It's a Handmade Christmas at the Farm!

Miss J and I have been itching to do some crafting, so I've deemed it a handmade Christmas here at our farm.  Mr. C and Baby C will also be crafting and Miss A may or may not craft handmade gifts.  Her high school load has been pretty hefty and she doesn't have nearly as much time for the fun stuff as she used to have.  She is currently up to her eyeballs in silk dupioni finishing a Shakespeare era gown for her final project in her Shakespeare class.  I'll post pics when she finishes it.  Right now, the pics wouldn't be much as she is sewing miles of boning into the bodice.  So back to my original thought... I'll be adding handmade Christmas gifts, pictures, and links to instructions as we make them and maybe you will make a few handmade gifts for your Christmas as well.  The first thing we are making is using a tutorial called, Hot Dog! It's a pillowcase.  It is a super easy method for making a very neat pillow case.  Join us tomorrow as we post pics of Miss J making her pair of pillowcases.  And if you are family and happen to open up some pillowcases (or other crafty goodness), pretend you've never seen such craftiness before.  ;-)

Blessings,
Mrs. P

iDad and other fun Father's Day Crafts on the net

Image from Charlotte's Fancy.
Make your own iDad card with this tutorial!

Image from mylastbite.com
Or how about a bouquet of BACON roses?!?!?!  There are several tutorials for this craft.  To make the roses above click here.

Image from ourbestbites.com
This bacon bouquet is a little more involved, but super cute and YUMMY!  Perfect for the pork loving father in your life.  Click here for the tutorial

Image from Pinterest.
Here's a cute card to make from the children!  I snagged the photo from pinterest.  It seems that the one minute craft website is down, otherwise I would like to it directly.  I think I can actually get all of my kids shoes on this size I have such variety in ages.

image from Pinterest.
And, being a homeschool parent, there is a certain joy in turning ALL things into an educational experience.  So download this free project and get those kids writing about Super Dad!

And of course, Pinterest is the source of all things craftsy so click here to see a sampling of Father's Day crafts and ideas. 

Happy Father's Day crafting!
Mrs. P

CuTe Valentine Crafts from the web!

Saw this cutie on pinterest!

Same blog has this adorable 2 x 4 heart tut.

And some more 2 x 4 Love

so I guess my new favorite craft blog is Under my Polka Dot Umbrella...lots of cute stuff!


Oh.  And Mr. P rocks!  I was gifted with Valentine Roses (a dozen of 'em!), chocolates (the big heart, of course!) and a pretty Brighton bracelet.  It has little starfish and shell charms on it.  So dainty and pretty.  The girls also got roses (half a dozen pink ones) and the boys got more appropriate boy type things and chocolate candy hearts for all.  Hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day!
Blessings,
Mrs. P

Make Your Own Lined Envelopes

Envelope Template Download

Invitation Download

Ballet Birthday E-vite

Miss J is turning 8 next week and she has chosen a Ballerina themed party. We sent e-mail invitations with a ballet theme from punchbowl, but there were a couple of kids that I didn't have an e-mail address for. So I printed out a few and then realized I needed an envelope to put them in. That's me...all ready to paint the Golden Gate Bridge, but not a drop of paint or a brush in sight. Sigh.

What's a girl to do, but get crafty. After all I don't hord craft supplies (well, I pretty much hord most things) for nothing. I sent Miss J to my closet (where shoe shelves conveniently house fabrics, threads, ribbons, and craft supplies) and she came back with some baby girl themed scrapbook papers. I just used the above template and strategically traced it onto the papers so that I didn't get any words like "sweet baby" onto my envelopes. It worked well. And then I put names on them with my sharpie...which is really my favorite writing utensil of all time. The only problem is that you could see the ink on the inside of the envelope. So I took scraps from the papers and lined the inside. It ended up looking very intentional and cute, rather than a big OOPS! To make the lining, I just used the flap portion of the template and cut another piece from a coordinating paper. It didn't line up exactly, but if that is a concern you can trim the flap to make it perfect. I wasn't that concerned so I just left it. Although if I stumble across some decorative edge scissors before tomorrow, I just may add a little pizzazz to the envelope and give it a little trim. If you have time, be sure and check out the page with the ballet invitation printable. It was really the inspiration for the ballet themed party. The lady who designed it has put it out on the web as a free download and it is just so elegant and pretty. We plan to make the matching cup liners and maybe even the popcorn boxes.