Crafty Ornament Exchange

Another year, another ornament exchange on my craft message board.  I couldn't decide what to make (too many choices thanks to Pinterest), so I fell back on an old favorite.  I love the way they turned out.

I even loved the gift tag I made using card stock and my Sizzix embosser.

Crafty Christmas Ornament Exchange

I was excited to be a part of my Craft message board's ornament exchange again this year.  Using the leftover felt and instructions from the wool candle mat that I made, I was able to whip up these cute snowmen ornaments.  I love, love, love the way they turned out!

Happy New Year!

As I sat here tonight, it occurred to me that this is the first time in 4 years that I haven't posted my "Year of Crafting" list on New Years Day. It's partly because my life since Sprout was born has been so darn busy and partly because I feel like Pinterest has taken away my need to make long lists! I much prefer the visual element anyway.

However, I do need to update my sidebar with the last of my completed craft projects for 2011. I'll admit, I didn't accomplish anywhere near what I set out to do. I did try some new things though and hope that the coming year will bring me more time to craft and more time to post about the fun stuff my kids and I have been up to.

Enough rambling though. Here is my final finished project for 2011 - a wool penny rug that I gave to my mom as a Christmas gift.



I bought the kit (pattern and wool felt) from One of the Flock on etsy. Can I rave about her customer service for a minute? I totally messed up right off the bat - totally my fault for trying to take a short cut - and ruined the white felt. I contacted her about buying a replacement and she told me not to worry about it. She had a replacement piece in the mail the next day, free of charge. How cool is that?



The pattern was easy to follow and I have to say that it came together much faster than I expected. I worked on it in short bursts and was finished in about 3 or 4 days. With dedicated time you could easily finish this in one day.



What surprised me the most is how much I really enjoyed the embroidery work. I had never tied a french knot before or really used any stitch other than a blanket stitch. I had fun learning some new stitches and hope to do some more embroidery work this coming year.

I want to wish all of you a wonderful, blessed New Year. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for taking the time to stop by my blog. I look forward to another fun year!

Dr. Seuss, Day 7

For the final day of our week long celebration we read, in my opinion, the most well loved Dr. Seuss book there is - Green Eggs and Ham.


Now, I'm sure the MOST logical activity to pair with this book is eating green eggs and ham, but, since my kids won't touch normal colored eggs and ham, I had to get creative...

FELT green eggs and ham!

The kids had a blast pretending to be Sam-I-Am and reenacting the book.

If your kids are a bit more adventurous when it comes to eating, you may want to check out My Delicious Ambiguity for a great round up of Seuss-inspired foods.

Whew! What a week. I hope you had as much fun as we did. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our recap and a few activities that we ran out of time to do.

If you missed any of our other posts this week, click the button below to see them all!

9 Patch Quilt Along

Today is the official start of the Nestie Craft Board 9 Patch Quilt Along. We will be sewing one nine patch a day for roughly the next 140 days (easy peasy right?). If you want more info or want to join along, stop by Confessions of a Naptime Quiltaholic for the details. You can also check out our Flickr group to see what everyone else is doing.

Here's my fabric stash of 1930s fabric (I'm hoping I have enough!)


I need to get busy cutting and sewing. I'll try to post pictures of my progress every Friday (unless Sprout decides to make an appearance...).

Winter Colds

Our house has been besieged by the "winter cold." Okay, in reality we've been in snotty nose icky-ness since about October, but now it's taken two turns for the worse: 1) Chaos and Wild One have developed a never ending cough and 2) Mommy is sick. Too sick to do much other than dream about getting back to my sewing machine.

I really need to get better soon though because if I spend much longer at my computer I'm going to plan myself enough projects to last until Sprout starts college.

But enough of that - want to see what will be arriving at my doorstep soon?

A layer cake of Moda's Giddy line (along with some yardage for sashing and borders):

I plan to make this adorable quilt for Sprout and, with the leftover fabric, two more travel bags for Wild One and Sprout.

A charm pack of Moda's Lollipop fabric:

I haven't 100% decided what I'm going to do with this fabric, but I'm leaning towards this quilt.

I've also joined a 9 patch quilt along on a craft board I frequent. Remember this fabric I bought awhile back?

I need to add a few more fat quarters to have enough, but I think this may be the first quilt I make just for me. I can't wait!

And there's one other little addiction that has been keeping me going while we're all sick (besides my fabric addiction that is). Have you heard of Pinterest? It's basically an online bulletin board to "pin" all of your favorite things. It's like visual bookmarks which is JUST what I need. Here's a link to my boards if you want to check them out. Feel free to email me for an invite to create your own too, but be warned, it's very addictive.

Pinterest Boards

Quilt Top is Finished!

I was up past midnight last night trying to make the coin rows even (I did a so-so job) and finishing up the top to Pinky's rainbow quilt. It's far from perfect, but I really love it! I know Pinky will too. Here's a peek at the top - I need to have this finished by Saturday so I will post pictures of the final product then.



I can't wait to add the butterfly backing fabric!

Travel Bags for Kids

I realized I never got around to posting the activity bags I made for the kids this summer. I found the tutorial here at Moda Bake Shop. I love, love, love the way they turned out! The fabric is Love U by Moda and works perfectly for a boy and girl bag.

I thought these bags were quick and easy even for a novice sewer like myself.


Front of both bags


Inside Pinky's bag


Inside Chaos's bag

A New Fabric Obsession...

After reading my favorite quilting blog (Crazy Mom Quilts), I had to check out an online shop she mentioned - Connecting Threads. Wow, am I glad I did!! They have some really great fabric for VERY affordable prices. (You can read what Crazy Mom has to say about their thread here).

I know I should be working on the mounting list of projects I already have, but I couldn't help but pick up a few little things for myself. Here's what will be delivered to my house shortly after Christmas:


One Cheep Talk Fabric Fat Eighths bundle


Two Wrap It Up Charm Packs


One Winter Fun Charm Pack


Two Fall Batiks Charm Packs

I'm so excited to try them out! I actually have a plan of what I want to do with all of this fabric already. I'll let you know what I think of it!

Cute Gift Idea for Toddlers

After seeing this post for a Toddler Sewing basket on Childhood 101, I thought it would be a perfect gift for crafty kids. I may have to make some of these next year!

Quilt Progress...

I continue to chug along on Pinky's Rainbow Quilt. Less than 2 weeks until it needs to be done!

I ordered this purple fabric for sashing between the coin rows (and I hope it arrives soon!):


And this Michael Miller fabric (Wings of Peace) for the backing fabric (Pinky loves butterflies):

Felt and Fabric Christmas Ornaments

I found this tutorial at A Spoonful of Sugar. I used fabric scraps leftover from the busy bags I made this summer. I know the fabric isn't traditionally Christmas, but I love the bright fun colors. I couldn't resist using it!

I made one for each of the older kids to hang on the trees in their bedrooms. I may make one for Wild One too if time allows.


Pinky's heart


Chaos's star (he's using it as his tree topper)

Sock Monkey Quilt Finished!

Wild One's sock monkey quilt is finally finished! It was a simple quilt really, but the binding was giving me fits (my own fault of course). It turned out a bit more square than I had planned, but overall I really like it. I think it's improvement over my first quilt, and I definitely learned even more for the next one (Pinky's rainbow quilt).


The front of the quilt


The back of the quilt (the white spot was something on my camera lens)


One last look

Busy Quilting!

Now that my sewing machine is back (and sewing like a dream!) I can finally buckle down and work on Wild One and Pinky's birthday quilts. These quilts are both very bright and vibrant.

I finished the quilt top of Wild One's Sock Monkey quilt in one afternoon. You have to love strip quilts! Quick and easy! The fabric I used is Moda's Funky Monkey line.


I plan to back this with a combination of these two fabrics from the same line:


And bind with this (also from the same line):


Since I had to order the backing and binding fabric I had some downtime. I decided to get a head start on Pinky's rainbow quilt. Here are the first two stacked coin rows. I still have 3 more to go, then I will sash it with purple fabric (her favorite color). I haven't decided on a backing fabric yet. Any ideas?


I hope to have completed pictures soon!!

Friday Felt Fun Feature - Felt Pumpkins

Yes, I know it's Sunday, but sometimes the week slips by a little too quickly for me to keep up. So, humor me please, and pretend the weekend is just starting. Wouldn't that be nice?

Awhile back I saw an adorable pumpkin on Betz White made from an old sweater and a wooden embroidery hoop. I knew I HAD to make my own.

I didn't have the amazing orange sweater that she used, but I did find a yard of orange felt on clearance at Hobby Lobby. Inexpensive is good, right? Sometimes...

I added black facial features with reverse applique and a green stem to cover the knob. I'm still not sure how I feel about this little guy. Part of me thinks he's cute, the other part thinks I should label this one a craft fail. I'll let you know if he ever makes it to hang on the front door.


My finished pumpkin

Since I still had a lot of orange felt leftover, I decided to make my kids a little something. Inspired by the Jack O Lantern game on The Crafting Chicks (and other versions I've seen floating around the internet), I made my own version of the game:


For the pumpkins, I doubled up the felt and put a layer of cotton batting between them to add a little stability. The facial features are also double layers of craft felt held together with a blanket stitch.


The pumpkins


The facial features

I decided to add a spinner to copy the Silly Faces colorform game the kids already play instead of the pictures The Crafting Chicks used or the die that Pink and Green Mama used on her version. ( I forgot to take a picture, but will try to get one up soon).

The game ought to keep the kids busy while I find more creative way to use up the rest of this orange felt...

Felt Crayon Rolls

I posted earlier in the summer about the crayon rolls I wanted to make from Skip To My Lou. They were SO simple to make that I ended up making extras and giving them out as gifts to Pinky's friends.




I managed to wrangle one back from the kids so I could take a picture of how they turned out. This one belongs to Chaos. I chose to skip the applique on the front (for time constraint reasons) and just added a simple looped ribbon with a button for closure. These would make great stocking stuffers this Christmas!

You can check out the tutorial HERE.

Travel Bags

Every summer, the kids and I take a trip to see my family for a few weeks. This year, our trip will include a stop to see the in-laws and a giant family reunion.

Oh...did I mention the trip will tally over 3,000 miles (with our dog in tow too) and will last about 5 and a half weeks? Sounds a bit crazy to be called a vacation, doesn't it?

The kids are good car travelers at this point, and I'll be honest, the dvd players definitely help. We have lots of other fun travel activities for them too. Let me show you what I've been working on....


First, and most importantly, I'm sewing up two of these adorable Child Activity bags from Moda Bake Shop

I plan to stuff these bags full of goodies including:


Felt Crayon Holders from Skip to My Lou (and yes, I realize the Child Activity bag also has a crayon holder, but I thought these would be great for when we stop at restaurants along the way).


I Spy quilts using this fabric


Using this Favorite Things Caddy tutorial from Kojo Designs I plan to make a car caddy for Chaos and...


...a My Little Pony Roll up featuring 5 new My Little Ponies for Pinky inspired by Smashed Peas and Carrots. I think I will make a castle/rainbow scene will be more in line with Pinky's interest.

The infamous felt Mr. Potato Head from Make It and Love It (she was asked to remove the tutorial by Hasbro, so unfortunately I can't share it's awesomeness with you).


Finally, cool Scavenger Hunt cards from Saltwater Kids of things we're likely to see along the way.

I also have some non-handmade goodies for the bag including mini magnadoodles, magnetic playsets, travel bingo, coloring books, hidden pictures for Pinky, new movies, and Pinky's latest obsession - her Leapster.

Don't worry, I didn't forget about Wild One. I have something fun planned for her too. I'll be sure to post pictures as I finish!

Something New!!

I am ridiculously excited to announce the start of something new here on Camp Slop. Starting Friday, March 5th I am introducing "Fun with Felt Fridays!" Each Friday I will feature a new project made with felt.

I've been working fervently the last few weeks to prepare tutorials to kick things off. I really think you'll like what I've come up with!

I hope that you'll join me! I'm working on a button now so you can spread the news!

While you wait for my felt kick off, head over to Fireflies and Jellybeans and check out the Felt House Along! I'm going to try to join in for this one!