Paper Plate Skeleton Tutorial

I love this guy.  I'm not big into Halloween, but this skeleton is based on a decoration my mama made when I was a little girl.  I recall hanging the skeleton up and getting excited about trick or treating as a child. When my oldest boy was 2, I called my mom to ask her how she made her skeleton.  She sent me a copy of the magazine photo that inspired her, and the paper plates to make him.  This was all back in our very poor college days! 
Since then, we've had this skeleton.  My kids love him, and were so excited to see him when I pulled out our fall decorations.  I thought he might be a simple and easy decoration you could whip together, with stuff you probably have on hand.  So, I'm sharing my version of this fun activity.  My little boy and I made a smaller version together so we could show you how to do it.  Making this paper skeleton is a fun and easy activity you can do with your kids, and have memories for years to come.

You will need:

• 18 white paper plates, the cheap kind with fluted edges.
• Templates, which you can find HERE
• Pencil, Permanent Marker, and Scissors
• Paper hole punch
• Jute for tying everything together.

Step One.  Trace all your pieces onto the paper plates.  Using your templates, trace 10 bones, and then one of each head, shoulders, ribs, and hips.  For the hands and feet, use your own.  It makes the project a little more personal. 

Step two.  Cut all your pieces out. 

You should have one head, one shoulder/neck piece, one rib piece, one hip, two hands, two feet, and 10 long bones for arms and legs. 

Don't forget your skeleton's face.  This gives him a little personality.  

Step three.  Punch holes for joining. 

Step four.  Cut out approximately 4" pieces of jute, and tie your joints together.  I used a square knot. 

Using this photo as a guide, tie all the pieces together.  You might want to sing along as you go.  "The head bone's connected to the neck bone..."

Keep tying, until he's all put together. 

Now he's ready to hang on a wall and bring a smile to your child's face.

Thank you, Christie, for reminding me how much fun it is to do crafty things together.

Featured on Craft Gossip, Be Different...Act Normal, and One Pretty Thing! 



Linking with Somewhat Simple, A Few of My Favorite Things, Fave Crafts Blog Hop, Creation Corner, and Kojo Designs, and Just a Girl, and Today's Creative Blog.

Taking time to make life sweet

The little ones still at home and I needed to do something fun together, away from the upstairs organizing.  The kitchen was a perfect spot to have some fun, and make a little big mess.  My preschool boy has been begging for a treat, so yesterday we made muddy buddies.  I add about a cup of raisins.  It's healthy, right?

My son's favorite way to help:  

Mmm sugar coated goodness.

And the very  best part?  Licking the bowl.

I'd love to know what snacks you enjoy making with your little ones.  Any faves you'd care to share?

Linking up to Blue Cricket Design, and Someday Crafts.

Still feels like I'm drowning in boxes...

But, I'm slowly putting our new home together.  I should have realized that if it took me a month to pack up, it's going to take me at least that long to unpack.  There are a few things that have stymied my progress.

First, where do I put everything?  We were so fortunate and blessed to find a lovely home, which is larger than our previous one.  There are some wonderful features...but built in storage is not one of them!  I have NO linen closet upstairs where the bedrooms are.  Improvising is becoming my past-time.

Second, it doesn't match!  Our last home had nickel finishes everywhere with light colored walls and white trim.  This house has darker walls, even darker trim, and bronze hardware.  We needed our bedside lamps, so I had to take this:

Added a little of this:

And now it looks like this:

and this:

(For a true before, you can click HERE.)
Notice the carefully cropped photos.  What you can't see are all the boxes still to be unpacked, although you can see a hint of the chaos in the second photo.  :)

My goal this week is to get my sewing/crafty stuff unpacked, and myself back in the creating business.  I have so many ideas bouncing around in my head, Halloween and Christmas are coming...

Yikes.  One step at a time. 

Thanks to all of you for checking up on me during our move, and for being patient as I got caught up on email and comments. 

I'll also have a new Halloween craft to share with a free printable template coming later this week.

Hugs to all of you.  Thanks to all of you who've stuck around since I started this little happy spot.  Thanks to all the new readers who join in the fun.  I appreciate all of your support.

Preserving corn...yum.

Just before we moved, we harvested what was left in our garden.  We had baskets full of corn, more than we could eat at dinner.

Corn is fairly easy to preserve.  Get a pot of water boiling while you pick.  Shuck the corn and remove all the silk you can.  Then add the corn to the boiling water, and leave in for only four minutes. 

My lens got steamed up a bit.

Quickly remove the corn and place in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process.

Once cool, carefully cut the kernels from the cob, being careful to only remove the top 2/3 of the kernel.

Place in freezer bags.  Fill the bags about half-full.  Remove all the air you can, and seal.  Label your bags, and then place in your freezer until you're ready to use it.  I love my flexible cutting board, it also works as a funnel of sorts. 

I'm so glad we had some small part of our garden to bring with us.

Featured on


Linking up to:
Creation Corner,  Be Different Act Normal, and Under the Table and Dreaming.

Clothespin Apron Tutorial

Here is the reposting of the tutorial I shared on Bloom.  

Last year my husband bought me a clothesline.  It is one of those umbrella versions, that we can take down when we mow the lawn and during winter.  I love it.  Hanging clothes on the line gives me a chance to slow down for a moment.  The simple task allows my mind to work out problems, ponder solutions, and I can keep an eye on my children playing outside.  Bonus, it saves on utility expenses too.

Not so flattering photo of me courtesy of the Idaho winds and my 9 year old.

I had a clothespin bag, but it was not convenient with a turning clothesline.  So, I decided to make an apron.  My friend Caroline made a clothespin apron, and I'd seen this clothespin apron a while back, so this is my take.  I used part of my husband's worn-out jeans, and other materials I had on hand from making an apron for a wedding gift.  So, this was an on-hand project. 

You'll need the following materials:

• BIG jeans to cut up
• Fat quarter of a favorite fabric
• 2 yards bias tape
• 90 inches of 3" wide strip fabric for tie
• Your sewing tools, including your iron and ironing board.  

Step one.  Cut out your pieces. 

For the main body of the apron, cut along one of the seams to open up a leg of your worn-out jeans.  Lay it out, and then trim so you have a square about 15" by 16". 

Your fat quarter will be the large pocket.  Cut a square 15" by 15".   Then cut as shown here, to create the pocket openings. 

It should look like this when it is cut out:

Next, cut your tie fabric.  If you don't have a 90" long piece of fabric, cut as long a strip as you can, and join them together like this:

Step two.  Prepare the pocket.
Carefully pin two pieces of bias tape to cover the curved edges of the pocket openings.  Sew into place. 

To make sure I'm sewing everything in place where I want it, I like to sew the bias tape as shown, then fold over and topstitch.  The final product looks like this:

Step three.  Attach pocket to denim.  The nice thing about using  jeans is you can use the original hem.  To attach the pocket, I sewed and zigzag stitched the bottom of the pocket to the jean square right sides together.  It's hard to tell with this picture (sorry!) but the hem is covered by the fabric here. 

Now fold the fabric back up, and topstitch over the seam you just sewed.

Pin the sides of the apron together, and baste in place.  Next, use the bias tape to finish the sides of the apron.  I started the tape 0.5" below the edge of the apron, and fold over as shown to cover the bottom edge. 

Sew just you did the pocket edges.



Step 4.  Attach the tie.
To make the tie, I followed the same basic method as I did for my teacher's apron.  First, iron the long strip in half, and then iron the edges in towards the center.  If you want to add a nice touch to the ends, you can do so using this method:

Identify the center of your tie.  I do this by folding in half, and ironing in a little mark.  Open up the tie, and place the apron in the middle of the tie, matching the center marks.  Zigzag stitch to keep in place.

Finally fold over the tie, and sew along all edges with a topstitch about 1/8" from the edge.

Congratulations, you've made a great apron that will help you enjoy the simple task of drying clothes on the line that much more!

Linked to:



Sew Can Do,  Tea Rose Home, and House of Hepworths, and Craftiness is Not Optional's Tie One On.