Monthly Archives: February 2015

To Talk or To Not Talk

Do you have little ones that love to talk and not eat when it comes to meal time? Mine love to talk and not eat and we sometimes find ourselves still sitting at the table an hour later because the children aren’t done.

My oldest is in elementary school. I’ve noticed that when I go there to have lunch with him, that they have a period of time at the beginning of lunch that they can not talk. At the end of the table is a little stand that has a green side and a red side. When the red side is facing them, they can’t talk and must eat. When it gets turned to the green side facing them, they can talk quietly with their friends. And it’s never quiet in the cafeteria when it’s time to talk!

So, since we have a hard time getting our food eaten within an hour, my husband suggested that we make a very similar stand for our table! I decided to make mine with Kunin Felt!

Using my Sizzix Eclips2, I cut out a person and a talk bubble out of cardstock. These two items were included in the Sure Cuts A Lot software that is used for the Eclips2. Then, I used pins to attached the patterns to the felt and cut out two of each! I ended up cutting out two small strips of red to put into one of my talk bubbles to symbolize “no talking”. I then cut out a red and green rectangle, probably 6×10 inches. Using my sewing machine, I sewed the people and bubbles onto the rectangle pieces.

Using a strip of white felt (3×10 inches), I folded it into half and then in half again. Using scissors, I cut a right triangle, so that when it was unfolded it was a triangle. I pinned it to one of my rectangles with the right side up. I sewed them to the rectangle and repeated with the other rectangle. I then cut out a 3×6 inch rectangle from white for the base of my stand. I pinned it and sewed it to the top part of my felt stand, leaving a 2 inch opening for turning it inside out and stuffing it. Once it was stuffed, I sewed it up from the outside using my sewing machine. You could also hand stitch.

One of my kids thought it was cool and one wasn’t so happy about it, well until it was turned to the talking side! Usually we start our meal by saying a blessing and talking about what we are thankful for that day. Now, we say our blessing, set the timer for our 10 minutes of no talking, and then we can talk about what we are thankful for that day.

Benjamin actually ended up like the talking/no talking stand. He wanted to snuggle and sleep with it! He carried it around for a little while before it went back to the table. Now, just so you know……we aren’t doing this to be mean. We just have an every day issue with a little too much talking at the table and very little eating. And after trying it, it has actually helped! Benjamin will be going to Kindergarten in July, so this also helps get him ready for what lunch time will be like for him at the elementary school!

Hope you like my Talking/No Talking Felt Stand!

Until next time………..

Be Mine Crafty – MineCraft Valentine’s

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It’s finally the week of Valentine’s Day! And my boys are super obsessed with Minecraft, so this year they wanted Minecraft Valentine’s! Well, after looking, homemade Minecarft Valentine’s were the only ones that could be found. No stores sold them! So, I decided to make them!
Recently, I was sent a Sizzix Eclips2! And let me tell you…..I AM IN LOVE!!!!! It makes cutting super easy! So, I created my little Minecraft creeper faces in Adobe Illustrator, which I have as a graphic designer. I converted the file to an .SVG file, imported it into the ECal2 software that works with the Sizzix and got right to cutting! I also cut black rectangles for the cards, green squares for the creepers face and white light card stock (not DCWV) squares for the inside of my cards, since the cards were black. I used DCWV card stock, in which ACMoore sells and they sell it in a pack of 12×12 inches pieces.
Using Inkadinkado stamps and ink, I stamped the inside of the cards. I knew that my treats were going to be a craft, so I used a crafty saying: “Be Mine Crafty!”
After getting everything cut out for my cards, I used Aleene’s Tacky 2-sided adhesive sheets to put the cards together. I just cut the sheets up into smaller pieces and it worked great!
So, the treats to go along with the cards are Make It Yourself Cards. I included a green square, a creeper face, some hearts and some scrap pieces of the DCWV card stock from what had already been cut.
On the left over white scraps that I had from the squares inside my cards, I used my adorable Laura Kelly Self-Inking Stamp from Expressionery.com! How cute is that stamp?!?!

Then it was time to stuff my bags. I just picked up some clear bags from the party section at Target. I also got plain white cards with envelopes from ACMoore. I also included an mini bottle of Aleene’s School Tacky Glue for their card making, a pencil, a small thing of bubbles and a pencil topper eraser! I decided that I wanted this years Valentine’s to be Candy Free because we also end up having way too much candy anyway and it ends up going to waste. I folded the bags and stapled a folded piece of DCWV card stock rectangle to close the bag and added the card and the piece white cardstock with my stamp on it to the front and back to cover the staples
How cute did these turn out? I hope the kids like them! My idea for a Make It Yourself Card idea came from my super crafty friend Mothership Scrapbook Gal, Rina Gonzales! Check out her Facebook page and her Etsy Shop!!!!!