How to Make Cheap Snow Gloves for Southern Kids

We're still in the throes of a freak snow event down here. Schools, and the city itself, are on day four of a shut down. I lived here during the blizzard of 1993 and don't remember the roads being out of commission this long at all. However, unlike in 1993, we had a lot of warning this was coming. But since snow is very uncommon in Atlanta I do not buy real winter gloves for my children. It's just a waste of money. My 10yo son only saw his first snowfall three years ago. The inexpensive $1 knit gloves at Target have served us well. Until this week. On Sunday, the day before the predicted white stuff would fall, I tried to find real snow gloves for my youngest children. I had no luck. These gloves are just not easy to find in Atlanta...especially past Christmas; we have swimsuits out in many stores, long johns, hats and scarves are already on clearance shelves. I was excited about the largest snowfall in years for my kids and wanted to have something to keep their hands dry so they could sled and play for hours. I was not to be deterred.

And then I found the answer...

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Recycle Old Christmas Cards into New Christmas Cards

A great Christmas craft for the kids and a wonderful way to recycle all the cards you receive from previous years. This was a favorite Advent activity last year and again this year.

The night before this activity I cut out all the images and messages from my stack of old cards. I also fold construction paper in different colors into cards.

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Boys Tee to Girls Dress

My two oldest are boys, boys with shirts I love. My youngest is my only girl, a girl with a funky fashion sense. I like to get the most out of all the clothes I buy my kids and low and behold I've discovered how to make some of those boy clothes go all the way down the line to my daughter and in a way her inner fashion diva loves. All it requires is taking the best tees the boys have outgrown, finding a yard or so of coordinating fabric and adding a skirt. The boys' best tees become her spunky play dresses.

My oldest in the Dark Side of the Garden shirt two and a half years ago.

It all started with this Darth Vader topiary shirt. I found this amazing, super soft Threadless Tee several years ago at a consignment sale for $2. My oldest son loved it. Then it was passed down to my middle son. But one fateful day he decided to see if scissors would cut cotton. His query resulted in a small nick along the bottom hem. I was sad to see this shirt go before its time.  So I decided it didn't have to go yet. My daughter liked Star Wars...I could do something with this.

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Recycle Organization: Pretty Boxes

I have this great IKEA furniture piece in the dining/sewing/craft/homeschool classroom. It has ten large cubbies that are perfect for school needs as well as dining room needs. I'd been looking for the perfect baskets to put in the cubbies for each of my three kids' individual schooling books. I needed something just the perfect size, nothing plastic or cartoon character adorned; and it couldn't cost a lot since I needed three. I sincerely believe you can share your home space with your young children, make it personal and not sacrifice style. But finding these baskets was proving to test my beliefs. Until late one night when inspiration struck.

I don't have pictures from the steps but these boxes would be easy and cheap to make. I started with the free priority mail shipping boxes from the post office. I wrapped each box in left over wallpaper from my powder room. In Adobe Illustrator I created a design featuring each child's name and printed it on label stock. After attaching the name labels, I cut clear contact paper to cover the entire box and make it more durable with multiple handlings. On the bottom of each box I attached fabric chair slides so the boxes wouldn't gradually remove the finish from the wood being pulled out daily. Inside each box I taped an empty toilet paper roll to hold pencils. You don't have to homeschool to use these boxes. I think they would be a perfect way to corral all the essentials needed for  homework in the kitchen, dining room, family room or bedroom too.

I created the brown shape with their names on the computer and printed them on label stock.

An empty toilet paper roll taped in the corner is the perfect place to hold pencils, markers, scissors or rulers.

The best organization is functional and attractive. These boxes are perfect; from school to dinner in seconds.

My inspiration for these boxes is actually from myself. I'd made boxes like this last fall when we took a road trip to California. I knew the kids would need somewhere to keep their personal belongings in easy reach on the long trip cross country. I made the boxes the night before we left from the shipping boxes in the basement and wrapped each in birthday paper suiting each child's interests. Covered them with clear Contact Paper to protect from spills and rips. Taped a large solo cup in the corner to hold pens, pencils, crayons, small trinkets. Those boxes were a trip lifesaver. They could move from car to tent or motel room in a flash. And the heavy duty boxes coupled with clear Contact Paper made them durable. They survived two weeks on the road without a single rip, tear or stain.

The original version of these boxes I made for our road trip to California last year.

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Recycle Crafting: Toy Horse Bedding

Princess Fierce loves horses right now. For her recent fifth birthday she received some toy horses and was using an old shoe box as their bed. Great imagination muscle but not the most durable bed nor could all the horses lie down together in the small box. Her older brother told me I needed to buy her a toy barn. I had a better idea that would cost me no money, look pretty in her colorful room and give me more much needed practice on my sewing machine.

I bought a set of Melissa and Doug wooden food for two dollars at a yard sale a few years back and knew one day the crate it all came in could be repurposed.

I rescued it from the basement and added a fresh coat of gloss red spray paint left over from another project.

Next I sewed "straw bed" pillows. Confession time: the original plan was just one large pillow in the box. But my measurements were off and it was too small. So I cut it into smaller pillows to not make waste. The pillows are a golden leaf pattern on one side made from a fat quarter I bought out of the Michael's clearance bin for 25¢ for some future use. The back side is a soft cotton yellow from an old sheet I bought for $1 at the thrift store, expressly for fabric use. They are all just lightly stuffed with fiber fill so they can be very flat and squishy.

Princess Fierce likes to use the smaller straw pillows for feeding her horse.

Everyone checking out their new crib.

Princess Fierce is happy her horses can now rest together.

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Recycle Crafting: Amish Puzzle Ball

This project is one of those things I came upon by accident. I'm attempting to build a plush TIE fighter from felt and I needed to find a pattern to sew a ball. My Google searches unwittingly led me to a link about an Amish Puzzle Ball. I'd never heard of such a thing but thought, "I HAVE to make one of those...but stuff it with plastic grocery store bags."

For weeks after when I would see fabric remnants at thrift stores I would consider their future place in an Amish puzzle ball. Then one fateful day my neighbor gave me her stash of neglected fleece. I spotted a cute fuzzy blue fleece adorned with fire trucks, police cars, and school busses that I knew would be the perfect complement to some vintage polyester I'd snagged for $1 the week before. And the best part, the neighbor had a newborn son...with a fire station adorned bedroom. Can we say kismet?

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