"Stained Glass" Bunting

Somewhere, I saw this tutorial - crayon shavings + wax paper = bunting.

So one night, while watching Downton Abbey, I started sharpening crayons into a muffin tin.

 The next rainy day, when we stayed in our pajamas, I pulled out the ironing board and the wax paper. 

Baz did the sprinkling.

Walter hung out, mostly happily, while we crafted the afternoon away.

I hung the post-ironing, pre-cutting sheets in the window to cool. 

Cutting triangles...

Some bakers twine and washi tape later, and we've got  super cute bunting in our play area. I really need to get a better shot, but it's...challenging. I'll post one when I get one. 

I've got at least a dozen triangles hanging out...more bunting? Pennants? The possibilities, while not endless, are certainly inspiring :-) 

Sharpie Mug Pinterest Win!

A little bit of searching on pinterest will stumble you across ceramic mugs (some of them "from the dollar store!") having been decorated with sharpies. The ink is sealed to the mug in the oven, and everyone has adorable mugs.

A bit more searching - for detailed instructions - will inform you that this is BUBKUS. The general instructions: color, bake at 350, wash. The result: washed off sharpie.

I forged ahead.

Well, Baz did.

Then I lined a cookie sheet with parchment.

Here's what I did that's key: I put the mugs in the oven and THEN I  turned it on. I baked them at 400 for 30 minutes and then I turned it down to 325 for 15 more and then I turned the oven off and let them cool in the oven.

The colors faded, but they're still there.

So there you go. Go forth and sharpie your mugs!

Oh, and these are the mugs I used. They are awesome.

Card Catalogue Craft Storage

Many years ago, when we were still in Dallas, I relieved my mom of the last card catalogue in her library. It's at least 50 years old and solid wood. It gets put in place and never moved and over the years it has mostly housed random things that I couldn't find anywhere else for.

Back in... January? February? I got inspired to actually do something aside from stack boxes in front of it and library books on it.

This is what it looked like. Not pretty, but full of potential.

My ex-brother-in-law turned it down when my mom offered it to him as a toolbox because of these holes. He has proven to be so very short sighted. A little card stock and some double sided tape later...

I used post-it flags to label intended drawers. 

Then I cut cardstock and printed labels...

This kid loves a good organization project.

The orange labels are drawers he has full access to, and he respects that the blue drawers are for Mommies and Daddies only.

After:  

That's my camera bag and some more art supplies down there.

Let's be real about what the top looks like, because this is as neat as it gets:

(that pile on the left is stain glass bunting...tutorial on its way!)

Ultimately, it's my favorite piece of free furniture to date!

If you can't find one on Craigslist and $800 is a good price for you, Land of Nod has some on offer right now.

Monster Be Gone!

Do you have one of these living next door to you? A Macaw? The bird is beautiful, but its squawks are startling and jarring to an adult (when I first heard them I honestly thought something was being mauled) and they're downright scary to a small child.

Husband didn't help things when he coined it the Dinosaur Bird and made up this song: "Dinosaur Bird is gonna eat you!" Which he happily sang to Baz ONCE. 

We've been paying for it ever since.

Add to that a new fear of anything even remotely scary (scene not well lit enough in an otherwise mellow movie? TOO SCARY! Someone being snappish? SCARY! Women in a gas mask? SCARY!) and we've had a fun night pattern emerge.

Enter pinterest and co-workers.

It's not revolutionary, but kids are literal and so it's miraculously effective.

We made a sign:

It reads: NO Monsters or Dinosaur Birds ALLOWED!!!

Then we made some spray, just in case the sign isn't enough for the persistent ones: 

 

The California Baby spray bottles are the best. And the Calming Room Spray we already had has the added benefit of combating the Stinky Feet Boy Room smell that has a tendency of hanging around sometimes.

VOILA! So far, so good. Bedtimes are much easier these days. 

Unless the Dinosaur Bird has been squawking, that is. I love/hate that bird.

Whew!

{Tutorial} Felted Beeswax Candles

This holiday season, we're doing another felted homemade gift - beeswax candles. Super easy, infinitely customizable, and so cute. 

I'm just going to get this out of the way - my inspiration came from here and here. Except my felting technique was taking from here instead of the other. It works for us.

So this was pretty easy and fun and these will be gifts "from the boys." Baz actually did help felt that two that we made for the purposes of this post, and will help with the rest of the jars. Ultimately we'll have twelve.

Here are the tools and skills you'll need for twelve half pint beeswax felted candles.

*12 Half Pint Mason Jars

* 5lbs beeswax - purchase locally or from a variety of etsy stores. I had a schmorgasboard and am actually about a pound short, so I'll be make another order to fill that void.

*candle wicks - I bought mine at Michaels and they were pre-cut to 3.5 inches. You can also buy a large spool and cut it down. 

*Felting Wool. Again - I had a variety. I will say that the wool I bought from a local boutique (now closed - SOB) is far superior to what I got at Michaels, but the wool from Michaels worked just fine so don't stress out. (It's back with the embroidery, if you're looking.)

*Felting needle - not necessary, but nice to have. And you can needle felt a design onto yours, if you're so inclined.

*Optional: essential oils to mix into the wax. I like the smell of pure beeswax, so I left it plain. 

Step one: wrap jars.

However you like, with whatever colors strike your fancy. It won't lay perfectly, and that's ok. It's being made by a person, not a machine. 

I did a bit of needle felting to get the strands to stay in place, but then I ended up dunking it to get it wet before wrapping the whole thing with a stocking.

Yes, we eat popcorn from that bowl. You'll want soapy water (I actually gave a squirt of dish soap on each jar) and you'll want to use actual hose (the toe part) to keep everything in place. Then you just agitate until the fibers tighten up. I also suggest felted with the lid on - to keep the fibers in place so you can close it up later.

While they're drying, put the wax in a pot and turn up the heat. You don't want it too hot (obviously) but too cool and the wax doesn't melt evenly.

I experimented with the pouring of the wax - some I filled up straight away and some I layered in. I found that layering helped keep the wicks straightest. Also - some of the wax has now cracked and caved in a bit, so when I melt the final pound to finish the jars, those will get a dollop on top to even things out.

You could do the wax part first - in fact, the only two jars that were felted before they got waxed are the two below.

So that's it. Given the right circumstances, you could do these in a weekend - counting drying and cooling time. Then just wrap them up and gift them to people who could use a little glow in their lives.

I think I'll be packaging mine with Ashley Ann's "Best Of My Day" calendars.

Happy Crafting!

Put A Bat on It

We wanted an easy Halloween craft...and my mantel was feeling a little out of step with the season. And then I was inspired by Portlandia* and Pinterest and decided to put a bat on it.

But tracing a template and cutting out bats is a Mommy job and Baz wanted in on the action. So I cut out pumpkins (construction paper, freehand, glue stick) and some black eyes, noses, and mouths, and let him go.


Oct 12 2012 from Emily Bartnikowski on Vimeo.

Finished product:

*I did not enjoy that show as much as I felt I should. In fact, I enjoyed exactly one segment. This one. (Because it speaks to the part of me that wants to go live at the Pit in PCU.)

Crib as Co-sleeper

You can already imagine why I did it, and over at NPN today, I'm telling you how I did it. 

Emily vs. the Sewing Machine and the Cookie Monster

I required the use of the internet to make my sewing machine behave. Then I made this apron for Baz...and then we made chocolate chip cookies. 

(fabric here)

I slacked off and use ribbon instead of making ties. I'm ok with that.

Here's a tip for baking with kids: embrace the mise en place. Having everything measured and waiting in individual bowls helps prevent mistakes. It helps with eggshell retrieval, should you need that, too.

Also: measure flour by weight. This is a good rule of thumb anyway, but it's especially true for kids, who tend to pack dry goods into measuring cups with alarming inaccuracy. In order to avoid hockey-puck-like cookies, weigh your flour.

Tip number 2 - hover, but don't interfere without warning, and pose everything you do as helping THEM.  Your goal, after all, is to eventually have fresh cookies just appear before you (and have the kitchen clean, to boot!)

Tip 3 (not pictured): teach the fine art of tidying as you go. If everything is stacked nicely/rinsed/soaking then you can wash up while the cookies are in the oven and have a clean workspace before they've cooled past the scalding state!

These cookies were truly, truly delicious.

Recipe here.

Re-doing the mantle...again

My mantle has gotten more over-hauls than I can count. I wish I could paint it, but that's out of the question for now, maybe in the spring I'll revisit painting the room...

Anyway, I saw a cute tutorial on Pinterest (of course) for these crazy rosette things. They were using them as party decor, but I thought they'd be a fun project and then they could go over the mantel.

So I got my sidekick and some paper and paint and went to town:

 Real Kipper wouldn't sit still and observe, so fake Kipper stood in. 

 Our art dries.

 I didn't take pictures of the process - you  can find the tutorial here. 

(For those who like to know these things, the painting is by Emily Seeman and this picture does not do it justice. Stupid brown wall.)

I may spread them out, or we may make more...I have mantel-decor ADD, obviously ;)

Baz loves that his art wound up over the mantel, and he can point to the ones he painted and the ones I painted -- part of the awesomeness of the Reggio approach is that you get to see your art transform -- it's not always as literal as this, but when you're part of the under-3 set, literal is sometimes the absolute best way to go.

We're getting down to the wire with baby prep - I'm working my way through a list that includes fun things like lanolizing wool and buying lunch boxes (preschool starts soon!) 

This was last night - 37 weeks. Full term, baby!