World's Best Daddy Let's Mommy Nap

A while back, many Sundays ago, but still fairly recently, I was SO tired that I took a nap and Daddy was left in charge. Here's what kept them occupied for part of the time.

Playing with Masking Tape! Who'd have thought. I think I left it out from my staff project. Oh, you have to have a picture of that one now. I made a giant staff for my piano students. I LOVE it. Meredith is SO interested in taking piano lessons that she's faster at finding the notes than a some of my students. After reading lessons though.

Meredith with her "belt"

Emily with her house made of masking tape.

World's Best Daddy. I have NO idea who was in charge of the camera. Meredith?

Breadmaker Bagels

I've been trying out a LOT more recipes lately. I'm realizing that almost anything that comes prepackaged at the store I can make at home that's way tastier. Of course, I'm scared about trying bread for several reasons. The fact that it seems difficult to make a nice sandwich bread (at least from the different blogs I read). Mmmm. Maybe I don't care and I'll just toast everything from now on. :) I don't know if my family will go for that.

I found a recipe for breadmaker bagels. Yummy! These do NOT last at my house. I even gave some to my piano students when they came over and they raved over them for weeks. Oh yes, that good. These were my first try. My current bagels look much prettier.

The Homemade Horse

Emily's preschool teacher sent us a letter home last week telling us we need to make a homemade horse and bring it to school for "rodeo week". So, we waited till the day before the deadline to do it. (That's not so bad. :) Here are the girls playing with their new friend the horse. Yes, it's a pretty sad looking horse, but at least the girls knew what it was without my having to tell them. Nathan helped too. He cut out the ears.

Car Seat Cover

I really like covering up the car seat with my babies. I've always just thrown a blanket over the car seat though. I think it helps them stay asleep, keep people from touching, keeps them warm, etc. (Not that we're worried about keeping our baby warm when she is born in July. :)

So, in searching for some great deals on pre-hemstitched blankets and burp cloths for craft night tonight I found this! So cute! I did NOT want to spend $35 on this though, so I found a tutorial. (Even found a pattern for $7 but who wants to pay that when there is a possibility it is FREE!)
Here you go.

http://buzzaboutbaby.blogspot.com/2009/05/car-seat-canopy-tutorial.html

One more item to add to my mile-long list of projects for the baby. Yay! :)

Crafting for Boys with Ribbon!

I love crafting with ribbon for my girls, but can you find a ribbon craft for a boy?


Apparently you can! Count on me to figure out a way somehow. :) I did some ties for a friend who is having a boy. The first picture is a tie out of ribbon. Just tie the knot, cut it to the length you want, and then cut the neck part in half and put elastic there instead. (I did a REALLY small neck and just added a lot of elastic.)

The second picture I did just a little differently. The one on the left I made out of some scraps I had. The one on the right I stole one of Nathan's ties (Thank you, Nathan, for your sacrifice.) and made a baby tie with this tutorial. Although, I made a small change or two to it, so I'll just have to do one big tie tutorial with a couple of different ties. So fun to figure something out yourself. I wanted to be able to share with others how to make a tie, so I didn't want to spend 6 or 7 dollars for a pattern/tutorial, so I did it myself! No worries, I'll be ready to share soon.

File Folder Games (the links)

I sort of forgot to post the links to the file folder games. I meant to.

I tripped over this one first, File Folder Fun. Then while I was searching the website I found that it had links to several other websites. Another of my favorites was the Mormon Chic file folder games. The Ice Cream Cone game I did I did myself. Of course, I made it BEFORE my computer crashed on me, so I can't share it. But, it was really easy to search for clip art online and color it in with markers (or crayons, or whatever is cheap and available). I made it to teach Meredith her colors and it was really easy. It's her FAVORITE game. She's happy to let Emily go to school with the promise that when we get home she gets to play the "Ice Cream Game". What I don't understand is why she learned all of the "odd" colors first. She decided to learn brown, black, white, and gray first. She would call every other color "purple" until she learned most of them, which is really typical for 2-year-olds. Right now I'm working on sight words with the girls. I think I'll be making some File Folder Games for those.

*To the person who asked me for the links, I don't have your email! I'd love to have it though. :)

Crafting for Babies

A friend is blessing her baby today. Friday she came over so we could make a hair bow and bracelet to match the blessing dress. Here our the three of our kids. Nathan came home while I was still busy finishing up the bracelet and took this picture soon after I was done (thus you can see me enjoying the baby in the background.)
The girls really love babies. Not surprising seeing that their mommy loves all babies as well.

Here's little Melanie with her new hair bow and bracelet ready for her special day. This picture really doesn't do justice to the bow or bracelet. I definitely have plans on making a matching set for my girls.

Caught in the act! Nathan surprised me with this picture. You'll have to forgive the no-make-up and lack of doing my hair look.

Digital Scrapbooking How To's

Ok, for anyone who might possibly be interested, here's a little tidbit of information about digital scrapbooking. First off, download the software. Go to the Adobe website and download Adobe Photoshop Elements . Download the free trial version to make sure you like digital scrapbooking before you fork out good money. Then go to Shabby Princess and download one of their cute scrapbooking kits (the free ones) and then go over to her tutorials (Here is the one for Photoshop Elements). She doesn't use Photoshop Elements 7, so there may be a few more frustrating times, but realize google knows everything and I'm here too (except I don't know everything, but I'm willing to help). :)

Don't get all caught up in the choosing of a scrapbooking kit. Pick out ONE and then work at it. You won't get so overwhelmed with just one. If you have a hard time picking only one, have someone else just pick one out for you, or tell yourself before you look at them that if you can't find one in one minute you'll take the fifth one from the top or some other random number BEFORE you look. After you get the hang of it, it is not so overwhelming. Happy Scrapbooking!

p.s. If anyone reading this has any more fabulous tips, I'd love to hear them since I'm just getting started myself.

Digital Scrapbooking our first Tucson Zoo Trip

I am having lots of fun getting into Digital Scrapbooking. I'm hooked!

Cute Fall Hair bow pics

I just wanted to do this post because of the picture. I dressed the girls up to take pictures of the hairbows but this was the only picture I got (the camera died. Need to get a new camera.) I was chasing them and they turned around just perfectly in unison and I took the picture at just the right time (boy, that doesn't happen often :) So you can see the bows on top. I tried a new style of bow with the little curly ribbon I baked in the oven. Picture and instruction link (plus my modifiers) coming up.

Cooler Weather

The weather is BEAUTIFUL here. Which means the rest of the people I know are freezing. Sorry about that, but like my Mom said this morning as I was talking to her I DESERVE it. And so do my poor kids who have been cooped up in a house WAY to long. We withstood a cold Utah winter and then just as the weather was turning beautiful moved here to the HEAT. Talk about bad timing. So now it just feels so cozy (like fall for everyone that isn't in a dessert) and I LOVE fall. It is my Mom's favorite season and when I was growing up it was probably the last on my list of favorite seasons (Favorite #1 Winter, Favorite #2 Spring, Favorite #3 Summer which always rotated to being #1 just before changing to that season and for the first part.) But while fall was definitely beautiful I don't know that I every claimed it to be my favorite. And now that it is "Fall" here (it's in the 60's for the heat of the day, I call that fall in a way) I'm ready to start baking. See -


Baking hairbows! :) Now that Halloween has passed I'm making the girls Thanksgiving and Christmas bows. Here's part of one idea.

Baby Crafting

Here's what I've been up to. Crafting! I go through these phases. I go through crafting, reading, playing the piano, singing, baking, blogging, etc.

This was the first go at a wipes case cover. There are definitely some things I'll do differently next time.

I made a nursing cover as well. I know I can't use it right now, but someday (just to clarify, no, I'm not pregnant :)

I actually bought a pattern on ebay when Meredith was born so I could make one, and it was a horrible pattern. This pattern was free and it is fabulous, it's just like my bebe-au-lait cover and better yet, I made it myself and it is just perfect. I added two little corner pockets with the (insert the right word here since my mind just freezed) towel-like cloth :) That part wasn't in the tutorial. You can find the tutorial to the right in the sidebar under tutorials. I also made a baby sling to match the set, but It just looks like a piece of fabric unless it's on me, so maybe I'll add a picture later. It was fun, fun, FUN to make all of this stuff. And of course, I've made a ton of hairbows, but I'm not going to add pictures of all of those.

Fun Travel Activities

My reason for posting these here are two-fold. First, it's for me. Second, It's for you (my beloved reader. All 5 of you, LOL). Which my reasons for even blogging are the same. This is basically just my journal.

Anyhow...
We have several long trips coming up for Thanksgiving and Christmas where we get to go visit family and friends. And you're asking, "How do you do that with a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old?" And my answer is, "Ha. I don't know." That being said, here is what I'm going to do this time around.

Paper Doll Printables

Papercraft Trains

Dot Art

Dot Art

I also ran across some tips that someone did. Some of them I enjoyed and some of them, well, what do you think?

1. (And this one is questionable) Play-doh. And the tips said that even after the dough is gone the kids enjoy the container. (Um. Where does the dough go? And if you're going to say the carpet, is that even worth having a non-crying kid if you have to take it out? Maybe I should just cover everything in plastic!)

2. Blue Painters Tape. Just let the kids play with it. That is a much cleaner idea isn't it. Of course, Emily, I don't think is quite old enough to get the tape off all by herself, but maybe.

3. Pipe Cleaners - This one I honestly think is fabulous.

4&5. Books and Music - Now I ALWAYS have traveled with music and a book, but quite honestly I didn't even think of bringing a normal book for the girls until I had a friend wrap up a book for us (like a present that would entertain Emily with the unwrapping part too) for our move here. I did bring quiet books for the girls though.

6. Dress-up clothes

7. Crayons and a notebook

8. Catalogs

9. Deck of Cards (I would definitely take one that I'm willing to throw away, like the old beat up deck of Uno cards.)

10. Colorforms / reusable stickers.

11. Fingerplays - Click Here

My ideas, beyond what I've found on the internet.
1. Printing stuff from the friend. (The friend homepage is fabulous.)
2. (This idea from a friend.) Wrapping the toys separately. So when they get bored you toss them a wrapped toy, that'll get you another minute (and in our case 1 down 720 to go!)
3. The small boxes of fish crackers.
4. Go to the toy section in walmart and there are some $.88 toys. (Little cars, bracelets, animals) And who cares if they get lost.

If you've got a great travel idea, let me know. (12 hours of travel one way. That takes some REAL creativity.)

Halloween Haunted House

I was talking to someone just yesterday about a cute little project someone did for preschool with Gingerbread Houses. It sounded really cute. Then I came across this Halloween Haunted House and it sounded like the same idea, only for a haunted house. So, I don't know if we will do a Halloween Haunted House (Emily sure loved the gingerbread house kit that someone gave her last Christmas), but we'll definitely be doing as Christmas Gingerbread House the same way as this one (only with different candies and colored frosting). Maybe you'll like it too.

A Halloween Haunted House!
A fun Halloween project for the whole family!
You will need:
2 containers (16 ounce) chocolate fudge frosting (or homemade)
Decorations:
pretzel sticks graham crackers
black licorice & red twists candy corn
rice crackers M&Ms
Orange Sprinkles
Foil wrapped Halloween Candy
Colored icing for writing or decorating
2 empty 1 qt. milk cartons, rinsed and dried
1 large tray covered with foil.
Tape each milk carton closed at top. Tape milk cartons together to make a house. Wrap with foil. Attach firmly to the covered tray with tape. Frost cartons with chocolate frosting. Frost the tray also to use as the lawn.
Decorate with the assorted treats!
Some ideas-
*Sprinkle orange sugar on the roof of the house.
*Rice crackers make neat "attic" windows.
*graham crackers for windows and doors-highlight with icing.
*pretzel stick window panes
*M&M "pathway stones" leading to the door.
*Candy corn "icicles" under the roof
The Lawn can have Ghost, Mummy and pumpkin candies.

Holiday Crafting

I love the holidays. (I think I might have mentioned that.) So, I'm so excited to get some holiday crafting done. A project on my list is to get some spice hot pads made (the kind with the cinnamon and cloves). Here's a recipe in case anyone else wants it (or just to remind me where I got it).

Spice Hot Pads

Crafting Tutorials

Here are the crafting tutorials that you can use to do the projects I have recently completed.

Interchangeable Headband
They use the stretchy lace but I used toddler stockings. Just cut off one of the legs, and slice off the toes part, sew it together. Then look at the tutorial for the rest of the instructions.

Tips for Hair Bows
(including non-slip tips and whether to use single or double prong) Just a couple of notes. I prefer single prong except when doing mini clips, then I use double prong.

Lining a hair clip (after lining the clip, just glue a flower on it for a very easy hair clip)
Lining a hair clip (just realize that I just use a hot glue gun and I don't burn the ends to make sure they are fray checked because the hot glue works well.)

Tutorial for Hooded Towels
(just attach the ribbon to the hood before you sew the hood on) There are other tutorials just google "hooded towel tutorial" and you may find one that is better and easier to understand.

Tutorial for Baby Bracelet

Bracelet sizing

Making a dangle for baby bracelet

The only thing I haven't been able to find is a mini hair clip tutorial. I don't think you need one if you know how to do everything else. Just take a double prong hair clip and cut it in half (or whatever length you want) with wire cutters (I'm not talking about the dinky jewelry wire cutters, I went through my husbands tool box for this one. I basically cut one prong at a time. I cut across both and get a good indention then cut it one at a time on the indention. Granted, his our really dull and it is hard to cut so maybe you can do it just fine with new, sharp ones.

Happy Crafting!

Crafting Presents

So, I had too much fun crafting these for little babies that are either coming or have just come. Hopefully their Mommies' will like them. I had to take pictures and here they are.

Thank you to my teddy bear for posing for this picture of the interchangeable headband complete with daisy clip.

Then there is the set of hooded towels (cuz it's crazy to have just one of anything with a baby around. :) Thank you to a very unwilling Emily for being just willing enough to cooperate for this picture. LOL

One pink flower mini hair clip.

One bracelet.

Two mini clips (One blue and one halloween just in case her baby is born before or on Halloween).

Two mini hair clips (One Thanksgiving and one pink and brown)

The last few pictures, thank you scanner for doing them so wonderfully. (Just in case anyone else wants to know how to take a picture of jewelry without having to have a good camera or set or whatever else.)

All of the stuff I made (minus the hooded towels) was new to me. I just figured out how to do these things. Even taking the pictures was a little new. If you want to know how to make any of this just tell me and I'll show you.

Happy Crafting.

My Towel Craft

I finally finished the project I've had on my list for quite a while now. I finally did some pink and brown towels for my girls. The bathroom I have a lot of brown colors in it, so I decided to have brown towels with pink ribbon. I put the ribbon on the hood and at the edges of the towels. It turned out really well. I made Nathan's sister-in-law a set of brown and pink towels too. For her set and Emily's set I did the pink and brown stripe and Meredith got the pink and white polka dot.

My finished project.

A picture of one of the towels, just because.

My model for the striped towel (Thank you Emily for sort of cooperating).

My model for the polka dot towel (maybe Meredith will cooperate next time).

I Found It!

Some of my most memorable Christmas ornaments that my mom has are the Christmas spiders. I found the directions for them and the story.

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/treeornaments/l/blxspidorn.htm

I'm definitely going to have to make some spiders for my Christmas Tree. Anyone want to make them with me? (Or Mom, we can fix yours or replace it if it is missing.)