I'm melting, I'm melting!!!

Well I think like all moms, I have tons of crayons laying around. I decided to melt some down and reuse them as gifts. Here are the results:



I used 2 different silicon baking pans to make these. I love the way they turned out. The smaller squares are candy molds, the larger flowers are for cakes, etc. I decided to make color "themes" when I did these instead of using just random colors. After they were melted I used a toothpick to swirl the colors.

Close up of the flowers:

The green is my son Colin's favorite one that I made. He keeps taking it, LOL.

Halloween:


Girly Whirly:


Fire:


Camo:


USA Flag:

The Tree done, The Pumpkin patch and Thanksgiving Seasonal Table

I found this really yummy peach/orange woven fabric at Hobby Lobby on clearance. I snatched up a yard and decided to make pumpkins with it. I used this pattern http://sewing.about.com/library/weekly/aa101999.htm for the main part of the pumpkin. I just made up the stems myself. I also enlarged the pattern to make 1 big pumpkin. I think they turned out awesome.



I also made the 2 layered tree skirt. The bottom layer is orange burlap with brown bias tape on some of the edges. I used a decorative stitch in orange to topstitch the bias tape to the burlap. I then sewed a zigzag circle around about 1 1/2 inches from the edge. After that I unraveled the edges to look like fringe. The top layer was made on the potholder loom. I wanted a plaid look. I think it turned out great. I crocheted the edges with orange and brown to tie it all together and to bring in the colors of the bottom skirt layer.

I think the tree turned out awesome.



I found some great ornaments and made some more. I knew I wouldn't have that much time to get it done before Thanksgiving, so I'm glad I was able to buy some. I'll make more next year.



The seasonal table changed a bit from Halloween. I kept the jars, pinecones and bark on the table. I gathered some sticks from the yard for 2 of the jars. I put some fake flowers that my Nana bought for me while I was in college in the other jar. I made the turkey (see earlier blog). I found the dreamcatchers and ceramic pumpkins at dollar stores. Colin made the beautiful Mayflower on the table. Brian has been taking Colin to Home Depot once a month for workshops and this is what he made this month. Isn't it great.



The white turkey feather is from my neighbor's turkey. It comes to our yard all the time. Colin found it and thought it needed to go with the other Thanksgiving stuff.

Well that's about it. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Tipis or Teepees, however you want to spell it.

I know, I know, its most likely that the indians that the settlers ran into didn't live in tipis. They most likely lived in something like a wigwam or some other more permanent structure. But when you think of indians, tipis is often one of the things that comes to mind. So I made some for my thanksgiving tree.

They were really easy to make. It would be a great craft for adults to do with kiddos. I wouldn't consider it a kids only craft because you need to use hot glue at one point but other than that, its a kids craft.





Supplies
tan craft foam
permanent markers or paint with brushes
wooden toothpicks
brown embroidery floss or other matching colors
needle for floss
hot glue gun
hole punch - very small or something to carefully poke small holes into the craft foam

Enlarge the pattern to size.
Trace pattern onto tan craft foam.
Decorate the outside of the tipi with permanent markers or paint. Find books with tipi designs. I recommend "The Indian Tipi" by Reginald & Gladys Laubin. Its a great reference book on indian culture as well (for a few tribes anyway).
Punch holes where the pattern indicates.
Circle the tipi into the correct shape and sew together with embroidery floss.
Fold back smoke flaps and glue underside with hot glue to keep open.
Glue wooden toothpicks into top but running a bead of hot glue on the inside then inserting the glue through the hole into the glue.
Your done. I just put mine on the tree branches of my Thanksgiving tree, but you can used them for any kind of decorations.

Pattern:



Enlarge until the longest side is about 9 inches long.

Eek! Spiders

His pic is a little fuzzy, sorry.

Supplies:
Large wooden beads
smaller wooden balls
pipe cleaners in halloween colors
black paint
paint brush
strong glue, I used Goop, but you could use a high melt hot glue gun
craft glue or school glue



Take a wooden bead and a smaller wooden ball and glued them together with a strong glue.
Then paint the spider bodies black.
I found some really cool pipe cleaners in Halloween colors to use as the legs. Take 2 pipe cleaners and cut them in half. Thread them through the wooden bead until the pipe cleaners were sticking out evenly on both sides.
Put a small amount of craft glue or school glue in the hole to secure the pipe cleaners. Let the glue dry and then shape the legs.

You can place these around or you can add string and hang them from a tree branches or light fixtures, etc. These would be great to do with kiddos as long as an adult glued the wooden pieces together first. You do have to do it in stages though, there is alot of waiting for glue and paint to dry.