MOPS Spa Crafts

I am getting ready to graduate from MOPS :( but I decided that I would share our last craft project for the year. I thought it would be nice for the moms to be able to make some spa themed goodies to take home with them and, hopefully, relax a little bit later. I presented several options to our steering team and they wanted do to them all. So, we made rice socks, sugar scrubs, and bath bombs.  

I have also done some of these crafts with tween girls so these are all simple projects that work well for a girls' night, youth group, girl scouts, birthday party, craft club, etc.  Here are the details on each of them...

Rice Sock

These are really nice to warm up and wrap around your neck to relieve tension. I microwave mine for about a minute, but my microwave is super old so yours may be different. You can also store them in the freezer for boo-boos.

I got socks at the Dollar Tree (2 pair for $1) and small elastic hair ties. Then, I fumbled around in the grocery store with gigantic, 20lb bags of rice. It took about 2 cups of rice per sock.

At the craft tables, we had measuring cups (the glass ones with the pouring spout) to measure the rice and mix in essential oils if desired (we had people bring their own). One person held the sock open while the other poured the rice into the sock. Then, we tied them shut with the hair elastics. However, some people were concerned about the hair ties melting or not holding up over time so they just tied a knot in the end of the sock. That made it faster, easier, and smarter!

Sugar Scrubs

I made these a really, really long time ago and they make nice little gifts. They work really well for getting dirt out of your skin if you are gardening or have kids who play in the mud.

I got 10-packs of little containers at the Dollar Tree. Then, I got sugar and dish soap at the grocery store. We used Dawn Olay Hand Renewal dish soap in blueberry something and the store brand in pomegranate. (I have since found that Target has their generic even cheaper! Click HERE to see it.) It is just the stuff that smells pretty and is supposed to be good for your hands.

For these containers, we used 3 Tablespoons of sugar mixed with 1 Tablespoon of dish soap and stirred with a popsicle stick. (As long as you keep the 3:1 ratio it works.)

Bath Bombs

An April craft meeting meant it was great timing to get plastic Easter eggs as bath bomb molds. I got ours at Walmart and I have noticed that they are smaller then my older plastic eggs. I think the plastic egg industry is slowly shrinking them on us. I got the remaining ingredients at a bulk foods store, except the citric acid which I ordered from Amazon.

This station was really messy, so I am glad that we kept it in the kitchen. To prepare, I had measuring cups set out with each ingredient, bowls for mixing, and sandwich bags to hold the plastic eggs (in case they popped open later). I also melted the coconut oil and kept it warm in a bowl sat on top of a pot of warm water.

We used a basic recipe and the moms were encouraged to bring oils to add to them. Each recipe made 5-6 eggs.

1/2 cup baking soda 1/4 cup corn starch 1/4 cup epsom salt 1/4 cup citric acid 3-4 teaspoons melted coconut oil 1-2 teaspoons water essential oils

The dry ingredients were mixed together and then the wet ingredients were added. It should be the consistency of a wet sand and start to stick together when you squeeze it. If it was too dry, more water or oil was added. Then, we pressed everything together into the egg. The egg halves had to be overflowing a bit. When the two sides were pressed together, the excess fell out. This made sure the eggs were full with no air bubbles.

 

It was a lot of work to gather all of the supplies for a large group, but the craft went pretty well. They seemed to be simple enough for everyone to easily make. If someone did not want to make all of them, they did not have to do it.

You can see some of the other MOPS crafts we did by clicking on the pictures below...

Use scrapbook paper and cheap wood frames to make a cute craft - perfect for craft nights and groups!

composition-book-journal

DIY I Spy Bottles MOPS Craft

10 Eco-Friendly Upcycle Projects

Earth Day is coming up! To be honest, I generally don't do anything to celebrate it, but I tend to do a lot of upcycling projects so I thought that I would do a round-up post of some of my favorites! I picked the top ten, but you can see more of my upcycle projects HERE.

Women's Dress to Girls' Maxi Skirt (and bracelets and headband!)

altoid-tin-playset

I got a women's dress at the local thrift store and turned it into a maxi skirt for my daughter. I even seam ripped off the beading from that jazzy medallion at the waist and helped her to make bracelets out of them. One of the waist ties became a headband. Triple upcycling! Do I get bonus points for that? You can see the full post and tutorial HERE.

 

Altoid Tins to Magnetic Playset

altoid-tin-playset

This is a non-sewing project that you can do with the kids. Some washi tape, stickers, paper, and old promo magnets transform these into little magnetic playsets that you can tuck into your purse to keep kids occupied in waiting rooms, etc. Full tutorial to make these available HERE.

 

Sweater Scraps to Hand Warmers

sweater-handwarmers

Got a hole in your favorite, softest sweater? These little hand warmers are really cute and I have a little trick to sewing these! See the tutorial HERE.

 

Men's Shirt to Girls' Vintage Style Dress

mens-shirt-to-girls-vintage

Upcycling with Men's Dress Shirts is actually a fun project.  There are a lot of possibilities. I have a mini-tutorial showing how I used this shirt as an efficient fabric source to make the dress HERE.

 

Baby Clothes to Memory Bear

baby-clothes-to-memory-bear

So, this is a pretty popular post on the blog. It is a really sweet way to preserve a special baby outift, though! Full tutorial and pattern available HERE.

 

Three Ways to Mend Holes in Jeans

three-ways-to-mend-knees-in

One daughter in particular is really, really hard on her jeans! Which style is your favorite? Details on how to do each one are available HERE.

 

Vintage Sheets to Easter Dresses

vintage-sheet-dresses

I made five Easter dresses from a couple of vintage sheets that had belonged to my Nana. I was strategic so I didn't even have to hem some of them! This was my absolute favorite year for Easter dresses and I have tutorials for each of them. They are all linked at the bottom of THIS post.

 

Regular to Maternity T-Shirt

regular-to-maternity-shirt

EEK! I was so big here (at only 29 weeks)! Trust me, this shirt stretched out WAAAAAAY further until the end and surprisingly still covered my watermelon belly. Full tutorial HERE.

 

Old Jeans to Car Roll

jeans-to-car-roll

Hey! Look! Something for the boys! (Although my girls play with cars, too.) Using old jeans legs for the base of this made it sturdy and more durable. Full tutorial HERE.

Now, for my all-time favorite upcycle project. Drumroll, please! .....................................................

Collage Wall from Thrift Store Frames

collage-wall

I love this wall so much! It still looks pretty much the same, except the girls put some things on the tops of their beds and block the stuff on the bottom sometimes. We got a bunch of frames at yard sales and thrift stores (plus a few from Michaels) and we turned them into this cute collage wall.  See all of the details (and get free printables) HERE.

If you want to pin this for later...

Don't forget to check out all of my upcycle projects HERE!

Decluttering Tips ~ Clothes and Bedrooms

How is it going? Is it spring where you live yet? We might get a little snow today (CRAZY!) but at the end of last week it was 85. I decided that I have had enough and switched the girls seasonal clothes in protest. They still have pants and sweatshirts if they need to layer, but I got out the shorts and sundresses. In the process, I whittled down their clothes even more. I think everyone's things fit comfortably in their drawers and closets now. There is less in storage, also. Let's face it... some things that my oldest daughter wore are horribly outdated until the younger sisters grow into them. I actually found a red skort (yes, skort) that had a MaryKateandAshley brand tag! (My daughter loved that skort when she wore it... 10 years ago!)

I also did some major cleaning in the girls' bedrooms. I was pretty ruthless. I got several garbage bags out of each room and no one has seemed to notice anything important missing. That is my rule, though. If their bedrooms get so messy that I have to clean them, I will toss whatever I want. I don't think they mind. Instead, they are happily arranging the tops of their dressers. My 4yo insisted that I take a picture.

I hit up quite a few different areas of my home in my binge decluttering last week. I am now up to 20 garbage bags decluttered during the Spring Decluttering Challenge! My biggest accomplishments were definitely in the girls' clothes and bedrooms, so I thought that I would put together a list of some tips that are working for me. They may not work for you, but maybe they will at least be a start for something that you can adapt to fit your home.

  1. Don't store junk. When I am saving clothes for hand me downs, I save very few items of "play clothes." I consider that hand-me-down storage tote space to be valuable real estate and it is not worth it to me. I can go to the thrift store or a yard sale and buy a new play shirt for 50 cents if we really need them, but my kid generally get stains and make their own "play clothes" pretty quickly.
  2. The rule of 5. When their drawers seem to be full of junky clothes, I implement the rule of 5. I have them go through their clothes with me and choose their 5 favorite shirts, shorts, etc. (It is an arbitrary number I picked based on how fast I can get things washed and back in their drawers.) The rest get thrown away or used for rags.  They get more "good shirts" but we go through them together and they are free to get rid of anything they do not like or wear. I also pick arbitrary numbers for other items like pajamas, socks, undies, etc. In the winter, they each get 3 hats, 3 pairs of gloves, and 3 scarves. It helps them to choose what is really their favorites and I don't have to keep storing things that no one likes.
  3. Find 3 things. If I don't have time to go through clothes with each child individually, but I know things are getting out of hand, I will send them each to find 3 things that they no longer wear. I am trying to encourage my daughters to make decisions and train them to declutter on their own, so I rarely question what they bring to me, even if it is something that I made for them. I then decide whether to store it for the next daughter or just get rid of it.
  4. Get it out of the house FAST. The longer things hang around, the longer they junk up my house. Yard sales are not worth it where we live. I donate anything decent that we do not need because many people have given us things over the years. I am just paying it forward. Most of the time I use a grocery bag because it fills up faster and then I take it straight to the back of the car. It is ready to be dropped off the next time I go past the thrift store or a donation box.
  5. Memory boxes. I have one tote for each of my children to store special items. To warrant space in the tote it must be really special. My children also have their own boxes. They tend to hoard things that they think are wonderful so I have gotten each of them a box to store their "treasures" in their own bedrooms. The junk is contained and they cannot exceed that box. I won't "accidentally" throw anything away that they consider important enough to place in that box. I got the boxes with coupons at Michaels.

Don't forget about the Spring Decluttering Challenge! Only a few weeks to go! If you want to join in it is not too late!!!

Hipster Cat Dress

My niece just turned 5 years old and she is such a cutie pie! She has big, pink glasses and she was wanted a "kitty" birthday party. When I saw THIS fabric on Joann's website I knew that I had to make her a special dress for her birthday.

She is also very thin with long legs so I thought it would be nice for her to have something sized just for her. I decided on the Charlie dress pattern from Violette Field Threads (one of my Project Run and Play prizes!) because it has a retro feel that worked well with the fabric. It has that cute, knot detail in the front, a very full skirt, and pockets in the side seams.

I happened to have JUST ENOUGH of the pink polka dot fabric in my stash and it matched perfectly! I lined it with a matching, bubble gum pink solid. I debated on which buttons to use and took an instagram poll with the pink ones winning.

This pattern went together pretty well. I did have some trouble with the cap sleeves/enclosed side seams so I rigged it. If anyone has a technique for that, please teach me!

I wish I had had enough fabric left for the matching knot headband. Bummer! The free pattern for that is HERE if you want to check it out!

Fabric: Joann and my stash Pattern: Charlie from Violette Field Threads

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Twirly Lace Dress Tutorial

 

The Flower Girl Dress

 

Isabelle's Bubble Dress Tutorial

 

 

Unicorn Dresses

A few weeks ago someone absolutely destroyed my sewing scissors. I still don't know who or how it happened. I don't think that mere paper could have caused those nicks and warped the metal blades. It is a mystery.

But I was in the mood to sew something, so I turned to the pile of projects that I already had cut out.

I am not 100% happy with these, but they will probably stain and destroy them fast enough anyway. At least they are finished.

Fabric- Joann Pattern- Uptown/Downtown Dress

My girls love unicorns! If you like them too you might want to check these out...

Unicorn Parade London Dress

The Easiest DIY Unicorn Costume Ever!