Vintage Valentines

I've been collecting vintage valentines for years.  Sometimes I buy them at antique stores, but most of them came from an estate sale.  I bought bags of them... someone was very sentimental and kept all of them.  Every year I color copy a bunch and make my own valentines with them.

This year I made some banners and mailed them out...

A few years ago, I made this big heart out of foam core and mod podged the valentines on top.

The colors and illustrations are right up my alley.

The punny sentiments are cute too!

Olympic knitting

Isn't it fun to have the olympics to distract us this month?  I've been knitting up a storm.  This pattern is a replica of the Ralph Lauren hats... http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/usa-2014-hat
I made one for 2 of my daughters.  
 

Now I'm knitting the mittens to match the hats.  The pattern is here... http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sochi-mittens

Lots of knitters cast on a project during the opening ceremonies.  My friend Andrea and I decided to make these mittens.  Thanks to a long Saturday at a soccer tournament, I've already finished one!

Are you watching the olympics?  I love all of the games, especially the figure skating.   Have a great day! 

Pete the Cat

Hello friends!  So sorry I haven't blogged in awhile... I'm still here and everything is just fine.  I'm just going to blog when I have the time this year... so if you don't hear from me for awhile, don't worry!  Life is good!
We have been reading Pete the Cat books at preschool.  The publisher provides free songs to go with most of the books.  The kids absolutely love them.  Check them out here... http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat/ 

Of course, we made some Pete art projects too.  I love translating illustrations into preschool art.  

There has been some Valentine crafting happening around here too.  

And some Valentine treat eating...

Some of my college girlfriends came over to make pompom wreaths.  We made a million (it seemed like a million) pompoms and glued them onto yarn wrapped wreath forms.  They turned out so cute!  

I'm off to work on a very cold Monday.  Have a wonderful day!

Five for Friday

It's Five for Friday already!    I will be linking up here today... http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com
This week we made Olaf snowmen from the movie Frozen.  The preschoolers all talk about that movie... my niece has seen it 3 times.  They recognized Olaf right away when I showed them what we were going to make.

We made scrappy striped mittens too.

I got an adorable new farmer's market from Lakeshore Learning. http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/

My preschoolers have dumped those baskets out over and over this week.  With some encouragement from me, they sort the veggies by color and put them back in the baskets.  When I bought it I imagined many other ways to use it... lots of "stores" could be set up in these little baskets.

I've been busy knitting a couple Olympics hats for my daughters.  I ordered a couple Olympics pins too... my favorite is the nesting doll!

I've even started a little Valentine crafting this week.  More on that soon.  Have a wonderful weekend!

The Mitten

We have been reading Mitten stories for the past week.  When I had 2 extra days off last week I made this finger puppet set for the Mitten.

The little animal finger puppets are all made with felt and hand stitched.  I sewed the mitten together on my sewing machine.  The preschoolers love to put the finger puppets in the mitten and then scatter them when the bear sneezes.

It was a time consuming project, but one that I will be able to pull out every January.  What are you doing to stay busy in January?  It's always a quiet month, but I like it!    

more mitten projects

These little felt mittens are hanging on a clothesline under our chalkboard.  Clothespins are surprisingly hard for preschoolers to open and shut, but they have been practicing all week.

We made these little handprint mittens last week.  I'm trying to come up with at least one handprint or footprint project each month.  The kids love having their hands painted.

Are you starting to think about Valentine's Day yet?  Last year, we made valentine cards out of these cute doily snowmen.  We shrunk the artwork down and glued them to white cardstock.  I think we will do something like that again this year.  

Happy crafting!

sponge painted mittens

Hello friends.  I've taken a little break from the blog.  Thanks to those of you who emailed me to make sure all was well.  Our family had a great holiday break.  I did lots of knitting and relaxing.  I also spent some time cleaning up my craft room!

We had an extra 2 days off last week because of the bitter cold in Minnesota.  My little preschoolers were so happy to be back at school on Wednesday.  I think their parents were happy too! Our theme of the week was the Mitten.  Our first project was made with fabulous sponges from Lakeshore.  Find them here...

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C925%2C136&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1389574459502

I have to rave about these sponges.  There is a great variety of shapes and textures.  While we were painting, the preschoolers would remark on the shape of the sponge they were painting with, and the color.  I love to see them learning while they are playing.

We also used glitter paints from Lakeshore... bright colors and glitter... how can you go wrong?

To finish the projects up, I matted them on colored cardstock, just to make the colors pop.  They are hung on a clothesline with clothespins in the hallway.  The sponges washed up beautifully.  I can't wait to use them again.

Are you watching the Golden Globes tonight?  It's award show season... big fun!  Come back Wednesday and see this cute felt version of the Mitten.