Felt Hand Puppets

So two months or so ago, I agreed to make puppets for my own girls, two nieces, and two sort-of nephews for Christmas. I figured 6-8 puppets for each set of kids, no biggie. Right? Well, I'm not sure I can express how glad I am to have these done. They weren't overly hard or anything, and actually I enjoyed the creative process part of making them--they were just so time consuming, and I'm tired of staying up until 1-2:00 am to finish them. I am pretty proud of how they all turned out, though. See for yourselves:

Wild-ish animals:

Farm-ish animals

And all the kids themselves:

And everybody all together:

And from what I hear, all the kids are loving playing with them. I love a well-loved gift. :)

I'm posting this up for Sew and Tell at Amy's. I've loved participating in it, and I hope she's able to find a way to balance her life and continue hosting it. Such a great motivation to get things done.

Purple Skirts

Did I mention that Janey is obsessed with skirts and dresses lately? Cory asked her if she likes pants, and she said "No, pants look kind of funny." So there you have it. Due to her obsession, I decided to just make her skirts this year instead of buying her pants like the other girls. First was yesterday's denim number, today I have two more--

A purple twirly skirt,

The flowers peeking through are the inside, which can also be worn as an outside, as it's reversible--

And then there's this purple knit skirt. I'm pretty proud of this one, as I actually got the gathering to work right, and the skirt came out just as I envisioned it. Now if only I was a better photographer... Oh well. Maybe in another lifetime. In the meantime, just believe that this is much cuter in person than on the hanger. I'm excited for her to try it on.

Denim Skirt

If you made a skirt like this for a certain skirt loving two-year-old you knew,

Would you add a flower or something to it, maybe on the side? Or leave it as-is?

Sew and Tell

Though I finished a few other projects this week (baby blanket, carseat cover, and reversible skirt for a friend), the only finish I took pictures of this week was my advent calendar. I'm pretty in love with how it turned out, and I've really enjoyed seeing my girls figuring it all out.

Advent Calendar Day 2

Today, our activity calendar contained "a message! A message, Janey! A message!" (I overheard Breanne excitedly telling Janey about the message...), telling us to make cupcakes today. And in the pocket calendars, the girls received these:

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the cupcake making process--toooo messy with two little girls wielding the knives. I did, however, snap these post-mixing shots:

(I promise, the cupcakes were IN the oven before I let the girls have the beaters. No mixing of germs there.)
We took most of the cupcakes out to neighbors, and enjoyed a few ourselves. Mmm.

Advent Calendar Day 1

So this morning I put up our Advent Calendar, and the girls were so excited about the Christmas decorations, we couldn't help but decorate the rest of the house.
My favorite nativity set is currently missing, which means it's either hiding in our basement, or I just didn't see it in our storage unit when I pulled everything else out. Either way, I'm bummed that I haven't found it yet, but I won't rest until I do. Anyway, that is not the point of this post.

Today, our activity advent calendar dictated this:
Which had these two "a little nervwous"
...but not this one, she was ready to take that fire head on.
...and laugh in it's face.
Fortunately, I was there to hold her back and entertain her.

Janey and Breanne wanted to take turns taking pictures with our real camera (as opposed to my phone, which I usually use), so I showed them how, and let them each snap a bunch. The picture of the fire above was Breanne's doing, and the next several were Janey's shots--pretty good for a 2 year old, huh? And check out Cailin's eyes--blue, blue, blue. I love these little girls.

Advent Calendars

So that fabric I mentioned the other day? It was destined to become an Advent Calendar.

(Oh yes, I did just hang that crookedy on my dusty blinds... I haven't figured out how to put it up somewhere more practical yet--that will have to come tomorrow).

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a meeting with a few women where we talked about starting up good traditions with our families. Mirjam, the woman who was leading the group, talked a lot about her family's advent calendars--she has one for each of her children, to be filled with little treats and toys, and then one for the whole family that is full of activities. I loved both of these ideas, and immediately started planning out how I'd like to implement them in some way in our own home. For each girl, I came up with a pocket calendar, in which I'll be putting little treats, toys, books, and other fun things. We already have a calendar I made a few years ago that is just a big Christmas tree with little ornaments you place on it--I plan on putting an activity we'll be doing in with each ornament this year, and letting the girls pick them out every day. Several days I have crafts planned as our activity--on those days, the treat in their pocket will be the supplies to do the craft. Lest you think I'm totally insane, be assured that some days the activities are very, very simple, like building a fire in the fireplace, visiting friends, and attending parties we'd already be going to, regardless of whether we had the calendars or not. It just gives me more motivation to do fun things with the girls, too, like making cookies, cupcakes, garlands and ornaments.


So, I've made 3 of the pocket/bag calendars, one for each girl. Actually, to be honest, it's currently 2.5, because after sewing something like 68 little pocket bags, my sewing machine jammed up, and I have no idea what's wrong with it, so it'll be heading to the shop tomorrow... sigh. But I'm excited to see how the girls like them, and I know that they'll be a wonderful thing for all of us--I am really looking forward to having something positive to do planned for each day. I do so much better at providing good days for the girls when I plan ahead a bit. I am hoping to really make some positive memories this year.