Kids Daily Calendar

I made this for my grandsons so that when I go to visit I can start the day off with learning about the date, season, weather and give them a chance to try to identify how they are feeling that day.  I have put some cards in with activities that we will do together on the days my daughter is at work.  I put a section at the bottom where they can stick stars on when they have been good or helped in some way.  Everything is made of felt except for the clear plastic pockets, edging and activity cards.  My daughter says they both benefit from knowing what they will be doing during the day, so I hope they like this activity with their "nanny".

Altered Book Alpha Challenge - H is for Heliotrope

The Alpha Challenge over at The Craft Barn HERE this fortnight is the letter H.  Sunflowers are one of my favourite flowers and my page this time is H for heliotrope, any plant that turns to face the sun.  The head of a sunflower will follow the path of the sun through the day and I chose them for my watercolour pages.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful comments you left me last week, I look forward to seeing all of your pages for this letter.

Mouse in a Tin

I made these two mice in Altoid tins for my grandsons.  I got the idea from Pinterest and they are made from small scraps of material with felt for ears arms and feet.  My grandsons are at a very nurturing stage so my daughter said they would love something like this.  One of them asked me just the other day to make something and send it to them, hope they like them.

Kids Theater

Made this puppet theater for my grandsons today out of a curtain and some remnants of material.  The stars on the curtain are glow in the dark which will be fun when the lights go down.

Altered Book Alpha Challenge - E is for Enamelling

This fortnight's letter over at The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge HERE is "E".  I chose to do some paper enamelling, (English preferred spelling) it has the most wonderful effect almost like broken pieces of china too.  First cover the surface with snail glue or double sided tape the old birthday cards are cut up into pieces and placed randomly over the page leaving spaces between.  Gold leaf in this case or mica powders or mica flakes are then brushed over the top and stick to the cracks.  Two coats of perfect paper adhesive gloss over the entire pages gives the faux enamelled look.  The pages looked so pretty without any other decoration I left them as is.  This technique also makes wonderful toppers for cards if done on ATC sized illustration board. 

Thank you for all the wonderful comments that were left last week, I greatly appreciate them.

European Peg Bag

My old peg bag that hangs on the washing line finally broke. I still hang my washing on the line outside for that wonderful fresh smell, not to mention the money savings from not using the tumble dryer, so I needed to make a new one.  This time I chose to make an apron that holds the pegs.  I used an upholstery remnant that I bought from Michaels to make this European Peg Bag.  No more falling off the line and pegs strewn around for me.  It works perfectly, even has a little tag at the center front for hanging it up in the garage when not in use.  If you want the instructions on how to make one for yourself you can find them at Mother Earth News HERE

Reading Corner Blanket

Taken me 3 weeks to complete but here is the blanket I crochet for our reading chair.  It is made from Homespun wool in two colours, pearls and barley.  The chair is leather so needs a little warming on these cool winter mornings.