Visit her blog to read the [...]]]> My sister came for a visit. We spent the afternoon writing a comic. It was so fun to put it together… and then it was hilarious (but I can’t tell you why)… but maybe she will?

Visit her blog to read the whole thing.

It’s the end of the school year for us. Thursday (tomorrow) is the last day of Preschool.

[Which means it's almost time for my oldest kiddo to go to Kindergarten! Ahhh!]

And we certainly do appreciate Max’s teachers, Mrs. Lauren and Mrs. Bethany. Max has loved every single minute of Preschool. [Cooper has loved every single minute Max [...]]]>

It’s the end of the school year for us. Thursday (tomorrow) is the last day of Preschool.

[Which means it's almost time for my oldest kiddo to go to Kindergarten! Ahhh!]

And we certainly do appreciate Max’s teachers, Mrs. Lauren and Mrs. Bethany. Max has loved every single minute of Preschool. [Cooper has loved every single minute Max is at Preschool ]

As a little token of our appreciation, I made a little notebook (just the right size for pockets and purses) for Max’s teachers. I used a Japanese Stab Binding — so quick and easy. I’d love to post a tutorial on how to do this binding so you can do it too! Max wrote each teacher a little thank you note. He is excited to give it to them tomorrow.

Goodbye, Preschool. Hello, Summer.

Max wanted me to draw a T-rex on each one. But… my T-rex skills are a little rusty and so I asked him what his second choice was. Dinos with long, long necks. Ok. [...]]]> Max made his valentines this year for his preschool class. He directed the entire project – I tried my best to follow orders.

Max wanted me to draw a T-rex on each one. But… my T-rex skills are a little rusty and so I asked him what his second choice was. Dinos with long, long necks. Ok. I got out my trusty Sharpie and went to work. After I drew the dinos, Max painted them.

Of course Cooper wanted in on the action. Look at that almost-three-year-old concentration!

Even Max knows that no valentine is complete without a fuzzy red heart. I cut out the felt hearts and Max glued them on.

After coloring one valentine, Cooper moved on to puzzles. While this was happening at one end of the table…

…this cutie was was eating his rice cereal at the opposite end of the table. We need to beef him up. I love this look he gives me when I’m not spooning the mush fast enough.

Wha-la! Dino valentines ready for the preschool party on Thursday. I love morning art projects with my boys.

UPDATE: you can see last year’s valentines here.

I guess photo books may not technically be “handmade”… but I still put them in that category. Photo books make great gifts for all occasions. My mom has made a couple in recent years that my boys just love to look at.

First up: Spiral Bound pages measuring 9″ by 12″

My mom printed 4″ by 6″ [...]]]>

I guess photo books may not technically be “handmade”… but I still put them in that category. Photo books make great gifts for all occasions. My mom has made a couple in recent years that my boys just love to look at.

First up: Spiral Bound pages measuring 9″ by 12″

My mom printed 4″ by 6″ prints locally and then arranged them on pieces of construction paper. After laminating each page, she got them spiral bound at a local print shop. I love the little letters she wrote on the front to the boys – each boy got his own book. All the photos are from our trip to visit them in December 2009.

Next up: Spiral Bound pages measuring 5″ by 7″

This photo book took a little more planning. Mom wanted it to read as a story book. She chose the photos she wanted and then wrote captions for each one. I typed up the captions in Photoshop and printed them as 5″ by 7″ photo prints. Then Mom put all the pages in order and stuck the  photos back to back before laminating them. After everything was in order she had them spiral bound at a local print shop.

Last up: Perfect Bound 7″ Photo Books

For Christmas 2010, I made photo books for the grandparents. This first one was for Chris’ parents. I ordered theirs by special events in 2010 so it was more or less chronological.

I made this one for my folks. To mix things up, I combined the photos by theme – all our art project pics together, all our story time photos together, etc.

In all the photo book making, I learned a few things:
1. Choose a couple of page layouts and stick to them. If you choose more than that, your book will not feel cohesive. Only use one font. Only use one color (maybe tw0). Your book will look more professional and you will not have to choose between 70+ layouts every time you start a new page.

2. If the photo book is a gift, make sure you print a copy for yourself to keep.

3. Make really great captions. Include all names, locations, dates and everything else you want to remember. Even if it feel repetitive to keep writing the same names over and over, your grandkids will thank you in the years ahead.

Happy photo book making!

When I stumbled upon this tutorial, I knew my 2-year-old must have a little family of guys for Christmas. Now, these guys go every where with him – even to nap time (they ride in a little bucket).

I used fabric scraps from my grandma’s stash. I’m a sentimental fool about everything (I even save the money [...]]]>

When I stumbled upon this tutorial, I knew my 2-year-old must have a little family of guys for Christmas. Now, these guys go every where with him – even to nap time (they ride in a little bucket).

I used fabric scraps from my grandma’s stash. I’m a sentimental fool about everything (I even save the money my grandpa sends me on my birthday… don’t get my husband started on that one!) so I’m glad those grandma scraps found a home. My sister had the brilliant idea to make capes for them so they could be super heros… I haven’t done it yet, but I will.

Of course, my 4-year-old insisted on helping me (remember the leaf garland?). My mommy heart loves that he loves art projects but my perfectionist heart does not love that he loves projects. But I let him help anyway. And he was so proud so it was worth it. (That’s some tiny painting for tiny hands!)

The blocks are unfinished cedar. They are wonderful smelling. I traded a journal for them at a craft fair last summer. I’m so pleased that Cooper loves “mine guys”.

I’m always looking for indoor activities for our family.

Two reasons: 1. Each Sunday we go to church and then spend the rest of the day together. 2. Some Houston summer days are just too hot for anything outside.

So for Christmas, I made the boys a hopscotch mat. I used the fabric from a couch slip cover I’ve had [...]]]>

I’m always looking for indoor activities for our family.

Two reasons:
1. Each Sunday we go to church and then spend the rest of the day together.
2. Some Houston summer days are just too hot for anything outside.

So for Christmas, I made the boys a hopscotch mat. I used the fabric from a couch slip cover I’ve had for years (it shrunk in the wash). It felt so good to put that to good use! I used ribbon for the lines and scraps of fabric from my stash for the numbers. In the middle is a very thin layer of batting. I used heat-n-bond to put the numbers on but in the end I stitched around each number. If I had known I would have to do that I would have chosen a less complicated font. Oh well. Next time.

Each boy got his own marker (a bean bag made of felt) with his initial on it.

Hopscotch is really great for my boys – lots of jumping and throwing!

On the back I put two tic-tac-toe boards. That way four people can play at once. I made two sets of bean bags that are double sided to use as the game pieces. One of the best things I did was substituting lentils for beans in the bean bags. I don’t know about the rest of you out there, but bean bags at my house are too dangerous. They are heavy and it hurts when my two-year-old throws them at me. Lentils aren’t as bad.

The kiddos love it. The next step is to learn the real rules of Hopscotch.

(The boys trying on the scarfs they made for all their grandparents. Cooper was so excited he got to use the scissors for a project.)

December was a blur. A happy, fun, wonderful blur.

Here’s one reason: I believe in handmade gifts. Not just for Christmas, but all the time. This year, though, I [...]]]>

(The boys trying on the scarfs they made for all their grandparents. Cooper was so excited he got to use the scissors for a project.)

December was a blur. A happy, fun, wonderful blur.

Here’s one reason: I believe in handmade gifts. Not just for Christmas, but all the time. This year, though, I thought I’d let go of my handmade dreams because I have swapped out my art time for cuddling with my 3-month-old buddy. I tried to buy things for the kids but as it turns out I’m just the handmade gift giving kind of gal (it just doesn’t feel like Christmas without something handmade).

So here’s what I came up with. I’ll post tutorials soon for all you handmade gift giving kindred spirits.

+ For the boys: a hopscotch/tic tac toe play mat with bean bags.
+ For the two-year-old: wooden blocks with a whole family of wee people.
+ For the grandparents from the boys: no-sew fleece scarfs.
+ For my technology loving husband: iPhone holder for the car.
+ For my brand new darling niece: baby booties.
+ For my parents & in-laws: photo books.
+ For my brother-in-law: freezer paper stencil t-shirts.

This made for some late nights. But totally worth it. I love the feeling I get when I make something for someone.

And now it’s on to a new year. Wishing you all the best!

About a month ago I heard about the Green Grocery Bag Challenge on Sew, Mama Sew! and thought I’d give it a try. Even if I don’t wrap everything in reusable bags, I decided not to buy any new wrapping supplies this year and instead just get creative with what I have around the house. I’m [...]]]>

About a month ago I heard about the Green Grocery Bag Challenge on Sew, Mama Sew! and thought I’d give it a try. Even if I don’t wrap everything in reusable bags, I decided not to buy any new wrapping supplies this year and instead just get creative with what I have around the house. I’m already thinking I’ll wrap some of the bigger gifts for the boys in pillowcases but we’ll see how that goes.

I made these little burlap bags to wrap presents in. It was perfect because I was sending some gifts with my husband on the airplane last week and I think it’s still a rule that you can’t take wrapped gifts through security, right? Well, fabric bags were perfect because if they wanted to see inside it’s easy to open and easy to re-wrap.

I just made a simple bag with a twine closure (it’s not even drawstring – I’m trying to keep this wrapping stuff simple). Burlap on the outside. Muslin on the inside.

But then I thought it might be nice to have a special tag to go with these specially wrapped gifts. So I made some gifts tags that you are free to use! Merry Christmas!

There is a page of green tags and a page of red ones. I do not have a color printer at home but I love how they printed gray. I mounted mine on brown kraft paper but I’m sure all you creative folks out there will be able to make it your own.

Click on the links below to download the free gift tags to go with your green holiday wrapping!

CLICK HERE to download the green tags

CLICK HERE to download the red tags

I just made and hung my advent calendar for this year. I decided not to unpack my calendar from last year (you can see pics here) for no good reason – just didn’t want to. So I made this one using a brown paper bag and construction paper. I cut open the bag and then folded [...]]]>

I just made and hung my advent calendar for this year. I decided not to unpack my calendar from last year (you can see pics here) for no good reason – just didn’t want to. So I made this one using a brown paper bag and construction paper. I cut open the bag and then folded up pockets and then sewed the dividers with my sewing machine. That didn’t really make sense. Just look at the photo. It was so simple to make and took about 20 minutes. I cut the construction paper small enough to fit in the pockets and wrote on it with a marker. (Hi-tech, right?!)

Here’s my list of activities for the advent this year:

1. Read a Christmas story
2. Make paper chains for the kiddo’s room
3. Play Christmas Memory
4. Hang the lights outside on the house
5. Make cookies
6. Make presents for Dad
7. Write and send a Christmas letter to a friend
8. Make and decorate gingerbread houses with friends
9. Read Christmas stories
10. Eat dinner picnic style by the Christmas tree
11. Go to the church Christmas party
12. Learn a new Christmas song
13. Play Christmas Bingo with friends
14. Visit a friend
15. Make ornaments (pine cones dipped in wax)
16. Do something nice for a friend
17. Make two paper toys: one for you and one for a friend
18. Make paper plate snowmen
19. Make up and perform a puppet show
20. Play a board game when Dad gets home from work
21. Drink sparkling cider with dinner
22. Go on a drive to look at the Christmas lights around town
23. Have a family talent show
24. Do something nice for someone else

Any other good ideas out there? Happy December!

My sketchbook just arrived in the [...]]]>

My sketchbook just arrived in the mail. Fun.