Earth Day!

In honer of it being Earth Day, I decided to make a 'green' craft! These pressed grass prints are perfect for any time when you need something quick and unique. You can make these into whatever you would like, such as cards, art prints, bookmarks, stationary, or anything else that you can think of!
All that you really need is a handful of green. Grass, leaves, or even flowers can be used. Find however much you want, just remember that you probably won't use all of it, so don't pick too much!

 

Lay your leaves on a piece of paper in your design. Try different patterns, shapes, or pictures.
Place a piece of waxed paper on top of your design, then smash! You can use your fingers for some plants, but for most you will have to use a heavy object. You can use the corner of a piece of wood, the back of a spoon, or a hammer (be careful!). You also may want to place another piece of paper underneath the one you're printing on, as the design might go through.

 

When you're done pressing, lift up the waxed paper. Let the paper dry.

 

You can add a few finishing touches with pencils or markers.

 

And you're done! Now you can surprise someone with a homemade Earth Day card.

 

Happy Earth Day!

Planting Flowers

Everyone loves a little bloom! Today on the calendar is plant flowers. My mom picked up a few flower-growing kits from the dollar section at the store, and today, we planted flowers!

 

We decided to plant daisies first.

 

Getting it ready!

 

We had the perfect sized watering can to water the soil.

 

Not too much!

 

Then we took out the seeds.

 

And Jo got to plant them!

 

Finished!

 

We also planted clovers in the green pot, and basil in the greenhouse. We can't wait to watch them grow and have our own bouquets of flowers!
Even though it doesn't feel like spring here, we still managed to get our hands dirty! Gardening is one of my favorite spring activities. What are yours?
Happy flower planting!

Doll Spring Outfits

Yesterday's calendar event was to make dolly spring outfits. I didn't have the time to make anything new yesterday, so I just took pictures of what they already had. These are the same outfits from the rainy day photoshoot, but because they were hard to see under the ponchos, we thought that we'd show them to you today!

 

I made this spring dress for Jo a few years ago. It's pretty simple, but it fits well.

 

The belt is just for decoration, because when we first tried it on, it needed that extra something!

 

Sophie's outfit has a bit more to it. She's always wearing her necklace, and the blouse/jacket is from another doll's closet. The jeans I made for her.

 

The lacy jacket suits her well, and it's perfect for spring!

 

Robin's shirt is one of my favorite that I've made for her. It's made from the sleeve of an old T-shirt that I really just cut holes into. I hemmed the front, and added the ribbons for decoration.

 

An extra snippet of ribbon and a star button completes the look!

 

I made Marissa's entire outfit a few years ago as well. Both the shirt and skirt were made out of some of my baby clothes. :) Reduce, reuse, recycle!

 

The headband was made from an old pair of leggings of mine, and I have a matching one. The instructions for both can be found in the sewing e-book!

I hope that you enjoyed a peek into their wardrobe! Did you make any spring outfits yesterday? We'd love to see them!
Even if you did make outfits, or you just dressed your dolls in spring outfits from before, enjoy your spring!

Baked Donut-muffins

For school yesterday, I had to make donuts. (I really love my school!) So I found a recipe, added a few things of my own, and made baked donut-muffins! We don't have a donut pan, so I just made them in a muffin tin. But that worked well, because I could fill them with frosting. But you can make these in a donut pan too!

 

You need:
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/3 cup of milk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Frosting  (I used a really soft buttercream)
Sprinkles

1. Mix everything together, and bake at 325 degrees for about 12 minutes if you're using a donut pan, or about 25-20 minutes if you're using a muffin tin. Be careful not to over bake, or they will get dry.

 

2. Let cool.

 

3. Cut out a cone from the top of the muffin, then slice off the tip of it.

 

The muffin should look like this.

 

4. Fill with frosting!

 

5. Put the 'lid' back on.

 

6. Add a bit more frosting to the top,

 

add some sprinkles,

 

and enjoy!

Do you like to bake? Or maybe you like to create in a different way. We'd love to hear about it! Leave a comment to let us know.
Whatever you like to do, if this is your first time or hundredth time making donuts, we hope that you enjoy!


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Baked Donut-muffins


You need:
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/3 cup of milk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Frosting (I used a really soft buttercream)
Sprinkles

1. Mix everything together, and bake at 325 degrees for about 12 minutes of you're using a donut pan, or about 25-20 minutes if you're using a muffin tin.

2. Let cool.

3. Cut out a cone from the top of the muffin, then slice off the tip of it.

4. Fill with frosting.

5. Put the 'lid' back on.

6. Add a bit more frosting to the top, add some sprinkles and enjoy!

Rainy Day Photoshoot

Today on the calendar is have a rainy day photoshoot. So we did! With the crafts that we just made, the girls got all dressed up and went to play in the rain!

 

Who needs an umbrella?

 

Sophie doesn't!

 

Trying to catch raindrops,

 

and twirling the umbrella.

 

It's fun just to play in the rain!

 

Or to take a walk.

 

Rain puddles!

 

Jo splashed around for a bit,

 

And even Robin played around.

 

Skipping in the rain!

 

A rainbow even peeked out of the clouds.

 

Let it rain!

Make it a Rainy Day!

The calendar event on Monday is to have a rainy day photoshoot. But we didn't have anything for it! So we made up a few things, like a rain poncho, umbrellas, and even a rainy day background!

For all of the crafts you will need acrylic paint. I didn't try using anything else, so I don't know what else would work. But if you don't have acrylic paint, you could use stickers, or maybe try other types of paint. If you do try something else, leave a comment and let us know how it worked!

For the rain poncho you will need:
a plastic grocery bag
paints

 

1. Cut out a 12" by 12" square from the bag.
2. Fold it in half on the diagonal, then fold again. Cut off the tip. Ours were cut about an inch from the top, but you may have to make yours longer or shorter, depending on your dolls.
3. Decorate with paint and let dry.
4. Slip over your doll's head and play in the rain!

For the umbrellas you will need:
plastic grocery bags
paints
toothpicks
plastic straws

 

1. Cut out a circle, about 6" in diameter.
2. Decorate with paints and let dry.
3. Glue on the toothpicks in a star shape. We used rubber cement, which allowed them to move up and down. But you could use other glue too!
4. Glue the straw to the middle. If you are using rubber cement, you will need to prop this up.

For the rainy day background:
waxed paper
paint
paper
colored pencils

 

1. Tear off as much paper as you need, then paint on the raindrops!
2. Tape to your wall or background.
3. Color rain clouds and a rainbow.
4. Tape the clouds and rainbow to the rain.

We had a lot of fun making all of these rainy day crafts! And we even had enough of the bags left over to make ponchos for Jo...

 

And for Sophie!

 

The girls had fun playing in the rain, which we'll share on Monday. Do you like to play in the rain? What're your favorite things to do?

 

Happy rainy days!

April Calendar

Happy April! Did you have a good Easter yesterday? We spent the day with family, which is almost always the best! A lot happened in March, so I didn't get to post as much from the calender as I had hoped. But this month I will! You can go to the web albums and save to your desktop. Or just right-click on the picture below and save it that way. 

P.S. Happy April fools! Are you playing any (nice!) tricks today?