My Little Kitty Backpack DIY

September 13, 2013 | Posted by Chelsey

I don’t usually know what I’m doing when I sew, but I do like to experiment. That’s how I came up with this My Little Kitty Backpack DIY (yeah… My Little Pony was on in the background when I named this, hee). It works perfectly for my little preschool girl. She asked for a kitty backpack, and that’s what I tried to make (sorta has a raccoon feel, but she loves it). Below I’ve attempted to share how I made it. Mostly I just guessed and it worked.

Supplies:

– 1/2 yard duck cloth

– 1/2 yard pretty fabric

– 1/2 yard oil cloth

– 1/8 yard of dark grey felt

– 1/8 yard of white felt

– One teensy piece of pink felt

– A small piece of blue yarn

– 1.5 yards of one inch wide belting trim

– 2: one inch wide strap adjusters

A quick how-to:

– First a note: all of these sizes can be adjusted and changed to make the perfect backpack for you. This size fits my little 3.5-year-old nicely. PLUS, I freehand cut the curves/eyes/nose/tail. PLUSandalso: I have totally taught myself to sew and make up all sorts of sewing terms, since I’m usually guessing how to make somethin’. What I’m trying to say: these instructions are crazy.

Fabric cuts:

– Interior of the backpack: Cut two 12″ wide by 13.5″ high pieces of oil cloth.

– Outer section of the backpack: Cut out two 13″ wide by 14″ high rectangle fabric pieces of both the duck cloth and pretty fabric.

– Pocket: Cut out a 6″ x 6″ piece of duck cloth and pretty fabric.

– Cat tail: Cut a 10″ by 12″ piece of duck cloth. Freehand cut 5 piece of dark grey felt.

– Cat face flap: cut a 13″ wide by 7″ high piece of duck cloth and oil cloth. Freehand cut 4 pieces of duck cloth in triangle shapes. Freehand cut 2 white fleece triangle pieces. Freehand cut two 2 inch circles of white felt. Freehand cut two 1 inch circles of dark grey felt. Cut a cute little piece to make the nose for the kitty, from the pink felt.

– Backpack straps: Two 11″ by 6″ pieces of oil cloth.

What I did:

– Place the interior of backpack oil cloth right sides together. Sew a 1/2 inch seam around the two 13.5″ sides + one 12 inch side. On the 13.5″ sides, only sew up to 12.5 inches (the extra inch will be folded back and sewn).

– Pin the wrong sides of the duck cloth and pretty fabric together, from the exterior backpack cuts. Repeat with the other exterior backpack fabric.

– Fold the edges, about 1/2 inch fold, of the cut pocket fabrics in and stitch. Pin the pocket into the center of one of the exterior backpack pinned pieces. Sew the pocket on.

– For the cat face flap: grab the cut cat face flap fabric pieces, sew the eyes and nose onto the duck cloth. Stitch the little mouth (in the shape of an upside down “v”). Place the right side pieces together freehand sew a curve (to make the cat face shape). Trim the extra fabric, then flip the inside out.

– Sew the triangle ear pieces together. Flip inside out.

– Freehand sew a cat tail shape. Trim and flip inside out.

– Grab the exterior backpack and sewn interior backpack pieces. With the pretty fabric facing out (and the interior backpack piece in the center), fold in the edges of the pretty fabric and pin to the sewn oil cloth. Pin two 12″ pieces of the belting trim to the bottom of the backpack. Pin the tail in between the belting pieces. Sew the two long sides and and the bottom of the backpack.

– Fold the backpack strap oil cloth into 1.5 inch sections (right side facing out) and pin. Add a small 4 inch piece of belting strip to the base of each strap, loop into the back of the strap adjusters, and pin to the strap. Stitch the strap/belting strip together.

– Fold in the fabric on the top of the backpack. Pin the cat face flap, straps, a 6 inch loop handle, and ears to the top. Sew, and you’re done!

It’s not the most perfect sewing project, but it turned out very cute and my kiddo loves it!

– Chelsey

5 Comments

Tags: animal, backpack, bag, cat, fabric, kitty, school, sewing

Categories: Crafts and DIYs for the Kids, diy, favorite posts

Seed Saver Packet Printables

September 12, 2013 | Posted by Chelsey

Summer is just about over, that’s why I made some Seed Saver Packet Printables. I’ve saved a few seeds from some favorite plants, and plan to save more (prepping some tomato plant seeds as we speak). It’s simple to do.

To make these for yourself, print out the packet printable below and cut out the seed savers. Glue together, label, and add seeds + seal. Save and print when the seeds are ready! Side note: if you have small seeds, like poppy seeds, use some washi tape for any holes/cracks (since the seeds are so small).

Click + right click + save on the image below:

PLUS: these would make very adorable gifts.

– Chelsey

2 Comments

Tags: garden, printable

Categories: paper mama farm

Calendar Work Station – Made from Recycled Wood

September 5, 2013 | Posted by Chelsey

Well folks, it’s just about Fall. That means we all need to get ourselves organized… or at least pretend we’re organized. I’ve created a Calendar Work Station just for this. A new DIY for you to check out at Better Homes and Gardens. I’m pretty in love with this thing. I made the whole thing for free (if you really calculate the cost of materials it’s probably under $15).

Want to see how I made it? Check it out on Better Homes and Gardens (comes with free calendar printables).

– Chelsey

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6 Comments

Tags: jar, organize, printable, storage

Categories: BHG, diy, For The Home

Spooky Halloween Terrarium

August 27, 2013 | Posted by Chelsey

Ok. I know. It’s not even September and I’m sharing a Halloween DIY. I swear: there will not be any other mention of Halloween until the end of September (promise). Buuut, Michaels sent me some foam pumpkins and I got inspired. So yeah. Hello Halloween DIY. Ha!

I created a Spooky Halloween Terrarium with this pumpkin. Comes with a little spooky home and crazy/wild bats. It’s intense. Perfect for Halloween 2013.

Here’s what you need to make this:

– A foam pumpkin from the Michaels

– Green floral foam

– Moss

– Wire

– Hot glue

– X-acto Knife

– Wire cutters

– Scissors

– A couple toothpicks

How I did it:

– Use an X-acto knife to cut a hole out of the front of your pumpkin. I cut about an 8 inch hole (I freehand cut, but you could use a pencil to mark out the hole before cutting).

– Optional: to get a bit more light into your pumpkin, cut a small section in the back (I cut the hole so it was not visible when looking through the front hole). I did this because the pumpkin is flammable and I didn’t really want to put any sort of heat source in or around it.

– Place a small piece of green floral foam in the bottom of your pumpkin.

– Put a layer of moss at the bottom (over the green floral foam) for the “ground cover”.

– Cut out a spooky house from my printable. Hot glue a couple of toothpicks to the back of the home. Push the home/toothpicks into the green floral foam.

– Press your branch into the green foam, behind the tree.

– Cut out a few of my bats from the printable (don’t worry about cutting these out perfectly, I didn’t). Gently fold the bat in half (so they look like they’re flying).

::click on image below + right click + save::

– Cut out a couple bits of wire and hot glue the bats onto these wires.

– Arrange the wired bats around the interior of the pumpkin. You can push the wire INTO the foam part of the pumpkin, or have them flying up from the “grass” by pressing the wire into the green floral foam.

Enjoy! Side note: you can place this pumpkin near a lamp to get a wee bit of light into the back for a creepy nighttime glow. Just remember, pumpkin flammable.

– Chelsey

This post was brought to you by,

P.S. these pumpkins were sent to me, free of charge, from Michaels.

26 Comments

Tags: halloween, michaels, printable

Categories: diy, Holiday - Halloween

Cheesy Kale Bites Chips Recipe

August 15, 2013 | Posted by Chelsey

Yes, you read that right: MAGICAL Cheesy Kale Bites. These little pieces of heavenly goodness are so so delicious. They are cheesy, without the dairy. Because they taste as their loaded with cheese, my husband refers to them as nacho kale chips. They’re addictive, and you might not be able to stop snacking on them. I have a whole lot of kale growing in the garden, and I think it may be my favorite veggie, and kale in chip-form might be my favorite kind of chip! Though it’s hard to beat salt and pepper potato chips dipped in pepperoncini cheese dip.

Even though these tasty morsels are considered chips, I’m calling them bites. They are more than a chip. These bites are gluten-free, vegetarian, dairy-free, and Whole 30. This recipe does contain nuts.

Let’s get cooking!

You’re probably tired of my babbling and want to get onto making this snack. Sounds good. Here’s how to make my Cheesy Kale Bites.

Magical Cheesy Kale Bites

Cheesy Kale Bite Chips

Prep Time

2 hrs 30 mins

Total Time

10 hrs 30 mins

They are cheesy, without the dairy. Because they taste as their loaded with cheese, my husband refers to them as nacho kale chips. They're addictive, and you might not be able to stop snacking on them.

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chips, dairy-free, snack, vegan, vegetable, vegetarian, whole 30

Servings: 5

Calories: 170 kcal

Ingredients

2 bunches kale
1 red bell pepper
1 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (the "cheese")
4 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp honey
¼ tsp granulated onion
¼ tsp turmeric
½ tsp salt

Instructions

Place cashews in a bowl of water and let sit for 2 hours.
Wash and dry your kale. Remove the thick stems, then tear up the kale leaves into smaller bite-sized pieces. Remove seeds from the bell pepper and chop it up into smaller pieces.
When the 2 hours are up, drain the water from the cashews. To make the "cheese" blend, place all remaining ingredients, plus the chopped up bell pepper and soaked cashews, into a food processor and blend until smooth.
In a large bowl, use your hands to coat the kale with the cheesy blend.
Place clumps of the cheesy kale on the dehydrator trays and dehydrate for 8-10 hours, or until crispy. The bottom trays of my dehydrator tend to cook faster, so I like to rotate my trays throughout this process. I had a few thicker kale bites that needed about 3 hours longer than my first round.
When finished, you can lightly sprinkle a small amount of salt on the bites. I store our cheesy kale chips in a jar. To keep moisture out, wrap a handful of rice in a bit of fabric.
The bites last for about a week if stored properly.

I’m a member of the Portland Preservation society, and when we get together we swap canned goods. For this meeting, I chose to bring these tasty kale chips and packaged them in individual jars. Each jar has small rice pouches, to keep out moisture, then I created “made for you” lid labels. You can download these labels, click on one of the links below.

Click here to download the “Made for You” Wide Mouth Lids printable.

Click here to download the “Made for You” Regular Mouth Lids printable.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Please do let me know if you make these by tagging me on Instagram, or sharing on any other social media channels. I’d love to see it!

How do these Cheesy Kale Bites look? Have you ever tried kale chips before?

– Chelsey

Disclosure: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. There are affiliate links in this post. Thank you for your support.

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9 Comments

Tags: snacks, vegetable

Categories: food, paper mama farm, Snacks and Appetizers

Wednesday Goodies: Alt Summit Goodness.

June 26, 2013 | Posted by Chelsey

If you actually take a look at my photos from last week, you’d really think I didn’t own a camera. I think I took a total of 20 images of my own…. in 5 days. You’re just so busy and in the moment, it’s almost better to just rely on your phone and the in house photographer. SO, that’s what I’m going to do. Here’s the Alt Summit through the eyes of Justin Hackworth.