Teacher Gifts...

6.25.2009

I like for the girls to either pick out the gifts for their teachers or do part of the making. For christmas the girls drew snowmen on fabric and I sewed them into ornaments. Last year Annie drew a picture on fabric and I turned it into a pillow. Maddie is at that stage when her drawing couldn't be any cuter and that's pretty much what she did all year at preschool. Her box was always full of the most amazing drawings. This was our third year with these teachers so we know them well and I wanted to give them something they could keep. This is what we came up with.
Painted flower pots that Maddie drew special pictures on. Annie also made a big pot for her teacher and a few smaller pots for her music and art teacher. I forgot to take picutres of these.



Maddie picked a different scene for each teacher and wrote the teachers name, her name and the year on each pot.







We bought regular clay pots and painted them with acrylic paint. Maddie opted for stripes and I held back (mostly) and let her do the painting. After the paint dried she used sharpie markers to draw her pictures. I finished it all off with a spray coat of an acrylic varnish. We had made a trip to garden center and I let Maddie pick out all the flowers, a lovely mix a orange, purple, red and pink. She potted them all up and that was it. Not a bad little gift and I think we did all 5 pots for about $25.00. The hardest part is trying to find a good organic potting soil without fertilizer already mixed in.



Okay back to be bed for me. We've all been sick around here for a 5 days.

Get Back to Nature Birthday Party

6.10.2009

We've always done birthday parties at home. For Annie's 7th I was thinking we needed to mix it up so we reserved a shelter at a local park that has a little zoo. A few months before the party I picked up a pack of paper from the Friendly Forest line and used this as inspiration. We decided on a Back to Nature theme. A trip through the zoo, a couple of projects and then some playing at the park. Annie wanted to invite her whole class and a few friends so we were looking at 20 or more kids. I'm glad we opted for the park and everyone seemed to have fun.

Here are the invites. I scanned an image from the paper pack and recolored it.



Annie and I made each child a nature journal using recycled paper file folders and straw paper by Terracycle that we found on clearance at our office supply store. We used papers from the friendly forest pack to edge the journals and the kids decorated them with cut-outs.



I found some paper masks at michaels and thought it would be fun for them to make animal masks after getting some inspiration walking through the zoo. I realized I probably could have just made the masks but had already bought them. Here are some templates. I love how each child's looks so different.






While waiting for everyone to arrive the kids decorated the tablecovers (brown craft paper)with birthday wishes for Annie. We had yummy cupcakes that were topped with the hersey kiss acorns found here.



I'm not a big fan of the goodie bag full of plastic stuff so we made extra acorns and put them in baggies tied with jute twine and a pencil. I forgot to get a picture but the were very pleased. They each also got to take home a pair of binoculars that I purchased online.

Annie had a blast and it was definitely her kinda party, lots of making, a bit of playing and some animal watching. What more could a seven year old want.

Seven

6.04.2009

Friday Annie turned 7. So how about 7 great things about Annie, oops Anya as she now prefers to be called.

1. She has a smile that could light up the whole world.
2. Each morning she looks at the weather page in the newspaper. (Silly, but I totally love this).
3. She dances when she thinks no one is watching.
4. She is kind.
5. Her two favorite foods are Minestrone soup and salad.
6. She plays "book club" at recess, traveling to other worlds and times.
7. When asked "If you could be anyone else, who would it be?" She responded "me". (Why be anyone else when being Anya is so great!)

The greatest thing about Anya is that she is mine and I get go along for the ride. Watching my amazing little baby grow into to a confident, creative, kind little girl. Happy birthday Annie.

2 dresses for $2 in 1 hour.

3.17.2009

My local thrift store gets clearance items from Target. Usually they are still $5 or $6 so I take a pass. The last time I was there they had all these women's skirts for $1. I grabbed two matching green skirts sizes 14 and 16 and figured I would use them to make something for the girls. Sunday we had a St. Patrick's Day themed 1st birthday party to attend.(Hi Q-man) I had to work at noon and was going to meet up with Dan and the girls after. Around 11:00 I decided the girls needed new dresses from those skirts for the party. This is so simple I thought I would share.

Find your skirt - it should have a wide band at the top and a zipper. There are usually bunches of these at Target for a few dollars at the end of the season. Check the plus size for lots of extra fabric for a matching headband or little purse.



Have the recipient step into the skirt with the zipper at the side. Pin for size leaving some extra room.



Lay out the skirt and fold the zipper side over to where you pinned. Like this. Measure about an inch out from the zipper side of skirt(solid line). Follow the shape of the skirt and cut. (dotted line) I didn't measure just eyeballed it all. Maddies was a little tight, Annie's a little loose but you know, an hour. Now you only have to stitch the one open side. I used a french seam and had to fiddle a bit with the sides. So now you have a bodice with a zipper, all you need are straps. Cut 2-4"x20" strips from the leftover piece of the skirt. Fold in 1" of each side to meet in the center and press. Now fold in half and press.



Fold under raw edges at top and bottom and stitch.
Yell down to the child "Come up here right now so I can finish your dress, I have to go to work" Pin the straps on with a criss-cross in the back. Carefully remove from the wiggly child and stitch the straps in place.

Cut off any loose threads and your done.



Okay I hope this all makes sense. Let me know if you have any questions.
Happy St. Patrick's Day.

ATC KIds Swap

3.15.2009

We recently signed up to do the ATC Kids Swap. You can read about it here. The girls each created 5 2.5" x 3.5" pieces of art and mailed them off and then received five pieces of art in return. This was such a great little project. Working at such a small scale seemed to really stir the girls creativity. The best part was getting the other kids cards in the mail.

We talked about how these could be a series and Annie created the series Elephants Adventures. Here are four of her pieces. I really wish we got to keep them. I am totally in love with these.



1. Elephants Adventures: New York, 2. Elephants Adventures: Savannah, 3. Elephants Adventures: India, 4. Elephants Adventures: Great Wall of China


Maddie worked quite hard on hers, sometimes thinking of a title and then painting and sometimes naming them after. Her development in painting and drawing has really grown the past few months. As much as I love the bubble head person and scribbles of the toddler drawing I am so excited to see a bit more representation in her art. The little glimpses I get of her imagination and creativity always warm my heart.



We used watercolor pencils for these and I think they are my new favorite art material. We use watercolors often around here and they are great but the pencils give the girls so much more control and lead to much less frustration.
Yesterday Annie asked what our next swap would be. I'm glad the girls are enjoying these little projects as much as I am.

Remains of the morning.

3.02.2009

DSC09268, originally uploaded by marytree.

The "making" is always much easier than the cleaning.

Hold on to the wall

2.17.2009

When I think about kids and firsts I think of the first smile, first steps and first steps. We are well past all of those at this point but there are still plenty of firsts. We have been enjoying first days of school and first times pumping a swing all alone. Monday we headed to the roller rink for the first time. I knew that it would be a bit challenging for the girls but roller skating was always one of my favorite activities as a girl and I've been nostalgic for the days of skating down the block.
Like everything else around here the girls responses are so very different. I prepped Annie that she would probably fall down a bunch and have to practice "a lot." An early hard fall sidelined her for a bit but she calmed her self down and grabbed onto the wall and was wobbly but confident by the end. Maddie was Maddie and her only complaint was that she wanted to go really fast. She tooled around in her own way oblivious to the falls and the other speeding skaters. Here's a little video of Maddie's first skating... you can hear and see Annie crying at my side...Listen for the "ouch". Now go grab some pompoms, stick a comb in your back pocket (thanks Sara) and lace up your skates.