Michelle's blog

To correspond with our lesson this week on Veggies, we made Salt Dough Veggies to use on our Nature Table. Once dried, the kids immediately took them to the Farm Mat. They have spent a lot of time bringing in the harvest and feeding the bounty to the family of snails Bug made.

Basic Salt Dough Recipe

1 Cup Salt

2 Cups Flour

3/4 Cup Room Temp Water

1 TBSP Vegtable Oil

Bake at 200 F for several hours until dried through. Paint when dry.

For a realistic touch, we used small twigs for stems. We also used toothpicks for adding details. I was surprised how well the Salt Dough retained its modeled shape.

Note: Both puppies and almost 2 year olds like to eat the finished veggies! Keep a close eye on the little ones if you have 'em.

Pixie, our playful imp, modeling her new Elf Hat knit with Felici Self Striping Sock Yarn from KnitPicks.com using the pattern from Not Just Socks for Kids.

Just thought I would share a fun little project I've been working on recently. Bug has taken to drawing all these cute creatures (inspired by the Spore Creature Creator game). I keep finding critter doodles all over the place. Some of them are so elaborate and detailed they just make me smile. I loved the skin pattern on this one and decided he would make a great embroidered image. It has been a lot of fun. Bug loves to check my progress and make sure I'm getting it right.

I just finished one of Pixie's Birthday gifts last night, a sack full of froggies!

I fell in love with some of the cute free Amigurumi toy patterns on the Lion Brand site, namely the frog. Of course they were all crocheted so I decided it was time to embrace the hook and give it a shot. I a am knitter by 'trade' and my crocheting has been limited to attaching a decorative edging to knit items. So this was my first fully crocheted project. The first frog turned out so cute that I decided to make a whole froggie family. I can't keep the older kiddos away from them... so I'm taking that as a good sign.

Note: Tutorial for the peasant skirt can be found HERE.

It seems like lately everything I make for Pixie turns out too big and ends up in Fairy's possesion. I think, in part, this is a fear of making something too small with no one else to hand it down to, but it also has a lot to do with funky pattern sizing (I swear I follow the directions).

This weekend Pixie was wearing her "cutened up" jumper (mentioned previously) and multiple people commented that it looked like a potato sack. I thought it was time to try it on Fairy. Oh, the tears. I was quite literally taking the shirt off her back! I must say it did in fact fit Fairy much better... and actually looked kind of cute on her (it did look like a potato sack on Pixie), but we quickly gave it back to Pixie. Poor girl.

So yesterday I was determined to make Pixie something, anything, cute that fit! I threw aside all patterns...figuring I couldn't do any worse winging it! I rumaged around and came up with some scrapes that matched an Elf Hat I've been knitting for her.

A Peasant Skirt seemed like a great idea and definitely something I could just make on the fly. I managed to whip one up during nap time. The girls were up at the end, eagarly awaiting the finished product.

It wasn't until later that I realised all the scraps I grabbed were left over from her baby blanket. It really was the perfect fit for Pixie!

I am working on typing up the pattern. Actually, I have it typed up... I just need to test it on a couple different sizes. Look for it shortly.