Homemade Play Dough

Lately I've been feeling like a lame mom.  Molly is 20 months old and has lots of energy.  She's also at the age where she needs constant supervision and loves being by my side.  While I do love the cuddles and fun, I'm a bit lazy (and frugal) when it comes to constantly having new toys for her to play with and things for her to do.  I also am already sick of cleaning up our every-day messes, so projects that create more messes are less exciting to me.  HOWEVER, I know that toddlers need to do fun activities and make messes, and that it is my job as momma to clean them up.

I've been wondering if it is time for her to have play dough.  That can't be too messy, can it??  I don't mind spending a few dollars on the stuff from the store, but I thought, just for fun, I would try making it today.

It took all of 5 minutes, and I am pleasantly surprised at the quality.  It's actually pretty awesome!  I used this recipe.

Here it is with all the ingredients in the pan:

You cook it for a few minutes and magically, it starts to look like this:

Then, you take it out of the pan and knead it for less than a minute and it looks like this!

The only modification I made to the original recipe is that I didn't add vanilla.  I don't need another reason for my child to want to eat this stuff.  Also, I actually like the smell the way it is... it reminds me of my childhood.

My Own Giftable Arrangement

Ever heard of that company that makes beautiful bouquets out of fresh fruit?  Well, I have, and they're one of my favorite gifts to give and receive.  They don't wilt like flowers (though don't get me wrong, I still love flowers!), and yet they are a treat that doesn't happen to add inches to your waistline like cookies, cake or candy.

Over the weekend, I had planned to pick up one of these bouquets to give to a friend's daughter who just had knee surgery.  Then, it occurred to me... maybe I could make it myself.  I mean, really, how hard could it be to skewer some fruit and turn it into a masterpiece? 

Well, here it is, so you tell me.

Definitely not bad for a first attempt.  A little chaotic looking, but definitely fun, unique and delicious.

The recipient's family really likes pineapple, so I decided to start with that for an edible, yet attractive base.  Then I washed up some strawberries, grapes, raspberries and blackberries.  I also peeled and sliced the rest of the pineapple and used a cookie cutter to make heart shapes (yes, that's what those shapes are).  Then I went to work with the skewers until it seemed like there was enough fruit.

In the end, I spent a fraction of the price I would have paid for the professional version, yet was able to use more exciting fruit like raspberries and blackberries, and we got to eat the leftover fruit!  Which was good, since, while I was making the bouquet, I had to constantly fend off Molly, who must have eaten her weight in fruit yesterday.  I guess there are worse foods to overindulge on.

Molly Book: Finished At Last!

At last, I have finally finished this project that I started for little Molly... when she was about 6 months old.  Now she's almost 15 months old, and yes, it took me that long to complete it.  It seems that the only time I can find to sew is when I am sitting in the car for hours on end!

I got the idea for a felt book spelling out the letters of her name somewhere, I can't remember.  It seemed like such a quick and easy book to throw together, but as always, once I got started, my imagination ran a little wild.  What started as a simple little project turned into, well, a much larger one.  My motto for most projects I start is usually "Go Big or Go Home."  Big just sometimes takes some time to finish.

To make the book, first I cut out the letters and pictures out of felt.  *Sorry there are no pictures of the steps - I started this book long before this blog existed.*  Then I glued them onto the felt pages and sewed them all down with embroidery thread so that nothing could be picked off and swallowed by a child.  Then I sewed the pages together so that each page is actually two pieces of felt back to back.  Once these thick pages were finished, I sewed the book together.  Here are all the pages... enjoy!

Here is the cover:

Here are the inside pages:

That blob attached to the ribbon on the "Y" page is a jingle bell to play with.

And the back cover... the hearts on black fabric were done by my mom and definitely have the best stitching of the whole book.  Don't look too closely at the sewing on the rest of the book!  I'm not overly experienced in the sewing department.