Toy Hammock

I'm not sure why, but where there are kids, there is bound to be a stuffed animal (or 10) nearby. When you have a baby, people start buying them for you. And then your kids get older and they start ASKING for them on their birthdays and holidays.......leading to stuffed animal overload.

I have three kids. And that mean I have about a thousand stuffed animals in the house. (Ok, maybe not REALLY a thousand, but it sure feels that way).

I don't really mind that they want their little cuddly things, but I am SO tired of constantly picking them up and trying to find somewhere to keep them. If you put them in the toy box, you run out of room for actual TOYS in there. If you keep them on the bed, you have to move them every night and put them back every morning. Too much work for an already over worked mom, if you ask me. 

I know that there are those triangular netting-type things to hang in the corner of the room to store all the stuffed animals in......but if you ask me, they are kind of cheap looking and are bound to break in no time. Besides, they look kind of dorky. 

But I'm desperate. 

And also being frugal (Ok, cheap) I start thinking of how I could MAKE some hammocky-thingy to hang in their room that wouldn't look so bad. I must be able to use something I have already...... Fabric? Not stretchy enough. Oh, YARN! And thanks to the internet, a few clicks lead me to this forum which had a pattern in one of the responses. I added about 10 rows because I didn't feel like it was big enough, but otherwise made it according to the pattern listed.

All loaded up.... whoops! I was so excited to try it that I forgot to weave in the strings....

After loading up the hammock, I realized that one was not going to be enough to hold all of the cuddly animals. AND, now my son needs one for his room too. It's a good thing it's an easy pattern. Off I go to make another one.....

TOY HAMMOCK
7oz worsted weight yarn
size H crochet hook

ch 9, sl st in first st to make a circle. DO NOT TURN.
Row 1: ch 7, sc in circle, ch 5, dc in circle. TURN.
Row 2: ch 7, sc in first loop, ch 5, sc in next loop, ch 5, dc in same loop. TURN.
Row 3: ch 7, sc in first loop, ch 5, sc in next loop (repeat to end), ch 5, dc in last loop (this will be your second stitch in the last loop). TURN
REPEAT Row 3 for Rows 4-41 (or more if you would like to make your hammock bigger).
Last Row: ch 5, sc in first loop, ch 3, sc in next loop (repeat to end), ch 5, dc in last loop.
Fasten off and weave in ends.

Hang with hooks in the corner of the room at your desired height and load up with stuffies! Yay! No more teddy bears on the floor!

Bearded Beanies

Well, Pinterest hits again.....

I kept seeing bearded beanies (hats) show up on my page and I knew that I just HAD to make some for my family this year. I had a feeling that they would be funny. But I never dreamed that they would be such a hit! I managed to make them for my two nephews, my niece, my brother, and my daughter (though hers was a little different......see below).

I tried to match hair color and age of recipient so they would be as real looking as yarn beards could be.

Oh. My. Gosh. 

I still laugh when I look at the pictures!

My brother and nephew wearing their new beards.

While I was knitting and crocheting these gifts, my 4 year old daughter decided that she wanted one too. Now, Penelope is a very girly girl, so I was surprised to hear her request..... until she explained it more. It made perfect sense.

"Mom, can you make me one of those hats? But instead of a beard I want it to have pink lipgloss."   

DING, DING, DING! Great idea!!! I haven't seen any "lipgloss beanies" on Pinterest yet! I managed to tweak the beard pattern to be skin colored with lips. She was THRILLED! (Personally, I think it looks like she put too much lipstick on and went out of the lines....)

The kids with their "beards" (and my brother with his REAL beard). 

I think these were my favorite gift to give this year. I might just have to make some more..... 

(I will try to write out the instructions this week and add them here)

Turkey Crayon Holders

It's been a VERY long time since I've done a blog post. So, I'm sorry to those who have been waiting...... I have lots of ideas, and even some drafts, but I've been so busy with Halloween and working at the kids' schools that I just haven't had time to finish a post. With three kids, a business, and endless housework, there just isn't a lot of time left for other stuff. Add in the holidays and FORGET IT! 

So I told myself that this week, since the kids are out of school, I would find the time to finish a post. ANY post. Of course, just as I sat down at the computer, I realized that I really should be getting ready for the 22 people coming for dinner on Thursday, and that I still haven't done any fun Thanksgiving crafts with the kids! (BTW, I will be posting, in the near future, the recipes for my husband's Bleu Cheese Pear Vinaigrette and Red Bean Tasso Soup that we will be having for Thanksgiving dinner. YUM!)

So, back to the craft..... 

I have decide to put butcher paper and crayons on the kids' table this year so that they will have something to do during dinner. Of course, I can't just throw crayons on the table! I looked for little baskets or bowls or something, but couldn't find anything just right. Then I saw some little baby food jars that were just the right size. But really, really ugly! So, we decided to turn them into Turkeys! They are really easy, but I will give step by step instructions below. Here is one of them finished. Isn't he adorable?

My 6 year old said, while we were making them, "Mom, these are so cute! We should put this on Pinterest!" Haha! He knows me so well.

Here's what we did.

Step 1: Cut a strip of brown paper the height of your jar (we used a plain lunch bag because we were out of brown construction paper). Using hot glue, glue the strip around the jar as shown below.

 Step 2: Cut a circle shape out of brown paper for the head. Add eyes, a beak, and a waddle (the red dangly thing). Then hot glue the head to the jar.

Step 3: Glue feathers to the opposite side of the jar as the head. And voila! Cute Turkey Crayon Holders!

Playdough

The last time I made homemade playdough, my three kids sat and played for TWO HOURS!! Two hours of no fighting, no "mom, mom, mom, mom," and no complaining. It was heavenly.

At first I was afraid to make playdough at home. I was worried that it would be messy, take too long, not turn out right, or ruin my pans. I was totally wrong. It's about the easiest thing there is to do. I tried a few recipes and found one that I love, and that's what I make every few months when our old dough gets mixed up, dried up, or just plain boring.

I let each kid pick their own color and help me make "their" dough. That way there's no fighting about who gets to help and which dough belongs to whom. Then I give it too them while it's still warm, which is especially wonderful on those cold winter days when you are stuck inside. At Valentine's Day, they tend to pick pink, red, and purples, and at St. Patrick's Day, they chose varying shades of greens and blues. It takes less than 5 minutes to put together, and is very easy to clean up. I HIGHLY recommend it if you have kids. Or even if you don't have kids. I find kneading dough to be very therapeutic.

Here is my favorite playdough recipe:

Mix the following ingredients in a saucepan:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
(add glitter to dry ingredients if desired)


In a separate bowl, mix the following ingredients:
2 Tbsp vegetable (I use just under 2 Tbsp so the dough is not too oily)
1 cup hot water
food coloring


Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients (in saucepan) and stir. Heat over med/high **stirring constantly**. When it begins to form a ball, remove from heat, turn out onto floured surface, and knead until smooth. (You might need to wait a few minutes after putting in onto floured surface because it will be HOT). If the dough is too oily, you can just continue to knead in flour until it is the consistency you like.

I've been searching around to find things for my daughter's birthday party goodie bags. I found a few things at the local dollar store, but I really didn't want to buy a bunch of cheap toys that break and clutter up your car and house (we all have WAY too many of those already, I'm sure). So I decided to put in bubbles, a few pieces of candy, and homemade playdough. Not just ANY playdough, though. Playdough that represents two of my daughter's favorite things: Pink and Glitter.

For this batch, I made a triple recipe and added two vials of glitter from the dollar store (pink and purple). For food color I added about 10 drops of red and 3 drops of blue.

After it cooled, I cut it into quarters. Then I rolled each quarter into a log about 2-3 inches thick and 6 inches long. I then cut each log into thirds so that I would have a dozen chunks for the party guests.

I will put each chunk in a ziplock bag (though I wish I had some cuter containers for it) and add them to the rest of the goodies. I'm sure the kids will love them. My daughter is already begging me to play with it RIGHT NOW! I guess I should have made extra.....