As Promised. . . .

. . .here are 2 projects I used the shrinky plastic for.

First:

NO MORE EXCUSES!
Remember these little PJ bags I made for the boys to help organize their room? Well, they worked like a charm for about a month or so. Since then, I keep finding them piled in a heap behind their door, usually with dirty clothes inside. When asked why they weren't using them, the boys said that they couldn't tell whose was whose and it took too much time looking inside to figure it out. So. . . here are their custom made tags. No more excuses!
Second:
WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!
I have been teaching ballet for so long that many of my classes I can teach off the top of my head. Others, I have lesson plans for that I keep in big 3-ring binders and use year after year. I hate lugging the binders around, so lately I have been just pulling one page from the binder and taking just that one page with me. The problem--the one page usually gets stuffed in my bag and badly wrinkled, if not completely ruined. So I bought a clipboard from the dollar store and got busy painting and gluing on scrapbook paper. Now when I get home from teaching, I bring the clipboard in, switch out my lesson plans for the next class and I'm all ready to go. So here's the new and improved clipboard complete with shrinky tags. Cute, huh?

Well. Last night I was getting ready to put the final coat of clear sealer on it when I find this.

Someone has put 2 lovely X's on the back of my clipboard in ink pen. So now I have to seek out the criminal responsible for defacing my property. My first instinct was that my little 3-year-old graffitti arstist was the culprit (she draws on EVERYTHING). I would expect it from a 3-year-old. I would even expect it from my 6-year-olds. Kids often do things "just cuz" without thinking and without respect for someone else's stuff. So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered my 31-year-old husband was the guilty party. Seriously! What were you thinking? Apparently he was talking on the phone and felt the urge to doodle--totally understandable! But WHY my clipboard?*@#$ I guess the stack of junk mail right next to the clipboard just wasn't good enough. AHHHH! You know if it were one of my kids, I would probably just leave it there as a mark of their childhood. 10 years from now I would look at it and smile and think "Remember when. . ." But somehow it's not nearly as cute when it's your husband. All I can think is, "How can I cover this up?"

Don't worry. The criminal was punished accordingly. The boys put him in the time-out corner and Rylee took care of the spanking and lecture. And his restraining order, issued by the Honorable Judge Heather, dictates that he is no longer allowed within 10 feet of any and all craft projects.

Shrinky-Dinky-Doo!

I got some of those plastic sheets that shrink when you put them in the oven and they are so fun! They come in clear and white. And I love that the ones I got are ink jet printable. Oh the possibilities!

My first batch failed miserably--there is a reason it says not to cook them on metal (That will teach me to follow directions!)

The second batch turned out great! More photos to come of the "stuff" I used these cute little tags on.

The hardest part was getting them to lie completely flat while they cool--the edges tend to curl. So here's my solution:
While the oven is pre-heating, I stuck a 9x13 Pyrex pan in the oven. When it had reached 325 degrees, I took the pan out and put the shrinkies in on a piece of heavy cardboard with a piece of vellum on top. When they were done, I took the cardboard out, set it on the counter, and then using hot pads set the still-hot 9x13 pan on top, smoothing it back and forth to flatten the pieces. It worked great!

Conference Weekend

I love Conference weekend! This one was particularly wonderful. All the messages shared were so applicable. So much good information and things I need to work on!

I usually have some type of project going while I sit and listen. This time, after a quick reminder tutorial from my Gram, I have started knitting again. I have been a long-time crochet-er, but love that knitting doesn't hurt my wrist as much. So this weekend's project was dishcloths. All the women in my family make them and they are so much better than the store-bought ones, and they are better than the crocheted ones too (believe me I know)

The pattern (using 100% cotton yarn):
*cast on 4
*knit 2, yarn over, knit across
*repeat above until you have 42 stitches
*knit 1, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit across
*repeat above until decreased down to 4

My first one had a few dropped stitches and came out a bit funny shaped, but the second one was much better.

Candy Corn Hat

How cute is this!!! Hmm. I wonder if my knitting skills are good enough. I have never used circular needles before, but I just might try it! Here's the link if you are interested.
http://www.materialwhirled.com/Candy-Corn-Hat-Pattern-pr-344.html

Skirts

I was in need of some new skirts for when I teach ballet. So I found this pattern and it seemed simple enough. My measurements were a bit off, but it still turned out! Rylee then said she wanted one and I managed to have just enough fabric leftover. Because I was reckless with my cutting of my skirt, I ended up having to piece hers a little bit more. But it still turned out cute.

My little barefoot model all ready for the runway.From the back

Then my little fashion designer took all the leftover pieces and used them to accessorize Missy and Jo Jo, her 2 stuffed horses. Her next equine collection will be available in the Spring. . .stay tuned! :)

How adorbale is she???!!!

This was the second one I attempted. It turned out even better than the first, but I don't know that I could replicate it. The peices ended up being cut on the bias and the bottom hem has a curve to it. I say this like I MEANT to do it this way, but that would imply that I am a competent seamstress who actually knows what she's doing. NOT! Instead, it started out as a mistake (as many of my projects do). I started with the intention of making a circle skirt, which I did, but soon decided that me and circle skirts, especially short ones, don't mesh--I looked like I was wearing a tent! So I then cut the pieces for the wrap skirt out of the circle skirt. Anyway, they were super easy and fun and I think I might have to go buy some more fabric!

Happy Fall!

My kids were sick with the stomach flu this weekend, so we had a pretty mellow few days--perfect for finishing up some crafts!

I saw this tutorial and made these cute pumpkins for my kitchen table. I have to admit that my impatience led me to omit the little bag of sand at the bottom of the pumpkins, but they still work for my purpose. They were so fast and fun! And I just made them out of scraps of stuff I had at home already. Jason later handed me a plaid shirt of his that has a hole in it and my first thought--that would make cute pumpkins! I think I am obsessed!

We also finished up my scarecrows. I wanted to make them last year, but never got around to it. I saved old clothes from my kids and made 3 scarecrows--one for each child. My face painting skills need some work, but I think they turned out ok.

I made a "t" out of old lumber my husband had laying around and them dressed and stuffed the "t". The faces were made from an old curtain panel I had laying around and the hats came from the dollar store. Score! While I was proud of my thriftiness, my poor husband had a heck of a time trying to get the darn things to stand. The wood I used was so old that screws and nails just split it and the epoxy he tried using to put the stakes on stuck to the stakes, but just peeled the old wood away. Finally he resorted to electrical tape. Not the best looking, but whatever works!!

Origami Bookmarks

I saw this idea and loved it! Especially since I love to read so much. I didn't have any Origami paper, but scrapbook paper worked too. It was just harder to get the precise folds. Fun!

Glove Animals

I was at the dollar store the other day when I found these really soft chenille-like gloves. I immediately thought of this idea I had seen several months ago.




I made a puppy for Rylee--it turned out pretty funny looking, but she loves the thing! Drags it around everywhere with her. Kids are so easy to please! The "collar" is a "Girl Power" bracelet Jason brought home from a lady he works with.

Preschool Day 2

And what a day it was! To start off, I wasn't as prepared as I should have been. It's been a crazy week and my alarm didn't go off this morning, so I was rushing around like crazy trying to get things together. Add in a child pouting in the bedroom for 20 minutes (mine, of course) , a pants-wetting incident (also my child), and a bloody nose sustained from a collision while riding our cardboard box train, and it was quite the day!

On to the details:
QUESTION OF THE DAY: Have you ever been on a boat?

CENTERS:
White-board/Chalkboard
Blocks
Puzzles--different ones from last time

I found this packet of 36 school bus cutouts at the dollar store and figured I could use them to fit in with the Vehicles theme (cars trucks, buses etc) that we are doing this week. I wrote the alphabet out, one letter on each bus and then scattered the buses around on the walls all over the house. After talking about the questions of the day, I told them that the alphabet got all mixed up and we needed to put it back in the correct order. We sang the ABC's song once and then I started with "A". I would write an "A" on the white-board and then they would have to hunt around till they found the bus that matched. Then we connected all the busses so that it made one long bus and then sang the ABC's again as I pointed to each letter. Now if only "X" had come at the beginning of the alphabet, everyone would have enjoyed the game. (Rylee wanted to find "X" first and my explanation that we needed to go in order prompted her pouting episode) Why is it that your own kids are always worst when it's your turn?

The we did the classic "Sink or Float" game. I got out our plastic toy boat the kids play with in the bathtub and had the kids take turns pulling items out of a bag and guessing wheather or not it would make to boat sink or float. Then they would put the object in the boat (sitting in a tupperware of water) and see if they were correct. Then they would put a sticker on the side of the paper that showed what happened. I have done this game a couple of times when I did a similar preschool with my boys and it is always a huge hit! Although the kids usually get pretty wet. Something about the temptation of water is just too much to resist!

Then we had some OUTSIDE PLAY TIME and SNACK. I found the idea to make these JELLO boats and had to try them. The kids loved them! We also had crackers and grapes.


Then we read a BOOK-- I Love Trains

My husband brought home some boxes from work and I folded the flaps inside and lined them all up to make a train. The kids would take turns being the conductor and caboose while we sang a song my mom used to sing to us "Choo Choo the Big Train is Coming Down the Track". Then at the end of the song, the kids thought it was fun to tip the cars off the track. Shortly after this picture was taken was when the collision happened. 2 little boys were trading places in the train when one's head hit the other's nose and it started bleeding pretty good. But he was such a trooper!! He hardly cried and before long he was back playing again.

After that, we took the train apart and made them into cars--cutting out circles for the headlights and a rectangle for the license plate. Then I poked holes and tied yarn to make straps so they could "wear" their cars. They all decorated licence plates with stickers and then we were headed outside to have races when it was time to go. A couple kids stuck around for a race, though. I wish we'd had more time because I was going to play "Red Light Green Light" with them in their cars. Oh well!

Here's Rylee in her car. She is saying "zoom" hence the funny face.

Pin Cushion

One thing I love about crafting is re-purposing things you have lying around your house. So when I saw this super easy pincushion made out of a tuna can, I had to make one.

It reminds me of a cupcake and the pins are the sprinkles. And nothing is permanent, so I can switch out the fabric when I get bored!

From My Garden

Baby Shower

This past Saturday, I gave a baby shower for my sister-in-law, Rena. Her baby is due November 10th and I can't wait to have a little niece to spoil!! They are going to name her Surilla Danae Dearden (Surilla is Rena's grandma's name) and they will call her Danae. Rena is a very talented artist and painted this cute mural from "Toy Story" on her wall. Isn't it adorable?! Her colors are pink and brown.

We had a great turn-out for the shower and she got some wonderful gifts. Below are some of the "crafty" items I made.

The Invitation:

Games:
**Rena had gone to one of those ceramics places where you can paint pieces and then they fire them for you. She did this cute little Hippo Bank. We then went around the room introducing ourselves and then telling one thing we had never done before (ie: I've never been skydiving). Then everyone else in the room who had never been skydiving had to put a coin into the bank. Then it was the next person's turn and so on. (we had a big jar of coins for those who didn't have any change with them.) By the time we were done, baby Danae's college fund had officially bee started :)

**Baby item scramble: cpafiire = pacifier etc.
**Bingo!: This was done while Rena opened her gifts. Everyone filled out their own Bingo card with words they thought Rena would say while opening gifts. When she said a word on your sheet, you got to cross it off.



Here were the prizes for the games. I used plain brown bags and decorated them with plastic water bottles dipped in pink and cream paint. I thought they turned out cute!

There was lots of yummy food and the cookies Rena and her mom made were so cute!


Favors:
Chocolate suckers with seed packets attached. I couldn't find any little envelopes I liked, so I made my own. It gave me something to do while I stayed up late watching the Olympics a few weeks ago.



Of course, I had to get a little crafty with her gift too.

Burp Cloths:
Made out of washable diapers.

Boo Boo Bunny:
I got the idea from my Grandma who gave me one years ago. I crocheted a square and here are the instructions on how to fold it.


Hooded Towel:
I made it out of a full sized towel so it can grow with her. My Aunt Kapi made towels like these for my 3 kids and I LOVE them! They are so much better than the store-bought baby towels that are thin and hardly absorb anything. And now, 6 years later, and my boys can still use theirs!

Pacifier Clip:

Complete with her name.

Preschool

I love browsing the web for ideas to use in our little mom-swap preschool and thought I'd share some of the things we do. Today was my first day to host and I thought it went really well! There are 5 kids all 3 years old, except one who will be 3 before long, and for the most part they all paid attention really well and I think they all had fun.

We started off with Question of the Day. Today was :"What color eyes do you have? I pulled each child aside individually and had them help me write their name on a paper under the appropriate color. While we did this, the other 4 kids had center play time. The centers for the day were: blocks, puzzles, and Little People.

I was actually surprised, but the play time didn't last long. They all wanted to get right into the preschool part, so that is what we did. I brought out the paper with the question of the day and had each child point to his/her name. Then we counted how many of each color there were and they all wanted to look at each other's eyes just to make sure. It was pretty cute. Then we talked about how we are all different: girls/boys, blond hair/brown hair, some have sisters/brothers, some have pets/others don't etc. Then after we pointed out how we are all different, we talked about how we are all the same. It was cute seeing what they came up with. Then we talked about how even though we are all different, we are all friends.


Next, we read The Rainbow Fish book. We talked about sharing and being nice to one another and then I brought out a sheet of fish stickers. I told them all how much I loved those stickers and wanted to keep them all to myself, just like the rainbow fish and his scales. Then we talked about how it would be better if I shared with everyone and then I gave each child a sticker and talked about how happy it made me feel to share.

Carrying on the fish theme, I brought out a bunch of fish I'd cut out of construction paper, in 3 different colors. Then I set a "pond" in each color (just a sheet of construction paper) on the coffee table. I told them that the fish got all mixed up and we needed to get them back into their correct ponds. I set up a blanket between to chairs and had them do the traditional carnival fishing game. Each time they pulled out a fish, they had to put it in the correct "pond". It was a huge hit and when we ran out of fish, they kept "catching" each other. Pretty cute! Anyways. We then looked at each pond and counted how many fish were in each working on that 1-1 counting skill. Then I had them notice that the fish were different sizes. They then sorted them by size: Daddies, Mommas and Babies. We then counted to see how many of each there were. They all did really great at counting along with me.

Then it was outside where they each painted their own rainbow fish cut out of freezer paper. It got pretty messy and there were moments of serious second thoughts especially when the enitre blue cup of paint spilled, but I put old t-shirts of mine on all the kids and even though our patio is covered in paint, not a single child got it on their clothes. I was pretty impressed. I used washable paint, though, just in case.

Then they had outside play time. The bubbles, as always, were a huge hit.

Then it was inside for a snack of Rainbow Fish Crackers and grapes followed by a little free play time.


We then read another book, What Makes a Rainbow? and talked about all the different colors there are. We headed for the kitchen and they had fun watching color magic as I mixed different combinations of colored water. I made these little sheets for them. I would ask ahead of time what color they thought it would make and then afterwards, they each pulled the correct colored square out and put it on their paper. Not sure that any of them will remember what 2 primaries make what secondaries, but they all were fascinated watching the water change color.

Lastly, we did a little creative movement. (I am a dance teacher after all! Gotta stick with what you know!) We talked about the different parts of a storm: clouds, rain, wind, thunder, lightning. I had a piece of music that corresponded to each part and we would listen to the music, decided what part it went with, and then make our bodies mimic that part. (ie., marching and jumping=thunder, spiky hands and kicks=lightning etc) After we went through each one, we had each child take a turn acting one out and we had to see if we could guess which element they were doing. They all picked wind and/or thunder. Lastly, we tried to see how many different ways we could make our bodies look like rainbows.

Overall, I think things went really well.

Leftovers Library Bag

I have been working on some projects for my niece-to-be (posts to follow soon) and found I had several pieces of fabric leftover--too big to throw away, but not really big enough to make anything with on their own. So the quilter in me pieced them together to make this funky library book bag. Not too bad considering it was my 2nd tote ever-- the first one I made in Jr High Home Ec. class, so it had been awhile.