E is for...

Today's quilt is brought to you by the letter E.

When I got the e-mail about this quilt I was so excited. A friend of mine wanted a quilt for her baby girls nursery. The only requirements were that she wanted it Purple, Green, maybe some white....and oh yes, it needed to have Elephants.

The story behind the elephants? The babies name is Ellie, they call her Ellie the Elephant. I die. Can you handle the cuteness? No? Me either.

So here is the finished product. Complete with a matching polka dot pleated pillow.

I am so enjoying making quilts lately. I am also reallllly hoping to start Rhiannon's soon, which may include a tutorial. We will see.

What is your favorite type of project to work on?

Resurrection Rolls

It is so easy to get caught up in the fun of special holiday and forget to reflect on the actual meaning behind that special day. Why not take the significant stuff and make it fun for our kids.

This year, in order to keep the focus of Easter on Jesus, we made resurrection rolls. They are a simple and tasty way to walk your little ones through the story of Easter.

So go gather up your ingredients. All you will need is:

Marshmallows (however many rolls you will be making, we did 8)
Crescent Rolls
Butter
Cinnamon Sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. While your oven preheats begin sharing about Jesus' death on the cross.

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper and then place your crescent rolls onto the sheet. You will want them separated based on their pre-cut triangles. As you lay them out, explain that the dough is like the cloth that they wrapped Jesus' body in.

Now for the hands on part, which my kids love. Give them their marshmallow and explain that it represents Jesus. It is white and pure, to show that Jesus was without sin.

Have the kids cover their marshmallows in butter to represent the embalming oils.

Then take their covered marshmallow and roll it around in the cinnamon sugar which symbolizes the spices that were used to prepare his body for burial.

 

Now place your marshmallows in the "cloth". Make sure to close them up securely. Remember that this represents how they wrapped Jesus' body.

Place your rolls in the oven which will represent the tomb. Bake for 12 minutes.

While you wait for your rolls, read John20:1-18.

Remove your rolls from the tomb. Open them up and see that the marshmallow is gone.

Jesus is Risen!

Crafting it Up

With Easter right around the corner, the kids and I have been working hard to cutesy up the house. One of the projects we have done, is a cute Easter egg banner.

She is intense.

 We started up by ripping up lots and lots and lots of colored paper.

Once the paper was all torn up, we pasted it to sheets colored paper. Try and cover the whole page, if you can't it's ok since you are using a pretty color background.

Once our paper was all covered and dried, I drew a few eggs on the back and then cut out our egg shapes.

I had Rhiannon help me put them in an order that was most appealing to her little eyes. We punched holes in the tops and then threaded yarn through the holes. Which is also a great project for fine motor skills.

Sorry, no pictures of those steps. I promise you will figure it out though :)

We hung our banner on our fire place for all to enjoy. This was a fun project and a great way for us all to do something crafty together.

Check back tomorrow for a fun recipe to prepare the kids for Easter.


P.S. I am linking up at Made with Love Monday

Getting Printed

Do you ever have irrational fears? I am a bit paranoid. And by a bit, I mean extremely. So, I have irrational fears sometimes.

Let's rewind a few years. Hubby and I work for a company that supplies Environmental tooling. On occasion I work in the warehouse, shipping out orders. I notice that the heavy duty packing tape peels little copies of my fingerprints. Funny...but not really. Kinda creepy. I point out that someone could easily copy my finger prints and frame me for a crime. Chuckle, chuckle. Just kidding.

Back to current times.

This is where I warn you not to laugh. Remember I said it was irrational? Keep that in mind as you mock me.

Today we head to get fingerprinted for Live Scan. Our first big step towards foster care. I am so excited. This is it. It is actually starting to come together. When out of no where, FEAR.

Dude, what am I afraid of? I have committed no crimes. Ever. But wait, those stinkin' finger prints! What if someone seriously took the tape and made millions of copies to place at a crime scene? I could be framed for a serious crime. Like murder or somethin'!

This is for real people. I watch Law and Order. This stuff happens all the time!

I didn't get hauled off in cuffs when they took my prints, so I'm guessing that the fear is indeed irrational and I have not been framed. But really, I was sweating there for a minute.

Do you ever have irrational fears like me? Tell me I am not alone in this crazy little world.

Rainbows

People, I am one proud mama! My daughter is a rockstar.

Let me give you some background.

A few weeks ago Rhiannon started attending Rainbows at our church. Rainbows is a club for preschoolers, ages 3-5. In Rainbows the littles learn bible stories, do crafts, sing songs and play games, all while earning badges along the way.

Two weeks ago Rhi was sent home with homework and her first verse to memorize. My girl rocked it, by day 2 she could tell you the verse and where it was located. This mommy is horrible at memorizing so when my 3yo was able to memorize even a short verse...impressed!

 So fast forward to last night. Since the kids recited their verses and turned in their homework last week, it was award ceremony last night. Baby girl got her first badge!

The group sang their little song and then got their certificates with badges. I cannot wait to get her little vest to attach her badge to.

Oh and how cute was she singing "Jesus is Alive" ?

Wordless Wednesday...kinda

I'm linking up with Angry Julie for Wordless Wednesday but I am unable to be completely wordless with this picture. I will keep it short though :)

 

 These past few months have been so different. Rhiannon and Talon are so close in age. I knew that they would be best friends...or worse enemies. Their age just sets them up for it. Even being so close in age, the younger you are, the larger the gap seems.

When Talon was born, Rhi was 22 months and the difference seemed like an eternity. Rhiannon was my big girl, an almost 2 year old toddler, while Talon was a newborn, obviously. Gradually, the gap has appeared to shrink. They are both toddlers. The 22 months that once kept them 3 stages apart (infant, baby, toddler), now has them in the same category. Two toddlers.  I have two toddlers.

The gap that was between them was bound to send them one of two ways, as  I mentioned, Best Friends or Worse Enemies. The truth would be revealed eventually and I knew it. I prayed for this moment. God listened. Rhiannon tells me daily "Talon my BEST fwend". Talon wakes up and no longer calls for mommy but "Nanny" instead. Their friendship is what I prayed for and it melts my heart.

 

All Caged Up

This weeks big project was finishing up a quilt that I was making for my little niece who will be arriving in May :)

The theme that my sis in law is going with in the nursery is bright and fun. Birdcages and flowers. Just plain girly.

She wanted something simple in layout and the attention to be on the pretty fabrics that we decided on. So I did basic blocks with a solid border.

Since my husbands entire family is big on texture and comfort, there was no option but minky for the backing. Haha. I prefer minky on baby quilts anyhow so it worked out well.

I wanted to actually quilt the blanket (for long lasting purposes)  but my SIL is not a fan of the quilted look, so we met in the middle and I just went with a stitching in the ditch.

I love the way it all came together. The fabrics are so fun and the simplicity of the design really emphasized that.

It was so fun in fact that I decided to make her a couple of pennant banners to go along with it.

What have you been working on?

I am linking up with Sew Chatty for Made with Love Monday. If you did something crafty, you should too!