Crafty Stay-cation Activities -- Crafty Sunday Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I have missed the last two Crafty Sundays because we were having a staycation. We had a wonderful week and I thought I would share with you some of our activities and ideas for a staycation especially the ones on the crafty side. My birthday fell on during the week and it was the big 50. My sister came and made me a birthday cake and dinner with her wonderful assistant, Hazel. It was a lovely social distant celebration. Then we set up a puzzle to work on for the week. I finally finished it except for the two pieces I somehow lost. Ugh! I always do that. The puzzle is Mount Fuji Japan Jigsaw Puzzle. I love setting up a puzzle and having it to work on with my family. We like to do this when we vacation at the Cape as well. 

Book Nooks & Miniatures -- Crafty Sunday

 

In our chaotic world I have found that I need to craft. In some shape or form crafting relaxes me and helps me feel grounded. For two weeks each February our high school stops all regular classes to teach mini courses. This year one of my coworkers suggested a mini course of designing book nooks. Now I have built dollhouses from kits and made miniatures, but I hadn't explored book nooks yet. I wanted to coteach the course! I bought a kit as well as a blank book nook to play around before the course. I didn't have much time for either of course. But the class got me hooked on book nooks!

Face Painting, Pirate Birthday Party and a Dollhouse

Sharing Saturday is open until Wednesday if you would like to stop by to share a child-oriented craft or activity and check out the features!!

Today was the pirate birthday party that Hazel was invited to. We all went and had a good time. They had the most amazing face painter. Check out Hazel's rainbow butterfly.

She loved it! They also made clay sculptures that they decorated with feathers, buttons, beads and beans. Then they served a wonderful lunch and had this gorgeous cake.

Then they had a pinata and a treasure hunt! She had so much fun and did not want to go home.

Front Views

When we did get home Steve and I moved some furniture around so we could bring up the dollhouse I made that I have been saving for her. After I spent some time making some changes to the furniture (so she doesn't break the expensive stuff) and making it easier to play with instead of worrying how it looks, she played with it until dinner.

Interior when I first built it

Here is a view of the interior details before furniture and such were added. I originally was going to light it, but something happened with the wire and they didn't all work so I didn't bother with it.

Then this is how the interior looks now.

I took out the fancy master bed and put a plastic one in that I had when I was a child. I also took out the fancy kitchen and put in the basics so it would be easier to play. Needless to say she is loving it!! We pulled out all of her various dollhouse people from her tree house and elsewhere and she was making up stories and such all afternoon.

Crazy Week

Sorry for not posting earlier this week. I went to Cape Cod to visit my parents for a few days and then have been running around. However, while on the Cape, my father helped me make a toy from Creative Play for your toddler: Steiner Waldorf expertise and toy projects for 2-4s by Christopher Clouder and Janni Nicol. I highly recommend this book for anyone with a toddler. It has some fairly easy to make toys that will help build your young ones imagination and creativity.

The original use of this toy was to make a dollhouse room Waldorf style. My father pointed out that it would be a good house for Hazel's beloved Ducky. She has told me Ducky is too big for it and wants it to be a dollhouse room, but we are experimenting with other uses still.

I also picked up my serger while at the Cape and finally figured out how to thread it correctly. I used it on the silk on the toy. I have been looking through all sorts of books on sergers and sewing to find the best patterns for clothes for Hazel. I think I will be busy for quite awhile making her and maybe myself a new wardrobe. She is just changing sizes to 3T right now, so a new wardrobe is in store.

My other find this week is a large clothespin to build forts with. Although not as nice as the Waldorf play clips, much cheaper and still usable for the same thing. They were on clearance at Michaels for 50 cents. I cleaned three Michaels out of them.

Well that is all for now. I'll review some more craft books soon. I'm hoping to go through most of them by Monday.

Fiber One Snackcessory Challenge

Have you entered my current giveaway yet? Come win the fantastic book to inspire creativity and imagination!!

A bit ago I was contacted and asked if I would make and share a Fiber One Snackcessory to help promote the contest they currently are running. They offered to send me all the materials I would need to make this Snackcessory. I was intrigued and needed a bit of creativity challenge so I said yes. This weekend a package arrived with my supplies.

Now first what is a snackcessory? Well it is a container to carry your Fiber One bar (or any other snack). I'll admit it took me awhile to decide to do this because I try to stay away from most bars of any type and really any processed food, but I figured we are always looking for ways to keep snacks so why not try it.

Second, what is the challenge? You must design and enter your own snackcessory at Fiber One Snackcessory Challenge. You will have a chance to win a trip for two to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City in February 2013 and the nine finalists will each be awarded a $500 gift card for a handbag of their choice and a box of Fiber One Bars and Brownies.

Well my package arrived this weekend. It had a black container that looks like it is a hard case eye glass case, adhesive spray, a plastic ziplock bag, a small jar of glitter, a Fiber One bar, and directions. At first I was going to not do the glitter. My big fear was and is the glitter getting everywhere. I attempted to seal it, but I must admit it is coming off a bit still.

They asked us to personalize them, so I helped Hazel add some gems this morning. They were sticker gems, but did not stick to the glitter. We used glue which made them slide around a bit and they dropped a bit down the side. They originally were all in a line. Then I added her name in glitter glue. She wanted the black case as soon as she saw it. She loves opening and closing it and needless to say, for her, glitter only makes it better.

Then I decided to get creative. My first thought had been cover it with fabric. I thought about doing it like the fabric covered Easter eggs. Instead I decided since I knew Hazel would love the glitter to do some fabric covered boxes. My next challenge was finding the right size box. I found two. One is from dollhouse furniture (as a miniaturist I save lots of little boxes and containers) and one is from modeling wax that I bought for Hazel that we have not used yet. I added adhesive Velcro to the dollhouse furniture box so it could close and stay closed. Hazel added princess stickers. I think this one is for her as well.

Then I got to thinking of one Hazel could make with me. I wanted it to be more than covering a box. I thought of sewing one, but Hazel couldn't help with that. I came up with toilet paper rolls. I decided to double them up so it would be stronger. Now I'm imaging using this in a purse or school bag, so you want it to be strong as to not crush your bar. I traced the bottom of one of them twice and cut out the circles from some cardboard we had in recycling. I glued the bottom on and then for the top I cut a piece or ribbon. I glued the ribbon onto the circle so it had both ends hanging off a good amount. I glued one end to the tube and folded the other end and secured the fold with glue. I let them dry (or at least I did with the one Hazel made which turned out better). Next we picked fabric and cut out two circles slightly bigger than the cardboard circles and a rectangle big enough to cover the toilet paper roll. I used pinking shears so I would not have to worry about fraying. Hazel picked some of the nursery rhyme fabric I had leftover from her quilt. We Mod Podged the fabric on. We did the circles first and then the rectangle. We let this dry. Then I cut a adhesive Velcro square to fit the ribbon and put Velcro so it would close. And yes, the Fiber One bar does fit inside! I think I may go enter this one in the challenge! Won't you join me in it?

Teaching about Hunger--Young Children

As you know I have joined the group, Moms Fight Hunger, for National Hunger Month. Our goal is to help end childhood hunger. I have been struggling with ideas to make a difference and for ways to explain hunger to Hazel. Today I'm going to share with you a few of my solutions with more to come each week.

One thought I have had is about nutrition. I feel so lucky that I can buy my daughter and my family nutritious food. Often I even am lucky enough to buy organic produce and organic dairy products. It troubles me that the food that is best for you is also very expensive. A friend from middle and high school who currently lives in Germany commented on how expensive it is to buy good, nutritious food in the United States when she was here visiting. That is troubling, because for the people without as much money, it means they are often deciding between quality and quantity. Is it better to get a small amount of more nutritious food or enough food to fill you? I'm glad that is a question I have not had to personally decide on. 

My Plans and What You Can Do This Week:
This week I planned with the local library's children's librarian to hold a story hour well actually three (for different ages) about food and hunger (depending on age group) and ask each child to bring in a can (or more) of food for our local food pantry. Now the local librarian knows me and about my blog and is always helpful when choosing books for the Virtual Book Club for Kids and any other topic I can come up with. She already knew I was participating in Moms Fighting Hunger and was more than happy to help. We planned the story hours for the first week in October, so we will have plenty of time to advertise it and get the needed food. I also talked to the local newspaper editor this weekend about the possibility of doing it and he is on board to cover it for us.

What can you do to help? How about donating some canned food or boxed food to your local food pantry.

Helping Children Understand There Are Hungry People in the World:

Then I was telling Hazel a story the other day. Now some of the traditional fairy tales scare Hazel. For example, in Hansel and Gretel she becomes afraid of the witch. Well before I had Hazel I had entered a dollhouse competition and made a gingerbread dollhouse and changed the story of Hansel and Gretel a bit for my entry. I had made the witch a nice old woman who had lost her family due to a house fire. She went off the woods to live since all the people in the village stared at her and talked about her. They called her the witch. The only way she knew to make a house was to bake a gingerbread house so that is what she did. When Hansel and Gretel arrive she invites them in and feeds them and teach them to make gingerbread houses. 

Source

Well I took this version and tweaked it a bit and told Hazel a story. You can download the story (it is two pages) at the following links.

Page 1                               Page 2

After reading the story to your child, have the conversation about helping others and that there are people hungry in the world and for that matter in your own town. Remember 1 in 5 kids are hungry!! We can put a stop to it if we all help!

What We Can Do Next Week:
September 17-22nd is Dine Out for No Kid Hungry Week. Please go check out what the offers are at your local restaurants and make plans to have dinner out with your family and/or friends. The more the better!! And tell all of your friends about it!! We need everyone so we can end hunger!!

Here is a flyer to hang around and advertise the week. You can also make your own to have the specific restaurants in your area listed as well.

Simple Nativity Crafts

For Advent, I thought I would share each post where our Mouse and the Miracle Mouse (Holy) has been up to. (He now has an elf friend named Elfie who often is hidden with him.)

Elfie looking out dollhouse window.
Holy is on the other side of the dollhouse

We have had a busy and exciting weekend. Our Saturday started with a trip to our town's Holiday Stroll. At the school we went to they did not have Santa Claus, but had the Frozen characters.

Hazel was on top of the world and brought her autograph book for them to sign. (I think it may have made the high school students day to be asked to sign an autograph book.)

Roman Soldier visiting the Holy family

Blogger Tag

I've been tagged by Stephanie over at Toastie Studio Sewing Blog. To play when you are tagged your tagger sends you 11 questions to answer and then you tag 11 blogger friends and send them 11 questions.

RULES 
**You must post the rules {?!}
**Answer the 11 questions that the tagger posted for you & then create 11 questions to ask the people you’ve tagged
**Tag 11 people and link them in your post
**Let them know you have tagged them

My questions from Stephanie:

1. How did you get into crafting?
My mother. She always was doing crafts with us as well as always sewing clothes for us and eventually quilting. I am no where near her level of skill, but have fun with it.

One of my completed dollhouses--I saved this one for Hazel!

2. Fabric, felt, card, wood? What is your favourite material?
Depends on my mood and my project. I love sewing and quilting and buying fabric (this is a big storage problem). I love paper/card crafts as well. I have recently starting really working with felt and love the ease of it. And my dollhouses are wood, but I don't really have the correct tools or skills to work with wood much besides the dollhouse kits.

One of my first quilt projects

3. What do you aspire to be?
A wonderful mom.

4. What is the nicest fabric you own/want to own?
My daughter plays with silks I finished for her so I guess that is it.

5. Buttons or ribbon?
Ribbon.

6. On the weekend when you are not sewing etc, what do you like to do?
Time with my family. Getting outside, playing oh, and go to church.

7. Does your boyfriend/husband/partner get your crafting?
Not completely.

8. What is your greatest crafting dream?
To build a dollhouse from scratch.

9. Have you ever received a handmade gift and been disappointed with it?
Well, not really. My mother showed me a purse she was making me for my birthday, but I never received it. She is a perfectionist and it wasn't coming out correctly so she didn't finish it.

10. How many crafty friends do you have?
On-line friends or meet in life friends. On-line many!! Meet in life friends that I hang out with all the time probably 4 or 5.

11. What do you prefer? Working from a pattern, or just doing it as you go?
  Depends on what I'm doing. Usually I like working from a pattern, but if I want to feel creative I just go along.

The bloggers I am going to tag:
Toys In The Dryer
One Artsy Mama
Happy Whimsical Hearts
I HEART CRAFTY THINGS
Mama Mia's Heart2Heart
La-La's Home Daycare
April's Homemaking
Mom On Timeout
Sew Happy Geek
Reading Confetti
Tot Treasures

My questions for these bloggers:
1) What got you into blogging?
2) What got you into crafting?
3) What is your favorite media for crafting (fabric, paper, wood, etc.)?
4) What books are you reading?
5) If applicable what children's books are favorites in your house right now?
6) What is your most accomplished craft?
7) What is your greatest craft dream?
8) What do you aspire to be?
9) Do you own or plan to won an e-reader (Kindle, Nook, etc.)?
10) What recent craft trend are you excited to try out?
11) What's the best gift you have ever received?

Dollhouse Scaling Project -- Geometry Class Project

 

This weekend I found a mini-room box kit on clearance at a craft store. I picked it up and thought it would be great for my classroom when I teach ratios, similarity and scaling. It is 1/24-scale which is also known as 1/2 scale. The 1/24 scale means that for every 24 inches (or 2 feet) an object is in real life, the miniature will have 1-inch. All the dollhouses I have worked with previously have been 1/12 scale or sometimes called 1:1 scale. It is for every 12 inches (or 1 foot) a real-life object is the miniature will measure 1 inch. The kit was easy to put together though I did mess up the wallpaper on one piece.

Paper Quilling Chinese Style -- Getting Ready for Chinese New Year

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The lunar new year begins this week (on the 12th). The most famous celebrations of the lunar new year are the Chinese. I thought in preparation of the Chinese New Year I would share two paper quilling books both in Chinese style that has projects that will lend with the Chinese New Year as well as spring and more. The first book is Paper Quilling Adorable Animals Chinese Style by Zhu Liqun Paper Arts Museum.  

The Fairies at the Spring Ball

Today Hazel and I had fun with our fairies. While she was playing other things, I made her some new flower fairies and we decided they were getting ready to go to a spring ball. Then I remembered my prize from a dollhouse contest I entered pre-Hazel that I hadn't done anything with since I had Hazel by the time I got it. I haven't done much with my dollhouses since having her, but will get back to it again soon hopefully. She loves playing with them. Anyway, we put it together quickly and I grabbed some fairy lights to decorate it and some rose petals and some of her tree house furniture. Then we had the ball set up. I've had a story going through my head so maybe I'll tell it to you and get it down on paper or at least on a screen.

The Spring Fairy Ball

All the young fairies were so excited to go the Spring Ball. They all were putting on their best dresses--nice fresh flower petals and all. Many of the youngest did not have their wings yet, but Little Pink Rosebud's wings had just grown in so she was really excited to show them off. As one of the smallest fairies she hoped having them would help her feel bigger.

Lily and Tulip had the opposite height problem and since neither of them had their wings yet, they felt a bit self conscience due to their height. They were a bit embarrassed to be so tall and adult looking without wings. Still they put on their prettiest flower dresses and did the best with their green hair.

The Iris Twins were very excited but were not happy they both decided to wear the same color flowers. At least their hair color would enable people to tell them apart and of course Francine's new hat would stand out as well. In fact many of the older fairies wished they had guided her on clothing choice once they arrived--especially Mother Hydrangea.

Mother Hydrangea was dressed elegantly as always and went to help Princess Forsythia and Princess Peony with their clothing selections.

Princess Forsythia took her notes directly from Mother Hydrangea's style. It showed, but she looked beautiful and loved her petal tiara.

Princess Peony was dressed to the nines using two flowers for her gown and her leaf tiara stood out so nicely.

All of the young fairies wondered how the ballroom would be decorated. They had all been by the grand gazebo before but never on a Ball Night. They couldn't wait to see it. Of course it was decorated with fairy lights, flowers, petals and some wooden chairs and a table for refreshments.

Mother Hydrangea escorted the princesses to their first ball. She then chose the chair next to the refreshments to watch all the young fairies dance the night away.

Mother Hydrangea could not believe it when she saw the Iris Twins. Francine's leaf hat was a bit large for her head. Tulip seemed to be blocked by it all evening.

Little Pink Rosebud was so excited to show off her wings, but she hadn't learned to use them yet to fly so she blended in with the pink rose petals scattered on the floor. Truth be told, Princess Peony blended in as well.

They all had the grandest time though. Now they cannot wait until their next ball. At the Summer Ball, the male fairies will be there to dance as well.

To make the fairies, I used a pipe cleaner, a fake flower (or two for some), some roving or yarn for hair, a wooden bead and some of the leaves from the fake flowers. For the smaller type of flowers I also used a piece of felt to make the dress and then decorate with the flowers.

Cut the pipe cleaner so you have about a third for the arms and fold the bigger piece in half. Stick both ends through the bead and push almost all the way up. Put yarn or roving through the pipe cleaner loop as hair and pull the pipe cleaner all the way down so the bead holds the hair in place. Now you can either put a piece of the flower on the pipe cleaners or add the arms (twist smaller piece of pipe cleaner around to be arms. Then do the opposite thing that you didn't just do. Dress in flower petals and then roll ends of pipe cleaners to be hands and feet and to protect little ones from sharp ends. (You can also wrap the pipe cleaners with embroidery floss, but this is time consuming and uses a good amount of floss and I decided not to bother this time. Hazel wanted to play right away. You may need to glue some of the flowers on to be hats, etc. Then for wings glue two leaves on.

By the way, we have been enjoying Fairy Houses by Tracy Kane. It is about a girl who goes on a vacation to an island off the coast of Maine with her parents. They find in the woods a sign about building fairy houses and the rules of the woods. She of course builds one and checks on it each day to see if she can spot a fairy. Instead she sees various animals enjoying her house. It is a very cute book and has a great ending and then at the end has instructions/suggestions on building fairy houses in any season. Sorry I don't have a picture of the book, but apparently there is a series of them.

This is where I link up...

Craft Books Galore! Review and Round-Up of Craft Books--Quilting, Embroidery, Paper Quilling, Origami, Knitting and more!

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books and kits in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of products that you purchase through them. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

As I have been doing the last few weeks I am trying to share all my books with you before Christmas. Although it is getting late now to order you can still get some by Christmas. So today I am sharing three craft books with you and then a round-up of the craft books I have to review still. We are going to start with our craft space and organizing it! 

The Mouse and the Miracle -- Christmas Product Review

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

I am so excited to share this amazing product with you today. It is a Christmas product and I usually do not like to do much Christmas this early, but this product is wonderful and I want you to have a chance to get it in case they run out! Everyone who we have shared it with wants to get one and I have already ordered another set for a Christmas gift. Yes, this product is that great. I am sure you have heard of Elf on the Shelf. Well, I find the Elf on the Shelf a little creepy and refuse to have one in my house. I love seeing what people do with their elf however and think it would be fun to be able to be creative. And now Oriental Trading has come out with a wonderful religious replacement for the Elf on the Shelf!! They call it The Mouse and the Miracle, but I like to say we have a Mouse in the House.  (What can I say, I like to rhyme.) Without further ado, meet Holy!!

Fairy Gardens

So the past few weeks I have been enjoying posts on The Magic Onions of pictures of people entering the Fairy Garden Contest. Now this seems like it should be right up my alley with my love of dollhouses and miniatures. But of course I haven't really done anything with them in over 2 years due to Hazel. Well, I pulled out some stuff and made a few up. I think I may work some more on them and have Hazel help tomorrow or over the weekend. But here are some of the ones I came up with.

First some outdoors using real flowers and a few dollhouse extras.

 In this one, I imagined the fairy living outside with her canopy being made of spider webs. She even has a fire to cook her tea over.

In this one she uses the plants to make different rooms in her home. In front you have her kitchen/main room. Then hidden behind the flowers is her bed.

This one I did inside. Her carpet is flowers with tree and dirt underneath. Her garden is surrounded with beautiful trees and flowers and she has a bed/couch made of a shell and pine needles for cushioning and ivy leaf blankets. She also has some visitors from the forest: a red fox and some bunnies. They came at the right time for tea.

The table is set for tea for two.

views of the flower border

Her bed/couch

I'm sure I will do another post with more pictures and ideas. Enjoy!