Monogram Pocket Nightgown

Monograms seem to be everywhere right now. A hot trend that can be found on almost anything you want to personalize. Last Christmas I decided to make some Monogram Pajamas as gifts. My mom has an embroidery machine, so I love to use it to make gifts when I go to see her.  Don't have an embroidery machine?  You could also cut your letters out of iron on material. Or even applique your own fabric letters!  

I had found a couple of nightgowns that I decided to personalize with monograms. Instead of embroidering straight onto the pajamas, I decided to put the initials onto a coordinating piece of fabric and create that into a little pocket. 

Embroider your monogram towards the bottom of a piece of scrap fabric. Fold your fabric down on top of your monogram, right sides together. Sew up the two sides of your pocket. Now turn it right sides out. There should be an opening on the bottom of your pocket square. Tuck the edges in. It will be closed when you sew the pocket to your pjs.

Place your pocket square where you would like on the garment. I did one as a chest pocket and one as a hip pocket on another nightgown. 

Pin in place and sew around the two sides and the bottom of the pocket. You now have your own personalized monogram PJs. Great to make for yourself or as a gift. 

Teacher Appreciation Word Art Gift

 Teacher appreciation week is here!  Hopefully you've made plans to show your child's teacher just how much they mean to you!  If not, don't worry.  I have an idea for you.

I'm class mom for my daughter's fourth grade class.  I didn't start the year that way, but I guess no one volunteered and they saw me in the school lobby one day and asked me to take over the position.  I wasn't sure how much time it would take up, but it hasn't been that bad.  I've decorated the class door for Red Ribbon Week.  I've organized the teacher's birthday gift and lunch.  Mostly it's been e-mails out to the few parents that would actually share their e-mail address with me.  The toughest part is that I have very few parents that are involved or want to participate.  The school has a basket night where families try to win baskets that the classes put together by buying tickets and using them as chances to win different baskets.  I asked for donations from our class, but no one responded.  I ended up making two different baskets for our class on my own.  I got donations from our local MLS team, Orlando City and made that into a basket.  Then I shopped after Halloween sales to make a costume/dress up basket as well.  I don't like the ball to be dropped so I just take it over.  It' gets to be a lot of work, since I tend to make it more than it needs to be.  But I'd rather do that than have nothing done at all.

So coming into Teacher Appreciation Week, I wasn't too hopeful to get donations.  I was pleasantly surprised to have a few generous donations that will definitely help me to show our teacher some love.  I had already planned to do a little gift each day, so this will help me to do that.

Today I sent in a framed Word Art gift that had all the kids names made into the shape of a flower.  I used Tagxedo to make my flower shape.  There are all different kinds of shapes to choose from and you can change what words you want to use to appear in your word art.  It really is so cool.  Plus it can be used for so many different projects!  I've used it for party invites as well!

After choosing my design and getting it laid out the way I wanted, I printed my flower onto cardstock.  Then I found a frame I liked to put it in.  Now I just wanted to add my message to the mat of the frame.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to print out Thanks for helping me Grow in vinyl.  You can also use sticker letters from the craft store as well.

On the bottom of the mat I added the school name and year.  You could also add the teacher's name or whatever message you choose.

I'm really happy with how it came out.  Perfect for Day 1 of surprises for Teacher Appreciation Week!

Easter Snacks

Easter is almost here.  My kids are on Spring Break!  It's nice to have this time off, but it's also a bit tough to get anything done with them here.  Since there's no school this week, that meant we had school Easter parties last week.  I was in charge of organizing the party for my daughter's preschool class.  It didn't have to be anything too big.  Just a snack, craft, and a book to read.

What little bunny doesn't love carrots?  Especially when they're filled with cheese crackers!  I used Stauffer's Whales which we think are so much better than Goldfish, but any kind will do.  I've found Whales at Dollar Tree, Target and Big Lots.  Annie's bunnies would be perfect but they are a bit pricey when I had to make these for a whole class.

No snack would be complete without a little juice.  I cut yellow scrapbook paper to fit around mini juice boxes.  I taped it in back and they stayed in place just fine.  On the front I used sharpies to color in eyes and a chicky beak.  So cute!

The kids all loved how cute the food looked.  These would be the perfect table decoration for the kids table at your Easter feast.  Plus the kids would have something to snack on while waiting for dinner.

The kids also decorated their own Easter eggs at our party.  I found the plain white plastic eggs at Walmart and then let them be creative with markers and stickers.  See how I made my Doodle Eggs here!  It's fun to see how the kids all chose to decorate in different ways.  Still need to decorate eggs?  I love these doodle eggs since it elimates the big mess that comes with dying eggs.  Have fun and be creative!  Happy Easter!

Easy Monogram Fleece Blanket

Need a last minute gift idea for someone on your list?  This is an easy monogram blanket and can be a great gift for anyone on your list!  Kids, pets, friends, neighbors, teachers...everyone loves to cuddle up on the couch with a cozy blanket.  Fleece is always on sale this time of year.  Plus there are so many great patterns and prints to choose from!  You can find the perfect fabric for anyone on your list.

This is a quick and simple sewing project that even a beginning seamstress can make.  I bought a piece of fleece material.  One yard is usually good for a baby or small child.  I like to use closer to two yards for an adult throw blanket.  Make sure your edges are square.  You can round your corners if you would like to.  Zig zag stitch around the outside edge to give your blanket a finished look.

I found a printable letter coloring page that I printed and used as a pattern to cut out my monogram letter.  Cut a piece of fusible web for your letter and follow instructions to adhere your letter where you would like on your blanket.  Attach your letter by using a zig zag stitch around the outside edge.  That's it!  A nice comfy blanket in any kind of fun print!  I made this C monogram letter blanket last year for one of my Christmas angel gifts for a child from a foster home.  All kids deserve to feel safe and warm!

Dollar Store Sock Snowman

I wanted to share a cute and easy craft project that you can do with the kids!  These adorable sock snowmen are easy to make, inexpensive and great little guys to use as decorations around the house!  I love Christmas, but there is always so much going on and things to do.  Crafts have to be quick and easy or they just don't get finished.  That's why these sock snowmen are the perfect holiday craft!

I found all of the supplies I needed to make the sock snowmen at the dollar store.  I used men's white crew socks for the body, kid socks for the hat, and twine to close up my sock.  One bag of rice should make about two snowmen, depending on how big your socks are.  I attempted to use the funnel to help pour in my rice, but it kept getting stuck.  It was just easier to pour the rice into the sock without it.

Begin by cutting your sock in half around the heel of your sock.  I was able to make two snowmen out of one sock.  It you are using the toe, just pour your rice in, tapping as you go to help settle the rice.  If you are using the top portion, turn your sock inside out.  Tie one end closed with your twine and then turn the sock right side out again.  Fill with rice and then tie the top closed with twine.

Decide how big you want to make your snowman's head.  Tie another piece of twine around his neck to give him his head and body.  You can trim your twine or tie it into a little bow.  Now it's time to take your little kid socks.  You could trim the end off, but I just started rolling it up at the cuff until I got the size I wanted for my little guy's hat!

After sliding his hat on, it's time to give him a face, maybe some buttons or add a scarf.  I used Sharpie markers to decorate and add the final touches.  Want to add a scarf?  Cut a small strip of fleece and tie it on!  My girls loved to make their own little snowman family.  We have them in all sizes to make each one a little different.

Monogram Tote Bags

My weekends have been all wedding, wedding, wedding lately.  The big day is next Friday for my sister-in-law.  In honor of the upcoming day, I thought I'd share some of the things we've had going on.  A few weekends ago we headed out to the beach to celebrate the Brides in a little get together and fun filled night.  All of the Brides and Bridesmaids stayed at our condo, so I wanted to have a little something for each of the girls in a little gift tote filled with things they might need for our bachelorette beach weekend.

I wanted to personalize the totes for each of the girls.  I bought these 13.5 x 13.5 tote bags in a 3 pack set at Michaels.  Always a good idea to use your 40% off coupon!  I bought white totes for the brides and black totes for all of the bridesmaids.

I found my letter templates online Here and printed them out.  Next, cut out the letters.  Iron a piece of wonder under big enough to fit your letter onto your chosen fabric.  Trace your letter, backwards, onto the back of your wonder under and cut it out.  This should make your letter face the right way after you cut it out.  

Now it's time to place your fabric letter with the wonder under onto your tote bag.  Iron it in place according to the directions on your wonder under.

Sew in place around the outside of your letter with a zig zag stitch.  This really secures the letter in place.  

You can pick either a complimentary color or a contrasting color for the zig zag stitch thread.  

For our bachelorette bags, I filled them with things I thought we might need out at the beach.  The brides got white flip flops and the bridesmaids got a tan color.  Everyone got an extra large plastic solo cup and a towel.  Of course we needed some snacks and gum!

The beach weekend was a great time!  So much fun hanging out at the beach, great time at dinner and more fun checking out New Smyrna beach night life!  These tote bags would be great for any party favor and could be done with smaller totes.  You could also make them for Halloween treat bags with Halloween fabric for the monogram.  How about a child's dance bag?  Travel toy bag?  Reusable gift bag?  So many versatile ideas.  Make yours in no time today!

Red Ribbon Week Lego Door Decorations

I was recently cornered approached to be the room parent for my daughter's fourth grade class. Of course I couldn't say no. No other parent had volunteered and if I didn't do it, a school employee would have to do it. I really don't mind doing it.  Just seems like it all worked out to have a ton of things to be done on the same day.  I have a wedding that my whole family is in for my sister-in-law, our teacher's birthday, and donations for a holiday basket for the school fundraiser that is all supposed to be done on the same day!  I know I'll get it all done, but I always seem to overfill my plate.

Next week is Red Ribbon week at our school.  This is a drug awareness event that they use to incorporate fun activities into a anti-drug theme.  The room parent is supposed to decorate the class door to promote a drug prevention theme.  I've never decorated a door before, but I think it turned out great.  I started browsing Pinterest and told my daughter about some ideas I saw, but she told me some of those ideas were already in the school halls.  Soooo, back to the drawing board to make up an original idea.  That's when I came up with the Legos and the quote Building a Drug Free Future.

To create my Lego letters, I downloaded the Legothick font Here.  I typed my quote out on Word and printed it onto cardstock.  The letters were pretty easy to cut out since they are more bubbly in shape.  I found my Lego man Here.  I printed him on yellow paper.  I also made an extra copy and cut the pieces out to use as patterns to make my guys shirts and pants.  I traced my patterns onto colored cardstock, cut them out and glued them on my Lego guys.  I wanted the class to all be part of our door as well, so I used my Legothick font to print out a text box on Word with each of their names in one.  I printed them out on cardstock as well.

To make my Lego blocks, I cut my cardstock sheets in half to make two blocks.  If you have a 2 inch hole punch, that would probably be great to use to cut your block circles.  I'm too cheap to buy one, so I traced and cut out my circles by hand.  It really didn't take that long, but we've already decided that I'm a glutton for punishment.  I used foam dot stickers to adhere the circles to the blocks.  This helps them stand out a little and look a bit more like real Legos.

I'm not sure if I was supposed to put the door decorations all together in the middle of the hall, but all the kids (and teachers) that passed seemed to like it!  First duty as room parent done!  Hopefully I will find out more about what I'm supposed to be doing tomorrow at my first meeting!

Linked up at Tatertots & Jello

Dollar Tree Day of the Dead Skulls

Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday that focuses on gathering friends and family together to pray for those that have  passed.  One of the symbols of the holiday are the brightly decorated skulls  They are quite trendy and popular this year.  I've seen them in quite a few stores and they really are so cute and fun!  The girls and I decided to make our own Day of the Dead Skulls.

The Dollar Tree sells plastic skulls that are perfect for making our own Day of the Dead Skulls.  I've collected a large number of sharpies that were exactly what we needed to make our colorful creations. 

My youngest was ready to jump right in and start decorating.  I showed her ideas of skulls online so she could get inspired.  She wanted to keep adding little details for days.  I think she really liked coloring on something that wasn't a flat surface.

All my girls got into making their skulls unique.

Even my hubby wanted to make his own skull.  

 I decorated mine with lots of flowers and hearts.

Everyone had a great time making their Day of the Dead skulls.  Such a fun way to spend an October crafternoon!

Linked up at Tatertots & Jello