[learn] week 2: d is for dancing

Since we went to school last week, I thought I would try to remember what I learned.  Thus, I would focus on one letter, the letter D, this week.  Dancing and ducks, obvious right?

[make] friendship bracelets

Friendship bracelets and the end of summer kind of go hand in hand.  School has started back and our lake visits have declined rapidly.  Amazing how some braided embroidery thread on a little tanned arm can take me to back to sitting in my adirondack chair by the water.

Thanks to Salty Pineapple for the inspiration!  I made a few changes, using jump rings at both ends and adding cute little charms that I acquired at Michael's. Oh, and one more pin accomplished by me!

[make] week 1: applecakes

Our last treat for Week 1: Let's Go to School were applecakes.  Inspired by these apple and gummy worm cupcakes and these "biten" apple cupcakes, we made our very own.

The girls and I made ours a little bit differently.  We used purchased cupcakes ($3 for 6) with white cake and white icing.  Then we used fine red candy sprinkles to "dip" our cupcakes in.  The girls rolled the cakes in the sprinkles until all the icing was covered.  Add a green jolly rancher chew shaped into a leaf and you have an apple.  The leaves didn't make it long but neither did the cupcakes!

[make] week 1: bookworm

Inspired by One Charming Party and this pin, bookworms made their way into Week 1.   Complete directions and the printable apple template can be found via One Charming Party.

Our apples and bookworms turned out great and the pipe cleaners were wonderful. They kept the apple jacks from sliding back off while the little hands worked so hard to thread them.  Definitely something to remember for other beaded and threaded crafties!

[learn] week 1: lessons learned

Lessons were learned by the girls and by me on our first class.  I learned I had over-planned.  They learned that it's fun to roll cupcakes in sprinkles and maybe even picked up that apple began with the letter A.

We started out with Meet the Barkers, Morgan and Moffat Go to School.  The girls loved that Morgan and Moffat were twins.  They liked the fact that they got to color the letters A, B, and C with their very own brand new box of crayons even more.  As we finished up learning that A is for Apple, B is for Bee, and C is for Cat we started counting snacks!

1 banana, 2 apple slices, 3 pieces of broccoli (aka trees), 4 cheese squares, 5 celery sticks and 6 carrots later, the girls not only got in some good counting practice but healthy snacks at the same time - all starting with the letters A, B or C including their apple juice.

Next came Bookworms made from paper apples and apple jacks, a perfect time for brother Jack to join the party.

(Note: At this point I realized I had way too much going on because oh yes, there is more.) Then came another story, Click Clack Quackity-Quack, and some more coloring sheets that included counting apples and a shape maze complete with a monkey looking for his bananas.

Last but not least, Applecakes complete with red sprinkles and lots of creamy white icing.  Even after all that, the girls still wanted to know what was next.

The reviews a day later were mixed, in a good way.  The cons, too many activities for mom, too many letters for the girls.  So next week will be one letter, the letter D, and not quite so many activities or coloring sheets.  We can save those for later in the week.

The pros, the girls are learning their numbers, shapes, colors, and becoming more familiar with their letters at an amazing rate.  I stayed within (and actually below) my budget of $20 even with the overplanning.  Jack and Dad want in on the action, they say it looks like way too much fun to be left out.  Even Traveler and Champ (the pups) stayed with us the whole class!  Shockingly, I'm actually accomplishing some of the activities and crafts I've been pinning.  But best of all, the girls asked me what we were doing on Thursday night!  Apparently they want to go to class every day of the week.

Posts on the Bookworm project and Applecakes will follow.  Check out my pinboard TwinBop for more ideas and sneak peaks at Week 2 or enter your email address in the upper left for automatic updates. For a more complete list of links and costs, message me!

[make] birth poster details

I managed to get the baby birth posters printed and framed and the girls LOVE them.  I had no idea they would be so excited about me putting them up in their room.  Is that a sign that I've been super slack on adding artwork to their room?  I think yes.

So some tips on recreating:

1. I designed the posters in Adobe Illustrator CS5 but you should be able to use the same techniques in other design programs, even PowerPoint for that matter.  Start with an 8 x 10 inch art board and Copperplate Gothic Bold font.  Then add the text and rotate until you get the configuration that you like best.

2. At this point I noticed that I had holes but really didn't want to fill them with more text so I went to handy, dandy, simple PowerPoint and pulled up some Microsoft Clipart.  Find the image you want, insert it into PowerPoint (or again whatever program you would like to use) and then edit as necessary. I found a lotus flower, ungrouped the image and deleted what I didn't like.  The colors were perfect so I didn't change those. Then save the image as a .png file and place it into your Illustrator file.

3. Match the colors of your text to the colors in your image.  I chose an image that had three shade of pink in it so I randomly matched the colors of the text to these three shades.  Add a box around the outside of your art board with the line color matching your text and no fill.

4. At this point, framing comes into play.  If you are using a frame with an opening larger than 8 x 10 then there may be no need to resize.  I opted for an 8 x 10 frame and full bleed just didn't look right.  For a border, select everything on the art board, group it, and then scale the whole thing by 80%.

5. Once you've scaled your poster to fit your frame size, print on card stock, trim (if necessary), frame and hang.  All done.  

Let me know if you give it a try - I would love to see other versions.

[learn] week 1: materials

Week 1: Let's Go to School was a smashing success.  The girls had a great time and even Jack joined the fun.   Here are the printed materials that we used with links below:

1. Meet the Barkers, Morgan and Moffat Go to School
2. Clack, Clack, Quackity-Quack
3. Monkey Shapes
4. Bookworms from One Charming Party
5. Counting Apples

We also used alphabet coloring sheets and flash cards from Mr. Printables, a great source for basic letters, numbers and shapes with some really cute graphics.

[learn] week 1: let's go to school

The theme is chosen, the activities set, and ingredient and supply lists made.  With the girls starting their first week of full day preschool, Week 1's theme of "Let's Go to School" wasn't very hard to figure out.  We will be focusing on the letters a, b and c. Here's a little preview:  

[learn] twinbop

I think every mother, father, family goes through the scheduling nightmare that is extra curricular activities.  We can't complain too much.  The girls are still young and so is Jack for that matter so it's not like we are going from school to lessons to practices - yet.  But we still ran into a hiccup.  Dance.  The girls wanted to go to "ballet".  They are three so they also want to go to space but we though ballet was more doable.  So I called studios, a bunch of dance studios.  Nada. Nothing that works with our schedule in our area and nothing that's not from September to June.  


So I started looking for more options.  I found the Catawba Science Center and their programs, the YMCA programs and the Newton Recreation Center activities.  Most of the schedules were designed for someone who works outside the home (i.e., me), especially for preschool ages.  But I thought, I'll make it work.  So I started reading descriptions:


Let's Get Messy: Let your toddler’s imagination come alive in this arts and crafts extravaganza. We will use different themes each day to create artwork out of paint, feathers, paste, noodles and more. 


Edible Art Creations: If your children are at the age of wanting to eat their art supplies while you are trying to reach them to expand their creative skills, you'll enjoy these perfect and tasty projects!


Witches Brew: Join us for a spooky cooking session. We will be making fun Halloween themed treats that are sure to fright and delight you!


I looked at the photos, I looked at the outlines and jumped to a huge realization.  I can do that!  I can do it and possibly do it better!  So I'm doing it.  


Thus Twinbop was born (credit supportive husband for name).  The girls and I have an "appointment" every Wednesday from 4:30 until 6:00.  Books, crafts, cooking and learning.  I have a budget of $20 per week for the "class" since that's what I would have paid someone else.  I may not be able to teach them ballet but I can craft with the best of them.  Look for posts to follow under the tag [learn].  Let me know what you think and how I'm doing.  

[read] wee wonderfuls

I've been following Hillary Lang's Wee Wonderfuls for years now.  Her projects are amazing and her dolls, oh my.

When her book, Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love, came out I couldn't wait to get it.

It didn't disappoint.  It's one of my favorite books to just flip through and wish.  Wish I had more time to make each project she has in the book.  The directions are straight forward and the patterns easy to understand.  But most importantly, they are just really, really cute!  Hopefully there will be a couple mermaids and some spoon people in my little girls toy box soon.  If all else fails I can always fall back on Hillary's creations.