Make a travel pillow from old pajama pants.

I kind of hate the word "upcycle," mainly because I don't really know how to use it correctly.

Is the old thing upcycled into the new thing, or is the new thing upcycled from the old thing?   Oh man, I just confused myself again.

But however you say it, this totally DOES it.

By the way, this idea totally came to me because I screwed something up.

Imagine that.  

Anyway, this Pokemon fabric was a gift from my sister months and months and months ago, and since Zachary is Pokemon obsessed at the moment, I can only assume she thought I should make him something with it.

Fast forward six months, and I finally got around to it.

I decided to make him a pair of pajama shorts, which should have been a breeze.  I've done this before, and it was super easy.  This time, however, I screwed something up - like the rise was inches too short screwed up - and when Zachary tried them on they looked like something that belonged on a teeny-bopper girl with a tramp stamp and a thong hanging out the top.

When I realized what I had done I was sad, because I knew Zachary would be sad too.  A better seamstress probably could have fixed them, but I'm NOT an experienced seamstress, and I couldn't think of a good solution.

Until I thought of a good solution!

This all happened the week before we were to leave on vacation, and as I gazed sadly down onto the useless pajama shorts, I realized the shape was exactly the same of those travel/neck pillowsthat cost a small fortune, and since we were going to be in the car for an ungodly number of hours...

It was fate.

I quickly seamed up the leg openings, stuffed it with the innards of an old throw pillow that had seen better days, then seamed across the top, and TADA!  Now it's a pillow! 

This one was made out of pj shorts, but you could totally use pants as well.  Just cut them off to the correct length and turn them inside out before seaming up the bottom.

I feel pretty good about figuring out a way to still make these useful for Zachary, and the timing couldn't have been better, since we were just about to embark on a 12 hour car trip.

Now go dig through your kids' old pajamas and whip one of these up yourself. 

It will get you major mom points, I promise.



This post contains affiliate links. 

Patching boys' jeans - superhero style!

My boys are ROUGH on clothes.  Cheap clothes, expensive clothes, it doesn't matter.  They are rough.

Rough.

I've learned my lesson and now I refuse to spend much on what they wear, instead opting for yard sales and discount stores to stock up on a quantity of what I think of as "disposable" pieces.

This late in the school year, I absolutely REFUSE to buy Zachary anything else to wear. Instead I'm trying to eke whatever usage I can out of the tattered remnants of what he already owns.

The kid grew an inch last month.

I'm just NOT buying new clothes right now.

So anyway, when he burst through the knee of yet another pair of jeans a couple weeks back, I said to myself, "Self, you can totally fix this."

Then I though to myself, "Self, this doesn't have to be any boring old patch.  You can make it a super cool patch - one that won't get your kid beat up on the playground because it's all lame and patchy like."

Pinterest directed me toward a ton of  cute monster face patches, and I would totally do those for Cooper, or myself, maybe.

But Zachary needed something better.  Something different.

So....

TADA!  I used a Batman symbol to patch his jeans.

The process was super easy.  First I found a Batman logo online and printed it out in the size I needed, then cut it out.  Next I used two different shades of denim - one for the background oval and one for the bat itself.  I pinned the paper logos into place on my denim scraps and cut them out.  

I used denim colored thread to hand sew the oval into place, then I sewed the bat over the oval.

When I was stitching the oval in place, I sewed about a quarter inch inside the edge of the fabric so it would fray and look cool after it was washed a few times. 

And guess what?

It did look cool.

These quickly became Zachary's  favorite pair of jeans, and now I can't wait until he rips through another pair so I can do it again.  I'm sure it won't be long.

Maybe next time I'll do Superman, or Green Lantern, or X-Men, The Flash, or Captain America or...

Pink elephant apron giveaway! WINNER ANNOUNCED!

And the winner is:

JANET!!!

Hey Janet, I still have your address somewhere :)  Expect your apron to arrive in a few days!

I've never used quite so many exclamation points in a blog title before.

Of course, I've never hosted a giveaway before, either.

So my excitement?  Totally justified.

A few weeks ago, I shared one of my latest obsession, which is making aprons.  One of my internet besties, Savannah of Savvy Pants fame commented and suggested that I make an apron and do a giveaway.

Why, don't mind if I do, thank you very much.

And also, how has this never occurred to me before now?

Anyway, here is what I have created, totally made by my own hands, to give away.

Ok, now that you've seen it, let me tell you about it.

It's really cute.
IT'S TOTALLY REVERSIBLE!!!  See the pics?  That's not two different aprons.  It's one that's REVERSIBLE!!!
It's made made from fabric from the Michael Miller "It's a Girl Thing"collection.
It's really cute.

That's all.

Now, for the important stuff.  Here's how to enter.

You can earn a total of five, yes FIVE, entries, and all you have to do is follow these very simple and clear instructions.

HOW TO ENTER

1.  Leave a comment on this post.  You can tell me you love it.  You can talk about the weather.  Just comment, and you're entered to win.
2.  Tweet a link to this post AND come back here to leave a comment telling me you did.  All you have to say is "tweet" or "twitter" or if you really want to, you can write me a dozen paragraphs outlining exactly how you crafted your tweet.    Just remember to come back and comment about it.
3. Share this post on Facebook AND come back here to leave a comment telling me you did.  Ditto #2. All you have to say is "Facebook" or whatever you want to say about the trials and tribulations you went through in order to share it on Facebook.
4.  +1 this post on Google+ AND come back here to leave a comment telling me you did.  Are you sensing a theme here?
5.  Pin the image above to Pinterest (make sure it links directly to this post - THANKS!!!) AND come back here to leave a comment telling me you did.

THE FINE PRINT

This contest will run from today, March 6, 2013, through midnight EST on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. 

The winner will be chosen by a randomly generated number on Random.org, and your chances of winning will be totally dependent on the number of entries. (See how I added cute little numbers to my comments to make this easy and fair and all that?)

This is an apron I made myself, out of fabric I purchased, and this giveaway is not sponsored by anyone except me, me and only me.  

Also, I made this without a pattern, and I am not a professional seamstress, apron maker, or really much of anything.  From across the room I can see about 15 places that the stitches are crooked, and I had to sew a couple seams twice and didn't bother to rip the old ones out, because ain't nobody got time for that.  Also, the flower accent (which is super cute, by the way) is attached with a safety pin so you can easily move it from one side to the other.  I'm sure I could have come up with a fancier system, but I'm lazy and a safety pin works just fine. Actually, you might not even want this apron.  Sorry if I wasted your time.  Basically, I'm telling you what I tell my kids every day and that's "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit."

Winner will be announced ON THIS POST sometime in the morning on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, barring natural disasters, grave illness or the zombie apocalypse.

I will ship this out to you OR to someone else if you would like to give it as a gift, provided the shipping address is in the US.  Any entries outside of the US will automatically be disqualified and a new winner will be chosen.

Since I allow anonymous comments on my blog, if you choose to comment anonymously, or if your profile isn't linked to a way for me to find your e-mail address, please leave your email address in your comment so I can find you.  Did that even make any sense?

The apron models are not part of the giveaway, but they sure are cute, aren't they?  Actually, you could probably have them occasionally, like Monday through Friday, and maybe every other weekend.  Email me.  We'll chat about it.  

If I forgot anything, please insert it here and pretend like I said it.  I'm new to giveaways, you know.


That's it!  Thanks for stopping by, and GOOD LUCK!





This post contains an affiliate link. 

Aprons.

I've always been sort of obsessed with aprons.

My favorite time period has always been the fifties and sixties and I sometimes think I should have been alive then, just so I could wear an apron every day and meet my hardworking husband at the door with a cold martini and his slippers.

Or maybe not.

Anyway, aprons have always appealed to me, and I have quite a cute little collection myself.   Also, the number of apron links on my Stuff to Make and Do board on Pinterest is out of control.  But they're all SO SO SO cute!!!!

Before Christmas, I decided that aprons would be on the gift list for several people this year.  I had never made an apron before, but it didn't look that hard.

And guess what?

It wasn't.

I didn't really use a pattern, I just cut until things looked right and embellished until I felt like I should stop.

First up was this cute little number I made for my niece.

Next was this boy-appropriate one.  Clearly this is an old pair of jeans.  Since it was for a boy about Cooper's age, I didn't really measure anything, I just used Cooper as a live model and cut and trimmed and nipped and tucked until I was happy with the outcome.  I think it's pretty cute.

I also made a couple other aprons as gifts.  You can't really tell it from the picture, but the one on the left was teeny-tiny since it was for a 9 month old.  SO FLIPPIN' CUTE!

So now that the mad Christmas crafting rush is over, I've decided it's time to make myself a new apron to add to my collection.  I've picked out the fabric:

It's so funky and retro-ish, don't you think?  Now all I need is a couple hours to steal away to my sewing room and it will become an apron.  I can't wait to work on it.

How about you?  Do you have any crafty projects in the works right now?

A beginner's guide to crafting with resin

I always have the hardest time shopping for gifts for R.  He is definitely one of those people who just buys himself whatever he needs, whatever he wants, and whatever catches his eye.  It doesn't usually leave much left for me to buy him for Christmas or his birthday or whatever.

It's damn annoying is what it is.

But still I try.  Oh lord, do I try.

So this year I decided I would make him something.  That pretty much ensured that a) he wouldn't have it already and b) he wouldn't have it already.

I did some quick Pinterest research, and I decided that I would make him a coaster for his desk.  But not any old coaster would do... oh  no.  I would make him a STEAMPUNK COASTER!  WITH RESIN!  Never mind that I had zero clue about how to use resin.

So I began assembling the needed supplies.  I ordered a coaster mold, along with handful of little gears, owls, hot air balloons, keys and other steampunkish looking things from eBay, then I went to my local craft store for some resin supplies.  And I got a HUGE case of sticker shock.  Good grief.  Resin is NOT cheap, but I already had the other supplies on the way, so I felt like I was committed to my project at this point.

I'm THRILLED with how the finished product turned out, and R loved it.  I'm not entirely sure he believed me when I told him I made it myself, though.  Oh, but I did.

And here are some of the things I learned:

1. It's probably cheaper to just buy something already made than to buy all the parts.  Even a small bottle of resin and hardener will set you back around $30, so unless you have several small or a pretty large project planned, make sure that the coaster you could buy on Etsy for $6 shipped is worth the $40 in supplies, just to say you made it yourself.  BAM! I  just saved you $34 and countless hours.  But if you're determined to proceed...

2.  Read ALL the directions that come with your resin before you start.  Then read them again.  Then follow them.

3.  Measuring the hardener really IS important.  This isn't a recipe where you can say, "Oh, that's pretty close.  Good enough."

4.  If you mix it in a plastic Solo cup, it will melt a hole in the bottom of the cup.  See number 2.

5.  If you then quickly grab one of your favorite Pyrex bowls to pour it into, it will ruin your bowl.  See number 2.

6.  If you mix it in your kitchen, you will have to open all the windows and leave your house for a couple hours, even though it is 23 degrees outside.  That "well-ventilated area" part?   Totally true.  See  number 2.

7.  If your put it outside because of the fumes and if it's 23 degrees outside, it will not harden.  See number 2.

8.  If you then bring it back into your house to warm up and harden, you will have to open all your windows again.  See number 2.  And number 6.

9.  If you get it on your skin, it will burn off your fingerprints.  (Note to self: Remember this in case you ever need to "disappear" someone permanently.)

10.  The look on R's face when he finally believed that I made something so cool with my own two hands just for him made everything else worth it.  Well, mostly, anyway.

DIY bottle cap candles - Easy Stocking Stuffer

Things I don't have enough of: time, money

Things I have too much of: beer bottle caps, old candles, desire to be a redneck version of Martha Stewart

That makes this little gift in a jar I put together a perfect representation of all of the above.

 See, here's the thing.  I hate, hate, HATE when someone gives me a gift and I don't have anything prepared to reciprocate with.  I know Emily Post says to smile graciously and say "Thank you!" and be done with it, but awkwardness is my strong suit, and usually when this happens to me I turn red and stammer and stutter around for a minute then make up a blatant lie like "OH MY GOSH!  I LEFT YOURS IN THE CAR!!!  I'll be right back!" and then, depending on the situation, I either a) run to the all night drug store and pick up a bag of year-old mints because that's the only festive looking thing they have there or b) never return and mark that person permanently off my list of friends.

A few years ago I got the bright idea of carrying around a few extra small denomination gift cards inside Christmas cards, and I have actually used a couple of them, so it seems like a good thought, but a gift card stuffed in a Christmas card with no personalization whatsoever just kind of screams "GENERIC GIFT!!!!"  so I decided to take it one step further this year.  Added to that is my newfound love of gifts in jars (Hello 2007, I missed the memo, thanks) and so I came up with this little cutie.

Here's how I put it together.

To make the candles, first I rounded up some beer bottle caps and spray painted them in colors I love.  After they were dry, used a tiny dab of glue to put in some wicks that I got at my local craft store.  Then I used a candle remnant I had already to melt and pour into the bottle caps.  I Googled the best way to melt candle wax, and the internet was all "NNNNOOOOOO!!!!! YOU CAN'T PUT IT IN THE MICROWAVE!!!!!!" and I was like "Whatever, internet.  I don't need your advice anyway," and I totally melted it in the microwave and nobody was killed or maimed in the process.

So there.

Last, I trimmed the wicks to a reasonable length, and other than the time it took the paint to dry it took about three minutes total.

  

To set up the jar, I found a free printable Christmas pattern online and printed it out.  I wanted to use a box of matches but I didn't have any, so I used a couple books instead.  I wrapped the matches with the paper and then I cut a circle out of the patterned paper to fit the jar lid.  I used a little dab of glue to keep it in place, and that was it.

 Now I have a couple stashed in my too-large purse, and I'm ready for any sneak-attack gifters who may be out there lurking.

I love that part of the gift itself serves as the wrapping, and I love that it's not impersonal.

Now if someone would just give me a damn gift (I'm partial to shiny, geeky gadgety things, by the way) I could pull this out and act like I had it planned all along.

Five Minute Stocking Stuffers - Cute Little Pincushion

If you have a sewer or a crafter or a quilter on your Christmas list this year, this is a super easy little pincushion you can throw together in just a few minutes.   Please ignore the fact that the background of my photo shows about fifteen "in progress" sewing projects.  I'm getting there.  Really.

Anyway, I love that the pincushion is the top of a mason jar - I used a small (4 oz.) one and just put all my extra pins in there, but you could totally use a pint sized one and fill it with buttons, thread, ribbons... whatever sewing notions you can think of.

SUPPLIES NEEDED - 1 mason jar (whatever size you choose) with ring and lid, 1 scrap of fabric cut into a rough circle It really doesn't have to be perfect) about 1 1/2 to 2 inches larger than the jar lid, some cotton balls or cotton batting, hot glue gun or fabric friendly craft glue, one piece of cardboard or felt cut to the size of lid.

To start, I placed the fabric, wrong side up, on a flat surface, then I put a handful of cotton batting in the center.  I put the jar lid (not the ring) on top of that, wrong side up again, and began pulling the fabric up and around the lid, hot gluing as I went.  I kept pulling and gluing until the fabric was secured.  Then I turned it over and pushed the fabric, batting and lid up through the ring.

Next I cut out a rough circle of cardboard to the approximate size of the lid and hot glued it over the mess of the fabric that was underneath of the lid, like this:

Don't you love how nice my thumb nail looks here?  Aren't you so so jealous?

I let the glue dry, filled the jar with shiny pretty straight pins and stuck a few into the pincushion for easy access, and that's it.

You just made a really adorable pincushion.

Well, I did, anyway.

But now you can, too.  All the cool kids are doing it.  

Five Minute Stocking Stuffers - Keyring Chapstick Holder

I can never, ever, ever find my chapstick in the bottom of my huge purse.  This is a problem, because as a result, I buy a new tube every time I'm in line to check out anywhere, then I use it exactly once, throw it in my purse, and never see it again.  All my chapstick is probably in some alternate dimension frolicking with all the single socks that my dryer eats.

Anyway, I can only assume that others have this problem, too, because if you go to Pinterest and search  for "chapstick holder" there are about a million different ones listed there.

Well, now you can make that a million and one.

SUPPLIES NEEDED:
2- coordinating strips of fabric, approximately 2 inches by 6 inches
1- 1 inch ribbon end crimp (also called a ribbon clamp) WITH loop.  You can get these at any craft store, or on eBay, which is where I prefer to shop due to lack of necessary personal interaction
1 1- 1 inch split key ring.  Ditto above about where to get them, or you can steal one off some freebie key chain a bank gave you in 1994.
scissors, thread, sewing machine, pliers

DIRECTIONS:
Using 1/4 inch seam allowance, place your two pieces of fabric right sides together and sew a straight seam down both long sides and across one short side.  Now turn it right side out.  I keep a chopstick handy to poke the corners out.

Now fold the seamed end of the fabric up approximately 2 1/2 inches, so that the lining (interior) fabric is on the outside (for me , that is the green) and stitch a straight seam up to the edge of your fold.  This forms a pocket.  trim any excess fabric from this seam and turn it so the right side is now out.

Crimp the ribbon end on the unfinished (open) top end of your holder.  (As you can see from the photo mine was a little too wide so I folded the sides in a bit an pressed them down before putting the ribbon crimp on, but I liked the way it looks).  Add your key ring to the top of the ribbon crimp and there you have it.

Now you can find your chapstick, assuming you can find your keys.

Five Minute Stocking Stuffers - DIY Custom Ornaments

Ok, you may have me on a technicality here.  Or maybe two...  TECHNICALLY, ornaments aren't great stocking stuffers because then you can't decorate your tree with them all season long, and TECHNICALLY a few of these may have taken more than five minutes, but not much more.  Really.  

Anyway, this is the first year it ever occurred to me that I could really MAKE ornaments.  

I blame it all on this video that my friend Mary Dawn from My Pink Mexico did last year.

Seriously, until I saw it, it had never really occurred to me to do anything other than buy ornaments. 

Except for a few kiddie craft ones, that was all I had ever known.  Ah, how my eyes have been opened to the possibilities!!!

For most (all except the angry birds) of the ornaments I have shown here, I used clear glass ornaments that I got at my local craft store and I painted them on the inside.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the look of these, which are matte yet shiny and totally customizable as far as the color is concerned.  There are a blue million tutorials out there about how to do this, and I found this one to be totally straightforward and easy to follow.

Here's a brief description of how I made each kind.  All my great ideas came from Pinterest by the way, and I believe in credit where credit's due, so I'll link to each of my inspirations, too. 

SUPERHERO LOGO ORNAMENTS:

Where I got the idea.

The hardest part of making these ornaments was deciding which dozen - yes, dozen - superheroes I wanted to feature.  After I narrowed it down I made a list of how many of each color I would need, then I painted them according to  the directions above.

This is where the "more than five minutes" technicality comes in.  If you used a regular old ornaments this is definitely an under 5 minute project.

After the ornaments were dry, I went online and Google searched for "superhero logos" and then looked at the images.  I found most of what I needed right away, and saved them to a file on my desktop.  Then I created a new doc in Word and pasted them there.  I sized the logos to approximately 3/4 of an inch, but feel free to make them larger or smaller according to the look you're going for.  Just remember that the smaller the logo, the more likely it will be to apply smoothly to the round ornament.  I printed the logos out on a piece of sticker backed paper, which I got at an office supply store, but you could definitely use glue (I'd recommend just a glue stick, or some thinly applied craft glue).  I cut them out, stuck them on, and there you have it!


ANGRY BIRD ORNAMENTS:

I Googled "geeky Christmas ornaments DIY and found this site.  I love them all.

These were the only ones I didn't use the painted glass ornaments for.  For some reason, I wanted these to be shiny.  I printed out the faces on sticker paper (TIP: Google "angry bird wallpaper image"), cut them out and stuck them on.  It took about a minute.  And I think they're really cool.  More importantly, so do the boys.


POKEMON PIKACHU ORNAMENT:

I saw a Pikachu ornament on the same site as the Angry Birds one.  It was like the motherlode of geeky ornament ideas.

Zachary is Pokemon crazy at the moment, and he thought this was quite possibly the coolest thing he'd ever seen.  I got MAJOR Mama points for this one.  I used a clear glass ornamentspainted yellow on the inside, then I used the same search, print, cut, stick technique as before.  I freehanded some ears out of yellow craft foam (and colored the tips with a black sharpie) and glued them on with my hot glue gun.  I tried craft glue first, but the ears were too heavy for that, so I'd recommend the hot glue or possibly glue dots if you have them.


MICKEY MOUSE ORNAMENT:

There are a million Mickey ornaments floating out there on the great wide web, but I just kind of made this one up with what I had on hand.  Out of all the ornaments I've made lately, this one was my least favorite in terms of execution.  I used a black painted glass ornamentsand black craft foam for the ears.  I was going the leave it at that and call it a silhouette, but when Cooper saw it he said "Where'd his face go, Mama?" so I quickly printed out a Mickey face and stuck it on.  The face is kind of warped and bent in spots, but it made Cooper happy, and that's more important that excellent craft execution.  I guess.

THUMBPRINT REINDEER ORNAMENTS: 

This site has a million cool ideas for hand, finger, thumb and footprint Christmas crafts.

 I recommend checking it out.

The first activity in our Advent Calendar this year was "Make Ornaments for the tree."  The boys both LOVE doing crafts and getting messy, and I LOVE anything with their hand or fingerprints on it (well, except when they're on my walls or fridge - that's not nearly as endearing), so this was a perfect Saturday morning craft for us.

I used the painted glass ornamentsagain, and dipped their thumbs in brown paint to create the reindeer. After the paint dried (let it dry all the way, please, don't be impatient like I was), I drew the antlers, feet and faces on with a Sharpie   Zachary's is red, Cooper's is teal.  I wrote their names and the year on the back with the marker, and this is one I plan to repeat year after year.  This would be a great grandparent gift, too, if your kids have grandparents who are into that sort of thing.


HANDPRINT SNOWMAN ORNAMENTS:

I want to live in this person's house.  Everything she posts is SO adorable.  Her tutorial is much better than any of mine about how to do this, so go check it out.



For the first year ever, my Christmas tree is full of interesting, geeky, handmade and special ornaments. It's not color coordinated, it's not straight, it's not perfectly decorated.  It lists a little to the left, it's kind of top-heavy, and it's full of quirks.  Just like me.

And I love it.

This post contains affiliate links. 

Five Minute Stocking Stuffer - Tissue Pack Cover

I'm a fan of cheap. 

I'm a fan of easy.  

I've been busily sewing and crafting up a storm to get ready for Christmas, and as I was sewing the other day, it (finally) occurred to me that maybe I should share some of these easy crafty projects on my blog so that you, too, can be cheap and easy, just like me!

Ahem.  

Well, you know what I mean.

I saw a tutorial on Pinterest for some cute little tissue pack covers - you know, those tissue packs that always get wadded up in the bottom of your purse then you can never find them when you need them?  

Well anyway, I thought these would make a good stocking stuffer, but even the super-simple tutorial seemed to have too many steps for me, so I made some cuts, made some folds, sewed some seams (four total!!!) and came up with this.

You should try it.  

It truly took less than five minutes.

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Two pieces of coordinating fabric, roughly 10 inches by 5 inches.  Actually, it probably doesn't need to be that big.  I didn't measure it.  I also didn't take pics of the first few steps because it didn't occur to me until later to write a post about it.  Oops.  Someday I'm going to get my shit together.  Someday.

scissors, thread, sewing machine, iron

a purse/pocket sized pack of tissues

WHAT TO DO:

Place your two pieces of fabric together, right sides out.

Fold the ends of the shorter side over approximately one inch (the fabric you want on the outside should be folded over the interior fabric)  and press with the iron.  Sew a straight seam at the edge of each fold.  Now it should look like this:

Next, turn it over and wrap it around your tissue pack, inside out.  You want the edges to overlap approximately 1/2 to 1 inch. Pin in place.  Now sew a straight seam at one end of the tube you created, like this:

Now put  your tissue pack in the tube and shove it down to the end you seamed.  Pinch the other end closed at the length you want your cover to be and mark it with a pin.  Remove the tissue pack and sew another seam at the marked spot, like this:

You can see I had quite a bit of fabric left over.  If I would have bothered to measure, this wouldn't have happened.  Oops.  (It ended up being about 4.5 x 2.5 finished, if this helps you at all.) Anyway, I just chopped the extra fabric off like this:

Then I turned it right side out and TA-DA!  Cute little tissue pack cover.

I keep an old chopstick handy to use to square out my corners, but that's it.

Five minutes, less than a dollar's worth of materials, and you now have a stocking stuffer that you can give to someone and be all like "Oh, yeah, I  MADE this for you.  With my own two hands.  It was a sacrifice, I know, but you are IMPORTANT to me."

Or you can just decide to keep it, like I did.

DIY over the door Advent Calendar.

My family never did advent calendars when I was growing up.  It wasn't until I was an adult that I even had an inkling of what they were all about.  For the last couple years, I've planned to either buy or make one for the boys, but I could never find one I loved and other things took crafting priority.

I decided this year would be the year for the advent calendar, though, and I poured over Pinterest for just the perfect idea.  

I never really found one I LOVED, but I did find several that would work, so I tentatively chose a design, but the downside of it was that it was going to require my power tools, some wood cutting, a lot of painting, and a LOT of time.  Which, by the way, is running out fast.

Then one night I fell asleep and dreamed about advent calendars and when I woke up, I had the idea of what I would do fully formed in my mind.  Now I'm pretty sure I must have run across several of these when I was looking for ideas, but it literally came to me in a dream before I realized that I could make it super cute, super easily, and super quickly.

Why can't I ever dream really useful stuff, like winning lottery numbers?

Anyway, here's the kind of stuff I dream about.

Welcome to my brain.

SUPPLIES:

One over the door type shoe holder with 24 clear pockets. I got mine at Wal-Mart for around $5.

24 treat bags.  I found that these fit the width of the pockets exactly.  I used 2 different designs so I could alternate them. Mine came from Wal-Mart and were around $2 for each design. 

Coordinating scrapbook paper, or wrapping paper.  

Numbers 1-24.  I opened a blank document in Word then just played around until I found a font and size I liked, then printed them out and cut them out individually and glued them on.  For the whole project, this was the most time consuming step.  You could buy pre-cut sticky labels if you're not cheap like me.

Scissors, ruler, tape, glue

DIRECTIONS:

First I cut the gift bags off about an inch at the bottom to fit the pockets.  I slid them into the pockets and used a small piece of scotch tape to hold them into place.  Gravity really does most of the work here.  Next I printed and cut out all the numbers and adhered them to the pockets. Last, I measured and cut the scrapbook paper to fit the space above each pocket, then glued it into place.  

I played around with a bow and some garland to jazz up the top, but I found that it looked too busy, so I took it back off and left the top plain.  Of course, part of the problem there might be that I have ZERO bow-making skills...

Now I'm going to fill up the pockets with tons of fun stuff!  Some days will be easy stuff like chocolates or small toys that I picked up at the Dollar Tree, and some days will have notes detailing activities.  Some of my ideas (and some I pilfered from my friend Natalie include:

• Today we will decorate the Christmas tree (December 1)!
• Tonight we will watch Rudolph and eat popcorn!
• Today is the day we visit Santa!
• Let's make a gingerbread house!
• Let's write our letters to Santa today!
• Let's bake and decorate Christmas cookies for our neighbors!
• Let's send out Christmas cards!
• Today we can make an ornament for the tree!
• Today we will go buy gifts for a family in need.
• Snowball fight! (Of course it won't snow, so I'm thinking baggies of miniature marshmallows.)
• Let's drive around tonight to see the lights!
• Let's cut out paper snowflakes!
• Tonight we will watch Frosty the Snowman and drink hot chocolate!

On December 24, the note will say: find the special package under the tree that says "Do Not Open Until Christmas Eve."  In the box will be new pajamas and a new Christmas book to read before bedtime.

This is all stuff we do every year anyway, but I love the thought of the boys racing downstairs every morning to see what's in store for the day.

This Christmas spirit business, I think I'm starting to get it.

This apron...

So I made this apron as a Christmas gift, but I'm considering keeping it.

Because it's so flippin' cute that I just can't stand it.

My niece doesn't really need a Christmas present, does she?