Valentine's Day has come and gone - I know.  I wanted to share our valentines, though.  I was in the midst of all the auction work and just assumed my children would want to buy their valentines.  Was I ever wrong!  So I came up with a good solution that didn't take too much of my time and that we could make a bunch of with relative ease.  Notebooks!

To start, I cut a piece of 8.5" x 11" paper into quarters and gave two to each of the girls.  They each drew a front cover for their notebook and Kate drew a back cover, too.  I then scanned their art work into the computer and set up a document so that all four designs could print on one page.  Does that make sense?  Kate's artwork was on two quarters and Jane's was on one.  The fourth quarter was left blank because Jane wanted her back cover plain.  Once I was happy with the set up, I printed it out 25 times on card stock.

I took the card stock to FedEx Kinko's and asked them to cut the paper into fourths.  I could have done this part at home, but I really wanted the cuts to be clean and even.  I also bought a ream of copy paper and had them cut that into fourths, too.   All said and done, it cost about $7.  I took everything home and assembled notebook sandwiches - front cover, about 15 pages copy paper, back cover.  Using a zig zag stitch on my machine, I sewed up one side of each notebook.  The girls made name tags for their classmates and we were pretty much done.  We put a pencil with each notebook which made for a perfect ensemble!

I think from start to finish (drawing time not included!), it took me about 2 hours.  Not bad and certainly inexpensive.  I had another parent tell me that they took theirs to a restaurant that night and his son used it to keep busy while waiting for dinner.  Perfect.  We have lots of copy paper left over so I am sure we will make these again just because.  I think they would be great party favors, too.

All right, back tomorrow.  Yellow week got me on a blogging roll.  And yes, it was about time.

I think I need more yellow in my life.  It's just so cheery.  Maybe a yellow week to break up the February gloom?  Would anyone be interested in that?

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The groups for the Kids ATC swap are slowly going out.  Because we have over 900 children participating, it is going to take some time to send all those emails.  If you signed up and you don't hear from us right away, don't fret.  You will.

There is a Flickr group for the swap, too.  Please add photos of yourchildren's creations so we all can see what creative kids we have!

Blair and I never imagined such a huge response.  By the number of emails we received after the cut off, I know some people were upset that we couldn't accomodate any more swappers.  I hate to disappoint anyone.  Believe me when I say that I truly appreciate those of you that took the news gracefully.

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I threw my back out on Friday and ended up spending the day on the couch.  I feel so much better now, but am a smidge behind on my quilt binding.  The auction is this Saturday night so I best get stitching.  I promise photos soon.

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Next week I am going to make something for myself.  I cannot wait for some selfish crafting!

I finished quilting both of the auction quilts yesterday. Actually, the second quilt pieced was the first one quilted and that has been sitting around waiting for a binding for a couple weeks. Yesterday, I finished quilting the other one, so now it, too, waits for a binding. Guess what I am doing today? Yes, indeed-y, you are right.

 

Blair and I are completely overjoyed and overwhelmed at the incredible response to the Kids ATC swap.  I knew it would strike a cord with lots of you, but I think we completely underestimated your enthusiasm!  As  of right now, there are over 560 kids signed up and there are still over 200 emails that haven't been opened. You have until 12:00 noon EST (New York City time) today to sign up.  You need to email you child's name, address and age to atckidswap@gmail.com to be signed up. We plan on making the groups this weekend and hope to let you know on Monday.  Please be patient with us if it is Tuesday or Wednesday - we have a lot of work to do.

Hope you enjoy a relaxing and productive weekend.  You'll find me on the couch, under a quilt, stitching away.  See you here next week.

Hello!  It's good to be back.  Thanks for all your well wishes last week.  The electricity is humming along and the house is warm.  We were well taken care of, though.  A big thanks to our good friends!

Sometime after the holidays, I stumbled upon Blair's post about Emma's artist trading cards.  I was immediately enamored with Emma's work and knew that my girls would love to create miniature works of art, as well.  I asked Blair if she would be interested in hosting a swap just for kids and she said yes!

So now, you might be wondering exactly what constitutes an artist trading card.  No worries!  Click on this link, to find out more specifics about these small works of art.  The artist trading card pool on flickr might also be a great source of inspiration for your budding young artist.  I found that once I gave my kids the small papers and we pulled out the watercolors and pastels, they didn't need any direction from me.  They just got busy creating!  It was so fun to watch how differently they approached it - Jane immediately thought of the art she has studied in school and did her own interpretation of it whereas Kate looked around the room and drew what she saw and later pulled out the Ed Emberley books and started painting again.

My girls were really excited at the idea that they could send their drawings and paintings to other children and then would receive some in return.  I think the idea of mail, addressed to them, certainly added to their excitement.  So Blair and I have put our heads together and have created a swap, just for kids, to share artist trading cards with one another.  Each child will be part of a small group and will create mini masterpieces (2.5" by 3.5" small!) of their own to send to similarly aged children all over the United States, and hopefully, around the world.  If your child would like to participate, here are the guidelines:

- Please send a message to atckidswap@gmail.com by this Friday, 2/6. Let us know your address, your child's name and age. International swappers are welcome!

-This is exclusively a project for children and for thatreason, we are specifying that participating children be ages 4 and up.  No adult ATC's, please.

- We will divide the children into groups of 6, meaning your child will make 5 cards to mail out.  You will receive your group from us on Monday, 2/9.

-Artist trading cards are all the same size: 2.5" by 3.5".  Because ATC's are so small, they will fit into a standardenvelope.  To keep it simple, the participants are not obligatedbeyond mailing the actual card out to its recipient (plus anyinformation about the card they'd like to add). Anything extra is up tothe sender and is not expected or required.

- Finished cards should be mailed out to their recipients no later than 2/28.

I hope you will join us.  A big thanks to Blair, and to her sister-in-law Jenny, who inspired the whole thing.  Jenny even created a kids atc button for us to use.  Feel free to put it on your blog and link back to this post, or Blair's post, for details on the swap.  I think it is going to be so much fun!

...auction quilts...

...another chunky knit beanie and my February lady sweater...

and I am supervising lots of weaving and hopefully, some painting.

I am looking forward to a laid back weekend with lots of crafting.  What are you working on?

Jane's friend Annabel had her birthday party this weekend.  On Saturday morning, Jane and I set about making her present.

This fabric that I bought from Leslie is a lightweight canvas, perfect for a tote.  Jane and I thought that Annabel might need a bag to carry her ballet stuff in, or to fill with things to do while waiting at rehearsal for The Nutcracker.  Jane wanted to embroider ballet slippers or something dance related on the pocket, but crazy enough, we didn't have the right thing.  She settled on Annabel's initials.

Jane drew the letters on the polka dot fabric with a pencil and embroidered them herself while I was cutting out the bag and making the handles.  When she was finished stitching, I made the pocket and sewed it all together.

Inside, we put a sweet bundle of embroidery supplies:  hoop, needles, lots of floss, three fat quarters of fabric and Hillary's Peppermint Fairy Stitchettes.  I told her mother, who shares her daughter's birthday, that she was going to love me or hate me.  I know from experience that this requires lots of adult supervision and help.  I think Suzanne was just fine with it - after all, she's one of my craft swap peeps.

Happy Birthday friends!

Whenever we are leaving on a trip, the last minute scramble to get things packed is always just that:  last minute.  While I am packing us up, the girls seem to get into things, making a big mess right before we leave.  About a year ago, I came up with a packing list for them so that they could be busy in a productive way while I was packing my own clothes.

This is today's list.  We went over it together and later, when I am ready to put things in the suitcase, they will go gather what they need and bring it to me.  Occasionally, I will have to edit their choices to make sure that they are appropriate for the season (no tank tops in winter, no corduroys in summer, etc.).  I just send them back to get the right thing and keep packing my own stuff.

Kate wasn't reading when I started using this system, so I drew each item and wrote its name beside it.  Although she's reading now, I still use the drawings because it makes it cute.  And really, cute makes the whole thing fun, you know.  I've thought about making a master list that I can just print out each time.  Would you all be interested in that?

This is a great tool for grocery lists too - draw little apples, bananas, gallons of milk and loaves of bread and then divvy up your list between your helpers.  It gets them involved and keeps them happy in the store.

We're off to Telluride in the morning.  I'll be checking in from there with some other things to share.  See you next week.

Over the three day weekend:

I read this book.

I watched this movie with Fatty, the girls and one of Jane's friends.  Scarier than I remembered.

I pieced the back for the x quilt.

I ran three miles two days in a row.  Woo hoo!

I helped the girls cut and sew nine-patch pillows.  And then ran out of stuffing.

I wanted to chuck the little machine out the window.  I hate it.

I made ribs. And corn salad.  Twice.

We went to some friends' house and let the kids stay up too late.

I made my craft for my local craft swap.  And then swapped.  Details to come.

I took lots of photos of peonies.

It was great - hope yours was too!