Easy sewing for little ones: Chef Hats

Chef hats seem to make every kiddo kitchen creation a culinary masterpiece. :) My trio had outgrown their old hats and I was so excited to make them new ones. They took about an hour each. Very easy, very fun sewing! Not a great project for kiddos to sew because of the gathering, but a fun one to surprise them with. :)

Amongst all the Christmas gifts, I was thankful that these homemade creations were a favorite.

The tutorial at Skip to my Lou is so great that I am not going to try to recreate the wheel. I did mine a little differently, but I love her easy to follow directions. I hope you enjoy!

Since the aprons weren't quite finished, I am aiming to have them as a Valentine's Day gift. :)

Toothfairy pillow: how to make your own - the boy version

Four months of waiting, and he lost a tooth. Having to watch his two sisters (that are five as well) grow richer with each tooth loss was hard, but finally the need for Jo Jo to have a tooth pillow has come. 

The easy to follow directions are only a click away.

Happy sewing!

A homemade picture book for baby...

I can't wait to surprise my dear friend with this little book. I grabbed all the pictures off her blog so it should be a complete surprise.

The last page reminds little Ryan that we made it just for him. :)

Oh, my youngest boys have a birthday soon. I can't wait to get started on their book! I am already thinking about the pictures that I want to include. :)

a health halloween snack....

I just love these little cheese fingers. The nails are made with bits of red bell pepper. The teeth are made with the little bits of cheese from the fingers and apples. So healthy they are scary!

Seasons bag: easy fall craft for elementary school kiddos

Today was the day! After three long weeks of waiting the five year olds got to bring a craft AND CANDY for the class to enjoy. The teachers gave me the priveledge of coming up with a "fall" craft. So today, each kiddo got to make a "seasons" bag. Here is the fun that went into the bags.

At home, my seven year old stamped the word seasons on an old scrap.

He used a small paint brush, a 2/$1.00 bottle of brown paint, and foam stamps. This could have easily been done in the classroom, but I hoped the teacher would let us craft again so I kept the paint at home. :)

While it was drying we cut rectangles of burlap and stitched up the sides to make bags. I love the look of the raveling top. Using a straight stitch we sewed the words to the front of each bag. I added little grommets so that the kiddos could choose their ribbon at school, but a simple piece of tape on the ribbon would work just as well.

The kit for each kiddo included a bag, leaves that I punched (with hole puncher), leaves that came with wire stems, and yarn with the ends taped (to allow for easy sewing). There were three ribbon choices for the straps. Just look at what those kiddos created!

treats... easy favors for school age kids

treats for our friends...

An inexpensive plastic bad coupled with a white sheet of paper. Add a glue stick to adhere you label and staples to seal of your treats. The only thing easier is eating the sweets inside.

The adorable labels are from two straight lines.

working as a team...

Within the four walls of each house lay a distinct set of values. The view from 10,000 feet may look similar (God, family, then others) but what does the day to day look like? My biggest daily value struggle is check marks vs. the children because I am a check mark lover. But today in response to a question from a fellow home school mom lets talk about sibling love/relationship vs. discipline.

Many think this odd, but we allow our children to share their consequences. Thankfully we have a Savior in Jesus that paid the ultimate price to share our consequences. Using that as a model, if someone has their cookie taken away, often their siblings share and they eat cookie. If you are Becca (our youngest) you often end up with more than you would have had if you didn't lose your cookie. We have seen great benefits to this policy. The kids have a comfort knowing that even when they have messed up someone is willing to show kindness. Even a consequence issued with a calm tongue can feel unkind (if they liked it, it wouldn't be much of a consequence). It is not uncommon to see all five sitting in "time-up" when one was required to be there. It isn't that the consequence has gone away (the cookie is still gone, you are still in time-out) but the full intended extent may not be felt. A concern may be that an arrogance may develop of "oh well, my brother will give me his cookie anyway". We have not seen this, but we have seen a genuine gratitude develop and servants heart's grow. We have seen them bloom into compassionate and loving children when a sibling is in trouble. I remember being so excited when my sister was in trouble(I know, I am a terrible person). We don't see that in our home. Our mercy policy may or may not have any effect on that behavior, but it has worked well for our family. We believe it is one of the reasons our children get along so well and enjoy each other so much.

Homemade for baby...

It's almost like having your whole house filled with that just bathed baby smell. When I start stitching baby gifts, I just can't help but smile. These little bibs have been a favorite of mine as of late. So useful, so easy, so cute, so much fun to sew. :)

Wall Art for a kiddos room: DIY style

An exact-o knife, glue stick, paper, recycled frames, and an extra piece of glass cut to fit each frame is all you need for this little project. So simple!

1. Using the exact-o cut out a simple shape and glue it to a background piece.

2. Sandwich the art between two pieces of glass.

3. Hang art & let the kiddos enjoy.

a chore for you and you and you...

The dread hasn't set in yet, as for now the kiddos are enjoying their assigned chores. Charts work well at our house. My kiddos (that do chores) range from 5 years old to 8 years old. I partner the kids together on some tasks so they learn to work together and a task with a partner is way more fun. This chart is divided up into 6 days. Mommy and Daddy handle the kitchen on Sunday. Each of the kiddos has only one task for that day of the week. Two kiddos have "washing the dishes" so that a five year old always has a bigger kiddo to help. The other task include spraying the counter (the favorite!), sweeping (the least favorite), and clearing the dishes. As with a lot of other things at our home, the kids are allowed to work as a team. So when one person is having an off day and refuses to perform their chore another sibling may (and often does) step in and complete the task. So as long at the task is complete there are no consequences even if one person did not work. They seem to find comfort in knowing their siblings will step in for them, and enjoy helping each other.

As you can see things don't always go as I planned. :) Sometimes there is a mess made, but soggy rug or not, the seeds of responsibility are worth sowing.

Chalkboard coat hooks: how to make a kid friendly coat rack

I love displaying my kiddo's masterpieces, but I am not fond of my entire house looking like an overgrown overcrowded fridge. :) This chalkboard coat rack is a perfect mix of masterpiece and functionality. The kiddos loved making it, and can't wait to color on it again. It took about an hour of mama time (plus dry time) and 20 minutes of mama/kiddo time.

1. Gather the wood you would like to use for for the coat rack. I used an old piece of 1X6 that we had out in the garage. Cut the wood to the desired size. If you aren't a fan of power-tools, the local big box hardware store will often cut wood to length.

2. Paint the wood with chalkboard paint and let it dry, you may need two coats.

3. Allow the kiddos to create a chalk masterpiece. I used painter's tape on the bottom 2.5 inches because I did not want them to draw in that area. If you want to keep the masterpiece the same you can paint it with polyurethane or allow the kiddos to create with paint-markers.

4. Remove the blue tape (if you used it) and place hooks (purchased at a hardware store) on the bottom of the wood. As you are measuring for hook placement ensure that you will be screwing into your studs, not just sheetrock. I used one of the screws that came with the hook and substituted the other screw for a long one that attaches it to the wall.

5. Enjoy your kiddo's art each time you hang you hat. :)

As always, if you have a question...don't hesitate to ask.

waiving the (not so) white flag.....

"Mommy, can I have that long piece of wood that we never use and really don't need?"

"Sure."

"Mommy, where is the shovel?"

"In the green house, why do you ask?"

"I was just checking"

You gotta love sending the kiddos out play and watching a mini "united nations flag line" beening constructed in the yard. Complete with working pulley system to raise and lower the flag I may add. :) Oh, those mini engineers.

Thanks for the question: How to applique

Too many Kids in he Bathtub said...

How are you doing those appliques???

Great question! Oh, I just love questions. (insert giddy giggle here) Keep 'em coming!

Let's look at a few applique projects so we know what we are talking about, then we will get to the easy 1-2-3 instructions. As you can tell, I enjoy appliques. :)

My favorite little puppy dog - onsie and burpcloth

A little bird - skirt and bag

Bow tie shirt - 5th picture in the post

Little Pumpkin bibs

Monster backpack - the face is appliqued

Tooth fairy pillow

Create/Inspire bags - the words are kinda appliqued but I left off the stitching part of step #3 (see below)

To applique:

1) Choose a fabric, iron on" wonderunder" on the wrong side of the fabric. Ask for it at the fabric store if you haven't used it before. Trace your design (backwards) on the paperbacking and cut out your design. For a world of great ideas try etsy.

Note: If you are using felt, it doesn't matter what side you iron the "wonderunder" to.

2.) Add any hand stitching detailing. I didn't hand stitch on the guitar, but if I had this would have been the time to do it. :)

3.) Remove the paperbacking and iron it to your shirt. Stitch around the design, you can use a zig zag like I did for this one or a straight stitch like I did on the tie shirt.

Oh, I possibilities are endless when you applique!

Happy Stitching!

Noodle in a bottle: the repost

This is a re-post of a quiet activity that was intended to be for the little ones, but everyone had a blast. I was inspired by the loves school blog and we added our own twist.

The little ones each got pan to catch the broken noodles with their goal being not to break any noodles. My youngest son is in need of gentleness training. The boy is a bull in a china shop. LOL Then they each got noodles and a water bottle. To add a challenge we added tape to the top of the bottle. Very simple, very fun! The big boys decided it was a building project and took it in a direction that I could not have planned.

This activity passed the easy set up, long playtime, and quick clean-up test. When I am looking for/evaluating a kiddo activity I look for a quick & easy set up, a long playtime, and quick & easy clean-up. If the activity takes too long to set up, my kiddos have lost interested or gotten into mischief before we start. If the clean-up is too intensive it gets left out until the kiddos go to bed...not good! :) So if your time to set up + your time to clean up is less than half the playtime the activity makes the cut at my house.

Noodle in a bottle: still going strong

We all need those little "standby" actives. You know the ones for those times. Those times when we count the seconds until daddy come home, those times when everyone is ready to go but we still have an hour to kill, those times when I have just one more thing to do but the kids don't have anything ;) to do. Well, this is one of our standby.

It's very simple...Noodles!

Yup, just noodles. Each time they get 'em out a new activity is created because the kiddo's imagination dictate the fun. On the bottle shelf of our pantry (just above the recycle/inspiration bin) sits a few plastic containers labeled "Kids Only"! One of them is filled with pasta of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Under the microwave is the "Kids Only" drawer filled with all kinds of kitchenlike treasures. The kids mix and match from the Kids Only containers, recycle/inspiration bins and Kids Only drawer.

No planning, easy clean-up, fine motor stills, imagination, entertained kiddos...works for me.

Sewing for baby: quick and easy gift idea

Sometimes I just feel ancient. Like when I try on a jeans and my behind starts before the jeans do or a shirt with an empire waist line that hits me across the bust. It's just that things aren't where they used to be. LOL Oh, but I am thankful for every wrinkle and sag that time has blessed me with. Swing for a new mom get me feeling a bit on the antique side too. It was almost nine years ago that I first became a mom. Whoa, where does time go?

With all that aside is there anything more fun than sewing for a newborn? Oh, to think of the little fingers and toes wrapped in the blanket or the bib just below that sweet face. Oh, do you feel a little "Awe" coming on? :) Well, I had the pleasure of making this gift for a sweet baby that was welcome into the world this weekend.

My favorite baby gift is this little square blanket/night-night. I love watching little ones snuggle with it, and it is just the perfect size to cover baby in the carrier. A little "baby bungee" makes a good partner. I haven't used one, but it is on my to do list for my youngest twins. It clips to the blanket/toy on one side and the stroller/carseat with the other. Genius! Who thinks of such great things that are so simple? No loosing blanket/toy or even dropping it on the germy floor. The little bib completes the set. Cost is about $8 give or take and time invested was about 1.5 hours. But wait, the packaging is just as fun as the sewing.

I used the bag tag design from a few weeks ago for the bag. With a few quick tweaks, I had the design for the bag and a card. Hit print and use glue stick on the plain gift bag... instant custom packaging. Cost was under $1 and time invested was less than 15 minutes.

I have been loving making these little bibs! They are so quick and easy that I made a few for my twins while I had the material out. :) This time I added a layer of batting in the middle and I love the soft look this time.

Happy Baby Sewing!

For the love of comments...

May I just take a second to unashamedly say that I LOVE COMMENTS! Thank you to each of you that has taken the time to leave a comment. Please know that I read each one and greatly appreciate them. :)

On that note, this is for PisecoMom who asked about the homemade risk game. This is a United States version, which means that they drew the United States instead of all the continents. The kiddos stole the dice from the Yahtzee game (another of our favs). The first game used the cowboys and indians shown in the picture to represent the troops. The second game used the beans that were hand painted. Each color represents an army. The boys love making maps, I had gotten a DVD from the library that all the kids enjoyed "Map skills for children Making & reading maps / [videorecording] Schlessinger Media". (There were lots of treasure maps in the days following.) One of their favorite parts of the DVD was about the compass rose and key. So for that reason the compass rose is disproportionately large in most of their maps. I don't know a lot of the rules (they change each time the kiddos play), but I am keenly aware it is all about domination. :)

We love chasing little "learning rabbit trails", this one lead us onto learning about the states. The "who can name the most states game" and "who can name the most "A"/"C"/etc states game" came shortly after this one. Don't you just love a day full of games?

One of my favorite quotes is from Plato. "Life should be lived as play."

If you ever have a question or want to see more of something, just let me know. Thanks again for the comments and keep 'em coming.

Reading List for Kiddos Age 5-8

Our bedtime routine is filled with books. After the five year olds are tucked in bed, the seven and eight year old gather next to Daddy and the nightly reading begins. The little ones enjoy looking at the books from their bookshelves while Daddy reads. I just updated the list of books he have recently enjoyed. The list is on the right side of the blog, just above the blog archive.

We are always looking for great books. Please leave me a comment if you have a family favorite.

In the past the kiddos have especially enjoyed:

Encyclopedia Brown: The boy dective - series

Little House on the Prarie - series

Henry Huggins (Beverly Cleary) -series

The Fudge Books (Judy Blume) - series

Hank the Cowdog - series

Fancy Nancy - series

The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh

Thomas the Tank Engine

The Box Car Kids - series

Happy Reading!

birthday celebration..

Have you ever had an idea that just kept snowballing? Of course you have, you start out heading down one road and before you know it you've created a town. :) Well, this project started out simple enough. My trio of five year olds were headed to a birthday party.

I wanted to make something special for the birthday girl. Truth be told it may have been a bit nervousness about a new environment. This was a little girl that the kiddos met at at co-op and I hadn't even met her mom. So I put together this sweet little purse.

Well, since I already had the material out I though the girls would enjoy having a matching bags. And as luck would have it, I also had enough extra fabric that needed to become skirts. I just love the little bird. It's made of blue felt, with a little orange eye. The legs are done with a wide zig zag stitch. The details are always so much fun. I used a coordinating thread this time and stitched all the projects with a brown tread.

When I saw this picture of my sweet daughter it almost brought tears to my eyes. They do grow quickly. But seriously, is it just me or could my five year old pass for a 10 year old in this picture?

I digress, since I had an outfit

(and matching bags) for the girls I felt compelled to outfit my son too.

What better than a little "problem child" bow tie shirt. LOL (picture fromhttp://breskiblogs.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/problemchild.jpg)

I drew the line on making him a purse, maybe some inequality is good.

As I was wrapping up this project, these little scraps screamed out to become bibs. Oh, the twins look so cute in them!

And there you have it the formation of a sewing snowball.

Instructions for raising kiddos...

Kiddos finally come with instructions...

A friend sent me this via email and I laughed out loud. I don't know where it originally came from, but I hope you enjoyed it.