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!
 

The Gardening Guru Bucket!

Here is a fun project to add to your bucket list! To say my mom likes gardening is an understatement! In fact, right now on her laundry room door there is a sign that reads, "Keep door shut, seeds germinating" (true story). She has a portable heater blasting in her laundry room, to help her little seeds in mini green house, 'germinate' ... apparently! I just love my mom. So for Mother's day I wanted to make her something to help organize all of her gardening gadgets, and give her a soft place to sit!

Item's Needed:
Gardening belt
Spray paint for plastic (I used Krylon Fusion for Plastic, hammered finish)
Burlap
Glue to adhere burlap, such as Gorilla Glue
5 gallon bucket
Gamma lid (a lid that fits on the bucket that screws on and off, you can buy them from food
storage places)
Cut out wood circle to fit over lid, (hubby made mine out of plywood) and jigsaw to cut wood
Foam to cover wood circle
Material to cover lid
Clear vinyl to keep lid waterproof
Staple gun

Step 1: Make tool belt

For instructions, click here, this post was getting a wee bit long, so I made a separate post for the tool belt.  One of my favorite aspects of this projects is you can put the belt around the bucket, or where it around your waist.  If you are not a big sewer you might be able to buy something similar.  Here is my beautiful sister, and my cute daughter modeling the tool belt!

Step 2: Beautify your bucket

I choose to paint my plain white gamma lid, a coppery brown color with Krylon paint made for plastic.

Cut a piece of burlap the width of your bucket.  Glue the burlap onto your bucket, I used a hot gun glue gun. I did NOT love the hot glue gun, it would dry before I could put the burlap on, someone suggested that I use Gorilla Glue next time, and I think I will try it. The burlap not only makes the bucket look pretty, but the rough material helps keep the tool belt in place when tied. Note: I like to buy my buckets at the grocery store. My grocery store sells the 5 gallon buckets they have used from food products in their bakery for $1 a bucket. Talk to your local grocer, maybe they will let you have their five gallon buckets!
When paint is dried, attach the gamma lid to the bucket, and tie the tool belt around the belt.

Step 3: Seat Cover

Now, create a seat for your bucket. Cut a circle out of wood, my sweetheart cut a circle out of plywood for me, love him. Cut foam the same size as your piece of wood.

Cut a piece of fabric and clear vinyl about six inches larger in diameter than your wood circle.

Stretch fabric around the foam and staple to the bottom of your wood circle. Repeat for vinyl.

Attach the cushion, to the lid. Using four small screws, screw the lid to the plywood circle. I was going to velcro this together, luckily my dad saved me! Wa~la, you have a seat cushion!

I really love how it turned out... and best of all so does my mom! I was so excited to give it to her, I could not wait until Mother's Day!

I love all of the storage in the big pockets, the bucket is great storage as well.

You can take the cushion off the bucket and use it as a knee pad, when you are weeding. I wish I looked that cute when I was weeding, here is Alyssa, making an appearance on OUR blog!

This has been such a fun project! I might have to make one for myself now!

I like to link at these fabulous parties!