An a-MAZE-ing Gift {for the boys!}

In case you missed it last week, this is my guest post at Twin Dragon Fly Designs! Heather is a friend from SYTYC, she did a series this Christmas on Christmas presents for boys, go check out all of the fun boy posts HERE!

This is a great last minute Christmas gift using stuff that you have on hand!

My little man often feels left out because he is the only boy in our family, and has ONLY girl cousins... So I was excited for the challenge of making something for the boys! I saw a simple fabric maze on Pinterest, HERE, and I thought it looked like fun!  I wanted to make a larger more complicated maze, to keep my busy boy well... BUSY.  This is a fairly simple project that uses up some of your scraps, and costs PENNIES to make!  A little marble or decorative glass rock is sewn inside that you try to move from corner to corner... it is great to keep busy in the car or at a doctors office, etc! 


Items Needed:
Fabric Scraps for maze, add 3/4 inch to the long and short size of your maze.  For my printable, I cut out..
    2- 7 1/4" and 10 1/4" rectangles
    2- 2" squares
Contrasting thread, you do not want the thread to match the fabric.
Decorative flat glass stone, or marble (smaller size) (You can purchase a bag full at the dollar store)
Printed Maze
Ribbon, cut 5" length

Step 1: Prep
Print and cut out maze,  and measure the length and width of the maze itself.  This maze should be about 6 1/2" by 9 1/2".

 

Cut two rectangular pieces of fabric 3/4" longer then the long and short side of the maze.  It works out nicely if you do one solid colored fabric for the front, and a fun patterned for the back... (I learned that after I took these pictures)!

 

In addition cut two, two inch fabric squares for the corner piece. Fold the square down the diagonal of the square to make a triange, if using felt just cut the square in half, because you do not need a finished edge.

Step 2: Assembly

On the right side of the front fabric, sew fabric triangles to opposite corners, (this will denote the start and finish of the maze). Look at the maze and make sure you put them in the right corners.  Fold the ribbon in half and tack it to the edge of the fabric.  Your pieces should now look like the picture above.

With a 1/4" seam allowance, and right sides together,  sew around the perimeter of the front and back pieces, leaving a small opening.

Turn right side out, and press.

Pin the maze directly onto the front of the  fabric.

 

Sew on the paper (it will be ok), directly on the lines of the maze.  MAKE SURE YOU BACK STITCH, at every corner, and at the end of every line.  It is best if you use a contrasting thread, so that you can see the lines clearly, (I learned this by trial and error too!).  You do not need to sew the perimeter border of the maze.

Rip off the paper, my kids love helping with this part!

Place a flat glass stone, in the opening.

 

Close the opening up, and zig zag stitch around the outside, and you are ready to go!

This little maze is a huge hit with my little guy!  He likes to 'drive the rock' around he says!

In fact, he loves it so much, he wants me to make one for 

ALL OF THE KIDS IN HIS PRESCHOOL CLASS!!

He is so sweet and certain, his mom can do this, and that his friends will just love it, it is hard to say no!  So if you don't see me for a while, I will be making mazes for the masses!

I don't usually like solid colored things, but for the maze it really works well, you can see the maze better, and you can still have your fun patterned fabric on the back.  The front of this game is cream felt!

 

I like to party HERE!

A Beary SCARY Neighbor Gift, Oh my!

This might be a long post, but 'bear' with me, it is quite fun!

We all have unique things that happen in our neighborhoods... back in 2004 we had a unique visitor.

A BEAR, a real black bear was in my neighbors tree!

You might think this would be kind of scary, but it was actually TONS of fun!  Everyone came out with their cameras, their kids, their dogs.... lol, no one was scared, in fact at one point they tried to sedate the bear, which did not work, the bear ran across main street, and all the cowboys ran behind with their ropes to catch it... 

We are just a bunch of country kids having a good time!

Everyone stopped what they were doing to get a peak at the BEAR on main street!  It was such hoot!  And we even made it to the NEWS!  

 

Which is a big deal for my small town in rural Utah!  A camera Crew just happened to be driving through the area (which is kind of a miracle in itself, since the nearest news station is over 2 hours away!)  and saw commotion on Mainstreet and thought there might be a parade or something... Boy were they excited to see a bear in a tree, and a whole bunch of crazy country folks to boot!  

So we all had a hoot watching ourselves on the evening news!

(My hubby even made the news, he is the cute one in the back sportin' the cowboy hat)

I kind of forgot about the story until my husband and I were attending a Farm Bureau Convention, and they had a News Anchor (Sam Pinrod) speak, and he shared 3 of his favorite news stories he covered... and GUESS what, one of them happened to be the BEAR story!

This was back before Youtube (shocking I know), so we never had the footage after the broadcast... So I asked this News Anchor if I could have a copy... this was quite a process. But finally he gave me a copy as long as I PROMISED not to put it on Youtube... REALLY?, and not tell where I got it from (sorry Sam)..  So the best I could do for this post was take some screen shots from the news broadcast... sorry:(

But I did get permission to make copies of the news broadcast for my neighbors for Christmas!

Of course, I had to get a little crafty, and you KNOW I love a good theme, so I made a bear themed neighbor gift including:

The Bear on Main Street News Broadcast, burned to a DVD

Cinnamon Bears,  some dipped in chocolate, of course!

All wrapped up in a bear tin

 I was looking on the internet to find some place to buy Cinnamon Bears in bulk, and came across Sweet's Candy... to my delight, the Sweet's Candy Factory is in Utah, and they give free tours!

They also have an outlet store at the factory...so I knew I had to drive over 120 miles, to save a few cents, and get a tour of a Candy factory, doesn't that sound logical?

It was really fun to see how candy is made, my kids loved the tour... almost as much as I did. If you live in Utah, you should really go, you can find information about the free tour HERE!

After Christmas the year before, my mom bought a whole bunch of square tins... because they were on sale of course!  When she heard what I was doing, she let me have the tins!  They originally had Snowman on them.. I knew that just wouldn't do.

I hot glued a blue square to cover the snowman, then I made a black bear out of black felt.  I hot glued the pieces together, and completed the bear with googly eyes, and a puff paint smile. The bears turned out quite darling, and are a warning of what is inside...

 

This is without a doubt the funnest neighborhood gift I have ever given. This was my neighbor gift last year BMB (before my blog), and my neighbors LOVED it, they still talk about it today.  We had so much fun reminiscing about our bear adventure!   It was a very inexpensive gift, but filled with a lot of thought and love!
 

So my best advice for neighbor gifts is make it memorable, fun, and use your creativity! Now I have to come up with a neighbor gift this year, I am having a hard time coming up with something to live up to last years fun gift!  What are you giving your neighbors?

This Post was sponsored by the bear.... in the tree!

I like to link at these Parties, I also submitted this neighbor gift idea to the CSI project!
 

Christmas Magic, Make it Merry!

I am so excited to be part of the Make it Merry Blog event, I have been asked to blog about Christmas magic.  What a fun topic, while pondering 'Christmas Magic' three different themes kept coming to my mind.

Christmas Magic Comes from Children

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

What would Christmas be without children?
Recalling Christmas of our youth, the anticipation of Christmas, the giving of sweet gifts. My daughter has been making gifts (colored pictures) for just about everyone we know.



The twinkle in a childs eye.

The reminder that Christmas started with a little one.

My mother works with a single mother, who struggles financially.  Her son was able to 'Shop with a Cop'  he was so excited for this. While at work the cop called my moms friend, and she came back with tears in her eyes. The police officer had told her that her son bought Christmas gifts for her, and Christmas gifts for his sisters, but did not think to buy one gift for himself.
 
~Yes, Christmas is about children.

Christmas Magic Comes from Giving

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more? ~Dr. Seuss

 

Christmas magic comes from giving.

 

There are so many creative ways to give during the Holiday season.  One of our favorite things to do during the Holidays is visit the Festival Of Trees.  Individuals, families, and businesses donate a tree to be auctioned off, with all the proceeds going to Primary Childrens Medical Center.

Often the trees are in memory of someone they love, no longer with us.

 

Some trees are just fun!  The magic they give to the observer, and the magic they bring to thousands of children in need is priceless.  It is our goal to someday donate a tree!

And I always come away with some Crafty inspiration, I just love the bee ornaments!

 

This year our family is going to start a new tradition of giving. We are going to play Santa Elves, for a neighbor and give gifts for the 12 days of Christmas! Thanks to Sprik Space, this is going to be easy.  She has made darling printables that correspond to each 12 days, all we need to do is print them out, and buy an inexpensive gift to go with it, she has even made us a shopping list.  My kids are so excited to be sneaky... we are choosing an elderly widowed neighbor, so hopefully we can give without being caught!

We also had so much fun making Christmas Cards for soldiers!

Christmas is about giving of yourself, about trying to be a little better, trying to give a little more.   When we do not have much to give, that is when we can give the most.  Try to find some unique way to give of yourself this Christmas season.

Christmas Magic Comes from Stories

But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round... as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely.
                        ~Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Christmas Magic Comes from stories.  Stories told in families of Christmas' long ago.  Stories of people we love that may not be with us anymore.  Christmas stories of years we struggled that turned out to be our best Christmas ever... Christmas stories help keep the memories alive.

Christmas Magic comes from reading our favorite Christmas stories, over and over.  I have a binder of Christmas stories that I cherish, that seems to grow each year.

(This is the printable I created for the Christmas Season you can find it HERE!)

And of course the Christmas story for centuries foretold.  The story of a baby born in a manger, that came to save us all.

I hope that you can find magic this Christmas, that reaches beyond the twinkling lights, pretty packages, perfectly groomed trees, and holiday sales.  

I hope you can find the Christmas Magic found in the twinkling of a childs eye, the magic found in  bettering yourself and giving to others, and finally I hope you find Christmas Magic in stories from family, and He whose birth we celebrate. 

For more Christmas magic, check out these posts!