School in progress Part 6

Not much new to report... but with spring around the corner (or is it here? hard to tell!) We've started plants indoors, and the kids get excited to start their own. So this year we did something different, we did a Resurrection Garden in one of the pots, making Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday more meaningful for the kids.

 As soon as we arrived home from the store, my son was eager to get going on his pots. I let them pick out their own flowers at the store, and they each got two pots to plant in.
I think probably the best way kids learn is hands on, at least mine do. Learning by doing... and when we make it fun, they learn that work can be fun, not work; in planting seeds, or learning to sweep the floor or doing dishes!

 And since we're going to be learning about birds this year... we picked out a few things for our yard!
The North American Wildlife book is the exact one my grandma had, and I remember running over to my grandma's house to look something up in the book. So when I found it at the second hand store, I got it for my kids. We will be looking up birds and learning about which ones are in our area.

And that's just a little of what we're doing!

S.L. Kliever

School in progress Part 5

I hope no one noticed but me that I missed a month again... health issues are never fun, but life goes on either way.

Come take a look what we've been up to lately in school. 

Two new favorite books the kids have been enjoying. 

Because my daughter and I are into doll houses and miniatures, The Mouse Mansion was a fun find. 

And of course, my son loves Thomas, so this collection of old original stories was well received. 

Both books can be found on Amazon. I think I got them second hand.

 Yes, Legos are important for school! If you're a Lego lover and don't mind cheaper brands, I found these at Wal-Mart. We've had great fun building with them! 

Legos can be a good way to teach creativity as well as counting!!!

 Now for actual school, what kid doesn't like to get their very own mail! These are Bible lessons through ubdavid.org or better known as U B David, I'll B Jonathan. Their lessons can be taken on-line now, but I asked about snail mail, because I remembered doing them as a kid and I loved getting my own mail... and so do my kids. They start at preschool age and up to Bible school level! There are many benefits to doing these, for starters, they can get scholarships to Bible school and Summer Bible Camps, as well as earn books. 

We keep ours in binders, so we don't lose lessons and can go back and re-read them if we want.

 Some books we've been working through lately... I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, your local Dollar Store can be a great place to get your kids started!

 We have a budding artist in our family, so I got these simple books on drawing, found them too on Amazon. It's been neat to watch my little artist develop!

That's it for now! Come back again!

S.L. Kliever

Craft for January

The Ugly Chair Repair

We all have that one chair that is falling apart or popping it's cushion out. 

Sorry, we forgot to take a before picture, but I think if you have an ugly chair, you know what I'm talking about well enough, you don't need a picture. 

But this is the after shot.... so this is what an office chair looks like covered in jeans!! :D

Tell me what you think. 

I can't take credit for doing this, it started out as my idea, but my hubby quickly took over because I nursing mama doesn't have much time on  her hands! :D 

Happy Crafting

S.L. Kliever

Craft for Nov

Baskets and Purses for Calico Critters

 

First off, we take an old egg carton and cut some parts out.

taking out crafting string, we hot glue to the bottom,

working our way up around the sides.

 you can choose to line it with cloth, if so, do that first before finishing the outside.

I took a different part of the carton, (theses are out of the lid),

and following the same idea, began to cover the outside. 

 The results were cute little purses. 

 Happy Crafting

S.L. Kliever

OCC shoebox time!

Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box Time

Are you ready?

Have you been challenged to do shoe boxes this year?

Were you also challenged to put a letter in?

Intimidated? Or just don't know what to write?

Maybe this can help, just fill in the blanks and send a little love with your box!

Happy Shoe Box Packing!!

Download Here!

Craft for Aug/Sep

I see that I was supposed to post last month... I ended up in the hospital sick, so I missed. So here we go.

Cloth Dollies continued!

Building a doll set one piece at a time... took time. One dress here, a few craft items from the second hand store... build this, and build that.

The drawers are soap boxes covered with cloth and hot glue. 

The chest is a tea box covered the same way

The bed is made of two cardboard slabs, the top having stuffing and covered in cloth, 

and the bottom for sturdiness and feet glued on.

Lace around the bottom, pillows and a quilt finished it off. 

(my first attempt at quilting!)

This is a carpet in progress (still not finished!!)

Got to have a doll closet, right? so this old jeweler box was refurbished with a little craft paint, 

and all that is (still) needed, is a rod across inside to hang the dresses on. 

Hangers made from paper clips will work to hang up the dresses.

This is a portable, take down house, which means all the walls are cardboard, covered in cloth, with Velcro on the edges so they can connect. This makes it easy to put it all away into a box.

 The blue chair is homemade of cardboard, stuffing and cloth, hot glued together. 

The other chair was found at the second-hand store, 

as was this jewelry box converted into their china cabinet. 

The dishes also were found at the second-hand store, 

but you can also find similar sets at the dollar store.

 I have yet to build a table so they can 'eat' with their dishes.

 Bloomers, dresses of all sorts, wooden chests, laundry basket, wooden jugs and cups, wooden rocking chair... we've had fun finding things that go with our dollies. 

My daughter (and son) often pull them out to play with.

I hope to make more in the future, but I think next time, I will try for a more modern look.

I appreciate the old-fashioned style, but now that I'm more confident sewing their clothes, I'd like to try modern style clothes, skirts, shirts, etc...

Happy Crafting

S.L. Kliever

Craft for July

Cloth Dollies

and their home Part 1

I thought making a cloth doll for my daughter would be hard, but it turned out easier than I thought. 

Taking the basic doll pattern, cutting it out, and then tracing it onto the fabric, all I had to do, was sew around the outside, leaving a hole in the side and on the top of the head, then cut out the doll.

 After that came turning them inside out and stuffing them.

 The doll on the left is one I did for my niece, and I let her finish it, sewing the head closed and then adding the hair. 

Below, you can see how I made a 'wig' piece first, and attached all the 'hair' to it, going round and round, till I had a full head of 'hair'.

This one too, I attached the curls round the 'wig' till I had a full head of curly hair.

 The faces were the most challenging for me. 

Let me recommend you practise lots on paper first.

 Then my son was disappointed they were all girls.... so Mom had to make a boy

I sewed on his hair, gradually covering the back and sides and then the top.

 I gave him a bed and chair with trimmings right away, also making my son a pillow case from the same fabric. He was tickled!

 There will be more to come next month, as I show you what I made for the dolls to give them a home complete with furniture!

 Happy Sewing

S.L. Kliever