Heart Crayon Valentines

O and I finally finished making the Valentine's for her class today.  The idea for these crayon heart Valentine's came from Family Fun. 

First, we soaked the crayons in hot water.  This was the best idea ever, and it worked beautifully.  Last time we made number/letter crayons, we just peeled the paper off the crayons, and it was a painful nightmare. 





We then broke the crayons into little pieces and put them into a heart silicone tray (I think it came from the dollar section of Target a few years ago).




I baked the crayons on 275 for 20 minutes, and let them cool and harden in the oven so that the colors wouldn't mix when I moved them.  I cut out circles and wrote "You color my world!" on them.  O wrote her friends' names on the backs of the cards.  We attached the crayons to the cards using double sided foam tape. 



O is very proud of her Valentines, so I hope that her friends will like them!

No-Sew Gnomes for Valentine's Day

I wasn't going to make handmade gifts for the girls for Valentine's Day this year...until I saw these heart gnomes on The Crafty Crow.  They looked simple enough, and I made a few changes to make them even simpler! 




 
I printed the pattern from Wee Folk Art and got to work! 




I realized about halfway into this that I should take pics for a tutorial.  The room was pretty dark, so the pics aren't the best.

Here are a few of the pieces cut from wool blend felt (bought from Prairie Point Junction...I have lots leftover from the felt fairyland that I made for O's 4th bday). 




I glued the felt to the wooden people using Aleene's No-Sew Glue 4 oz (I love this glue!).





I then glued the cape to the person.  I held it in place for a few seconds.  I thought that I would need to pin it, but it stayed in place with no problems.




I put a line of glue down the side of the hat and rolled it to the right shape.  I used clips to hold it in place for about 10 minutes before attaching it to the gnome's head.




I drew hearts on the felt using a disappearing ink fabric pen and cut out the hearts.  I glued one heart to each gnome, and then glued the hats to their heads.  Done!  It was nice to start and finish a project in one night...a rarity around here!

I like the look of the gnomes much better when the edge of the felt is blanket stitched.  However, the kids won't notice or care, and I was in a hurry, so this worked for me! 

 Last year, I made no-sew fortune cookies for the girls, and the year before that I made heart shaped felt sugar cookies.  I'm glad that I made these last minute gnomes, or I surely would have regretted slacking on the handmade gifts...or maybe not as I'm trying to filter out much of the stuff that clutters our home and lives :)

Personalized Paperdolls Shadowbox

I love the personalized paper dolls that Sandy from Sandy Ford Designs made of my girls so much that I put them in a shadow box.  (O also has a set to play with...that's the beauty of purchasing a pdf...I can print as many copies as I like!). 

I traced the girls' hands onto scrapbook paper, cut them out, and put them in the shadow box as the background.  (I wish that my shadow box was bigger, so that the hands were more visible.)  I also think it would look good to have a collage of black and white pics behind the paper dolls...so many possibilities and so little wall space!  I hope that Sandy will stay in business for a long time because I'd like to get updated paper dolls made of my girls every couple of years. 

I'm looking forward to printing the dolls and clothing on magnetic paper for our upcoming road trip!  I may have more fun playing with them than O! 

I really love making shadow boxes of the girls' mementos, crafts, and pics.  Here are the links to some of my other shadowboxes...arts and crafts shadow box, ballet shadow box, and handprint lillies shadowbox.

Scrubbing the Table

E LOVES to help clean!  This week she's started scrubbing the table after meals, and you can tell from the picture that she has a lot of work to do on this art and food stained table!  She is always so happy and proud when I give a her a job.  I just hope she'll stay so eager to help out around the house! (the novelty seems to have worn off for her 4 and a half year old sister!)

A Basket Full of Valentine's Day Card Making Supplies

O really enjoyed making Valentine's day cards when we were at G and G's house this weekend, so when we got home I put together this basket of card making supplies for her...she was THRILLED and got right to work! 





In the basket are Valentine's Day stickers, a heart puncher, a glue stick, scissors, cookie cutter (to use as stencils, red and pink contruction paper, white cardstock, heart doilies (from the dollar section at Target), folded construction paper with a half heart drawn on the side (so she can independently and successfully cut her own hearts), a stamp pad, and markers.  O loves to make cards so much that I may put together baskets like this for her for all holidays! 

One good thing about this craft is that when she is done, she can just put everything back in the basket which makes clean-up fast and easy. We are keeping the basket in the center of our kitchen table so that it is out of reach of sweet E (except when she climbs on the table!).

Baking Bread

E and I baked bread (in our bread machine) on Wednesday morning.  E LOVED helping measure and pour the ingredients into the machine!  I hope to make baking bread an every other week activity. 





Since we made homemade bread, we had to have homemade butter to go with it!  We poured heavy cream into a small blender (previously used to make baby food) and blended it until it was buttery.  E did NOT like the noise, but she didn't mind quite as much after she tasted the butter.  Her little hand kept sneaking back to the bowl for just one more taste!





Here's our recipe for Honey Oatmeal Bread...

INGREDIENTS

1 1/4 cups water

3 cups bread flour (we used 1.5 cups of bread flour and 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour)

2 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 tablespoons dry milk powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

2 tablespoons margarine

1 tablespoon active dry yeast


DIRECTIONS

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select White Bread setting, and Start.
 
Here's sweet O using this recipe to make bread almost 3 years ago.

Valentine's Day Sensory Box

I put together a simple Valentine's Day sensory box for E this morning.  It kept her occupied, so that I could attempt to organize my house (this is a monumental task, although I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel). 

I have realized again and again (I don't know why I keep forgetting this!) that simple is better, so I didn't put much in this box...dried pasta (I need to add another box), glittery heart stickers, a couple of cups, red monkey tongs, and a scoop.  E was really excited by her sensory box and sat right down to enjoy it.




I loved how she tried to put the pasta in the tongs!




After playing for several minutes, she seemed to be losing interest.  I suddenly realized what was missing...a container with a small opening for her to put the pasta in....she was thrilled when I gave her a baby bottle and demonstrated how to put the pasta in it.  She got right to work and was proud to fill it up and then shake the pasta back out again.









I plan to add another box or 2 of pasta and use this sensory box for several months.  I'll just take out the hearts and replace them with other seasonally appropriate items.

Edit to add:  E was never out of my sight while playing with this sensory box.  Please monitor your children carefully and do not give small items to children who put things into their mouths.

Knotted Bones

O and I recently completed a science experiment in which we soaked a chicken bone in a jar of vinegar until it was bendable. The directions said to soak the bone for a week, but our bone wasn't bendable after a week.  We put it on the countertop and forgot about it for several weeks. 



Elliott got tired of seeing it and asked if he could throw it away, so we tried it out again before throwing it away.  Sure enough, it was bendable!  We tried to tie it in a knot, but it wasn't long enough.    O was excited to bend it, but ready to wash her hands afterwards...it was kind of gross (I was glad I didn't have to touch it).