The Dragon and the Turtle ~ "Go on Safari" Giveway!

Remeber the book review that I did on the book The Dragon and the Turtle by Donita K. Paul and Evangeline Denmark . Well now a great prize give away is being offered that I'd like to share with you.

 The Dragon and the Turtle Go On Safari is hosting a "Go on Safari" giveaway, so your child/children can experiance a backyard Safari.

The grand prize winner will win a "go on safari" kit complete with:


1.A child-size tent

2.Sleeping bags (2)

3.Campfire treats

4.Essential safari tools (a compass, a flashlight, and a spy glass)

5.Stuffed animals

6.Copies of The Dragon and the Turtle and The Dragon and the Turtle Go on Safari

Two runner-up winners: will receive a copy of The Dragon and the Turtle and The Dragon and the Turtle Go on Safari and a stuffed animal.

To find  out how to Enter the contest go to "Go on Safari" with your child - Enter to Win!  

Sleigh Bells Ring On My Door

While linking up my Globe Lamp craft to a few Crafty Party links I hopped on over to My Crazy Simple Life, where I spied this great little sleigh bell belt craft. It was so cute and simple I could resist creating one myself.

Here's my version of the Sleigh Bell Belt Strap Decoration:



I bought the belt for $1.50 and a bag of large sleigh bells
already painted for $0.75 at a local thrift store.

The great thing about a good western style belt is that the buckle is only snapped on, and can come right off.



After taking the fabric scraps off the twine of the bells,
I threaded through the holes in the belt,
 knotted the twine behind and trimmed the twine.

 I just love the worn look of this belt with the acorn and leaf design on it. 

Where is Mommy's little Monkey, Gannon?
That's right climbing up the other side of the table to help Mommy,
or to snatch the shinny buckle Mommy left setting on the table.



Finished Sleigh Bell Belt Decoration.



Let Your Light Shine

Matthew 5:16 "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven."

I must be having a thing for lamps, because just last month I did a Revamp the Lamp tutorial, and when I was offered a broken globe, and a lampshade the thought clicked in "I can make a new lamp with these!"

 The materials I used were a Make-A-Lamp Kit that I picked up at my local hardware store, the lamp shade and globe I got from a co-worker and the wooden bottom to one of the trivets that I had. The broken globe works great because there was already a hole on top and bottom, and the trivet base was made with a hole in the center as well.



Gannon is always mom's little helper.





Finished Globe Lamp



* Update: I was notified that I was featured on Someday Crafts!!! Whoo-woot!! :D
Thanks Michelle @ Someday Crafts.

Revamp the Lamp

I'm a reader, I love to read and have since childhood. I blame this on my mother, in part because she was a reader too and if she had no book she would tell my siblings and I stories that she had memorized like Little Red Riding Hood, and The Three Little Pigs, or she’d recite poems to us like Little Boy Blue, or Jack Sprat. She would even tell us funny stories from her childhood. I also blame my love of reading on my father, not that he ever read to us (not that I can remember anyhow) and not because I ever seen him reading, but because he enabled me to be a reader. He purposefully installed a lamp above my bed on the bed frame so that I could read into the night without bothering other family members (my sister in particular whom I shared a room with). I couldn’t imagine life without reading, and so I set out to instill that same love of reading into my boys. Royce started out H-A-T-I-N-G to read; he struggled through learning the process of reading and found books dull. By third grade, he seemed to get a better grasp on it and found a book series that he enjoyed, but in fourth grade, he found a series of books that struck a true cord within him (Thank you, Rick Riordan for writing Percy Jackson & the Olympians). Anyhow, he is now at the stage where he’d like to read a bit before bed, which always irritates his younger brother because Royce wants the light on and Giovonnie wants it off, so I found that Royce could use a bedside lamp. I found a base without the shade at a thrift store for $1.00, and then found a lampshade for $.50. I thought I could revamp the shade to help dim the light coming from it, as well as to help it match the boy’s room a little better.

 

Do It Yourself:

The Items You Need:

1. Material of your choice

2. Old lampshade

3. Lamp base

4. Spray Adhesive (I used 3M Spray Adhesive)

5. Hot Glue Gun

6. Glue Sticks

7. Scissors

How to:
 1. Gather the Materials that you will use to recover the lampshade.




Here's what I started with: 1 pair of old blue jeans,
 a lamp base, and lampshade.

 

I thought I'd use these old blue jeans that
my son Giovonnie cut up for the material to cover the lamp  .
(I've been holding on to them for weeks)

 2. Cut the fabric to size.

 

Cutting the legs off of the jeans, then to the size of the lampshade.
I cut these in different sections to cover the shade properly.
I also cut the bottom hem of the jeans off, to make a
finished edge on the top of the lamp shade.

3. Spray the Spray Adhesive on the back of the Fabric.



4. Place the Fabric onto the lampshade, line up the bottom edge and smooth over so that there are no bumps in the cloth.





I used the inside seem of the jeans as the finished edge for the
bottom of the lamp shade.



 5. Trim the excess material from the top of the shade.

6. Aline and hot glue the edges, so they stay in place.

7. If you used jeans: Cut a back Pocket around the edge (leaving it a pocket).



8. Hot glue the back of the pocket and place it on the lampshade. 

 

 9.  Use the bottom hem of the blue jean leg and hot glue it around the top of the lamp to give it a finished edge.

The pocket can be used to store pens, bookmarks,
or other little things.

Here's how my Lamp Revamp turned out.



Feeling Crafty - Multimedia Children's Wall Art



Here is the almost done stage,
only the fabric and sharpie pen out line.

 

 From the moment finished the bookmarks I made the other day I've had the crafting bug. I spied some children's wall art at Pinkapotamus' Etsy Shop that gave me just the right motivation to create a piece of my own art work, which I wanted to create in fabric. I grabbed the 12x16 pre-primed canvas that I had stored next to my art table, and my Mod Podge, and got some more fabric scarps from the box in my basement. Then set to work in the living room on my coffee table, so that I could be where Gannon was playing and keep and eye on him, instead of at my art table like I should have been. Anyhow after copying and cutting out a pattern for a quilt out of a book I picked up at a garage sale, called In the Nursery by J. Sampou & C. Schmitz, I traced and then cut out my fabric pieces, assembled them and Mod Podged them into place. After the Mod Podge dried I took a sharpie and traced around some of the edges. I wasn't quite done with it when the boys came home from school, and Royce told me that he liked it right away. Then he ask,"Who's it for?" I said, "I don't know." He said, "Well the dog's name should be Zippy." I replied, "That's a cute name. Thanks Royce."  Gannon took his turn looking at it too, and ran away with to our front entry/ office room. He kept saying, "Dog, dog. Woof, woof, woof." Then I said, "Yes, that is a dog; dog's say woof, woof, but what is the dog's name? You're Gannon. What is the dog's name?" He replied, "Cat." I said, "No, not cat. What is it? He replied, "Dog, woof woof." I said, "Yes, so what is the dog's name?" He replied laughing, "Cat." (Lol, so young and already teases his mommy.) Of course this is coming from a boy who named a blue striped bunny Eyes. I thought it should be Blue Bunny like the ice cream, but he insisted it's name was Eyes.





Royce singing, "His name is Zippy, Zippy the dog."
like the song from the cartoons Kipper the Dog.

 

Gannon pointing at it's ear saying, "ear."



 Anyhow, after the boys were put to bed I finished the wall art with a little white acrylic paint to make clouds.



After adding clouds.



But I liked it better upside down.

Tell me what you think. Do you like Zippy better upside down or right side up?

No-Sew Fabric Bookmarks



The finish product. I made these two for my
 son's Royce and Giovonnie.



I've been reading quite a bit lately, and found myself using scraps of paper, or old receipts to mark my page when ever I'd set down my book. (Like Me, I'm sure many of you do the same.) It was bugging me so much that I started thinking about buying a book mark, then I thought why don't I just make one - I have card stock and other scrappy supplies; oooo better yet, I have all those scraps of fabric I should do something with. Yes, I chose fabric because I thought it would be thin, flexible, and Gannon couldn't rip it to bits and pieces, or ruin it if it got wet from him swiping it out of my book while my back was turned only to plop it into his mouth like a lollipop for a taste, or to chew on. I then went down in the basement and grabbed the box of fabric then after riffling through the numerous pieces I found a few long pieces that I thought I could work with. I also found a large roll of No Sew Heat Bond, so I grabbed that too.

These are super simple to make, all you need is some long pieces of scrap fabric (mine were about 15in long and about 3in wide), a can of regular starch, a iron and iron board, and No Sew Heat Bond, and Iron-On embellishments.

1. Iron the fabric using a medium heat, or a heat setting according to your fabric (you don't have to worry about washing it first unless you plan to wash them in the future)

2. lightly spray it with regular starch to help stiffen the fabric up a bit (follow starching directions on the can), do this on both sides





 3. Fold the edges in on all sides and iron them flat, fold in half and iron a crease, unfold

 4. Cut a piece of No Sew Heat Bond to half the size of the fabric and place it paper side up, iron for 2 seconds at medium dry heat (no steam)

 5. After it cools peal back the paper, the glue should be stuck to the fabric

 6. Place the sides together evenly, flip it so that the glued side is closes to the iron

 7. Iron at a medium heat for 10 seconds.


I found it a bit plain, so I ironed on an Iron-on embellishment that I bought a while back for scrapbooking.

  8. Use an iron on embellishment (follow the embellishment directions)

Gannon checking out mommy's project.



He chose the cow and said, "Cow. Moo, moo, moo. Mama."
I said, "Yes, Gannon, a Cow. The Cow says, "Moo, moo, moo."




I made 5 of them today. One for Royce, one for Giovonnie,
one for myself, and two extra.

When Royce came home from school I called him over and said, "I made you something today. Here, they are bookmarks; pick one." Royce replied, "Awe, thanks mom." He picked the one with the dog, which I intended for him. Then Royce said, "Hey, Mom, can I give one to my friend?" I said, "Sure, which friend?"as he picked the purple poke-a-dotted one with the three daisies on it. With a goofy smile he replied, "You know Mom, Mattie." I said, "Oh, trying to earn some points with her?" He replied, "I have my ways." flashing a charming little smile that reminded me of his dad. Later Giovonnie came in from playing outside I asked him if he would like one of the bookmarks, and he replied, "Oh, yeah sure. Ya know, Mom, I am reading more 'cause we hav'ta read those 15 books for class to get a free pizza." I said, "I know, that's why I made ya one." He replied, "Oh, thanks." Then he chose the cow bookmark. I was glad that my boys liked them.