Vote for "Girly Mermaids"!

Once again, I have entered one of my fabric designs for Spoonflower's Fabric of the Week contest.  I'm really proud of these cute mermaids.  I designed them with the idea of having them printed to make something for my daughter.  It was her idea to add the anemone.  The theme of the contest, in case you hadn't guessed, is "Mythical Creatures."  Most little girls, mine included, love mermaids.  It was for this reason that I liked the idea of a girlish and playful mermaid rather than the sexy bikini clad kind.  If you have a moment to go and vote for my Girly Mermaids--please do!

Amy Butler Pinwheel Ornament Craft

My kids and I were looking for something to do last week to get into the Christmas mood.  My Mom emailed me a link to make pinwheels designed by Amy Butler.  They looked very festive and we thought we'd give it a try.  You can guess from the picture above that all was not as easy as it seemed.

This pinwheel was crafted by my 11 year old son.  Done was better than perfect as far as he was concerned.  But I think those Amy Butler craft testers must have 3 hands because this craft was really very tricky.  I decided to re-do the craft tutorial for those of us who are 2 handed.

You start off with a 12x12 sheet of cardstock and measure it into strips that are about 1.5 inches wide.  Glue or tape the strips end to end to make a continuous strip.

Take a pair of fancy scissors and cut the edge of the strip.  Then you fold the strip accordion style.

 Now comes the tricky bit. 

Open it up until it fans out.  Ours kept springing open and it was extremely frustrating.  After this happened a few times and everybody was good and aggravated, I came up with the idea of this extra step.  Put some glue on the cut edges and stick a small rectangle of extra paper to make a sort of book-binding.  I'm showing it here in white so that it's easier to see, but I recommend using the same color

When you've got your pinwheel fanned out, tape the two edges together to hold it in place.  Then, glue a circle onto the front.  Amy's people used a large circular hole punch.  I don't have one of those so I just cut my own.  The one on the right is a bit wonky looking.  Note to self, buy a big circle hole-punch.

Punch a hole, attach some thread and hang on a tree.