"Dance Streamers I Love You"

We do a lot of spontaneous dancing around here, but since we've started having Family Game Night and Family Art Night, it seemed like a fun idea to have Family Dance Night, too (we also have Family Block Night frequently which is O's favorite!). O says every night is Family Dance Night, and that is fine with us.

For our 1st scheduled Family Dance Night, I made O some dance streamers using bamboo pocketbook handles (that her grandmother gave her) and crepe paper streamers (leftover from making the surprise ball). I just stapled the streamers to the handles. Simple, fast, and fun!

I asked O what they are called when I was writing this post, and she said they are called "dance streamers I love you."

Valentine's Day Surprise Ball

O is getting a surprise ball for Valentine's Day! I saw this tutorial for a surprise ball too late to make one for O for Christmas, but I think it will be a great Valentine's Day gift. It was fun, fast, and easy to make!



First, I collected small objects for the surprise ball, including chocolate lady bugs, Valentine's balloons, a growing mermaid, tiny dessert erasers, chapstick, and stickers.

Then I started wrapping the objects with crepe paper streamers (the tutorial says to cut the crepe paper into strips first, but I didn't cut my crepe paper). I wrapped an object completely before adding another object and wrapping it and so on and so on...

After all of the objects were wrapped in the crepe paper, I squished it around a little to make it a more symmetrical ball (it was a little lopsided at first). I continued wrapping it several times to smooth out the crepe paper. Then I taped the end and wrapped the surprise ball with a ribbon. I think O is going to LOVE unwrapping her surprise ball on Valentine's Day!

Make sure to check out the tutorial at Alpha Mom. The pictures and directions are much better than mine :)

Doctor's Office in a Box

O asked for 3 things for Christmas...a fire fighter's outfit, a baby doll, and a doctor's kit. I decided early on that I didn't want to get her a toy doctor's kit that she would grow out of quickly. I wanted her to have real medical supplies and tools. That way she could learn how to really use the materials, and she wouldn't grow out of it as quickly (her almost 6 year old cousin and 9 year old friend both really enjoyed playing with this kit). I gathered supplies for her doctor's kit for months. I bought bandages, hot/cold packs, finger splints, bandaids, knee braces etc from the Dollar Tree and Walmart. I found lots of items in our house... an old wrist brace, rubber gloves, medicine droppers, etc. I printed x-ray pictures and an eye chart from the internet and laminated them. I also printed O and E's 3d ultrasound pictures and laminated them (I gave her an ice-cream scoop to use as an ultrasound wand).

I ordered real, but inexpensive medical tools from Amazon...an otoscope, a blood pressure cuff, and a reflex hammer. I was very surprised by how inexpensive these things were. When O is a little older we can teach her how to really obtain someone's blood pressure, and we've all enjoyed looking in each other's ears with the otoscope :) Once I finished gathering the materials for her doctor's office, I realized that she needed a lab coat. I planned to buy a boy's dress up shirt from walmart or Target to turn into a lab coat, but I couldn't find one for under 10 dollars. I finally found the perfect shirt at the thrift store for 98 cents, and I was so excited. I cut the cuffs off both sleeves and the tail off the shirt. My mom turned them under and sewed them. Then I embroidered "Dr.____" on the pocket (I planned to share a picture, but I couldn't get a good picture without showing our last name). It was SO easy to turn the shirt into a lab coat, and it looks great.
This gift was a HUGE hit with O. She plays with it everyday, and I think she'll be playing with it for years and years!

Homemade Baby Toys

O and I recently made this rolling toy for E, and she really likes it! We put a marble, bell, pom poms, and pipe cleaners into an empty Coke bottle (2 liter), and we shake it and roll it around on the floor for E. O loves to make things for her baby sister.

Here is a rattle that O made for E for Christmas. It's a plastic test tube that she filled with beads and pom poms. I bought the test tubes after Halloween (they had nasty gooey candy in them.) She made several test tube rattles...one has bells in it and another has small balls in it. We're also planning on making a few discovery bottles for E to enjoy!

Craft Hope for Haiti

If you haven't checked out the Craft Hope for Haiti Etsy shop, you should! All proceeds will benefit Doctors without Borders in Haiti. I purchased one of these cuties (the aqua one) for my baby for Valentine's Day. I think she'll love it, and it feels good to support a good cause :)

Beauty Shop in a Box

My mom compiled a Beauty Shop in a Box for O and my niece for Christmas, and they LOVE it! She gathered a hair dryer, curling iron, curlers, hair straightener, etc from thrift stores and family members and cut off the cords (for safety). O loves for Guh-guh to put her hair in curlers, and both girls have had so much fun with this wonderful gift.

An Easy Ribbon Hairband

Since O is a ballerina now (she started taking dance lessons this year, and she plans to dance in The Nutcracker next Christmas), she enjoys wearing her hair in a bun. I'm not very good at fixing hair, but luckily my mom is! Whenever my mom is around, O's hair is always braided or in a bun. Mom put together this ribboned hairband to "fancy up" O's bun, and O was thrilled, of course :) To make the ribboned hair band, she just tied the ribbons to a hairband. Simple, easy, fast, and super cute in my girl's hair!

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter & Ritz Sandwich Cookies

O, E, Elliott, and I made chocolate covered peanut butter & Ritz sandwich cookies for Elliott's work friends. This was a fun family activity! I was glad that Elliott participated since it was fun to see him and O working together...they are SO much alike! After spreading peanut butter on 1 cracker, O asked "Can I lick my knife now?" They were both so excited whenever a cracker broke, and they devoured them like they were starving. I'm fairly certain that sneaky little O broke a few crackers on purpose :)

When we started this activity, E was watching us from her bouncy seat. That did not suit her AT all since she likes to be involved in all of our activities. I put her in the sling (after O tried the sling out...she STILL fits, which is absolutely thrilling for her!), and she was perfectly content. E is not a baby who will tolerate being left on the sidelines!

To make the cookies we spread peanut butter on Ritz crackers and topped them with another Ritz to make a sandwich. We melted Wilton's meltable chocolate in the microwave and dropped each peanut butter cracker sandwich into the melted chocolate. We used O's chopsticks to remove the cookies from the chocolate and placed them on an unfolded cereal bag (instead of waxed paper) to dry and harden. This was fun and simple, but not so fast since it took quite a while for the cookies to dry and harden (and we only had one cereal bag on which to place them).

Handpainted Rolling Giraffe

O is proudly making all of her gifts for Baby Sister this Christmas. She enjoyed painting the rolling giraffe (using acrylic craft paint). After she is finished, we'll paint it with coat of mod podge to give it a finished look. (We will watch E closely to make sure she doesn't put this toy in her mouth. The paint and mod podge are nontoxic, but it can't be good to get it in your mouth...)

Felt Sugar Cookies

I can't believe I finished these cookies before Christmas Eve! They weren't top priority on my long list, but since they were so simple to make they eventually made their way to the top while other more important things were cut :)

To make the cookies, I traced cookie cutter shapes onto ecospun felt and cut out 2 of each of the shapes (I did this at least 6 months ago...before having a baby and forgetting about them completely until just a few weeks ago). Once I remembered the cookies, I started carrying them around with me for a couple of weeks hoping for a few minutes to work on them. I finally found the (less than) 20 minutes that I needed while waiting for Elliott's workday to be finished (we ride together) last week, and I sewed the 2 sides together using embroidery thread. I decided not to stuff the cookies.

The girls both went to sleep fairly early (gasp!) a couple of nights ago, and I worked furiously on Christmas gifts...the cookies made the cut once again, so I painted them with fabric paint. It's supposed to look like icing, and I guess it does. I think they'd look better with felt embellishments instead of paint, but they're done and that makes me happy. I packaged them in a Martha Stewart cookie box (bought at 75% off after Christmas last year), and they are under the tree!

Our Felt Gingerbread Village

I've really enjoyed playing with our felt gingerbread village this year. I say "I" because O hasn't been very interested in it, but I've had lots of fun :) I made the felt village last year, and I was hoping O would be as excited about it as I am...maybe next year. The directions for making the gingerbread village are here.

Painted Peg Doll Necklaces

Painting these tiny little dolls was one of my favorite handmade Christmas gifts this year (along with the Thing Finder Necklaces). I've been planning to make peg doll necklaces for O and my niece since last Christmas, but I was not looking forward to it since I did not enjoy making the peg doll family for O's birthday in July. However, I really enjoyed this and plan to make many more (maybe this will be a good item to make and sell on Etsy...).

To make the dolls, I painted them with acrylic craft paint and then added details using paint pens. I painted the dolls to match the girls' Christmas dresses (yes, we have matching dresses for ALL 3 girls :). After I painted the dolls, Elliott drilled a tiny hole into the top of each doll and screwed a small circle screw into each hole. I then painted them with a coat of mod podge to finish and protect them. I threaded a thin ribbon through the screw to make the necklace, and they were done (I may switch the ribbon for a stretchy elastic cord).

I wrote the girls' names and the year on the bottoms of the dolls. After Christmas, we can shorten the ribbon and the necklaces will turn into keepsake ornaments for next year's Christmas tree. E (who is only 3 months old) is obviously much too young for a necklace, so her tiny doll is already hanging on the tree. My niece was SO excited when I gave her her necklace this afternoon. I'm already planning on making tiny birthday doll necklaces for the girls. These dolls would also be great additions to O and E's birthday ring!

The Most Amazing Baby Quilt EVER!

(and I don't mind saying that since I didn't make it!)

They say it's the thought that counts...if that is true, this quilt is worth millions! I've been thinking about and planning this quilt in my mind for more than a year, and it turned out BETTER than I expected! I did the planning, purchasing, and cutting, and my mom did ALL of the sewing! Isn't she AMAZING?!!! (I planned to help, but I'm not a very good seamstress, and I certainly can't sew while nursing a baby which is how I spend my days :)

Now, let me tell you about the quilt...My favorite side is the Visual Stimulation/Peek-a-boo side. We decided to only use red, black, and white fabrics on this side.

Mom sewed clear plastic pockets onto 5 of the squares and created a flap to cover the pockets creating a peek-a-boo effect. O has already put one of her drawings into a pocket, and we plan to rotate pictures and drawings through the pockets for E to enjoy :)


The other side of the quilt is the Texture/"I Spy" side. I chose several "busy" fabrics so that we can play "I Spy" with the quilt when E is older. To add various textures to the quilt, we used fleece, flannel, velvet, satin, and corduroy fabrics. Many of the different textures were cut from my old clothes (my favorite cords from my college days and a velvety red Christmas shirt that I loved), which makes if even more special to me.

We had fun making this quilt. It was hard to find the time to do it (I cut all of the squares before E was born, but that was as far as we got), but it was well worth the effort. I hope that E loves and treasures this quilt as much I do! Thanks, Mom! We love you!!!

Handpainted Santa Trivets

O painted these cork trivets (from IKEA) using her handprint for her aunts, grandmamas, and me! These gifts were super easy to make and turned out better than I expected.

To make the Santas I painted her fingers white for Santa's beard, and I painted her palm pink. I painted the bottom of her palm and thumb red with a little dot of white on the tip of her thumb (we used acrylic craft paint and tempura paint). Then we mashed her hand onto the trivet. I repainted her hand for each trivet. I added the eyes with a permanent black marker. I thought about adding a few more facial features, but then decided to keep it simple. I didn't seal them with anything, so I hope they will last...

The idea for painting cork trivets from IKEA came from Let's Explore. Thanks Amy for all of your inspiring ideas!

Oh, we also put a handprint turkey on the back of my trivet, so I can use it for Christmas or Thanksgiving (although I doubt I'll actually use it for anything other than decoration). We ran out of time before we could put turkeys on the backs of the other trivets :( Next year I really will finish our handmade gifts earlier...it's so much more enjoyable to make gifts without a deadline weighing down on you.

Snowball Surprise Soap

O and I made Snowball Surprise Soap to go along with the book, Dream Snow, which was our advent book on Friday. To make Snowball Surprise Soap, you need a bar of white soap (we used Dove), a grater, a small toy (we used a plastic penguin), and a bowl of warm water.

First, we took turns grating the soap.

Then we wet our hands in the bowl of warm water, picked up handfuls of the grated soap, and pressed it onto the penguin.

As we pressed the soap onto the penguin, we rolled the ball in our hands to make a snowball shape.

This was a fun and easy activity, and this soap would make a great handmade gift for kids. I think we'll definitely add this to our list of handmade gifts to make for next Christmas!

(The idea for this activity came from a magazine...probably Family Fun, but possibly Parents.)

E's Handmade Christmas Stocking

O was VERY upset to see that E did not have a stocking when we decorated for Christmas last week. She said "she doesn't even have a nail!!!" O was very sweet and concerned for her sister's stocking. She said she wanted E's stocking to be next to hers with my stocking on one end and Elliott's on the other end, so their stockings (O and E's) would be safe.

I used patterns from Wee Wonderfuls for both girls' stockings. (E's stocking has the Peppermint Fairy on it, which you can buy in the store. The actual pattern was much smaller. Since I wanted the stockings to match, I enlarged the pattern to the same size as the elf girl pattern). Here is O's stocking.


I'd cut and embroidered E's stocking before she was born, but we didn't finish it until last Thursday. Thank you a million times over to Guh-guh who finished E's stocking for us. There's no way I could have done it without you!!!