Letter Matching Activity

This is a super simple activity to keep little hands busy while helping stretch their growing minds!

Supplies:

Foam Letter Stickers

8 1/2x 11 cardstock or sheet of paper

Marker

Set up: Adult writes the alphabet A-Z on sheet of cardstock or paper. This can be done in uppercase to match the letter stickers as I have done, or you could write the lowercase letter and have the child match the uppercase letter sticker to the lowercase letter on the paper.

To make this a portable activity, place 1 of each letter sticker in a zippered plastic bag and staple to the paper. To do the activity, the child simply chooses a letter from the bag and then matches it with the corresponding letter on the paper. Doesn't get much simpler than that!

My 3 1/2 yr old loves stickers and is loving learning her alphabet. She stayed busy with this activity for quite some time!

Knitted Basket

Does this look familiar?

As I was pondering how to fix it or if it would fit Taylor's doll, I turned it upside down and decided the too small hat was the perfect sized basket for sewing notions!

Of course, within minutes of seeing it filled with goodies, Taylor said "Hey, that's my hat!" and promptly dumped the goodies and reclaimed her hat. When I told it was too small, she simply said "No it's not." and walked away. I've casted on another hat and I'll reclaim my notions basket when I'm able to trade it for a better fitting hat. Negotiating with preschoolers...it's an acquired skill.

I Love This Yarn

It's Lion Brand Homespun. I'm making a wrap with it. You can find the free pattern, here.

I love the soft, buttery feel of the yarn in my fingers as I'm knitting and I love the color. My winter wardrobe is full of black and brown and this color looks good with both of those colors. Also looks fab with denim.

What yarn do you love?

This is Why I sew

I absolutely LOVE this fabric! I made this dress using The Paper Doll Dress Pattern by Lil' Blue Boo. I love this pattern! I used corduroy fabric from JoAnn's that was on-sale this week. I created the pleated purse on my own but used the same technique to create the band on the purse that is used to create the chest piece of the dress. Once I finished the dress and the purse, I just had to use my scraps to make coordinating hair clips. This is the first time I've made hair clips for Taylor and I can't believe how quick and easy it was!

My girl loves her new ensemble and I love the smiles on her face when I make her "pretty things". Yep. This is why I sew!

(I just noticed both the pic of her wearing the dress and the pic of the dress above, show the straps being uneven. They're not actually uneven, I just made the button holes a little too big by mistake and the buttons are sitting in the button holes unevenly. OK, I just had to point that out because I'm a little OCD like that!)

I've got a question for all of you...As I said I love this floral fabric, but I realize it's not for everyone, so what do you think? Is it totally adorable or totally hideous?

Paper Bag Pumpkin Craft Featured

I'm so happy to announce that my paper bag pumpkin craft is featured today over at The Crafty Crow! I love The Crafty Crow and get sooo much inspiration from the amazing projects featured there. Thanks for collecting all the kids' crafts, Cassi! I hope my paper bag pumpkin inspires others to get crafty, too! If you're visiting me today because you found me through The Crafty Crow, thanks for stopping by!

Sit back with a cup of coffee (or whatever your drink of choice) and take a peek into my crafty little life! :)

Fall Fashion

Taylor is all about fashion, right now. And, she is all about dresses and polka-dots. Polka-dot dresses are the ultimate high for her! The weather has finally cooled down but she's still insisting on wearing dresses. She doesn't have many fall dresses, so today I went on a mission to Target. I bought (well, actually Grammie paid for - - Thanks, Mom!) a few long sleeve white T-shirts that she can wear under her summer dresses. But of course, I had to look at the fall dresses. I came across this adorable brown sweater dress that was already on clearance. My brown-eyed girl looks beautiful in brown, so of course I had to scoop it up. Then, I went searching for tights...I got these polka-dot ones and an absolutely adorable pair of flowered ones. I also picked up the cute mary-jane shoes and some adorable brown boots. (She's on a trend of wearing pretty dresses with hiking boots...Daddy thinks it's cute, I prefer more girly boots with dresses).

And...these pants, are currently cut up into pieces on my cutting table (oh, wait, it's actually a dining table?) so stay tuned to see what I make with them!

Another Beanie Hat

I'm really enjoying knitting these cute beanie hats. BUT...

I need HELP!

The hat looks cute in the pic up top, right?

Well...now look at this...

Not so cute -- the hat, not the girl. The girl is always cute ;) --

I altered the pattern a little, I used smaller needles and a thinner yarn (sportweight rather than worsted weight that the pattern calls for) and, I measured Taylor's head from crown to brow. The finished hat from crown to brow is eight inches when the pattern is followed as it's written. Taylor's head is 5 inches from crown to brow, so I figured her hat should be 5 inches when finished. It is, indeed 5 inches, but it is clearly too small.

Is there any way I can salvage this without starting all over again?

As I said, I'm really loving knitting the hats and knitting in general, but I like it better when my project turns out the way it's supposed to.

On a good note, she got the sticker on her chest from her teacher because she ate all of her carrots at lunchtime. Way to Go, Baby! We need to celebrate the small victories! :)

So, anyone have any advice on how to fix the hat?