Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year and this is the year of the dragon.  I had the kids make a dragon mask which I printed on card stocks from Alphamom’s site.  It’s a simple craft that yields lots of fun.  The kids have been running around the house growing with their masks on pretending to be dragons.

I’ve been having fun creating flower bobby pins for my girls’ hair.  They are quite easy to make and my girls like wearing them.  That’s a great combination.

My girls wearing these flower bobby pins.  Even though there are several colors to choose from, all of them chose pink.  Why did I make other colors?

If you’re interested in making these flower bobby pins, I have a simple tutorial.

Materials needed:

Bobby pins

Felt fabric (any colors you want)

Glue gun

Scissors

Instructions:

Follow the above photo from left to right, starting from row 1 to 3.

Step 1: Cut a square that is approximately 2″ x 2″.  This is the size I went for but you can decide on any size.

Step 2: Cut the edges of the square to make a circle.

Step 3: Once you have the circle, start cutting from the outer edge of the circle in a spiral format all the way to the inner circle.

Steps 4 & 5: Start rolling the cut circle from the outer edge.  Keep rolling and you’ll begin to see a flower forming.

Step 6: A perfectly formed flower.

Step 7: Flip the flower over and open the small circular flap.  Apply a dab of glue to the bottom of the flower and close the flap down.

Step 8: Cut a small circle from another piece of felt.  The circle should roughly be the same size as the bottom of the flower.  My circle was cut from a 1″x1″ square.

Step 9: Slip the circle in between the bobby pin.  Apply glue on the top side of the circle where the ridges of the bobby pin run.

Step 10: Put the flower on the circle and squish it a little to make sure the flower is adhered.

Tada!  You’re done and you have a beautiful flower bobbin pin ready for your girl to wear.  My boys enjoyed helping me make these pins that they made more than I had originally intended.  Now we have a lot of flower pins of various colors.  I think it’s time to share some of these lovelies with friends.

We’ve been enjoying our baby boy for the past two weeks and he is such a wonderful blessing to our family.  It’s been so good to have a baby boy again.  Our last boy was born over 7 years ago so we have forgotten what it was like to have a baby boy.  We’re so used to having girls that both Evers and I keep referring to Nathaniel as “she” or “her.”  There are also several boy-related things that brought back memories, specifically related to the potty.

Here’s Nathaniel in the snuggler I made for him.  This snuggler works so well and he is quite content and warm all bundled up.

Our regular routine still goes on though at a much slower pace.  School is still in session with daddy as the substitute teacher.  It’s been wonderful to have him home for a month.  He is my substitute teacher and my caretaker.  I’m very grateful and blessed by him.

When Nathaniel makes a peep, there’s always someone who is more than willing to hold him and comfort him.  Here is his big brother holding him while doing schoolwork on the computer.  He is quite good at multi-tasking I might add.  It’s so heart-warming to see how everyone cares for this little dude.

Getting ready to head home with family…

About to board the van home:

But not before one final “Ding family tradition” pose:

And one more up close:

My kids like playing the Angry Birds game and as a result they like all things Angry Birds.  I’m pretty clueless when it comes to this game and the current phenomenon.  I absolutely have no idea that it’s so popular as I’m seeing many merchandise in the stores and on the internet.  A friend had to educate me on this game and what each bird does.  I’m surprised that it’s not a mindless game and that there are strategies involved.

When my husband got a pair of Angry Birds PJ pants, all the kids ooooo’ed and ahhhhh’ed over it.  They love looking at all the different birds.  I thought perhaps I could buy some Angry Birds fabric either online or at the fabric store so I can make a pair of Angry Birds pants for all the kids, but to my surprise, there was none to be found.  Sad!  But, I accidentally stumbled upon a blogger who made her own Angry Birds plush toys.  I was overjoyed and knew that my kids would love these plushies.  I’ve been secretly sewing and carefully hiding each finished birds after the kids have gone to bed each night.  They will be presented to them on Christmas day.

Here are my Angry Birds.  I stuffed each one with fiberfill and a little bit of beans to give it some weight and velocity when thrown.  Yes, they’re meant to be thrown.  Keep in mind that I filled it with “a little bit of beans” so that the kids don’t get whacked too painfully by these birds.

I really like photos printed on canvas, but they’re quite expensive even though prices had been more affordable these days.  I think canvas prints make excellent Christmas gifts, especially for the grandparents.  This year I decided to make my own canvas prints so I can generously give each set of grandparents five canvas prints of the recent portraits Evers took.  I came across an excellent DIY canvas tutorial that explained the steps very clearly.  Thanks to pinterest.com!  By the way, the craft section of Pinterest can by quite addicting.

I sent my husband to Michael’s Arts & Crafts (because I refuse to leave my tower) to get plain 8″x10″ canvasses, which were about $1 per canvas (in bulk) after 50% off coupon.  I already have Mod Podge, paint, and other supplies.  We printed 8″x10″ portraits at Costco for $1.49 each.  All in all, the cost was $2.49 per canvas.  Yay!

I deviated from the tutorial a bit.  Instead of adding paper strips to the sides of the canvas, I painted them black.  I tried the paper strips technique using other prints and even though they turned out fine, I found that they were easier to mess up.  I really didn’t want to risk messing up these pretty portraits so thanks to my husband’s suggestion, I painted the sides black.

After the sides are completely dry, I spread Mod Podge evenly over the canvas and mount the photo onto it.  After this is dried, I spread another layer of Mod Podge over the photo itself.  I must admit that it was a bit nerve wracking doing that because it looked like I just messed up the print due to its milk streaks on the photo.  But!  It dried clear so all was good.

Here is a close-up of the finished product.  The dried, clear streaks resemble that of a true canvas print.

All five prints finished!

My husband installed a saw tooth type of picture hanger on the back of each one for hanging.  Now they’re all wrapped and ready to be presented to the grandparents.