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.

MY new toy arrived!

I'm feeling oh so snappy today. We came home from a birthday party and there was a huge gift from me to me on he front porch. My snap press had arrived! I was so excited, I couldn't wait to get started on these cute little pumpkin bibs for my twin 'punkins. They match the outfits that I finished this morning for the trio. I will post about those later. 

Then I just had to add a little blue snap to the bag that matches the outfits and bibs.

Then I thought wouldn't it be a snap to make a little pencil bag to match the bag, that matches the outfits, that match the bibs? Oh yes, it was!

All this excitement about matching and corny snap puns brought to you by this lovely hunk of metal. Isn't she a 'bute? Any snappy names for the lovely lady? :) Gotta go to bed, after re-reading the post maybe I should have gone a little while ago. :)

packing up my little monsters: easy felt backpacks

Oh, that mixed feeling of seeing your baby walk into a classroom. The wondering of what happens when mama is not around, and the hope that every second is loved more than the one before. (sigh)

So with five of the oldest kiddos entering a classroom one day a week (co-op). I just had to send my three five year olds in with a little buddy on their back. I would have sent all five, but 60% complete isn't bad. :)

Felt is such an easy fabric to sew on! The kiddos loved cutting and designing the oh so scary faces of their monsters and picking out just the right buttons. These are the easy steps I followed:

1. Iron wonder under on white, black, and pink felt. A 4X5 square of each should be plenty.

2. Cut one felt rectangle about three times as long and one inch wider than your desired backpack. Cut one rectangle about 5 inches wide and as long as 2 straps + 14 inches for the tie if you are making a back pack. If you are making a messenger bag just make your 5 in wide rectangle as long as the desired strap.

3. If you  would like a fabric lining, cut a copy of your big rectangle out of fabric.

4. Let the kiddos design a very scary face and pick just the right buttons.

5. Iron the desired design on the front & zig zag with white thread around each piece. Hand stitch the button on in just the right place.

6. Stitch the sides of the bag (I like to use a zig zag). If you are adding a liner sew the sides of the liner too, but make sure the good sides of the fabric end up facing each other and the seems are on the outside. 

7.Then fold the strap in half and sew. After turning the strap right side out, zig zag down the center. 

8. Add the strap. I like the messenger bag style as well as the backpack. I have a fixed size strap on the messenger bag, but the backpacks tie in order to adjust the straps.

9. Sew the straps and liner (if you are using one) in.10. Find a kiddo to try it on and watch their face light up. My son was so excited to try to scare his friends at school. :) His sweet teacher did act very scared which made his day. :)

Happy scaring to you and your little monsters.

taking a risk: homemade board games

The "we don't have it" excuse no longer stands. Telling my oldest that we don't have something he wants is like throwing down the gauntlet. By golly that boy can make anything, we at least attempt it. 

We had sent our sweet 7 and 8 year old for a weekend with grammie and papa. But, when they returned we had a few "Risk" addicts on our hands. So the kiddos spent their first day home creating a board to fill their need to play the new found favorite board game. The original set-up look something like this..

but, obviously the men were too big for each of the armies to have 50 men. So they went to our recycle bins (birthplace of many great crafts) with no avail. They decided on beans and paint. Thankfully the hairdryer speed up the drying process. It wasn't so great for my hairdryer, but really who needs a paintfree hairdryer anyway?

It did take a little more paint than expected, and an extra lesson of "Becca, never paint your lips or teeth again." 

But, after a "all hands on deck" effort and five bath times the game was ready for action. What a geography lesson, kiddos sure weren't afraid to jump in there and "get their hands (and feet) dirty". (sorry for the puns, but the pictures were just crying out for them) Not sure how many geography lessons make such a mess, but I will add any amount of paint to see the kids so excited about learning the states. 

Hum, I have been told a time or two that we might be a little odd, you think this is what they were talking about? LOL Oh, but if they walked a mile in these painted feet I am sure they would deem up just as normal as next family.