Butterfly "goodie bag"...

I meant to blog about this cute simple craft right after Emma's birthday. But time got away from me and here we go. I got the idea out of the March 2010 Family Fun magazine and then made some changes to meet my needs. We had a butterfly themed birthday party and I thought it would be fun for the kids to help put together their own goodies for their goodie bags!

Here's what you need to get started: clothes pin, scrapbook paper, googly eyes, glue, pipe cleaner


~Cut your scrapbook paper down to fit one one side of your clothes pin and glue it on. Emma helped me and we used a glue stick. If you wanted them to be more durable you could use modge podge.

~Then glue on your googly eyes and take a short piece of pipe cleaner (about 2 inches). Fold it in half and stick it inside the clothes pin with a dot of glue. After it dries adjust your "antenna" to an angle you like.

We made enough for two butterflies per child:

~Then take a snack sized ziploc bag and fill with candy. Don't fill it too full or you butterfly body won't fit. Once full take your butterfly body and stick it in the middle of your ziploc bag:


The kids had a blast filling their bags and making their own butterflies!

This was a great party favor but would also be a fun add on to a preschool lesson on the life cycle of a butterfly!

Onesies with Tie Applique

I figured I should start making some fun things for this baby of mine and have been seeing these popping up all over the place. I have TONS of scrap fabric and had some little onesies sitting around. I used this tutorial: Inspiration for Crafting: Necktie Onesie Free Pattern

They're super cute, but super easy to do too! My kind of craft, especially when I only want to devote 15 or 20 minutes to a craft!


Hopefully my sewing skills will continue to improve as I make a few more. I also want to try putting a few onto bibs! We'll see.
A few tips~
I used newborn onesies and still did the 3-6 month tie. I think size-wise it still looks good.
I cut my fabric, then my wonder-under, then ironed them together rather than ironing a larger piece of fabric to the wonder under.
I used a 3 inch wide scrap of fabric, you really don't need much!
On one I zigzagged around the knot and tie twice, the other once. I think both will hold up fine.

Candybar Snowmen

While visiting my sister we attended an activity where they were making crafts to be donated and sold. The proceeds are going to a family shelter. It was a lot of fun to see the different crafts being made! One caught our eye though and we had to stop on our way home from the activity to buy supplies to make some ourselves!! They were Snowman Candy Bars! It's a perfect gift for a Visiting teacher, school teacher, friend. My sister was making them for her teenagers to give to friends at school!

So here's what you need: a large candy bar, brown paper to wrap, tape, glue, googly eyes, buttons, orange felt or fun foam, a short piece of ribbon or yarn and fleece.

First we started my measuring the width of the candy bar and doubling it. Then we cut lengths of felt that were 1/3 of a yard wide.

Next sew up the side (luckily fleece is pretty forgiving and you want it to be tight around the candy bar:

Then wrap your candy bar in brown paper (or scrapbook paper or wrapping paper-whatever you have!)

Next you want to fold up one end of your fleece tube about 1 inch and slide it onto one end of the wrapped candy bar:

Then cut thin strips about 1 1/2 inches long and 1/2 wide around the open end of the fleece tube:

Then tie a tight knot around the cut pieces of fleece and fluff:

Now glue on googly eyes and small felt or fun foam nose and 3 buttons:

Then take a thin strip of fleece (about 3/4 inch wide by about 15 inches long) and tie around between the buttons and the nose:

Then cut thin 1 inch strips on each end:

It's done!! We made quite a few of these. I think they would be fun to make using microwave popcorn or the movie theater boxes of candy too! Whatever you find for a good deal! It might even be fun to make different size and have a whole Snowman Candy Bar family!