It’s been a looooooong time coming…

You may remember that Alicia sent me two crafts in her first dispatch. I’ve been working on craft #2 for, uh…let’s not go there. Between training my replacement at work, prepping the house for sale and general extracurriculars and sports/household stuff/kids gotta eat/etc…, I’ve had a tough time squeezing in the fun stuff like this adorable stuffed owl kit.

Alicia suggested I let Cheeseball (my four year old little girl) help sew up the smaller owl, which was a fantastic idea! Unfortch, trying to squeeze that in to daytime hours just didn’t happen and I finally gave up and completed it myself. She’ll be the beneficiary of the two little owls, though, and that completely makes her sparkly little day.

This kit was a lot of fun and so, so easy. Alicia is one smart cookie and knows that a craft kit that includes all the materials and is designed for the skillset of a smallish child is right in my craft sweetspot.

I think I actually managed to execute just as well as a smallish child if you pretend not to notice the fact that these poor little owls are woefully understuffed. Even without the giant leftover blob of fluff, I can tell these needed more belly. Which leads into my very few tips for the project:

Sew up to the recommended opening on both owls before stuffing either.

Stuff, sew the recommended opening mostly closed, then stuff some more.

Yep, that’s it. Seriously – so, so easy, you guys!

It’s been a looooooong time coming…

Vintage Brooch Magnets

Jen sent me a great little craft. I would have finished earlier, but I had to go buy a new glue gun. I know I had one. I think it's been reappointed to garage duty. I bought a pink one this time. I bet I'll always be able to find it.

Here are the supplies she sent: a package of magnets, a package of small blocks, and four future magnets.

I threatened to keep the pink brooch to wear. But I didn't. I made it into a magnet and it is now up on my fridge.

This is a brooch, complete with pin on back. You can see a glimpse of my pink glue gun in the upper right corner, and a glimpse of my pink needle nose pliers on the right edge. I always know where they are. They don't get taken to the garage.

Using the needle nose pliers and a slight twisting motion, as though I was dialing each piece, I broke off the pin on each side. I opened the pin first so I could do each side separately and wouldn't get a flying pin in the eye. I's a jeenus.

This is one of the magnets right after I've glued it all together. I went back and added a small bead of glue all the way around to add some strength and clean up the look a bit.

Ta-Da! Four pretty new magnets on my fridge!

Jen already has her second project, and I think she's finished it. I am patching some jeans for her and then I'll be able to send out project number three with it, also.

Vintage Brooch Magnets