Made For Mermaids- Mama Lea Ella Mash

Made for Mermaids- Mama Lea/Ella Mash

I'm guest blogging over on the Made for Mermaids blog, today! Join me as I walk you through the steps of mashing two fun Made for Mermaids patterns- the Mama Lea Dress and the Mama Ella Top/Dress. Happy Sewing! :)

Peace and Quiet is Not Just a Pipe Dream

Pipe cleaners and an old grated Parmesan Cheese jar- so simple!

Katy putting her new activity to use!

Pipe cleaners and an old grated Parmesan Cheese jar. Who knew?! 

Who knew that these two very simple, very inexpensive materials would buy me five, ten, fifteen, TWENTY minutes of peace and quiet? Enough time to check emails, blog AND check Facebook? Yet, that is exactly what they did.

I'd seen tons of "tutorials" and mommy blogs out there touting a similar concept- the wonders of pipe cleaners and a Pringles can with holes cut out of the top. "They" say that it enhances small motor skills in children and causes them to think about color, texture, etc. It seemed too simple, too unrefined, too basic to be interesting, education and engaging. And yet....!! 

A couple of weeks ago, you might remember that I hosted a busy bag swap with my MOMs group. One of the busy bags involved said activity- canister with pipe cleaners- and Katy loved it! But then the lid broke...

...and then, one night, we finished our BJ's-sized canister of grated Parmesan Cheese (Boy, that thing took forever to finish!). Shaker lid with pre-cut holes- a light bulb went off in my head. I washed out the container and lid, took off the label and bought some new pipe cleaners from the dollar store. *TA DA!* a new, sturdier busy bag activity was born! 

Katy loves her new toy! What does one do with this newfangled gadget, you might ask? Well, simply put, Katy stuffs the pipe cleaners in the pre-cut holes. Then, she unscrews the lid and does it all over again. Sounds too simple to be fun, huh? Well, don't ask me- she loves it and I'm not knocking the extra few minute it allows me to get things done!!

**To make this activity more "educational" I could (and probably will) cover each hole with a different colored hole reinforcer. Then, Katy would match up the correct colored pipe cleaner to the matching colored hole.

***Also, I like to assign tasks when Katy plays with this activity. For example, I'll tell her, "Katy, please pick out only the RED pipe cleaners in the jar," or, "Katy please put THREE YELLOW pipe cleaners in the jar." On and on- you get the idea.
****As an added bonus, the canister is clear (once the label is removed) and Katy can see the pipe cleaners when they are in the jar. 
*****I love that this activity is self-contained- when you are ready to clean up, just stuff all the pipe cleaners in the jar, screw on the lid and you are cleaned up in a jiffy!

MOMs Club- Busy Bag Swap

Busy Bag Swap Lineup!

Today, we hosted a Busy Bag Swap with the MOMs club. While the concept is not a new one, it was the first time that this group of friends got together in this capacity. For those who are unfamiliar with the idea, a busy bag is essentially an inexpensive, educational, transportable, quiet activity that can be thrown into Mom's purse and brought out at strategic moments (i.e. think long wait at the doctor's office, church, car ride, etc.) to keep a child occupied and busy.

Each of the seven moms came to the event with seven of the same activity- we signed up ahead of time to make sure there were no duplicates. Then, we traded with the other mothers to end up with seven unique activities. We all ended up with one of each of the following bags:

Color Matching- This is the bag that we made for the swap. This bag includes a mat with six colors printed on it and a handful of pom-poms. The child then matches the colored pom-poms to the coordinating circles on the mat. For older children, you can instruct the child to put a certain number of orange pom-poms on the orange circle, a certain number on the yellow circle, etc. Download the mat template here.

Cupcake Busy Bag- This bag includes felt pieces that can be put together to create "cupcakes." Download the patterns here.

Lacing Busy Bag- This bag includes cut out foam shapes with different colored yarn and shoelaces to lace through the shapes.

Are You My Mother? Busy Bag- Based on the childhood favorite book, this bag includes a pictures of mommy animals and the child must match them with the correct pictures of the baby animals.

Butterfly Counting Busy Bag- This bag includes a mat with pictures of butterflies in varying numbers and number discs. Then, the child must match up the correct number disc to the correct number of butterflies shown on the mat.

 Pipe Cleaner Canister- This fun, self-contained canister with colored holes in the lid includes colored pipe cleaners. The child threads the pipe cleaners through the matching colored holes. This seems to be Katy's favorite one, so far!

Shapes Felt Board Bag- This bag includes felt shapes that the child can use their imagination to create all sorts of patterns, objects and pictures.

It was so much fun to see all of the different bags- lots of creative mamas in our group! The Busy Bags were a big hit with the kids (and the moms!) and we had so much fun!!

Coffee Break (Felt Fun Tutorial)

It's no secret that we are a coffee family. Specifically, a Starbucks coffee family (snobby, I know ;). Naturally, Katy shares our love with "copy" ("coffee" in Katy-speak) and she can pick out the Starbucks mermaid from a mile away. While we sip our lattes, Katy enjoys her chocolate milk and declares it to be "'licious copy!"

So, with that being said, I wanted to make Katy her very own "Starbucks" to enjoy at home. Call it the Pinterest effect, or what have you, but I've recently become very interested in using felt to create toys, quiet books, play food, etc. Felt is quiet, it is inexpensive and has so much room for expression!

So, let's begin our tutorial (my first picture-by-picture)!

Materials needed for the "Venti Cups" (adapted from the blog Sew Homegrown):

-(2x) White felt- 9 1/2" (top) x 6" (side) piece of felt- along the bottom edge, measure in 1" on each side and draw a diagonal connecting top and bottom. In essence, the top edge will be 9 1/2" long and the bottom edge will be 7 1/2" long.
-(2x) White felt- 2 1/2" dia. circle
-(2x) Dark Brown felt- 3" dia. circle
-(2x) Starbucks sleeves
-Polyfil
-Beans
-Sewing machine/scissors/needle/thread

After you cut out the felt pieces (cutting is the most time-consuming part), take the large white "cup" piece and sew down the side, creating a tube.








Pin the white circle to the bottom of the "cup." Sew all the way around.










Pin the dark brown circle to the top of the "cup" being sure to leave small opening for turning right side out and stuffing.

Turn the "cup" right side out. Weight the bottom of the "cup" with beans (you could even use coffee beans for an authentic smell!) and then fill the rest of the "cup" with polyfil.

Hand sew the opening closed, enjoy a well-deserved "coffee break" and tell your toddler that you "love them a Latte!" :)

Counting Down the Days Til Christmas! (A Tutorial)

Advent Calendar Chain 2011

Katy kept trying to "wear" the loops as bracelets and then couldn't understand why the whole chain wasn't something you wear around your neck like a necklace. My little girly girl!

One of the projects I had planned for us to do on the train was an Advent calendar to count down the day until Christmas. We never got around to making it on the train, so we did it today, instead. Below are the step-by-step instructions for how we created this simple, yet meaningful Advent Calendar Chain.

1. First, I cut out 24 strips of decorative paper. I used scrapbooking paper but you could use whatever you have on hand- old cards, construction paper, have the kiddo color pictures, etc. Each strip measured 2" x 6".

2. Next, I cut out one 2"x6" yellow piece of paper for Christmas day.

3. Then, I came up with 25 Christmas/Winter-themed ideas and I typed them onto return address labels that you run through your printer. I catered my labels specifically for Katy and her 21 month-old capabilities.

Labels that I came up with are as follows (in no particular order):

• Enjoy a mug of hot cocoa!
• Donate to a Salvation Army red kettle and remember those less fortunate than us.
• Color a picture to send to one of the great-grandparents.
• Skype with Nana and Bapa.
• Skype with Grandma and Pop-Pop.
• Learn the lyrics to Jingle Bells.
• Wish a “Merry Christmas!” to everybody you meet, today.
• Bake a Christmas goodie with Mommy.
• Have Daddy read The Night Before Christmas aloud.
• Make a paper snowflake.
• Watch “A Muppet Christmas Carol.”
• Take a picture of a Christmas tree.
• Brave the malls with Mommy and do a little window shopping.
• Help Mommy wrap some Christmas presents and place them beneath the tree.
• Find the Christmas Pickle ornament on the Christmas tree.
• Make an ornament to hang on the tree.
• Wear the colors red and green, today!
• Have Daddy read about the true meaning of Christmas from the Bible.
• Read about the history of the real St. Nicholas.
• Today is pajama day!
• Make special red and green placemats to be used for Christmas dinner.
• Listen to Christmas carols on the radio.
• Bake a Christmas goodie to be shared with the library staff, thanking them for story time fun!
• Count how many Christmas wreaths you see, today.
• Happy Birthday, Jesus! Merry Christmas!

4. Then, I affixed one label to each of the 25 strips, making sure that the label, "Happy Birthday Jesus! Merry Christmas" was put onto the yellow strip for Christmas Day.

5. Now for Katy's "assistance." She "helped" me make loops with the strips of papers, using fun Christmas stickers for each loop. We linked up all of the loops until we had one long chain (making sure that the last and final loop was the yellow Christmas loop). Since all of the strips of paper got mixed up, it will be a "surprise" to see what our fun Advent activity is for that day.

6. I hung the chain in our play room using a festive red ribbon and a Command Hook. Each day in December we will take a loop off of the end until we are done and it is Christmas day.

We are excited for Christmas!