Christmas Rag Garland

This sweet rag tie garland requires no sewing and no hot glue gun.  In fact, you only need a few items and about half a football game's worth of time to finish it!

I love the way this looks on our mantle and it really finishes off the festive feeling of Christmas.

You just need a few supplies.  For this approximately 6' garland, I used one yard each of two coordinating fabrics.  I cut the strips approximately 1.5" wide by 6", but, honestly, I mostly guessed and just eyeballed it.  Don't make yourself crazy measuring!

TIP: Alternate fabrics in a 1:1 ratio to give this a more cohesive look.  I had originally started by alternating three strips of each color, but it did not look right at all.  This way looks perfect!

Measure your length, remembering to take into account any scallops and adding a few extra inches for hanging. 

Find yourself a comfy seat and get to it!  Tie your strips on your twine until you run out of fabric!  Enjoy your fluffy garland!

50 Days of Christmas Crafts: Update

It is late on a Saturday night.  I do most of my crafting after the kids go to bed.  I can hear the rain on the window every now and then.  I am reminded that it is cozy in here.  I am surrounded be felt.  It is on the desk next to me, bits and pieces of it strewn about, scraps on the floor, and yards of it kicked under the table while I created.  A huge tangle of felt scraps awaits me at the end of the table.

I spent the last three days gathering supplies, templates, patterns, and cutting lots and lots and lots and lots of items.  I've found the best way to make "sewing" crafts (i.e. felt projects, dresses, costumes) is to cut everything at once and then sew.  Otherwise, you hop back and forth between the sewing machine and the cutting table, making yourself very tired, and getting very discouraged.

What this really means is that I have not completed any one thing, but I have many things underway.  Check out my Christmas Craft List to see what I've started.

50 Days of Christmas Crafts

At the beginning of this year I challenged myself to complete at least 52 Pinterest projects by the end of the year.  That was only one a week, but I really only needed two months to complete that goal!  Over the summer I completed another 52 projects as I made props for an epic photo shoot.  So, here we are, 50 days from Christmas, and I think that it's time to get craftie once again!

Here's a rundown of what I'd like to make over the next 50 days: (Bold has begun, Red is complete, underlined blue links will take you to the finished post!)

FELT PROJECTS
1 Felt Ornaments: animal & Santa shapes
2 Felt hearts with pine cone garland
3 Poinsettia tree skirt
4 Felt Wall Tree (for kids to decorate with other felt things!)
5 Felt Cup Holders
6 Letters
7 Bows
8 Felt trees on sticks
9 Lily Pond Playmat (gift for Elizabeth)
10 Campfire (gift for Emily)
43 Felt Ornaments: Small World Inspired

NON-FELT ORNAMENTS
11 Paper ornaments--has been recreated as a paper project instead!
12 yarn-ball reindeer ornament
13 Chalkboard Printable Ornaments
14 Chalkboard Hand-Lettered Ornaments
46 Mickey Ornaments (3 kinds)

HOME DECOR
15 Red Branches in a bucket
16 Small domes with holiday/snow scenes
17 Mickey topiary
18 Red & Brown Rag Garland
19 Garland Wrapped Monogram
20 Vintage fabric-wrapped candy canes
21 Sharpie Projects: pillows, mugs, or ornaments
22 Yard stick lit star
23 Joy, Love, Merry Pillows
24 Frame & Hang "MistleTOES" from last year
25 Star Garland
26 Christmas Clothes Pins

GIFTS
27 Penguin, Dinosaur, and Monster Mittens
28 Ribbon Ruffle Tree Tees
29 Christmas Hershey Kisses
30 Printable Vintage Tickets (tags)
31 Onesie Ornaments
32 Car "Sash" for wearing your matchbox cars
33 Butterfly wings
34 Chalkboard Present Labels (Hand lettered)
35 Disney Countdown Blocks
44 Print & Laminate Alphabet Tracing Cards
45 Maroon Wrap (for myself!) :)
47 Dinosaur Tail
49 Fabric drawstring bags
50 something to hang over our bed

MAKE WITH THE KIDS
36 Stamped Christmas Trees
37 Penguin Pals
38 "Believe" red blocks
39 Reindeer Thumbprint ornaments
40 Clay Handprint Santa Ornaments
51 Snowman Sticks
41 Snow Friends Decor
42 Chocolate Covered Pretzel Sticks for gifting!
48 Gingerbread Houses

52 Weeks of Pinterest

One of my resolutions in 2013 was obviously NOT to write about my resolutions right away!  ha!  I know that it is May, but I have been working on my resolutions.

In addition to showering my children with as much attention as they can stand (more on this later), I decided to set a few goals for myself.  One of them was to complete 52 Pinterest projects this year.  That is only 1 a week!  A totally doable goal for a mother of two young kids.

Here were my guidelines:

1. The project had to be taken directly from or seriously PINspired by Pinterest.

2. The project could be from any category: recipes, home decor, DIY, crafting, kids activities --> these are the most likely categories, but there could be others.

3. The project had to be completed in 2013 and still counts if it was started in 2012.

4. The project did not necessarily have to be completely made by me, but had to be my inspiration, vision, and I had to purchase everything for it.  (i.e. My Mom finished up some things for me)

I should have set a more challenging goal.  I have completed 56 PINspired projects by 4/30/13. 

I will start posting pictures soon!

Dreaming of Mickey

My Daughter fell off her bed two nights ago and landed with a thud.  By the time I made it to her room she was wandering around in a drunken-like stupor, not quite sure of what happened.  I moved her mattress to the floor and sat there with her.  She had a lot of trouble falling asleep. 

"Sometimes I have trouble falling back asleep when I wake up in the middle of the night," I told her.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because my eyes are awake, my body is awake, and my brain is awake."

"What do you do?" she asked.

"I find a comfy pillow....something to snuggle with...and then I close my eyes and think about Mickey's House,"  I told her.

I like to thing of morning's like this:

When Marmee Comes

I know that scant few words have been written recently.  My mom, the kids call her Marmee and I do too for that matter, has been visiting.  It has been glorious.  It is harder and harder to have her leave with each visit.

I have so enjoyed my time with her as her daughter and a mom.  I love watching her with my kids.  She makes being a mom seem easy and fun.  I love sewing next to her, something I hated as a child, but now I am finding is enjoyable and interesting.  She taught the very, absolutely basics while she was here, but I now know how to make skirts for my girls, drawstring bags, and rolled ribbon flowers.

Thanks to my sis-in-law I am also a huge fan of Pinterest (CraftieGal).  Oh dear lord how great it is.  Many of the things I found I have seen before, but I could not tell you where or when.  I am so glad to have all those things in once place, especially art projects for my kids.

With all that said, I have some wonderful things to share with you in the coming weeks.  Fabulous crafts, arts, and clothes, and even more tips and wonderful things about WDW.

I have been dreaming about The Mouse.  I'm sure you are too.

Our DIS-tory

We just returned from 11 glorious days in The World.  It was not so glorious in the moment.  It was hot.  Like hotter than hot.  And I hauled around two kids; one of them cannot even hold her own bottle yet.  One week later I think, WOW!  THAT WAS AN AMAZING TRIP!  Guess I just needed some time.

I was talking with my Dad about our trip.  I couldn't believe the short lines in the Magic Kingdom, on a Saturday, even for the most popular rides like Peter Pan and those dangblasted Dumbos.  Is there a parent code somewhere that says, "You must ride the Dumbos with your child no matter how long the line is?"  I guess I just don't get it.  The short lines made it possible to ride the Dumbos with little trouble.  In fact, I almost missed the photo op since it happened so fast.

As I share this with my Dad he tells about his memory of Disneyland.

"You know what?" he says.  "I went to Disney a handful of times as a kid.  I don't remember what I rode or what I saw or what I ate.  Do you know what I remember?  Standing in line."

I laughed.  Everyone knows my 30 minute rule.  I won't wait more than 30 minutes for anything rides (I learned that I will stand in line for more than 30 minutes for one thing.  More on that tomorrow).

"I remember we always had to wait in line for Pirates of the Caribbean because my Mom loved that ride," he told me.

Aha!  There is was.  A sweet little gem about the past.  A story I had never heard.  A connection to my Grandmother that I'd never had.  I didn't know she'd ever been to Disneyland and now I know that we share a favorite ride.

It warmed my heart.  It made me smile.  I had an inspiration.

We need to tell our history, our family history, through Disney.  It is our DIS-tory.  It is a way to know each other, to connect with each other, and to share with each other in a way like never before.

So, this is my call to action, for you, your friends, your families, to share with each other your DIS-tory!  A photo (of course) and a favorite story, a magical moment, a memory so that you might know each other better and share in the magic together.

To my own family and friends: I am compiling a book of Disney stories for our daughters.  I hope that you will contribute a favorite story (or two), a memory, a moment, and possibly a picture - especially one of you in front of the castle, current or historical, both would be fabulous.  I hope these stories will leave a lasting impression on our girls, just as my Dad's story did for me.