Crafting a Baby Gift

As a gift for Baby T, my girl made him a tied fleece blanket. She picked a frog print and a lime green & blue leopard print for the back. I forgot to take a picture of the leopard print back. She's gotten really good at cutting and tying blankets by herself, though she did have some unwanted help. Chunky loved laying on the fleece as she worked.  I had to keep calling him away from the project. When it came time to take pictures he had to get into the picture too, after all he had a paw in it's making.

We wrapped the finished blanket in a bright green ribbon and attached a frog toy, then we delivered it to Baby T. He's so tiny, sweet and beautiful! We both enjoyed holding him while he slept. Now that we have a new baby in the family I think we'll have to find a few more baby crafts to try.

May the Force Be With You

Over spring vacation my husband and my daughter watched all six Star Wars movies together.  My daughter loved them, so she decided to craft up a bit of Star Wars fun.  She gathered up some fabric scraps, polyfil, paint and sharpies and set to work.  Honestly, sometimes I'm amazed at how creative she can be! I had a mom that would sew and do crafts with me but I know I wasn't that creative when I was her age.  I've been crafting with her for years but now at the age of ten she's able to create things mostly on her own. She has a vision and the know how to do it. For this project the only thing I did was assist with the sewing machine, she did the rest.

She created a collection of Star Wars characters by sewing fabric then painting it with acrylic paint.  She did a fabulous job!  Here's the rubble during the creation process.

This is Yoda.

This is one of General Grievous' droids and c3po.

Here's the whole Star Wars gang together. May the force be with you!

Giving Bunnies & Art

Warning the photo quality isn't great, but I had to share a few bits of art I discovered mixed in with my daughter's school work. I love her drawings!

One of the spelling words this week was tiny, so this is Tiny a wee little dog.  He's so cute!

This is Mary as the title explains.  What I love about this piece of art is the sweet little bunny in the background.  He's a Giving Bunny.  My daughter wanted to make a stuffed bunny a few weeks back. I showed her a pattern for the Giving Bunny and off she went to create a family of Giving Bunnies.  

Here are the fruits of her labor or in this case bunnies.  Baby Bunny, Grandma Bunny and Mama Bunny. There was a fourth bunny but it was given to her friend in the spirit of the Giving Bunny Project.

Creative Kid

I have to say this is another duck tape post but, I'm a proud mama.  My kid is incredibly creative and crafty.  She amazes me with what she can do.  This summer we've had a good time crafting with duck tape and her creativity has shown through.  She has the vision and the creativity and with my years of crafting experience together we figure out how to do it. 

 Look at this 3-D Hello Kitty purse she made.  She created the front and back and I helped her figure out how to make and attach the sides.  It turned out awesome!

 Then she moved on to make an apron for herself.  She even put a tag on it that says Duck tape extraordinaire on it.  I think if you can make that apron you've earned the title. The plan is to use this apron as an art smock at school this year.  It was the last thing on the school supply list we needed to get but she made this one instead, so now we are officially done our school supply shopping.

 On a play date with a friend my daughter made the amazing Alice in Wonderland apron I'm wearing. Her friend made a duck tape skirt out of black and white check tape.  I just love the apron I'm wearing.  She included dice, a red heart and a red rose that is dripping paint (I helped fold the rose petals and she stuck them on.) I think it's so darn cute and incredibly creative(again proud mama talking here!)

 Today's duck tape project was flip flops.  We watched this video here to see how they were made, then worked on making them together.  They turned out cute, and yes she wanted them to be different so that they matched all of the colors from her apron/art smock.  After making them she's decided they aren't as comfortable as her regular flip flops and has decided they should be a decoration instead.

With all of this duck tape goodness I decided to make something useful for myself.  I made this little receipt keeper for my purse to hold all of the messy receipts that end up in the bottom of my purse.

Got Duct Tape?

 Duct tape, who knew it could be so much fun?  We bought several rolls of printed duct tape last summer, but never got around to using them. My daughter went to a craft camp offered by the local school district.  One of the girls at the camp brought in purses that she made using duct tape. We thought that was very cool so we pulled out the rolls of duct tape we had and started to create.

 Look at how proud she is of her crafts.  I helped with the purse but she made the matching bow and wallet herself.

 Here's another look at the goodies she made.  I just love that polka dot duct tape!

 This is the cheetah print hair bow I made for myself.

We had so much fun with the duct tape that the next day when we had the little girl from next door over for a play date, they pulled out the duct tape and created some more.  I just love the penguin bag my daughter made.  She made the main part of the bag and I taped it together using the last of the polka dot duct tape.  I wouldn't have been brave enough to put those patterns together but I'm glad she was because I love how it turned out.

This was my first try at making a rose pen from duct tape.  There are so many cool colors and prints of duct tape available; the possibilities are endless. I've been amazed to see all of the things people have created using duct tape.  I've seen some very creative items made with just duct tape. We've been having fun with it and I'm looking forward to trying to make a few more things with the duct tape.  Have you got duct tape? What is the most creative thing you've seen made of duct tape?

September Hail & Snow

It's only September so it seems way to early for hail or snow. Surprisingly a good thunderstorm rolled through last week and dumped a bunch of hail on us. We watched from the windows waiting for it to stop. When it finally ended Nature Girl headed outside to play with it. She thought it was great! Her dad and I worried about any dents it might have left in his car(though it was fine.)

Yesterday we made snow. The teacher I share a room with at school took a trip to Colorado this summer. Being the amazing teacher she is, she brought back polymer crystals that turn into snow when you add water. It's what many of the mountains use to create their snow. The first week back at school was brutal in our room as the temperatures were above 90. She pulled out the crystals and had her students making snow and practicing letter sounds, spelling and math in the snow. They had a blast! She was kind enough to share with Nature Girl.

We had a great time sitting at the table writing, drawing and touching the snow! This was one of Nature Girl's snow creations. The best part is it doesn't melt. We put it in a jar to use again.

Sweet and Kind

On Friday our refrigerator was on the fritz so we had to call a repairman to come have a look. The good news is he was able to fix the problem without us having to buy a new refrigerator. While the repairman was working, Nature Girl grabbed a piece of paper and began drawing. She brought the picture over to give to the repairman then realized he was wearing glasses. She took the picture back and worked on it again before bringing it to the repairman. He was busy fixing the fridge and she felt shy so she left it for him on the floor next to his tools. In the end the repairman fixed the fridge and took the check but didn't take the drawing. I'm sure he didn't see what I saw. I saw a sweet little girl who wanted to do something kind for a stranger. She worked hard to make the picture just right so he would be happy with it. It was a gift. To me it was a sweet and kind thing for her to do and it made me proud! I didn't expect this middle age man to see a four year olds drawing as the gift she meant it to be so when he left the picture behind I quickly snapped it up and took a photo. Then I put it in the pile of pictures to save. This one was so sweet and kind it's certainly a keeper! So is Nature Girl!!!!

We're heading out tomorrow to go spend time with my mom and my grandmother in VT for a few days. My sister, her two boys, Nature Girl and I will pile into the car tomorrow morning for the two and a half hour trip. This will be Adventure Bunny's last adventure with us. She'll be heading to her new home next week. The trip is one of the last activities left on our summer fun list. Nature Girl is very excited about going and has been asking for two days if it's time to go see Mimi yet. Summer is flying by and I begin school in just two weeks! I'm trying to enjoy the last days of summer while I can.

Nature Girl Sews and A Quick Tutorial

That's right, Nature Girl sews! She completed her first sewing project while we were on vacation. She insists this is her second sewing project since she helped me stitch on one of my projects a few months ago. So call it a first or call it a second sewing project, either way we were both proud of the finished project! She sewed this bookmark with a little assistance. She did very well and quickly picked up the running stitch. I love the wobbliness of the stitches and I am so proud of my little crafter!

Here's her finished bookmark in a book. Now we're looking forward to trying a few more sewing projects this summer. I discovered a site called Kids Sewing Projects. It has some great projects for kids who are beginning to sew. Try some of the projects at Kids Sewing Projects or try our tutorial for the felt bookmark. Happy sewing!

Felt Bookmark Tutorial:
Materials:
12 inches of ribbon
felt(cut two flower shapes and two shapes for the bottom)
safety pins
embroidery thread
needle
Place the ribbon between the two felt flowers. Pin in place with safety pins. Sew around the flower using a running stitch. Make sure to stitch through the ribbon so it will stay in place. Then sew your pieces to the bottom of your ribbon. Again make sure you stitch through the ribbon. I did two sets of leaves on the bottom of this bookmark but you can sew just one set on the bottom.

We sewed flower bookmarks this time. We want to try this again and make a felt bird bookmark as a gift for a friend.
Edited: Nature Girl's bookmark project is now on Kids Sewing Projects. You can see it here.

Pipe Cleaners and Fabric

We've been experimenting with pipe cleaners and the creations in the Klutz Pipe Cleaners Gone Crazy book I bought at a yard sale a few weeks ago. Nature Girl has enjoyed twisting pipe cleaners together for awhile now. She likes making snakes and dragons. Nature Girl made her own creation while I enjoyed following the instructions to make items from the book for her. It's amazing what you can make with a few pipe cleaners!
Today I was looking at Nature Girl's flamingo quilt trying to decide what to do with it. When the mail arrived it contained a package from the fabric swap. Tracey sent these wonderful fabrics! She also included some buttons and a clothespin doll which were quickly claimed by Nature Girl. I think the greens, yellows and pinks will be added to the flamingo quilt. The reds and blues are destined to be used in some mini quilts. It's so much fun getting new fabrics in the mail! Thank you Tracey! By the way Tracey is hosting a new swap. It's a tote bag swap. For more details and to sign up go here. If you post the information about her swap you could win this fabric so go check it out!

Clothespins and Rocks

Nature Girl had a friend over for a play date today. They spent the morning painting with puffy paint, painty pens and finally acrylics. Nature Girl painted some wooden snowflakes. We attached them to clothespins with wood glue to create these decorative clips. We'll use them to hang up Nature Girl's art work in the playroom. They also make great hanging clips for mini quilts.
This afternoon we went for a walk and collected some rocks along the way. When we got home we wrapped aluminum wire around the rocks to turn them into pendants. Add a colored string and we had an hour's worth of entertainment. Nature Girl was thrilled with hers so we created necklaces for the kids next door too. We had six kids running around the backyard wearing rock pendants pretending to be superheros. Apparently the rocks contain secret super powers. They had lots of fun. Nature Girl wanted to wear her rock pendant to bed.

*Nature Girl took the photo for this post.

Spring Branches

We're traveling to NY this weekend to surprise Nature Girl's grandmother. We'll be celebrating Grandma's birthday and Mother's Day while we're there. Nature Girl loves to visit with her Grandma and Papa. She's done this trip every few months since birth so she's great riding in the car for the 5 hour trip. Of course she gets to pick what we listen to in the car which is often boring for her mom & dad but it keeps her happy and the ride goes by without a since complaint or an "are we there yet!" We're fortunate that she's so good! For tonight's listening enjoyment we borrowed the first Harry Potter Book The Sorcerer's Stone on audio CD. We're looking forward to listening to this one on tonight's trip.
We had our girls day out today. We had a very nice day together. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. In the meantime check out the new Kids Craft Weekly which includes flower crafts. We tried the scrunchy blossoms that look like spring branches.

Painting Rocks

Nature Girl had a preschool friend over for a play date. Since we usually like to plan a craft or project for our play dates we decided to paint rocks. This was a big hit. Nature Girl and friend painted large rocks with acrylic Painty pens. Amazing how a simple inexpensive project can provide so much entertainment. We plan to spray the rocks with a clear spray paint then add them to Nature Girl's garden. Spring is finally beginning to arrive. The snow is melting and the hyacinths are starting to peek through in her little garden.

While the kids happily painted their rocks I painted a frog and a cat. We'll add these to the flower beds in the yard once all the snow melts. Once again amazing how a simple and inexpensive activity can provide so much entertainment, even for a mom!

Spring Lollipop Bouquets

My original plan was to make these with Nature Girl so we could pass them out to her preschool classmates on the first day of spring. Last week I was finishing Easter crafts so we didn't manage to get these done till yesterday. We made them with one of Nature Girls playmates. I originally saw lollipop flowers for Valentine's day on Skip to My Lou. She had a great pdf you could print onto colored paper. In the end I opted for a circle swirly flower that two 4 year olds could easily make. The letter at preschool this week is S so spring and swirly fit right into that.

Materials:
construction paper
pencil
top of a jar candle(for tracing a circle)
markers
scissors
lollipops(we used Dum Dums but Toostie Pops would work)

I traced the top of the jar candle with a pencil, then retraced the line with a marker. I continued drawing a swirl into the center of each circle. Then the girls cut out the circles. I precut the leaves from construction paper scraps but the girls could have cut those themselves.

We used a pencil to poke a small hole in the center of the circle and and a hole in each of the leaves. Next we slowly pushed the lollipop sticks through the hole in the flower then into the holes in the leaves. We twisted the lollipops as we got to the part of the stick covered by the wrappers to get the wrappers to fit in. I wrote "Happy Spring!" on one leaf . . . . viola' it was finished. This was a simple, fun and yummy way to welcome spring.