Thursday, August 28, 2008

Craft Crazy

So this week I taught Anastasia how to wash her hands. She is too small to reach the sink so I made her this little tray that I set on my milk maid stool:


I pour the water from the pitcher to the bowl (eventually I will let her do it) and then she washes her hands. Then we have a small chunk of soap in the little bucket that she rubs between her hands and we rinse again. Then we dry with the little towel (washcloth) and she gets a little dab of Burt's Bees baby lotion in a bottle cap (otherwise there would be lotion everywhere.) She loves the lotion part. I have already used this set-up to tame tantrums. As she gets overloaded I ask her if she wants to wash her hands. I also set up another tray with tissue for wiping her nose, a toothbrush, hairbrush, a wet wipe for washing her face and a towel to dry. It was great because she loves brushing her teeth so I could brush her hair while she was brushing her teeth. Here she is with the cap-full of lotion in her little autumn attire:
I also found last night that if I set up her activities the night before while I am WIDE AWAKE, we are more likely to actually do the things in the morning. So today we did lots of activities from lentil-pouring to painting. We also have a new friend that I call Ruby. She is a hummingbird that frequents our window-hummingbird feeder. She is seriously there like every 5-15 minutes. Today she chased away a chickadee who stopped on a nearby tree to check out the feeder. It was funny watching this tiny bird with an attitude chase away a cute and curious 3x her size bird.

I have been sewing like mad again... and loving it. My mom bought me a bland Moses Basket (at my request) from the Consignment shop.


Here is what I did with it:

I am so in love with this apple and pear fabric that I have seen online quite a bit. I found it at Joann's a couple weeks ago and only bought a half-a-yard since I didn't have a vision for it. WELL I then was inspired to use it for the baby's basket and wished I had purchased even more!!! AH! How appropriate being that we have 2 pear and 3 apple trees and they are autumn fruits like our autumn arrival. I have dozens of ideas for making appliqued items from some of the scraps of material... I know I am crazy. Now hopefully #2 will actually sleep in this thing. A lady from the farmer's market said she would save me a lamb skin (poor lambs) to put in the bottom. Another lady is selling me an entire sheep's fleece for my crafting endeavors (like learning how to wet and needle felt). I don't know how much a fleece is... but I am a little concerned... especially because I have to clean it and then dry it...
I recently tested out a doll pattern for fellow blogger JoEbi and will be uploading pictures of it soon. It was for a cute little mermaid and she turned out lovely. I love all the Montessori and creative activities she does with her little boy in Japan. Then I got picked to test-drive a future WeeWonderful's pattern... the same designer (Hillary Lang) who I made Olive from. I love all the WeeWonderful dolls and items... so I feel so privileged to get to help out... and I get ANOTHER cute doll for me... I mean, Anastasia to play with.
So back to life.... I have dishes from our not so great enchilada dinner (that none of us ate). The only thing worse than cleaning up after a meal, is cleaning up after a gross meal that nobody would eat.

4 comments:

Annie Hatke Schap said...

Your amazing craftiness makes me sick!!!! YOU ARE TOO CUTE!! And so is Anastasia in her adorable outfit! I love her shoes, especially.

Seriously!! The moses basket!! Amazing!

Did you ever decide on whether or not to make soap? Our Schap side of the family runs the soap making booth at this historic reenactment festival that is coming up in September, and if you have a request of a specific kind of lye soap you'd like to have, we'll try to make a batch and mail it to you.

Annie Hatke Schap said...

p.s. If it weren't so close to when your baby is due to be born I would totally try to convince you guys to come to Indiana for the festival (The Feast of the Hunters Moon... I don't know if Nick's ever been to it, but he might have.) Maybe next year! It's definitely worth the trip, and then we'd get to meet each other!

Clare said...

I think Nick told me about the festival... I am not sure if he has been. It sounds really cool though! I would love to go! I think we are making it out that way at Easter (hopefully) if not before. Are there any cool festivals then?

I would love to give handmade soap with washcloths as a Christmas gift, but am a little scared to try it on my own. What kinds do you make? I should email you or somtheing... lol.

Nick-dog said...

Hey Annie!

Yes, I've been to the feast 2 or 3 times, with you guys, of course. It's been awhile, but it would be great to come back and dance the friendship dance with the indians.

Yeah, I wish we could come out this fall. Maybe next year or something like that. I would like to go to the covered bridge festival too, but I don't know if I'll ever get there.

Later.

--Nick-Dog