Making a Change

For awhile I've considered switching my blogging platform to wordpress. Their stuff is just so much prettier and I've been told that their interface is way nicer and easier to use. So, I've switched! You can now find me at www.crazyincrafts.wordpress.com. Hope to see you there!

Quick & Easy Toddler Activities

I wanted a few fun activities for Lilly that don't involve super messy things like paint and shaving cream. While in the dollar tree I found a big bag of colorful puff balls and knew I could use them for multiple things. When I got home I pulled out an ice cube tray and a pair of tongs and told her to pick up the puff balls with the tongs and put them in the ice cube tray. She spent quite a while doing this activity and she really enjoyed herself. After she has mastered the tongs I will add new elements like putting specific colors in specific spots and transferring them from one container to another. Plus I can give her tweezers to make it more of a challenge. (I started with tweezers but she couldn't figure out how to use them properly.)

The other activity I used was from a really nice site for toddler and preschool activities called www.prekinders.com. I found a fun activity to teach patterns using conversation heart candies. She enjoyed placing the candies on the correct colors and lining them up properly but the pattern idea was a bit over her head. However, she did spend about 25 minutes participating in this activity so I say it was a success. She was really excited when she realized that they were candy.

 

Sorting and Counting with Popsicle Sticks

I had these colored popsicle stick laying around and thought up a quick and easy activity for Lilly to do. I simply got some of my food storage containers and asked Lilly to sort them. After sorting many of them we counted how many we had of each color. It was a nice activity that she seemed to enjoy and that took basically no planning on my part. It's a winner.

DIY Felt Letters for a Cute Mailbox

I found a really cute little metal mailbox in the dollar bins at Target and instantly thought that I could make some special little "letters" to go along with it. They aren't actual letters but, she's not quite old enough for that so they work well.

You will need:
- various colors of felt
- pretty and sturdy scrapbook paper
- pen
- hot glue
- very thick and sturdy paper (I used a piece of junk mail that was mailed without an envelope)

First I had to decide what size the letters should be. After that I cut out two identically sized pieces of felt from each color. Then I cut a piece of paper from the thick junk mail to fit in between the two pieces of felt. This makes the letters sturdier and feel more real. I guess you don't have to do this but I think it added to quality. Once I had all of my starting pieces I simply hot glued them together sandwich style with the paper in between the two felt pieces.

After creating the base for my letter I experimented with using more felt for the address labels and stamps, but the ink blurred and it didn't look very good so I abandoned that. It would work if you wanted to embroider the felt but I'm too lazy for that. So, I realized that I would have to use paper. I dug around in my scrapbook drawers for some pretty paper that was also a little thicker than your average paper. I found some pink and blue that had the bonus of some sparkles so it is more special. Then I simply cut out squares and rectangles for the addresses and the stamps. (I blurred the address on the top letter but you get the idea.)

Finally, on the back of each letter I added some dash marks to denote the "envelope flap" that would normally be there. I used a fabric marker for this but you could probably use a sharpie and it work just as well.

So, there you have it! This was super easy and she really enjoys checking her mailbox and delivering mail. It took a little longer than I had planned because I had to re-think my original design but, that has been figured out for you and would take you considerably less time. Have fun!

DIY Custom Art Prints for Cheap

I keep seeing all of these wonderfully inspirational quotes on Pinterest and saving them to a folder but I decided that I would like to put some of them up in my home so they can inspire me every time I walk by them. So, I started thinking about how I would go about doing this. My solution is pretty simple and anyone with powerpoint can do it.

Before reading my directions, make note that I am using Windows 7. Things may be different in older and newer versions.

Find a quote that you like. Then open up a new microsoft powerpoint presentation. Once in powerpoint go to the "design" tab and then click on "page setup" (it can be found in the upper left hand corner of the screen). Now a box should open that allows you to set your preferences for the orientation and size of the page you are working on. I selected portrait for all of mine but if you plan on going with a wider poster that hangs horizontal then you want to choose that option. Then, change the size to at least 20x30. It depends on what size you want to print out. If you are printing a larger poster then make your dimensions larger.

After modifying the design of my slide I simply began to add individual text boxes for each word or every few words in the quote that I liked. As I typed and created text boxes I played with different fonts for certain words as well as different sizes and colors. There is no limit to what you can create as long as you use your imagination and it doesn't take very long at all! I decided to make a cute poster for my closet that is a Kate Spade quote. I also made a poster using a Roald Dahl quote that I love and I plan on making a small 4x6 photo print of that for a frame on my night stand. Then I took a page out of Pinterest and used the song lyrics to our wedding song to make two large poster prints to hang in our bedroom in place of some crappy circle paint art that I made and have since grown tired of.  All in all I spent $5 on the 11x14, .14 cents on the 4x6 and $11 on the 20x30 prints. (I had a coupon for 40% off all photo stuff at Walgreens!) I'll let you know how they turn out but I'm pretty excited to see the results.

I've included the files that I created and you're more than welcome to use them if you like! Enjoy!

DIY Baby Doll Diapers

For Christmas my Aunt got Lillian a baby doll that has a diaper you can take on and off. Lilly thinks it's great but, it is a little difficult for her to do it by herself because the diaper has elastic which makes it a bit unruly. Also, she only came with one diaper and Lilly wants to take off the "dirty" diaper and replace it with a clean one. So, I decided it should be pretty easy to make some diapers out of colorful felt that would be not only easier for her to use but also cute and quick to make.

You will need:
- several sheets of felt
- velcro dots
- pen
- scissors
- hot glue gun
- baby doll (for sizing)

First I laid the doll on the felt to create a general outline for my diaper. This way I could be sure that the diaper would fit the doll properly.

 

After creating the template I cut it out and made sure that it fit the doll properly. (This actually took a few tries to determine the proper size and shape.) Then I traced around the edge of one side of the diaper onto a new piece of felt.

 

Then I folded that piece in half. This ensured that both sides were identical so I wouldn't end up with a wonky diaper. After folding it in half I cut it out. Now I have my diaper more or less, minus the velcro dots.






Then I just applied a drop of hot glue and placed the velcro dot on top of the glue. (If you don't hot glue them they come off pretty easily. Do not skip the hot glue.)



Voila! Easy felt diapers for any baby doll that only take a few minutes to make but provide hours of fun!

Mommy's Helper

I needed to clean and decided to let Lillian "help". I gave her a water filled squirt bottle and a clean cloth and asked her to help me clean. She thought it was fantastic and ended up spending over 30 minutes "cleaning". She especially liked cleaning hr car. It was a great trick to keep her entertained and to allow me to clean it hour worrying about entertaining her. Also, I use the sniffer duster and she LOVES helping me dust too.