Play Kitchen Recipes - Free Download

I was talking with my close friend Michelle about how our children were (sigh) starting to become bored with their play kitchens. I'll admit while Ava really has enjoyed her play kitchen she is really more of a puzzles and books kid. Lilly loves to bang stuff around at it but otherwise she really isn't into it yet either. Which actually I hate admitting because we have a kind of amazing and possibly a tiny bit ridiculous DIY play kitchen setup with that cool market. I think part of the problem is that we've had it all a while and I am noticing the appeal of putting toys away and rotating them now that Ava is older. Unfortunately, I can't just put the kitchen up for a while ;) Really it is a little annoying that my kids get tired of playing with their millions of toys and I have to rotate them out and find ways to represent them but ah well.

(Behind Ava is a giant $10 Walmart car oil pan we use for magnet play / learning = pinterest genius)

Anyway, I made up some play recipes for my three year old because Ava loves to follow directions and I figured they would help her see that she could really do a lot more with that 'tired old' (sigh) kitchen. Well it worked like a charm. I made five (the cupcake recipe is double sided) and I found three more on the internet here. They are all a similar format so they are easy to use together. I laminated mine (with a scotch laminator) and put a little ring at the top. I'd say in the least just print them up on card stock.

Mine are in Microsoft Word so if you need to edit out something you don't have that should be pretty easy. We used white yarn for our pasta. Oh! and if you don't have a kitchen you should think about making one of these mats because they are brilliant! I keep wanting to make Ava and Lilly one but let's face it that seems a little silly ;)

So here are my first files to download (hope it works if not just email me or leave a comment):
File 1
File 2 
Please share the link to the this post and not my actual file with friends or on your blog etc.

Oh Lilly (14 months) does have one toy she plays with. It's this random Joker house we now own. I don't know if even Ava knows who the Joker is but Lilly genuinely loves this toy. I was totally against buying it (it's a little violent and has a jail and cannon and we have nothing that goes with it) but it all worked out after the mall Santa told Ava he would bring it for her and our little wooden doll house people have all had their turn in prison - it's kind of added a spicy new element to the story lines around here ;) 

Super Hero Capes - DIY

I got a few emails when I did I DIY gift post a while back and mentioned that I make children's capes for gifts. They are easy, quick and turn out really nicely. In fact I think you would have a really hard time finding something similar to purchase even if you had a big budget. Best of all you can get two capes out of two yards of fabric so they are also really affordable. I do a side with the child's favorite animal and a side with their favorite color if I can get it to coordinate right.

(Super heroes look noble and serious.)

I looked at a bunch on the internet and really didn't find just what I was looking for, the pattern at pukingpastilles was by far the cutest I thought and I just modified it a bit. My pattern looks just like the light pink fabric. I iron my fabric in half pin my paper pattern to it and cut 1 patterned piece and 1 solid piece, pin those together, then sew it all around leaving a little opening at the bottom to pull it through. After that I simply iron it and hand-sew up the opening - that's it! I do usually iron on a felt patch with their first initial and sometimes if I am feeling really crafty I sew the patch on. Also I started making them with Velcro at the neck which seems super important to preschoolers who can't tie them on yet or untie a double knot and some kids will not wear anything around their neck that they can't take off independently. 

Oh and I almost forgot to say - they give you the ability to fly :)

If anyone wants the measurements of my pattern and fabric pieces just leave it in the comments and I will update. But mine are really similar to the one at pukingpastilles. I think making your own pattern from things of the web is very easy if you print out the basic shape and have the measurements. One reader mentioned to me that they cut capes out of t-shirts and that is really brilliant because since jersey doesn't fray so they would be no-sew. 

Happy Crafting and Saving the World from Evil

Preschool Activity Swap - such a mom thing to do!

I organized a preschool activity swap for a preschool homeschool cooperative I am a part of here. We basically take turns teaching a lesson to the kids every other week or so and do some cool field trips as well. It went so well we are already working on our next one! So many of my friends have asked me for these and so here are the activities from the first swap:

1. Cookie Matching - This one was made with circles of felt hot-glued with cotton in the center for flipping them more easily. The mom that made them provided some awesome extension activities. There might be a simpler way to make this by using heavy weight interfacing ironed onto felt but these came out perfect. 

Shown here with my own cookie sheet and spatula. 

Lilly (12 months) loves to take these out of the red container and put them back and to inspect the toppings. 

 2. Lego Math - Just print on cardstock and provide a sheet protector. these have been so much fun for us. Ava has some trouble with the subtraction but not with the addition and they are really fun to use with your real Legos. http://thesixkents.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/lego-math-worksheets/

3. Emotion Play Dough Mat - Print in color and laminate. We have had so much fun making angry and scary faces for this poor girl. http://kidlutions.blogspot.com/2011/10/fun-with-feelings-faces-playdough-mats.html

 4. I-Spy Bag - Simple I-Spy bag with card. I did do coins to make it a little more academic. This is a huge pain to sew and if I did it again I would use fleece instead of felt. Also I used painters tape to tape the window in and then sewed through the tape and that made all the difference. I-Spy bags are much easier than jars because you can manipulate them with your hands. However if no one sews or is crazy like me then you could do this in clear plastic bottles or glass jars. 

5. Pom-Pom Magnets and Boards - These pom pom magnet activities are all over the internet so this starter set it nice to build on. You just put your cardstock mat on a cookie sheet when ready to play. Use hot glue to adhere the magnets and remove any paper backing from the magnets before gluing. http://engagingtoddleractivities.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/homemade-toy-magnetic-pompoms/

6. Consonant, Short Vowel, and Long Vowel Cards - 

Print Consonant Cards here http://homeschoolcreations.com/files/Consonant_Cards.pdf

Print the Short Vowel Cards here - http://homeschoolcreations.com/files/Short_Vowel_Cards.pdf

Print the Long Vowel Cards here - http://homeschoolcreations.com/files/Long_Vowel_Cards.pdf

7. Read, Build and Write Mats with sets Word Cards - http://homeschoolcreations.com/Read_Build_Write_Printables.html 

http://homeschoolcreations.com/files/Read_Build_Write_Mats.pdf

I think if I did this one again I would make it worth 3 and have the main mat laminated, sometimes the sheet protector slips on us. We also use magnetic letters at home on a cookie sheet instead of the letters provided. 

8. Clothes Pin Number Match - http://shared.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/math/ClothespinNumberMatch.pdf

9. Felt Board Skeleton - I did this one and we love it, but I don't know if I would recommend it for a swap. Only because if took hours and hours to cut these out and it doesn't take any less time to cut one out than it does to cut lots. We swapped in October though so I thought skeletons would be fun and we love felt board activities. I am showing them here with some word cards and a skeleton print out which I didn't give with the activity but it might have been nice. The kids aren't ready to read those words yet but some of the parents needed some help remembering the bones! 

10. Roll A Rainbow - This was laminated and given with m & m's and a die. http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/57547407?access_key=key-25r11p880rr7qp12ndj2

11. Shades of Color - Walmart is the only place we found that had enough shades of one color on a strip.  http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/?p=327

12. Play-Dough Number Mats - The moms that printed these just had to provide one sheet protector but we bound ours like this so Ava could easily just work through all the numbers and letters on her own.  http://homeschoolcreations.com/files/Number_Playdough_Mats_1-10.pdf

http://homeschoolcreations.com/files/Number_Playdough_Mats_11-20.pdf

13. Play Dough ABC Mats - There was the direction here to print these in color but the mom that did this one had them professionally printed in black and white on cardstock and they turned out very well so that may be an option if you want to make these mats worth only two activity choices. Printing 8 sets in color and on cardstock can really add up. http://homeschoolcreations.com/files/Playdough_Mats.pdf

14. Fabric Roads - These denim roads have been a huge hit in our house. That might be because we don't have any other car tracks but Ava loves making a track for cars with these. There are lots of learning extensions as well like talking about directions of cars, setting up traffic lights etc. I am planning to make her more. http://lilmoptop.blogspot.com/2010/10/easy-fabric-roads.html

15. Felt Pizza - This one was me again. I had made these Pizzas for Ava and she loved them so I made this small set for the group. This was time consuming and so I didn't provide lots of toppings but it would be pretty easy for anyone that wanted to create more toppings. The crust is two circles sewn together with a small opening, then flipped inside out, and sewn again just inside the edge in order to catch the opening needed to flip it. I think everything else is pretty self-explanatory. These are just for play but they are also great for teaching fractions too (i.e. "Put cheese on half the pizza").

 This is a photo of Ava's big set at home with a cut pizza and more toppings. 

16. Two-Sided Popsicle Puzzle - http://www.amazingmess.com/2010/07/popsicle-stick-puzzles.html

Ava is fascinated with the color wheel side. I can hear her singing "red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple it's a rainbow!" right now ;)

Notes on organizing - I ended up with one master list that everyone chose off of. I came up with almost all of the activities this time but next time we are going to do some suggesting but still have one master control list. The real challenge is always getting everyone on board with what makes a good swap activity and what really doesn't. For example, providing the ingredients for homemade play-dough is fun but that is pretty easy to whip up on your own. The point of the swap is to spend time pulling together materials that if you did one of each would be very time consuming but since you are doing several (in our case 8) then it cuts your time down and in the end you have a whole bunch of great activities. The other thing is talking to the group about quality, including printing on cardstock, in color, taking the extra step of getting some things laminated instead of just proving a sheet protector etc. We have some crafty and non-crafty members so there are a mix of things you can just take to Office Depot and pay for and things that took a considerable amount of time to make. I figured if everyone did about $30 or so worth of printing or 10ish hours of work or some combination of that then we were fair. So everyone had to pick three but some activities were worth three (like the play dough mats for example) and some were worth two like the magnets pom poms. If you aren't familiar with how much printing in color on cardstock at home or at an office store is then you might want to check that before organizing something like this. I think some of the moms that picked the 'easy' printing activities were surprised by the cost. 

First Birthday Prints and Our Mia Nolting Draws Letters Prints

I can't wait to post about Lilly's birthday it was perfect! In the meantime here is Lilly's takeaway print. I decided it would be more fun just to have this be a keepsake as opposed to my regular first birthday invitation, plus me pulling together mailing anything is almost impossible these days. Even though alas I couldn't get it printed at 5x7 for less than $1.50 a print! So now I have to mail them with the thank you notes anyway, but they are all ordered on Arts Cow for a very good price. We did two different main images because one was from my phone and I was worried about the resolution - but just fyi they both printed well. These both came from KM Thomas and I am always happy with her work and she is super speedy too! Ava's first year invitation is still up on Oh Dee Doh.

Also! I got back my Mia Nolting Draws Letters files back and they are great! I sent her the names and $1 per word via PayPal (so $2 per print below) and two weeks later I got a high res .jpg file. I can't wait to get them in some sweet matted frames but I supposed there are lots of cool things I can do with them. The bonus is that Ava (three) is at the age where she loves to read her name and she was so excited about the prints. 

New Kitchen Art - Free!

I really love the idea that with a good home printer you can print frame worthy art and graphics for your walls. I purchased three 8.5 x 11 frames for $1 each at the the dollar store and printed out these free prints from Make it Perfect. These are hanging in the kitchen and they make me happy. They got all funky while I was hanging them and I liked it so I made them more crooked and left it. The middle one is a quote from the character Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. 

Oh and here is another one I am plotting a place for because it is so, so true. You download it and others here via LayBabyLay. 

She also shared the other prints she used in the gallery wall below in her daughter's nursery - so cute! In this post she tells you where to order frames online for SO CHEAP. There are tutorials or sources for everything she did in the nursery on her site. 

More Free Art to Download here too!

Tialla

Ava and I made our first doll. Ava was really excited about making it and naming it but actually baby Lilly has 'played' with it more. Tialla's legs are just right for Lilly's little mouth.

I don't know where Ava got the name Tialla from.

We used this pattern, I just searched 'easy doll patterns' to find it. I think the legs and arms printed too thin but otherwise it was pretty easy.

 Oh and I would definitely embroider the face before I stuffed it if I did it again.

p.s. sorry for the sub-par phone photos

Getting Ready for Easter or How to Look Like a Super Chef

So we have been planning for a while to do something special for Easter this year. I must be having withdrawals from the crazy big Easter egg hunt I planned last year at work. And in case you haven't seen the TV ads Easter is the new Christmas. We have invited over a whole bunch of friends and we are hosting an egg hunt and a potluck lunch the Saturday before Easter. Somehow I lost track of an entire week and I just realized today that our big Easter party is in less than two weeks!

Here is basically what I have planned -
1. Everyone with a child that is hunting for eggs is bringing 24 plastic eggs with at least half stuffed with something other than candy.
2. I am planning on cooking a big ham and this recipe looks good. I especially like the commenter that said this recipe "will make you look like a super chef" - I am sold. I will also make bread and cookies. Everyone else is bringing the rest!

3. We are working on an Easter tree. Ava and I already made a bunch of ornaments for it now I just have to actually make the tree. I will definitely post the finished project asap because I vowed on Facebook to blog everyday for the next 14 days. So far it is turning out really cool! This easter tree is adorable! This one is very fun but I wish she would have posted what the base looks like.

4. I am going to try really hard to make these bunny cupcakes. I have been perfecting this cookie recipe and I really don't love decorating a million cookies so these seem actually a little more fun. Maybe my sister-in-law will come save me and help decorate the actual cupcake parts ;)

5. There are so many fun things to print out for Easter. Like these baskets or these eggs and bunnies or bunny straw covers or an entire party or don't forget vintage printables here is a really good roundup.

6. I want to make the tables look really cute with minimal fussiness. I really like the idea of entertaining more than the actual act of it. I almost always end up with big stacks of plates in the kitchen where you serve your self and then go find somewhere comfortable to sit. These egg votives are really cool. Probably some egg votives and tulips in milk glass and a spring table cloth will do.

etsy and summertime

I have had summertime on the brain! From browsing my Etsy favorites apparently I want a $300 Etsy gift card so I can buy some summer:

Print from - The Wheatfield 

Photo Print from - honeytree

Skirt From - KimHerring

Print From - Hannah Skoonberg

Fabric From - rainydaysandfundays

Patter from - Snazziedrawers

Pattern from - pinkpoodlebows

And my favorite (because Ava loves to sing this song and so did my Great Grandpa) 

another print from - The Wheatfield

worth sharing 2

  

Imogene's Antlers and these free downloadable paper dolls would be the sweetest gift for a little girl. (Thanks Design Mom and Silly Eagle Books for the idea!)

You should check out Silly Eagle Books because you will really like her! (or I do anyway)

Ava is going to LOVE tracing animal projections - we have been working on the idea of tracing and she is figuring it out - such a smart girl. 

The word from the boss is that we are headed toward a Go Diego Go third birthday party this summer (ugh) so I have been looking for some cute ideas but finding nothing - I am thinking maybe I will just make Ava a rescue pack, have a Diego cake and then just do lots of girly orange and blue. Seriously why can't she just want a cat party like this one - I NEED to make those little cat carrier party favors.

Shop for earrings and this doll and especially this singing bird in a cage at DarlyBird. How cute would an easter basket with things from DarlyBird be?! 

I want to stencil an accent wall with something from here!

Good people SWEAR by the CeraVe line of skincare and it is really affordable. The ladies I know that use it talk about it as if it were a religion. My moisturizer is almost out and I think I am going to pick some up. I love the title of the most popular review of it on Amazon: "more effective than steroids, immune suppressants, or light treatments" ... like a religion.

Finally, I haven't tried it yet but I really needed this advice for removing white heat marks from furniture.