Big Sister T-Shirts

As a tradition, I have made "Big Sister" t-shirts for the girls to wear to the hospital for the births of Larissa and Sydney. Obviously, Alyx has had 2 shirts, Larissa 1, and Sydney none. The last time I made them, Alyx was a few months shy of being 3 years old and Larissa was about a year and a half. They didn't really have a clue as to what I was doing, nor did they care to insert opinions as to what they wanted on their shirts.

This time around, I knew that I would not be so lucky as to have such carte blanche. I also suspected that they would want to be involved in the painting process, which concerned me just a little bit. For those of you who have painted on clothing before, you know that it's not an easy task. All I could picture were blobs of paint all over a t-shirt. I decided, though, that I would put my OCD aside and let them at least try.

I had kept a t-shirt that I practiced on years ago, because it had their names and hand/foot prints. I decided to use it again as a practicing area. I added Sydney's name since it was not on the shirt, and the girls each tried to draw simple shapes. Alyx drew a flower, Larissa drew a heart, and Sydney drew a smiley face. They each struggled with controlling the paint flow while trying to make their shape at the same time. As a result, they decided that they didn't want to paint on their actual shirts, because they didn't want them messed up. Whew! I'm glad they came to that conclusion on their own. =)

I pretty much let them choose everything else, though. They chose the color of their t-shirts, the colors and types of paints we purchased, the writing style for their shirts, the designs to be used on their shirts, and the color assignments of every little thing on their own shirts. Wow! Lots of opinions!

All in all it was a pretty fun process. I became stressed at some points, especially when Sydney decided that she wanted a teddy bear on her shirt. I was scared to death! For the longest time, I couldn't come up with a really good way (with paint) to make a bear look right. The day I was supposed to paint her shirt, I went to her and relayed my fears and trepidations and asked her if there was anything else she would like on her shirt instead. She put her head down in thought and just had the most pitiful look on her face. I nearly started crying! So, once again, I went to the drawing board and began working on another bear. I finally came up with something that I thought might work, so I got busy painting. When it was all finished, I was thrilled with the results and so glad that I had continued with her desire to have a bear. It was much cuter than I thought it would be. Here it is...

***FYI: You can click on the pictures for a larger view, if you so desire. =)


Larissa decided that she wanted a rainbow with rain drops coming down on some flowers. My first feeling was that rain was going to feel kind of dreary, and I wanted these to be "happy" shirts. After looking through one of my scrapbook doodling books, I came across an idea for a rainbow with heart rain drops. I loved it and showed it to her, and of course she loved it too! =) Her shirt was by far the easiest and least stressful, but I think it turned out to be so adorable. Here it is...


Alyx decided that she wanted a butterfly on her shirt. I told her that it might look better to have more than one and that it's more visually appealing to have an odd number of items together. She said that three would be fine. As I was laying it all out, I decided to add a couple more (after getting her permission, of course.) =) At first, she wanted me to pick all the colors and surprise her with it all, but I begged asked her nicely to help me choose. =) I think she did a great job choosing all the colors. Here is her shirt...


Now that these shirts are done, I feel much better about the possibility of going into labor a little early. The girls have been looking forward to these shirts for a couple of months now, and quite honestly, the due date has just sneaked up on me way too quickly. If I hadn't had these done on delivery day, I would have felt so badly for them. This accomplishment is just one more item marked off of my checklist of things to have done before the baby comes. Yay! I'm so relieved! =)

Happy Halloween!

We don't do the whole trick or treating thing, but what kid doesn't enjoy dressing up? In the spirit of frugality (and recycling), I came across an idea for a curly wig that the kids could make. Check them out! Aren't they cute?


They were really easy to make. We started out with a plastic grocery bag. Cut off the handles and bottom seam of the bag. Cut down the side seams to use only one side of the bag (depending upon how large the child's head is), and while holding down the bag on their head, tape a circle all around their head beginning at the forehead and angling back just over their ears and an inch or two above the base of their skull. Once you have the circle complete, begin filling in the entire center of that circle, making sure to keep it snug on the child's head so that it will hold it's shape. The directions I had said to use masking tape, but I had more packing tape, so that's what I used--it worked fine. Here's what it should look like after you tape it completely.


Remove the "hat" from the child's head and trim off the excess bag. The directions said to use newspapers or other "curl-able" paper, so I used some old CVS ads for extra color. I cut them into 1/2 inch to 1 inch strips using my cutting board and left the fold intact so that it would open up to a longer strip. You can use a closed pair of scissors to curl the strips.


Attach the curls starting at the bottom edge of the "hat" and working up to the crown by using either double-sided tape (or create your own by rolling the tape into itself). Here are the girls "hard at work" on their wigs. =) They really enjoyed themselves and really love their creations.

Fall craft ideas from Highlights

This scarecrow is absolutely adorable, and kids would love to make one! If you wanted to make it more "outdoor-friendly," you could use yardstick-type sticks in place of the paper tubes, use some rafia in place of the yarn, use felt or some other stiff fabric (or a real hat) in place of the paper hat and use a plastic or styrofoam plate instead of the paper plate.



This pie-tin decoration reminds me of some things that my dad has made. He's really good at woodworking and has made many, many things for my mother and us kids over the years. He made a cabinet for my mom that has the tin-punched panels in the door. Here's a picture of it in the background from the post I did about the girls' sewing project.



This twirler looks super easy to make and actually reminds me of something you might make for the 4th of July or something, but maybe if you use fall-colored ribbons or attached some fall leaves (real or silk), it would look more fall-like.



This pumpkin-patch ring toss game is a really neat way to reuse those water bottles that we occasionally accumulate. We usually recycle the bottles, but if you held on to a few of them, I bet your kids would really enjoy this game. We would have to come up with another idea for the rings, because I don't think we would ever have 8-10 plastic coffee can lids. If you don't either, maybe you know someone who drinks coffee that would be willing to give you the lids when they finish the canister. I have some from when I used to drink coffee, but I use them for storage. We put the kids markers in one, some decorative scissors in another one, etc. I got that idea from my mom. She's so smart! =)



This Jack-o'-Lantern looks really cute and seems very easy to make. Since we don't drink soda, we would probably use an aluminum food can or maybe some glass jars. If you use varying sizes and heights, you could do a cute little grouping of them. Remember, pumpkins aren't all the same size and shape. =)



These bead rings are another great way to recycle some things that you may ordinarily discard. Plus, it's jewelry, and what little girl doesn't LOVE to make jewelry? =) The only thing I might try differently than what the instructions tell you to do is to twist the wire ends together (once all the beads are on and it's the size I want) and then try to work the wire ends back through a couple of the beads so that you don't have to worry about the end scratching or using unsightly tape on the back side. Does that make sense? One wire will go in one direction and the other wire will go in the other direction. The only problem would be if the holes in the beads aren't large enough to hold two widths of wire.

Here's the complete list of all 12 of this month's craft ideas. I'm sure you'll be able to find something that your child will enjoy. =)

Freebies, Samples and other Cool Stuff

Before I start my list of samples, I want to give you some suggestions for these freebies. Some of the samples you come across may not strike YOUR fancy, but have you ever thought that someone else may enjoy them? Have you thought about donating things to the missionary closet at church or even helping out a college student? My sister is doing this for her daughter who is in her 1st year of college. She will request the sample for herself with one email address, and then request a sample for her daughter with a separate email address. I think it's a great idea! I am naturally a hoarder and can't stand the thought of passing up a freebie. If I can't use or don't want something, I will still request the sample and just pass it on to someone who can use it. This is a way to be a blessing to other people (in a small way) without having to spend a penny. =) Now, on with the list...

Mary Kay is offering a sample of mascara here.

Money Saving Mom has compiled a list of 10 feminine product freebies here. These are awesome! You get enough of these, and you won't have to purchase them for a while.

Schick is offering a free razor or trimmer sample here.

I love freebies that help me with homeschooling! Here are some free activities from Creative Teaching Press. There are ideas for a variety of subjects and grade levels. There are even some science experiments included.

Get a free Oatmeal Dark Chocolate cookie from Kashi here. I'm not sure of the ingredients, but if it has something that we can't have, I'll just give it to someone who can. =)

Check out the Storyline Online site for a listing of over 20 books being read by members of the Screen Actors Guild. Obviously, if you don't know anything about the book, you may want to listen to it before you let your kids listen. Each story begins with the actor introducing him/herself. There is an option to view the text as the actor reads, or you could turn it off and just listen. Pictures from the book are shown and even some light sound effects/music are included to give even more interest. Each story also has an activity guide with suggested things to do after reading the story. There is also a list of other books by the same author in case you like their style of writing.

How cool is this??? I love taking photos (as you well know, if you've been looking at my blog for any amount of time), and this would be really neat to try. I love the black & white and sepia effects, but I wonder what it would be like in color.

This Kids' Puppet Show Curtain is adorable and super easy to make! My kids would love it! They are constantly wanting to put on shows, and this would be a great way for them to do that.

I constantly find myself having little balls or scraps of yarn left over from some crocheting project and am never quite sure what I should do with it. It goes against my grain to just toss it out, so it just sits in a bag in a closet somewhere waiting for me to come up with an idea. Well, here it is! This is like making your own funky variegated yarn, and I'm going to have to try it.

Easy, Recycled Sewing Ideas

The last couple of days, I've run across some cute ideas for recycling items of clothing to make into tote bags. I love tote bags, and couldn't resist the thought of making one (or both) of these.

The first tote bag idea comes from Jo-Ann's website and is made from a t-shirt (new or used). Personally, if you're going to go buy a t-shirt, I would just buy a tank top, so you don't have to fool with the cutting and sewing of the sleeves and neckline. Read the Customer Reviews to get more suggestions and ideas for this project. This project would be very simple for kids to do, and they would love the finished product, I'm sure.

Jo-Ann's website has a large collection of projects. I love looking through the craft projects for kids. My only suggestion is that you read the customer reviews before you purchase all the materials for a certain project. I have noticed on a few projects that customers have complained about the instructions being vague or not complete, so just check it out completely before you get started.

The second tote bag project comes from Instructables.com and is so adorable! The creator of this bag says that she got a skirt from someone that did not fit her, but she fell in love with the floral embroidery detail at the bottom of the skirt. She decided that instead of getting rid of it, she could turn it into a tote bag.

I've got a bunch of skirts that are too big for me, now that I've lost so much weight, so I'm going to have to go digging through my closet for some skirts to turn into tote bags. =) I imagine this could also be a great project for young girls. When they outgrow a favorite skirt (or other do-able outfit), they could just sew it up into a cute little handbag or tote.