Blog Swap with Kaysi from Keeping It Simple

Hello everyone! I am super excited to be here with you today!!

Let me introduce myself, I'm Kaysi

Here are a few things about me:

I am the mother of three boys, ages 5, 3 and 1 and a little girl on the way

I have been married to an amazing man for 7 years

I love chocolate!!

I love color, green is my favorite but brown and blue are up there

I like to keep things simple, not overdo them

When I get a spare moment, I love to craft or look at crafts

Each day of the week, I have something different.

Motivate me Monday, that's where I have link party and you get to show me all the cute things that you have done.

Tutorial Tuesday, I give a tutorial of a craft that I have done

Whatever Wednesday, this is my day that I put anything up.

Scrapbook Thursday, this is the day that I post a scrapbook idea or give a scrapbook tip

Fridays are the days that I do Blog swaps with other bloggers.

Here are a few things that you can see at my blog:

Autumn Blocks

Car Seat Redo

Flower Shirt

Chalkboard Dresser

Toilet Paper Pumpkin

Basket Lining

Scrapbook ideas

You should stop on by and see what else I have!!

Thanks for having me today, it's been a pleasure!!

from Keeping It Simple.

I'm a Cobbler Now!!!

I got this crazy idea to make my own dress-up shoes out of wood.  Wait…I don’t mean “my” own, they are for my two year old.  Partly driven by the fact that those dumb plastic playshoes can be $5 or more a pair, but mostly because I wanted to see if I could do it, I started to sketch a shoe shape on this scrap of 2x8.   

Before I knew it, I had not one, but 5 pairs!!!  Surprised?  Then you don’t know me very well.  My husband is still rolling his eyes at how many pairs of shoes I “had” to cut out!  They really weren’t too hard to cut with my bandsaw.  Then I sanded all my imperfections away with a disc sander.  The little mistakes still there disappeared after a visit from Mr. Palm Sander :0) 

We painted, varnished and sanded. 

Did you know that a simple paper lunch bag works great as sandpaper? When you paint wood, it always causes slivers of wood to expand and bulge. If you rub a paper bag on the shape, it will smooth it right out! I am always amazed that it really works :0)

Now to decorate!!!

I used ribbon for most of the straps.  Being a cheep person, I opted to sew two pieces of ribbon together instead of going to buy the 1 1/2" ribbon I needed for the top strap.  It might have something to do with the fact the clock had already struck midnight some time ago.

I added ruffled ribbon or ric-rac down the seam next to add some Flair.

*sidenote*Loven this ribbon from Hobby Lobby.  Got it 50% off, of course, At$3 and there are 10 yards of it!!!  If you pull on the elastic running down the middle, it gathers making it as ruffly as you want!  If you think you "need" to have some too, you can get it in the wedding section.

I also used knotted fabric as the top strap.  I used 1/8yd of fabric.  I folded the right sides together, sewed the edges, and turned the tube right side out.  After cutting the tube in half, I ended up with 2 10" pieces.  After knotting it, the piece is about 7" long. 

I also made some ruffle flowers for tops. 

Here are all my shoes and the straps ready to be put together.

Below are pictures of them put together.

Black with Red Bow

what I like to call Pink with Spunky Stripe

Hot Pink with ruffled ribbon flowers

Purple Little Mermaid

And lastly, Blue Cinderella.  I planned to put a vertical ribbon on the center of the strap on this pair of shoes.  That way we can put bows on clips (like hairbows) and she could put them on her shoes.  Then the shoes can be accessorized to match Emmalee's swiftly changing wardrobe :0)

There you go!  My shoes!!!...Ahem, Emmalee's shoes!

That was so fun, I am kinda sad it's over :0)  Now I have to wait until morning to see Emmalee's face when she sees the shoes.  She has been walking around with the wooden shoe shape for days, putting them on the floor and trying to walk around, even thought there wasn't a top to the shoe.  Now there are tops...and I am sure she will LOVE them too!

The Spiders Have Infested!!!

The word “spiders” doesn’t usually bring about a smile, but these spiders certainly do!!!  I guess you could say it has taken me 13 months to get this project finished :0)  I cut these wiggly guys out last year, got them half-way painted, then had to stop.  They sat in a dark bin, full of other lost and forgotten holiday shapes, until just a week ago.  I had a spur-of-the-moment craft rush between etsy orders and rescued the spiders from their sad and lonely home. 

This is my favorite spider pattern.  I change the size at the drop of a hat, but always keep the face just like this.  Isn’t he cute!!!  I cut the 7 spiders out of ½” plywood.  I had three bodies missing, so I cut those out of beaded plywood.  I thought the change in texture would be fun.  Holes were drilled for the legs and I used that new fat aluminum wire for the legs. 

*disclaimer* Disregard the mess.  You are staring into our very cluttered craft/homeschool room.  Messy!  I don't bother trying to clean it up when people come over anymore.  I figure if you love me, you will still love me after seeing my mess :0) 

The web I made with three nails in the archway of our home.  I was just going to hang one string across the spans, then hang the spiders and be done.  You know I can’t do it just that simply!!!  Weaving and twisting ensued, leaving us with this cool looking web.  The kids went wild!!!  We will have to do this again next year.

While I have you, let me show you a couple of my favorite Halloween friends!  I have gotten picky over the years and have thrown out most of my decorations.  These guys are the ones who survived. 

This is Gwendolyn.  She has a twin sister, Wendolyn, who lives with my grandma.  I made them both about 10 years ago.  They are made with a muslin body, dressed, and ….check these out…

Cat slippers!!!  How cute are they!?!

This is Gerard, our scaredy ghost.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Heidi Markish wood patterns.  Check out her website!  I adapted this ghost pattern from her boo yard trio.  I have them outside too, but didn't get a picture :0)  Not surprised, are you?

Next up, Mumford.  We LOVE Mumford!!!  He is also made with a muslin body, but is then wrapped in cheesecloth and cotton bandages.  To get that realistic dirty look I sprayed him with tea stain.  I love this pattern so much I usually re-make him every other year or so. 

You have seen a lot of this one!  I am completely obsessed with this Boot.  New this year, I offered the boot, along with the ghost family and spider below,  for my craft club.  I made several for centerpieces for Super Saturday, but didn't manage to keep one for myself.  Finally I made another batch and now have one I can call my own!

This beauty is Zelma.  Zelma has a couple twins.  Her face alone takes hours to shade.  Ten years ago I got the pattern book out of a bargain bin (she is from the same book at the spiders) for $.99!!!  I have never seen such a talented artist, tole artist that is.  Most patterns get out of date after a while, but I don't think hers ever will.

These ghosts and bats you have seen a lot of as well, but these guys are new to me this year.  I finally got another set of bats cut out, painted and actually finished.  I usually spend all my time making things for everyone else and am sick of it by the time my turn comes around.  Lucky for me, I decided to make the bats and ghosts for my Bunco prizes this month.  That gave me an excuse to finish my own sets.  I am so excited!!!

Anyway, that is my collection of spooky Halloween friends.  My family and I love them all.

It isn't really fall until they come for a visit :0)

Cub-Scouting It With Footprints

Eli's last requirement for achieving his Bear Badge in Cub Scouts was to make a cast of his footprint.  He wanted to pour some plaster of paris into a box and step into it leaving a foot indentation.  I had grander plans.  This is actually something we have done a couple times before.  I think I read about how to do it on the Family Fun website, but it has been so many years that I can't quite remember.  All you need is some plaster of paris, water, a container, something to stir with, and some sand. 

Plaster of Paris is actually pretty cheep.  I think this 25 lb bag (way bigger than you need) was like $7.  I bought this at Home Depot a few years back.  They sell smaller amounts, but I am sort of a plaster of paris junky.  You will see what I mean when you start messing with it yourself.  You can also get a nice, small box from Joanns, Hobby Lobby, or Micheals if you would rather go there. 

 *Bonus* then you can use a coupon!   

I poured 4 cups of the plaster of paris powder into our Kool-aid pitcher.  I don't think the PofP (plaster of paris) is food-grade so don't tell Scott.  He is finicky about things like that :0)

I added 2 cups of water.  You don't want to add the water until you are ready to pour.  I am sure this is thicker than they say on the bag-didn't read it myself...this time-but it will set faster if you mix it thicker. 

After all, isn't speed the most important thing when crafting with kids!?! 

Once you pour the water in, mix it up.  I realized later I was probably not supposed to wisk it.  If you really beat the stuff you will make bubbles in the mix that will still be there when it hardens.  It didn't seem to be a problem, but noted for future reference :0) 

We just used our sandbox sand.  I think the original idea was to do at the beach with that nice fine-grain sand.  We did this technique on the beach at the lake (northern Wisconsin) on our family trip one year.  That sand was really more like rocks and the footprints turned out GREAT!!!

Back to the here and now...our sand box...get it wet.  Not soaked, but wet enough that your foot can make an impression in the sand and that impression stays there.   

This is actually the point where I add the water and stir. 

Pour your Plaster of Paris into the impressions.

Now wait.  It is really only 15 minutes or so.

What do you do with the leftovers?  Grab those candy molds you bought but never used and fill 'em up!  Did you know that molded PofP works GREAT as sidewalk chalk!?!  How cool is that!  Making your own shaped sidewalk chalk!  You can even add food coloring when it is wet.

When you pull the plaster of paris out of the sand it will be covered.  Grab your hose...

and rinse!  Most of the sand comes off, but some stays imprinted into the footprint. 

How cute is that!?!  What does Grandma need more than a collection of tiny footprints through her garden?  I have my kids footprints we made that year up north still to this day!  The littlest foot in this picture wasn't even made yet :0)  I love to see them as I walk up to the front door. 

Oh yeah!  That is how you make a cub scout foot imprint :0)

And check out those left overs!!!  Emmalee has been on a painting kick lately (has nothing to do with all of mommy's painting orders, right?) and these make a lovely, cheep way to keep her busy.  You can squish a magnet in the plaster of paris before it sets and use them as fridge magnets when they are all painted.  You can also throw gems or colored rocks into the mold first, then pour the plaster of paris for a blinged-out version!  Have fun.  It is like potato chips- You can't do just one!!