Making Things

I'm still trying to be crafty. It is a struggle! But it makes me happy to have made something.

I made these advent calendars for the girls.  I've been wanting to do this since Emily was a baby, but I felt she wasn't ready to eat just one piece of candy each day.  I wasn't sure if Avery was ready either, but she did great!  In fact, she went several days without eating candy and then had a day where she'd play catch up and eat several pieces at once.  Emily didn't think it was very cool that Avery saved her pieces and at a bunch all at once.  She tried to save her candy but just couldn't do it.

See that little stocking on the right of the fireplace?  That's my childhood stocking!  My mom made each of us kids our own stocking.  This is something I'd like to do for the girls this year.  That way there won't be any "Hey, that's MY stocking!  No, that's yours, this one's mine!". 

Another thing I worked on is a way to keep my earphones untangled.  I have this one pair of earphones that came with my iPod that work just fine, but Avery chewed off one of the speakers, so it only had one working ear piece.  I usually only used one anyway, so no biggie.  I use them in my laptop at night when I can't sleep and I watch shows.  I lay on one side and put the earphone in the other ear. 

Anyway, these things got TANGLED!  It was a mess. 

On Pinterest, I found where someone had taken their earphones and used embroidery thread to create a sort of cover for their earphones.  The cover made it so the phones were less likely to tangle.  It was a bit of a flashback to junior high when I saw that the pattern was basically a friendship bracelet pattern.  This particular pattern was called Chinese Staircase. 

I received a new pair of earphones for Christmas and that day I began making my cover.  The girl that posted the picture of her earphones said it took her less than a day to do this.  Apparently this girl has no kids or laundry and doesn't eat or make food for others because this thing actually took me a week to complete! 

Looks cool, eh?  It was fun, challenging, and a learning experience.  Next time I do something like this, I'm going with ONE color.  Less to think about.  I'm still trying to figure out how to finish the edges to it doesn't all come unraveled.  I've got glue on the knots I tied, but I'm too scared to cut off the ends in case it all comes apart.