Roadtrip Project #3 - Magnetic Paper Dolls

There was a method to my madness in making the magnetic chalkboard lap desk and this was it, magnetic paper dolls!

How seriously cute are they?!  Can you even stand it??? I can't!  I bought this adorable set from Ms Katie's Art Studio.  She has lots of sets to choose from. I picked the PDF file that is made to be colored in.  I printed it off on regular copy paper, rough cut them, stuck them to these adhesive backed thin magnet sheets, and cut them out.  

All the outfits are ready to be colored and played with.  I wanted the doll to be a little more durable though, so I colored her with pencils & covered it with a piece of packing tape before sticking to the magnet.  I can't wait to show my Elle, this should be good for at least an hour of play!

Road Trip project 1 - Beginning Cross-stitch Kit

Are you going on a roadtrip this summer?  We are!  10+ hours in the car with a 5 year old and an almost 2 year old = this Mommy needs to get creative!  A close friend of mine was a Montessori teacher, so I knew she would have some great ideas for little projects my 5 year old could tackle.  As soon as she mentioned cross-stitch my wheels started turning!  I loved cross-stitching when I was younger and am so excited to introduce it to Elle! 

The kit includes a piece of gingham fabric stretched on a little embroidery hoop, some embroidery floss on plastic cards stored on a metal ring, a needle on a scrap of felt, a needle threader & thread cutter, and a matchbox I covered with some fun sparkly scrapbook paper to keep the little bits in (I was hoping the matchbox is cute enough to inspire her to keep track of the needle so it doesn't end up floating around my car... wish us luck!). 

For starters she'll use the boxes in the gingham print as a guide to make her "X"s... who knows, if she likes it maybe we'll come home with a masterpiece :)

So I mentioned I liked cross-stitch when I was younger... ready for a blast from the past?  I cross-stitched the corners of a baby blanket when I was in highschool for my "some day baby".  Who does that?!?!  Maybe only me... but none the less, I thought I'd share:

Time for Your Way Wednesday:

Crafting is my way to relieve stress & stretch my creative muscles.

Sewing is my way to have some uninterrupted time to myself.

Bentos are my way to show Elle I'm thinking about her.

Parties are my way to love on my girls & our friends

Tutorials show my way of making this or that.

I want to see your way! I'm really excited to give you an opportunity to do just that with a link party!

Only two rules for you:

• Add my lovely "Your Way Wednesday" button to your blog or blog post that you link up to
• Please link directly to your blog post, not a giveaway, your link party, your Etsy shop, or even just the home page of your blog.

In exchange for following the rules, I'll leave a comment on your blog post & if you're my favorite post I'll feature you on my blog for my next Your Way Wednesday.







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Valentinys

Happy Valentine's Day!

I don't get too carried away with the Valentine holiday.  I always think of it as the perfect excuse for sweet little gestures.  This year was no exception, these little (some might even say "Valentiny" heehee) projects were the extent of the Valentine celebration in our house.

We went to breakfast with some friends yesterday and I wanted to dress the girls a little festive (my friend Karie is one of the only people I know who would notice, let alone appreciate that sort of thing, so I couldn't waste the opportunity :)).  Liv wore a red onesie with a little pink cupcake on it, a black jean skirt with a bleached out heart pattern, and the red and pink stripe leg warmers I made for Elle last year when I did my girls' Valentine pictures... did I ever post those???  Well can there really ever be too many pictures of adorable Valentiney girlie girls?!  I think not, exhibit A (even though you can't see the leg warmers they're both wearing):

 

and exhibit B with the legwarmers:

But Elle didn't have anything particularly Valentiney, so I sewed a little loop in the center of a flower embellishment on the dress she wore at Christmas and clipped a little heart hair clip in the center:

 Pay no attention to the jelly stain!

Elle and I paid a visit to my favorite scrapbook store (I am so lucky to live near an amazing scrapbook store, Whim-so-doodle and not so far from the most wonderful fabric shop I've ever been in, Rainbows End... they're a feast for my creative appetite!) and she picked out some materials to make Daddy a Valentine:

I bought a card for My Doug this year... I love and hate it when I find one with the just the right sentiment!

I already showed you Elle's classroom Valentine's, the joke bookmarks.

And to finish off the Valentine festivities, I decorated a crayola pencil box for Elle to bring her Valentine's to school in and carry home the Valentine's she receives:

with a little note inside:

Oh how I wish I had some of that fabulous Japanese paper tape!  I hadn't thought of an excuse to buy it until now... to finish the edges of the boxes I cover with scrapbook paper :)

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's day and that you take the time to show the people you love that you just can't get enough of them!

Classroom Valentine's

Elle's school has a "no candy" policy when it comes to holidays. I really appreciate that I don't have to convince my 5 year old to forfeit her candy, but it means we have to get creative when coming up with little treats, like Valentines. We considered doing melted crayons, like these we made a while back, but Elle had visions of stickers and more traditional Valentine goodies instead.

So we scoured the internet for funny (by Elle's standards) Valentine jokes, I printed them on red & pink cardstock, she decorated with stickers, and then we used a Martha Stewart punch around the page punch to decorate the edges.


Waalaa Valentiney bookmarks:

A little Valentine humor for you... 5 year old style:

Q - What do you call a very small Valentine?
A - A Valentiny

Q - What did the boy squirrel say to the girl squirrel on Valentine's Day?
A - I'm nuts about you!

Q - What did the boy octopus say to the girl octopus?
A - I want to hold your hand hand hand hand hand hand hand hand!

Q - What did the boy cat say to the girl cat on Valentine's Day?
A - You're purrrrfect for me!

Q - What did the boy rabbit say to the girl rabbit on Valentine's Day?
A - Some bunny loves you!

Q - What do you call two birds in love?
A - Tweethearts

Q - What did the chocolate syrup say to the icecream?
A - I'm sweet on you!