Alphabet & Number Crayons

O and I made alphabet and number crayons for party favors for her 3rd birthday party. She enjoyed breaking the crayons, but she wasn't much help with peeling the paper off the crayons :) After we filled the number and alphabet molds with crayons, I put them in the oven for 20 minutes at 275 degrees. I left the crayons in the oven to cool so that the colors wouldn't mix and become muddy. Now the hard part...removing the crayons without breaking them! The idea for this activity and the number and alphabet molds came from Let's Explore.

Happy 4th of July!

We had a very busy and fun 4th of July, and this cake was one of the highlights!!! Guh-guh made an angel food cake, and the girls (O and my niece) helped her decorate it using cool whip, blueberries, and strawberries. The girls and Guh-guh had fun decorating the cake, and it tasted delicious!!! We hope that making (and eating!) this cake will be a new 4th of July tradition!

Handmade Birthday Invitations

Last year we made O's birthday invitations using dot painter art, and this year we are using salad spinner art :) We had lots of fun painting the paper for the invitations. We mixed up watery powdered tempera and either splashed it into the salad spinner using a paintbrush or poured a little bit in on the paper.

Here are our finished papers.

I finally finished the invitations, and now we have to deliver them. I'm a little worried that they won't hold up in the mail since I used a glue stick to put them all together, and I'm just stapling them and putting the addresses on the outside. We'll probably hand deliver most of them, which is more fun anyway!

Magnetic Artwork

I always take pics of O's artwork since she gives most of it away to her grandparents. I made the artwork magnets by printing wallet sized pictures of her artwork on magnetic paper and cutting them out. O was excited to see her miniature artwork when she woke up from her nap today :) I think these magnets will make fun gifts for grandparents!

Our Family...In Miniature

Here's another one of O's handmade birthday gifts. I really did not enjoy painting these dolls, and I'm so glad to be finished! I painted the four of us (Elliott, O, Little Kicker, and me) and my niece, M. I'd love for O to have dolls representing the rest of our immediate family, but I'm not looking forward to painting them :)

An Old Suitcase Made New!

I decoupaged this old thrift store suitcase for O months ago using an old, torn up children's book (our favorite book from when we were children). My mom was glad to see the very used and torn book being put to good use :) This was a fun project that is one of O's handmade birthday gifts.

I decoupaged the inside of the suitcase using scrapbook paper. Check back to see how the suitcase will be used :)

Cloth Baby Shoes

My mom and I made this pair of shoes for Little Kicker last week while O and I were at her house. It was a bit more complicated than we expected, and it took FOREVER! We both said this would be the first and last pair of shoes we made, but we were so pleased with the end result that I've already picked out the fabric for 2 more pairs of shoes. My mom also thinks we should enlarge the pattern to make a matching pair for O. You can find the pattern and directions here.

More Appliques...Onesies This Time :)

It's a summer of E babies! Two of our friends recently had baby girls whose names begin with E, and our Little Kicker will likely have an E name, too. To make these onesies, I printed an e on the computer to use as a pattern. I made the gift onesies to match another handmade gift that I'll post about soon, and I made Little Kicker's onesie to match O's O shirt.

A Pseudo Pillowcase Dress

I've been wanting to make a pillowcase dress for O since last summer, and it was so easy that I wish we'd done it sooner. I'm calling it a pseudo pillowcase dress since we didn't actually use a pillowcase to make the dress :) To get the measurements for the dress, we held the fabric up to O and decided that we wanted it to be 18 inches long with a 2 inch hem. We wrapped the fabric around her to get the width :) We then followed the directions on Maya Made for cutting out the arm holes and hemming the arm holes and neckline. For the ribbon, we decided to deviate from the directions a bit. We used 2 ribbons and tied them at her shoulders. I keep saying "we," but my mom really did all the work. I was just the supervisor :) I think that new pillowcase dresses and lazy days skirts will be on my Spring to-do list each year for my girlies!

O's Library Bag

I've wanted to make a library bag for O for a while, and I finally decided what to put on it. The bag came from Hobby Lobby (it was 50% off and only cost 2 dollars!). I printed the word "read" in my chosen font and size, cut out the letters to use as patterns, cut the letters from fabric, and appliqued them to the bag. The bag has 3 pockets on the other side which will be perfect for booksmarks, a book light, and O's library card (when she's old enough to get one!). I'm very happy with the result, and I'm looking forward to more applique projects!

How to Applique...A Tutorial

1) Trace your pattern on the applique paper. I use Steam a Seam 2 and LOVE it!


2) Peel off the backing and place the pattern on your fabric. Press firmly so it will stick to the fabric.


3) Cut the pattern out of the fabric.

4) Peel the paper off the back of the pattern and place it on your t-shirt.


5) Iron the pattern for 10 to 15 seconds twice or follow the directions that come with your applique paper.

6) You're finished! Show your child her new shirt and enjoy her excited reaction!

Activity Bags

I love putting activities in bags to take on vacations. I was excited that I was able to fit 19 small, paperback books in a zippered pouch! We don't have to worry about not having enough to read next week :)

Most of the books are free books that came in Cheerios boxes, a few are from Chick Fil A, and the princess series is from Avon.

Here are a few more activities that we'll take with us on vacation. I also plan to add a sewing cards bag.

See more on our activity bags here and here.

Glad to Be Home

O and I are glad to be home after a very busy week at Guh-guh and Grandpa's house. O LOVED going to Bible School each night, and we both enjoyed visiting with our family. My mom and I accomplished many craft projects that were on my "to do before baby" list :) There will be a lot of upcoming craft posts!
Our first priority after we got home was spending the morning on the beach. It was relaxing and fun, and O enjoyed making hand and footprints on the retaining wall :) We have one more day at home, and then we're off again!

Ring Toss Game

I saw this fun game on a friend's blog a few months ago, and I've wanted to make it with O ever since. It's very easy to make.
1st fill a couple (or 3) bottles with dry rice.

Then make rings out of pipe cleaners.

Then play the game. We practiced saying the color words in Spanish as we threw the rings.

Balancing Animals

I introduced this simple work to O last week, and she really enjoyed it. The balancing animals are from the dollar section of Target (bought last summer), and they are meant for martini glasses. O had to place them very carefully on the rim of the cup so that they wouldn't fall off. I was surprised that this was a little difficult for her. It was a great lesson in moving slowly and carefully :)