Appliqued T-Shirts

My MOPS group had a Pinterest meeting the other day.  We were all encouraged to bring crafts or projects inspired by our online browsing.  Of course, I had a million projects I could have brought... but had to narrow it down!  I ended up presenting a few of my favorite appliqued t-shirts.
 

Jack's robot Valentine's Day shirt from a few years ago

Another of Jack's Valentine's Day shirts: an alien?  A monster?  I'm not sure.

This Valentine's Day applique was inspired by the fabric.

Perfect for Easter: an egg with ribbon stripes

Pink felt tulips, a little embroidery, and ric-rac stems

A sweet little strawberry

Our 2013 Valentine

The past few years I've put together outfits--or at least t-shirts--for our annual Valentine's Day picture.  This year, with waaaay too much on my plate, I decided to just use an everyday picture of the three most darling kids in the world as our valentine.  Have I mentioned how much I love pixlr.com?  I use this site to edit all our photos.  It even has fun effects, overlays, borders, and more that can be applied to photos.  I found a whole bunch of Valentine's Day graphics, including this "LOVE" which fit perfectly on the bottom corner of our photo.

2012's Valentine's Day Gear

So here are my three darlin' kiddos in their official Valentine's Day get-ups. We got the idea for Jack's shirt--a "Be Mine" monster/alien with three button eyes--at this blog post. After undertaking that behemoth of a project, I kept the girls' shirts simple, just a heart. And they each wore a stacked satin heart hair bow (which I can't find the tutorial for!). Yes, I know, my kids are super cute. They sure make my life fun!

"Be Mine" Bunting

I found a fun tutorial here for a Valentine Pillow Bunting and tried my own version, shown here. Reverse applique and embroidery--two fairly new techniques for me--made these cute little pillows to adorn a mantle, or wherever. My only problem was the little pillows don't hang quite straight, so I'm not taking a picture of them hanging up. Maybe next year I'll figure out a better way to hang 'em.

Valentine's BINGO cards

Well, these aren't my crafts, but they are just too darn cute not to share. If my kids were a few years older, or if I had my own classroom, I would print them out in a heartbeat.


http://www.lilluna.com/2011/02/free-printables-cute-valentines-bingo.html

Official Valentine's Day Picture

Every year I take pictures of the kids to send out to grandparents, aunts, and uncles with our Valentines. This year, I made both of them appliqued t-shirts to wear for the photo shoot. Kate's shirt has a big "XO," and Jack has a robot with an embroidered red heart on his chest (my first time doing embroidery since my Grandma Mary taught me in junior high!), and coiled arms and legs. And Kate got a tutu, too! We went to the plaza in Old Mesilla to take pictures, where this little gazebo made them pose quite adorably.

Heart Crayons

Thanks to my Swiss heritage, I can be incredibly thrifty. I try to save and reuse whatever I can. This craft is perfect for all those little broken-off pieces of crayon that can collect in the crayon box. (Kate, bless her heart, loves to break her crayons, so I had pieces a-plenty!) We found a silicone heart-shaped muffin tin at Target for all of $2.50, filled each heart with crayon pieces (with paper removed, of course), and popped it in the oven at 250 degrees. Voila! Twelve minutes later, plus some cooling time, and all our broken crayon pieces had been transformed into new works of beauty.


Complete instructions can be found here:
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/crayon-hearts-671639/

Felt Petal Pillow

In keeping with my Valentine's Day theme, this week I tried a tutorial that's been on my crafts to-do list for awhile: a romantic Felt Petal Pillow. It turned out soooo cute, and was incredibly easy to execute. Kate even helped out by handing me individual felt petals as I stitched round and round. Can't wait 'til we actually have a house in which I can use it as part of the decor!


http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2010/05/guest-blogger-tutorial-allison-of-cluck.html

Valentine's Day Bows

Aren't holidays so much more fun when you have kids? I'm on a full-fledged Valentine's Day crafts kick. First, some Valentine's-themed bows.

Vintage:

Pink Plaid:

Pink Polka Dots:

More Valentine's Day crafts to come... stay tuned!