Arts & Craft Project

Today, Abbey and I decided to do a fun arts & crafts project. She has a pad of floor paper, so I taped 4 sheets together and taped them to the floor. I didn't have painter's tape, so I just used regular tape. Then, I tried to get Abbey to lie down so I could trace her. She wasn't having it. 

 So, I stripped her down to her shirt and diaper and then squirted the paper with all the colors of paint we have. I am using washable paint, so I wasn't very worried about the floor becoming dirty or her shirt for that matter. 

 And then, I just let her do what she pleased. She was a bit apprehensive at first...

 But then she realized what was going on and started to really make a "mess"!

 She seemed to like scooting her little butt on the paint and paper. 

 She had fun walking, but it was so slippery that I needed to hold her steady so she didn't wipe out!

 And this is our finished project! I am not sure exactly what I am going to do with it. I am going to un-tape each page. I might hang one up in her room and add the rest to my collection of painting that I want to use as wrapping paper. 

This can be fun for babies and young children! I recommend nontoxic washable paint for those little ones (mine still likes to lick the paint and she is almost 2yrs old!)

Clean up was simple:

I brought Abbey straight to the bath tub and gave her a bath. Then, I put her in her crib so I could clean up the "mess". I un-taped the painting and brought it to my bedroom floor to have a flat place to dry. Plus, my bedroom is blocked off from the dog and Abbey during the day. Then, I just mopped up the area with my Swiffer Wet Jet and all was clean again!

Baby Blanket

I have just recently re-taught myself to crochet.  One of my friends from college is having a baby in October this year and has elected to not find out the sex of the baby.  So, I thought found a easy crochet pattern for a yellow baby blanket. You can find the pattern here at Red Heart Yarn. I couldn't find the "cornmeal" color yarn in the local stores, so I purchased 5 "Pale Yellow".

At first look, I was a little apprehensive, but reassured myself that it was labeled "Easy" and that I can do it. The "written" instructions were in fact easy to follow, but then I saw the "pattern" instructions:

Now, there were no written instructions for the pattern....or so I thought. It took me 45 min and many internet searches (which taught me nothing) to figure out ow to follow that pattern.  I finally realized that in the written instructions, it tells you how to do a "block" and a "space", and the "X" is for a "block" and the "space" is for a "space". Easy Peasy. 

Then, I needed a system to remember how to know which direction to follow the pattern, so I just counted my stitches and put an "arrow" for the direction the row was to be stitched. 

 I was so happy when I finally was able to see my first bunny!!! 

Now, I decided that repeating the design twice was too big for my liking, so I only have 3 rows of bunnies instead of 4 for my blanket. 

Once, I finished, I started the edging, which was easy to do. Just a simple shelling. 

And here is my finished blanket for my friend's baby! And I just found out that one of the colors of the nursery is yellow! How cool?! I am pretty proud of my first finished "big" project of crochet. Now I need to finish my daughter's blanket......which I will blog about! Please stay tuned!

I only used 3.5 of the 5 yarns I purchased. I plan on using the leftover yarn to make Rapunzel braids for my daughter's 2nd birthday party (Tangled Theme).