Matchbox Car Playmat

As a child my Mom always had my sister and I busy with crafts.  We made gifts for others, made decorations and enjoyed the time together crafting.  She always inspired us to try anything and turn anything item into a treasure.  Even in high school when I wanted to learn to paint, she let me pick out a few colors and a brush and I painted a fish scene on my closet walls and did a half project of gold swirls on my bedroom ceiling.  She always made us gifts and things and those are the items I will remember the most.  That's why I am trying to make things for my children.  Hopefully someday they will appreciate the effort and love that goes into handmade crafts. 

My son, Owen, is into cars and anything with wheels.  I wanted to get him one of those rugs for his room that have the roads to drive the cars on and little town scenes, but I didn't want to pay the $40 plus to get one and I really didn’t want to have to deal with vacuuming that carpet then moving it to vacuum the one under it.  I was browsing the fabric isle at Wal-mart and I saw the movie Cars fabric with roads.  It hit me - why not make a little version he can take with him and also use in his room, but that will roll up for storage. 

I bought 1 yard of this fabric, 1 yard of solid black for the back, batting and 7/8" wide bias tape.  All added up just under $10!

First I laid out the fabric and folded it on itself so there would be a pocket created.

I stitched along the outer side leaving a flap and once separated pockets.

Next I took the standard matchbox car for measurement and did a zigzag stitch the entire length of my flap to create little pockets or garages for the cars.  This way the cars can be in the mat when you roll it up for storage and travel.

Then, I took the black fabric and laid it on top of my rubber cutting mat.  On top of that, the batting and the cars fabric wrong sides together.  I trimmed all the pieces strait.  If you don't have a rubber mat, just eye ball it with scissors, your little guy won't care how strait it is!

It's time for binding!  Now, I am not a sewing expert, I am 100% self-taught but I figure if it looks good and stays together I have to be doing something right. 

Once the binding is done, it's time for play! 

Owen immediately started driving the cars and trains all over his new car mat.   

With leftover binding I did a zigzag stitch and am using that to secure the mat when I roll it up for the car or storage.

xo

Lauren

Shared on Tip Junkie's Handmade Projects, Tip Me Tuesday's

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Ballard Knock Offs

I can't take full credit for this one, I saw it on one of my favorite craft blogs and thought I could do it too. If you have never heard of Ballard's is a great accessory and furniture store. They have these great burlap covered Demijohn's (basically jars). The problem- they ranged in price from 39 to 130 bucks! Now I didn't cover mine in burlap but I thought Jute (Twine) would be cute too.

I bought these matching jars at the Goodwill for a dollar a piece (Score 1 for me!). I loved the cork tops too.

I started by brushing on some craft glue to the bottles. Make sure that it dries clear. Also this step is time consuming so I did it during nap time at my house.

Make sure that there was no gaps between the jute. Also its easier if you use one continuous piece.

And done! I finished it off by stenciling a Fleur de Lis onto the jute (which took the paint very well!).  I planned on putting them in our master bath to hold bath salts. I think that I will make the other one to match....

Cake Balls

 If you have not heard of the new desert sensation Cake Balls then you must be living under a rock. All kidding aside, these little bites of heaven are probably the best thing to come from a Blog. Lauren brought these little morsels of goodness to a party some time ago and EVERYONE loves them! There are endless flavor combinations too!

First you start with the following ingredients

1 box of cake mix- any flavor ( I used White)
1 jar of frosting- any flavor ( I used Vanilla)
1 bag of candy melts or Candy Quick- any flavor (*You may want to use 2- one bag just didn't cover it all and I had to "throw"some of the batter away- and I mean me and my husband ate it....)
**My thought on these were for St.Patty's Day so I had Mint Chocolate melts and I added Mint extract to the cake batter.

Step 1

You mix the cake batter and bake according to the box direction.

Step 2

After the cake is finished baking you remove it from the oven. While the cake is still warm, you scoop out about half of the cake and put it into a large mixing bowl. Add about half of the can of frosting to the cake and beat it with an electric mixer. Keep adding the remaining amount of cake and frosting and beat until it is all combined. It will look mushy.... but put it in the freezer or refrigerator until it is cool.

Step 3

Once the mixture is cold, you can scoop it out into little balls. I use a tablespoon ice cream scoop to make sure that they are all ruffly the same size.

Step 4

When you have rolled out all the balls (or if you have help and you can roll out the balls and dip at the same time) melt your chocolate in the microwave. *Tip- If your chocolate gets stiff and re-heating does not help, you can add some shortening to the chocolate to mix it up.

Step 5

Start your dipping! I use two forks to help get the excess chocolate off the balls. Lay them on a sheet of wax paper to let them cool. Once all your balls are dipped in the chocolate and set, I put them back into the freezer for about an hour.

Step 6

Enjoy!

These cake balls can be made in any flavor! I have even heard of doing them with Cheesecake and even Oreos! My next flavor will be Lemon cake with Vanilla coating (Candy-quick). Also, check out the amazing things  you can do with them on http://www.bakerella.com/ .

Rainy Day Crafts

We have been suffering from some bad weather in UT for the past few days and I have been dying to get crafting (but cant leave the house with the baby). So to tame my crafting beast I thought I would do something with so items I had around the house already.

 I had this small green flower pot from a Baby shower (thanks Lauren) and its been sitting around as a pen holder. I have seen the spring branches all over the place for Easter and thought, Why not?

I went outside and cut off some branches from the trees (shhh....don't tell my neighbors). I also had some flower arrangement foam and moss from previous crafts.

I had just recently purchased something from a second hand store (love those places!) and it had a horribly outdated flower arrangement in it. I ripped all the flowers out and noticed these small purple flowers. Bingo! Small little bulbs to put on the branches.

And my finished product! I think it looks cute, small enough for the shelf with Lauren's great gift that I received for Easter (thanks!). I may even think about doing another one on a larger scale for the Easter center piece on the dinning room table this year!

Harvey House Market Days



                                                                                                                                                                    Don't forget tomorrow I will be at the Harvey House Market Days from 9am-3pm! All vendors will be inside this weekend!!! To view my newest creations become a fan of facebook.com/LBoutique... see you there!







Enchanted Treasures

Just visited Linda Marie's Enchanted Treasures today. Love this place! Great finds for a great value. Me and my mother were out looking for the next project and found a great old window to re-vamp! Can't wait to see what mom does with it. Thanks Linda for helping us out too! Please visit Linda's Facebook page for more info on her place.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Linda-Maries-Enchanted-Treasures/148903408463974?sk=wall

L Boutique Giveaway

Lauren's Esty shop ( L Boutique) is featured in a FotoTale Designs one year anniversary give away! Please visit their site and see the 40 vendors that are participating in this event.
http://www.fototaledesigns.blogspot.com/

Welcome to Creative Mammas!

Thank you so much for visiting our new blog! I know that we are a little late to jump on the blog train but we thought that all of our creative ideas needed to be shared. Lauren and myself spend so much time thinking about new recipes, crafts, party planning ideas, photo shoot ideas and more that we had to have a place to display them. We are also planning on having some of our creative friends post some of their thoughts as well. We welcome comments and links as well from readers and hope that we get inspired by some of your thoughts as too.