Monday, November 19, 2012

Washable, Color Your Own Doll, Craft



Here's one for those of you scrambling to craft up a homemade Christmas, or trying to put together a few extra gifts to have on hand.

This time of year I start sorting through my craft closet, with potential presents in mind, which is how I happened to find myself sitting in front of my archenemy - the sewing machine - with a scrap of white fabric, left over from some forgotten craft project or other, just waiting to be turned into a doll.  My sewing skills are sadly insufficient to the task, so the little dolls I came up with are sort of strange, but the girls loved them - so no judging!

I had them draw large paper dolls for me...



...to cut out, and trace onto the fabric...


...as a pattern (two for each doll).


Then, I sewed the pieces together...


...and stuffed them with polyfill.  If your sewing skills are as lacking as mine, I would suggest using a nice simple doll pattern, in a largish size, for slightly more normal looking dolls.


But really, my girls didn't seem to notice how oddly shaped, and lumpy their new dolls were, once I handed them the pack of washable markers...


...and told them they could draw the faces, hair, and clothes on for themselves.


We let the marker dry for a few seconds, before the played with the dolls...


 ...and much to my relief, the dry marker didn't come off on the girls' hands, but did rinse right off in the washing machine, in cold water (it might take two washes, depending on the colors used)...


...creating a clean slate for the girls to decorate again.


Not too bad for a scrap of cotton fabric, a couple of handful's of polyfill, a box of markers, and a rather frustrating hour, or so of sewing time.  I'm even thinking a couple of the old pillowcases taking up space in the linen closet might have to become color-your-own dinosaurs in time for Christmas, evil sewing machine, with it's wicked empty bobbin, not withstanding.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Homemade Holiday Scented Crayons



C was busy coloring in a sheet of gingerbread men, when she commented on how much better it would be if her picture smelled like gingerbread too, and I thought...


...why not?  We've made scented everything else - play dough, finger paint, even wrapping paper...


...why not crayons?  There are plenty of posts out there with instructions for melting, and remolding your children's left over crayon bits. I usually go for the melt-in-the-oven method, but this time I tried out the fast and easy crayons-in-a-can-placed-in-a-bowl-of-boiling-water...


...but added in a few shakes of cinnamon...


...what amounted to about 2 teaspoons of spice per four or five crayons worth of bits...


...before melting the crayon, and pouring the scented wax into a mini cookie cutter with the bottom wrapped in tinfoil...

...to cool and harden...


...into a festive shape.


We followed our cinnamon crayon up with mint (made with two teaspoons of mint extract added to green crayons), and hot chocolate (made with a couple of teaspoons of hot chocolate mix added to brown crayons).  I was all set to make up a black licorice crayon, when I realized I was all out of anise extract, and so decided to call it a night.

I'm sure any of the oils designed for making scented candles would probably work to make scented crayons just as well, but I love finding things right in my own kitchen that can be reworked into fun little presents like these.


You can really smell the mint and cinnamon, even on the paper, though the chocolate is a little more subtle.  I had the Man of the House give them a quick, blind-folded sniff.  He identified the mint right off, and the cinnamon after a second smell, but he guessed the chocolate was vanilla - still a nice scent.

Needless to say, C was thrilled to be able to draw mint trees with cinnamon ornaments and chocolaty...or at least sweet smelling...trunks.

Happy fall from Almost Unschoolers!