Jewelry gift card

So our homeschool group's Christmas banquet is this evening.  I made these tatted pendant and earring sets for the other moms, and I've been puzzled as to the best way to wrap them.  I didn't want them completely enclosed, because I wanted everyone to be able to choose a color they like.  And attaching them to a plain card seemed too unceremonious.

So here's my solution.  I made tri-fold cards, two to a page, with "Merry Christmas" printed on the front. I punched appropriate holes for the jewelry inside, and there ya go.  The card can be opened so that the colors can be seen, but the earring hooks are not hanging out the back to get bent or caught on anything.

Just in case someone else needs it, here's the page.  You'll need to set your page orientation to landscape, and perhaps tell your printer not to print the headers and footers, if it wants to put extra writing on there.  Print it, cut the paper in half, and fold the cards in thirds.  If you glue or tape the ends, it could also be an envelope for a gift card or folded check.  

Happy Gift-Giving!

(Oh, and see my freshly painted porch railing in the background?  Isn't it great?  It used to look like this!)

Advent time again!

Wow - it seems like just a few days ago I was cutting out all those little doors!  It's a good thing there are printable Advent calendars for people like me who are characteristically late.

Lizi's Advent calendar this year is a free printable sent to us by Classical Academic Press - a Latin word a day to translate!  How fun is that?

Lydia's is this calendar, from the Etsy shop Calobee.  And it's on sale!

The Toymaker also has a cute one on her Christmas page, if you're looking for a free one.

There's still time - fire up that printer and get a sharp knife and a glue stick!  (watch your fingers!!)

you can have the mall...

...because there's not a Black Friday deal out there big enough to make me roll out of my nice, warm bed in the wee hours of the morning to go fist-fight some other shopper for it.

I am still doing some Christmas gift prep today, but mine looks more like this:

Much more pleasant, to my way of thinking.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. :)

And hey, if you need some Christmas gift crafting ideas, I have a few free patterns/tutorials over here on the right... maybe scroll down a bit...   ------->

Christmas gift quandry

Lydia loves the television show Team UmiZoomi. It is adorable, and she's learned a lot of math from watching it.

The problem? She wants a set of dolls that look like Team UmiZoomi for Christmas, and there are none to be found. I've not been able to find a single toy with that theme.

So I guess I'll have to make them myself. Just in case someone else is in a similar pickle, I thought I'd share what I've found. (Note: I am not suggesting that anyone make Team UmiZoomi toys to sell, lest the wrath of Nickelodeon fall upon you! I am talking about making dolls for your own child or other family member, here.)

For Milli and Geo, there are several options. Bit of Whimsy's Doodle Girl and Buddy Boy could be adapted. A couple of the free patterns on Runo's website could also be adapted, especially the mini doll. (Don't let the clothes fool you - look at the pattern!)

If you crochet, you might try this pattern by K and J dolls, leaving off the petals, wings, etc and just using the basic doll body. Or Owlishly has several patterns that could work, like this one - just leave off the ears? (While you're in their shops, look around at all the other cuteness too!)

As for Bot, I guess we're on our own...

See the finished Milli doll here!

And finished Geo and Bot!


Here's a thought about a Bot pattern - Bit of Whimsy's B-movie monster has the basic shape, just move the eyes, add a belly screen, and change the hands and feet.


Update:  I am so flattered by the requests I have received to make sets of Team UmiZoomi dolls.  Even though it breaks my heart, I turn down these requests due to copyright issues, CPSIA red tape, and lack of time.  My purpose in writing these posts was to gather information, so that we parents could try and fill the gap Nickelodeon has left for us.  I continually refer people to the first and second posts in this series for sewing and crochet pattern ideas.  Hope that helps!

tasty science

We've been doing some simple science experiments with Lydia this school year - just enough to pique her interest in the subject, since she's only in kindergarten. Today we went outside to focus the power of the sun with a magnifying glass and zap some stuff.

You can't see the smoke in the photo, but the leaf burned pretty well.
Then we moved on to melting chocolate chips. We also discussed the possibility of making s'mores with the sun and a magnifying glass.
Then the sun went behind a cloud, so we just ate the rest. :)