Toddler Time - Making Patterns and Pictures with Shapes

These little beauties have been some of my best friends lately. My 2-year old loves to play with them. And the best news of all is that I found them in the dollar bins at Target. They are basically inch-long multi-colored shapes that come with multi-colored shoelace strings. My little girl does like to thread the shapes onto the strings (although I had to wrap tape around the top of the shoelaces a few times so that it was easier for her to get the shoelace through the holes). But I wanted to find different ways to use them. So I decided to make some basic pictures using the shapes that she could then use as patterns. I laminated the pictures I made and now she can play with them by putting the correct colored shape onto the corresponding one in the pictures. 

Below are some examples of the patterns I came up with. (Important reminder: I am NOT an artist or graphic designer nor did I spend much time creating these. I usually leave the crafty blog posts to my very talented sisters and mother. So don't expect amazing. I just wanted to give you examples of things you could do--and yours will probably turn out a lot better than mine. Luckily, my 2-year old can't see my artistic deficiencies....yet.)

  

My 2-year old has been having a lot of fun with these. She likes to put the wooden shapes onto the patterns and she likes to make pictures of her own by putting the shapes on blank white pieces of paper.

Another fun thing to do is string some of the blocks onto one of the shoelaces into a pattern: i.e. yellow star, blue circle, green star, red circle, blue star... and then have your child choose what shape should come next. Then they can recreate the pattern on their own shoelace.

Anywho, just wanted to share some fun we have been having at our house these last few weeks. There are similar things like this that you can buy, but they cost $15 or more...which isn't a ton, but I made mine for $3. So go find some jumbo lacing beads in the dollar bins and have some fun!

Toddler Crafts: Halloween Pumpkin

So I had the great privilege of nannying a sweet and precocious 2.5-year-old last autumn. Blue-eyed and curly haired, she was the kind of 2-year-old all mothers dream of having: beautiful, energetic, and very smart. It quickly became apparent to me that Hannah wasn't going to be content playing with the same toys and following the very same routine every day; I needed to find new and interesting things for us to make and discover together.

Ergo, I starting coming up with crafts for us to do together. I'm all about frugality, so I loved using materials that I either already had on hand or that are cheap and convenient to buy. I also needed each project to be toddler-friendly, something that could be completed before an eager little girl lost interest and without the prospect of incidental injury. I also found it helpful to theme our crafts around the seasons or upcoming holidays. Kids love holidays, right? And so do I! So, without further ado...

Halloween Pumpkin Craft
(for Toddlers!) 

 What You'll Need:

• A new roll of toilet paper
• Orange tissue paper
• Green and black construction paper
• Glue (or tape, if you prefer)
• Scissors
• Pencil

For the pumpkin: Smooth out your tissue paper on a flat surface (I found that my particular sheet was large enough to fold in half). Place the toilet paper roll upright in the center of the rectangle (or square) of tissue paper. Starting with the center of one side, pull the tissue paper up against the side of the toilet paper roll and tuck the excess into the hole at the top. Continue to smooth the paper up against the roll and tuck it in the top until the whole roll is covered in paper. For a smoother look, you can pleat the tissue paper as you go.

For the stem: There are lots of different approaches here. You can fill in the top hole with a tuft of green or brown tissue paper if you have any handy. I personally like a more solid stem, so Hannah and I cut a long rectangle of green construction paper approximately 4 inches wide. We rolled it into a cylinder and put it into the hole at the top of our pumpkin to judge how thick we should make our stem. Once we determined the right fit, we glued the stem to size and put it back in the top hole. With the tissue paper packed around it, the stem didn't really need anything else to keep it in place. However, if you want a sturdy pumpkin, you can glue the stem to the cardboard toilet paper roll; you just need your paper cylinder to reach past the tucked tissue paper.

For the vines: Cut long, half inch strips of green construction paper. Place the end of a strip against the flat side of one of the scissor blades. With the end in one hand and your thumb keeping the paper in place against the scissors, pull the scissors up the length of the strip of paper (like you're curling  wrapping-paper ribbon!) Did you know construction paper curled like that? I had no idea. I like the effect, though. Glue or tape the vines to the stem (or if

All that is left is to cut out the jack-o-lantern features and glue them to the front of your pumpkin (meaning the smoothest part you can find, probably.) I let Hannah pick the shapes for the eyes and nose as well as how many teeth our jack-o-lantern mouth would have. She did an excellent job, n'est pas?

That's it! Our pumpkin Jack sat proudly on the mantel all the way into November, and we were awfully proud of him. You and your little one will be, too.

Pencil Skirt for 18" Dolls 101

One of the wonderful things about dolls is the way that they can bring mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters--females of all ages--together. This little tutorial can help with that in a couple of ways. On one hand, this is something easy that you can make for a little girl you love for Christmas--or "just because." If you are feeling even more adventuresome, it is something that you can make with your daughter. All you need is a small piece of fabric and about a foot of 1/4" elastic. It is that easy!

First, choose your material. You will need a piece that is 6 by 14 inches. I have gobs of fabric, so finding a scrap that size is never a problem. But even if you aren't a fabric junkie like I am, chances are you have a piece that big lying around your house--in an old skirt you never wear, in the leg of a pair of jeans your husband needs to throw out, or in the back of an old shirt. (If you haven't done much sewing, I would avoid using knits--like t-shirt material--because stretchy is harder to work with.) I used a scrap of black corduroy; denim is another great option because it goes with everything.

Start by folding in 1/4" of fabric to the wrong side of both long edges and zigzagging it in place to create a neat edge:

Choose one of the long edges, fold it over again, and stitch along the inside finished edge to create a hem. Be sure to back-stitch at both ends to keep the threads from pulling loose.

Fold the top of the other long edge over 1/2" to create a waistband casing for your elastic. Stitch it in place with a straight stitch along the inside edge. Be sure to back-stitch at both ends to keep the threads from pulling loose.

Cut a piece of 1/4" elastic 10 1/2" long. Pin a safety pin to one end of the elastic making sure that it is secure. Insert the pin end of the elastic into the waist-band casing and start pushing it along the casing toward the open end.

When you reach the point that your elastic is about to disappear, stop long enough to stitch across the end so that it won't pull through.

Finish feeding the elastic through the casing, unpin the safety pin--holding onto the elastic so that it doesn't slip back into the casing--and then stitch that end of the elastic in place. (Because the elastic is shorter than the width of the skirt, it will gather the skirt top as you feed it through the casing and sew it in place to create a stretchy waistband that will make it easy to put on and take off the skirt.)

Fold the skirt in half with right sides together, matching raw edges. Stitch a 1/4" seam from the top of the skirt to the bottom making sure to back-stitch both at the beginning and the end. (To help your skirt last longer, zigzag the seam edges to keep them from fraying.)

Turn your brand new skirt inside out--and try it on!

The Fluffiest, Tastiest Pumpkin Pancakes Ever!

Yesterday morning I woke up craving some delicious Chunky Monkey Pancakes (they have mashed up bananas and chocolate chips in them and you serve them with peanut butter syrup!). I usually make them with whole wheat flour and they are still amazing. As I finished mixing the batter and was about to mash up a banana and chop up some chocolate chips, I realized 2 things: We didn't have any bananas (my husband had eaten the last one for breakfast), and I had used white flour instead of wheat.

I was SOOOOO devastated. Not only were my dreams of Chunky Monkey pancakes dashed, now I had some pancake batter whipped up that was made with white flour. Don't get me wrong, I love me some good white flour pancakes. But I try not to indulge myself too often. If I can make it with whole wheat and it tastes good, then that's how I do it.

After a little bit of reflection, I decided I was going to put in a cup of pureed pumpkin, hoping it would add some flavor and a little bit of healthiness. And by golly, the end result was pure magic. (Has anyone else started making pumpkin treats yet? At the first sign of cool weather, I broke out my canned pumpkin and made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. You better believe it.)

But I am telling you, if you are craving pumpkin pancakes, this is the recipe for you. Eat them with some homemade syrup or just slather butter on them. Either way, they are the lightest, fluffiest, most delicious pancakes you will ever eat.

The Best Pumpkin Pancakes

1 1/2 cups white flour
3 Tbs sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup milk (add 1 Tbl of white vinegar or lemon juice to the milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbl canola oil
1 large egg
1 cup pureed pumpkin

Combine dry ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients (except for the pumpkin) and whisk until combined. Add the pumpkin and stir until combined.

Heat a nonstick griddle or skillet to medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Pour pancakes on hot griddle. When bubbles form and edges are set, flip pancakes and cook through.

Adapted from Chunky Monkey Pancakes recipe on ourbestbites.com.

Enjoy with this easy, breezy homemade syrup recipe:

Homemade syrup

Combine 1 cup brown sugar with 1/2 cup water in small saucepan. Heat until it boils. Remove from heat and serve with delicious pumpkin pancakes.

I know it sounds crazy, but that is all you have to do to make a good syrup. It is runnier than store-bought syrup or syrup made with corn syrup....but it is just as tasty in my opinion.

Happy Autumn!

Quiet Book Page: Baseball Glove

So it should be obvious by now that our mother is a very gifted seamstress. I'm not sure I fully realized how gifted she is while I was growing up; I just figured all moms made their own drapes, recovered couches, altered formals, sewed dresses, and crafted amazing Halloween costumes. It was just part of the mom territory.

Imagine my chagrin to realize that though I've been a mother six whole months, those powers haven't distilled upon me. I don't completely understand that delay, but while I'm waiting, I thought that now is a good time to use my so-so sewing skills to make things for SourPatch. He doesn't seem fixated on perfection and will willingly wear or use whatever I make him.

I also have found that sewing is ridiculously expensive. Do you know those giant cutting mats at JoAnns cost fifty bucks?!? Are you serious? Fifty dollars for a sheet of green plastic? Yeah right. I'll see what Walmart's costs... and I shouldn't complain! Our family's good friend Carmen is a saint and gave me a sewing machine, so there's one giant expense down. Yet I'm trying to be frugal.

So, I wanted an inexpensive project specifically for SourPatch that will help improve my sewing and can be done in funny snippets of time in-between naps. Thus, the Great Quiet Book Challenge was born...

The Great Quiet Book Challenge

Okay, so basically it's my sisters and me combining forces to create awesome quiet books for our kids. Since Delys already made some pages for Elin a long time ago, we used those pages as the basis for our books:

The Guidelines:

• All pages should be 11"x 12" on basic muslin
• Make 3 copies of each page to be exchanged with each other at a future date

And... those are really the only guidelines we have. Have you seen all the cute ideas on the internet? There are so many really neat books, tutorials, etc. It's fun to also attempt to design your own, too, so when I saw all the "put your hand in the glove" pages, I decided to make it a baseball glove instead! A quick google search revealed a few similar pages out there, but it's kind of hard to make a baseball mitt look adorable, si? Still, I went for it, and here's how it turned out:

Pretty cute, right? And super economical: the muslin was 40% off $2 a yard (thank you, JoAnns!), the felt was, what,  $0.30ish a sheet at Walmart, and I just used odd thread/string I had on hand.

To make the baseball stiff, I dipped it in a half water, half Elmers School Glue solution. It worked really well, actually (though probably makes it toxic to chew... hmm.) I know you can buy stiff, stick-on felt sheets, but they're a lot more expensive and don't have as many color options. Here's a picture of some blue felt I stiffened, too.

I'm really excited about the baseball display case! I cut out a square of the plastic packaging from SourPatch's "Charlie Chomp Chomp" crocodile toy and sewed it right on, easy as pie (half thinking I was going to break the needle, mind... glad it worked!) It already had this nifty snap on it, too.

I did buy a package of iron-on transfer paper from amazon for $7. I figure I can use it for lots of quiet book pages (and other projects!) I know some moms are really legit and needle-point on the words in their quiet books. I'm confident that this method looks a lot neater and cuter than my hand sewing.

So there you have it! The first page of the Great Quiet Book Challenge. I'm excited to see the rest of the pages to come!