DIY Fall Wreath for $5

All I used was my pool noodle wreath form/base. Then I picked up four bunches of flowers/fall foliage from the dollar store (sorry for the poor quality images. I also took these while my camera battery was missing).

I plucked, or used wire cutters to take off individual flowers. I also trimmed the leaves off the bunches of flowers.

Then I placed them around the uncovered pool noodle to get an idea about where I wanted to place them.

Then, I started gluing them with a hot glue gun, added some pine cones my kids picked up for me, and I was done!

I didn't know if I'd be a fan of the plastic flowers, but I really love it. I especially love how the magenta flowers add a burst of color. So there you have it. My first wreath made for $5. It definitely makes me happy!

Why are Mormons Always Inviting Me?

We'll get to that question in a moment, but first let me say, it's good to be back. Now that we're home I can connect to the internet and post on my blog again. We have been living in a cabin for the past three months. While we had the internet, the laptop we brought with us is very old making it extremely difficult to do anything on-line. Sorry if you missed me.

We got back this week. Right in time to get ready for General Conference. Twice a year our family enjoys some fun traditions to celebrate this time. First, we mimic the example of King Benjamin's people and will set up a tent and face it towards our "tower" (our computer) where the prophet and other leaders will speak during the weekend. It's also a time when we remember to restock our 72 hour kits with new food before the old stuff goes bad. We enjoy snacking and eating from our old kits as we listen to our prophets and leaders speak. It's also a time where we remember to take a personal inventory of our own lives. As we listen, we are always inspired with what we need to change, or how we can be a little better. We also leave feeling our Savior Jesus Christ's love. This is why I often invite others (including nonmembers) to join us, or to listen via the internet. It's my way of trying to share the amazing experience with others. 

I often will post an invitation to friends so they can watch if they are interested. I have to admit I am always nervous when posting anything religious. I worry that I might offend or annoy friends and family. I know during the political season there are times when I get tired of heated political posts. I wouldn't be surprised if some good friends and loved ones feel the same when I post something relating to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

If you're one of those people who gets tired of all of us Mormons inviting you to listen to Conference, or to read the Book of Mormon, to meet with the missionaries, to go to church activities, or whatever else please don't be so annoyed you'll cut ties with us. We're sharing and inviting, not because we get "brownie points or bonuses," but because we care about you just as Elder Bednar describes in this talk with an entertaining personal story. I hope you'll take the time to watch or listen to his talk so that the next time you see another religious post from me or some other Mormon, you can smile to yourself even if it's while saying, "There they go again."

If you aren't put off by our invitations and are even a little curious or interested in learning more about Mormons you can do just that all in the name of charity. On October 10th (this Friday) you can go to a theater (hopefully) near you and watch Meet the Mormons. The best part is all the proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross! Click here to find the closest theater near you.

DIY How to Make Hello Kitty Shirts with Freezer Paper

We just had a quiet little Hello Kitty Thanksgiving party here at home with family. While Daniel was busy cooking up a storm, and our youngest two were napping, the older girls and I had a blast making some Hello Kitty shirts. I did a free hand drawing on freezer paper and after getting approval and suggestions from the birthday girl, I cut it out.

Next time I'll be sure to not cut so liberally. If you notice how the freezer paper on the pink shirt is pretty thin on the outer edges? That made it very difficult to keep the paint from going beyond our Hello Kitty character. Especially with little ones doing the painting. As you can see, I got wiser when I cut out the blue one.

After everything was cut out, we ironed on the freezer paper and then painted Hello Kitty with acrylic paint. We'll definitely be making more shirts again!

Here's the end results:

 

Hello Kitty Thanksgiving Birthday Party

Yep. You read that right. A Hello Kitty Party with all the Thanksgiving trimmings. That's what our daughter requested for her birthday. It's not every day you'll get a request like that and I had a lot of fun with it! There were plenty of ideas on-line including this plush Hello Kitty that turned into a turkey:

You can get your own hello kitty turkey here

While I didn't purchase the cooked kitty, I did get quite a kick out of it. They even had a Kitty that turned into a hamburger!

I also enjoyed making Hello Kitty cupcakes with molded chocolate. I told my oldest daughter it was glorified play-dough. Only it tastes amazing! I'm not a fan of fondant. Bleh! However, this stuff is delicious and easy enough to work with.

I think they turned out pretty cute. I made the bows by squishing them in the middle like so...

Then I used a chopstick to make an indentation on both sides...

and pushed towards the middle to make a bow shape

I also just used a knife and scored it until I thought it looked cute:

The eyes and nose were just squished balls/ovals and the whiskers were thin sections of "snakes" I rolled out.

I'm telling you it was glorified play-dough!

Since my daughter wanted a "Thanksgiving" Hello Kitty party. It was only fitting that the cupcakes were pumpkin flavored. They were delicious and moist.

I also had some fun with food. Our mashed potatoes even looked Hello Kitty:

I used a sharpie. Our black one was dead, so I opted to use pink. And it all wiped right off using my nail polish remover trick. Although, I don't think I'd have used nail polish remover on the inside of a bowl. If you like the idea, but aren't fond of having to use a sharpie on your bowl, then you can use icing to draw the face. The website that I got the idea from seemed to have done just that. They made a fruit salad, so you definitely can use this with more than just potatoes. In fact, I put rolls in another "Hello Kitty" bowl.

While all the food was cooking, the girls and I made some Hello Kitty shirts. I'll share how we did it in another post.

DIY How to make a personalized Embroidered Christmas Stocking

One of the traditions I've started for our family, is making a personalized stocking. The first three I made were ones I picked up at a local craft store. The design and all the material came in a pack and it helped me learn all the tricks of embroidery. After making three, I decided I would try designing my own and it turned out beautifully. The best part was including caricatures of our family, which made it more fun and meaningful. The first design I came up with and made included a scene where our family of four was singing Christmas carols and I gave it to our youngest (at the time) who loved it.

Somehow, I got a bit behind and wasn't able to make a stocking for our son before our last baby was born. Since the baby would be using our plain stocking I decided I better get to it and make one for our little guy. I decided to use a snowball fight scene and love how it turned out:

If you're interested in making your own personalized stocking, but don't have much experience with applique, or embroidery, then you could start out with a kit that includes all your supplies, and instructions (like Bucilla's stocking kits), or if you feel brave you could try it on your own (like I did here). There's so many good tutorials and guides on embroidery that you can find on the web. So you shouldn't feel completely lost. Here's a basic outline of how I made mine:

First, I got flannel as fabric for the front and then cotton gingham for the inside. I already had a lot of leftovers of felt for my scene. You can find felt in any craft store as well as embroidery thread, beads, and sequins. After cutting out the shape (make sure to account for the seam allowance and cut it out bigger than you'd like the finished product to be), I sewed another piece of fabric so the inside would look nice, and so the goodies Santa brings wouldn't snag on embroidery threads. Just put right sides together and then later it will flip over so you'll have a beautiful seam. Only sew the top. Don't finish the sides until your design is complete.

Then I drew what I wanted the scene on the stocking to look like and cut out the background first (a sledding hill).

Then  I pinned where I wanted other pieces of the picture to go:

I'd then start to cut out pieces of felt to make the characters. Here you can see I changed how my arm and the position of the baby with the felt versus where it was in the picture. When the top part of the body was done I started the hair.

For the hair I wound embroidery thread around a couple of times trying to make it a tad longer than I wanted the length of hair to be. I then would stitch the thread to the top of the head (I wasn't too careful about how it looked since I knew the hats would cover the hair).

Since I was making it for a child, I made extra stitches to make sure the hair was nice and secure.

Once I was done I'd snip the ends to the desired hair length and would add a hat:

Here's how I made the pom pom on top of the hats. Grab the color/colors you want:

Wind the string around your finger. Do it loose enough you'll be able to pull it off. Then take a needle to the top or bottom of all the strings and tie them together a couple of times. Make sure they're all secure then snip the top to desired length and fluff the strings.

You'll wind thread to make bangs as well:

Then stitch the bangs securely in place and cut to desired length (see the bangs on the side haven't been trimmed like the bangs on the right):

Here's a trick I'd keep track of all the small felt pieces I'd cut out: I'd baste stitch on top of my picture and would adjust to how I really wanted the pieces. I also pinned the pieces to make it all really secure:

Here's how you can make curly hair: Double up a long piece of string as shown in the picture. Then, begin to twist the tops and bottoms in opposite directions...

Then push your ends towards each other and the strings will wind around each other even more like this (except you will have two hands since you won't be taking a picture):

I stitched the curls to the head leaving extra to hang over side so the curls would stay. I actually didn't cover this girls hair and just sewed it in place...

After all your caricatures are pieced and sewn together, you can add stitches to make the face. You can also add thread and sequins to add details to your picture to make snow flakes, Christmas lights, eyelashes etc.You can also add a little stuffing to add depth and a more 3-D feel.

My kids all loved that Daddy was laughing about a snowball getting him really good. Who do you think plastered him?

I like adding thread to the bottom of the scarfs for detail. I also did french knots to make polka dots. I've used french knots to make eyes before as well.

After you're done add your child's name to the top (examples on stockings below) and you're done! While it takes a lot of time, these stockings will be cherished and much more special than a plain ol' one you can pick up at the drugstore.

Here are the first two stockings I made from Bucilla. They came with all the supplies and explained how to do all the stitches. So, if you need a more in depth tutorial, or don't think you can come up with a fun scene of your own, these are beautiful and fun as well. I found that my own design went a lot quicker though since it wasn't as intricate as these so if you want it done before Christmas I suggest you get started soon!