It´s A Tape Party!!

 

I meant to post this earlier but life with 3 kids under 5 years (at that time) can come in your way...

In November my little boy turned 3. He clearly remembered his sisters Fabric Craft Party and wanted something as fun as that. Well, with 3 year old boys you might want to choose some quick and easy crafts instead. So I turned to Washi Tape for help (and I always wanted a reason to get all those beautiful tapes anyway...)

Some ideas for craft projects I found on Pinterest as always.

And here is what we´ve done: 

 tape flags for cupcakes

tape candle wrapper

tape people made of craft sticks

tape city - streets, cars, tracks, trains...

tags and cards

straw labels

Crafty Tea Party for a 5 Year Old

We like to keep the kids´ birthday parties small but craft intense. After last years Fabric Craft Party it took me a while to come up with a new theme... but finally I had the idea to make it a Tea Party with cake decorating and dish towel stamping. For not getting to messy while stamping, I also made aprons for all kids to take home afterwards. 
This idea initially came to me because my kids like to play that the playroom is their house, so I thought why not make it look like a house and invite their friends over for a tea party. 

I´ve created a Pinterest board where I´ve collected some neat ideas that go with the theme. 

And here are some impressions about how it turned out: 

Tea cup invitations

 

Fabric curtain for playroom door

 Aprons from dish towels

Dish towel stamping

This was my own stamping version

Bake pop decorating

Happy Birthday to my not so little 5 year old girl!!

DIY Fleece Slippers

 

Today, I made fleece slippers for my daughter (you never know when the cold weather will come). I was inspired by this Pinterest post which will lead you to this tutorial.  

As long as you have some fleece and Suede Sherpa fleece on hand you are good to go!

Hedgehog Snuggle Pillow

This quick little project was requested by my daughter. Not that she wanted to make a hedgehog pillow, but she wanted to sew "something fun". 

So, I drew an easily shaped animal on a piece of paper and had my daughter pick different fabrics for head, body and feet. We cut 2 pieces of fabric from each body part (it is easiest to fold the fabric in half and cut only once - that way you make sure to mirror your pieces for the backside) and we were ready to sew!

My daughter did most of the sewing with a little help turning the corners. After attaching the body parts together, we sewed front and back right sides together leaving an opening at the nose. After turning the hedgehog right side out, we put a LOT of filling inside (such a little hedgehog can eat more than I thought!!). Last step was closing the opening near the nose with a few stitches from the outside.

Done!

The next animal pillow was already requested: "something without too many spikes and legs" (??)

Bed Time Routine Chart For Toddlers

I hate tears at bedtime. And after the usual bedtime battles with my two kids each night, I was hoping for something (some kind of method?) to make the whole process more fun, peaceful, quick, and without tears. 

Even if I hadn´t seen toddler chore charts (I´ve heard of them though), I went google-ing for something like that for a bedtime routine. 

My daughter loves checking off to-do lists, so I was hoping to find something like a to-do list with a dry erase pen - even though I could already see the marker get lost somewhere or get used for something else... 

It didn´t take long to realize that I had to make my own chart to put in all the steps I wanted and I was lucky to find this awesome tutorial (how to make a chore chart for toddlers). 

• no marker needed, it works with magnets
• you choose your own steps/symbols
• easy to understand/use for little ones 
• and my kids were so super excited about it, they couldn´t wait for bedtime to finally try it out for the first time - and so far, I can´t hear any tears from upstairs...

Done, done, and done. Good night!

Footprint Calendar - The First Six Months

At the beginning of the year I had the idea to teach my kids about the months of the year in a creative way and so I decided to make our own monthly footprint calendar sheets - one each months. 
If you are looking for more footprint and handprint ideas check out my pinterest board here. 

My kids LOVE to do footprints (which kid doesn´t?) and they are very excited for each new month! In addition it will be a nice growth chart of their feet to keep and to put in their annual art folder! 

Stay tuned for the next six months!

Xmas Crafts 2012 Round Up

What a crafty holiday season it was! 

Here is a quick overview of how we kept ourselves busy his year. 

Starting with "baking" projects:

Gingerbread houses out of graham crackers (big hit!) 

Ice cream cone christmas trees

Sugar cookies with icing

Next are holiday decorations: 

 

Bead ornaments (melt in oven)

Snow globes 

(one mason jar with glitter and one plastic globe from the craft store)

Paper snowflakes out of coffee filters

Last but not least is a fabric craft: 

DIY christmas tree screenprinting

I hope you all had a wonderful crafty holiday season!

What are we doing today, mommy?

Does that sounds familiar? My 3 year old wakes up in the morning asking the same question almost every day - at not only that one time in the morning. She also asks at lot about the days of the week "does the garbage truck come on Sunday?" etc.

This girl needs a calendar, I said to myself! My intention to make her a little weekly calendar wasn´t to avoid all these questions, but to teach her the basics of how everything repeats and how we can not choose which day it is (even if I sometimes would like to skip Tuesday through Thursday and fast forward to Friday). 

So we made a craft project out of it where she could choose which colors, paper, and stamps we used for reoccurring events like preschool, park play dates, and the farmers market. We also added other important things like the garbage truck on Tuesdays and daddy on Saturdays and Sundays.

Do you see my fabulous art of drawing a play structure and a garbage truck?

Tee Collection - one more

Thanks to Pinterest, I have tons of ideas what I could do some time in the future... But some project are actually easy enough to squeeze them into our busy days. For example this super simple yet super cute T-shirt project, which can be made in only 15 min.

All you need is: 

• T-shirt
• bleach pen
• chalk (optional)
• cutting board and/or wax paper
• little artist (mine was 3.5 yrs of age)

I put the cutting board and the wax paper into the tee and my 3.5 year old drew a little "monster" on the shirt using chalk. After that I traced her drawing with a bleach pen (make sure that your lines are thin!). Wait 10 min (other people say it might take much longer depending on your fabric) and then wash your shirt to get the bleach out. That´s it!

  

 Here you can see the chalk and the fine lines of bleach.

A monster tee for little baby brother!

For Nature Lovers and Parents (Lassen Volcanic NP)

Our latest Northern California trip was the perfect combination of doing at lot (experience nature) and doing nothing (relaxing - even with little kids around!). Usually we do a lot of hiking when we travel and the kids usually get pretty bored.
Even if it wasn´t exactly planned that way, this trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park was actually pretty relaxing and I have never said that about a vacation since we had kids!

And here is why:
Lassen Volcanic NP features great hikes, hydrothermal activies that you can see and smells (!) and also countless beautiful lakes where you can have the kids throw rocks for hours (while you sit there and watch them playing)!!
Also, we rented a cabin which was soooo perfect for the kids, that we could relax at the deck (huge enough for the kids to run around and completely gated) or we had them throw rocks in the little creek, which was also on the property (next to the picnic table and hammock). The cabin was huge (3BR, 3bath), new (which means clean!), and in the middle of the forrest with lots of animals visiting our doorsteps.

Now, does this sound like a vacation to you, dear fellow parents?

Stunning National Park

 

 

[Cinder Cone]

 [Lava Beds and Painted Dunes]

[lava everywhere]

 [gone swimming...?]

Hydrothermal Features

 [Bumpass Hell]

 [bubbling mud]

[hold your breath!]

Cabin in the Woods ;-)

 

[creek with picnic table and hammock]

[daily visitors]

Ready to pack your bags? 

And here are some more facts: 

• Cabin is located near Shingletown, CA
• 5 hours north of the SF bay area
• 10 min from North/West park entrance
• 45 min to most hydrothermal features
• 50 min from North/East park entrance
• 2 h from Devils Kitchen
• Had enough nature? Check out the Turle Bay Exploration Park in Redding