Paperback Book Pumpkin

These pumpkins were all over blogland last year and I thought they were so cute but didn't make any until this past weekend.  We rented The Avengers and since I had some time to kill I thought this would be the perfect project to work on.  For New Year's Eve last year we had a white elephant gift exchange.  My husband ended up with a box of books that included two trashy romance books that were a bit beat up.  As soon as I saw them I knew they'd be great for this project since neither one of us would read them.  I put them aside and have been saving them ever since.

Directions:  (sorry I didn't take pics along the way and I gave away three of the pumpkins last night so I only had the one left to take a pic of.)

1.  Make your template.  I cut a piece of paper half the size of the book and then cut it to look like a pumpkin shape.
2.  Rip the covers off the book.
3.  Trace your template on the page twice (once on the top of the page and once on the bottom of the page. I ended up making two pumpkins out of each book)
4.  Cut your shape out.  You can either just keep using the previously cut pages as a guide to cut more pages or keep tracing your template and cut out about six pages at a time.  I just kept cutting and cutting and my pages kept getting more and more wonky till they didn't match by the time I made it all the way around the book so it's probably best to trace the template every once in a while to keep your shape consistent.
5.  After you've cut out all your pages glue the first and last pages together with a glue stick and start fanning out your pages.
6.  Use an orange marker to color the outside edge of your pages.
7.  Find a stick in your yard and break it to the right length and then hot glue it in place.
8.  Raid your ribbon stash for a green ribbon and tie it around your stem and you're done!
9.  Give the extra pumpkins away for presents.
10.  Keep one for yourself to enjoy!
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{Tutorial Tuesday} - Coloring Pages

I'm the Kindergartner teacher at the town after school program.  Most of the time they don't have homework so I come up with a craft or activity for them to do while the other grades are doing their assignments.  I wanted to have some cute coloring pages today and searched online but couldn't find anything I liked.  I remembered that I had these clip art cds from back in the day when I worked at Provo Craft.  I brought up some line drawings and printed them out for the kids to color.  They loved it and the images were way cuter than anything else available.  Going to make some more to have on hand when we have free time.

{Money Saving Monday} - Handmade for the Holidays

Last night we drew names for my husband's family Christmas Gift Exchange.  This is the second year we've done this.  Each year the family grows so it's a good idea for each family member to just have to come up with one gift.  There are three groups: the aunts, the uncles and the kids.  I suppose we could have the kids by gender as well but there's only 3 nephews right now and 8 nieces with one on the way any day now.  I don't think the nephews have any chance of catching up because I don't think there will be that many more kids.  Anyways... since I like to make gifts way in advance I'm glad to know who's on our list this year for my husband's side of the family.  I already delivered most of my family's gifts when we went to CA last month.  Only about 85 more days till Christmas so there's still plenty of time to make everything I need.  I already have several ideas for the remaining people on my lists.  Now just to find the time to craft in between unpacking boxes after our move last week.  Ugh!

{Money Saving Monday} - Free Museum Day

Saturday September 29th is free museum day sponsored by the Smithsonian.  Click here to look for a museum in your area and sign up for free admission.  A ticket will be emailed to you good for two admissions per household.  Last year we went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody.  I hadn't been there in many years and it was fun to see all the new exhibits.  They've recently done some renovations so I look forward to going again this year to see what's new.

{Whatever Wednesday} - 30 day challenge

My friend - the wii fit balance board (never mind the dirty feet prints!)

One of my concerns when I was pregnant is that my back would hurt.  Oddly enough, I made it all the way through without my back hurting one bit.  Now that I'm lugging around my 18 1/2 lb 4 month old my back hurts all the time.  I've done a bit of walking since I had the baby but haven't really "exercised".  Today I decided that I would do the yoga on the wii fit.  My baby takes lots of naps so during his morning nap I did all 30 minutes of yoga.  It's amazing how much better I felt afterwards.  Ever since I had him I feel like my body is a crumpled up piece of paper and that I can't even stand up straight.  I know doing yoga will really help my posture and will strengthen my back and help me be stronger to be able to carry around my baby easier.  I'm challenging myself to do yoga every day for the next 30 days.   Even though I'm down 30 lbs and 10" around my waist I still can't fit into my regular clothes and every day is a challenge to find something to wear.  I know that by doing yoga every morning and continuing to do our evening walks I will be more toned and be able to fit back into my cute clothes.  I'll let you know how it goes!

{Tutorial Tuesday} - 1/4" foot and finding discontinued supplies

This should've gone up yesterday but the day just snuck past me.  How can July be over already?  The plans I had for it.  Oh well.  I figure I only do about 5% of the ideas that swim around in my head.  I'll get better right?

So, I finally started sewing together my baby's quilt.  He's 4 1/2 months old now so it's about time.  Luckily, he got 3 other quilts when he was born so he's been fine so far.  I meant to sew this up while I was pregnant but never felt very well and then we were going to sew it while my mom was here when I had the baby but that didn't happen so now I'm finally working on sewing it together so I can take it to CA with me at the end of the month and my mom can help me quilt it.

Believe it or not this is actually my first time sewing a regular quilt together.  I've sewed lots of rag quilts together and even though I've worked on quilts before I always made my mom sew them together because I was afraid I would mess them up. haha!

If you have the same fear, one thing that helps is having a 1/4" foot.  It has a handy little guide to help you line up your blocks so that all  your stitching is even.  My blocks still don't line up perfectly but I'm sure it's better than if I just tried to follow the line on my sewing machine.

The other hint I wanted to share with you today is finding discontinued craft supplies.  I happened to pick this quilt kit up on sale over a year ago at a quilt shop in St. George, UT when we were driving through.  A couple months ago I finally started looking for a back for it and decided I wanted the same fabric used in the binding.  I checked the local quilt store (which is 50 miles away) but they didn't have it.  I looked online at the manufacturer's website but it was discontinued.  I also checked a couple online fabric stores that I've ordered from in the past but they were sold out as well.  I finally checked etsy and several sellers had exactly what I was looking for and at a good price.  Hurrah!  I was able to order what I needed and it arrived in just a few days.  Thank goodness for people selling their supplies online.  A couple times I've ran out of a color of crochet thread that is discontinued and have been able to find exactly the right shade on ebay.  So if you are ever needing more of a craft supply you run out of, be sure to check ebay and etsy and you might just find exactly what you need.

{Money Saving Monday} - In Store Coupons

This is an example of what not to do!  A couple of weeks ago I went to Wal-Mart and saw that the Birthday Cake Oreos had a $1 off coupon attached.  I'd wanted to try them so I picked up a package.  Unfortunately, in the chaos of going through the checkout and making sure I used the couple of coupons that I'd brought with me I neglected to remove this coupon from the package and use it.  And since it blends right into the package the checker didn't notice it either.  haha!  So when I got home and put the groceries away, there was the coupon still on the package.  I've heard that you can bring the coupon and receipt to the store and they might credit you a $1 but since it's 100 miles roundtrip to the nearest Wal-Mart this isn't a feasible option for me.  So the lesson today is - If you give into temptation and buy an impulse item because it has a coupon attached make sure you actually use it when you go through the checkout!  (The Oreos were really good by the way.  If you haven't tried them yet I recommend them!)