So, in a couple of weeks, I have four 10-12 year olds coming for "sewing camp" at my house!

I've been having fun making up sample projects and kits for them. Here's a preview.....

 I still have a few more samples to make up (the girls are coming for four mornings and I don't want to run out of things for them to do) but so far my favorite project is a button bracelet....

I'm thinking I might just wear this every day! I look forward to sharing details about our projects with you in the next week or two.

Hope you're having a crafty weekend too!

baskets received

Since I was on vacation last week, I didn't get to attend the McKinney Modern Guild meeting when our baskets were exchanged. I have a confession to make. The day after the meeting, I was poking around on pinterest and Facebook searching for pictures of the basket I received. I was delighted when I saw these sweet baskets made with my scraps.....

I picked them up from the quilt store the other day. The maker didn't include her info in the package. I hear they were made by Stephanie and I am trying to get her contact info so I can thank her. I love them! They go perfectly in my red/white/black kitchen...

 and a side shot so you can see the pretty patchwork...

I plan to keep them full of silverware, just like she gave them to me. A perfect idea! Thank you Stephanie!