Special DIY Baby Shower Blocks

Earlier this year, I helped host a baby shower for a sweet lady from our church. Jessica and her husband had been hoping for a baby for a while and everyone was thrilled to learn a new baby was on its way. They chose to be surprised as to the gender, so we wanted a gender neutral hostess gift for the baby. I also wanted to do something special that they would be able to keep and enjoy for a long time, so inspired by a shower that Jana recently gave, we decided to make baby blocks at the shower.

I gathered all of the supplies for the craft and tried to make things as easy as possible for those attending.  Here are the materials you will need:

• Unfinished blocks
• Patterned or solid scrapbook paper
• Old children's books that you can cut pages from
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Glue
• Fine-tip permanent pens
• Mod-Podge
• Small Foam brushes

I ordered 2" wooden blocks from Glitz Star from Amazon as the base for our design.

These blocks were perfect! It might have okay to use a slightly smaller block, but I really liked this size. In addition, the blocks came in a drawstring bag that was perfect for gift-giving!

Since her nursery colors were gray and yellow, I spray-painted the blocks light gray. They required two coats for even coverage since they were unfinished to begin with. (I set them inside the Amazon box to spray them so I didn't get the paint all over my carport.)

Each person at the shower was to make a block by adhering colored paper to each side, and signing their name on one piece of paper. I chose some simple dotted scrapbook paper that coordinated with the invitations I'd made. While it would be very easy to cut squares with scissors, I used my Silhouette to cut squares (with rounded corners) from the paper.

For the signatures, I used the print & cut feature of my Silhouette to make a signature square. I just printed it onto the same patterned paper (similar shown here) and then fed it into my machine to be cut into rounded squares, as well.  You could also just let each person sign one of the squares of scrapbook paper, if you'd rather.

Last, but not least, was my favorite part. I purchased some classic Golden Books, The Poky Little Puppy and The Little Red Hen and cut small squares from them as well. Because I wanted to be sure I included the faces, etc., I fussy-cut these by hand rather than using the die-cutter.

On a table, covered with a plastic tablecloth, I had set out all of the painted blocks, plastic plates with Mod Podge in them and a cup to hold pens and paintbrushes. I divided the blocks into patterns pieces and book pieces and had directions posted on the table, but I also supervised the table to be sure everyone understood how to do the activity.  (As another part of our hostess gift, we gave a set of melamine dishes that matched the books, so I used these in the setup of this table.)

Directions for the blocks that were posted on the signs were:

• Pick 4 pictures from one of the books.
• Pick 1 patterned piece of paper
• Pick 1 piece of paper with "Made by"
• Sign your name on the "Made by" paper and glue to one side of the block with the Mod Podge.
• Glue the other pieces to the other sides of the block.

I took all of the blocks home and gave them another coat of Mod Podge before delivering them. That was it! Super simple, but they turned out really cute and made such a sweet, memorable gift for the new baby--who turned out to be a baby girl!! 

Be Mine

I've worked with children most of my life, so when I began my student teaching years ago, I wasn't at all surprised by their anticipation of various holidays. Halloween, came first and the kids planned their costumes for weeks. And, of course, notes to Santa were written and gift lists were compared and discussed in the weeks leading up to Christmas. But, I was totally unprepared for the excitement that Valentine's Day presented.

Even though there was no character dressed in a costume, the children had so much fun picking out the perfect box of cards from the store to exchange with their friends.  I guess I shouldn't have been surprised--I vividly remember how much I loved making my own Valentines out of doilies and red paper and saving the prettiest ones for my best friends. Valentine's Day was indeed a very special time.

Toddler D has no idea what Valentine's Day is about yet, but I thought he might enjoy the process of decorating cards for his friends. I picked up some supplies at our local Dollar Tree--a couple of packs of cards, heart stickers, stampers and his favorite, some transportation stickers--and showed him how how to use all of the supplies.

I loved watching him work, carefully peeling away the backing of the stickers. Little dimpled hands are the best!!

The stampers were his favorite!

Later, he helped me write his name on the inside of each card--he can make a couple of the letters without any help! Then, we bagged them up so he could take them to school last week. I can't wait to see how he reacts to receiving Valentines from his friends!

One Man's Trash . .

I don't know about you, but after a trip to the grocery store, I often come home and feel like I am drowning in plastic bags.  I keep reusable bags in my car (and they are great ones), but it seems that more often than not, I forget to take them inside with me.  I try to keep my plastic bags neatly tucked away in my tiny pantry to re-use, but there is no way to re-use them all, so I found myself just throwing many of them away.

One morning, while working at our church's food pantry, I was reminded of what I SHOULD be doing with my bags. One of our regular pantry workers spends her free time crocheting these wonderful sleeping mats for our local homeless residents.

A little larger than a twin bed, they are attractive and thick and water-resistant---and they are made from leftover plastic bags! Yep, that's right.  The very same bags that I kept throwing away.

Intrigued, I was shown how I can help at home.

Perhaps it is something you want to help with as well.  Before the crocheting can begin, each bag needs to be converted into "plarn"  (plastic yarn). While the process is extremely simple, it is time-consuming for the person that is doing the crocheting--and a way for me to get involved, and get rid of my plastic bags.  Watch my short video to learn how to create "plarn" for a project such as this---it is so easy!

Any of the scraps left after cutting up the bags are turned in to one of our local grocery stores for recycling, so every single part of the bag is used.  If you want to begin creating plarn yourself, I would be happy to take your finished balls to our food pantry to be crocheted into more mats.  As you can see, she tries to make them as attractive as possibly, as well, so I try to keep the colors separated into separate balls.

If you want more information about how to make your own mats, there are several websites with directions here and here.  The only supplies needed are scissors, a large crochet hook and a bunch of bags.  The larger the crochet hook, the faster this project goes, so be sure to choose a size 10 or larger. It takes a TON of plastic bags to complete one of the mats, but what a blessing it is to provide a softer spot to land for someone in need.

P. S.  I just posted my very first Instagram "Moment", so check it out if you want.

Making of the Fairy Gardens

One of the biggest projects we undertook last week during Granny Camp, was the crafting of individual fairy gardens.  After doing some searches on Pinterest for Inspiration, the kids began brainstorming about things they would like to include in their own gardens.

Their highest priorities were:
1.  House
2.  Ladder
3.  River or water
4.  Swing
5.  Fairies or gnomes

We made a trip to Wal Mart to purchase flower pot saucers and also found some tiny bird houses on sticks.  At Dollar Tree we picked up stones and pebbles and a couple of silk flower branches, then came home to begin working while it rained outdoors. (Most of these photos were taken with my phone, indoors, with very low light, so please excuse the graininess)

First, they painted their houses.

 Next up was the construction of tiny bridges.  I used florist wire that I had on hand to make a base and the kids glued pieces of craft sticks on for the "wood".  I manned the glue gun and they stuck the pieces in place.  I had an old roll of fake pearl ribbon that the girls used as a railing for their bridges.

As I mentioned yesterday, we took a little walk during a break in the rain showers and found some natural elements to add to the gardens.  We brought home sticks, acorn caps, pecan shells, leaves and magnolia cones.

Using the stones that we purchased, each of the kids made a river and river bank.

We broke the sticks into tiny pieces and glued them between longer pieces to form the rungs on fairy-sized ladders. The kids also painted stones to make bugs and such.

Interestingly, the hardest part of the whole process was finding affordable fairies.  Who knew that fairies would be so expensive??!  It took stops at several different stores, but we finally located a tube of fairies at Michael's that wasn't too ridiculous using the week's coupon.  I also purchased a package of tiny birds and a package of moss at Joann's.  Here are some closeups of Adellelyn and Jexie's gardens.

Naturally, Michael did not want an girl fairy, so we decided to make a boy gnome.  I used the wire to form his body and glued on scraps of fabric for clothes.  Michael added an acorn cap and put a fishing pole in his hand.

The construction of these gardens was bit messy--I kept a vinyl tablecloth spread out in the living room with all of our supplies and tried to keep all the mess on that as much as possible--but they turned out so great!   The ideas were their own and I just helped them figure out how to make them work.  I like how we were able to use so many "found objects" and how each garden is unique, despite similar elements.   It was so fun and the kids loved making them!  While I never really wanted one for myself before, I'm thinking that I might have just the right spot for one out in my herb garden.  

Granny Camp or Bust!

Ron and I brought home Michael, Adellelyn and Jexie to spend a few days with us while their parents chaperoned a church camp for teenagers.

Ron was at work most of the time, so Granny Camp was in full swing.
We'd hoped to go swimming at a friends' house Monday, but it rained most of the day.  Instead, we had an indoor picnic, made a quick trip to the store and began building tiny fairy gardens!

During a break in the rain, we were able to get out and go for a little walk.  We collected supplies for the gardens and splashed in the puddles.
Callie and the boys were able to come over for a while, so we enjoyed letting the cousins get to know each other a bit better.

The next afternoon, Callie and the boys met us at the park for some fun on the playground and in the Splashpad.

Baby D was very interested in the water fountains, but timid at the same time.  He liked it best during the intervals when the water was just dripping.

Needless to say, Adellelyn, Michael and Jexie weren't at all worried about getting wet!

They ran and jumped and had a great time in the tiny space.

On Wednesday, we prepared sandwiches, loaded the strollers and headed to the duck pond.

After eating our picnic lunch, we found a couple of mama ducks and their babies.  One of them let us sit very closely and watch her ducklings as they preened themselves.

There was some playground play, some tree climbing and of course, some minnow hunting.

By afternoon, we were hot and sweaty and ready to cool off, so we walked over to the neighborhood Sno Cone stand.

It was baby D's first encounter with Sno-Cones and he referred to his as a "blue cake".  After pondering his plan of attack--spoon or straw--he decided on a big bite.

It wasn't long until everyone's mouths and tongues were various shades of red and blue.

Our evenings were filled with eating dinner, 

playing cards with Papaw

and learning to crochet and finger-weave.

We all had such a good time together, but I had to return them to their parents on Thursday.  We carefully loaded their completed fairy gardens into the car and headed west after stopping to tell their Papaw good-bye.