Momma and Baby Elephant by Under My Umbrella

 Hey all!  It's Melinda from over at Under My Umbrella here to share what I've crafted up for April's theme. How we celebrate Mother's Day is different for all of us.  I have friends who get to go off for the day and go to a spa to relax and others who don't change their daily routine.  For me personally, mother's day is about spending time with my children, the ones who make me a mother!   This time of year in my household we are deep in school projects and I'll like to share one I did with my daughter Emma.  Her assignment was to make a circuit.  Sure we could have just grabbed a piece of wood and slapped the circuit on it but that just isn't our style.   We jumped on pinterest and found one we liked but wanted to tweak in our mother/daughter duo way :)  Here is what we came up with....

It's a cute momma and baby elephant.  When you put their trunks together you complete the circuit and the baby heart lights up.  Gosh!  This just melts my heart.

The wood part of this project was easy (the circuit part was a *little* tricky).  I saw the picture on pinterest and grabbed a piece of paper and made a pattern.  We traced it on 1/4 inch MDF.  I cut it out on my scroll saw.  Emma then sanded and painted the pieces gray.  We found some great animal print felt over at Joann's and knew it would be perfect.

Easy, fun project and I got to have some great bonding time with my daughter.  She got some one on one attention (which can be a challenge around here) in which we laughed a whole lot!  I love what this project symbolizes to me.  The love of a mother can do amazing things for our children.  Recently I've been working in the schools in my areas.  The difference in behavior and learning for children who have parents who care, love and encourage them versus those who don't is staggering.  Love your babies!  They might not appreciate it now or even notice but it makes them better little people.

Thanks to the ladies here at WYLTC for sharing their wonderful projects and keeping me inspired.  All the moms out there have a wonderful mothers day and make sure you celebrate YOU!

Angel Mother- Sassy Sanctuary

Hello everyone!  Krystal from Sassy Sanctuary here today to share my Mother's Day craft with you.  Like everyone else it feels great to be ahead of the game for Mother's Day!

Now, there is a bit of a back story with my project.  A few weeks ago we had a church activity where we invited our Moms to a dinner and had a nice little program honoring our Mothers and Motherhood.  Many quotes were shared that night but one that really stuck with me reads,

"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother."

                                                                         -Abraham Lincoln

That particular quote stuck with me because it feels particularly true about my Mom.  My Mom has always been my greatest supporter and champion.  I owe so much of my accomplishments to her support and to my upbringing.  And my Mom has always had a thing for angels and decorates with them throughout her house, so I have always thought of my Mom as a living angel.  

So, I knew I had to make an angel for my mom! Here is how it turned out!

I think it came out pretty cute and I hope my Mom will love it!

Here is how it looks from the back.

It was really easy to make too.  Here is my method in case you want to make one of your own.

First I drew up the shape I wanted.  Here is the template I ended up with. 

Then I cut it out of a 2x6 we had laying around the garage using a jig saw.  You could totally use a thinner board and a scroll saw, I was just being too lazy to drag three kids to the store so I made due with what I had.  Cutting a 2x6 into a shape wasn't easy and my jig saw blade must have been bent because I ended up with a very crooked looking angel.  I didn't take a picture because I thought I was going to have to toss it and go to the store, but before I threw in the towel I got out the dremel tool with a grinding bit to see if I could salvage it. 

After softening all the edges and adding some shape to the hair, this is what I ended up with.  I liked it!  Yay!

Then you paint and add your quote.  I made a stencil for the quote out of vinyl.  It worked great.

And the last thing you have to do is make the wings.  I used some wire and basically made an 8 shape over and over, and then wrapped it in the middle.  Like this...

And that is just hot glued to the back.  It was really easy to make actually and a fun project.

Thanks for the inspiration ladies!

Melinda will be here tomorrow to finish off our Mother's Day projects.  And after all the great ideas this week you will have no excuse not to create something fabulous for your Mom!

Thanks for reading!

Craft Goodies Remembering "Mom"...

Hello fellow crafters and happy April!

 I'm happy to be posting today and even happier to be one step ahead in the race to get a Mother's Day gift finished. (Being ahead of anything doesn't happen much for me...)

 

My mind was swimming with ideas once Candace and Nicole shared their theme and originally I thought I'd be a bit selfish and do something for me. I am after all a mom too, right?

These are my monkeys...

 But in the end, my sentimental side won out-- I wanted to do something simple, that could be easily replicated, and that reminded me of my mom.
 

 

I cut out 2 letter M's from MDF and added in a small oval picture frame to spell out M-O-M.

 

 (If you don't cut your own wood you can find letters at most craft stores these days. Add a fun frame and you've got the same thing. Add a picture of your kiddos or family, or do like I am and add a picture of your mom. You could even spell out "Nana" or "Gran" with frames for the A's to give one to grandma too!)

My mom has been gone from us now for just shy of 20 years and yet it seems like just yesterday that she was here. I miss her everyday. I love getting the chance to share things I learned from and  remember about her with my girls-she was an amazing person.

I plan to make a set for each of my sisters and my brother, they need a Mother's day hug too!

 

 I added mine to the pictures I have of my girls in my craft room, so now I have all my favorite ladies in one place! It can't get any better than that...

 

Thank you Candace and Nicole for a great excuse to remember more about my mom, to create something fun, and to get share it with others. And to all of you moms out there--

Happy Mother's Day! Make it the best one yet.

 

Happy Crafting!

 

 

 

 

 

Crafty Sisters Mother's Day Bouquet

Hello from Crafty Sisters!  We are hosting Wood You Like To Craft this month and thought that
"Mother's Day" was a good theme to inspire us!  We are so excited to share with you just in time for Mother's Day this fun personalized Wooden Flower Bouquet!

Our Mom has each of her children's 8 year old pictures framed and even uses them as contact pictures on her phone.  Our folks have been busy recording all our old home videos off onto DVD so they are especially sentimental right now.  We knew this project would be perfect for her!

 

This project is pretty easy and inexpensive to make, all you'll need is:
Flower shapes cut from 1/2" Mdf (ours are 4- 4 1/2" in size)
12" long 1/4" dowels
2x2" blocks to anchor the dowels into
Paint
Paper/embellishments/ribbon
Glue/glue gun
2" pictures
A vase to put them in with some candy filler (this is for Dad to snack on and so he doesn't feel left out!)

All you need to do is paint, paper and embellish the flowers.  Make sure your dowels are glued in and dry before you start to assemble them!

A great tip we use when we are drilling into flowers or smaller shapes is to tape off the depth with a piece of masking tape on the drill bit tip.  It's a great guide and it comes off easy when you are done!

Floral foam isn't strong enough to hold up the weight of these flowers so using some scrap 2x2" wood

we hot glued them together to fit into the vase and then drilled the holes at desired angles to hold the flowers in. You'll also use the glue gun to glue them to the bottom of your vase for stability.  Make sure to leave enough room around the sides for your treats to fill in.

We did a few extra dowels with leaves cut from the Cricut to add in as fluff around the flowers and then printed out a cute saying we tied on with a ribbon for the front.

We just know our Mom is going to love it~this is her sneak peek!:)  We're even more excited we got it done a month in advance!  Stay tuned to see what the Krystal, Wendy & Melinda have to share!

The Good Shepherd--Craft Goodies

Good morning everyone and happy {almost} spring!

It's Wendy from Craft Goodies here today to wrap up this great week of Easter inspiration.

And it has been such a great week, the WYLTC ladies are amazing! I'm hoping my little project here doesn't let anyone down!

 

I was super excited for this theme, I love Easter! So here is what I did...

 

 

My mind kept telling me I wanted a little sheep in my project. When I think of Easter and it's meaning I find myself thinking more of the amazing amount of love that the Savior has for each of us and how He is indeed our shepherd. He loves and cares for each of us, each a vital part of His flock.

 

 

So that's where I went. I found a simple shepherd coloring page online, enlarged it, and cut it from 1/2 inch MDF. Same with the sheep. I wanted a simple, almost silhouette-ish look so the painting was kept really minimal.

 

Just like the other ladies, I wanted to make it interactive, a way to share the Easter story with my kids but had a small problem. My oldest daughter is going to be making the "12 Days of Easter" eggs next week in Young Women's so I didn't want to duplicate it.

 Enter The Friend!

(The Friend is a magazine for children put together by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

 

Download the activity HERE

This month's issue has advent of sorts already to go. Simply cut the picture into pieces, and then the week before Easter pick out one per day, match it to the corresponding spot on the activity page, and do the activity. 

 

That's what went into my eggs, but where to put them? Every little sheep needs a meadow to hang out in, so a meadow we have!

 

 

 I wrapped a 12 inch strip of 1x3 in green felt. Cut two strips of felt to look like grass, glued one to the back and the other to the front. And then used jumbo popsicle sticks to make a little fence. I glued the sticks together (I did trim a few of the edges) and then wrapped a little jute at the joints, just for fun. I used my staple gun to attach the sticks to the 1x3 and then put it all together...

 

 

My girls saw it this morning on the mantle and just gushed!

{I think they just like the idea that Easter is coming...} But I am thrilled with how it came out and more so that we will get to keep a bit more of Christ in our celebration.

 

Thanks Krystal for a great theme, and to all of you for some great ideas to file away--they really are each just amazing. Have a wonderful day and Easter and we'll see you next month.

Happy Crafting!

 





He Has Risen -- Under My Umbrella

Hey crafty ladies!  It's me, Melinda, from over at Under My Umbrella here to share my Christ Centered Easter Project.  What a wonderful theme for this month!  Here is what I came up with....

Along with the other ladies of WYLTC I focused on an advent/countdown calendar of sorts.  Each paper has a scripture that teaches the story of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.  What you can't see is each paper is attached to a Hersey chocolate egg.  Each day a family member gets to take one down (eat the candy) and then we look up the scripture and read it together.  Good quality family time (there is a shortage of that due to crazy schedules)!!  I was worried about if I didn't have eggs or something kid like on my project my kids wouldn't be interested.  Not true.  They woke up this morning and kept asking about the project sitting on the bookcase.  When I told them what it is they wanted to start today!  I also think they can smell chocolate :)

Here is how I made this project.  First of all I need to give credit to Beckie over at Infarrantly Creative for the board idea.  My local craft group did her Valentine's Day countdown in February and we used her tutorial linked above.  I was so crazy busy I didn't get to work on mine during out craft day and had a blank board just hanging out in my house.   Why not use it?!!!  I sanded it and painted it gray.

I printed some vinyl out on my good old vinyl machine and applied it to the board.

Last I wrote scriptures on the papers, glued a ribbon to them and glue dotted them to the chocolate egg which nicely fits in the hole.  You could use Hersey kisses too or skip the candy all together.  I wasn't sure about this project in the works but think it turned out rather nice!

Thanks Krystal for inspiring me to make something that helps me and those around me remember what is really important at Easter time.  Happy Easter!

Crafty Sisters Easter Bunny Countdown

Easter Greetings from Crafty Sisters!
We are sure excited about Krystal's theme this month, especially since we love the scripture egg countdown.

Last year we made about 20 egg kits up for my Activity Day Church girls and although they look
cute in the egg carton we've always wanted a better way to really display them.

We cut them out of 1/2" MDF, making sure to cut the sides and bottom using a miter saw for straight sides and bottoms~so they'd stand up and we could hinge them together.

Yes, I said hinge!  We got these cute little hinges at Hobby Lobby and fastened them on accordion style
so that when they stand up they'll have some extra structure and cuteness of course!

We did a quick coat of white spray paint~note to self~make sure it's warmer so the paint doesn't glop.
I seem to need a refresher on this point every year...and I remember it about a year later when I glop my paint again.....

We then took plastic Easter eggs and using velcro dots, attached them to the belly of each bunny.  Then we just glue gunned on a cute little matching bow.

These work great for displaying the 12 scripture eggs but you could also put little treats in them too.  Our kids would be happy to have a count down calendar every month if we let them!
Thanks Krystal for the great inspiration piece!  Can't wait to see what Wendy and Melinda do!