Cute and Easy Lightweight Blanket

I made lightweight blankets for my girls because it has been pretty warm here and their comforters are just too heavy. When I covered them with a lightweight fleece at night, I realized it was exactly the same size as half of a twin sheet. I decided to sew up the sheet and make a duvet cover so I could easily remove the fleece.

I sewed each duvet cover out of one flat sheet and one fleece blanket. Here you can see the fleece blanket laid over the folded twin sheet. The blankets were approximately 50 x 60". The twin sheets are from Target and were larger than other sets we owned so double check the size.

It all took less than an hour. It was very simple to sew, I did not even use pins. I just started at an unfolded corner and sewed to the folded edge. This way I ensured the material would not move around too much. I left about 10" open on the bottom edge so I could remove the blanket for washing.

Here is the finished product on a toddler bed (left) and on a twin bed (right).

Play kitchen made from diaper boxes

My daughters enjoy playing with their little wooden kitchen in the play area and I thought it would be fun to have a second kitchen upstairs where they sometimes play too, I just did not want to purchase a second kitchen. That is when I had a childhood memory of my Grandma and the day we spent making a stove out of a cardboard box. Perfect! 

I used a diaper box for the stove and an Amazon box for the shelves. I removed the flaps from the Amazon box and attached shelves with packing tape and covered everything with white drawing paper. I drew the stove parts on and added food pictures to the shelves - my daughters helped decorate everything too. I used spare plastic containers for utensils and play food and we had a second play area which keeps my daughters busy while I am working upstairs. 

(The decorative background on the first picture is the 

Playskool Cherry Blossom Market).

Super-Hero-Princess Cape

I made this cape for my girls to add to their dress up box. I really make things like this for my own fun. I fell in love with the shiny and velvety material. I just had to add a little jewel - what girl doesn't need a little bling? I topped the crown with a jewel and added one on the neck to look like a brooch.

The girls enjoy playing with this and so do other little visitors!

It was not hard to make, just so big I had to do a lot of the work on the floor. I had fun with this one!

Fun and Easy to Make Christmas Ornaments

I love making holiday decorations and gifts so I purchased a set of clear glass and looked forward to some crafts with my two girls. We added paint and glitter and swirled it all around. Both girls had fun playing with the messy stuff and making their ornament.

The ornaments looked gorgeous that night but could not be hung up before they were done drying. The purple and blue ornaments dried the best but they all looked great! They looked so good, we even gave a few as gifts.

Christmas Advent Calendar

I love Christmas advent calendars and wanted to make one for my two daughters. I thought about it for a while and decided I did not want to add candy or toys to each day as my children already get the paper chocolate calendars. I just wanted it to be something fun the girls could take turns flipping over each morning.

After some searching, I found this great calendar idea on

http://shannonmakesstuff.blogspot.com/search?q=advent

I really like what Shannon did and decided to modify for my family. I used her templates for the ornament shapes and numbers. For the back side of the ornament, I used Shannon’s templates through #13 and after that I made up my own images.

My changes:

Background

I made my background a rectangle that is large enough to fit the ornaments with about 2 “ of breathing room all around. My final size is: 23” x 26.5”

Ornaments

I used Shannon’s templates up to # 13 then made my own. See images. I cut everything out free hand using the extra felt I already had.

Hooks

I used the hook and eye closure Shannon suggests. I used both the hook and eyelet. I sewed the hook on the background and sewed the eyelet on the ornament. I covered up my sewing by gluing a small piece of felt that ended up looking like the piece of metal on the top of a real ornament. I also hammered out the curve in the eyelet with a mallet so the ornaments hang flat. My girls take turns flipping an ornament each day and they are excited to do it.