Autumn Crafts - Leaf Embroidery & Autumn Fairy

 

I haven't been crafting much lately. Every once in awhile I work on a diamond painting, but otherwise life has been busy. Awhile ago I saw beautiful embroidered leaves on a Facebook ad similar to these.  I thought that was so neat and wanted to try it. I went out and gathered leaves, wiped them and left them to dry, but didn't get around to them until they were really dry. However I decided to try them out. I did some research and found a few places that give directions including one for kids. 

The Story of Queen Esther -- Exploring Iran/Persia

Do you know the story of Queen Esther? Many people do not even though Esther is a book in the Old Testament as well as one of the great female Bible heroes. She even has a Jewish holiday where they celebrate her and her courage to save the Jews of Persia. Her story is Hazel's favorite Bible story and Hazel was very excited when I explained that Esther was Queen of Persia which is now called Iran and the country we have been exploring with Global Learning for Kids this month. 

Queen Esther by Edwin Long 
[Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Simple Nativity Crafts

For Advent, I thought I would share each post where our Mouse and the Miracle Mouse (Holy) has been up to. (He now has an elf friend named Elfie who often is hidden with him.)

Elfie looking out dollhouse window.
Holy is on the other side of the dollhouse

We have had a busy and exciting weekend. Our Saturday started with a trip to our town's Holiday Stroll. At the school we went to they did not have Santa Claus, but had the Frozen characters.

Hazel was on top of the world and brought her autograph book for them to sign. (I think it may have made the high school students day to be asked to sign an autograph book.)

Roman Soldier visiting the Holy family

Elsa and Olaf Crafts

Being Advent, I thought I would share each post where our Mouse and the Miracle Mouse (Holy) has been up to. (He now has an elf friend named Elfie who often is hidden with him.)

Holy and Elfie Preparing the New Manger
that was built by a friend at church!

Today I thought I would share two simple Disney's Frozen inspired crafts. They both have some inspiration from The Dollar Tree. Last month we made autumn fairies with doilies we got at The Dollar Tree.  Well this week I found some doilies that had snowflakes on them. I thought they would be perfect to make an Elsa peg doll. I made her an Elsa and Anna doll awhile ago, but apparently I never shared them and I cannot find the pictures. I'll have to take more when I find where Hazel left them! Hazel liked this new one better though.

More Autumn Fairies

Last week we shared our autumn peg dolls using fake leaves as clothes. Today we used fall paper doilies as our clothes on clothespins. We started by making ones with the sunflower doilies. We decided to use them as skirts and used markers to make their tops. Then cut a slit in the center of the doily and glued it on as a skirt. We did two layers of skirts on most of them.

Autumn Peg Dolls -- Autumn Fairy

Perhaps you saw this week's Sharing Saturday and how I featured the Autumn Leaf Peg Dolls from In the Playroom. Before seeing hers, I had thought of using our fake leaves as clothes for the peg dolls, so we finally found time to do so when Hazel was home sick this week. Since our fake leaves were so small we used the girl peg dolls. I pulled out autumn colored felt and the pack of fabric leaves and let Hazel do what she wanted with them. I clothed a few as well. After all the glue (and on Hazel's there was a lot of glue) dried Hazel added faces and hair to each one.

Now Hazel is talking about the season fairies and how we need to build the summer fairy a house to sleep in since it is autumn. Hmm...guess fairy houses will be a craft soon!

I have leaf paper doilies too, but have not pulled them out yet. I think that may be next. I found all the autumn peg dolls all over the couch this morning. I think Hazel was making up stories with them. So fun!!

Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe: Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

This is the third week of the Hispanic Heritage Month. We are participating in the Multicultural Kid Blogs Hispanic Heritage Month Blog Hop and Giveaway. You can enter the giveaway here by scrolling down as well. We are sharing something we have done to celebrate or learn about Hispanic cultures each week during the month. Today we are sharing the story of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. We discovered this story by reading The Beautiful Lady: Our Lady of Guadalupe by Pat Mora. There are however many books that discuss the story and the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. We also have enjoyed thus far Tomie de Paolo's Our Lady of Guadalupe. Here are some other books we found at the library that share some part of the story or how the festivals are celebrated.

DIY Wooden Doll Table

Continuing with some of our DIY projects for 18-inch dolls, I made Hazel a table for her doll. I had her pick out a plaque at JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts the other day. It was $2.99. For the legs I used clothespins and woman peg dolls. I glued one of each together and let the glue dry and then glued them on. Once the glue dried Hazel wanted to try it out. Here it is with a tea party and her Hazel doll.

Next I painted it white (well actually I reglued some legs since she insisted on taking it to Nonni's and it does not travel well). To make a stronger table you could use spindles instead of my cheap version. 

Then I wanted to share a cheap find. We found this magnetic chalk board that is doll size for $1 at Target, I believe. It came with a piece of chalk.

It is made to put in a locker, but that makes it the right size for dolls. Here it is on the table.

Now her dolls are really ready for their tea party and ice cream party! 

For more doll ideas check out:

• DIY Doll Sandals
• Doll Ice Cream Sundae Party
• DIY No-Sew Doll Purse
• Cheap Doll Items to Buy or Make
• DIY Doll Pencil 
• Doll Mermaid Tail (Tutorial Coming Soon)
• Leather Doll Clothes
• Easy Doll Clothes to Sew New or From Baby Clothes
• Baby Doll Clothes and Changing Area
• Making a Waldorf Doll
• My Doll Clothes and Craft Pinterest Board

DIY No Sew Doll Purse

Sorry for being a bit sporadic this week. For the first time in our almost eight years of marriage I have gotten the house to myself for a couple of days. The main reason is for me to organize my extremely messy and useless craft room. Well, I got a good start on it!!

Today I wanted to share a simple way to make an 18-inch doll a purse. I was inspired by the tutorial over at Doll It Up: Make a Doll Purse Out of a Coin Pouch. I had bought a coin pouch at Rite Aid from the $1 bin, but I hadn't gotten around to making it like the one over at Doll It Up. Then when we were at Michaels the other day I saw this adorable panda head coin pouch on clearance for under $1 and knew it would make a perfect one. Hazel has been really into pandas lately.

To make it all I did was measure a piece of red ribbon so it would hang on the doll the way I wanted it to. I cut the ribbon a little long so I could fold the ends in and cover them. I glued the ends down and then glued the handle back over the end. I didn't want to try to sew the vinyl or whatever the coin pouch is made of. After the glue dried it was ready for Hazel (the doll) to use.

 

For more doll ideas check out:

• DIY Doll Sandals
• Cheap Doll Items to Buy or Make
• DIY Doll Pencil 
• Doll Mermaid Tail (Tutorial Coming Soon)
• Leather Doll Clothes
• Easy Doll Clothes to Sew New or From Baby Clothes
• Baby Doll Clothes and Changing Area
• Making a Waldorf Doll
• My Doll Clothes and Craft Pinterest Board

Presidents' Day -- Learning about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln

The third Monday of February is Presidents' Day in the United States. It is a day to honor all of the people who serve as the president of the United States. At one point Abraham Linclon's and George Washington's birthdays were each individually celebrated in February and then they got combined to be Presidents' Day. Now in New England, the schools usually close for the week of Presidents' Day.I believe it goes back to the days of one room schoolhouses and having to pay for heat. A week off in one of the coldest months saves money. As a former teacher I can also tell you often the illnesses were spreading and this week tended to help get the viruses out of the building.
 
 I had big plans to have Hazel do some crafts for the day, but she was not in a crafting mood today. Instead I made some peg dolls of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The idea came from Every Day's a Holiday by Heidi Kenney. I saw the idea on How- Tuesday: Mini President Figurines and then saw it came from the book which I own.

To learn more about the holiday and the men, we went to the library. Some books that helped Hazel and were mostly at her level  for Presidents' Day are Presidents' Day by Helen Frost and Presidents' Day by Robin Nelson.

Next we took some books out on George Washington. Now Hazel has some idea about Washington since she knows there is a state named after him and the capital of the United States is named for him (though she sometimes think they are the same thing). We took books out so she could learn more about the first president.

 

We also took books out to learn about Abraham Lincoln. With every book we learned that Lincoln became a lawyer and every time, Hazel asked me what a lawyer is. I must admit I found some of these books a bit hard to get through since she kept asking vocabulary questions, but I know this is how she will learn.

 

Maybe we will get to do the crafts tomorrow or next year. Though I am thinking about learning about other great presidents next year. Do you do anything for Presidents' Day?

Disney Princesses Sightings and Peg Dolls

Have you entered my current giveaway?

Disney World Princesses

As you know we went to Disney World in June. Hazel loved meeting all the princesses. There is a McDonalds near our house that has had many of the princesses and I have taken her to see them there, but they only have the white ones since the actress is white. So on her must see list were Jasmine, Pocahontas and Tiana. Of course whenever we saw a chance to meet a character, Hazel wanted to even if she had no clue who the character was. We spent a lot of time waiting in character lines. I think she has now decided the princesses at McDonalds are actresses, but the ones in Disney World are the real ones.

To remember our visits I made Hazel some peg dolls for the princesses. (I still need to make a Merida and hope to make a mermaid Ariel one as well.) I got the idea from Pinterest. Apparently there are many out there and I cannot find the exact pin to give you the source I originally saw. I however played with their hair in different ways.

Now one of my favorite photos of Hazel meeting the princesses is this one of her and Rapunzel. She has just told Rapunzel that she dressed as her for Halloween.

Our count for princess sightings: 

Cinderella we saw 3 times.

Aurora/Sleeping Beauty we saw 3 times.

Belle we saw 2 times.

Ariel we saw 2 times (once in a dress and once as a mermaid).

Jasmine we saw 1 time.

Pocahontas we saw 1 time.

Tiana we saw 1 time.

Merida we saw 1 time (and it was after the heavy downpours so we were soaked).

Rapunzel we saw 1 time.

Snow White we saw 1 time. (Sorry, I cropped out her friend since he was in every picture of Hazel with Snow White.)

We did not see Mulan since we do not know her story and Hazel really has no idea who she is.

Now Hazel knows who the princesses are, but does not know all the stories behind them. She also has not seen many of the Disney movies since she is scared easily. She likes to watch Cinderella and Pocahontas, but that is about it for those movies. I won't let her even try Snow White or Aladdin. I remember seeing Snow White when I was five and I had nightmares for weeks afterward. My mother was not happy with my father for taking me. For Hazel the princesses are about beautiful dresses. She is at the age of loving dresses and the fancier the better. I remember being like that too, so I do not worry about how this will influence her since I know I grew up the same way.