I was so flattered when Cindy asked me to contribute to her Summer Craft Camp.  She has compiled one great list of kids' crafts!

One of my kids' favorite crafts is embroidery.  They have both been stitching for a few years. This time, Kate was my very willing assistant and got to work on a cute flower embroidery from a drawing she did.  You can find our project here.

Kate and I made her flower into a sweet pillow with a rick racktrim.  You could also add it to a quilt or a bag.  Another great idea isto have your child embroider on flour sack tea towel for a gift. Whatever you choose, it's sure to be treasured by you and your childalike.

Kate has been asking for a knitting lesson for a few months.  On our second snow day last week, I took the girls to our local yarn store and with their help (thank you Jane and Cindy!), Kate learned to knit.  I cast on for her and she used knitting rhymes to help keep her remember exactly what she was supposed to do. The rabbit goes through the hole, around the tree, peek back out, and off we leap!  Within a half an hour, she was doing it all on her own.

As a mom that loves to sew and knit, I have found that if I am over-enthusiastic about any one craft, my kids tend to drop it like a hot potato.  To that end, I played it really cool, giving Kate a few pats on the back and patiently fixing every little mistake that she made.  I quietly encouraged her and let her do the rest.  Every day, she has picked it up, knit a few rows and put it back away.  She took it with her to Jane's guitar lesson and the two of us sat in the waiting room knitting and chatting.  She pulled it out and worked on her scarf while watching the Olympics last night.  Even Jane, who hasn't knitted in well over a year, decided to pull out her yarn and needles.  I cast on 15 stitches for her and after a quick lesson, she was knitting away too.  It was one of those moments that I will never forget - all three of ussitting on the couch, watching Olympics, knitting in hand.

 

I have no idea if this will last so I am enjoying every dropped stitch and unintentional yarn over that needs fixing while I can.  Back here soon.

The girls and I made some cute valentines for their parties at school later this week.  I think I saw this idea somewhere last year, or maybe even the year before, but I can't remember where.  If someone knows where the idea originated, please tell me so I can give that person credit!  Here!

To do this yourself, take a photo of your child with their hand(s) held out from their body.  The girls stood in front of a white wall so the background would be neutral - a red or pink wall would be super cute, too!  We took many photos with lots of different poses.  I let the girls choose their favorite.  After uploading the photo, I added text in Photoshop.  If you don't have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, there are other photo editing programs like Picnik that are free.  Make sure you take into account where the lollipop will be on the card when you put the text on it!

Once I was satisfied with the layout, I printed the photos 2 up on card stock.  I made them 4" x 6", but you could certainly print them smaller, if you like.  After cutting the photos out, I used a craft knife to make an X above and below the hand.  You could use a hole punch instead of the X's if the hand is close enough to the edge of the card.  The girls wrote their friends' names on the back of the cards and then threaded the lollipops through the X's.

They were fun to make, easy and pretty fast, too.  I had everything I needed on hand with the exception of the lollipops.  I think the large bag cost about $3 making them one of the most inexpensive projects I have done in a long time.  For other ideas, valentines that we have made in the past can be seen here and here.

Anyone have a good game for a 4th grade valentine party? We are playing Bingo, but are looking for something else to do as well.  Maybe something a little active, but that doesn't take too much space (the classrooms are small)?  I was thinking some kind of relay, but I'd love any suggestions.

I received a copy of Quilting for Peace by Katherine Bell a few months ago.  In it, Katherine highlights the stories of people and organizations that are sewing for different causes.  Each project in the book corresponds to a particular initiative and range from full quilts to shopping bags, small pet mats to sleeping bags.

Inspired by the book, the girls and I decided to make one of the projects in the book.  Mirabel the owl is the project for Softies for Mirabel.  Softies for Mirabel is a holiday toy drive that collects handmade, soft toys for the Mirabel Foundation in Melbourne, Australia.  I chose this project because it is simple and I knew the girls would be able to help me make the softies.  Additionally, I knew that my children would be able to relate to the idea of giving to other children who might not have as much as they do.

It was definitely a team effort.  Kate and Jane chose the fabrics and trims that they wanted out of my stash.  I cut out the owls and they traced the other pattern pieces onto fusible interfacing.  I did most of the cutting, ironing and machine sewing.  They embroidered the eyelashes and stuffed the owls.  In a little over an hour, we were finished.  The girls were excited to show the softies to Fatty and spent a long time guessing what kind of child would end up with their creation.  They also asked if we could do it again another day and maybe take those softies to our city's children's hospital.  Of course.  Then they asked if they could make one for themselves.  I had been waiting for that!  Of course.

I am so glad that I carved some time out of this busy week to work on this project with my children.  It's important to me that they realize that even at their young age, they can do something for others.  And I loved that the three of us spent time working together.  Also, it wasn't me that insisted it get finished.  After I proposed the idea of making the owls to them, they were the ones that kept reminding me that we needed to do it, that we should get busy sewing.  Thanks to my girls, I was reminded that no matter how busy I am, no matter what needs to be done, chances are I have an hour or so to do something for someone else. 

Quilting for Peace includes many easy, doable projects and information on theorganizations that could benefit from your crafty talent.  There's a 30-minute shopping bag pattern in the book that you could whip up for gifts.  Or maybe sew a quilted mat to donate to a local animal shelter.  I encourage you to take a look and see if there is something you can make for someone else in need this holiday season or in the new year.

I am giving away one copy of this fantastic book.  If you are interested in winning, leave a comment on this post that includes one thing you have done or will do for someone in need or a particular charity this holiday season.  I will close comments Wednesday, November 25th at 5:00 p.m. EST.  The winner will be announced on Friday or Saturday.  In other business, I'll be back tomorrow with the winner of last week's giveaway and some shop talk.

While looking for a birthday gift among the craft kits at Target, I saw Crayola fabric markers.  The wheels started turning so we picked up a box of those in addition to a bead kit for Jane's friend.  When we got home, I pulled out a couple of plain canvas totes and set the girls up for some craft time.  I instructed them to draw a sketch of their idea on plain paper before they started drawing on the tote.  An hour later, Jane had produced the cutest bag for her friend Kathleen and Kate had a new tote of her own.  I heat set the markers by putting the bags in the dryer on high for 30 minutes.  The whole project was fun for the girls and kept them occupied for a good chunk of time which was good for me.  We wrapped the bead kit in the tote bag for the cutest, reusable wrapping.  You bet we will be doing this again.

call for embroidery.  Some back stitching for Kate.  Split stitching for Jane.  Lots of needle re-threading by me.  All in all, nice way to spend a rainy, summer afternoon.

Both of the girls embroidery transfers came from the Sublime Stitching Craft Pad.

Back tomorrow with the winner of Vintage Baby Knits.  I haven't forgotten - just been busy watching my nephews and cleaning out the studio!  Scrap bags coming soon!

I'm a total blogging slacker these days.  Summer is just moving along and we are busy just being.  It's pretty great.

I said I'd be back with something crafty, but I bet you didn't think it'd be friendship bracelets.  Truth is, neither did I.  My girls came home from camp and raided my embroidery supplies.  They started braiding bracelets for their ankles and doing hair wraps on their dolls.  Jane asked me if I knew how to make different kinds of bracelets.  Well, yes I do!  I made the above bracelet for Jane earlier this week and am now working on a pink and orange one for Kate.  I sit at the pool, completely in the shade, chatting with my friends and making bracelets.  Today I gave a 30 second tutorial to a few girls.  I have a feeling that we'll be seeing a lot of these in the coming weeks. 

These are the kind I made when I was a kid and I am totally doing it from memory.  Yay!  Jane started a four string one in yellow and white.  I would like to try my hand at something a bit more complex and while trolling the interwebs, I found this site.  Awesome - patterns, instructions, pdfs to download.  I'm going to try an arrow one next.

All right.  Back to summer.  Catch you next week.

The girls' artist trading cards are out the door and in the mail.  We missed the mailing deadline after I realized that the post office does indeed close at noon on Saturday.  Oops.  They went in the mail yesterday and Jane had two arrive in our mailbox for her!

While doing this project, I found my children have such different approaches to their art.  Jane is detailed and meticulous.  She sat down for long periods of time and drew.  She chose creatures from the Spiderwick Chronicles as her subject matter and used pencil and colored pencil on each one.  She drew 11 cards and from those, chose the best 9 to send (she was in two groups).  There was one that I really liked, but she didn't.  No amount of discussing could convince her to send it so now it's mine.

Kate, on the other hand, had quick bursts of energy.  She drew what she saw, the flowers sitting around the house:  an orchid, a hyacinth, some daisies, forsythia and alstroemeria.  She finished three cards right away and then for days, she wouldn't even attempt to do the other two.  In the end, she sat down and did them together - right before the deadline.  I cringe to think that she is a procrastinator like her mother.  But then I remember, that sometimes it takes a long time for all those ideas to brew.  Or in Kate's case, maybe she was waiting to see what other flowers I brought home.

I loved this exercise for my kids.  Blair has said that the small size of the canvas gave her kids confidence in a way that a large piece of paper cannot.  I found the same to be true for my girls.  The smaller they had to draw, the more time they took, the more detailed they were.  If you take a look at the flickr pool, I think you could say the same for these young artists.  I sure hope that those of you who joined the swap, enjoyed it just as much as we did.