A New Use for Old Christmas Cards

This is a repost from my teaching blog http://gofourthwithowens.blogspot.com/

Christmas is over.  Now comes dreaded winter.  I don't mind the cold weather in December.  I do mind it January through March.  It's just no fun.  I still look forward to snow days, but after 12+ last year, even snow days got tiresome.

How many of you still receive Christmas cards?  We got a few this year.  Mostly, our friends send photo cards.  It's fun to see the pictures each year, and I usually keep them in a magnetic photo album.  So what do I do with the "old fashioned" cards?  Some of them are so pretty, I hate to just throw them away...one of my hoarding tendencies (I'm working on it, ok?).  So I don't throw them away, I repurpose them!  How many times do you have students come to you asking for a bookmark?  That's right, I cut up those old greeting cards into bookmarks for my students.  A pretty and practical use for the old Christmas cards!

Crazy for Crochet

In my absence, or more likely, my absence is due to my new pastime--crochet.  I kept seeing all these adorable things on Pinterest, and I finally decided to pick it up.  My grandma tried to teach me to crochet several years ago.  I had some yarn and a hook and one Saturday I sat down with that and my iPad and started watching and practicing along with YouTube videos.  Just a few short days later, I made my first scarf. Please ignore the terrible double chin in the picture.

YouTube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrVR_00Io00

Then I made a (very ugly) hat for baby girl.  I went to Michaels, bought some more yarn, and made another hat.  It ended up way to big, and I'm still not sure what went wrong, but it was really cute! Maybe her head is smaller than the average six-month-old, I don't know.  Maybe she'll grow into it....

Since then, I made several pairs of booties and slippers.  Actually, I can't even say pairs, because most of the time, the first one didn't turn out so I didn't bother with the second.  I bought some new yarn, a few more hooks, and was determined to make a pair of Mary Jane crochet slippers for my baby girl.  This was the result:

Pattern:  http://www.whistleandivy.com/2013/03/little-dot-mary-janes-pattern.html

Not bad right?  The strappy part was in two different locations, and I swear I had it right before I finished it off, but I thought they were cute.  They actually ended up a little small, so I'm going to make the next size up before football season is over!  (Notice, they're scarlet & gray...the colors of my Buckeyes!)

Next, I made a hat for my little boy.  (Buckeyes, again!) But somehow, he has ended up stretching it out to the point where it is wayyyy too big on him now.  Any crocheters out there know what I did wrong and what I can do differently next time?  He loved the hat.  He was so sweet.  He kept saying, "Thank you, Mommy for making this hat for me."  My mom said he told everyone at church that Mommy made his hat.

Pattern: http://allicrafts.blogspot.com/2012/09/free-pattern-deeply-textured-hat-toddler.html

My most favorite creation so far is this Minnie Mouse hat.

Yes, the model is the absolute cutest, but the hat is pretty darn cute too!  I think I found this pattern at http://www.acorntreecreations.com/ but now I can't find it to link to it.  I hope she didn't take it down!  I would love to make another one in the next size up! 

I've also made some slippers for myself and this mug cozy:

Pattern:  http://finvara.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/pattern-marions-cozy-cup-warmer/

Picking up crochet has taught me a lot of things about myself.  First, I learned the level of determination I have.  Things have always come pretty easy to me.  I was always pretty decent in school and even when I struggled, it always seemed to work itself out.  I put my mind to learning how to crochet, and I succeeded in making several successful projects in just a few short weeks.  My level of perfectionism took on new heights with crochet.  I'm a Virgo, so I'm a perfectionist.  But I'm a weird Virgo, maybe because I'm on the cusp of Leo, so I'm only a perfectionist about select things.  Writing on the chalkboard has to be straight.  Grammar has to be correct.  My desk, however, does not need to be clean.  With crochet, though, I had to be perfect.  Many times I had a project nearly finished before I realized it wasn't coming out the way I wanted.  I would take it all out and start over again.  I probably drove my husband crazy.  And dropped a few curse words.  I think the perfectionism is what motivates me.  I want to keep trying until I can do it perfectly.  I also learned that crochet is the one thing that I picked up that would take me away from my books.  I can't read a good book and crochet at the same time.  I would have serious internal conflict about which to do when, and it gave me great anxiety.  I'm kidding, but there may be a teensy bit of truth.  I also learned that I do have just a little bit of craftiness inside me.  My mom is the crafty one.  I try, but most of the time, my projects would end up as Pinterest fails.  Don't get me wrong, I've failed several times at my crochet projects, but I'm pretty happy with how a lot has turned out!  If you want to follow my Pinterest Board "Gettin' Crafty" click here.

What I'm Pinning This Week - Halloween Crafts

I'm one of the head room moms for my son's kindergarten class.  Basically that means that I help plan the parties.  I'm in charge of the craft for the upcoming Halloween party, so I went to everybody's favorite site for crafty ideas-Pinterest!  Our schools still do Halloween-how fun is that?  No "Fall Parties" or "Harvest Parties" here.  And the kids and teachers still dress up!  See, they haven't taken all the fun out of school!  Here are some of my favorite pins this week-Halloween-craft-style for kids.

DIY Monster Pencils from the36thavenue

How cute are these?  The weirdo teacher in me hates that you ruin a perfectly good eraser, but the erasers on these decorative-type pencils are usually no good anyways.

Fingerprint Bat Silhouette from Crafty Morning

This looks like a fun one.  After I pinned it, I think it was pinned again 12 times!  I probably won't do this at the party, but I might try it with my kids at home.  While finger-painting is fun, you could also use a paint brush, a cotton ball, q-tip, or pencil eraser.  

Scissor Skill Pumpkins from Nurture Store

Scissor skills are HUGE in kindergarten!  My little guy is still working on his skills.  This is a cute craft that incorporates a necessary learning activity.  

Paper Plate Witch by Crafty Morning

Crafty Morning may just be one of my new favorite blogs!  The witch's hair is the kid's hands!  Adorbs.  If I were doing this at school, I would pre-cut pieces for the hat and the eyes to save time.  I would also have the kids color the face with markers instead of paint.  The kids can practice their scissor skills by cutting out their own hands.  A little prep beforehand, and this might just be the perfect halloween party craft! 

Cotton Ball Ghost by 366 days of Pinterest

First of all, what a neat concept for a blog!  I'm just not that crafty or handy to do a Pinterest project for every day of the year.  I guess I could try every day, but I can guarantee you they would not all be successful.  This is cotton ball ghost is probably the craft we will do at the party.  It's simple, it takes very little prep, and will not cost very much money.