Diggers on the Brain

This week has been a week of starting projects. I have so many ideas rattling around in my head I just need to get them out. Mostly it's Easter and Little Boo's birthday bring out those ideas that just need to be created.

For Easter I've started two dump truck Easter baskets, one for each boy. I got started, again, on quilts that were suppose to be Christmas presents, but will now be Easter presents. I'm also thinking I'll throw in a crayon roll for each boy. Surprisingly they don't have any crayon rolls.

For the Little Boo's birthday I had to create a stuffed digger. I saw this one (pictured below) while surfing the net and I had to make a stuffed digger for Boo. Since I drew the plans (pattern?) out, I just keep thinking: diggers, loaders, rollers! How can I make those thing too! It's been occupying way too much of my thought process.

Along with all of that going on in my brain I also managed to get some work done on my donation to Angelheart Children's Shelter and do a total dog-scape. Look at my poor dog! He's so embarrassed but he'll be happier when it starts to warm up and he can swim instead of sink. All that furry fluff just drags him down.

Making Crayons

Crayons are fun to make! Crayons are easy to make! Fun shaped crayons are a thousand more times fun to draw with than regular crayons and when they have swirly awesome colors they are ever more fun! 

Supplies: Crayons and a Mold 

The mold I used is from Ikea for 2 dollars. By the way Ikea is having a spring break special, free pasta food for the kiddles along with events everyday from 12-3.

Take all those little itty bitty crayon bits from the bottom of the crayon box or de-paper big crayons and break them into small pieces. Let your little helpers put all those small bits into the molds.

Put some foil down (or use a cheap pan that you don't mind if it gets ruined because you are all out of foil....) to save your oven from crayon goo!! Pre-heat the oven to 250 and let those crayons cook for about 10 to 15 minuets.

Once all the crayons are melted down pull those bad boys out of the oven and let them chill. At this point I left the crayons to cool down and took the boys out to eat and run out more Spring Break/No-Longer-Sick Energy.

Once we returned to the Castle we popped those fishy crayons right out of the mold and broke their little fishy tails right off!

On a second try I ran the mold under some hot water 

and then the fish crayons (tails and all) popped right out. 

 

And look how cute they are!

I'm already seeing the potential for the Littlest Boo's birthday party: Digger Shaped Crayons! And look molds! 

Oh, yes, those broken fish? I saved them! I put them back into the mold and made a second batch of crayons. Their tails reattached perfectly. =)

Beware though, any mold you do use will be forever a crayon mold as the crayon will stick to it's sides.

 

Flu

The flu has finally hit at the Jake-A-Boo Household. All of last week and now heading into this week one or the other Boo has been ill or I have been ill. That's my littlest Boo on right with all his favorite things chillin' on the couch watching Finding Nemo. My husband, with his immune system of steal, is once again spared. Lucky him .... Anyway! The flu has kept me from blogging and crafting and sewing and enjoying the pretty weather we've been having. I did start a project for a friend's new baby boy and will share that with you all as soon as I can sort through all my pictures. It's a nice little gift set for a new baby and only takes about 3 or 4 hours and I made 6 things. I love quick easy projects.

Lunch Fun

I remember being little and visiting my Great Gram. She always had fun stuff for us to do. Giant bubbles, hills to roll down, salamanders under the sump pump and lunch was almost always cookie cutter lunch meats and cheeses but to my brothers and I that was the coolest lunch on the planet. My little guys barely got to know her before she passed and never experienced the lunch shapes but in honor of the memory of those fun times I bust out of cookie cutters and get those creative juices flowing. It’s a great way to sneak some veggies into kids or get picky children (like my oldest) to try something new. Give it a whirl and see what you can come up with! Here are some of my creations:

Bologna fish body with cheddar cheese accents. String cheese anemones. Strawberry crab. Carrot rocks. Goldfish crackers and string cheese cut in circles for bubbles.

 

String cheese stalks, cheddar cheese sun, spinach leaf, alfalfa sprout sprouts, salami flowers and carrots as the ground.

  

Bologna train with cheddar and string cheese accents. Quesadilla for the ground, carrot for the track. Apple for the smoke and rocks.

Bologna lion with cheddar cheese accents, carrots for hay, string cheese cut into circles for rocks, celery stalk with peanut butter for the tree trunk, snap pea palm ferns and a dab of ranch for the moon.

0 Dollar Over the Edge Planters

I had a problem! My problem was my Littlest Boo was killing my pepper pants. That 2 and a half foot tall menace to all that is green and growing would march right up to those poor green pepper pants and yank them out by the roots laughing all the while! Pepper plant stalks lined the ground behind him. I’m surprised Al Gore did not show up to stop the environmental injustice at the hands of my toddler boy. Though he never touched the tomatoes… was he in cahoots with them? Was this an alliance to do away with the peppers? No one can say for sure but I, Mom, was able to save the 3 remaining plants and it didn’t cost a penny!

It’s ingenious, it’s so simple and you probably have the things you need already! 

Supplies:

1 plastic plant pot with lip

1 wire coat hanger

(and dirt and seeds or plants…)

Undo the coat hanger so that you have one long wire. Bend the wire around the plant pot, just under the lip. Once the wire looks something like this: 

 take the pot and wire and place over the edge. 

 

Bend the wire over the top of your railing and loop it around the spokes. This will keep the pot from slipping down railing toward the ground.   

And there you have it your done! And Little Boos can no longer reach those plants!

Tips to make this project even cheaper: 

Use plastic pots from the dollar store. That’s where I bought mine at!

Crayon Roll

My Kyle got invited to his first birthday party! That means mom (ie: me) either has to go out and buy some overpriced toy or create something from an already large fabric stash. With gas prices the way they are right now I’m making the gifts. 

There are a lot of crayon roll tutorials out there. A LOT! Well, let me add to it with one of my own.

Supplies:

3 pieces of fabric cut 13 x 5

1 piece fusible webbing 13 x 5

1 piece of ribbon cut 24 inches

This pattern uses a ¼ inch seam allowance.

Level: Beginner

Pick the fabric you want the pocket attached too and iron the fusible webbing to the wrong side of it

.

Fold your pocket fabric in half hot dog wise (that’s long ways for all you over 4 year olds) and iron flat.

Pin the pocket fabric to the fabric with the webbing so that the sides and bottom raw edges are touching. Your pocket fold should be on the top. 

Starting 1 ¼ inches from the side sew a line. Remember to back stitch at the top to secure the thread! Sew a line every inch until you have 11 lines.

Next fold the ribbon in half and pin it right in the middle of one side of the pocket fabric piece. Take the last poor unused piece of fabric and place it on top of the pocket piece, right sides together. Make sure you pin the ribbon out of the way! Sew along the edge leaving a 3 inch gap at the bottom for turning. Clip the corners and turn it right side out. Iron flat.

Sew along the edge of the crayon roll as close to the edge as you can and you’re done!

Now admire your work. 

Look at that cute crayon roll with all the rainbow coloring crayons in it. Just ready to go! These are great for little ones starting school, travelling, or gifts like this little crayon roll is to become! 

And look at the cuteness all rolled up with its big floppy bow!

Party Under Construction

In just a mere 116 days my Littlest Boo will have his 2^nd birthday party! I know I’m planning 4 months early but I love my babies’ birthdays. They were a special day for me too; it is when I met these little monsters munchkins. Anyway…

Little Boo recently has been into diggers and bulldozers and dump trucks and graters and any other large orange construction machine that is currently digging up our street in an attempted to cause my children to scream “TRUCKS!!” at the top of their lungs every time we drive anywhere. Yep, that is their main objective I’m sure of it. Thus for his 2nd we are throwing an Under Construction Party.

Today while at Target shopping I browsed the dollar section, as always, and found some perfect little goodies for Boo’s party, that’s in 116 days. 

Plastic diggers and cement mixers perfect for playing in sand.

Construction themed window gels that gave me ideas beyond mere window gellin'. 

(stay tuned!)

The most cute little metal pails!  I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them but how could I just pass them up?

I also remembered stashed away I have this fabulous fabric full of loaders, diggers and trucks and that if I’m going to make anything 116 days probably isn’t enough time…