me and my girl

something new

I have some new goodies on the sidebar:

The Sweetest Sugar Cookies Ever Pattern

Big and Little Drawstring Bags Pattern

Both of these can be found in my new shop along with some fabric and felt kits for the patterns. 

Thank you for visiting today!

lollipop, lollipop...

...oh, lolli, lollipop!

From the time my babes can stand in a chair and see over the counter I try to keep them close-by while I am in the kitchen.  We try to add fun to eat AND fun to make recipes to our collection because the kitchen is a perfect place for creativity!

The latest recipe we tried was Lollipop Cookies.  Mixing, rolling, decorating and eating are all part of making these adorable cookies!

On a cold autumn day these would be an enjoyable and yummy project!

my girl and her tutorial---butterfly wings

Aubry has discovered that we have a blog about crafting (she has taken to calling this "our blog") and she has put together a little tutorial for you in honor of it.  This was her idea and her words.

First cut paper into wings and color them.  Dots look good.

Then take elastic and measure your shoulders, then cut it.  Staple the elastic to the wings and put them on.

Now you are a butterfly.

I am going to add something here:  Butterflies are precious creatures.  Don't let them fly away too quickly!

stamping up a mess!

Your kids will love this craft because of all the possibilities.  They can stamp until they get their fill, and when all is done you will have a nice little stash of wrapping paper and stationary.  I will say that this craft is also heavy on the mess-factor, so get ready with paper to cover the table, the carpet, and smocks to cover the kids!

Materials needed:
Acrylic paints (I like to use FolkArt brand)
Sponges
Scissors
Paper
Pencils
Newsprint paper (you can usually get an end-roll free from your local newspaper office)

Let the kids cut out shapes from the sponges (little hands will need help with this).  Don't worry about perfection!  Much is learned from trial and error when it comes to crafting!

Squeeze puddles of paint onto paper plates and let the kids dip and stamp on pieces of paper or on a large piece of the newsprint paper:

You can use the pencil eraser to stamp out small circles for flowers:

A bumpy half-circle resembles a Volkswagen bug:

Flowers and circles make nice wrapping paper:

The pencil eraser turns white paper into cute stationary:

My kids spent a good hour on this project so we ended up with LOTS of stamped goodies.  Clean-up time was a group effort, so it went faster than I thought it would.

At Christmas-time we will revisit this craft and make homemade wrapping paper with cut-out trees and gingerbread men.

Happy stamping!

I have started a "Me and My Girl Creations" flickr group for anyone who is sewing along with me and my girl.  It is easy to sign up and download pictures so I hope you will come along and join the fun!

a scarf that small hands can make

I realize that freezing temperatures are a few weeks away, but that didn't stop Aubry and me from making a warm winter scarf.  This project is both simple and inexpensive and there are variations that can be done to accommodate younger children or to make this more challenging for older children.  (Variation ideas are at the bottom of the post).

We purchased 1/4-yard of fleece for the scarf and two 1/8-yard pieces for the embellishment.  Surprisingly Aubry stayed away from pink and purple fleece, but she did manage to add a small amount of pink detail when it came to the sewing.

I suggest that you allow your child to do all picking and choosing of the fabrics and that you also let them handle all of the steps that they feel capable of doing.  You may end up with a less-than-perfect scarf, but your child will love their creation!

I trimmed our 1/4 yard piece to measure 6" X the length of the fabric cut (approximately 68" long). Then I showed Aubry how to cut the fringes (I used some excess fabric to cut this sample).

I used pins to show her where her cuts should stop and this is what she came up with:

***You will do this on both ends of the scarf.

Aubry choose to embellish her scarf with squares, but you could use hearts, flowers circles or initials.  All you need to do is to cut the shape from a piece of paper, pin it to the fabric and cut it out.  I let Aubry cut these out by herself:

 

We cut 4 large squares and 4 small squares:

Then she laid out her design (I even kept my hands and my opinion out of this step!):

I added pins to hold the design in place and I threaded a needle with 3 strands of embroidery floss.  Notice the pink:

A large "X" was an easy way to tack down the squares and I let her do this mostly by herself.  Lucky for me, she is enough of a perfectionist that she asked me to show her where to sew on the square to make the "X".  (Can you tell that I am a perfectionist?)

I showed her how to avoid pulling the thread out of the needle by holding  the top of the thread when she pulls the needle through the fleece:

Here is our finished product:

I think it turned out quite well and now all we have to do it to wait for some colder days!

***Variations:  An older child can add a more elaborate design or an applique, and they could also zig-zag stitch or use a blanket stitch around the edges of the design.  A younger child can glue their design on as long the glue you choose will stay put during washing.