handmade gift || glass bead keychains

I'm a little behind with my posting, but I wanted to share/document Logan's handmade holiday gift that she gave out to some of the favorite women in her life this Christmas. She hand selected the beads for each keychain herself, and strung them too. It was bitter sweet for me to see her, so independent, crafting with little guidance. They came out so much better than we had anticipated.-- so much so that we kept two for ourselves. We did have a few setbacks with the string and durability. The night before Christmas eve, we were re-stringing them onto fishing wire. It later turned to be that fishing wire maybe wasn't the best option either as some have snapped, while others are staying put nicely. I think it all depends on the way their handled. Next time we make these we are going to use a more tough and  flexible, rubber base fishing line rather than the standard type. The beads are glass and beautiful in color. You can find the ones we used here. The hardest part was deciding which ones to use as they are all equally beautiful. These may be my favorite handmade gift yet. It will definitely be hard to top them next Christmas.

halloween cards

Every year since Logan could, we've made cards for special holidays and sent them out to friends, 
both big and little. 

Halloween cards have always been the most fun to make since we're able to get most creative. 

I found these super cute eye stickers and had to have them. 
I wasn't quite sure what we were going to do with them, but I knew we would figure something out. 

This is what we came up with, and I think they are great! 

We kept the cards pretty simple as far as detail goes because I kind of didn't want to take away from the muted tones and little  details in the eyes themselves. I love the messy eyebrows and crazy spooky varieties in the mouths. 

I find it so impactful to cut out special time to do things like this with her. 
I love exploring and finding new ways with helping her to create something unique to just her.

I love that she too, so little, can inspire me in such a big way.

butterfly art

Can there be such as thing as too hot to swim? Well, today we declared it. And although the kids managed to get a little pool time in, much of the day was spent indoors. 

I recently came across a fellow mama blogger, Kim, and her awesome blog with craft ideas, inspiration, and tons of printables --> win!

Last week Lo and I were butterfly watching in the backyard-- so when I saw this printable, I knew it would make a perfect summer craft that would allow for me to expand off of one experience to further our knowledge and re-examine what we had already learned. 

Logan and her cousins each got a printable and paints to share. I love how different-but-same they all look. The older boys really took their time and put a lot of effort/thought into their butterfly. I loved that they were just as excited about it as Logan was. 

I am so happy to have found Kim's blog, and highly recommend it to other mama's looking for some ideas to keep their kids creative sparks going. I already have a few things printed out for future crafting and others bookmarked [for later printing] for Lo's homeschool preschool program.

life of a crafter

Now that most of our days are spent indoors, we have become quite the crafters. Lo is pretty hardcore with her crafting. It has become a need. Or as she says, a "neeeeeed." Many mornings a craft is her first request. Most days, I try to have something specific planned for us to do. But then there are other days..days when planning isn't possible [mainly because mama is too sleepy because she was up late watching too much TV. [I have to get it while it's good ").] Those days, we just pull out some supplies and have a free for all with pretty papers, stickers, markers, paint, fabrics, recyclables, and anything else in our supply. I think Lo may like these days best. I think I do too. This is when she sits the longest : ]

 A beautiful mess, I call it.

 The only time I was able to get her to look up at me. She was very into what she was doing.

 These were our cute little monster friends [halloween season inspired.] Lo had fun gluing the eyes and mouths, and helping me tape the pipe cleaners on the back. Though, she didn't want me to hang them. Suddenly, spooky things "spook" her. This whole becoming more aware definitely has its ups and downs.. Halloween night will be interesting.. Gahh

 Here is my favorite piece. I am going to frame it and hang it in Logan's room, once we re-paint it. I placed everything out on the paper, and she glued them on. I was SO impressed with her gluing and placement skill here. The only thing I changed was the small tree because its trunk was half way off the page. Other than that, it was all her. Great job, babygirl!

Also, this day she made postcards for her cousins [seen in top picture] that we are going to mail out. We used Halloween stickers and Halloween theme color markers. She had a ball "making mail" for her cousins.

She had a ball, period.

Yay, for happy toddler!