Toddler School - Preschool Homework Binder

My son is swiftly approaching a school age and it kind of terrifies me, partly do to the fact that is so hard for him to sit still. Normal boy stuff. So I wanted to get him started on having some sit down time writing, learning and doing other homeworky stuff every day.

At the store I saw these fabulous books with things to trace while they're learning how to use a pencil, identifying letters, sounds. They are great. I bought one and quickly realized I wanted to get more out of it because my little man was going to need to use it much more than one time, more like 50. At first I tried using a pencil and eraser, but that was extremely time consuming on my part and didn't even work very well. Then I thought of laminating them but that is spendy so I came up with this genius idea.

I tore the whole book apart and put each page in a sheet protector and put it in a binder. It actually ended up being two binders because I had a number of things I printed off online and it all didn't quite fit. But it worked out because my other son usually ends up wanting to do 'homework' too.
Inside I put a pencil pouch with dry erase marker and an eraser (a magic eraser works best)
In the front pocket I put laminated printables I had already made up. In the back I have some easy reading books as well.
Homework time.
I found these great printables online. I love this site for any who are wondering.

When homework time comes around I just pick a section and let him have at it. It has made everything so much easier. My younger son also is fairly enthusiastic about it which has done a number on my supply of dry erase pens. Thank goodness for the dollar store (cheapest place for the FYI) Then done pull out one of these bad boys, they are amazing. I tried using a regular eraser but it was hard for some reason. This is way better
although it usually ends up looking pretty trashed.
So far so good and I plan to use these for the next kid (or two whenever that happens) and can switch it out for other grades when the time comes.

Another Baby Gift - Stuffed Baby Elephant

I have a streak of friends and family having girls over the past couple of months so I've been going crazy making stuff. I'm pretty sure my husband thinks I'm insane. Little girls are just so fun to make things for, especially when you live in a house full of boys.

A friend of mine, having a girl, has chosen the theme of elephants and when I saw this pattern from a store on etsy I couldn't resist. The pattern is extremely easy and her instructions are very clear and detailed with many pictures. This is a plus for me because I'm not the best at following written instructions. I'm more of a visual person.
So I made not only this one but 3 others for friends with girls and have plans to make some for my boys who fell in love when them while I was making them.

The new mommy to be seemed to really like it.
The pattern is found here and she has a bunch of other gorgeous ones. Check out her doll pattern, it's absolutely adorable. I want to make one just for me!

Cute as Can be Baby Girl Shoes

These beauties were the next thing on my list of gifts to make for some of the babies girls. I've been drooling over tutorials for them for months.

Let me start of by saying shoes are TRICKY. It took a bit of practice to get them just right and and so they were easy for me to make. I started by making a relatively easy pair of kimono shoes. Here's the pattern and tutorial. Now these cute mary janes were a lot trickier. My first pair had to be completely scrapped because I did a lining (inside the white lining and red fabric) and it didn't work, it was just too thick. So I would recommend using two regular cotton fabrics with nothing inside. But that's just me. Here's the tutorial which is excellent by the way, I highly recommend it.
These were my last pair I did and my absolute favorite of the three . Trust me, the pictures don't do them justice. I mixed a couple of tutorials, using the pattern for the red mary jane pair but adding the ruffle like this one, but switching out fabric for some lace I had because only had a little bit of fabric. All the shoes were completely adorable and I can't wait to make some more of these for some other baby girls!

Ruffle Butt Onesie, Sew Easy!!!

It seems like for the past couple years all my close friends/family have been having boys. Now I love boys. I have two extremely fun ones in fact. But there are just so many cute girl things out there.

Now I have a string of friends and family having girls. Yea!!! And since I was cooped up in my office making jewelry for most of November and December, holding myself back from any craft making, I have now gone crazy making girl stuff.

Here's my first project. It was extremely easy to do. You can find the tutorial here.