Craft for January

Critter Swing!

I don't remember much about my great grandma... but one thing I do remember well, was the doll house in an orange box that she had made, and all the little furniture she had made to go in it... all of which was made from things around the house, such as bottles.

Here is a swing made for Calico Critters... from a bottle.

I'm working on someone's birthday gift, so shhh! :)

I took an old vitamin bottle and cut the bottom off, about an inch deep.

I then cut some holes in either side, and strung a ribbon through. (String would work too). The cushion I made by tracing the outside of the bottle on some fabric, and then sewed it up with some cotton balls inside.

 Nice added touch was hot gluing some ribbon around the outside and putting a bow in the front. And there you have it!

The ribbon across the middle, holds the critter in place.

Happy Crafting!

S.L. Kliever

Craft for December

 Dresses for Calico Critters...

...And Dollies!

 
Well, it's that time of year again. My favourite time of the year, I might add. Growing up we didn't have a lot of the stuff that goes in people's wallets... but what we did have was creativity. So when Christmas rolled around, we would get to work making gifts for each other. It actually is so meaningful now to look back and think on, because as a family, even if we kids didn't always get along, we loved each other, and we certainly showed it around Christmas time, as we worked hard to make each other gifts.

So this year, for my daughter, I set to work making dresses for her Calico Critters, and dolls. I will show you the simplest way of making a large variety of dresses.

First off, you're going to need a rectangle. Make sure it's bigger than the size you actually need for a dress. As you can see, when you sew in all the sides, it gets considerably smaller.

 Then you're going to want to gather it in. I did this on the sewing machine, with a wide stitch, then pull on the threads to gather it in. Have your doll or critter on hand to check out the size, making sure it goes all the way around, and over laps in the back!

 I then added lace. This piece I sewed on, but adding ribbon or lace is easy with a hot glue gun!

 Then on the back, you're going to add your straps, using ribbon or lace, and don't forget Velcro. Before you hot glue it all on, make sure you try it out on the doll or critter to be sure it's all in the right place.

 And there you have it!

You can also do this same thing with (I believe it's called) Eyelet lace.
This required no sewing, only hot gluing! I love this lace!!

Now come see all the different kinds you can make with ribbon, lace, different fabric, and different sizes.

Happy Crafting!

S.L. Kliever

Preschool in progress! Part 2

Hello Again!

Here's another peep into our preschool at home.

We've made it through the alphabet doing a letter a week, and now we are reviewing a few letters at a time.

 Using this book as a guide, we are reviewing the letters c, o, s, a & t
working hard on letter recognition and especially the letter sounds.
Once we have these down pat, then we will finish this 'lesson' in showing them how these letters go together in small words, such as sat, at, cat, so, to etc..

Another thing I've done, is print off a bunch of these practice sheets (found on Pinterest) and laminated them. Then bought some Crayola Dry Eraser Crayons so that they can practice, practice, practice, and we're not using a ton of paper!!

And they think it's great fun being able to colour, then erases and do it again!

And, as it's the month of December, we've done some other fun things lately.
Here I made them snowflakes to paint, and then we hung them in our window.

And we've been focusing on the story of Christ's birth, as Christmas is approaching. I was able to find some Advent colouring pictures, (again off of Pinterest) and they've been having fun colouring those and hanging them up.

We've also read the Christmas story several times lately, from their children's story book Bible, and in the evenings, we have Advent decorations (no picture) that have scripture verses about Jesus coming, and all the prophecies He fulfilled, and have been reading those, and then the kids get to put them up on the tree.
Some days I don't know who enjoys this more, me or them! We do have our not so great days like everyone, but I am so grateful for these two and the opportunity to be their mommy and teach them new things! 

Thank you for coming to read a little bit about our adventures.

S.L. Kliever

Christmas shopping?

Hello! Well I have a special announcement to all you homeschoolers out there.  

I don't think I've mentioned my books on this blog, but I am the author of

The Chronicles of Exmoor series!

I'm not the kind of person that likes to put myself out there, but I am becoming more comfortable with advertising (on the web) my books.

If you're shopping for Christmas gifts this year and need something for, oh say, ages 10-99... (haha) check out my blog here, and follow the links to buy my books.

Also if you notice the post below, I have just released a children's book!! The Heart Princess, is perfect for the little girl in your life!

My biggest fans are homeschoolers, if that tells you anything! And if you've already read the books, please take the time to go to Amazon or Christianbook and write a review so that others can see how much you like the books!

Merry Christmas!

S.L. Kliever

It's Here!

My Children's book is here

Check it out, it's here just in time for Christmas!

Hard copy $15

ebooks $0.99 for a limited time!

click on the link to go to the store!

Happy reading! S.L. Kliever

buy it here!

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Craft for November

Pillow case dress for

OCC shoebox!

I know I did this last year, but I really think it's worth telling y'all about it again.

This dress is really simple to make, and it fits in the shoe box really well. 

I have always bought scrap fabric from the second hand store

I often find sections like this that are about (or a little more than) the width of a pillow case, and nice and long! I really like length in dresses, because then if the box goes to a 4 year old instead of a 2 year old, or the 2 yr old grows, the dress will still fit!

 As you can see, (sorry for the bad picture) I cut two arm holes, and two small sections (from the bottom) for two sashes or ties. 

After that, it's just sewing. I hem up the bottom so that it can be let down if needed. Like I said, I like length for growth. 

I sew up the side, and sew around the arm holes and the top. Then I turn over a section at the top, for the tie to run through, on both front and back.
And we're done!

The other tie, is for around the waist if desired. I made one of these dresses for my daughter, and we like the waist tie, because when the dress is long, it's nice to have it gathered and not ballooning out. Makes it look more like a dress and less like a nightgown. 

Happy Sewing!

S.L. Kliever