penny carnival

12 Days of Crafting, Days 9-12: letters-to-Santa satchel, family journal and more

The last of the Christmas craft tutorials. Enjoy! 

Day 12: An envelope to store letters to Santa year after year.

 

Day 11: A Christmas journal your family can keep over the years to record holiday memories. This cover follows the same concept as the DIY daily planner I made months ago--and promised a tutorial for way back when. Well, better late than never!


 Artwork and lettering traced by Bo:

Day 10: a way to display holiday greeting cards--or recipes or kids' artwork or homework or ...

 

Day 9: a super-easy bookmark to use as a gift tag when you're giving someone a book. 

  

12 Days of Crafting, Days 7 and 8: candle crown and countdown blocks

I just posted Day 8's craft for my 12 Days of Crafting project over at Dwell Well.

Today, we made a Santa Lucia crown from felt:

 

You can see the tutorial, more photos and an explanation of what in the world a Santa Lucia crown is right here.

Day 7 was a project from my sister-in-law, Kim: countdown to Christmas blocks.

Cute, huh?

Four more crafts to go.

We are knee deep in Christmas here. Party for J's side of the family was last night. Great fun. His family is very musical, so at one point we were all sitting around the piano singing Christmas songs (and then Beatles songs and then Elton John songs). It was beautiful.

 

Today we went to Spokane's annual Gingerbread House Build-Off, one of my favorite events of the year. Money raised goes to a program that helps women in need get on their feet, get some job skills, etc. Local pastry chefs and architects team up to design a gingerbread house to fit the year's theme. Here were a couple of the works in progress:

Meanwhile, kids can buy a gingerbread (graham cracker, actually) kit made by the women in the program, have a seat at a table and decorate their own little houses.

I hope you're enjoying the holidays, too.

The Santa situation, Thanksgiving costumes and more daily life

Oh, you guys who keep coming back to read Penny Carnival after these long breaks between posts are too good to me. Even J has been scolding me. 

I'm sorry for my absence. It's been, well, nuts.

Thanksgiving was lovely, though. How about you? 

We visited my family across the state and had a fun dinner at my sister's. The kids put on a "First Thanksgiving" play, dressed in costumes we made at the 11th hour (me, anyway).

Despite some historical inaccuracies (we're going to let that slide for a few years), it was downright adorable.

The play ended with the kids sharing a Thanksgiving feast of rice crispy treats shaped like corn on the cob and a blessing that led us to the dinner table.

 
You can read more about it on my Kids' Parties site.  

I did find time to make myself a pilgrim apron following Heather Bailey's fantastic Daily Spice pattern. I say pilgrim because it had a black bodice and skirt and a white waistband and ties. No pictures yet. I always seem to be behind the camera instead of in front of it.

The plan was to make four identical aprons--one for me, my mom, my sister and her friend who had dinner with us. But I only had time for one and it turned out a bit wonky (you know how it goes when you're using a pattern for the first time) so it's all mine. Maybe I'll try for a Santa style one for Christmas (red, black, red?) ... or maybe not.

Speaking of Santa, we're in the midst of our annual dilemma. J and I feel so strongly about being truthful with our kids. It's utterly painful for us to carry on with the Santa story. We do it, cheerfully, but this year is more challenging than ever because both girls have developed a phobia of the big guy. 

It seriously goes beyond a normal fear, especially for Bo, who is 4 now. I think Magpie (who is 2) gets scared because she sees her big sister crying. We tried to go to our city's annual tree lighting, but she wouldn't step foot in the building because she knew Santa would be there. The poor kid was hysterical.

We stayed in a hotel near Seattle last night in a city that throws a holiday parade--totally fun. Fake snow falling from the sky. Toy soldiers on stilts giving out candy canes. People dressed up like reindeer and snowmen and penguins. I don't even know if Santa was there because the girls didn't want to have anything to do with it. 

I take that back. Bo was happy to meet the Snow Princess. 

My mom was with us and she tried dancing the jitterbug with Rudolph to help the girls get comfortable with the costumes, but it didn't work (and then Rudolph's helper said to my mom, "OK, lady. Let's not get Rudolph too hot in there." If you know my mom, it was a classic Nancy moment.)

I kind of wonder if Bo is so scared because we're so honest with her about everything else. She's in the heart of those years when she's trying to figure out how the world works, and here are her parents telling her that some old guy is going to park his reindeer on her roof and shimmy down her chimney one night. I think I'd be freaked out, too.

I'm seriously considering telling her the truth and focusing on the historical story of Saint Nick, not to mention all the other wonderful Christmas traditions. But here is how the conversation usually goes when I suggest this:

Megan: I don't like being dishonest with my kids.
Friends and Family: When you were little, didn't you believe in Santa?
Megan: Yes.
Friends and Family: And it was fun, wasn't it?
Megan: Yes.
Friends and Family: Then why rob your children of some of the magic of Christmas?
Megan: Umm ... I don't know.

Plus, what if she told all the kids in preschool the truth about Santa. Would we get expelled??!

Advice please. There are four weeks until Christmas and at some point I'm going to need to go into a mall.

In other news, we made our first snowmen of the year:

But it's these snowmen I'm really craving:

(Photo taken at Madeleine's in Spokane) 

And if you're going to make a snowman, you might as well do it in style, right Magpie?

 

We enjoyed a recent playdate with a friend:

 

which resulted in these cookies:

and this sweet moment in Bo's bedroom:

Bo won her first coloring contest, which bought dinner for four so we're happy to report that she's now earning her keep:

And check out this adorable Princess and the Pea toy my nieces' grandmother made for them after seeing the idea here:


 Squeal! Don't you love the little pocket for the pea?

I'm sure she would want me to tell everyone that she didn't make the doll, but she's an accomplished seamstress so I know she could make any doll she wanted to.   

Now that your computer has crashed from opening all those photos ... come back soon because I'm working behind the scenes on lots of good stuff. Twelve--count 'em! twelve!--tutorials for Christmas crafts. That starts Dec. 6, but hopefully I'll have something worthwhile to say before then (but don't hold your breath). 

   

  

The Little Red Riding Hood birthday party

Hooray for another birthday party! Last night was Magpie's Little Red Riding Hood-themed 2nd birthday. These are getting more fun all the time--so many kids running around the house, so much excitement beforehand, so much more time for the grownups to catch up with each other now that the little ones are more self sufficient. 

Something always goes a little wrong, but that's part of the fun, right? Right?! 

Besides, the look on this face makes the mad scramble at the end worth it:

 

You can see more pictures/details on my About.com Kids' Parties site.

You might notice that she's clutching a couple of her birthday gifts there--a stuffed pig and a plastic giraffe. Almost every picture I took last night shows her with those two toys in her hands. I guess she took a liking to them right away.

She's also wearing another gift--this apron I sewed her (modeled by Lulu the lamb the other day so I didn't ruin the surprise):

 

I wish I'd had more time to make her some other handmade gifts. On my to-do list were a Mimi Kirchner doll (dressed as Little Red Riding Hood), a felt cake and a camping blanket, but time ran out. Oh, well. There's always Christmas.

Anyhoo, she was happy to get the apron, especially after having to borrow her big sister's for the last year or so. Magpie is an avid cook--I can't make anything without her "helping" these days--so I'm glad I got that project done for her.

Moving on ... to Christmas. 

I really don't see the point in decorating the house for Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving, but we're not going to be here for it, and why put the effort into decorating for Christmas if it's only up for a few weeks?

So we pulled out the crates labeled "Christmas" today and put a few things out. 

 

The big hit was the nativity set (the one I let them play with). You wouldn't believe the adventures Mary, Joseph and Jesus had today. My goodness. Did you know Mary is a princess? Yep. 

The best part, though, was that every time Bo would say something about "the baby Jesus," Magpie would look up and ask me for a "cheese stick." 

Halloween costumes 2009

Just a quick note to show the Halloween costumes I made for the girls.

Magpie was a pirate and Bo was Glenda the Good Witch ... for about three hours. Then she decided her costume was too scratchy so she put on the Cinderella dress I made for her birthday. Ay caramba. I did the same thing to my mom every year from about 1980 until 1985. Payback's a beeyatch! I would have gladly skipped the Thursday night wrestling match with three yards of tulle if she hadn't begged for it in the fabric store. Who's in charge here? Oh. These two are:

 

 

 

About to be blown away to Oz:

J and I dressed up, too, but he won't let me post the photo. (Every party has a pooper and he's the pooper of the party. I tell him that sometimes. Somehow it doesn't inspire him to be less of a party pooper. Did I tell you I am an awesome wife?!). Our costumes were very last minute. I bought us both Superman T-shirts and we wore them under white dress shirts with the buttons halfway undone. We also wore black-rimmed eye glasses. You get the picture. Clark Kent about to become Superman. I'll try harder next year.

The craft room has seen some serious action in the past week. Last night I frantically stitched up a pair of Montessori slippers for Magpie's first day at her big sister's school. Very exciting. I'd show you a picture, but the slippers hardly had time to be in existence before they were whisked away and put to use in the actual school this morning. 

And this week is all about preparing for Magpie's Little Red Riding Hood birthday party this weekend. Oh, and working. Not sure how it's all going to get done, but it always does. Details coming soon ... 

P.S. The pirate costume was Simplicity 3680 ... with some serious shortcuts. The Glenda dress was Simplicity 4139 ... with some serious tulle.

'The rain is like a baptism'

One of my favorite movies in high school (and this might make some of you youngins realize how old I am. 35) was "Say Anything." I was so in love with Lloyd Dobler. Still am, really.

The movie is set in Seattle, which of course is thrilling when you're 16 and you sort of think Seattle belongs to you even though you live in a suburb 86 miles away. That was before Nirvana and Pearl Jam made it big, and then we really thought we had something to brag about--even us sheltered kids from the 'burbs who probably couldn't relate to half of the angst those guys sang about.

My friend Simon, who lives in Seattle, has this for his status update on Facebook this morning: "The drive to work in the rain through tree-lined streets that were shedding their leaves, listening to Classic King FM ... I heart the PNW!" (Translation: Pacific Northwest.)

I'm four hours away, on the "dry" side of the state, and it's pouring down rain here today, too. The rain is like a baptism (a Lloyd Dobler line) on my back patio. (I don't have any profound rebirth to report. That line from the movie has just always stuck in my head.) 

The rain sounds more torrential than it is because we need to clean the pine needles out of the gutter, but I almost want to keep them there because the sound of the water crashing down onto the concrete reminds me so much of home. 

Rain was a constant growing up in northwest Washington. It didn't keep you indoors during recess--you just wore your slicker or played kickball under the "covered area" at Roosevelt Elementary School. It didn't stop you from riding your bike through Whatcom Falls Park. On especially wet days at home, you stayed inside eating grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup and doing arts and crafts at the card table with your big sister. When you got older, there were first kisses in the rain and nights out with your girlfriends when the roads always seemed to be wet.

I've got the icks (again!), so I don't much feel like being out there today. But it's a perfect day for hunkering down, getting some work done, and then hopefully finally sewing up the girls' Halloween costumes later tonight.

If it's rainy where you are and you're looking for an arts and crafts project to do with your kids, check out these 3-D pumpkins I wrote a tutorial for for the new About.com site. You can use them as Halloween decorations or save them for Thanksgiving dinner and set them out as place cards.

One other crafty thing to report--the last book sling I'll be making for a while:

 

(Note to self: if someone ever asks me to applique the letter "S" again, just say no! Damn those curves.)

I put my little Etsy shop on vacation for a bit. Just too much other stuff going on. It's not like I had that many orders, but it takes a lot of time and care and I really admire the people who make a living out of doing that. I'll open it back up soon, but I need to get some Christmas and birthday gifts made for my own family first.

Don't forget that you can make your own book sling. Tutorial here.

And speaking of book slings, one that I had the pleasure of making recently is hanging in a home that many of you are probably familiar with, if you're a fan like me. Meg from Sew Liberated did a trade with me--a book sling in exchange for some of her patterns. I was quite honored that a talented person like herself would want something from my humble craft room. You can see it hanging for little Finn here.

About ... my new gig. And little red riding hood love

I'm pretty sure I hinted that I was up to something new behind the scenes. Did I say it sometime last week? Last month? Honestly, the days are running together and I'm quite proud of myself for remembering to wear pants today. Sometimes I even brush my teeth (but not if I go to bed after midnight, in which case I wear my pants).

Are you following me?

Anyhow, for the past two months I've been preparing for a new writing/crafting gig that just went live the other day. I'm the new "guide" to kids' birthday parties and other celebrations on About.com.

Here's my new site:

kidsparties.about.com

It's really a writing job, but I'm planning on putting all sorts of birthday- and party-related tutorials on there (hence, the crafts). I'll always alert Penny Carnival readers here when there's a new toot there, but feel free to bookmark that link, too, for your party-planning pleasure. Just some basic stories are up right now and links to existing articles from other guides, but I'll be adding content almost daily so check back often.

Can you believe someone is actually paying me to write about how to throw birthday parties?! This is right up my alley. Really, it is a TON of work, especially as I've had to learn their whole formatting, programming gobbley goop (Hello! HTML coding?! Who has to do that anymore? Why don't they just use Typepad? Oh, because then their site would look as crappy as my blog does right now. I see.)

But besides the late nights, I'm having a blast brainstorming all sorts of birthday themes and crafts and decorations. And with the holidays coming, I've been writing about how to throw Christmas parties for kids (Caroling! Polar Express in Your PJs! Gingerbread House Making!) and what to do for Hanukkah and New Year's Eve and everything. By the way, we're totally going to celebrate Kwanzaa this year. I hate to admit it, but I didn't know a thing about it until I wrote a little article for about.com. What a beautiful holiday!

Rest assured, it is not going to be a site about how to throw over-the-top Super Sweet 16s and how to beat other parents for the best party favors. Good grief! You can read more about my kids' parties philosophy of the bottom of my bio page.

By the way, I also am featuring "real" parties on the site, so please, please, please tell me about any fun ones you've thrown and send me pictures. kidsparties.guide@about.com.

So without further delay, here's one of my first tutorials for the site: How to make birthday invitations by creating a fabric collage, scanning it, and then printing it out. 

 

Step-by-step photo instructions at that link above.

I made those invites today for Magpie's 2nd birthday party (like how I'm multitasking?), which will have a Little Red Riding Hood theme.

Speaking of Little Red, a friend hired me to make matching Red Riding Hood capes for her daughter and her for Halloween. I didn't get a shot of the little one, but here's the mama version:

I'm kind of in love with Little Red Riding Hood right now (as if you can't tell).

OK. An hour until midnight. Maybe I'll make this a pajamas-and-clean-teeth kind of night. Maybe I'll even floss!!!!

G'night.

Ponchos for everyone!

More crafty time with the girls over the weekend led to a new Etsy listing. 

I've figured out how to make the poncho (or cape, whatever you want to call it) in sizes 12 months, 18 months, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

This one is an 18 monther, so it's a bit snug around Magpie's face (and keep in mind--she has a GIANT head). She doesn't seem to mind, though, huh?

 

The poncho is fully reversible. This one is made with black 

baby-wale corduroy and pink flannel, so you probably wouldn't 

want to flip it inside out. But the possibilities for fabric are endless--fleece, wool, whatever.

Yea for ponchos!

Tinkering ...

... with a poncho design.

Now that Bo is taking afternoon naps less frequently, I can't use that time to write articles. Instead--twist my arm--we've been crafting more. She helped me cut the pieces for this poncho and sat on my lap while I sewed. She only pinched my fingers under the presser foot a few times.

This is the basic shape of it so far. I like that it hangs a bit loosely, but I think this size is a smidge too big for Bo. 

Some people have causes they fight for. Mine is to spread the benefits of ponchos to children and parents everywhere. So easy to throw over any outfit. So easy to slip over the head of a squirmy toddler (not pictured here) who's refusing to get buckled in her car seat.

Little Pink Riding Hood looking for tomatoes ...

Right now the point in the hood droops down, which is fine, but I might play with pointing it upward, like an elf's hat.

I can see appliqueing sweet little shapes along the bottom or adding some pom-pom fringe under the hem or ribbon trim above it.

Any feedback? If you were a poncho, how would you want to look?

Repurposing a quilt top, this little piggy, and my sweet Bo

It has taken me 10 minutes to start typing this post because my hands are busy feeding my mouth a big hunk of bread that just came out of the oven. I would like to tell you that it's some earthy, nutty, whole wheaty bread, but it's not. It's white sandwich bread, made with overly processed flour. There's butter melting on top of it. And I'm in heaven.

First, congratulations to my friends Carolyn and Scott and their daughter Joey, who welcomed baby Julian into the world today. I always get weepy when that much-anticipated e-mail comes (or Facebook update, I should say. E-mail seems so old fashioned now, doesn't it?). Good work, Mama. Now cuddle up with your little bundle and get some rest.

I have a partial update from Saturday's trash-to-treasure presentation. As a reminder, the newspaper gave me $25 to buy some junk at the big indoor yard sale they host, and then I had 24 hours to come up with a plan to repurpose it. Then, in front of a (very small) audience, I transformed it.

One of the items I bought--for $5--was a quilt top. I don't think I'm going to win any points for creativity here, but I basically just used it like I'd use any fabric and turned it into an Emmeline apron:

This was the last project I did at the show because I knew it would take a while, so I sent the audience off to do more shopping while I sewed it up. They came back at the end (well, some of them did) to see the result.

Thanks again for everyone's encouragement before the show. It went fine. Later this week, I'll show you what I did with wooden alphabet blocks, an old picture frame, and a soda-bottle crate.

Now, shifting gears ... to poverty.

There have been a couple of pivotal moments in our 4-year-old daughter Bo's life. One was when she saw the Broadway production of "Annie" last winter. It's probably not P.C., but she still likes to don the Annie dress I made her and scrub the floors "like an orphan." Hmm ...

A second pivotal moment was when her beloved preschool teacher Miss Kathleen quit her job at the school to go back to social work, helping homeless women and children find permanent housing. Ever since then, Bo has been on the lookout for homeless people. She also sometimes asks me if Miss Kathleen has found a home for Annie yet. (After which I fruitlessly try to explain the difference between fiction and reality and then give up and assure her that Annie is with Daddy Warbucks now.)

Anyhow, on a more serious note, Bo's concerns about poverty--especially children without enough food to eat or without a place to live--has been growing. I asked her last week if she'd like to do something to help, and she said yes.

Together, we came up with a plan: she's going to make crafts that she'll sell at a local farmers' market and then donate the money to a crisis nursery here in town. So between now and Oct. 10, the date of her sale, we'll be stocking up on crafty-kid inventory.

She got started tonight with a project I've eyed for months now.

Presenting Bo's very first papier mache pig puppet:

 

(Turns out an empty thread spool makes a great snout.)

The little pig is drying now, and tomorrow he'll get a coat of paint and something to wear.

I'm sure we've all read articles about kids doing good things for charity, like donating their birthday gifts to a cause. I love seeing that, but I have to admit I've always been skeptical about how much the parents are pushing it rather than it coming from the kid. Not that it'd be a bad thing that they're pushing them to do. On the contrary. It's just the pushing I don't like--or the assumption of pushing, since it's just the cynic in me that questions the kids' motivation.

But I can tell you this crafting project of Bo's is coming straight from her heart. It's the first thing she talks about in the morning and the last thing she says at night ("are we going to help the people tomorrow?"). I'll never question those feel-good articles again.

It's enough to warm a mama's heart. 

Bread warms up other parts of me. One more slice before bedtime ...