My "Cut Up Credit Card" Ornament

Every year, I like to buy or make a new ornament for our Christmas to build our collection and still make it meaningful. This year, I heard Dave Ramsey read an email from a fan of his show, "The Dave Ramsey Show" on the radio, tell him about a credit card ornament he made, which gave me an idea of what to do with the credit cards that we took out of our wallets, since we started our Financial Peace University classes back in October. And voila! We now have our new ornament for the year!

And each year we pull out this ornament to put it onto our tree, we will remember that 2011 was the year that we decided to no longer be slaves to the credit card companies and chose to be debt free!! We are on our way to financial peace! Thanks Dave!

We Have Lift-Off

I took a cue from Jessa over at Happily Home Sewn and posted a "Follow that Helmet" map in the right hand column. She makes these super cute capes and sells them in her Etsy shop. I noticed on her blog she tracks them on Google Maps. I've always wanted to see a compilation of where my helmets have traveled to, so I hope she doesn't mind that I stole her idea! Take a look in my right-hand column. And if you scroll on the map, you can see that there is a helmet in France and 2 in Australia! I've even sent a helmet to Canada with Canadian flag stickers on it, instead of my standard US flag stickers!


View Little Astronauts Around the World in a larger map

I've Gotten the Sewing Bug

Over the past few months, I've been exposed to lots of sewing machines and have even had the chance to use one, when my son's preschool had a mini-fundraiser.  The fundraiser was a class to teach you how to sew a lined zipper pouch. 

Here she is!

She's even lined!

 Even though I'm not 100% happy with the top corners of the pouch, I still can't believe I made that! 

I sell felt "wrist rockets" in my Etsy shop; these however require sewing.  My first set was sewn by one of my friends, Amy, and I haven't really had a need to sew anymore until just recently.   I'm going to donate a few to my son's preschool, since they are holding a craft fair in December.  Here they are, ready to be sewn:

Wrist rockets

Besides these recent events, I haven't sewn in YEARS. Probably since I was a kid. My mom had an old black, curvy Singer sewing machine similar to this one:

I distinctly remember sewing little socks for my infant brother. They were horribly mis-shapen and didn't fit at all, nor did they stay on, and the fabric was hideous, but I thought they were so cute! And the most important part is that I loved making them.

This has given me the sewing but and I've been researching sewing machines online.  I see some great sales today, like the Singer Curvy 8763 Sewing Machine (reg. 299.99, on sale 179.99):

Is has all of these beautiful scrolling stitches, automatic threader and other fabulous features that I'm sure I'll need. But I'm a beginner and wonder if this machine is too advanced with it's automatic button hole function.

Then I stumbled across this steal:

Singer 1409 Promise Sewing Machine for $59! Marked down from $99.

At that price I wouldn't feel bad about moving on to a better and higher priced machine once I mastered this one, and to make sure that I really do love sewing. But it doesn't have those pretty stitches that I really love. And that is what inspired me in the first place.

One of my friends, from Quetzal Handmade, has the Singer Confidence:

It has that beautiful scrolling stitch that I love so much.  Look at that gorgeous scrolling stitch:

Yes, that stitch alone sparked my interest in starting to sew again.  Thank you, Friend!  

Though I love that stitch and the machine, I'm not sure if it is a little too much of a machine for a beginner or if I should even spend that much on a machine, especially when I'm just starting out.

I just came across a neat webpage which compares all of the Singer machines. Looks like they've been doing it for years. They compared the 2011 machines and give tips for buyers. And one of the main tips is to not buy a new machine for under $100. Sigh. So here I am at square one again. Plus, the reviews on any of these machines sort of scare me. Some are fantastic, but the next review will bash it. Just not sure what to do or buy. I'm open to any suggestions! And the pressure is on because tomorrow is Cyber Monday!  HELP!

I'm Not The Only Crafty One In This House

I love when I'm at the dining room table crafting and my son comes over and sits next to me and starts his own craft. Here's what he made the other day:

Nope, it's not a magic wand that can "see" into the future. He runs around the house pointing it and makes shooting sounds. It's his "star shooter". I'm guessing that lasers come shooting out of the eyes? Well, of course they do!

I also get a lot of "help" when I am working on projects.

Mixer

Scooper

Lab Assistant

Model

Taste Tester

Shaker Upper

Who knew I'd ever have a crafty son?  I love having my little man around to help me. 

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Making Cosmic Crayons

For my son's 3rd birthday party last year, I wanted to hand make some of the items to put in the goody bags that the party guests would take home, so I decided to stick with the space theme and make planet and star crayons, or cosmic crayons!

To get started I needed some crayons.  And to save money I decided to post a "Wanted" posting on my local Freecycle site (Freecycling is the act of giving away usable unwanted items to others instead of disposing of them in landfills.).  I was very lucky to get a large shoebox FULL of crayons!  They were sorted, and bagged by color!  All peeled, as well.  I think that just saved me at least an hour or two.  We ended up making “planet” crayons, and then I made star-shaped crayons later at home, as well.

They were so easy, almost cathartic, to make!  Auntie Becky was using a hammer to smash them and I was chopping like no one’s business. 

This cutting board (below) holds special meaning for me.  My dad, who passed away almost 20 years ago, made this before I was born.  We use it all the time at our house and I still marvel at how well made it is, and how each square was shaped to fit together perfectly.  And there are no flaws on the board, and none of the squares are separating, even after all these years.

We placed them in the oven and baked, uncovered, at 300 degrees, for 5-6 minutes.  When they were in there, I was a little worried because it looked like the different colors were just blending all together, making one yucky color. 

 But after a while in the fridge, we flipped them out of the muffin tins, onto a thick towel, and they looked spectacular on the other side!! 

I used a silicon star mold for the stars:

Yay for metallic crayons for that extra sparkly effect!    

And now for some really close up photos of crayons:

Each kid got a couple of crayons bagged up in their rocket goody bag container.

Along with some space-themed coloring pages and a few other fun space related items!

And now I'm planning this year's party.  I hope I have enough time to get the things done that I want to get done!!!