23 handmade valentines. Each one for a preschool classmate. Each one different.
Glitter.
Jewels.
Shells.
Stamps.
Colored pencils.
Stickers.
4-year-old handwriting after 4-year-old shouting: "How do you spell Henry?!"
I meant to take pictures, but life got a little crazy this week and the only shot I got was this one.
That's just the way it is sometimes.
Sometimes life is swift and there is no time for picture-taking.
And that's ok. I heart this life.
Happy Valentine's Day!
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This sweet little heart garland came to life between dinner & bedtime last night. I think it is my first official Valentine's Day decoration. Ever.
I'm really happy with how it turned out. I love a craft that takes less than an hour and looks like a million bucks. I'm sure I'm quite unique in that sentiment. ;)
Supplies:
Crayons (for melting)
Vegetable peeler
Wax paper
Iron
2 towels or pieces of fabric
Heart-shape stencil
Pen
Scissors
Needle
Thread
I made six small garlands using 4 crayons -- blue, green, yellow, red. My garlands are 3-5 hearts each.
Step 1: Heat the iron. Meanwhile, unwrap the crayons and shave them down as best you can with the vegetable peeler into piles on sheets of wax paper (I did one pile of yellow & red shavings, and another of blue & green shavings). At a certain point shaving the crayons will stop working and you'll just break them into small pieces (don't worry if they aren't tiny).
Step 2: Layer another sheet of wax paper on top of your crayon pile. Give yourself a lot of room for the wax to melt and spread. Put your wax paper and crayon shavings sandwich on top of a towel. Layer another towel on top of the whole thing.
Step 3: Iron until you don't feel any lumps in the crayons anymore.
Step 4: Using your heart stencil, trace hearts all over your wax paper and melted crayons (you will not be peeling the wax paper away -- the hearts would become too fragile and flake apart).
Step 5: Cut out your hearts.
Step 6: Thread your needle and "sew" the hearts together in a string, tying a knot around each one to space them evenly.
Step 7: Hang your garland in a sunny window.
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Another fun winter-related craft: Tiny Twig Rafts
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The day after chemo this week, floating on a cloud of steroid-y-ness, I woke up early and thought, I want to make something today. I came across this tutorial for a pillowcase dress, and voila! A dress was born!
Nia and I walked to Hart's Fabric and she picked out the fabric and the ribbons. (That green spot on her forehead is a sticker, by the way. And yes, this was the pose she chose.)
I'm very much a novice with a sewing machine, so I was delighted that this dress was so easy to make. It came together really rather quickly, even with my little helper (she likes to step on the sewing machine pedal, of course, and trim the loose threads).
She loves her new dress, which is so rewarding & fun! I think we'll make more of these.
Separately, Nia and I recently spray-painted a couple of onesies for our dear friend, Beatriz, using the freezer paper method to make stencils.
To do this, trace your design on to white freezer paper, and then cut out the design, leaving a stencil. Next iron the freezer paper stencil to your surface (tucking another piece inside to keep the paint from soaking through), and making your freezer paper big enough to cover the rest of the shirt so paint splatters don't wreck your project. Next, paint your design, either with fabric paint, or -- my favorite -- spray paint.
These were fun to do together. Nia's choice was to do a pink glitter elephant and a purple elephant on hers. I chose the "Hello" front and the two-tone back. Once the paint is dry, it is set with a hot iron.
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This morning I whipped up a little something for my little one and we're calling it a "Solstice Shirt" in honor of the first day of winter.
Nia already had this white shirt in her drawer, but it had never been worn as it wasn't quite as fun as some of her other shirts. So I thought a little adornment was in order and I had a little winter fabric left over from another project.
First I applied some Steam n' Seam to the back of the fabric and then cut out some shapes. Then I stuck them to the fabric by ironing them down. Next I sewed them on.
So far as sewing projects go, this came together very quickly (an hour). If I were better at sewing I could probably do this in 20 minutes. That's how long it really should take, but every time I sew I have battles: bobbin issues, threading issues, thread that looks like a bird nest, etc. Luckily, this time I didn't sew the back of the shirt to the front and I had the forethought to practice the stitch on a spare piece of cloth to find the zig-zag I wanted! This was my first time sewing around a non-rectangular shape, too, which added a little extra time.
All in all, I'm very happy with how it turned out. 60 minutes and a brand-new-feeling shirt for my little one to kick off the winter season!
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A couple of weekends ago, on a rainy Sunday, Nia and I did a little sewing project together.
We had bought this ribbon to go with her Halloween jaguar costume, but it didn't get put to use. So I turned to Amy Krol of AngryChicken.com and Bend the Rules Sewing for a headband idea.
It came together so quickly & easily and is now hands down my favorite headband for Nia. Not just because it looks so cute, either. It is her most comfortable (doesn't irritate her ears or give her a headache) and stays on really well. But yeah, it's darn cute, too!
We'll be making more of these, I'm sure!
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Please don't ask Nia what she wants to be for Halloween. Every time someone asks her (and wow do strangers love to ask this question!), the answer changes -- ballerina, mouse, lemon... I love that she's dreaming, but it is very hard to plan for & create something for a moving target. Yesterday I pinned her down for a leopard, at least for the Halloween party. She says, "Well, mama, I can be something different for all the nights of Halloween." I wonder how long her Halloween will last?
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I always think I'm going to hate the change from summer to fall, summer being my favorite season. The shorter days. The cooler days. Everything drying out & dying... But honestly, I think I'm usually ready for the change when it does finally arrive. Nia wore mittens on our walk this morning and that little detail really delighted me.
I'm looking forward to the shift to more indoor activities. Art, card games, finger puppet plays, cooking projects, lots of reading (aloud and silently), sewing... At the end of summer, squirrels gather nuts. Apparently, I gather activity books...
Seriously, though. I'm especially excited about What Shall We Do Today? and this bird feeder project:
A seed filled pumpkin. How awesome, and totally beautiful, will that be outside our window? (We'll have to hang it in a spot where the aforementioned squirrels, aka sunflower thieves, can't raid it.... hmmmm.)
And just so you all don't think I'm in crafty mom-mode all the time, I'm also looking forward to kicking off the new, longer nights with some serious vegging out with my hubby.
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Tonight, for the first time, Nia and I made playdough. We used the No-Cook Playdough recipe from Preschool Art by MaryAnn Kohl.
It was seriously fun, in the making and the playing. Nia is still playing with it -- that's 60 minutes of creative play!
So far she's made cookies, pizza, pasta, pancakes, sandwiches, snakes, balls, etc. "I'm Chef Nia!"
No Cook Playdough:
In a bowl mix together: 1 cup cold water, 1 cup salt (that's not a typo!), 2 tsp. oil, and either some food coloring or powdered Tempra paint. Or you can leave the dough white. Stir. Next, add 2 TBSP corn starch and 3 cups flour gradually till it reaches a bread dough consistency. Pour the dough out onto a surface and knead. Use the dough to model as with any clay. Enjoy!
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This morning -- finally! -- we woke to sunshine streaming through the windows. At last! (Of course, as I'm writing this, there are clouds out there, but I'm ignoring them.) To honor the sun, Nia and I worked on converting her Spring table to a Summer table. Mainly, we added bees. Cute little felt guys decorated with yellow string and tissue paper wings. I made a circle from a reed Nia found in the yard and hung them at varying lengths so they would appear to buzz around the flowers. Bees and flowers -- that pretty says summer, right? Hopefully the sun will feel welcome and stick around. Supposedly we have a "normal" summer still ahead of us, if those weather guys can be trusted...
We've also decorated our table with Gerda Muller's sweet boardbook, Summer as well as Mother Earth and Her Children. And for anyone wondering, I get many of my season table ideas from the creative little book, The Nature Corner: Celebrating the Year's Cycle with a Seasonal Tableau.
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