Micro Crafts - Minature Book and Teddy Bear

I recently went to my local library and found this awesome book. Microcrafts: Tiny Treasures to Make and Share written by Margaret McGuire, Alicia Kachmar, and Katie Hatz.

It includes 25 different micro crafts. These are super tiny crafts like the cat in the photo on the book.

My favorite project was the mini books. I've always been obsessed with notebooks and journals and thought this would be a really fun project. They are so tiny you can fill them with quotes, pictures you draw or if you are really crafty - make a microscopic scrapbook.

Well, I read the directions and followed them step by step and discovered it was really easy. Here is the first book I have ever made. Notice it isn't much bigger than a penny.

I used one sheet of printer/copier paper, a tiny piece of scrapbooking paper, a small piece of cardboard (cut from cereal box), some regular sewing thread, a push pin and a glue stick. It took me about an hour to actually make the first one only because I didn't want to mess up. I also let it sit overnight to let the glue dry. Actually working on it took very little time at all. Which is great for someone like me who likes instant results.

I've also made a couple teddy bears from their book and a few more books. My daughter gave a couple teddy bears out as presents for Christmas. They are small enough to fit in a pocket and carried around undetected by others.

The teddy bears can be made out of a very small piece of felt. Any color or pattern. I'm thinking about making a camouflage bear for my son. 

I have to say this has got to be the best craft book I've found in a long time. I've actually completed a couple of the projects in the book unlike so many books I simply browse through. These projects are something I can make with my kids and we love how tiny they are.

* Just an FYI - the link above is my affiliate link for the book on Amazon, but feel free to check your local library first. If you love the book like I do you can always go back and buy it later.

Turn Your Child's Artwork Into Something Really Awesome

Boy do kids make a lot of drawings when they are young. Aside from sticking them up on the refrigerator, making a book with them, or maybe turning your garage into an art gallery what are you supposed to do with all those wonderful pieces of art?

Using these really easy printable iron on sheets you can make almost anything. Here are just a few of the really neat things you can make:

• Tote bags
• T-shirts
• Sweatshirts
• T-shirts for stuff animals or dolls
• Aprons

Any of these would be perfect for:

• Teacher's gift
• Christmas presents
• Baby shower favors
• Bridal shower favors
• Mother's Day/Father's Day, etc.
• Get well gift
• Birthday present
• lots more.

It's really easy to do. I made this simple tote bag with a drawing my son did at school. I scanned the drawing into my computer, but places like Staples and Office Depot can do that for you.

Then simply print out the drawing onto the special printable iron on paper which is available at almost every craft store and even some major department stores. If there is writing on the drawing you will need to print out a mirror image of the drawing.

Take the newly printed image and place the image face down on the shirt, tote, etc. you want to personalize. Iron according to the direction on the package.

Let cool and peal off the paper. Your item is now done and ready to be used.

Personalized Guess Who Game

My kids had received 2 games of Guess Who, a while back, in a kid's meal from one of their favorite restaurants. They played it once and then it was left sitting for a couple months. Normal unfortunately for kid's meal toys in my house.

I was trying to find fun activities for my kids while we are on vacation next week and wanted to surprise them with a personalized game for them to play.

We had a portable version of the game, but you could easily do this with the regular size game and it would work much better. These pictures are so tiny, but I made it work.

I made one with all our immediate family members. I also made one that has a bunch of Harry Potter characters because we are big Harry Potter fans.

I collected all the photos I wanted to use in a folder on my computer than selected the ones to print. Then I chose "Contact Sheet" or "Index" on the print settings. I will print out a bunch of thumbnail size pictures. I still needed to shrink them a bit so I printed the page out 55% instead of 100% size. You can obviously make the photos whatever size you need.

Hope this inspires some of you to create your own personalized games for your family.

Mini Scrapbook Photo Album

I originally posted this on my Helping Moms At Home site before I started this one.

Last year my youngest would cry on the bus. She would miss her mom and dad, but she especially missed her big sister who went off to middle school and couldn't ride with her and walk her to class anymore.

So I found these vertical badge holders at the Dollar Tree (my FAVE store). Though they also sell them at Wal-Mart and Office Depot.

I took a couple pieces of scrapbooking paper and glued a photo of each family member along with their name on them. Creating mini scrapbooking pages. 

The pack of 10 badge holders can hold 20 different photos - so you can add grandparents, extended family, pets, even favorite toys. 

Once the mini scrapbooking pages were done and put into the badge holders I secured them together with a binder clip that I found at Wal-Mart.

Plus being covered in the hard plastic badge holders protects the photos so the album will last even when played with by little fingers everyday.

Sleeping Bag Slumber Party Invitation

This was first posted on my old site www.supercraftymoms.wordpress.com.

My 12 year old daughter wanted to have another slumber party to celebrate her birthday this year, so I decided to create these fun sleeping bag invitations.

They are made of 1 sheet of blue felt (9"X 12") and 1/3 sheet of white felt (9"X12") each. I used a small amount of stuffing to fill the pillow, but you could use leftover felt if you wish. I also used a small bit of ribbon to tie it closed. One spool of Happy Birthday ribbon was all I needed (with leftovers).

This couldn't be any easier to make.  First I cut a piece of ribbon 14" long.

Next cut the blue felt into a piece 9" X 9" and folded it in half.  Insert the ribbon folded in half with the loose strings sticking out the bottom of the sleeping bag (they will be used to tie it closed). 

Then sew the bottom and partially up the side. Leaving enough to fold open.  To make it really cute I stitched a small heart to hold the side open. See close-up below.

To make the pillow cut a piece of white felt 9" X 2" and fold in half.  Then sew around the edges leaving a small opening to fill with pillow stuffing or extra felt.  Once filled hand stitch the pillow closed and stitch (or hot glue) to the sleeping bag.

Insert a paper invitation in the sleeping bag (where someone would sleep).  It doesn't need to be anything fancy. The sleeping bag is cute enough.

Roll the sleeping bag up and tie it closed with the strings.

 That's it - really easy and you can use any color or fabric. It's perfect for girls or boys  Have fun and share your pics :)