Wind Wands

After our Father's Day painting experience Hazel seems to have a fear of wind. In particular of things blowing away. If we are outdoors and get a paper anything (napkin today) she asks me to put it in my purse right away so it will not blow away. Turning to the Waldorf Education Philosophy, I turned to my copy of Creative Play for Your Toddler: Steiner Waldorf Expertise and Toy Projects for 2-4s by Christopher Clouder and Janni Nicol.




The cover actually shows a child playing with a wind wand. Since Steiner believed we learn through all of our senses and children need to be stimulated through their senses, this is a perfect toy to play with wind and learn a bit more about it. It can be used either inside or outside, though outside will be better for getting Hazel use to the wind.

Today, I finally got around to make a wind wand for Hazel. I have been meaning to for quite awhile, but it took a bit to find all the supplies. First it took me awhile to find something to make the circle. The book called for cane, which is not easy to find in the usual craft stores. I got lucky however and found a cane type circle/wreath the perfect size without rough spots (this was one of the problems I kept having) at the Dollar Tree. Today I picked up the different ribbons for $1 a spool at Michaels. I decided to go with a rainbow theme and bought one of each color I could find in the $1 bin.

Now I have to wait until Hazel wakes up to see if she likes it. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be beautiful, so maybe we can try it outside then.

My next projects: a tote bag for Hazel to carry around Ducky and possibly her sippy cup;
a chair cover for Steve's office chair--one of the cats has scratched it horribly;
new bags that will be washable for shopping--the ones I bought are getting old and yucky--they also say you wash them regularly especially if you put meats and produce in them, so I want ones that are easily machine washed. I found some decorator fabric today at Joanns for $2 / yard and I bought 5 yards, so there are three bags.

Well, enjoy your day!

Please let me know what you are up to.

Carrie

Doll Carriage Re-do

So today, I tackled Hazel's doll carriage. It went from:  

to:

Hazel has a habit of sitting in it herself, so the cheap fabric it came with did not last long. I used the original as a pattern and then doubled up decorator fabric to give it more sturdiness. I reused the clasp but bought on clearance some new webbing--also stronger than the original. Hopefully this one will last.

Some books Hazel and I have been enjoying from the library:
The Sunflower Sword by Mark Speering
The Little Squeegy Bug by Bill Martin, Jr. and Mark Sampson
Moonstruck: the True Story of the Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon by Gennifer Choldenko
Press Here by Herve Tullet

More Sewing, Serging and the Great Outdoors!

Our goal today was to do something fun outside. After church, we headed to Rockport, but hit traffic so we turned around and went to Salem. By the time we got there, we were hungry, so we went to lunch. We started outside on a patio, but the wind blew, and Hazel threw a tantrum, so we moved inside. I can't wait until she is over the fear of everything blowing away. We had a nice lunch and then walked around the waterfront and went on the Salem Friendship. Hazel wanted to go on the big ship, so we did. I think Daddy enjoyed the most once we were on it. We continued our walk to a favorite coffee shop of ours. And then it was time to head home since it was well past nap time and we had a tired girl.

It was wonderful to get outside in the beautiful weather today though. The temperature was perfect and the sun was shining. Can't ask for a more perfect day.

Hazel was dressed in her newest outfit that I made her. Let's just say she was feeling "ducky". I started it awhile ago, but finished it yesterday. Having the serger makes things so much easier and quicker. I used Simplicity pattern 6958 for all of it, including the purse.

Hope you enjoyed your Sunday!
Carrie

Sewing, Serging, and Baking

So last night I decided to make a dress for Hazel. I stayed up late and followed a pattern from Simple Sewing for Baby: 24 Easy Projects for Newborns to Toddlers by Lotta Jansdotter. I lengthened the dress pattern and wish I had Hazel awake to measure it to her. If I use this pattern again I would enlarge it more in width as well as length. This book is definitely on the baby and young toddler side of sizes. However, I'm happy with the outcome of the dress and Hazel wanted to put it on right away when she saw it. She also loved the pocket buddy and having a pocket.

Of course, I stayed up late finishing it so it would be ready for her this morning and I promised Steve I would get up with her this morning. I don't know what I was thinking, but I certainly did not get enough sleep. Well, we got up around 5:20 and made banana muffins for breakfast. I had three very ripe bananas to use up.
Banana Muffins
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c oat bran
1/4 c flax seed meal
2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/2 T brown sugar (I didn't add this but will next time)
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c non-fat milk
1/2 c applesauce (I used mostly carrot applesauce, but either will work)
3 very ripe bananas pureed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a different bowl. Then combine the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and mix well. Spoon into sprayed muffin pans. Bake for about 20 minutes. Should make 12 muffins.

Enjoy your Saturday!
Carrie

Fourth of July Crafts and more!

Ok, I finally got around to taking more pictures of the crafts we used at our party. First the crowns which I posted a picture of yesterday. I got the idea from Disney's Family Fun Magazine. Instructions on them are found here. I have to say of all the parenting/family magazines I get (and I get many of them) this is my favorite because it has easy crafts to do with kids and they have a special section for subscribers with younger children.

Now for some of the other crafts we did. First is the placemats which we didn't actually use, but the kids made their own. I got this idea from a craft Hazel did at the local library for flag day.

 I had cut all the paper for the kids so all they had to do was glue the red stripes on and they had plain blue construction paper with star stickers, so they could give a little variety to their own flags. Then we covered them with clear contact paper to make them placemat worthy.

Next are paper windsocks. I originally had a group of these hanging from our clothes line over the patio. Of course Hazel was sure they were going to blow away and insisted on us bringing them in. The kids enjoyed making these though. The easier ones are pictured here. I used blue star scrapbook paper (the leftover parts from the placemats) and red and white crepe paper. This idea was adapted from the Little Hands Book on America. For the 12 inch strip we used 6 pieces of crepe paper, but could have used 7 if we didn't want them alternating. Each of the kids made their own to take home.

 This is the harder version. Hazel and I only made one this way. I printed white stars (using Word's shape drawer) on paper and cut them out. We glued them on to blue construction paper and then glued the crepe paper on to the bottom and then made it a tube and added the yarn to hang it with.

 I also had printed out free coloring pages with Fourth of July themes from on line and melted down red, white, and blue (and silver) crayons in a star muffin pan for each child. These are some of them on the flag Hazel made at the library. I found instructions on recycling broken crayons on-line and in books--melt small pieces of crayon in sprayed muffin pans at 275. Keep a close eye on them as they can melt quickly but around 10 minutes (less if they are not filled well). I also made Hazel some rainbow round crayons with all the broken crayons we had (and some from the packages I bought to get enough red, white and blue). She loves them. She plays with some at the library as well. At the library, she has been known to build towers with them since they have so many more. The librarian melted down the crayons by color so each one is a different color versus my rainbow idea.

Well that is all the promised Patriotic crafts I have for you. Now off to sew some more. Hopefully I will finish the outfit and get Hazel to wear it so I can take a picture of it.

Good night!
Carrie