Alex the “Pig”: A Tutorial

Sep 29 2009

Posted by Elizabeth as Adventures in Parenting, Crafting with Kids, Curled Up with a Good Book

This morning I was feeling a little sorry for myself and in a bit of a 39-weeks-pregnant-messy-house-fighting-a-cold funk. After my daughter went down for her nap, my four-year-old and I pulled out some books to read, together. One of his choices was this:We’ve read it a number of times and had seen that there were instructions, in the back, on how to make your own pig! H is in a stage where he wants to “make” everything that he sees, and “build” all kinds of diggers after reading our digger books from the library and so this fit perfectly. I thought I’d break out of my feeling-sorry-for-myself funk by trying a little crafting with him.Here are the instructions to make your own pig (or whatever it ends up being).1) Cut a 25 cm length of stocking, or a sleeve from an old knit sweater.. whatever you have lying around.2) Sew one end off with loosely stitched embroidery thread so that it can be pulled tightly and knotted.3) Turn it inside out and stuff it with fiberfill.4) Sew a button onto the knotted end.**My instructional pictures from here on out didn’t really work… all I got is my son – oops. So, you’ll see the parts I’m describing but only in the finished product.**5) Again with embroidery thread, sew a mouth, then eyes.6) Put a small ball of fiberfill into the body of the pig and knot some thread around it to form a foot. Repeat four times (unless you wanted a different number of legs, go ahead).7) Cut out two triangles to be the ears and sew them on.8) Twist off the open end into a tail, or tightly tie thread around the opening to close it off. We decided to make the tail into little strips so that it was kinda fuzzy.Voila!!Cool, eh? Our creation is definitely not very pig-like, but my son doesn’t care.His name is Alex. Alex, meet the world. World, meet Alex. Alex

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Alex the "Pig": A Tutorial

Sep 29 2009

Posted by Elizabeth as Adventures in Parenting, Crafting with Kids, Curled Up with a Good Book

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Breaking the Birthday Party Mold

Sep 21 2009

Posted by Krystal as Adventures in Parenting, Birthday Party Guide

It is time that we as parents stood up and said enough is enough. I have over heard and had more conversations about parents struggling with the birthday party dilemma than I care to count. It comes from both sides the host and the guest so none of us are off the hook. What do I hear most about? Presents and loot bags.

My daughter has a birthday party at the end of the week and I decided to put my foot down on these two topics. Firstly no new gifts. We stated on the invitation that guests were to give away something they didn’t use much anymore and thought my daughter might like, or to make her something or to find something somewhere to give her. We don’t really care where so long as it didn’t cost you much, isn’t cheap garbage and isn’t covered in plastic.

I’ve heard lots of variations on this such as book parties, SPCA donations, secret santa etc etc. And rightly so good on you parents. What kid needs 10 more $10 toys that will barely be played with because of their busy schedule and having too many already? I would much rather see that $10 spend on supper for their family. Heck if your child has a busy social life you can be looking at a significant expense just to attend birthday parties every month!

Second those darn loot bags. A fellow blogger put it best when she said ‘Stop the loot bag insanity!’ I know you agree with me. The plastic dollar store ‘goodies’ that your child revels in for all of about 3 minutes until after they are out the door. I’ve seen lots of parents get creative with this one and all the power to you parents! Good on you I say. Every time my daughter comes home with more plastic and candy I breathe a heavy sigh knowing where it ultimately will end up.

This year we are having a croquet and tea party with the girls. It is all very sophisticated and fancy for six year olds and they are tickled with excitement. What will the ladies be taking home with them? Why nothing less than a small token from their hostess: small packages of sun tea and a few crocus bulbs to put in their garden. I had thought about cookies and tea also or making all of the girls a pretty skirt to take home (it is what I do so it’s simple for me to say that).

Themed treats that can be integrated into the party are also a great idea, projects they made while there or something to remember the experience. Kids don’t need to go home empty handed. I remember one year a friend had the kids make magnetic picture frames and as each of their parents showed to pick them up she snuck a picture from the party into the frame! She took pictures the whole time and snuck off to print them as party favors.

We have put so much pressure on ourselves as parents in recent years. To do more, buy more, be the best and make it all picture perfect. It is nice to see that trend is starting to wear off. I encourage you to break the birthday party mold and be creative with your party so that it reflects you and your child’s beliefs. Teach them that a party is about more than ‘what did you get?’

PS – We also didn’t invite every kid in the class. I know, I know, for shame on us but I can’t host 20 kids and besides my daughter isn’t friends with every one in her class. We invited six kids because that is how old she is. That was the norm when I was in school and you collectively as a peer group knew that was how parties worked. A six year old’s social circle is only so big after all.

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A Bow for Any Occasion: Tutorial

Sep 15 2009

Posted by Elizabeth as Crafting with Kids

I recently learned how to make my own bow out of whatever paper I’d like, and I thought that would be a cool thing to share with you. It’s a fun craft for kids to make and, though requiring supervision, is a pretty fulfilling project!Here’s the finished product:You can see that I have used one-sided scrapbooking designer paper. This project is waaaayyy more attractive when you have two-sided paper, or it would also be cool with newspaper or other fun paper with something on both sides.Step 1: Get your piece of paper, measuring 12inches by 6inches. (12 by 12 scrapbooking paper, cut in half is easiest)Step 2: Turn your paper sideways and cut 8 strips that are 1inch wide (by 6inches long) step-2 Step 3: Turn your paper 90 degrees to the side (you should have a piece that is 6inches wide by 4inches tall) and cut one piece that is 1inch wide by 4 inches long step-3 Step 4: Turn your paper 90 degrees to the side again (now, you should have a piece that is 5inches tall by 4inches wide) and cut the remaining paper into 4, 1inch strips that are each 5inches long. (The picture below shows the one piece that is 4inches long beside the paper now turned to be cut at 5inches long.) step-4 Step 5: Take the smallest paper (1inch by 4inches) and form a barrel, gluing it shut. step-51 Step 6: Form each of the strips into the bow edges by bringing the ends together until the fold forms a point. Glue the ends together. Yes, I know. I will never be a hand-model. step-6 Step 7: Once they are dried, glue each point-length into pairs, that kind of look like a boat. 6inch strips together, 5inch strips together. Glue the ends together. step-7 Step 8: Punch a hole through the very centre of each boat and through the bottom of the centre roll, as well. step-8 Step 9: Using a brad, start with the roll and push the brad through the hole. Then, going from smallest boat to largest boat, arrange the boats into a bow shape (turning them a little bit to fill the bow space). step-9 step-9b Step 10: Seal your brad, at the back. step-10 Et voila! finished It looks great with double-sided paper, eh?!

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Ten Minute Tutu: A Timely Tutorial

Sep 13 2009

Posted by Elizabeth as Adventures in Parenting, Crafting with Kids

It was Thursday. The day of my daughter’s second birthday. I have no money to spend on a lavish birthday girl and a daughter who doesn’t really “need” anything, but likes a lot of things. I had a party to prepare for and a nap to take and a bunch of other things on my plate. I had an idea of what I wanted to get for her, and was planning to make it, but ran out of time (another little tutorial coming, perhaps?). My daughter loves dress-up. I mean, LOVES dress-up. Also, she likes to dance and be girly, so, I went to my scrap fabric cupboard and found some things that would work to make a quick tu-tu.

The ingredients:

1)about 1.5m of tulle (I just happened to have two colours)

2)enough elastic to fit around her waist (about 30cm)

3) scissors

4) my sewing machine (but you could totally sew the elastic by hand)

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

1) I sewed the elastic into a circle.