New project

This past weekend was Super Saturday (craft day) at church. I bought these 8x10 metal sheets that I thought the girls would like to play with. Well, the Relief Society president showed me this bag that she had made for her grandson to store the metal in:

Challenge Accepted! Haha no, but I thought it'd be perfect for the girls for church and our endless road trips/plane rides. I took the girls to Wal-mart and let them choose out some cute fabric, which made them pretty excited for the project.
For conference last week I had made this activity for the girls to have fun while the apostles were talking.

Well, since I'm making these bags for church, I turned the activity into magnets so Lindsey can learn the apostles and Whitney can refresh her knowledge of them. I'm also searching for other fun magnet games I could make. 

I took the fabric and left about an inch leeway on each side of the metal. I pinned the right sides together and sewed the two long sides and one short side.

 Then I made casing for the ribbon and threaded the ribbon through with a safety pin. Here's our finished project:

 I added duct tape to the corners because they were a little sharp. I also added foam sticker letters to the top of each board. I was going to do vinyl lettering, but I wanted to cut down on cost, and I know eventually whatever I put on there will be pulled off anyway.

I used iron on letters on the front. I know I could've sewed something on, but I haven't done that and wanted to make it a bit easier.

Garden of the Gods

 Yesterday we decided to go up the mountain to see some fall foliage. On our way out of the neighborhood we saw these awesome Halloween decorations:

It was really windy and they looked like dementors flying in the sky. It was seriously so cool, although the kids didn't really appreciate it.

 I think we were a couple weeks too early to see all the changing leaves, but we saw a few vibrant trees.

 We started up the canyon and then saw signs saying that the road was closed due to flood damage. :-(

 We headed back down and saw some cool views of Colorado Springs:

 We decided to head to Garden of the Gods. On our way, we had to head through this quaint little town of Manitou Springs. Later in the day we found out about the coffin races they do there for Halloween and the legend of Emma Crawford, this lady was buried on the hill and her coffin got washed away by a bad rainstorm, and the coffin came down the hill and into the city. Read more here. I think it's pretty cool.

 The crazy thing about the Garden of the Gods is how diverse the landscape is. There's red rock and then evergreen trees then changing leaves in bushes and trees. It's super pretty:

 There's a cool view of Pikes Peak. The only mountain with snow on it right now

 Then look down and you see cacti. Crazy place!

 Silly faces:

 Here's even more diverse landscape, burn scars on the mountains from last year:

I guess it was an unconscious last family outing before Tyler starts work today. I'm extremely happy he'll be working but, of course, it's been fun spending so much time together. I'm also happy we did this exploring yesterday when the weather was beautiful because now I can't see the mountains due to the clouds and sprinkling snow. 

It's addicting!

So, I've been getting to know my sewing machine more and more since my last project. Every time I finish a project, I'm searching Pinterest for the next thing I can make. Too bad I have virtually no fabric. I made a colored pencil holder:

 I learned a lot from this project, including: I don't know how to sew straight lines and I now know that if you reach in to remove a pin, you may also sew through your finger.

Yesterday I was packing up for our trip back to my parents and the girls got out their travel pillows they got from my mom. You know those tiny airplane pillows? Yeah, they've been used quite a bit and were a little nasty:

 I decided that they were too gross for the girls to use and I decided to try my hand at some pillowcases. A little while ago I got a crib bed skirt from Goodwill for super cheap. For the pillowcases I just cut double the length of the pillow. I lined up the ends and sewed all the way around, except for the open end where the cuff is. I was lucky to have the sheet because the cuff was done for me.

One of the pillow cases was too short so I added some pink fabric from the end. The stripes weren't long enough to cover the whole pillow, but I don't think anyone will notice as they drive past us on I-80. :-)

The girls were super excited to have their travel pillows re-vamped and I'm excited to be able to wash the pillowcases when they inevitably get dirty.

So charming, aren't they.

It was a fun little project and super quick. I'm glad I can make things for the girls and gain confidence in sewing because they don't mind what things look like and they get so excited for me every time I complete a new project. Now just pray they are angels on our trip tomorrow and they sleep on their new pillowcases!