Play Kitchen and Hutch

Santa barely finished the girls play kitchen and hutch in time for Christmas.

The hutch was a refinished cabinet my dad made me when I was little. The kitchen was brought you by my brother, Daren. I "helped" by doing a little nail gun work, marking and gluing, and assisting. I definitely couldn't have done it without him. I wanted to make it for around $50 and I think we came pretty close to that although I haven't calculated exact totals. I LOVE it! The hutch was about $10 for supplies.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Kids Aprons

Another item off the Christmas check-list. Hooray! Here are the aprons to go along with the girls Christmas surprise kitchen.

Lu's:

I made an adult pattern into a child's size with a pencil and parchment paper (I know, it's the only thin paper I have!). Then I just followed the regular instructions.

Charley's:

I made this pattern up. It has raw edges so it will get that frayed look.

Peg Dolls

Last night I finished painting Lucy and Charlotte's peg dolls. Don't worry, Lucy caught a glimpse of them this morning. I hurried and put them away and Lucy comes back and says, "Where are those dollies. You know, the ones that you painted?" I had to tell her I thought Santa came and got them. So much for surprises. She is such a snoop.

Here are a few pictures.

Thanks for lending the paint and brushes, Mom!

Franken-dough

Here is the one an only Halloween item I have made this year.

They are little Franken-(play)doughs for the girls at dance.

A canister of playdough

2 googly eyes

2 rollos

and a black marker

Brown and Pink Witches

Here are the pink and brown "witch" costumes I made for the girls. I found the tights first and decided that they could wear them more if they were pink and brown rather than black and orange. I spray painted some black hats with brown paint and glued some pink flowers onto them.

This is when Monster #2 scuffed up her satin petals...boo!

And a back view of the big ribbon bow.

Puppet Thank You's

Puppet Tree

My husband made this fantastic puppet tree so we have a place to hang our new stash of puppets. He used wooden balls from the craft store, two 1/2 inch dowels, a square post and topper from the fencing department at Home Depot, and a scrap piece of wood for the base. It totaled under $10! We were going to paint it, but that's still up for debate. For now, enjoy!

BYU gear

Just in time for the game tomorrow. I probably should have been cleaning instead...oh well!

I know I'm way behind the crafting scene on these two things:

appliqued shirts and korker bows.

Believe it or not this was my first time making either

(and why did I ever buy those bows from Gymboree? These are so easy to make and much cuter).

The Word is Out...

Here are a couple of things I did for Brigham's birthday today. Since he likes "word" games, I thought I'd go with that. Each gift was accompanied by a word game spelling out a hint to the identity of the gift. I used Scrabble tiles to make the birthday banner and posters and he solved a crossword puzzle to find out how we were going to celebrate.

Another Bridal Shower Invitation...

Charlotte's Puppet Theater

I have (almost) finished the doorway puppet theater I'm making for Charlotte's birthday. I looked and looked on the Internet for a pattern but never found one that I loved...so, I made one up. For me, that translates into some mistakes along the way, but I'm satisfied with the results anyway. Want to make one, too? Here are some awesome guidelines. I will admit, I didn't read or follow all of it (mostly because I have to see it rather than just read it), but it does have some great pointers like making sure to have a dowel directly under your stage or else it will droop.

I used a total of about 5 1/2 yards of fabric because I lined the back. One 40" tension rod. Two dowels. About 4 yards of ribbon. 1 yard of beaded trim.

Hope she likes it.

Bridal Shower Invite: New York, New York

I'm not really a card maker, but I did think these bridal shower invitations turned out pretty cute for my level of scrapbooking expertise. I like how they look like mini newspapers. I found an image of the first volume of the New York Times, made it smaller and then copied it onto some translucent silver paper. Folding them made me feel like I was 10 again getting the papers ready for my route. My fingers got black, too.

Travel Ideas: What Worked!

Alright, it's about time to review what really worked for us on our trip.

First, snacks. Really, I think these were the most important thing and I took advice from other places online that suggested avoiding a lot of sugar. Maybe that helped, maybe it didn't, but the girls did pretty awesome so take it how you will. Snacks were especially helpful with the under one crowd since nothing really kept her attention for longer than a minute or so.

Second, the secret wrapped gifts came in really handy when we had unexpected occurances/frustrations (i.e. extra time on the tarmac, kids not wanting to be in seat belts...mostly just Lucy emergencies). They were all cheap toys (cars, small dolls, toy camera, finger puppets)

Third, favorite books and magazines.

How about a couple free advertisements. I'm not usually one to shout out specific brand names, but there were a couple things that were great to have on our trip:

-Fisher Price Stack and Roll Cups

I would recommend this to anyone because it is SO versatile. You can nest it, stack, roll it, make a rattle, build, bang, stick things through the hole, put on your head, play peak-a-boo etc, etc. DEFINITELY one of the best things we took for the baby (and the 2 year old). Plus it was nice to have once we got there. I only took about 5 or 6 of the cups and I left the tiny ball home so we wouldn't lose it.

Zoobie Pets:

These are cool little 3 in 1 blankets and even though they were super cute, any 3 in one blanket would be fine (I know there are other brands). It was wonderful to have a comfort toy that could be used to sleep with as well. I saved these until we got on the first flight and then gave them to the girls. You can unzip the blanket from the animal for washing or whatever. And just for those who are curious, we got the pink hippo "Pinky" and the blue elephant "Cosmo" (Creative names given by Lu and Brig).

Now that I'm done advertising, here is a quick list of the age specific stuff that I'd take again.

Under 1 year:

silk handkerchief (or cotton or whatever fiber you may have)

finger puppets

A bag full of stuff that can be taken out and put back in. This is what Char wanted to do most of the time. I don't know how many times she unloaded the diaper bag.

The stuff in the pencil holder was pretty good for short amounts of time (feathers, pom poms, pipe cleaners)

2 year old:

Loved almost everything in her folder (see post below)

I succeeded in getting the glue and the scissors into Romania, but had to check them in my luggage when leaving Romania.

I-spy, picture finds, water color pictures, scissors (of course) were a hit.

Stickers'tape are always a great time consumer.

So, I guess that's it. Somehow we did it (and without the use of Benadryl), and it was fun.

Travel Ideas: Ready for Testing

The following items/ideas are untested. When we get back from our trip, I'll update on their effectiveness - if any is to be reported.

Lucy's Plane Pack

In the pencil holder:

*markers...yes, crayons are safer...maybe I'll switch

*white board marker

*pen

*tape

*glue stick (if it makes it through security)

*kids scissors (4" blade is approved, we'll see)

*balloon

*paintbrush

*pipe cleaners

In the binder:

Laminated I-Spy

Laminated hidden picture (use dry erase-low odor, we hope:)

Story

Activities to go with stories.

Cut and paste printed on sticker paper.

Finger puppets.

Watercolor pencil sheets:

Also included in folder: extra paper, coloring book pages.

Charlottes Plane Pack

This one was hard (she's only10 months)

*popcicle sticks

*clothes pin

*balloon

*big pom poms

*googly eyes

*pipe cleaners

*feather

In her folder:

Textured papers.

Other:

Small Scarf, magazine (to rip up), nesting/stacking/balls all in one

These story cards that have little plastic animals you can touch on each card as you read the story.

To keep them together I hole punched the stack and used a binder ring.

Some small surprises to open along the way.

And of course, lots of snacks. I tried to keep them fairly sugar free as I don't want to add to the "stuck on an airplane for 16+ hours" effect.

Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday, Harry!

In celebration of Harry Potter's birthday: July 31st, 2009

Edible wands: A Pirouette "entertaining cookie" (that's what it says on the tin:), dipping chocolate, and sprinkles.

Watercolor Pencil Coloring Pages

I saw this watercolor pencil idea on a blog a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be a great activity for our upcoming LONG airplane ride. Today I was able to test it out and it was SO much fun (for me :). Hopefully it will entertain Lucy as well.

What you need:

watercolor pencils

watercolor paper (I bought a cheaper kids version. Watercolor paper holds the moisture better)

fine tip permanent marker (unless you use a printer ink that won't bleed. Alas, we do not have a laser printer so I improvised).

First, I cut my paper to printer page size. You could just draw your pictures directly onto the watercolor paper if you prefer. I didn't trust my freehand artistic skills, so I went for lightening the images to a light gray (to minimize the ink running when water is applied) and then printing them directly onto the watercolor paper. Next, trace with a sharpie and then outline with the watercolor pencils. Last, using water and a paintbrush, apply water and Ta Da! You have fun art project.

For our trip, I'm going to have everything done except the water part. I'll pack a paintbrush in our carry-on and make sure I fill a water bottle before we board the plane.