Nap Mat Cover

My son is supposed to bring a nap mat to Kindergarten. So when I saw this tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew, for a nap mat cover, I knew it would be fun to make for him. I used fabric I had on hand, and some fleece I had on hand instead of the batting, so it was super cheep and relatively easy.

This will be so much more cozy that a cold vinyl mat.

 

Freezer Paper Stenciled School Shirts

My son starts Kindergarten next week (where has the time gone!). He's really excited and I'm excited for him, although I'm sure it will be a lot quieter around here for most of the day.

I bought a couple of polo shirts at Target on clearance for super cheap last year, and I thought I would decorate them a bit to be more fun for my son to wear to school. When I asked him what picture he would want for a new school shirt he said a school bus. He will be riding the bus, and we went to a bus orientation thing the other week, so I think he is excited about riding the bus. This stencil was a bit tricky, since it has a lot of details and two colors. I thought it turned out pretty good.

I also did this motorcycle.

All ready for school!

Bike Basket

My 5 year old has been wanting a basket for his bike for a while. I could have just bought him one, but I knew it would be more fun to make him one. I found a great pattern and tutorial from Noodlehead here. I let him pick out some fabric from JoAnns. He was looking for something black and white so it would match his tiger. The pink on it was a bonus, since it is his favorite color. Here is "Stripes" going for a ride!

Baby Girl

My little sister recently found out that she is expecting a baby girl. It is her first, and of course we are all very excited for her. I couldn't wait to make her something pink! So, last week while my mom was visiting, I made her these booties and a little receiving blanket. I pretty sure she is going to get more from me. Baby girl stuff is just so fun to make!

I love the itty-bitty ballet shoes. I made them newborn size and they are so cute!

Paper Boats

The other day, my 5 year old was wanting to do a craft, I thought I would show him how to make a paper boat. Since I haven't made one for a while, I brushed up on the technique with this YouTube video:

 We filled our kiddie pool and tried to get them to float. They didn't last too long.

 Then my son wanted to try this canoe he saw while we were on YouTube:

It floated a lot better than the regular boat. I think making it out of newspaper helped a bit, too.

Then we made a Sampan Boat:

The sampan held up remarkably well. We put the canoe and sampan together and tried to blow them around and race them.

A fun activity to do on a hot summer day!

Rice Bags

Last month, I was in charge of instructing a group of ladies from our church in a little sewing project. I had never done any kind of instruction like this before, but it was fun. I had a lot of experienced sew-ers there to help. We wanted to make something that would be relatively simple for those without any sewing experience. We made these rice bags using the Hot/Cold Rice Bag instructions from Make It and Love It.

I made one of these for me, and an extra one for a friend who couldn't be there. I thought they turned out really cute. And everyone really enjoyed the project.