Scorpion Costume

A little while back I got an odd request from my sister Tiffany. She wanted to know if I could make a scorpion costume for my nephew Carter. He is the mascot for my other nephew, Gavin's football team. After throwing around some ideas with Tiff we came up with the plan. I made a pattern and completed and shipped the project within a few day.

What do you think? Does he look like a scorpion? I used black jersey knit fabric. I stuffed the legs, claws and stinger with poly-fill batting. Carter will also be sporting this adorable getup for Halloween. I also made a peacock costume for his sister Renee but you will have to come back and see that later.

If you would like a copy of the pattern send me an email (briellekennington@gmail.com). There is a $5.00 fee to cover the supplies and shipping costs. 

Glitter!

 This was my first attempt at using Glitter on a card. I'm hooked. I got the glitter in a multi pack from my sister for my birthday.

The patterned paper is from a Stampin Up Christmas line. 

 

 I stamped the cupcake image on ivory cardstock. Then I cut it out. I used quick dry craft glue and then sprinkled on a generous amount of glitter. I tapped it to get the excess glitter off after I let it dry for thirty seconds. Then I put the extra glitter back into the container. I just did everything over a piece of paper so I could easily bend the paper and pour it back into the jar.

Add a bow and some brads and you've got a sophisticated birthday card for a sophisticated lady.

Costumes

 Sorry the pictures aren't very good. it was really dark in the room I was doing the fitting in.

 Swan

 Ugly Duckling

 Jack and Cinderella

 Fairy Godmother disguised as a teacher

I was busy during the fitting so I didn't get any other pictures. I wish I would have taken a picture of the fancy Cinderella dress I worked on. It was a lot of fun and I'm excited to do even more costumes for the Performance Project kid camps this summer.

Baneling Birthday Card

One of the best parts of making your own card is the personalization. I don't know of any other place I could get a Starcraft birthday card with a Baneling on it. I made this card for my brother in law. He plays Starcraft with my husband a few times a week. I think this card suited him well. I do not own the Baneling image. I Googled Baneling and printed the image out on cardstock.

Free Printable Service Coupons

The Young Women and Young Men in our church are doing a Valentines Dinner and Dance for their fundraiser this year. They will be selling the tickets, helping prepare, serve and then clean up. They will also be offering services for people to purchase such as babysitting, a car wash, lawn care, cleaning and baked goods.  I came up with this little Service Voucher for their fundraiser. I'm making it available to you.

 Click on the image and save it to your computer. Then you can print it onto cardstock. I will be perforating the Receipt just about the Youth section so the bottom can easily be torn off.

Please only use this for personal use. I don't want to see them on etsy or for sale on another blog :)

Please let me know if you have any questions or problems.

Guest Feature: Heather's Creative Blessings

I am pleased to be featuring Heather from Creative Blessings. I found Heather's blog through another blog by chance. I love all her cards of course but I really enjoyed reading her article entitled "Time Saving Tip." I have often been asked how I find time to craft. I usually just say, I don't clean my house or I wait until my kids are in bed. I like Heather's ideas better :)

 

"Time Saving Tip"

Here are some things I do to make time for paper crafting….

1. Give myself permission. Not sure why I need permission. I guess I feel like as a Domestic Engineer I should be spending most of my time on my family and home. Creating makes me happy though, and so I make time to create.

2. Schedule it in. I work better with a block of time, so I will spend a day cleaning house, another day running errands and paying bills, so I can spend the third day in my craft room. If your time to craft is "scheduled" then when somebody asks you to babysit or volunteer for something you can honestly tell them you already have plans.

3. Meal Plan and Crockpot…both are my friends. If I meal plan I can buy what I need in a big grocery shopping trip and not have to waste time making another trip to the store. I can also get dinner started earlier in the day and have it ready to pop in the oven later. The crockpot is great for those all day crafting days and when everyone needs to eat at different times. I plan either a crockpot, casserole or super easy dinner on "craft day" so that I don’t spend craft time in the kitchen. Leftovers are also great for craft day.

4. Clean as you go. If things are put away and organized they are easy to find. If things are put away as you go then it won’t take long to clean up when your time runs out.  Besides, I find if my craft space is clean I am more likely to go out there an play.  If I know I have to clean before I can play I avoid it.

5. Plan ahead. I usually print out the sketches and challenges when I find them and then I can be thinking about what I want to make so that when I do get time to go to the craft room I already have a pretty good idea of what I want to make.

6. Reward myself with craft time. Right now I am working on losing weight, so I’m using stamping time as my reward. An example, if I get my workout done and "chores" done by 11am I can go in to the craft room from noon-2. (DH comes home around 11am and leaves around noon, I pick up kids at 2) It’s helping me lose weight and it is a really fun motivator for me.

7. Craft with friends. If you work better with other people around set up a "play date" with some friends to stamp/scrapbook. It can be once a week, month or year. What I have found is that I get a LOT less done when I scrapbook with friends. I spend too much time visiting and looking at what everyone else is doing and I am easily distracted. However, I get LOADS of INSPIRATION when I craft with friends and usually come home with lots of creative energy and ideas. I get a ton done in the week(s) following a get together/retreat.

8. Hire a … Babysitter, Housecleaner, Landscaper, Trainer… whatever it is that is taking you away from your craft time. Hire somebody to do that and use your time to create. If you don’t know "how", then hire somebody to train you. Save yourself the time and frustration of trying to figure it out on our own.  I did this by watching youtube videos, joining clubs and attending online classes.

I think the biggest thing is to find what works for you and roll with it.

Homemade Pot Holders

I made these Hot pads for my sister in law Carrie. I followed THIS tutorial. Like most tutorials I follow, I tweaked this one a little bit. I used one layer of fabric, one layer of warm and natural, one layer of Insulbright then another layer of warm and natural and then my fabric on the back. I made my own binding. Instead of making the loop at the end. I made the loop separate and sewed it onto the edge of the hot pad before I put the binding on. It didn't take me very long. 

When I was making the oven mitt I used my oven mitt from my kitchen as a pattern. I traced around it and then added 1/2 inch around my tracing. Let me know if you have any questions.