Nursery Rhyme Week: "Pat-A-Cake" Costume

In K4, Brooklyn doesn't get a lot of homework assigned (thankfully!), but when we were notified that the kids were supposed to do a project for Nursery Rhyme Week, we were excited to get started! The assignment was to pick the child's favorite nursery rhyme and make something that illustrated it. It could be a poster, costume, or other craft project. Each child then must show their project to the class while the other students are given the opportunity to guess the rhyme represented. 

When I asked Brooklyn what nursery rhyme was her favorite, she started crying and said, "I like them all!" Can someone say drama queen????? Then she toyed with the rhyme, "Hey Diddle Diddle" before finally settling on "Pat-A-Cake." (I tried to convince her to do "Sing a Song of Sixpence" because I thought it would be funny to make a pie with 24 blackbirds in it, and one carrying a nose in it's beak. I love pinching my girls' noses when we get to the part when the blackbird snips off the maid's nose! But, nope... "Pat-A-Cake" was her choice!)

Now the instructions clearly stated that the child was to do most of the work for the assignment, so I tried to be good! While Scott and I did some of it, Brooklyn definitely was the main artist for the entire process.

First, we used modeling clay to make a cake with a "B" for baby on it. It took a couple days to dry, and then she decorated it with pink and brown acrylic paint. While Scott touched up the edges of the "B", the girls had fun painting a paper bag... though I took precautions to make sure they didn't stain their clothing! ;o) (I suppose art smocks should be next on the "to make" list!) 

While they were working on the painting, I got busy using an old white flat sheet to whip up an apron. It was nice using the sheet since I didn't have to hem the bottom or the top parts! Brooklyn then made hand prints across the bottom of the apron (playing along with the pat-a-cake theme), and used a fabric marker to write "Baker" across the chest.

For a chef's hat, I pulled up this tutorial from "The Little Giggler" blog. She put together an easy tutorial that took me about 20 minutes to complete! I only changed a few things. After measuring Brooklyn's head, I made my band a little thinner -- 6 x 21 inches, and I used a circle of 19 inches in diameter instead of 15. I also sewed around the edge of the entire circle with the largest stitch on my sewing machine, and then pulled the thread to gather the circle in until it fit the size of the band. I thought this was a lot easier than making the pleats! (Hope that makes sense!)

Brooklyn was so excited about her costume. She took it to school all neatly packed in a shoe box, but when she came off the bus after school, she was wearing her entire costume and carrying the "cake." Even the bus driver was calling her "Chef Brooklyn!" 

I'm sure the entire class was able to guess the nursery rhyme right away! Not too difficult, eh? 

And this is just the first of many more school projects to come. I hope I'm able to be as creative as my Dad always was when he helped me with my assignments.... pyramids made out of sugar cubes and sandy paint, a giant paper mache' brontosaurus, and an authentic-looking missionary display board representing the country of Austria.... just a few of the many projects I remember working on with my Dad. I have huge shoes to fill in this department!!!! But I guess I can always send her over to "Grandpa" if we need inspiration, right Dad? ;-) 

Linking Up at these Craft Parties

A Wee Bit O' Fun for St. Patrick's Day

Yesterday was seriously the best St. Patrick's Day I've ever had! I think it was mostly because my kids are now at the age where corny activities are really fun to them. I enjoyed introducing them to the holiday this year (though Brooklyn remembers from previous years that "Green Day" is Mom's favorite day! :) 

When we woke up, we discovered that a leprechaun had played some funny tricks on us! He turned our toilet water green, as well as the milk in the refrigerator! It was a perfect addition to our "Lucky Charms" cereal for breakfast!

 

Before we even finished breakfast, Brooklyn started wondering if the leprechaun had hidden any gold for us in our house (I wish!!!). Good thing I had used this tutorial on Momtastic to make a treasure hunt! Instead of printing out the sheets that were already made on this blog, I wrote out the rhymes on green paper and covered them with gold scratch off paint. 

****Side note: Did you know that you can make your own scratch off paint? You just need to mix one part acrylic paint (I used sparkly gold!) with one part liquid dish soap. Cover your words with clear packaging tape to protect them, and then paint with your paint/soap mixture on top of the tape. It takes awhile to dry, though. I did this at 11 PM at night, and it was still slightly damp in a few places 9 AM the next morning. It worked really well, though, and the girls loved it!*** 

I "found" the first clue, gave them each a "lucky penny", and they had so much scratching off the paint, deciphering the rhymes, and hunting for the treasure! 

And look what they found underneath a plate in the cupboard?!! Leprechaun Pete had left them "Rainbow Nerds" and "Twix" candy bars. (I though that was a pretty hilarious combination to be the "gold at the end of the rainbow! haha -- at least it made me chuckle!)

Then I asked the girls if they wanted to be leprechauns. Of course, they said yes! We made a note for the neighbor boys, using our thumb prints and a green ink pad to paint shamrocks, and put together a gift basket of a few "green" items I had previously picked up from the Dollar Store (green socks, bubble bath, green licorice, glow sticks, bubbles, golden delicious apples, and green divided plates).

It was so cute to watch the girls walk the basket across the yard to the neighbor's house. They took the sneaking part VERY seriously! Brooklyn put the basket down on the steps, rang the doorbell, and then girls took off running to hide in their playhouse. They kept giggling as they watched the boys' dad bring the basket inside! I couldn't keep from laughing as I watched their excitement!

We also talked about Patrick the missionary, and how he told people about Jesus. We even found this great short Veggie Tales video that teaches the history of St. Patrick in a fun way.

The day ended with a dinner party with two of our neighbor families, and cooking s'mores over a fire outside. So thankful for this gorgeous weather and great neighbors to share the fun times with!!!

 

Gorgeous Spring Days

Hello, there! Just poppin' in from living outside the last few days!

We are praising God for this unexpected gift of 60 - 75 degree weather in the middle of MARCH! This never happens in good ol' Wisconsin, let me tell you!!!

No this is not another daughter I've been hiding -- this is Lauren, a girl I babysit. :)

 

We're living in the moments as we receive them, pretending that it is really June and that the cold weather will never return. We even threw in a lunch picnic yesterday, eating on a blanket in the porch!

This has been so good for me... several days of hanging out with my girls, letting the to-do lists slide as much as possible, being refreshed by the opportunities of outdoor activities that we miss during the winter.

I need to be better at going outside even when it is cold, wet, and snowy.... I'm thinking about reading the book 15 Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids by Rebecca Cohen. I need some inspiration for those winter blahs that keep me holed inside like a hermit! Oh, and I'm also one of those people that isn't warm unless it is AT LEAST 65 degrees and sunny -- 85 is even better. :) But enough about winter, because it is clearly spring right now!!!

 

The children had fun introducing Selah to the park. She loved the swing...

tasted a few wood chips (don't worry -- I'm SURE they're organic)...

and discovered sand. Much to my dismay, she got a mouthful or two in...taking after her big sister Cassie!

Oh, how we've missed the fun and convenience of the park a block from our house. The kids never seem to tire of it no matter how often we go during the summer months.

How have you been enjoying this gorgeous weather???

Tutorial: Taggy Shopping Cart Handle Cover

A few weeks ago, I was accepted to be a part of Fabric Fascination's Fabric for Tutorials Exchange. Basically, I was sent half a yard of material in exchange for using it to make a blog tutorial. This was a fun opportunity, and I enjoyed thinking of something creative to make for the exchange: a cover for the handle of a shopping cart featuring ribbon tags!

My daughter is old enough to sit in a cart now, but if I am not super vigilant to watch her, Selah will chomp her mouth right down on the cart handle. Very disgusting, I know! Someone gave me a cart insert that covers the entire cart seat, and uses multiple straps to attach securely. It's nice, but I never remember to take it with me to the store, and the few times I've had it in the car, it was a huge pain to attach to the cart while juggling a squirmy baby (and it was too bulky to fit in my diaper bag). Anybody with me here??? I wanted to make something that was small enough to fit in my purse, quick to attach, and would keep my baby girl entertained while I shopped. I'm happy to say that this handle cover met all those qualifications! Want to make one for your child or one to give a way to a new mom? 

Supplies Needed:

1/4 yard of cotton or flannel material

1/4 yard of fleece

7 - 4.5 inch strips of coordinating ribbon or trim

12 inches of hook and loop tape (velcro)

***First let me show you the material I was given -- it was a cute blue and pink print by Robert Kaufman called Modern Whimsy. There is more of this material in Fabric Fascination's etsy shop, as well as many other beautiful prints. (Let me just say, this material is GREAT quality, very soft and hardy cotton -- definitely encourages me to be brave enough to order material online!)***

Directions:

1. Cut 2 - 4 X 19 inch pieces of your main material, and 2 - 4 X 19 inch pieces of your fleece. The fleece will be used as backing to make the handle cover thick and cushy.

2. Cut 6 - 2 inch pieces of hook and loop tape (velcro), separate the pieces, and put the rough side along a long edge of one of your main fabric strips, and place the soft side of the tape along an edge of one of your fleece strips. (Place the velcro on the right side of the material.) Make sure the pieces are evenly spaced out, and then sew them in place. (This is the longest part of the project! If you want, you could always just cut one 16 inch piece of velcro and sew it along the edges instead of doing the smaller pieces. You would just end up using more velcro that way.) 

3. Now, place each main material piece right sides together with a fleece piece. I recommend pinning them in place because fleece has quite a bit of stretch! You are going to sew along the two short edges and the long edge that has the velcro on BOTH strips.

4. Turn both strips right sides out, and press the seams down being careful not to melt your velcro. ;) Your pieces should look like the picture below, with the velcro on the outside of the main fabric on one piece, and on the outside of the fleece on the other piece.

5. Take your coordinating ribbon or trim to make the tags. It is fun to find different textures of ribbon for the child to explore and play with. :) Cut 7 - 4.5 inch strips and lay them out evenly on the un-sewn edge of one of your material pieces. Fold the ribbon in half and pin them in place near the top of the loop so your sewing machine won't get stuck on a pin later.

I added a 7th ribbon after this picture -- a plain white one ;)

 

pin near the the top of the loop

6. Lay your two pieces on top of each other, right sides together (fleece on the outside) with your un-sewn seams matching. With a generous 5/8 inch seam, sew down the long edge, securing the ribbons in between your two pieces.

When you are done sewing, open it up and it should look like the picture below. Iron the seam open, and finish it with a serger or pinking shears if you would like.

7. Almost done!!! The final step is to top stitch around the entire rectangle to finish.

When you fold it together, your velcro pieces should match up, making a tube.

Now, go shopping and surprise your baby with this fun new cover! You can also use toy c-hooks to attach toys to the ribbon loops for even more entertainment options. And the best part: no more chewing on the germ-coated cart handle!!!! Yay!