Winter Solstice Fun

To celebrate the winter solstice, we made candles! Husband shaved down some old pillar candles and we used that wax to make our candles. It wasn't too hard to do and we really enjoyed making them!

Our wax shavings

We don't have a double boiler, so we improvised. It worked out well.

The jars eagerly awaiting their wax.

Husband adding more wax to the pot.

Carefully pouring the wax.

Ta-da!

Valentine's Cards: Pinterest Style

I love Pinterest! I have been a nanny for almost 10 years and I have no idea how I survived without it for so long. Ideas I would never have thought to search for now appear right before my eyes. All I have to do is login and voila: It's all right there! On the downside, it seems that every time I log in, time speeds up. After spending what I am sure is only a few minutes on Pinterest, I am always shocked to see that an hour (or two!) has passed. Must be a space-time continuum thing!

A few weeks ago, I saw these two idea for Valentine's cards and wanted to try them. The first one is what I am giving the kids I take care of (they are glow stick bracelets, in case you can't tell). The second picture is what the kids made for their parents and grandparents. I thought it was super cute when I saw it, and let me tell you, it is as cute in real life as it is on the internet. The kids loved making them. They were pretty easy to put together, although we learned the hard way that the puzzle pieces had to be coloured with markers rather than painted. The kids are very excited to give these valentine's to their loved ones.

Links to both ideas can be found here and here.


 

DIY Tin Can Lanterns

I had some time off from work this week and thought "Hey, I haven't tortured myself with crafting lately. Time to craft!" I decided to try making these tin can lanterns I saw featured recently on The Chew. By the way, have you seen The Chew? It is my new obsession. Last week they had Cary Elwes on the show and under his name on the screen it read "Survived fire swamp!" Ha!

Anyway. Back to the tin cans. I was surprised at how easy this was to do. As you know, I am not craft inclined. In fact, when I told my sister, Mandy, what I had done, she asked me in a rather incredulous voice "Did it work out?" She then tried to backpedal and say that she just meant that "those projects on pinterest never work out." But I know she was really thinking "Oh my goodness. She crafted and it actually worked? The end of the world is near!"  I also figured I was in the clear in regards to injuries because this project didn't involve a glue gun. Well, I was wrong about that: in less than 5 minutes I was bleeding. I'm not sure why I was bleeding so I can't warn you of the hazard that awaits. Sorry folks but you are on your own with this one!

All things considered, this project worked out pretty well, and I plan on making more lanterns as soon as my fingers recover! For step by step directions and tips on how to do this craft, click on the link above. You can get the gist of it from looking at the pictures below.

My frozen cans

This is the pattern I used. Nothing fancy here.

I may have hit my finger a time or two (or 10)! Do this on a towel so you don't get ice and water everywhere.

Voila! I know they aren't perfect, but not bad for my first attempt.

I will probably paint it black. I think it will look really good with paint.

My first quilt

Over Christmas break, I decided to do something productive, so I made a quilt. I'm not the best sewer in the world, but I think it turned out pretty good. I had a patient teacher...a very, very patient teacher. She was amazing, even if she insisted that I do everything myself! It is a birthday present for the 4 soon to be 5 year old I nanny. I hope she likes it! Maybe next time I will try one of those patchwork quilts. Not sure though, I still need to recover from making this one!

I'm at it again!

Last week I came across a blog that inspired me to drag out my trusty glue gun and get crafty. Loyal readers will know that this is a rare occurrence and seldom ends well. But, since I don't start my job for another 2 weeks, and my house stays relatively clean (no kids around to mess up it), I thought it would be a great way to pass the time. The blog was about how to make a rope bowl (click here for the blog). Now, I don't need another bowl, but after seeing this blog I wanted one. So today I gathered up the supplies, popped You've Got Mail into the DVD player, and started crafting away. By the time Frank was telling Kathleen that she was a lone reed, I was half-way finished. As Kathleen was arguing with Joe about caviar, I was gluing the last piece into place, and burning my finger in the process (I would also like to add that it was the ONLY time I burned myself!). Like I said, I don't need another bowl and I have no idea what I am going to do with this one, but that doesn't really matter. What matters is I made it. And I'm proud of myself for that! Watch out world! I have a glue gun and I'm not afraid to use it; well once every 6 months or so!

Before:

After:

The Cookie Jar

A couple Christmases ago (Is that how you pluralize "Christmas"?), Husband bought me a snowman cookie jar online. When it was delivered, Husband realized that the jar was broken. He thought he would be funny and wrap it up anyway (When he phoned the company, they said they couldn't send a replacement, and gave him a refund). Christmas morning found me opening up a broken present. To be honest, I thought it was pretty funny, but I pretended to be sad.

My wonderful present

Our own Humpty Dumpty

Over the next few days, Husband painstakingly tried to glue the pieces back together. He spent hours on it. Then, Christmas break was over and he had to go back to work. The cookie jar was put in a box, and Husband promised he would finish it.

Trying to glue it back together (I think he inhaled too many super glue fumes before this picture!)

Fast forward 18 months: We are in the process of clearing out some of the clutter in our apartment. Last night, I came across the cookie jar, still somewhat broken and still in the box (you may recall that we moved about 18 months ago. That means that we hauled a broken cookie jar clear across the country. You may be wondering why we didn't throw it out. Well, I wanted to toss it, but Husband insisted that he would and could put it back together!). I pulled the box out and showed Husband. He started laughing and said "I can still fix it, you know." I gave him "The Look" and said "We are throwing it out." But before I tossed it, I had to get a picture of Husband's hard work from 18 months ago! I think he gets an A for effort.

"I can still fix it, you know!"

Handmade Christmas gift

Back in October I made a flannel board at a church activity. I decided I wanted to give it to the girls I nanny as their Christmas gift. I couldn't give them just a flannel board though, so I spent a few weeks making cut-outs to go with the board. The girls love the board and play with it all the time. Here are some of the things I made. Husband helped a lot too. He made the adorable pigs. Turns out he is pretty good at channeling his inner Martha Stewart!