Valentine Class Party Planning!!! (Post Office)

Well, after way too much mental debate, I settled on a theme for Serenity's class party: Post Office!  I asked Serenity if she was excited about the Valentine party and she said yes, we need to deliver things!  So I thought we could play post office.  I had seen this great cardboard craft on ikatbag.com and I made my own version of the big mailbox!  It has a slot at the top, and a flip down drawer thingy, and a door at the back to get mail out of.  I plan to make lots of pretend mail for the kids to deliver to each other and their teachers.

At Target I got little tin mailboxes out of the dollar bin and some stickers to decorate them with.  Easy and inexpensive favors!!!


And see this inconspicuous pile of canvas?  Well, that is the prototype for my next project... mailman bags!  I'll tell more about those later, assuming I can make 26 of them in time. =) 

Some other awesome Valentine ideas that my sister has done with her older sons class include an Iron Chef party, where she got tons of ingredients for crazy rice krispie treats and the kids teamed up to make the best concoction.  Andes Mints, Fruity Pebbles, chocolate chips, all kinds of choices.  Some kids put everything in, and then didn't even want to eat their own creation, but they all had a blast!  Judging was difficult =)
She's also doing a lego party, where the older kids are challenged to make Valentine-y things out of legos in teams.  Hearts, bow and arrows, that sort of thing.  Sounds like fun, I wish I could go!!!

Sewing with my three year old!

Sewing with my three year old!
Whenever Serenity sees me sewing, she asks if she can help too.  I’ve tried lots of ways to get her involved in my projects.  I let her hand me things, put pins on the pincushion, and even press the foot pedal of the machine for me.  She loves helping, and does a really good job paying attention when we’re working.  When I was doing some hand stitching, she even would take turns pulling thread through after I’d take a stitch.  So when I saw little felt buttons at Jo-Ann’s, I knew it was the perfect way to get her started with her own project!

At first we started with a rectangle of cream felt, and I cut out a heart from light pink felt for her to appliqué.  I used embroidery floss and a big needle.  We tried it with plastic and dull needles at first, and while it worked, it turned out to just be easier with a regular poky needle.  She is very careful not to touch the sharp part of the needle, and I make her sit very still so she doesn’t accidentally poke anything.  I hold the fabric while she sews.  Her stitches are random and all over the place, but it is just the cutest thing =)  Eventually we’ll work on that but right now she’s just going straight up and down through the fabric.

Then she chose where she wanted to sew on the felt buttons and flowers, and she did it!  I helped her find the first hole sometimes, and helped her to sew knots to tie it off.  She can cut her own thread too.

She was so excited she took her sewing in to show and tell.  She said she was going to tell her friends “I love it!  You take the needle and DON”T TOUCH THE POKY PART!” 

Onesie tie and vest

Onesie tie and vest

I did it!  Actually made something that I pinned.  I was always a little skeptical of the appliquéd tie onesies.  Very cute, but not actually that dressy looking.  Then I saw this one that had the vest as well, and I was sold!  I went shopping with my niece and she helped me pick out the perfect little gray corduroy fabric and the paisley print for the lining and tie. 

It was SO easy!  I just used steam a seam to iron the tie on, using this pattern.  Followed instructions on the vest from here at B is for Boy.

Then I had to have some pants, and I just drew around a pair of pants that fit Donovan already to do that.  I added some fake pockets to the back, which I think are my favorite part =) 

I’m so happy!  I finished this in one day of crafting for fifteen minutes at a stretch.  Such a quick and cute project!  I’m still glowing with happiness =) 

Scrapbooking my Crafts =)

I finished another digital scrapbook page!  So this goal is limping right along ;)  This is a page for the crafts I did in the winter of 2011!  I made posts for most of them, so if you want the details about the projects, follow the links! 

1.)    Felt Birthday Cake

2.)    Infant Superhero Cape for Baco-Bits

3.)    Serenity’sMonkey Quilt

4.)    Lemon Tree with Pickable Lemons (soon to be transformed to a Spring Tree!)

5.)    RainbowBird Wings

6.)    Braley’sBaylor Tutu and Onesie

7.)    Braley’sBaby Quilt

8.)    Tableclothsfor Folding Tables

9.)    Copper Frames

10.) Hiding the Cords Mission

Digital Scrapbook Pages!

Well, I'm jumping right into the new year with digital scrapbooking!  I went back to check and I did zero pages for 2011!  I'm so far behind.  My friend Abbey has a great system where she just scrapbooks stories, so she can scrapbook anything she wants at anytime, but I just can't break through the concept of chronology.  So it's time to play catch up.  At least digitally.  I don't seem to want to work on paper scrapbooks by myself, so that will have to wait for another Girl's Weekend retreat.  But I'll share the two pages I did today!  I made one for Serenity's first pigtails, and another for the crafts we did last winter.  I'll list the crafts in case anyone wants some ideas for simple crafts to do this time of year!

1.) Shape Teddy Bear Valentine.  We did this with sticky foam and cardstock.  I cut out the shapes and she assembled them into a bear, using circles, ovals, triangles, and hearts.  She gave it to Daddy and spelled Love on it for him.
2.) Shamrock collage.  I just took a piece of contact paper, cut a shamrock out of middle of a piece of construction paper and took the outside to use as a border for the collage.  Then I gave her yellow, green, and white tissue paper to fill in the middle.  We used it for a suncatcher all spring!
3.) Fruit loops necklace.  Great lacing practice.  And very tasty.
4.) Marker painting.  I made a jungle in the living room, and as one of the crafts I had Serenity color a jungle with green and brown markers. We painted the marker with water to make it run and look more jungly. 
5.) Cardboard road.  I pull this out every now and again still when we're in need of an activity.  I drew the road for her WOW car, so it's a pretty wide road.  We keep adding more locations. We started with a pond and a farm, and I put Little People figures and her play barn on it so she had places to drive in her car.  Then she colored a garden and a zoo and added stickers. We've had mountains, parks, lots of different places.  It's perfect for a rainy day!
6.) Snowman out of cotton pads.  I use the flat circular cotton pads for washing my face (occasionally..when I have time for that kind of stuff =)  They made perfect snowmen!  We added snowballs and faces out of sticky foam =)
7.) Kazoo:  Saw this craft on Family Fun.  Make a kazoo!  Painting, decorating, and then music.  Great fun!
8.) Starting seeds:  I let her pick out her own seeds and we started them inside.  They really grew!  I was a little surprised because I let her take care of them herself, but they made it despite getting a LOT of love =)  We will definitely do this again this year, hopefully I give the garden a little more attention this year. 
9.)  Lollipop flowers: We made these for her Valentines last year.  I have no idea what we'll do this year, especially since she actually has a whole class to give them to!  We'll see!!
10.) Playdoh Snowmen: Just push googly eyes, buttons, and beads into play doh!  

And without further ado, here are the pages!  Hopefully I'll have many more soon!