The last week my husband and I have been researching masks to make for nurses and other medical professionals to use, primarily to wear over and extend the wearing time of their N95 respirators. The best mask pattern that we found was one designed by Jennifer Maker (link below). It can be worn alone (not the same protection as N95 respirators), or over the N95 respirators. This link has sizes for small, medium and large.

The site has directions for using a Cricut machine to cut the masks out, and also PDF patterns that you can print off and then cut out. The instructions are very good, with photographs for every step, which makes it easier. This pattern is more fitted than most and includes a wire at the nose to pinch for a closer fit.

I washed and dried all the fabrics first and then lightly pressed them. I found that it was faster to cut out the fabric with my sewing shears, than with the Cricut. You can also make better use of your fabric when you cut them out by hand. Plus if you are cutting them out, you can cut multiple layers at a time. I folded each of the fabrics I was using in half right sides together, then layered one top of the other, so I could cut out 4 layers (enough for 1 mask) at a time. Then when I stitched them together, they were already right sides together. I didn’t pin them, just stitched in a chain, like you were stitching together quilting pieces, except that I did back stitch at beginning and end of each seam.

The directions below have a removable filter pocket made of t-shirt fabric. When we made these, we decided that it made the mask too heavy to wear all day, so we opted to have it stitched into the mask. Depending on your purpose, that might be a good option.

I cut out the outer fabric, inner fabric and filter all the same size. There are several suggestions in the link below for different filters you can use.

You will need to press the seam allowances on the fabric open. This is the most time consuming part, as least to me. Using a roll of paper towels makes this so much easier. Experiment a bit, using different sizes of rolls. A full roll is too fat, a roll that is about 1/2-2/3 used is about right.

Press the outside also. I just used my finger to press the filter open. It doesn’t stay open very well until it is stitched in.

This pattern has a nice curved fit. I found that the assembly line system works most efficiently.

Elastic was not available in our area, so I used ribbon. See the link below for two different ways to tie the ribbons, around the ear or around the neck.

Use a 3/8 inch seam allowance to stitch around the mask, fabric right sides together, and smooth side of the filter against the wrong side of the top fabric. Leave one side open, pull ribbons through that end. Stitch. Trim filter close to seam and angle corners to reduce the bulk. Gently turn right side out, push out corners and press again, rolling seam to middle of the edge.

The fitted nose piece is one of things that makes this mask so much better than most. The directions below have you use 20-22 gauge floral wire, which does work.

My husband noticed on the masks he had that the nose piece was a very thin metal strip. So we set off the find a similar material. These stainless ties were close. I cut them into 4 inch strips and then rounded the edges. These ties make a more comfortable nose guard, because they are flat. When you use the floral wire, you have to coil the end, which makes a slight bump.

These strips are inserted in a channel that is stitched in at the top of the mask. Use the directions in the link, just substituting the wire strip for the floral wire. Turn under the edges of the open side seam and stitch closed.

I reinforced the stitching on the side to make the seam stronger, so that the ribbons wouldn’t pull out. Press one final time. You should be able to put these in the washer and dryer on light to casual settings. They could also be hand washed.

These are the small and large sizes of the masks. Our nurses and medical professionals are working so hard and are under so much stress. Many do not have the PPE that they need to be protected. Please thank your nurses and doctors, along with other medical professionals for all they are doing to keep the rest of of safe. They are AMAZING!!!!

Remember the embossed rolling pin that was used to make elegant Christmas cookies? You can also use it to make beautiful Christmas ornaments and gift tags. Don’t you just love these?

They were made with air dry clay – no baking required. This package made about 3 dozen ornaments.

To begin, remove the clay from the package and knead a few times. Then roll out the clay on a smooth surface, using a regular rolling pin. To make sure you have the surface completely flat, you can roll the clay between two taped down skewers.

After you roll the dough, you are ready to get out your favorite cookie cutters and start creating! If you are using the embossed rolling pin, firmly roll it over your smoothed out clay.

Carefully place the ornaments on a baking sheet (I found out it is best to have parchment paper or a silicone mat under them, some of these stuck a bit). You can gather up the leftover clay and make more designs. The great thing about this clay is that if you don’t like the way the design turns out, just re-roll it and try again.

On these snowflakes, I sprinkled a bit of glitter on them and gently rubbed it in. Then I used alphabet stamps to stamp “SNOW” into the clay.

Use a straw or skewer to make a hole in the top of each ornament.

Let dry for about 24 hours, then carefully turn and let try for another 24 hours. Make sure the ornaments are as flat as possible. About 5 hours after I placed them on the baking sheet to dry, some of the corners started to curl just a bit, so I gently flattened them back out.

When these trees were partially dry, I mixed folk art paint with water and lightly painted the tree. While they were still wet, I sprinkled glitter on them. These would be cute with little red pom-poms ornaments glued on them – maybe a rickrack garland.

Once the ornaments are dry, you may want to smooth the edges a bit. You can do it with a small nail file, or I used a sanding block and sanding paper to make the process go faster. Use twine, raffia ribbon or holiday ribbon for a hanger.

Some of the finished projects! You could use these for ornaments or in your Christmas decorations.

You can also pair with a bit of greenery and ribbon and use for a gift tag.

Try different shapes and stamp your favorite holiday words on them. Personalize the ornaments with kids or grand kids names. You can also use the stamps to put your initials on the back, maybe even the year.

So festive and fun! Great family project to do with kids!

Ready for the Christmas season! Have fun and Enjoy!

Inspiration for these came from the On Sutton Place blog. For complete instructions and more ideas, click on the link below:

https://www.onsuttonplace.com/diy-air-dry-clay-christmas-ornaments/

I have had the alphabet stamps for a while, but you can find similar ones and the clay on the Amazon website.

https://www.amazon.com/Cutters-Plastic-Alphabet-Numbers-Fondant/dp/B07RGGHSKL/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=baking+alphabet+stamps&qid=1575648430&s=office-products&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GAP4YA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Our children are grown, and now we are expecting our first grandchild! So of course, I start thinking about when our kids were little. My husband and I have often said that raising children was so much harder than we thought it would be….but so much more fun and joyful than we ever thought it would be. It is exciting, and often challenging, when they are learning so much so fast. It is so hard to decide what the most important lessons are and how to teach them. Recently I came across this blog, called “Oh Joy” by Joy Cho. In one post she writes about some basic things she is teaching her children.

“As my kids get older, I find myself navigating so many situations where I need to figure out how to guide them towards the right way to be, how to be kind, how to be a good person…in ways that a kid can understand. Here are a few things that have come up recently that felt like things we can all be doing in our grown-up lives as well…

1. Greet people when you see them (“Good morning!”, “Hi!”) AND make sure you look them in the eye! Whether it’s the bus driver, your teacher, your friend’s mom or dad, make eye contact with those you see and greet.

2. Be kind to everyone (even if they are not kind to you). I know it can be really hard to be nice to someone that isn’t always very nice to you. But we can’t let someone else’s lack of kindness affect us. Be the one who is kind to everyone because you don’t know who is struggling with something else at home or maybe having a hard time themselves. They need your kindness.

3. When you are having a conversation with someone—listen to them—and treat him or her like they are the most important person in the room. Whether it’s a friend or someone you just met at a party, give everyone the same respect and attention. It doesn’t matter if someone is older, younger, or you think they are not at the same level as you in some way. Treat everyone the same as you would like to be treated.

4. Write notes when you’re thankful (and also when you’re sorry). Give and send thank you notes (or drawings) when people make you feel special on your birthday or give you a gift. Also, if you did something not nice to a friend, write them a real life letter to apologize.

5. It’s ok to get messy. Enjoy the mess because it’s often in those moments that we are most creative, free, and happy! But we still need to have a plan to clean up afterwards (because your mom won’t always clean up your messes). “

Here is the link to her blog:

https://ohjoy.blogs.com/my_weblog/2019/05/things-im-teaching-my-children.html

Parenting Guide Book:

“Little People, Guidelines for Common Sense Child Rearing” by Edward R. Christophersen is a book I read when we were starting our family. The author’s favorite piece of advice is “Catch ‘Em Being Good”, explaining the importance of positive behavior. This is a very commonsense parenting book to teach parents how to help their children grow up happy and healthy.

As your children grow, remember to take lots of photos! Phones make it so easy…just save the images onto an external hard drive or thumb drive, and print the most special ones. As a parent, you will love looking back at all the photos. There are so many things you would forget about unless you have photos to remind you.

Enjoy your children, for in a blink of an eye, they will be grown, married and having their own children!