crafts

Kid Friendly Winter Crafty Activities |3 Christmas Craft Decor Ideas

| marionlovenotes

Good Morning Y’all!

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Can you believe that Christmas is this Friday? Oh my goodness I’m no where near ready! I still have gifts to warp, travel bags to  pack, and so much more!

I thought I would write a few blog posts for this up coming holiday season, of activities that you can do with your preschool through elementary age child(ren) rather you are a parent, babysitter, or grandparent stuck with the kids for the next two to three weeks. I found a bunch of holiday theme creative budget friendly activities that will keep your little ones busy.

Considering it’s the Christmas season why not encourage them to help create some holiday décor for your home (or use them as gifts).

1.) Kid Friendly Christmas Trees

*This is an awesome idea if you have a little one(s) who are itching to redecorate your picture perfect color coordinated Christmas tree every second of the day. Check out these links to these amazing blog posts to create your own kid friendly Christmas tree.

Felt Christmas Tree

Christmas Tree in a Bottle

Photo Christmas Tree

Cardboard Christmas Tree

2.) Kid Friendly Christmas Wreaths

*Why spend the money buying Christmas wreaths, when you can have your kids help you create beautiful wreaths that will hold a life time of precious memories.

Edible Candy Wreath

Wrapping Paper Wreath

Christmas Card Wreath

Christmas Ornament Wreath

Santa Tulle Wreath

3.) Kid Friendly Christmas Ornaments

*There are so many different types of Christmas ornaments that you can create with your kids and so many different ways you can use them. These super cute ornaments can be come napkin ring holders, placemats, budget friendly gift ideas, and so much more. Check out some of my favorite Christmas ornaments that your kids can make.

Paper Plate Christmas Ornament

Glitter Star Ornament

Mini Snow Globes

Fingerprint Ornament

Cinnamon Stick Christmas Ornaments

I hope you love these Christmas craft décor ideas as much as I do. I’m sure these super easy and fun activates will keep your little one busy for the next few days. For more craft/ activity ideas check out my kid friendly Pinterest boards provided below;

Kid Fall & Winter Break Activities

Kid Craft & Food Ideas

 

Thanks for stopping by!

xo,

Marion

 

 

Unboxing my Brother CS-6000i Computerized Sewing Machine

| marionlovenotes

Good Morning and Happy Memorial day everyone!

A special shout out to those who have served this country and to those who continue to sacrifice for us even now.

If you follow me on instagram or facebook or twitter you know I recently order a new sewing machine! I am ‘sew’ excited!!! I recorded an ‘un-boxing’ video my new youtube channel! So far I am loving the brother CS-6000i sewing machine and I do not have any complaints about the sewing machine. I have used brother sewing machine but this was my first time owing one. I still read over the manual to make sure I was threading the machine correctly.

 Check out my new (and first) video below!

 
Be Blessed,
Marion
xoxo

African Inspired Drawstring Pants

| marionlovenotes

Good morning y’all!

For my cousin’s birthday I made her a pair of drawstring pants, I used a variety of patterns mixed together get the desired pattern that I wanted to use. The pants were fairly easy to make, but I wouldn’t advise a beginner sewer to try to sew these pants as their first pants project. As a beginner sewer I would advise you to make your first pair of pants with elastic at the waist and at the ankles to get a similar look.

As you can see I used an African or Aztec inspired light weight fabric. I thought this would be a fun print for a pair of drawstring pants. I have no idea where I got fabric, really think it was gifted to me. When I first started sewing years ago, a lot of my sewing tools and fabric was given to me.

As you can see in the above picture I add drawstrings to the bottom of the pants, so it could be gathered at her ankles . Or she could tie the pants higher up on her leg and create a totally different look. I think these pants turned out to be really cute, hopefully she might let me take a picture of her wearing them so y’all can see how they look on.

 
xo
Marion

Sewing Curtains for the 1st time!

| marionlovenotes
Hey y’all! I hope everyone is doing well, I know my east coast friends are especially happy that spring is finally here. I have decided to post some of my sewing projects here on this blog. I just realize that I have been doing a lot of sewing but I have not shared any of my projects with you all. 

I made curtains for the kitchen window for the first time!! I am so excited, you would have thought I have made curtains before with my years of sewing experience but I haven’t. I always wanted to make curtains but never did. The curtains are super cute (at least I think so) and so easy to make. This is a perfect project for a beginner sewer.

As you can see I made two different panels for the top and bottom curtains. I plan on keeping the top curtain close and just opening the bottom one during the day.

I bought the fabric at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store in the home and décor section. I decided to have an floral print on the top and solid chocolate brown color on the bottom. I didn’t bring any measurements with me to the store (bad idea) but I ended up getting about a yard and a half of each of the fabric. Thank goodness it all worked out.

I have a lot more spring and summer crafty projects that I want to work on and I’ll be sure to share them with y’all. If you want to see more of my craft projects like my Facebook page and check out my etsy shop  (the links are below).

xo
Marion

 
 

Happy New Year!

| marionlovenotes
 
Happy New Year everyone one (I know I am a little late)!!! I hope y’all had fun New Years Eve and ready to start 2014 strong. I don’t know about y’all but I am so excited about this new year. As promise below are some pictures of my ‘Christmas’ apartment and roommates decorating our first tree.
 

  

Before we got started my roommates and I fixed us some hot cocoa and put on Christmas music so we could get into the holiday spirit.

 

If you have not dunk Oreos into hot cocoa you are really missing out.

 
 

 

 
 
Us girls had a lot of fun decorating the tree and I hope this Christmas coming up is just as special as this past Christmas. I wanted to find a pretty angel as a tree topper, but I think the gold bow did just find.
 

 

 We added lights on the tree too.

 

 
We wanted to create a wreath, so I decided to use the branches from the bottom of the tree to create our Christmas wreath. I used a mixture of metal wire and hot glue to make the wreath. Next time I make the wreath I’ll record a video so you all can see how I made it. The wreath came out really big and I had to trim it down several times to fit on the door (and probably still could use another trim) but I love how big it turned out. 

 
 
We wanted to keep the decorations on the wreath simple and keep the same theme as our Christmas tree inside. We love how natural the wreath but wanted to put a girly touch to it. Well that’s our Christmas décor, I hope you liked it.
 
xo
Marion
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Fun Times at the Original Sewing Expo

| marionlovenotes

Howdy ya’ll!
It has been some time sense I have wrote in this blog. It has been an exciting week for me and I can’t wait to share it all with you. If you love to sew and never been to a sewing expo then you have been missing out. The good news is that they have these sewing expos once a year in various cities in the United States. The sewing expo is a place where people who share the same interest can come together and explore the different vendors.

The vendors come to the expo from around the country and people all over the country enter their quilts into various contests that the expo host. It is amazing to see the different quilts that people come up with. I took few photos of the quilts entered into the contests, as well as video clips of what was going on in the expo. As soon as I get a chance to edit the clips I’ll post them here. There were a variety of people, different ages, males and female, people with years of experience sewing and there were beginners.

Coming to this sewing is a great way to update your sewing notions and get great deals on high end sewing machines.

Click this link to find out when the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo is coming close to you.->http://www.sewingexpo.com/Calendar.aspx