Book Review: The World Needs More Love Letters

The World Needs More Love Letters All-in-One Stationery and Envelopesmight be the most fun book I've ever reviewed!  This cute little bundle of ready-to-mail stationery can be folded up into its own envelope and sent on its way.  I love this.  

I immediately sat down and wrote a note to someone who needed one.  Then I gave two pieces to my children to write each other a note.  (This may or may not have been after a long and drawn out fight between them.  My lips are sealed.)  I used this to encourage my book club to write love letters to someone they knew who needed one.  There are 40 pages included, so I felt more than free to share.  

It's a silly thing, but writing, folding, using the included white stickers to close the edges and grabbing a stamp (of my own) motivated me to write some letters!  Also included are lovely quotes about love and letter writing that could be copied into a note as well.  

This book/kit/stationery makes me happy.  Who do you know that needs a love letter?

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Book Review: Knitting Block by Block

Isn't winter the ideal time to settle in with some needles or a hook?  Here in Idaho, we haven't actually had much real winter, but east and south of us has gotten hammered recently.  Some of you will be home-bound for several days.  The perfect time to start or continue a handcraft.

Knitting Block by Block: 150 Blocks for Sweaters, Scarves, Bags, Toys, Afghans, and More is a great book to inspire you to new patterns and stitches.  Though knitting is technically one stitch (the "knit" stitch), there are infinite combinations and variations to bring beautiful patterns into your work.  This book is a fun way to learn some of these variations.

Knitting Block by Block is broken down into different types of blocks, with each of the 150 patterns clearly explained.  You can't help but be inspired to get out those needles!  Once you have created some blocks, there are then further projects to combine them into bigger items such as a sweater, quilt, even little animal friends (as we call stuffed animals in our home).

This would be a lovely gift book for a knitter that needs new inspiration or a beginning knitter that would like to learn many new patterns within the small scale of one block.

I received this book for free in exchange for my honest review.
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Allowing creativity to flourish

Last week, the kids and I headed to the library for our twice monthly library visit. As I was looking over the section of biographies written for children (an excellent section, I might add), the boys asked me to help them find the crafts section in the children's department.

Once I pointed them to the correct bookshelf, they choose a few books each to look over. This is our standard routine: they choose some books, look them over and add them to my "to-be-checked-out" pile. I look through them briefly to be sure there isn't anything that conflicts with our morals and values.

Once they had the craft books out, they sat together and found a craft that they wanted to complete. I was still wanting to look over the biographies, but now they were excited and ready to return home.

At home, they ran around gathering materials which included begging my mom to drink more water so they could have her Aquafina bottles. Once that was done and I had supplied some small pieces of velcro, they dove into working on their space shuttles. Those are not complete yet, I but will post a photo once they are.

I think that my children can engage so easily with activities such as these because I make a conscious effort to say "yes" more than "no" to crafts, building projects, forts, etc- things that require their imagination and initiative. I want them to be brave to tackle any projects that come their way with bravery, ingenuity and fearless-ness. Sometimes, this means they gather the supplies, make a big mess and then promptly lose interest. That's okay- we clean up the mess together and they move onto something else. This is not to say that there is a spirit of giving up- if I have asked them to complete a project or they have labored to a certain point, I do my best to re-engage them and teach them the value of following through.

Do your best to let go of the tidy house, the carpet with no stains, the always clear table tops and occasionally (or often) allow your children to dive into a project. Show them where the craft section of the library is instead of steering them clear of it!

Another Easy Craft

I made these blocks for Eric's niece for her first birthday in May. They were really simple.

Plain wooden blocks that I painted pink. Then I used acrylic gel medium (or mod podge) to glue various papers to the sides. Then I used a file to scrap away the edges of the papers and make it look a bit "antique-y." Finally, I added letter stickers from various fonts and covered it all with one more coat of gel medium. I love them!

Another collage from earlier this year

This collage is my favorite so far, I think.

For Kelsey

This is my latest collage. It's darling Kelsey Joy, my best friend Valerie's baby who was born with some challenges.

Pray for her with me! Tomorrow is a big appointment with the neurologist.

New Art Work

Okay, so here's a little collage that I did for my mom of her grandmother's house in West Virginia. The angle is weird b/c that was the only way my mom could get the glare off it. There is a coi fish on it b/c my great-grandparents had a wonderful pond in their yard with fish. Once, my mom took her little kid fishing pole and caught one of the very expensive coi fish! :) The little metal squares are letters that spell Mt. Echo. That was the name of the beautiful house.

Today is a day of tantrums and even though I know it's just a phase, it is so hard not to get completely emotionally drained in the middle of a 45 minute doozy. Jack is great at those these days. Am ready to get through this phase! Thank goodness for naps, at least there is a lull.

Fun Family Craft

I made our silly family based on a craft from Martha Stewart. They are aluminum roof flashing with paint, scraps of fabric and photocopied heads. Creativity is a great outlet and refreshing for me. When I get down in the Mommy Dumps, I try to force myself into the garage and my little craft corner to do something. I often have more than one thing started, so I can just jump in. Often I am too tired to do it and too tired to be creative, but if I can just get myself started, then I usually am rejuvenated and refreshed. Usually I do this during nap time, but now that the boys are older and can play together, I can work a bit when they are up and around. I think it's a great example to them too, so I try not to feel guilty for having mommy time in the middle of the day.