Today we had a Bubble Bash of epic proportions.
There were plenty of bubbles for everyone, bubble art and even a mega bubble.

The kids had fun with all, and I loved how the bubble art turned out.
It was super easy and not quite as messy as I’d expected.
I can see us doing this again…maybe with wrapping paper or note cards or photo frame mats.

To do this project, you’ll need several shallow pans or dishes(I used aluminum baking trays), some food coloring, some bubble solution, one straw per child, and pieces of cardstock.

Pour liquid bubble mix into each pan, just barely covering the bottom.
Add a few drops of food coloring to each pan.  Obviously the more drops, the more vibrant the colors will be.
Allow the kids to blow bubbles with the straws and when the bubbles are up to the top of the side, take the paper and gently press it into the bubbles.

As the bubbles pop, they will leave a marbled look on the paper.
And some happy smiling faces.

Try all kinds of patterns and colors…and don’t forget to have fun!

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The mega bubble was a big hit with all the kids.  I kind of wish I could have had a turn in the middle of the gigantic bubble.

We’ll be doing this again sometime soon, too.

(photo by PeapodsquadMom)

What you’ll need: about 32 oz. of dish detergent, 6-12 oz. glycerin*, water, 1 wading pool, 1 hula hoop that will fit inside the wading pool.

Squirt all of the detergent and a generous amount of the glycerin in the bottom of the wading pool.  Using a water hose, add enough water to easily cover the hula hoop(or hoop-a-loop**, if you’re Agent Oso).  Swish the mixture around until the detergent and glycerin are evenly distributed in the water.  Try pulling the hula hoop out of the water.  You should be seeing a super-huge mega bubble.  If it pops quickly, try adding more glycerin.  Apparently the harder your water, the more glycerin you will need.

*I had a really hard time finding glycerin.  I finally found 6 oz. at our local pharmacy, but if you can also find it in many online stores including amazon.com. (For your information only…not an affiliate link!)  Our bubbles would have been much better, I think, if we’d had more glycerin.  Although I did some googling and used some light corn syrup as a substitute.  It was not as great, but it did work.

**Who in the world calls it a hoop-a-loop?  Is hula hoop a Southern phrase??

Yesterday was Lydia’s turn to be the sweetheart in her class.  When you’re the sweetheart, you get to be the line leader.  You get to bring snacks for the whole class.  You get to bring home Sally the snake.  (A plush classroom snake.)

So when I saw that Lydia was the sweetheart on “Mary Had a Little Lamb” day, I immediately emailed her teacher this:

So…um…on “Mary Had a Little Lamb” day, can I send lamb chops for snack?

Her response:

As long as you’re willing to pay for the therapy sessions all the kids will need once I explain what lamb chops are.

Since I wasn’t willing to shell out that kind of money, I came up with another idea.

See, I love a craft.  But do you know what’s better than a craft?  An edible craft!

Here you go:

Since I’m cheap and lazy, I bought refrigerated sugar cookie dough.

Roll it out and use a sheep-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the desired number of cookies.

Bake and cool cookies.

Use a food coloring pen to draw an eye and a smile.

Put a little frosting on top of the cookie and let your kiddo spread it around.

Then add marshmellows to the top of that and…tah-dah: a cheap sheep cookie!

I’ve blogged about this before, but the page I linked to with directions is now gone.  So, I decided provide a step-by-step guide here based on my experience.  If I were a supa-awesome blogger, I would make one and post pictures along with my directions.  I, however, am only awesome.  (And Lydia has 6 of these, so I have no reason to make another one.)   But since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’m going to add some really crappy drawings that will hopefully make the directions easier to understand!  Hopefully is the key word.  (Click on “pcdress#” to see the drawings.)  **I’ve never inserted pdf files before…I hope this works!  And if not, they weren’t that great anyway.**

This is such an easy project that if you can even barely work a sewing machine, you can make this adorable dress in less than 30 minutes!!  And if you make it large enough, this is  a “grow with me” item.  Lydia has worn hers so that it was long, and now it’s short.  I have seen several girls wearing them as shirts(adorable!)

Materials you’ll need:
1 pillowcase
matching or coordinating thread
2 yards of matching ribbon
Fray Check(optional)
Washable fabric marker or chalk
Tape measure
Sharp scissors
Sewing machine

Lay the pillowcase flat, with the hemmed end at the bottom.  Measure upwards according to the following measurements:
6 month – 14.5 inches
12 month – 16.5 inches
18 month – 17.5 inches
2T – 18.5 inches
3T – 19.5 inches
4T – 20.5 inches

Once measured, cut off everything above the line you’ve drawn, saving the scraps. (pcdress02)

From the leftovers/scraps, cut a strip that is 1.5 inches tall.  Cut the strip open and then in half, so that you have 2 strips.  Each strip will be about 1.5 inches tal by about 20 inches long. (pcdress03)

Now take the large part of the pillowcase and fold it in half longways.  You will be cutting out the armholes, and it keeps it even if you fold it in half and only have to cut one time. (pcdress04) For sizes 2T and below, cut in about 1.5 inches and 3 inches down. For larger sizes, cut 2 inches in and 4 inches down. (pcdress05)

(You will have to read and re-read this next paragraph several times, I assure you.  There is no way I can draw this for you.  It won’t make sense until you try it, so just get out your machine, start sewing and make sure you have a seam ripper in case you make a mistake!)

Take one 1.5 inch strip and place it on the inside of the armwhole, right side of strip to wrong side of dress/pillowcase.  Fold down the top of the strip about 3/8th of an inch.  Meet the top of the fold with the top of dress.  Stitch the strip all the way around the armhold.  When you get close to the end of the armhole, stop and cut off the extra strip, leaving enough to fold down 3/8ths of an inch.  Fold down, and finish off the armhole.

Next, fold the strip TWICE: once so that the raw edge of the strip is touching the raw edge of the armhole, and then fold it over again to the other side of the armhole(essentially making a binding).

Fold like that all along the armhole, pinning as you go.  Then stitch along the binding.  Don’t stress out about trying to make a pretty stitch, the inside stitch won’t show when you’re done.

Now do the other armhole just like this one.

Then fold down the top of the front, first by 1/4th of an inch and then by 5/8ths of an inch.  This will form a casing (with no raw edges exposed) for the ribbon once its stiched up.  Stitch it up, and then do the same thing to the back of the dress.

Now thread a yard of ribbon through each casing.  If the casing is small and the ribbon is wide, it may help to put a safety pin on the end of the ribbon to help you pull it through.  Once you have the ribbon through the casing, trim the end and seal with Fray Check.

Now just tie up the ribbons and you have this adorable dress:

I love Bailey Boys, Ragsland, Kelly’s Kids, Just Ducky and all those other adorable brands.  I’ve always thought appliqued shirts were oh-so-fun.  But I’m just too cheap to pay $25 (or more!) for a TEE SHIRT!  Seriously?  It’s a tee-shirt.  It will probably have a big red blob of pizza stain or paint or grass stain on it after the first wearing.  I just can’t justify spending that kind of money for a tee-shirt.

But I really like appliqued shirts.  So…off to Etsy. I found a bunch of cute stuff I liked, but I started wondering just how hard it would be to make them on my own.  You all know how I love a good craft project.  So after some Google action, I discovered the joy of Wonder Under!  With this “magic paper” you can make anything fusible!  Woo-hoo!

Here is a play-by-play of my latest creation for Carter:

1. Pick a picture(you can sketch one by hand, find a template online or just use a simple coloring book page), and draw out a template.

2. Cut out your templates and place them on the fabric to get an idea of how much you will need to use.  Cut out the section the fabric that you will need.

3. Cut out enough Wonder Under that you will have enough room for all of your templates.

4. Iron Wonder Under to the WRONG SIDE of your fabric pieces.  Trace out your templates BACKWARDS!

5. Cut out all of your pieces.  Peel the back off of the small black lines.  Iron them onto the yellow piece while the backing is still on that piece(to keep it from sticking to something else).  Then remove the backing from the yellow piece and iron it onto the green tractor body(while its backing is still on).

6.  Fold the shirt in half long ways and iron it so that when the shirt is open, you can easily see the center.

7. Peel the Wonder Under backing from all of the pieces, arrange them onto the shirt and carefully iron on.

8. You may want to stitch around the edges with a sewing machine or make a nice hand-made outline.  Otherwise, you’re done!  Wash and wear as usual!

A few other things I’ve made recently with this easy applique technique:

For Christmas, I’m making silhouettes of the kids for my mom and MIL.  I wasn’t sure I could do it, but it was actually much easier than I thought!  I’m going to show you the pictures of Tucker along the way, and I’ll show you both kids at the end.  (Emmie would not put on a shirt, so it’s kind of risque…)

Step One: Put your subject(kid, cat, dog, whatever) against a white or light background, and get a good profile picture.

Step Two(much easier if you have Photoshop): Go into Photoshop and use the “Magic Wand” tool to select and delete the background.  I turned mine black and white, so the lines would be more distinct.  Then you can print(on white cardstock for best results) the back-groundless picture and cut it out.  OR…go the old-fashioned route of printing out the picture at a store photo-lab and cutting out the shape.

Step Three:  Use the picture/shape you cut out as a template, and cut out the silhouette onto a piece of cardstock.  I used traditional solid black.  (Eyelashes are the hardest part…I suggest using little bitty manicure scissors.)  But you could do some really fun and funky stuff with all different kinds of crafting papers!

Step Four:  Mount it on a background(once again, I used traditional white).  Frame, and  you’re ready to give this keepsake!  (I obviously haven’t framed this, and there’s a little bit of a shadow, but you get the idea.)

Have fun making yours and good luck!