Category: Children

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Spooooky Skirts

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These Autumn days…

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 that can’t seem to make up their minds–

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cold? warm? rainy? dry? hot? cool? slippers? sandals? and on and on.

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The cool and cold of these days sends me to my fabric stash or to the fabric shop—which is so much more dangerous–to find something lovely to play with.

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The holiday fabrics are always a temptation because I have these sweet dolly babies that are so fun to dress-up. And so I flew downstairs to my “sewing chamber” to contemplate the seasons and…

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came back up with thousands of Halloween skirts for the little ladies.

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I found the free Lazy Days skirt pattern over at Oliver + S to be positively perfect–quick and easy. My kind of project.

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Of course, it never actually occurred to me to ask the Mamas if they even wanted a thousand girlie Halloween skirts. Wasn’t willing to risk them saying, “no.”

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So I will ask you, my friends–

How do you think it will go over when Lily-foo and Baby Chompy…

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wears pirate skirts….to church?

ha!

——————–

Week #32 Food Storage Prompt: 1 can of tuna, 4 cans Tomato soup

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Happy Birthday Caterpillar!

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Don’t you just love the book, “A Very Hungry Caterpillar?” It has been one of my favorites since I picked it up in a local bookstore when I was a teenager.  This sweet book is 40 years old this year and with celebrations going on world wide–how could we possibly do anything different today other than say, “Wahoo!” for the most famous caterpillar of all time?

If you own the book–now would be a great time to pull it down from the shelf and read it to your kids–no matter how old they are. If you don’t have the book–that’s ok too. 

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This year marks the 40th anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which was published in 1969. Celebrations and activities based on this much-loved book will be held throughout the year in schools and libraries and by readers and friends all around the world. Also, a special edition of the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pop-Up Book featuring Eric Carle’s illustrations in a 3-dimensional format, will be available for sale at your local bookstore.

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Now, go eat an apple, 2 pears, 3 plums, 4 strawberries, 5 oranges, some chocolate cake, an ice cream cone, a pickle, some Swiss cheese, a slice of salami, a lolipop, a piece of cherry pie, a sausage and a cupcake. If you really want to be a sport–try a leaf for dessert.

 

A very hungry C

Happy Reading!

“A Very Hungry Caterpillar” quilt is from the Springville Art Museum 2009 Quilt Fair.

This week’s food storage prompt is: 1 can tuna, 3 cans mushroom soup

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Week of Winners Giveaway #2

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Just perfect for hiding away with the Christmas stash! This sweet little Webkins Elephant will keep you or someone you love company online or off.

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Also included are two Webkins trading card packs and the Webkins Elephant charm.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post.

For two more entries, post about this giveaway on your own site, and send me the link.

For three more entries be sure to click on the “Divine Caroline” button below and vote for Gracious Rain—it’s not hard and it’s free! Simply say, “I voted” in your comment and that’s it!

If you have already voted get 1 other person to vote–husband, sister, brother, mom, cat, kids, dog…hamster. Hey, if they have an email, they can vote!!

All “Week of Winner” winners will be chosen and announced on Monday October 5, 2009 at 10 am.

Good luck everyone!

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The “Sunday Bib”

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A common complaint from moms all over the place is that at dinner time, their babies are nice and covered with bibs all except for their arms. No problem, unless they are wearing long sleeves. Now they still need to change because they have apple sauce on their elbows. To these moms–I say…Meet the “Sunday Bib.”

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It’s nearly a smock but without so much back—and again, it’s made from a disguarded T-shirt and a cute new washcloth. Sorry, couldn’t help the Halloween colors. It must have been the moon…

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We cut the bottom of the shirt off about 2 inches below the sleeves.  Then, just put the washcloth where you want it and pin it in place–to just one side of the shirt.

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Be sure to keep the back side fabric out of the way–and sew the washcloth onto the shirt a few inches below the neck ribbing.

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You may want to take in a bit of the sleeve if the shirt is really huge. Just trim off the excess.

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Slit up the back side of the shirt. You can fold in and sew all the raw edges if you’d like to, but that’s the beauty of using T-shirt fabric–it doesn’t fray, so you don’t HAVE to unless you want to.

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Sew a tie of ribbon or soft string at the neck top, on each side. I used the shiny cord from old gift bags. It’s the perfect length and it comes in every color of the rainbow. Hey, you were throwing it out anyway!

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And there you have it my darlings. It’s quick and simple and every mom that sees it says, “Ohhhh, yeaaaah. That’s what we need!”

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And…poof!

Like magic.

It’s yours.

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Crayon Leaf Mobile

Remember those crayons you bought a lot of a few weeks ago, and then broke them up and made Confetti Crayons?

Well, I hope you saved some, or still have some around that need sharpening…

You’ll need:

  • Wax paper
  • Crayons
  • Scissors
  • Pencil Sharpener
  • Black Permanent Marker
  • Iron
  • Hole Punch
  • String

First, print out this pdf, of a few outlines of leaves.

Get out your black marker, and trace the leaves on a sheet of wax paper.

Lay out your sheet of wax paper with the leaves on it, on your ironing surface. Put a sheet of clean paper underneath to protect your ironing board.

Then, start sharpening! (And please ignore the scorch marks on my ironing board while you’re at it.)

I tried to make my shavings all pretty and in the lines. Don’t bother, it’s a pain, and totally doesn’t make a difference. Just have fun mixing colors, and then just spread them evenly over the leaf shape on the waxed paper. This is a fun way to teach kids about monochromatic colors, complimentary colors, warm colors, cool colors, etc. Oh, and if you mix too many colors, well, you’ll end up with brown. Just a warning.

Place the 2nd sheet of wax paper over the top of your crayon shavings. Set your iron on low. Put another piece of clean white paper on top of your wax paper (to protect your iron). Then, press the iron slowly down on each of the leaves. Don’t move the iron around like you’re ironing something, just press it down, pick it up, move it, place it down again. If you move it, it will smear your crayon wax everywhere, and you’ll have a mess. Trust me on this.

Please note the lovely brown patch. I told you. Too many colors=brown.

Now, cut out your leaves! If you do this part while they’re still warm, they will be easier to cut, but they cool quickly. Don’t worry if your wax paper starts to lift a little on the edges, just put your cut out piece back between the clean paper, give it a little press with the iron, and voila! Sealed up again!

Poke some holes in your leaves, tie some string…

 and hang up somewhere pretty!

~ April