Brobee

for a Yo Gabba Gabba loving friend

Pattern is modified from Spiky Dino, worked in stripes, with three spikes placed across the head instead of four spikes placed front-to-back.

wiggle blocks

(Disclaimer: this is a homeschooling post on a craft blog. It's going to happen some, because I don't plan to blog about homeschooling enough to warrant a separate blog, and I'm not going to re-name this one to include homeschooling.  So there.)

I love these blocks!  I bought them after reading through this website.  I was most excited about the potential to use them in phonics lessons.  But we aren't there yet, so I printed the "physical activities" inserts.  They have ROCKED our preschool time.  Between subjects, each kid rolls a "wiggle block" and then we do the activities.  Simple, they love it, gets some wiggles out, and we move on.  Brilliant!

Now, the whole set up was sort of crazy, expense-wise.  Blocks plus the (one-time) subscription to the site for downloads was about $30.  I'm pretty sure this would be easy to DIY if you were so inclined.  But I am so thrilled with how it's working, so I'm not complaining.  I'll just have to use them a lot to make it worth what I shelled out!

Oh, and I printed the dice dots for the 4th one, and we've been using it for dice games.  It's nice because it can't roll all the way across the floor and get stuck under the bookshelf!

4th of July

We made these shirts two years ago when my kids were 3 and 2, and I loved them!  When they were outgrown, I cut them up and made them into the world's longest throw pillow, which is now sitting on my entryway bench.  I've been walking past that throw pillow all week thinking that we needed to do the shirts again.  So I took shirts over to my friend Annette's house today for our kids to paint.

Super easy! Kids put left hand prints in blue fabric paint on the upper left of the shirt, and then took off running.  Mamas painted the red stripes with a foam brush.  I had intended to let the kids thumb print their red stripes on, but they were wiggly and wanted to get in the pool.  

Modeled!

Look! We got two nose-pickers in one picture! 

mini mei tais

I made a couple of child-sized mei tai carriers for a couple of little friends' birthdays coming up. Hazel helped in fabric selection and I think they came out really cute!

I made velcro waist straps and tie-able top straps.

I found a few cute little models at my house. 

 

Doesn't Sheep look cozy?!























Back view

salt box

I wanted salt boxes for my kiddos to practice letters in, and googled for some ideas.  Most people just use a cookie sheet or tray, but I wanted lids so that I didn't have to dump the salt in and out regularly.  Other ideas included this plastic shoe box (too deep, I thought), this little wooden box from Joann (my Joann only had one, or I would have bought them), and this DIY version with a photo storage box (does anyone know where they sell those? Again, foiled in my attempts).  

Container Store to the rescue! I had a few minutes to run into Container Store when were in Austin a few weeks ago, and I had this project in mind.  They had *exactly* what I needed.  The Premium White Gift Box, size small.  Dimensions are 11 1/4" x 8 1/2" (about the size of a sheet of paper) and only 1 5/8" deep.  With a lid.  And nice and thick and sturdy feeling.  I bought three, cut down a piece of black construction paper to lay inside each of them for contrast, dumped in a cup or so of salt, and ta-da! Salt boxes!

School Room

So it's not really a craft, unless you consider assembling Ikea furniture a craft, but my school room got  a makeover with my new expedit bookshelf and I had to show it off!

 View from the door.  This room used to be the garage (converted several home owners ago), so it has a HUGE window and lots of light. It's the sunniest room in the house, especially with the a-little-too-yellow paint. The random kitchen chair in there needs a new home, but I don't feel like hauling it up to the attic and haven't found another inconspicuous corner for it.  There used to be a desk in this room that the chair lived with, but it was replaced by the new bookshelf.  Therefore, homeless chair.

The new expedit!  I had to wait for MONTHS until we took a trip to Texas.  I miss living near Ikea!  It has  materials, curriculum, manipulatives, etc on it, and lots of room to grow into.  The door on the left goes into the mud room (and then on to the rest of the house).  The door on the right is a large-ish closet that mostly holds my fabric and yarn (sizable collection of both), and office supplies.  The USA map is mounted on foam-core poster board and just leaning against the wall up there.  It's lightweight and easy to lift down when we want a closer look. Also seen on top of the shelf is Ziggy, our favorite part of our preschool curriculum, who I suspect will continue to be our school mascot long after his use in school time has passed.

 Dumpy Craigslist couch, and old Ikea bookshelf that is holding family (not homeschool) books.  The tiny window annoys, since it keeps me from hanging something large and useful above the couch, but the chevron valance makes me feel a little happier about it.

Craigslist school table.  No, I don't have four kids, nor do I homeschool a friend's kid.  For the (maybe) 10 minutes a day that we actually sit at a table, I usually occupy one of the preschool-sized chairs along with my kids. It's cozy. The orange desk in the corner holds mostly puzzles and busy bag type activities.

So that's the tour!  Now, to get down to USING that room and actually schooling.  Nah--it's summer.  Check back in August.

father's day 2012

I saw this tutorial linked on pinterest this week, and couldn't resist doing them for our Dad and Grandpas. I had each kiddo draw one each of Dad, Grandude, and Grandpa.  I simply adore how they came out! 

The process was a little trying.  Cutting out all of their detailed little drawings was tedious, but worth it! 

Here's the freezer paper, cut out, ironed on, and ready to be painted.  I painted fabric paint on the cut out parts, and then peeled off the freezer paper. That transferred the image that they drew to the shirt.  I love freezer paper stenciling!


My favorite parts of each one:
Grandpa: this one was drawn by Charlie.  It's my overall favorite, due to it's quirkiness.  As you can see, Charlie's fine motor skills lag behind his siblings, and his writing is hilarious.  That "G" is fully upside down. See those vertical lines on Grandpa's forehead?  That is "hair laying down, because Grandpa doesn't have hair that stands up!" Classic.

Dad: drawn by Jono. He was not too into the project and took about 10 seconds to do the drawing.  I was annoyed that he didn't even take time to include a body, but went for the alien head variety, but that's what I got.  Dad sure does look happy, though!

Grandude was drawn by Hazel. I love his belly button.  Her handwriting is really getting nice and even, too.  Otherwise, I appreciated hers because it was clean lined and simple, and easy to cut out. LOL

Overall, super fun project, and I'll be happy to put the Grandpas' in the mail and give David his on Sunday!

baby gifts

Two MOPs friends are expecting babies in the near future.  Andrea is expecting a surprise on or before June 18th.  I made her a mei tai and a pair of hats, not knowing which one she'd need.

Kristy HAS a baby girl, who is still in Ethiopia, waiting for paperwork and details to be finished so that she can come home.  This mei tai was for her (modeled by Charlie, who loves to snuggle).

chemo caps

One of my friends asked me to make a couple of hats for her mom, who has lost her hair to chemotherapy. Here they are!

Can we make something out of this?

Jono picked up a pinecone on our walk today and asked if we could make something from it.  Why, sure! Pinecone & peanut butter bird feeders it is.  We had all the supplies, so we whipped them up.  Lots of peanut butter was licked off of fingers in the process. ;)

2012 NICU hats

Here are this year's preemie hats!

As a reminder, I knit or crochet a dozen preemie hats for NICU every year as my way to thank those wonderful doctors and nurses for their care of my children for a combined 12 days in NICU (10 days for Hazel, 2 days for Jono).  Every summer on the anniversary of Hazel's discharge, she and I take hats to the children's hospital together.

Because of a long road trip to Texas, I had lots of yarn time, and exceeded my goal of 12!  I may even have time to work up another couple, since NICU day is not until the 22nd, but I have some major school room reorganization and a birthday party to plan, clean for, and host between now and then.  So I'm calling this the "set" and if it grows by another, great!

The list:
three knit football hats (2 Who Dats and one regular)
four crocheted butterfly beanies (2 pink, 2 purple)
three crocheted bear ears
several random knit stripy hats, in boyish and girlish color combos

puppet theater!

Hazel has been asking for a puppet theater since I made one for the Carruth cousins for Christmas. Today I made one for my kids, but they don't get it until their birthdays in a few weeks.  I used a different tutorial this time.  I'm not sure which I prefer, but I thought the larger opening on the on this one might be better for my three elbow-throwing stinkers.  We'll see how they like it!

The theory, of course, is for the door behind the theater to be open, with little puppeteers behind it. I closed the door to get a better picture.  Also, aren't those puppets adorable? They were dirt cheap at Ikea.  We have several of them, and may need more!

green chevron

The tiny window in the school room got a little valance today.  It's the type of project that I hesitate to even call a project.  After all, I hemmed 4 sides of a rectangle and slipped it onto a curtain rod. Easy peasy. I do think it looks cheerful in there!

Mother Bear Project

Several months ago one of my favorite parenting blogs had a post about the Mother Bear Project.  They are an organization that collects hand knit bears to send to children with HIV or AIDS in other countries (mostly African nations).  I love finding out fun ways to use my knit/crochet skills to help others, so I took on Kara's challenge of making one bear in honor of each of my children.  My kids each have a lovey that they sleep with, and I love the idea of providing a bear for three sweet little souls halfway across the world who need someone to snuggle.


The most challenging part of these bears was embroidering their faces!  They sat completed without faces for a month before I got up the nerve to try.  I'm mostly OK with how they came out.  They're not too scary looking, are they?!

http://www.motherbearproject.org/

Easter spin art

I saw an idea in blogland to use your salad spinner to make art.  We used foam egg shapes from the $1spot at Target.

  Blobbed on some paint, set it spinning, and watched while it slowed down  

Lift off the lid, and see what you get!

All 10 eggs painted and drying.  We plan to make a garland with them later.

superhero mask hats

My friend Andrea's boys had a combined birthday party, with a superhero theme.  I thought this pattern was a perfect choice if I wanted to craft for their presents.  I wrapped them over inflated balloons, since otherwise they look like flat knit rectangles, and it's pretty hard to get excited about that if you're a two or four year old boy. They won't get use out of them until fall/winter (toooo hot here!) but they're both plenty roomy and should fit for a good long time.  This is such a fun pattern!  I think my boys need some!

watermelon set

I liked the watermelon hat I did as part of the rainbow so much that I wanted to do another.  My stepsister is expecting a baby girl in mid-April, so this hat and booties set is for her little one.  I love how they came out!

rainbow

A friend on my message board mentioned that she had seen a cute idea for a baby gift--a rainbow of hats. Darn it.  I had been looking for an idea for our niece-to-be, and I couldn't get the idea of the rainbow out of my head.  I tried to talk myself out of it.  I didn't need to crank out 7 hats in 5 days and completely neglect my housework.  But the idea was too compelling.  So I did it.  

Three of the hats are made to fit right away, to be worn this spring as a newborn (yellow, green, and cream).  The rest are made to fit when she's 6-12mos old, during her first fall and winter, and beyond (in the case of the blue one, which ran a bit big and will probably fit until she's two).

There are crocheted hats and knit hats.  Wool hats, cotton hats, and acrylic hats.  It's a completely random variety of hats.  All made with love for baby girl.  We can't wait to meet her!

Update: I wrote this post before baby girl was born, but forgot to publish it.  Baby girl has since arrived!  Emma Margaret Foster is our new sweet niece, and we still can't wait to meet her!

chore wheel

I have been wanting a chore system for my kids, but none of the ones I saw marketed for preschoolers (either to buy or to make on pinterest) seemed to fit what I was looking for.  Seems that most people consider toy pick up and personal hygiene to be the main chores of a 3-5yo.  Not in my house!  I consider those things a given, and I want their help with other stuff!  I wanted a list of available helpers, otherwise I tend to enlist the child who is being least cooperative, which means that two of them work a lot more than the third. (Hey--just being honest here!)  The jobs I usually call on a kid to help with are unloading the dishwasher, setting and clearing the table, wiping down the table, and moving laundry from the washer to dryer (or dryer to basket).  Those are things I wanted on a chart.  I saw this post, with a chore wheel for much older kids and much more specific tasks, but I thought the format could be made to work for us.

The inner green circle has their names (obviously).  The yellow middle circle has meal-related chores that I need help with every day.  The dishes person will help unload the dishwasher, the table person will help wipe down the table.  Both of those together will help set and clear the table.  The floor person will sweep crumbs, which is a new job for them, but one I think it's time they learn.

The outer teal circle is for jobs that I don't need daily help with, but that I'd like to know who to call on when I do need them.  Laundry helper helps with laundry (obviously).  Mommy's helper can help me with my daily cleaning chores (bathrooms, vacuuming, dusting, etc).  Parent's choice is for a job that we see that needs to be done and can be done by a preschooler, like gathering shoes that are misplaced and taking them back to the cubbies in the mud room (common).  I plan to rotate jobs weekly.

I love it.  It's simple, it's flexible, and if it's a total failure, it cost me $1.50 in 12" scrapbooking cardstock in 3 colors at Michaels.  No biggie.

a UFO complete!

Summer 2010, when my kids were two and three, we made adorable handprint American flag tank tops to wear.  I didn't want to get rid of them when that summer was over, so I tossed them in my to-sew stack with the intent to make something out of them.  Tonight, in my on-going project to turn the guest room into a den/school room, I was cleaning out my sewing cabinet and came across them.  I decided it was as good a time as any, and whipped out a throw pillow.  It'll live on my long bench in the entry way during 4th of July time.  It's going to be SO cute!!

I cut out the flags, ironed some stabilizer on the backs of them, and then stitched them onto some red twill I had in my stash.  I made it into a pillow shape, and now it just awaits me buying another bag of polyfill to stuff it and finish it up.  Maybe I'll remember to do that between now and July.