Homemade Playdough

O and I have had fun making chocolate and sugar cookie playdough this week.  We love making playdough...it's almost as much fun as playing with it!

O loves to mix everything with her hands.  She leaned down to get a good whiff of the cocoa and breathed in a little too much cocoa dust!  This playdough smells divine!




Here is the chocolate playdough recipe.  (I was going to include it in this post, but that seems silly since I'm in a hurry :)

The day after making chocolate playdough, we made sugar cookie playdough.  The recipe is similar, but we left out the cocoa and added vanilla flavoring and white glitter.  We also cooked this playdough on the stove instead of pouring boiling water into the mixture.  Here is the basic playdough recipe. 

O really enjoyed pouring and mixing in the glitter!

Personalized Paper Dolls AND Another Giveaway!!!

I saw these personalized paper dolls on Sandy Ford Design on Etsy and fell in love with them.  I emailed Sandy and asked if she would like for us to review a set.  She agreed, and I emailed her a picture of O.  I was so excited when she emailed me the paper doll and clothes!  (O was excited, too, of course!)

Sandy started designing these dolls last year when she was trying to think of a great non-plastic gift for her daughter's 5th birthday party.  They were such a hit that she started a business from it!

Immediately after seeing O's doll, I knew I'd need to order a set for E.  Since they are pdfs, I can print both dolls for both girls.  Also, if we lose or tear the dolls or clothes, we can just print more...I REALLY love that aspect of these dolls!




I printed O's doll on magnetic paper, but I liked it so much on lightly textured cardstock that I haven't even cut it out of the magnetic paper yet (I think I'll save the magnetic paper dolls for Christmas).
 


I wasn't crazy about the idea of using the tabs to hold the clothes on the doll, so I was excited to find the idea of using a sticky strip at the Lily & Thistle website.  The sticky strip works great!


I'm so excited by all of the things that I can make with these dolls of my girls.  Their personalized Christmas ornaments for this year will definitely be paper dolls!



Another great thing about these dolls is that Sandy is so great to work with...I emailed her several times to ask if she would make minor changes here and there to make the dolls perfect.  She did this happily and without hesitation.




As soon as O saw the paper dolls, she asked if we could get on to look like Laura (Ingalls...she still so obsessed with Little House on the Prairie).  She'll be getting a set of "Laura and Mary" paper dolls for Christmas, and I know that she is going to have so much fun having a doll of herself play and interact with Laura and Mary.  We may have to write a new book...Laura, Mary, and O! 




Sandy is offering a free paper doll set with color in costumes to one lucky reader.  Go to Sandy's Etsy shop and take a look around.  Come back here and tell me what you liked over there.  I'll randomly choose a winner on Wednesday.

How I Spend My Days

Just kidding..this does not happen often at all.  But maybe it should...what a workout!  I know I burned A LOT of calories!

I thought I would put E in the Beco while I cleaned the house a few days ago because she wouldn't let me put her down.  When I came upstairs and O saw the Beco, she insisted that she be given a turn.  So, I put O on my back, and E in the sling on my front.  I was weighted down!  They loved every second of it, but I only lasted for about 15 to 20 minutes. 

After wearing both of them, I could barely even feel E when I put her on my back in the Beco (where she stayed for the next hour or more while I cleaned and then made playdough with O).  I have a feeling my arm baby will be my back baby from now on :)

Magazines For Kids

Children's magazines by National Wildlife Federation are on sale until midnight tonight for 12.09 for a one year subscription.  I just subscribed to Your Big Backyard for O and Wild Animal Baby for E.  This is a Christmas gift that they'll love all year long!  Here's a link to the email I received. 

Cloth Christmas Napkins for the Kiddos

My mom and I are finally making stuff with the tons of Christmas fabric that I buy each year (75% off) after Christmas.  These sweet child sized napkins were our first project.  I cut, and she sewed.  We make a good team :) 

Color Matching with Peg Dolls

This rainbow peg doll set is another one of E's handmade Christmas gifts.  I think she is going to love it!



I bought the peg dolls and cups from Hobby Lobby.  They were 50% off, so I spent a total of about 3 dollars.



I painted the dolls and cups with liquid watercolors (from IKEA).



This was a fun and simple gift to make for my sweet girl!


Edit to add:  Check the fit of your dolls and cups before painting.  You may need to sand them a little, and you'd much rather do that before painting them!  

Painting a Nutcracker

One of O's recent advent activities was to paint an unfinished Nutcracker (bought from Michael's).  We read the Nutcracker book and played with paper Nutcracker figures to go along with this craft. 



O is a cherub in the Nutcracker Ballet next week, so this craft was especially meaningful for her.

Velcro Blocks

These velcro blocks have been "in progress" for more than a year, and I am SO glad to finally be done with them!  I started making them after seeing velcro blocks in a catalog (Lakeshore, I think). 

To make the blocks, I bought a set of table top blocks from a discount store.  I sanded the corners and edges since they were a little rough.  I then glued velcro to the blocks.  Simple, but for some reason, it took forever.  Thanks to my mom for helping me finish the blocks!



These blocks were supposed to be a Christmas gift to both of the girls, but I accidentally left them out after I took these pictures.  Oops!  They've had fun playing with them today :)

Straws, Beads, and Pipe Cleaner Stars

O and a friend had so much fun making star Christmas ornaments using pipe cleaners, beads, and straws as our 4th advent activity.

First, they cut the straws into little bits. 
 

They then threaded the straw bits and beads onto 5 pipe cleaners.


After they finished putting the beads and straws on the pipe cleaners, I laid the pipe cleaners in a star shape and twisted them together.  Then the girls proudly hung them on the Christmas tree.


Thanks to Pink and Green Mama for this fun idea!

Planting Christmas Tree Seeds

Since Friday was Arbor Day, we decided to plant Christmas tree seeds as our daily advent activity.  Luckily, I'd bought a miniature pot with seeds and a soil disk from the dollar section of Target a couple of weeks ago, so this worked out perfectly for us.


First, O opened her advent activity container.  She loves opening the containers to find out the activity.



Then we put the soil disk in a bowl with lukewarm water.  She put the soil in the pot.


She then pressed 5 seeds into the pot.



O was very proud of planting her Christmas tree seeds.  This was a great simple  and fun activity!