Check This Out!

My friend Mary Murray is an author and an photographer of incredible talent. She is a guest writer in this month's Mary Janes Farm Magazine. Be sure and pick up a copy and visit her blog at http://windymeadowsfarm.blogspot.com/ . You will love her!

Squinkies Soap

Have you heard of Squinkies? If you have little girls in your family you have! I bought some for my grand daughters and thought they would make great little soaps. Here are the finished tiny soaps and let me walk you through the process.But first, I needed a way to give these to my girls. I put these in pretzel bags. They would look cute back in their original packaging too.

These were sold as a bracelet and ring set with four little Squinkies in balls. The fifth ball holds fasteners. I carefully pried open the packages and removed the little toys from the balls. I then replaced the empty balls back in the packages and glued it all back together.

This is the little plastic ball the toys come in. They remind me of the gumball machine toys.

I poured a bit of clear soap base into the bottoms of a special 3D ball ice cube tray. Then, once the soap has thickened to a gel, I stuck one toy into each ball.

Let these set up.

Next fill the tray with more melted soap and squeeze on the top of the mold and allow the excess soap to overflow.

Place a weight on top to keep the mold secure. I used a press.

After a few hours you can release the mold. Here is a close up of the little guys in the tray.

A little princess.

These look just like they do in the plastic balls they come in, but now you have to wash your hands to get to the toys! Clever....huh! Diana

Another Microwave Steam Bag

This time around I did a little machine applique! I found this cute ear of corn at Planet Applique http://planetapplique.com/ They sell it for just $1.50! And it didn't take nearly as much time or thread changes as the chicken. Same fabric as the previous post.

Here is a close up of the corn. I love the bright colors on this fabric. Diana

Microwave Steam Bags

I saw bags like this at a little Amish store here in Ohio. Of course they were a lot plainer than this one. The Amish don't really go for bling. Not even when it is a country chicken waiting for the corn to cook. But I like chickens. A lot. You use these bags to cook corn or potatoes in your microwave. And you can also heat tortillas in them. They are a simple envelope bag with a sewn in flap. There in a muslin lining, cotton batting and a pretty all cotton fabric on the outside. Each fabric is cut at 22x10 that is folded into an envelope and sewn with 1/4 seams. Easy.

I machined embroidered this funky chicken 6 inches up from one end before sewing.

And included the instruction card I printed up into the flap. These bags steam the food and keep it from drying out and getting crunchy. Fluffy potatoes and moist corn. Num. Diana

Candy Corn Earrings

Look what a little paper clay and paint can become! Holiday jewelry! I rolled out a bit of clay and cut several pie wedge shapes out of it. After they dried, I painted them orange and dipped the tips in white and the bottoms in yellow. I then sprayed them on both sides with a matte finish and let them dry completely.

I got these fantastic earring post and clasps at Hobby Lobby. A little glue to attach them and they are done. Because these are a gift, presentation was important. I found the frame clipart online at Hugbug and printed it on cardstock. Now they are ready for some little ears! Diana

One Handed Crafter

While I was on a business trip with my husband this past week, I didn't have the opportunity to craft! But my mom brought over this cute little candy jar and I thought I'd share it. Olive jar! That's right, look how great it looks when filled with candy and spiders and decorated! Plus she did all this with just one hand. (Broke her shoulder and arm a while ago and is still recovering from major surgery) Jar with candy, a perfect gift for a daughter.

Here is the lid. Notice the spiders slipping out of the jar!

Who would stick their hand into this. Me. Didn't you notice the chocolate! Diana

Baby Leg Warmers Tutorial

I am so sad that I missed this trend with my kiddos! I think that baby leg warmers are so cute and practical, too. Luckily we have nieces and nephews being born. I found these cute little socks at Target for only $2.oo. It took me about 10 minutes to make these, and I am so glad I did. First I cut out the socks like this. Make sure that you leave the top of the sock intact. It will be the foot opening for the leg warmer.

Now take the smaller portion off of the foot area and fold it in half-right side facing out.Attach this to cuff to the longer portion of the sock. Make sure that you attach it to the raw edge with the right sides together. I used my serger, but I don't see why you couldn't hand stitch or use your machine.I was worried that I would have to explain what I had made to the new mommy, but instead with a little cute packaging I no longer have to explain. I made a hooded towel from THIS tutorial to go with it. The only adaptation that I made was using a towel that I purchased and cut up rather than the terry cloth from a fabric store. I was not happy with the fluff factor of the fabric store terry cloth, and my store bought towel was perfect.

~Jennifer