DIY Soda Bottle Rocket

My best friend's 3 year old decided a week before Christmas that Santa was bringing him a rocket!  Unfortunately for T and her husband, no rockets were to be found in our small mountain town.  On Christmas Eve, I took it upon myself to make sure his faith in Santa did not falter. 

 

 I dried out one 2 liter soda bottle and one 16-20 oz. bottle.  I cut the top off the smaller bottle and hot glued it on top of the 2 liter bottle to make the rocket's nose.  I then cut two even sections of a wrapping paper tube.  I spray painted the bottle white and the tubes black.  Make sure you let these dry completely before moving onto the next steps.

 Next I cut several strips of tulle in orange and yellow.  I hot glued these into one end of the tubes for flames.  The tubes were then hot glued to the bottom of the 2 liter bottle.  Keep in mind that you are hot gluing on plastic and the bottle might buckle a little.

We just happened to have silver glitter foam board in our craft room which worked perfectly for the rocket's wings.  I used a straightedge as a guide to cut a triangle and then used that triangle to cut an identical one (in mirror image).  Attach the foam board to the sides of the bottle and you have rocket wings!   

I added some legos and a bottle cap to spice it up a little.  I also found a "Made in U.S.A." sticker on a present I was wrapping for my grandpa so I peeled it off and attached it to the rocket for a finishing touch. 

Christmas morning, Santa pulled through and the little man loved his new rocket.  T said she cringed every time he threw it across the living room but it held up! 

A Merry Minion Christmas

I previously made a post about crocheting Despicable Me minion hats for a friend's little boys.  Here is a picture of the oh so handsome little men in their new hats!

I also made minion hats for two lovely little girls.  I was running out of yellow yarn and decided that pink would be perfect for these little ladies!

I think I will be busy making more minion hats as several adult friends have requested their own.

Whaaaaaat?!?

I have been crocheting like crazy this week!  I originally saw these Despicable Me minion hats on Pinterest.  I absolutely love this movie as do my best friend's little boys!  I thought this would be such a great Christmas present for them!  I got my pattern from Elizabeth Mohsin.  It cost me about $4.00. The pattern comes with six different sizing options from newborn to adult.  The body of the hat would work with any hat pattern but I was interested to see how she did the eyes.  In retrospect, I could probably have come up with my own pattern but Christmas is almost here and this saved me some time. 

I tried to make each one a little different...if they have the same eyes then they have different smiles and hair.  I can't wait to see these on their heads!  Only one more week! 

Bestie's Broncos Barrettes

My mom and sister have been bow and barrette making machines this week!  I found some Denver Broncos material in the scrap bin today and just had to make matching Broncos barrettes for me and my best friend, Trisha!  I had my mom show me a cloth flower barrette that she had been working on and just copied her design.  These were so easy to make.  It only took me a few minutes to make each one.

Can't wait to wear this with my Tebow jersey next weekend!  Go Broncos!

DIY Wall Decor

I saw some wall decor on Etsy at the Pretty Foldings shop and thought I'd try my hand at making my own.  I started by making paper flowers and butterflies as seen in my previous post.  I then painted an 11x14 canvas with black and white acrylic paint until I liked how it looked. 

 

I then hunted for some twigs outside on our property.  I used high temp hot glue to attach them to the canvas.  I originally thought about painting the twigs black but I liked their natural look better.

I used the hot glue to attach the flowers and butterflies.  I placed the top butterfly on the end of one of the twigs that is not glued down to give it a bit more dimension.  I am thinking about doing two more of these to line up across my bedroom wall.

  I took these pictures with my Droid so the quality is not the best and the lighting in our basement made the canvas look a bit grayish.

Gettin' My Paper Crafting On

My sister is visiting from New Mexico for the Thanksgiving holiday and we spent the day at my mom's house.  The morning immediately turned from browsing Pinterest to full on crafting in the basement.  While my mom and sister worked on hair bows for little girls, I was determined to learn how to make paper flowers after seeing a really amazing piece of artwork on Pinterest that incorporated canvas and paper flowers.  I found a pretty good tutorial for Simple Paper Flowers. 

I made my first flower with yellow printer paper and then decided to try some out of newsprint.  I found an old textbook from high school and began tearing out pages.  I also made a few paper butterflies and attempted several rolled paper flowers (these did not turn out the way I envisioned them). 

I'm hoping to pick up some canvas and turn these into some wall decor for my bedroom.  I will post a picture of the finished product if it turns out how I'm hoping. 

Crafting for the Lil' Lady

A friend at church taught me how to make a diaper cake for my sister's baby shower.  It took us about 2 hours to finish together. It was much easier than I originally thought it would be!

My sister and I worked for an entire evening of watching movies to create this flowing canopy for my niece's nursery.  We slip-knotted the tulle around an embroidery hoop and then wrapped the remaining exposed portions of the hoop with the leftover tulle. We used a glue gun to attach three large silk flowers. 

 

We used ribbon to hang the finished canopy from one hook in the ceiling. 

Tutu Chick!

 My sister's niece came to visit us this summer in Colorado.  Her ballerina shirt was just begging for a matching tutu!  This was sweet little S rocking her tutu at church!  Such a cool chick!

My 1st Try at a Tutu!

My sister is expecting my first sweet little niece right now!  I have decided that this precious little girl is going to need a closet full of tutus!  I measured my roommates little girl to create my first little tutu.  I sewed 3/4" elastic at a length of 2" less than the waist measurement (as the elastic stretches out while tying on tulle).  I cannot remember how much tulle I used but I cut it in 6" wide strips.  To cut the length, I measured from waist to knee and doubled that measurement.  I then put the elastic around my thigh and tied on the tulle by slip knotting it around the elastic.  

In retrospect, I should've cut the ribbon into longer lengths.  I also sewed ladybug buttons at the knot of each ribbon.  We have been calling my soon-to-be niece "the Lil' Lady" so it seemed fitting to make her a ladybug tutu.  This will not fit her until she is close to a year old.