Monster bag

I've seen these cute little crayon/coloring bags floating around in the blog-world and thought I'd give it a try. I used the instructions found at

http://hideousdreadfulstinky.blogspot.com. I used a different method to make the bag, but still pretty similar. As you can see, the little monster is perfectly imperfect (love those projects) and it worked up really fast.

This little guy is going to live with my sweet nephew who is turning 4 soon. I think he will love it.

On a side note, I found this pattern while looking at these two blogs. One is "Made By Rae" and the other "Made" they are both hosting a month of "Celebrate the Boy". They are sharing lots of craft ideas and tutorials. Many of you crafters realize there is LOTS of cute girly crafts and LOTS of cute baby crafts, but not much for boys. Well, these two ladies are trying to fix that. Check them out. (By the way, I hope to be 1/2 as talented and creative as these two, they are incredible).

Happy Crafting

~Mariam

Shirts Galore

I've been having more fun with my Silhouette machine, but this time I was not alone. My amazingly talented friend Kinsey, joined me in a shirt party. Sadly we spent so much time taking care of crying babies and getting the machine regulated she didn't have time to paint hers (she said she can do it at home easy, but I still feel like a schmuck). I cut out the designs on freezer paper, we ironed them on the shirts and then we used Kinsey's fun fabric paints. The process was pretty quick and super fun.

Here are the super fun shirts I made. I am planning on giving them to the kids for Valentine's Day (you'll see more on Kent's shirt), and I think they will like them.

This little one is my FAVORITE. How cute is the little Yoda? (And, that is the correct quote, Kent watched the movie just to get it correct).

This is such a sweet little shirt for my little K. I got the template from

http://papercutting.blogspot.com/ (LOVE her art by the way) She calls it "Love Lasso", and I think it is adorable. It is perfect for Valentine's day, but is cute for all the time too.

This adventurous little guy reminds me of my nephew, so this will be his for his upcoming birthday. The origin design is from the site above, but he didn't have a cowboy hat. I thought if my little nephew was ridding a dinosaur, he would definitely wear a cowboy hat, so I added one.
This is for Kent. I was so proud of myself for the good idea. We kept it a secret the whole night (not easy to do), then he got on the computer. He said, "I really like the design with the Nintendo controller, can you make me one?" I had intended to give the shirt as a Valentine's Day present, instead I threw it at him (jokingly of course) and said something questioning his intelligence (or something like that).
Here is D's Green Lantern shirt. My funny little guy wanted Green Lantern underwear for Christmas when he was 3 or so (Ya, they don't make those. Thanks to good friends who made us some). Now, I think of him whenever I see the Green Lantern.
Oh, here is the link to the artwork http://outsiderzero.deviantart.com/gallery/

Happy Crafting All.

Birthday stuff

Wow, I hadn't realized how long it had been since my last post. Well, I have a few new and fun birthday ideas. I got a Silhouette machine for Christmas, and I have had lots of fun with it. Here is some of the fun things I have made.

My nephew L is turning 4 soon. He is having a Knight and Princess party, and we needed fun invitations. I thought about these knightly flags when I saw the flag images (that come with the machine). I made the dragons (downloaded it into the Silhouette program, traced and cleaned it up a bit). We printed off the party info, written in a knightly language of course, distressed them a bit and glued it to the back.
We then just used double sided tape to stick the small dowel rods on. I think they turned out pretty cute. To top it all off, they only cost a few $ to make and about 1 hour of time (it took us a bit longer due to little "helpers").
Here is a picture from my baby's first birthday (wipe a tear). He had a really fun cookies and milk party. I used my machine to cut out all the signs for the cookies, the ballon tags (circle with #1 inside) and the 3-D stars. The stars were really fun and easy to make. I made a star on my Silhouette program and then added perforated lines so it would fold in and out easily, making the star pop out.
I also made a couple of birthday banners that hung on the mantle and doorway. It was very inexpensive and I think it gave the party a fun touch.

Well, there you have it. Even moms get to have fun playing with their new toys. If you have a Silhouette and would like any of the images I made, just let me know. It is always better to share the love.

Happy Crafting.