Crafts and Projects and Food

My ironing board cover finally petered out, and I didn't realize how awful the old one was, until I replaced it!  Ironing board covers have a nice built in batting that I hated to toss, so I cut out any swatches that were large enough to make cord wraps!

The first two came out super cute!  I'm sure I have enough to make two more, but I don't know if I'll get more than that out of the old cover.  

I made another round of potato flour.  (Speaking of which, I have some potatoes in the basement that might be flour in the near future.)

Grace was an excellent helper on the final step!

I found a tutorial on how to microwave dry my basil!!!! 

It worked perfectly and I've added it to my shaker. = )

The girls' Easter dresses came in, and so I dug through my fabric to find a very similar gingham to make William's bowtie!!! = )

One of my personal goals is that when I have out all of the sewing elements (cutting pad, iron, ironing board, fabric chest) that I make a few extra cord wraps.  Maybe one day I'll have enough of a stash to have a booth at a craft fair again!

My walled button popped off of my wallet.  = (  With the help of google lens, I was able to find an exact match, but it was $10 + shipping on Ebay.  I didn't even pay that much for it when I bought it.  So, I thought I'd try my hand at repairing it.

The repair worked for just long enough that I found a replacement wallet, for $3, at the thrift store.  It's a little different, and no snaps this time! = )

Grace was practicing some of her art class skills. = )

The robotics team was having a bake sale fundraiser, for which Emily made backlava!  She made a large pan of pistachio and a small pan of walnut.  I helped with a few things, but it was mostly her time and energy!

She also made no bake cookies and banana bread!  The sale was a success, but she didn't bring home the leftover baklava. so sad.

Grace and Juliet wanted to make something fancy too, so they made cupcakes!

I found this cute dodecahedron planter at the thrift store, and it made me think of Natalie.  So, I bought it and added some vinyl numbers.  After discussing it with Billy, 12 was the number that I left off, since it would be up, in the most desirable orientation. = )

Emily went to a friend's party at the skating rink.  She dressed up as Elizabeth Afton from a show that I've not heard of.  Her friend is really into Dr. Who, so she made her gift look like a tardis.

Lots of deail!

She also stapled in some "Exploding Tardis" fabric that I had left over from a long-ago project.

Billy ended up with a hole in one of his jeans, so I tired my repair technique on his jeans.  He's worn them in his rotation several times now, and says that he doesn't feel a difference, so I'm calling it a win!  There were also a few smaller holes that I closed up, so that they wouldn't grow.

Grace made a rock gift for her Sunday school teacher's upcoming birthday.  She painted the rocks in Harry Potter colors, because Lisa likes Harry Potter. = )

I bought another round of 25 cent cellphone covers for my garden path.  The girls were playing with them over the break and I'm going to need A LOT more. 

Emily's dance recital is coming up in April, and we're getting the information dump in preparation thereof.  One of the items was advanced flower orders.  In my quest to buy less (and create less waste) I grabbed some of the artificial flowers from Alice's birthday party, and some ribbon that came in a bag of other things we wanted, but were just going to pass along.  I was really pleased with the end result, and hope my dancer will be too!

To follow up that last post, I did break down and buy a fabric marker, new, in packaging to help aid my clothing patching.  The spot I fixed on my jeans looked pretty good, with a cute triangle pattern.  I also reinforced one of the belt loops, edged the tops of the pockets and caught a few small holes.

William's pants, however, made it much harder to see my lines!

The end result was lack luster, but hopefully the holes won't grow!!!

So, long story time:

The band is doing a pie fundraiser.  The kids are expected to sell the pies and collect the money.  Then, the parents are expected to help make pies and help deliver them. Well, Emily sold pies mostly to her teachers, and we are also expected to pick up the pies Saturday, after making them.  I don't really have that much freezer space, so all week, we've been eating freezer food and meals, I didn't buy any new freezer food.  We finally have a place to put all of the pies that Emily sold!!!

Well, one of the things that we cleaned out of the freezer was the half box of phyllo dough that was leftover from her robotics baklava.   No one complained about the mid-week baklava.  = )

Emily's upcoming birthday is at a skating rink, so we pulled out our favorite favors: rocks!  Using my cutter, I cut out tiny vinyl ice skates.  Emily helped attach them to the rocks.  Next,  I spraypainted them white, then turned them and sprayed the bottom. = )  Today, Emily added touches of purple and yellow before pulling off the stickers.  Some of them came out super cute, others came out okay.  
 

January and February are good months for baking and crafts, and I feel like we made the most of it!

later days