Christmas Buttons - Yum

Here's a great easy, edible gift idea!  Christmas Buttons!

1. Preheat oven to 350˚
2. Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet
3. Put pretzel rings spaced at least 1/2" apart
4. Unwrap Hugs and place in the middle of the pretzel
5. Put cookie sheet in oven for 3-5 minutes - until the hugs get shiny, don't let them start to brown!
6. Remove cookie sheet and immediately press M&M's onto the middle of the Hugs
7. Chill and store in an air-tight container until gifting (or Enjoy!)

Yum yum yum yum yum yum...

Craft for Christmas: Glass Ornaments

**Sorry no pictures yet!**
Looking for last minute crafty ideas for Christmas gifts with a little personal touch?  How about these...
[Pic]

Needed Materials:

• Glass Ornaments - at least 3" in diameter
• Ribbons - plastic and cloth
• Wrapping paper
• Music strips or Old book pages
• Tacky Glue
• Scissors
• Glitter (optional)

All Inside:

1. Remove the top of the ornament
2. Cut ribbons desired, music/book strips, wrapping paper strips, etc. - strips should be 1/4-1/2" wide and 6-10" long, depending on how much overlap you want, and ribbons varying lengths but staying under 1/2" wide
3. Curl ribbons with scissor (not necessarily all of them) and tie them together with a small (3-4") ribbon at the top (I made my ribbons long enough to fold in half and tie in the middle)
4. Gently fold some of the paper pieces in half and put them in the ball to cover the bottom
5. Stuff ribbons inside the ornament; you can put some loose ribbons in too, but in order to suspend them, they need to be attached to the top
6. Slip remaining paper strips between ribbon and glass in the arrangement desired
7. Ribbons and paper will settle some, so don't place the strips too close together
8. Add a bit of glitter for some sparkle on the bottom (it will stick to the ribbons/paper and glass sometimes, so if the ornament is shaken, it gets a new look!)
9. Bring the tied ribbon piece across the ornament's hole, put the top back on (make sure it is tight), and trim the ribbon ends
10. Tie decorative ribbon around the top if desired

Decorate the outside too:

1. Remove the top of the ornament
2. Measure the ribbon around the ornament and cut (be sure it will be long enough to get under the metal top of the ornament)
3. If ribbons will cross, glue the spot with Tacky glue
4. Line the crisscross up with the bottom and glue to the ornament
5. Starting with the ribbon on top, glue the ribbon to the ball 1-2" at a time, flattening the ribbon as much as possible
6. Fill the inside with the instructions above
7. When attaching the top, spread the metal pieces out to fit the ribbon underneath, then tighten again.  You can add a ribbon around the top the help insure it will not flare out

*DO NOT use glue inside the ornament, it will cause it to cloud.

Birthday Cookie Cake!

Oh YES!  I made one all by myself :)

 

 

if you want my recipe, let me know!

We've picked the Musicals for camp!

YAY!  Music from Around the World!

The Lion King - Africa
Aladdin - Arabia
Mary Poppins - London
The Sound of Music - Austria (check this out: "Sound Of Music Set Coffee Mug")

....now to get to learning that music!  Some of those songs are kinda difficult!

Trying Crafts...

Here's a set of pictures for one of the crafts we have decided to do for camp while we prepped and tried it out!!!!

the stencil-cutter-extraordinaire!

 

they aren't on music paper, but we didn't want to waste any...

And they look nifty framed!

in a floating frame!!

We got the idea from here and edited it a bit for camp - music scrap-booking paper, tempra paint, sponge brushes...but they will make nice gifts for our music-y peeps :)

We are still looking for volunteers & campers!  If you'd like more information about camp, see this post!

How to Cover/Line a {rectangular} Basket!

PLEASE CLICK TO BLOW-UP PIC!

So we all know that those lovely covered baskets are expensive!  I set out to make one of my own--you can buy many baskets for a much cheaper price, and the one in this tutorial is from the Dollar Tree!

You will end up cutting two pieces of fabric; I used the same colour for both layers.  If you chose a patterned fabric, be careful that the pattern ends up on the outside!  Also, make sure you iron out all of the kinks before measuring and cutting.

Start by figuring out all of the dimensions of your basket (see how I figured this out in the photo to at the top-right). You need to know:

• the measurements for the bottom length and width
• the measurements for the top length and width
• the height of the basket
• the measurement from the top edge around the bottom to the top edge on the opposite side for both the long (let's call this y) and the short sides (and this x) - see the picture up to the right
• the amount of overlap you want over the top of the basket (we'll call this z)

Cut your fabric into a rectangle that measures [x + 1/2" seam allowance + 2z] by [y + 1/2" seams + 2z] - cut the pieces at the same tine to keep them the same size.  Make sure they are pinned together really well!

The corners will need to be cut out; I basically cut out the coloured-in sections of my diagram.  Measure where the bottom section of the basket should line up.  Around the edges and z + 1/4" in, mark the top-of-the-basket measurements. (I wanted about 1/2" overhang, so I measured in 3/4")

I coloured the sections I cut off on the fabric too (this helps me too!) and, also, drew the seam allowance for the corners.  Now cut the corners out (below on left), pin the sides together to make the box corners (below on right), and sew up the corners (I used a straight stitch)... 

[if you wanted your liner to fit more snug around the edges, this would be the time to add elastic-cut it about 2" shorter than the parameter of the top of your basket and stretch it along as you sew]

 

Put the two "boxes" together inside out (above) and sew around the top leaving about 2/3 of one of the shorter sides open to turn it right-side-out.  Iron around the corners and top seam and straight stitch around the top to close the gap and give it a nice finished look.

Put it in the basket, turn down the top, and Viola! You just lined your basket!

What to do at camp...?

Everything we do at camp we try to have revolve around music.  Sometimes it can be difficult!!

For Games: we have changed Red Light Green Light to Largo Presto - as the week goes on and kids learn more tempo markings, we add those in.  Duck Duck Goose/Grey Duck will probably become Bach Bach Beethoven.  But we can't play only these games everyday!!

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Crafts are easier for ideas, but harder because of the age spread!  At least one day of crafts will be devoted to props for each groups presentation.  Another day will be for the camp bandana or t-shirt (we haven't decided yet!).  The first day will be Paint the Music--we play a piece, have the kids listen with their eyes closed and then paint the shapes and colours, etc. they see.

And all of this has to fit our budget (although we have some leftover from last year)--so hopefully we'll find out soon if we have enough campers to start buying supplies!


If you are interested in camp (if you're in the Rochester area) visit our Facebook page or the Bethel CYF site.

Many of our plans that we got from the internets are on my Camp Board on Pintrest

Camp Again?...YES!

This year we are not able to run a full-day camp like last year, so we had originally decided to skip this year.  

However, SO many kids and parents were asking if it was happening again that we've settled for the half days! (We've been volunteering at VBS at our church - where most of our campers came from - and they asked us when they saw us.  Not to mention all of the emails we've been receiving from curious parents!)

The theme we've chosen is Music From Around the World--and we have a few ideas!  One is to put together a scenes from different musicals and movies that represent different parts of the world.  Some possibilities include: My Fair Lady, The King & I, Mary Poppins, The Lion King, Aladdin, musicals based on mythological & Biblical stories, and Mulan.

Hopefully we can get this together as well as last year with such a short time to plan - 7 weeks!! eek! - volunteers are always one of the most difficult things to get and a lot of them from last year are off at college now!

As we get more info up, it will be posted to our Facebook page and the Bethel Lutheran site (specific menu to follow).  If you have any questions, you can either leave them on our Facebook page or email us at bethelmusiccamp@gmail.com.  EDIT: visit our Bethel Lutheran Church CYF site!

We're super excited! :)

Explaining Ageing

 Warning: this is one of those sciencey things I warned you about a few months ago (the first strangely!)

 This is just WAY cool in my opinion - since learning about DNA and its purposes in high school biology, I have wondered how it is related to people growing older.  The DNA is the same right?  Wrong! :O  Scientists have been comparing the DNA of babies to the DNA of the lucky that live to 100+.  And guess what?!?  There are differences!  Not in what DNA codes for but the methylation.

 There is this thing called epigenetics that looks at how your DNA is different on the outside (e.g. methylation) and not what it codes for.  This external modification changes the expression of genes in your cells!  Methylation is the addition of a methyl group (-CH3) to the sugar backbone of the DNA.  External DNA modification changes how DNA is stored and how easily proteins that read and copy it can access it.  It has been discovered that as you age, you lose 7% of the methylation (starting at 80% of sites down to 73%) which leads to altered expression.  There are many things that can effect the amount of DNA that is methylated (or externally modified), some of which can come from your grandparents and could be related to when they may have experienced famine! (google it! I dare you - it's pretty cool, and PBS|Nova has a special about Epigenetics that is good)

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics

If you are so scientifically inclined, here is the article about the recent discovery: Epigenomic Differences between Newborns and Centenarians Provide New Insights into Ageing

The Cloth Gift Bag

So, I have all of these scraps around, and one of the things I wanted to do was make gift bags. (the others here and there)

However, when I went to find ideas, all of the bags were drawstring! That doesn't work for everything; I wanted a bag that stands up and could better hold square/bigger/rectangular objects.  So, I made up a new design!

Making my Gift Bag

I first wanted to make a bag for the Kindle Cover I made for Father's Day and decided to make the bag 12" tall, 8" wide, and 3" deep.

So I cut 4 - 12"x8", 4-3"x12", and 2-3"x8" from my chosen fabric (make sure you iron first!) and 2-11.5"x7.5" and 1-2.5"x7.5" of Pellon Peltex (mine was fusible on one side; this will make the front & back and bottom stiff).

Next I fused the 11.5"x7.5" and 2.5"x7.5" Peltex pieces to their respective fabric pieces (12"x8" and 3"x8").  Make sure to follow the fusing instructions.  (If your interface isn't fusible, put a loose stitch around the edges to hold the sides together)  Stitch the non-fused sides together (I did a decorative stitch right down the middle instead of going around - you can see it in the picture of the inside-out bag). If you want to use decorative stitches (in a complementing colour!  I used light pink on the green) to add to the bag, now would be the time to add those.

Now you're ready to assemble!

If the bigger sides do not fit between the needle and inset side of you machine, you should start by sewing the sides together.  I started with the bottom.

Unless you want the seems on the outside (in which case you should go around with a pinking shear to prevent raveling), the bag will be constructed inside out.  Place the seems together and stitch it up - I used a straight stitch at 2.  When lining up the bottom and stiff sides, be sure the interface is as close as possible.

 

When you have all the seems sewn up, flip that bag right side out!

The interface may make it difficult, so go slowly to avoid bending the interface badly or loosing any of the seems.

If you want, you can check to see if you bag will stand now - mine had too small of a base to stand without the gift inside to give it some weight.

 

Now to finish up!

I wanted to keep the seem "open" on the top, so I went around the top with a pinking shear and then the same decorative stitch (in the same light pink with a blue threaded bobbin) I did down the side.  If you want, you can fold the cloth on top in or out on the bag and sew it down.

When the top is done, you need to make a place for the ribbon!  My machine has a handy button-hole maker, so I used that.  I put them about 2 inches from the top and 2 inches apart on the front and back.

Thread the ribbon of your choice through the holes and tie it up!  You could you a ribbon that brings out your decorative stitches like I show on the top picture or a different complementing colour.  Bags are reusable, so for my father's day gift I used a gold coloured ribbon. (it's all wrapped up in the picture, now just a place to hide it until Sunday...)

Let me know if you have any questions :)

 

Congrats! You now have a bag!

Making a Kindle Cover

Father's Day Gift! (don't let him see!!!)  My mom got a Kindle for my step-dad for Christmas, and he has yet to protect it...so I got to it and made a cover!

I was looking for a book-type design, but nothing I found completely suited my fancy.  I got my final ideas from Dixie Mango (here and here) and did a lil combo.

Things I changed from the tutorials: snap instead of velcro, I put 1" elastic in the triangle corners (which I stretched when sewing in to give a lil extra holding grip).
Things I used: interfacing (soft for cushioning and sturdy for support), the Kindle holder but I enlarged the corner fabric, I also gave the cover an outline of book-binding.

Things to keep in mind: put the soft interfacing closest to the device and the sturdy stuff on the outside, make sure to measure your device (this kindle is approx. 4.75" x 6.75" x .35") and keep it handy as you work to double check all the fittings, and you can change the design to hold an number of technological devices!

You can sometimes find my creations (and sometimes my sister's art) for sale as well as request items here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/stuffbychrissy