Puppet Theater in 5 minutes

My daughter loves puppet shows right now. Our library does puppet shows for storytime, maybe that's where she got her love for it. She's been asking for one for quite sometime now. I finally broke down and made one. It took about 5 minutes.

 Here's what I did. I already had the blue flower fabric made into drapes. We used them when we lived in a different house but they've been sitting in a box. I also had some leftover drapes from Ikea and quickly sewed a casing for the rod and voila! A super easy and cute puppet theater.

We spent all afternoon doing puppet shows. 

She doesn't quite get the idea that we shouldn't see you, just the puppets. Maybe with more practice?

We just put it up the the doorway when we want to play and then put it back in the closet when we are done. I also scored a bunch of cute hand puppets at D.I. last week that my kids will be getting for Christmas. I will try and post pictures of them soon. 

How are your projects coming along?

A girly I Spy Bag

For Christmas I made this I spy bag for my nieces. For the objects inside I used old buttons and little knick knacks from my stash.

I also made a little card that has everything in the bag. I wanted to laminate it but instead I just used that clear plastic stuff and sewed the card inside.

I attached a metal ring to a piece of ribbon and punched a hole in the card so it can be removed for younger children that can't read. They love just looking at the items too.

I've been saving this heart fabric for something. This was just perfect!

Here is a list of all the items I put in the bag. I wanted to have lots of items in there and I wanted it to be challenging as well. It was a huge hit! My nieces LOVE it!

I also made one for my daughter but need to finish filling it. I'll post pictures of it when I finish.

If you want to make a I spy bag too a great place to look for items to stuff your bag is on ebay. I bought a random assortment of buttons and things a while back and used a lot of those for the bag.

Tips for Organizing Toys

My daughter has lots of toys. A few months ago I wanted to do a different method for organizing all of them. My mom got us some cubbies with fabric baskets from Target. The great thing about these baskets is they are really tall and deep. So you can shove tons of toys inside.

We also took some pictures of what was in the baskets and printed them at Wal-Mart. I just put some velcro on the bin and the picture to attach it to the bin. This way my daughter sees the picture knows what's inside. Which is great because she can pull out what she wants and then knows which bin to put it in when she's done playing.

Another great tip I wanted to share was these tube thingy's. You can find them in the screw isle at Home Depot. I decided to use them for some of the smaller toys my daughter has. Like pom pom's and bugs.

Or for her crayons and colored pencils.

The great thing is they have different sizes. Which is perfect for crayons, animals or anything else you can think of. Now when my daughter wants to color I know where the crayons are. Super easy and a fun way to store toys. What's one of your favorite ways to store your kids toys?

kcwc: Day Three and Four

Here are the things I've sewed for the Kids Clothes Week. This is the first time EVER that I've made a skirt from scratch all by myself. It took me about two days to make it ( because I kept messing up and had to unpick) but for my first ever skirt I think it turned out pretty good.

The Market Skirt

For this skirt I used Dana's Market Skirt tutorial. I decided to just keep it simple and not add any pockets. I used a fabric remnant I got at Wal-Mart for maybe a buck? After sewing the skirt I added the purple on the bottom to make it a little bit longer. I really like how it turned out.

Corduroy Flower Pants

As many of you know, I don't sew clothes. I like making toys and things instead. So this week I've been trying new things. I've only sewn one pair of pants before this pair and that was in high school.

It's not rocket science really but I did follow this tutorial to make a pattern. I bought a giant bag from D.I. a while back and this fabric was in one of them. It's actually corduroy. I was going to make a skirt out of it but thought those would make some sweet pants! Am I right?

I've had such a fun time this week improving my sewing skills. And my daughter is loving all of her new clothes.