Thursday, April 12, 2012

love list: spring break edition.

i don't know about where you live, but in these parts it's spring break. that means we don't get out of our jammies until 10ish, and spend the greater part of each day making crafty-messes. :)

so for today i thought i'd share a list of crafty things i'm obsessing over.

fabric number banners. i've wanted to make one of these for years. of course, with banners everywhere these days, the urge has only gotten stronger! this darling banner looks like something straight out of anthropologie, only you can make it out of your fabric scraps. sigh. i'm in love!

felted knitted bowls. i've been knitting a long time, but this bowl could be completed by even the most beginner knitter (as long as you've got a good knitter's reference book like this one). i'm seriously obsessed with these little bowls! like, they're invading my dreams, even. :)

knitted grocery bags. since i have trouble working on only one knitting project at a time, i'm about half-way through this pattern. what a great way to use up that leftover cotton yarn in my stash! wouldn't this look cute going to and from the market full of summer veggies?

egg-carton garden. a little over a month ago, i pulled out my old jiffy greenhouse full of hope. we picked up some new jiffy pellets (aka dirt in compostable pantyhose) along with a selection of seeds. the kids planted, watered and placed in sunlight as directed. unfortunately, for the second year in a row, only a third of our seed sprouted! i found this little tutorial the other day. we're going to try this today, this time, using some good old planting soil. everything you need to make your own egg-carton garden will likely be on hand. the cardboard egg carton, the potting soil and the seeds. well, maybe not the seeds! unless you're like me and have oodles of leftovers from your failed jiffy pots! i'll let you know how it turns out.

shrinky dink necklaces. my 35 year old brother came over the other day in the midst of some serious shrinky-dink designing. my kids had plastic pages out and were coloring easter egg and cross designs using sharpie markers. then j said, "you know, if you put a hole at the top, it'll still be there when it shrinks. you could use it to make a necklace!" he showed off a big grin, like he'd uncovered one of the world's best kept secrets, to which my kids replied (without even lifting their eyes), "we know." ouch. he bounced back quickly, though, but grabbing a sheet and coloring his own shrinky-dink easter egg. he even took it home. :) shrinky dinks are magic! here's a step-by-step tutorial if you're interested.

ribbon flip flops. my kids cleaned out the front hall closet yesterday. i was shocked at the volume of flip-flops that had taken up valuable real-estate in our tiny entry closet all winter long! we quickly bagged up the too-small flip flops, making room for our more needed tennies and rain boots (we had hail yesterday, after all!). it got me thinking about flip-flips, though. in just a month we'll all be wearing them. they'll replace the rain boots as the go-to-in-a-hurry footwear, and once again our closet will be packed. a trip to michaels or ben franklin and those boring old-navy flippies go from snore to score. ;) here's a link.

happy wednesday!