Educational Bean Bags

Other than Pinterest and Facebook my other online addiction is the website Zulily.com. They sell children's items (clothes, toys, books, etc), women & maternity, and housewares. With school starting Zulily has had different educational items daily. I have one child starting pre-K and another child in that preschooler/toddler age bracket.

Several weeks ago I made them a mat with the alphabet, numbers & some basic shapes. We were using the bean bags I had made for an earlier project, but we only have 12 of those & so in playing I kept forgetting where we were in learning. And then I saw this on Zulily and then I had an idea:


I swear the internet makes me feel so stupid sometimes!  The original price was $35 but it was on sale for $23. Thinking I could make it cheaper I set out for the craft store.








To make the bean bags I of course bought felt, beans, and some adhesive felt letters & numbers. I had to specially design the shapes for the bean bags on my computer. But the beans proved to be my undoing. Here are my material totals

Felt. 20 pieces x 25¢ea= $5
Felt letters $6 package
Plastic bean bag filler:
          Hancock Fabric: 6- 8oz bags x 3.99=$23.94
For a grand total of.......$34.94

Well I guess in theory I did make them cheaper.  If it hadn't been for those plastic "beans" I would have come in under the $20 budget I gave myself. I know you are thinking "Cheese & mice, Aims! You could have just bought some dried beans or rice much cheaper." And you would be right, however I wanted to be able to wash these and I knew if I used beans or rice I couldn't wash them.

So as a recap here is the mat:

The letters and numbers are Comic Sans size 300 and the shapes are done through the Autoshape feature. I attached them to a 1 yard piece of muslin fabric using my hot glue gun. The kids love it.








So then I did the bean bags. For the letters & numbers I bought a pack of pre-cut adhesive felt letters and numbers. I had to size these so small that attempting to do an at home template involved several four letter words and drops of blood. The shape bags went a little easier but then I had to hand stitch them to the felt. The bags are not of the same size as I some how got off rhythm in cutting the felt & I was so frustrated I just wanted this project done. SN: If I was making this for someone as a gift it would be much nicer. But here is the mat with the bean bags all matched up.

 So it isn't perfect, but it makes learning fun.











Thank goodness that is done,
Amy

Bandwagons

So as most people who know me know that I rarely hop on a bandwagon. I do have things I feel strongly about & will voice an opinion. There are a few causes that I believe in, and a few charities I support. John is the same way.

But two causes have jumped to the very front of my mind this week.

First: The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia. I love the Olympics. My favorite winter event is figure skating. But the Russian government has decided to enforce its anti-LGBT laws... any athlete, staff, entourage, fan will be arrested & detained in prison for any or all pro-LGBT actions or just for being LGBT. Let me say this.... I WILL NOT DEBATE LGBT RIGHTS WITH YOU! This is why this bothers me. These athletes have so much talent. The have sacrificed so much to compete at this level. They have given up so much, they have given so much of themselves; their families have had to sacrifice to support them. Insane amounts of money have been spent in pursuit & support of these athletes.  How awful to be told that you are not welcome; that you cannot come to represent your country, your family... even yourself; to be told that all your hard work has been for nothing (so many Olympians only get one chance to compete); to me that is heart breaking.  The fabulous Georgia Takei has written an excellent blog post on this along with a petition on Change.org. George is best known for his role as Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek; but he is also a wonderful director, writer, commentator, humorist. The petition is asking the IOC to please move the Games out of Russia. The last Winter Olympics were held in Vancover Canada. The Canadian government has stated that they are ready, willing & able to host again in 2014. No one is asking to carry a Pride Flag or to hold a Pride Parade; they are asking to be allowed to compete in safety & to have their entourage. One final thought Russia is publicly putting out a message of intolerance at best, hate at worst. If they are allowed to host the Games next year.... what precedent does that set? What "group" will the next country say can't compete? Don't let human rights take a step backwards, please sign the petition.

The second cause is pretty simple. A friend of mine (and her hubby) currently live in Kuwait. They have a huge stray animal problem in Kuwait, but only two rescue organizations. My friend's hubby, I'll call him P like she does on her blog, has brought home several strays & they have done their best to help find them homes. You can read the full story of recent events here; but in a nutshell a little girl was attacked by some strays a couple of days ago, the little girl is ok & recovering, but some jackass as gone all kinds of vigilante and is killing random strays in horrific ways and the jerk is posting pictures of it on social media outlets. Once again a petition has been started on Change.org to encourage the Kuwaiti government to get with the rest of the civilized world and put not only a stop to this freak but to start programs to help the strays. I realize that most people reading this are not in Kuwait, but please sign this one and help the Kuwaiti government realize there needs to be a change, why should these animals suffer just because we are on the other side of the planet?

I have toyed with the idea of writing this post the last couple days and finally decided I needed to put these two issues out there. While I was writing this I realized something; essentially both these issues deal with a bully.  And the only way to deal with a bully is to stand up to them. Although I don't fall into either of the effected groups I just mentioned and it isn't going to effect my life either way..... I felt the call to stand up and ask others to do the same.

Thank you for following,
Amy

Playmat second edition

So the kids have enjoyed the first game/play mat I wanted to do another one.

I found this fantastic pattern while working on my husband's birthday gift. I bought the premade t-shirt for him as a gift. It is so cute and the kids thought it was awesome. But I printed the DIY pattern to use for this new mat. It was 4 pages, so I got them all lined up & taped together, and then using a glue stick I coated the back sides of the paper and attached it to a poster board. I used the poster board just to give it some rigidity & to stop any bleed through.



Using blue painter's tape I attached taped it to the piece of white muslin fabric just so it wouldn't slip & slide around while I worked.

I love using muslin fabric. It is pretty durable, despite being thin, inexpensive and it is washable. Here you can clearly see the design through the fabric

Using paint markers I traced out the design and colored in buildings & road. What I really love here is that I still have a ton of room so the kids can add things as we go. Side note: Some paint markers/pens can have strong fumes, so please use in a well ventilated area.





I bought a couple cheap Matchbox style cars for the kids to use.





The piece of muslin I bought was longer than it was wide so I cut it in half. I have one child going into pre-kindergarten this fall and a second child going on 2 years old; so I wanted to do a little something that could be educational as well as fun.

Following the same process as on my earlier mat. I used PowerPoint to make the stencils for the letters, numbers & shapes. The letters and numbers I did in the Comic Sans font at size 300, this allowed me to get 6 letters/numbers to a sheet followed by allowing me to get 6 letters & numbers to a piece of felt. For the shapes I used the autoshape feature and sized them to fit 3 to a page. Then out came the glue gun to attach to the fabric.

I took all 3 mats over to my neighbor's house on July 4th and got lots of compliments from the adults. There was so much else going on the kids were not interested in being still to play. However my kids have enjoyed playing with the mats at home.

Thanks for following!
Amy

Ms. Kitty's Place

One day as I was surfing through Pinterest (were all good ideas hide out) I stumbled across the most adorable picture of a couple handmade cat stuffed animals. Following the linked info back to a blog written in what I think was Estonian; I began paging through their archives until I found the picture. From there I located the blog & eventually the Etsy shop of  MMMCrafts Larissa that owns this shop is great, she created this pattern & it sells for around $12. You can purchase the pattern or an already made creation; she has several things to choose from, all sewing instructions are detailed & included in the pattern booklet.

This is the original picture that got my attention. When I saw this I knew I had to make one for my friend who is expecting her first baby. So I bought the pattern and during one cool & rainy week I ended up making 3 of these dolls! It started out as making one for my friend & one for my grandmother, but I made some pretty big mistakes on one of those so I made a third cat.

I didn't take any step by step pictures. I had a very limited window of time to make these so I was concentrated on sewing. But in a nutshell I bought 2 yards of white flannel fabric (I know the instructions say corduroy but flannel is much softer & better for snuggles in my opinion) I bought some light blue and light pink felt with embroidery thread to match, and a  package of grey fabric dye. I decided not to make the clothing as part of the body so when I was cutting out the pattern I just connected those pieces to the arms/legs and cut the whole thing from the flannel.  To trace out the pattern on the materials I used colored chalk since it washes out.

For the faces, I hand stitched the nose & mouth using the pink embroidery thread & a satin stitch. I discovered the head fits perfectly in a 4" embroidery hoop & that made sewing easier. As for the eyes, I just used the iris portion & cut out blue circles that I hand stitched in place. For the ears I just hand stitched in some pink felt prior to attaching the ears to the head.

 This is the cat I made for my girlfriend's baby. Not the best picture but some how I lost the pictures I took. The dress is a two piece dress I bought at a local store run by members of the local Amish community.

My first two cats. The one on the left is the one I made for my grandmother for her birthday. She moved in with my aunt & in so doing had to get rid of her cat. I thought a new one would cheer her up. The one on the right will be going to my daughter for Christmas. It had several mistakes on it so I didn't want to send it out. My grandmother is making a dress for it.

Close up of the faces. I love this pattern. Looking forward to making more of these plushies & improving my technique.







Thanks for following!
Amy

Gone With The Wind

So a couple months back I finally sat down and watched Gone With The Wind all the way through. Its surprising that I have not done so before as I grew up in Jonesboro which is right outside of Atlanta; and was site to some of the heaviest fighting. And that fighting spirit holds true on reenactment weekends.... parking and traffic are a pain and you have to be aggressive. HAHA

Anyway I recently purchased the book on my Kindle and have been reading it. It has restored my opinion of Scarlett and also further condemned her in my eyes when it comes to her neediness of Ashley. Like so many countless times before the book is better than the movie. I would love to see the Margaret Mitchell Estate release a book told from Melanie's point of view.

But back to Scarlett. Essentially she is a spoiled, immature little girl. If you have not read it the story starts off with Scarlett at age 16, Melanie is 17 & Ashley is somewhere in his mid-20s, and it falls right at the start of the Civil War. But Scarlett is in love with her neighbor Ashley Wilkes; Ashley is engaged to his cousin Melanie; and Scarlett is less than pleased. To get even she marries Melanie's brother. The book follows Scarlett's life over the next few years. She pines for Ashley & resents Melanie who she continues to live with as they are family now. Childbirth, death, end of the war, struggling to subsist & survive Yankee military rule...blah blah blah. Scarlett turns into a woman doing the work of a man because she is the only one willing & able to do the work.

Enter my admiration. I love stories about strong women, and history & fiction are littered with strong women. I come from a family of strong women. And I am trying to teach my daughter to be resilient, confident, intelligent, to stand her ground, to ask for help when needed, to do what needs to be done herself & not to wait on others to do it and to stand up for what is right. Scarlett did all this. Maybe not willingly or happily, but she did it for herself & those she loved. And she did it at a time when women were not expected to know much more than what they needed to know to manage a home & have a baby every year or so.

Enter my condemnation. Women who chase after a man. Oh, how I loathe needy codependent women. Best piece of advice I ever heard was that "the only thing a woman should chase is a shot of liquor". Yes being in a relationship is terrific. Being married can be wonderful (I have a fantastic husband that I love completely). But it can also be one of the biggest mistakes of your life; I have seen family & friends in horrible partnerships; and been in one or two relationships that were mistakes myself. This was one of the things that made the Twilight Saga so unbearable... this huge character flaw of "I MUST HAVE HIM. He is the ONLY ONE!" As women we need a little more self respect. There are so many more important things that being in a relationship with a man (or another woman, if that is your thing). There are charities & causes to help with, movies to watch, books to read, prayer groups to join, songs to sing, educational opportunities, baskets to weave. Find out who you are before you try to find anyone to be in a relationship with.

OK, soapbox over. The book is definitely worth the read, the characters themselves are interesting as they deal with war & poverty and as they rebuild their lives in the aftermath.

Amy

Game mat

Living in Wisconsin I have learned this valuable lesson:

HAHA But seriously we moved here in November and it was too cold to do anything outside until May.  With 2 small and energetic kids it was rough being home bound. I was beginning to understand Jack Nicholson's character in The Shining, demon possessed hotel aside I felt like insanity was just a snow flake away.




Pinterest became my saving grace. I saw this wonderful little thing from The Idea Room/A Girl And A Glue GunNow I had originally planned to sew the thing but then my kids decided the only place I could sew was on my computer desk in the office behind a locked door. Meaning I just didn't have room to sew something 6 feet long. So I followed the example above and out came the glue gun. The bonus of all of this was that the Hubby upon seeing me struggle with a cheap mini glue gun went out and bought me a full size cordless dual temp glue gun! So on to my project.



I bought 15 pieces of brightly colored felt for the hopscotch board, 2 yards of white muslin, 1 package bias tape, 2 bags of plastic pellets and 10 pieces of patterned felt. I have found Hobby Lobby has the best selection on felt. Using a ruler and chalk I measured to turn my felt into squares. and then the rotary tool for cutting.

I placed a cutting board underneath just so I didn't damage the counter top. I like using white or colored chalk (I get it in the school supply section) for a couple reasons. its cheap and it washed out pretty easily. I cut the felt down to a 9"x9" square.

Once again I used PowerPoint to make my numbers. Its easy to size the paper, font and font size. I sized my paper to 8"x8" and I used the Comic Sans font. Numbers 1 through 9 are size 550 and number 10 I had to shrink to size 450. I know those aren't standard font sizes but you can change to those.  Once printed I cut the numbers out, laid it face down on my felt square and pinned it in place.



I traced the number using a washable marker. I then took a pair of scissors and cut out the numbers.

Like the lady in the link above I decided to also add a "dart board". Using a different color of felt I cut out 9 strips and one circle.






I used my paper towel holder as a template for my circle. Although I ended up cutting it down a little smaller to fit.







Once again PowerPoint for my numbers. I used Comic Sans at size 150. Since these numbers where a little smaller I was able to lay the felt on top of the paper and just trace out the numbers.

The Tic Tac Toe board. Oh how I hate this game. But its an easy game for kids. I cut four strips of the bias tape into roughly 21 1/4" strips.

As you can tell the TTT board got a little crooked, but its OK. It still works. I laid out the muslin I bought and proceeded to glue things in place. In doing the numbers 4, 6, 8, 9 & 10 make sure you save the centers of any cuts out you do. You will need them as you see here, to give the numbers their shape. Unlike in the link above I decided to leave this as an open sheet, because then someone can play 2 games at once and I don't have to hear the dulcet tones of someone whine "but Mommy, I don't want to play with this side!"

I made a carry bag out of felt & bias tape scraps along. You can also see the bean bags (six of each pattern, I just cut the felt into squares and sewed them together) I made for the "dart board" and TTT. I did butterflies for my girl and dinosaurs for my boy. The bag is 1 piece dino felt, 1 piece butterfly felt, sides and bottom are made with leftovers of sock monkey felt and the handles are bias tape scraps. I know the bag and bean bags are not probably the best I could do, but I was working in limited space and needed to get done. I know I could have used real beans in the bags but I wanted to use the plastic pellets so that I could throw every thing into the washing machine if needed.


So the mat folded and all 12 bean bags put into the carry bag. Now we can lay it out in the living room or grab the bag as we head out to the park!






Until next time,
Amy

Health Care

For many years now we have had to deal with the military health care system since the hubby is active duty Army.  Many of you have heard my horror stories of doctor's appointments and trips to the emergency room. The "care" we received was so awful that anytime we had an appointment the hubby would tell me "Watch your temper, I don't have time to come get you from the MP station."

So when we moved to Wisconsin I was happy that we would be seeing a civilian doctor in a civilian clinic/hospital. Civilian doctors depend upon the good will of patients in order for the doctor to continue to practice medicine. I have been very pleased with the medical attention we have received. But today surpassed ANY expectations I had.

My 4 year old daughter Ally developed a cold and we were able to get her a same day appointment. Now Ally loves sock monkeys, she has several but her favorite is this pink one she calls Daddy Monkey. Daddy Monkey goes everywhere and suffers through everything with her. So when we got to the check in desk my daughter tells the lady that she (Ally) and Daddy Monkey both have a cough. The lady says, with a voice full of concern "OH NO!! Well you both need a mask then to cover your faces!" Then she grabs two disposable child size masks from a cabinet. We get upstairs to the clinic and the intake nurse not only takes my daughter's vitals but she takes the monkey's vitals as well (without being asked!). Then we get to the room and the doctor comes in. Daddy Monkey got a full exam as well. All this just because they saw that it was important to a child. When we dealt with the military it was "Your mother has to hold your doll, it is in our way."

I loved this. I loved seeing my child talked to and treated like this, to be made to feel like something she cared about was important to someone she didn't know. It made the appointment go much easier, which in turn made me much more relaxed. It truly is the little things you do that end up being important.

Ally and Daddy Monkey wearing their masks at the doctor's office. It kind of turned into a full body apron for Daddy Monkey.

Thank you for reading, 

Amy