TOS Crew: Rosie’s Doll Clothes Review

 

 

My girls love their dolls that are very much like the American Doll. They each have one, and it goes almost everywhere with us. Therefore, when we had the opportunity to review Rosie’s Doll Clothes Patterns, I jumped on it. My girls are still just getting into sewing, and learning about it.

 

 

 

What is Rosie’s Doll Clothes Patterns:

 

Rosie’s Doll Clothes is a video course that your child can watch to help teach her how to sew clothes for her American Girl Doll (or similar size).  If you have online access, you can get 12 months of over 130 videos teaching you how to sew. This program is targeted towards children 8 and up. I wouldn’t say just girls, as my son has started using it to, to make a few clothes for his sisters dolls for Christmas presents.

When you purchase the program you receive 8 downloadable patterns with videos to go along with them, and a pdf.

Each video is fairly short, around 5-10 minutes. Which is great for the child, that can’t sit and listen for long periods of time. The course is six weeks long with six or seven videos per week.

They start with the basic’s of setting up your sewing room, how to work with fabric, and even how to use a serger.

 

 

 

How we used it:

My youngest did this course the most. She is 8 yrs old, and not a lot of experience with a sewing machine. Therefore, I started her out everyday with watching the video, and then she would practice some skills on scrap fabric. When she got a little further along, myself or my mom would sit and help her with the machine.

I think that Little Monkey has really learned a lot over the last few weeks using this program. She can do a lot of basic sewing without to much help now. I really enjoyed watching her learn how to go from a pattern to a finished product. The first time she finished something she was so excited, and she could see her mistakes, but we just learned from them, for the next thing we tried. She has made pants, shirts, and dresses. She is anxious to try more new things!

 

 

My Thoughts:

 

I found that the videos were really good. I really liked how well they covered the things they needed to know. They were clear, and the sound was good.

I love that this gave my girls a spark to be more imaginative, and wanting to try and do more things.

They are very excited to keep trying to make new things, and to make Christmas presents for each other.

Sadly my camera got dropped and isn’t working now, so all my photo’s are gone.

 

The Cost:

For a full year of access to 130 sewing videos, 8 patterns with instructions, and PDF’s that you get to keep. It is $48 or you can get the DVD"’s for $67.23

 

You can find Rosie’s Doll Clothes on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

 

 

TOS Crew: Gryphon House Review

Art is such a wonderful thing. I have 3 kids who really love to dive straight into art! This past month we have been reviewing the Global Art: Activities, Projects, and Inventions from around the world by Gryphon House.

Gryphon House was established in 1971, and started distributing quality children’s books. Today they have nearly 200 titles.

About the Book:
Global Art: Activities, Projects, and Inventions from Around the World is a 190 page paperback book written by MaryAnn Kohl, and Jean Potter for grades K-5.
This book has lots of art projects using painting, drawing, printing and construction. It includes 130 art ideas from around the world. It covers 7 continents, has a few projects for each one. Each page shares with you a bit about where the craft originated from. There is also an icon for each one to give you a skill level.

What we thought:
As soon as my kids saw this book, they took off running with it. My middle monkey couldn’t wait to see what it had to offer. They all looked through it, telling me the ones they thought they would like the best. Once I wrestled it back from them (HAHA), I looked through the book myself. Upon first glance, I was really impressed with the number of projects, and what they had to offer.
For the purpose of the review we did a few projects (but of course I can’t find the photo’s I took), but since Monkey Man is doing World Geography this year, we are going to tie a few more of these in with that.
Their favorite one so far was doing the Scarab stones from Egypt. They had fun creating those, and then they put them in our garden for decoration.
This book has helped us with some bored rainy days this summer as well. Never know when you may need to pull out a great project to work on.
My kids love this book!


My thoughts:
I really like how this book was laid out. Easy directions that were step by step with illustrations. The materials were all mostly ones I would have on hand, or easily could be found. Which is huge for me, since I don’t like to have to look for rare items, or spend a lot of money on things.
I also think this book would be a great addition to a history curriculum, or geography. As I stated above, we will be using this with Monkey Man when he starts his World Geography in a couple weeks. I’m very excited to be able to tie some of it in.
Overall, I think this is a really well done book. We all have enjoyed it very much!

Price:
You can purchase this Global Art for $16.95 from here.

You can find Gryphon House on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. For more books and ideas!

See what the rest of the TOS Crew had to say about this review.

Art projects…

 

For this year, my 4H group has decided to do art projects for our year. Since there is only three families this year, we have been rotating turns teaching different things.. We have done some really cool projects.

 

I’ll recap the year, before showing you the one we did this year. We started the year with this neat Leaf project. We took clay and cut out around a leaf, and pressed it in to the clay to get the impression. Then after they dried, we painted them.. Here is a picture of our start..

 

 

Unfortunately, while waiting for ours to dry, they got knocked over and broken. After many tears from the 3 monkeys… we agreed to try and remake them in the spring.

Our next project was a fun craft for Thanksgiving, and I didn’t really get any good pictures of that. Next up was a cooking day… We made cookies for our bake sale.

 

 

We missed our next meeting due to illness, since this time of year it is full of that! Blah! We made it up at the next meeting. The next project we tried was this really cool mosaic. The kids used picture frames, glass stones, and tacky glue. It was really neat to see the different ideas they came up with for this. My middle monkey decided to do a letter, while my son did a triton.

 

 

 

The next week was mine.. and let me tell you sometimes getting these projects can be very hard. Sure you can find tons of things to try, but keeping the cost down, and trying to make it friendly for ages 5-16 can be tricky. I am a huge Pinterest fan, so this is where I usually go to find my ideas. I just happened to stumble across a couple of cool projects. The first was turning candle sticks, or in some of our kids cases, vases into sea glass. Or looking like sea glass. Here is what they looked like…

 

 

 

 

We also did another project that day. We made ceramic tile coasters. This was so cool! I tried one at home first to see how it would work. You take a ceramic tile which you can get at Home Depot or Lowes, and you clean it with alcohol. To get the really cool effect, you have to use alcohol ink on them. I had never heard of that before, but after doing some research found that it was carried at AC Moore. They come in some really nice colors too. Then you just drop a small drop on your tile, and watch it spread, if you want to stop it you drop another color. To see the colors the kids picked, and the designs they tried to do was so amazing! Here are a few that we did…

 

 

 

 

There is what we have done so far.. We really do enjoy doing these cool art projects, but sometimes may I say man they are hard to come up with!!!

 

 

 

 

Creativity for Kids Review:

As a homeschool mom, we are always looking for things to encourage creativity! Our to even help with some of our down time. Creativity for Kids has some really amazing products. They have everything from Coloring & ARTivity, Jewelry making, Paper & Memory Crafts, Shrinky Dinks, Travel, and so much more! What I really love is that you can find something for everyone. Having two girls and a boy its sometimes hard to find something for everyone. With Creativity for Kids we can find things that interest everyone. You can even sign up your child with their Creativity Club. Where you will receive free activities to download, Craft of the Month, and more! We recently got the chance to review some of their products. The Monkey’s and I were super excited about this!

Upon opening the box, we saw that we had received three different products. The first thing my girls jumped to look at was the Fashion Bracelets.

This includes all the stuff that you need to make 15 bracelets! The girls were eager to try all kinds of stuff, and the best part is, the chances of anyone making the same bracelet is very slim. The kit includes wide ribbon, stain cord, floss, skinny ribbon, gem covered ribbon, scissors and glue! The possibilities are endless. Here are a couple that my kids made…

My girls had so much fun with them! Each girl has made a couple, and Monkey Man even made one, to give to his sister for Christmas. I even got in on the action! I love this product for a few reasons.. One it comes with everything you need to make them, so you don’t have to invest in many extras. Secondly, I really like it for the way it gets their brains working! One thing that I did do differently was we used glue dots instead of the glue provided, just due to the mess factor. I wanted something with a bit less mess. Plus we like to take these on the go with us sometimes! You can buy this kit for $19.99 at your local craft store.

The next one that was quickly claimed was the Mossy Meadow Gnome Garden. Monkey Man was quick to claim that one for his. He said it was for a boy! Upon opening this up, we were very surprised with what cool things were inside. In this kit you will find a garden dish, potting mix, wheat grass seeds, a bark house, leafs, mossy rocks, toadstools, ladybugs, paint, and more!

We really loved this, cause we are into making Fairy houses. This kit really reminded us of this. His imagination soared! He loved it! He immediately went to work on the bark house, making the roof. As you can see in the pictures above. He is still deciding on the colors he wants to add to his toadstools, and house.. so he has not yet finished this project. You can find a completed picture on our facebook page soon! He loved this project, and has had lots of fun thinking about what he could do with this house. Again I thought this kit was great because it has everything included in it. You can buy this kit for $29.99 at your local craft store. I will say, that I thought this one was a bit pricey, so I’m not sure I would buy one like this often.

The last one we got to try out was the Deluxe Glitter Art. This of course looked super fun! We haven’t gotten a chance to use it yet. So you can look for a picture on our facebook page soon with that. Here is a bit about this kit though. In the Glitter Kit you can find a array of glitter glue, shaker-top glitter, glitter stickers, glitter paper, gift tags, envelopes, greeting cards, craft glue, and more! We are probably going to make some gifts with this kit. You can purchase this kit for $29.99 at your local craft store as well.
We have had lots of fun with all these kits! I love watching my kids imaginations come to life! I think that we will absolutely be looking into some more of these kits for birthday’s, and Christmas presents. Have fun crafting!


One of my lucky readers gets a chance to win 2 of kits to try.. The Deluxe Glitter Art Fun, and Beach Buddies Shell Crafts.  Over a $45 value!!!!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

*We were given the Creativity for kids craft kits from Fabercastell and MomSelect in exchange for our honest review. All opinions are 100% mine or my monkey’s.

Our Christmas Project…

 

 

So after years of moving here and there, and everywhere… we have managed to lose lots of things. One of those was a very special Christmas Stocking that my mom made for me. It was cross stitched and I’m sure took her months to complete. For that I am very sad…However, I loved that my mom took the time to make something like that for me to make memories.

Therefore, this year I got this wild and crazy idea to make my kids their own Christmas stockings, instead of buying them cheap plain jane red ones from the store.

After a few days of working on them, and sticking ourselves with needles, and getting a couple blisters, I was very happy with our end results. As were they, and they got to help, so not only did we create a memory… they will now have one to continue through the years!

Fun projects with Glue Dots

 

 

I was really excited to jump at a chance to do a project with Glue Dots, and review some of their product. I absolutely love Glue Dots. I only used them once a few years ago for a craft project, when the kids were a bit younger. I instantly fell in love with them! They are so much less mess, and easy to use. Especially for younger kids.

I was super excited to do some projects with the kids and use Glue Dots. I set my mind at work, and started looking for projects to do.

Our first project we decided to use the Glue Dots on was at our recent Girl Scout Event. We were making princess hats, with the Girl Scout Laws on it, jewels, and ribbons. These came in perfectly for this project. As we were using them with 5yr old girls, and lots of little objects.

 

Reasons to use Glue Dots… Well they are great to use, instead of hot glue guns, and liquid glue. You can use them on just about any surface. They work great on paper, foam, gems, photo’s and so much more! For little kids they are great cause you don’t have to stop and wait for things to dry. Face it we all know how impatient they can get!!

You can find more info on Glue Dots Facebook or Glue Dots on Twitter. Want more info on Summer Bonding projects? Go Here.

I wrote this post in participation of the Twittermoms and GlueDots blogging contest to be eligible to be entered in a contest for a $30 gift card. If you would like to participate, you can find more info click here.

*I received Glue Dots in order to create my project.  I received no monetary compensation.

 

Feeling a bit crafty this week??

 

 

Since this is 4th of July week we wanted to do some fun crafts. Ones that we could use for the day on the 4th. Here are some of the ones we are going to make…or possible make….

Firecracker Crowns

Star Spangled Wavers

Patriotic Flip Flops (with red white and blue fabric)

 

What are your ideas???

We found these at are favorite place to look for crafts at Family Fun and their is so much more!!!

Happy Crafting!!!

Boredom Buster:

 

At summer camp the girls made a few instruments as seen here. As I was looking them over when they came home… I realized how easy they were to make, and that it would be a perfect rainy day project, or a boredom buster during the summer… First we will start with the Shaker.

As you can see they are just some small juice bottles. So when your kids are done using them, rinse them out and set aside. Then you can let them color or decorate the outside to make them pretty. Then just add a cup of rice and tape the lid on. (so to not have any accidental messes) Then there you have it!

These were just as easy….. The plastic part are just empty fruit or jello cups, washed out. Then you can color or decorate the outside again. Put a hole through the top to put a pipe cleaner thru for a handle. Then attach a bell on the other end of the pipe cleaner, and go to town! So cute, and yet simple!

We call these Trumpet Blasts. They are just a toliet paper tube…. with a piece of water paper, colored or decorated glued on it. Then take a small circle of wax paper over the end, held by an elastic, and for extra measure and looks, tie a pretty string around it as well. Now these are not meant to blow in, or the wax paper falls off. You just hum into it, and it makes it sound louder. My girls go around yelling “TOOT, TOOT” in them!

All you need is a drum, and you would have a mini band! Get your kids to march around the house or outside pretending to be in a marching band. An easy way to get their imaginations going!

Feeling a bit Froggy!

As most of you know from my previous posts, Tuesday is library day for us! I have to just say, I love that our library doesn't just do regular old story time, with the a series of books and call it good. No, our library does a theme every week. So far no repeats, and very interesting stories, puppet shows, and crafts. Hunter was rather happy that today was another day off for him. He had teachers workshop, so he could accompany us to the library for story time, a very rare treat for him.
This week was frogs! All about frogs! You just gotta love frogs. In their own crazy way, they are kinda neat and cute. We heard a very funny story... and of course now I can't remember the name of the book. Bummer! Then we heard a cute puppet show she made up..... I must tell you these little skits she comes up with are just a amazing... she is so talented. Then we watched a cute short movie about a frog, a boy, and a dog. Boys are just to cute when chasing frogs don't ya think?? Hunter loves to catch frogs.
The other reason I was writing this was to tell you how much we love our librarian. Every week that Hunter is not able to attend with us, she is always sure to have enough of the craft, coloring page of that day to send home for him to do. Plus she is so eager to help the kids find new books, let us know about new ones that came in... or to just help us come up with new ideas. This week she sent me home with a couple other frog projects, so I can do them with the girls. I'm going to save them for the letter "F", when we get there. We are slow to study each letter, as the girls are really trying to master them as we go.
Now that I have babble a bit longer, than I was intending. I will leave you with a picture of our froggy fun! Have a Hopping Good Day!

Finishing touches!

Since we got our first ornament today, and the 8th is creeping up on us quickly. The girls and I put the finishing touches on our ornaments, so they can be mailed out tomorrow. We went to share some of our pictures from our experience. It just makes me so happy to see that my kids want to make things and give to ours. They get so excited about it. (Another Proud Mommy Moment) Can't ask for more than that can you??

Kid Ornament #1

The kids were so excited when we got the mail today! There was a big yellow envelope, and inside was our first Ornament from the Kid swap....

Today we received a pretty blue wreath from Alaska! So, we decided that since we have had so much fun with this, we want to share it with you. Therefore, we are going to post a picture of each ornament as we get them!

New Project!

I was reading my blogs the other day, and on Lisa's (The Berry Patch) she had this Kid Ornament Swap listed. I decided to go check it out. As I was reading it, I must say I thought it would be a cool idea. Seeing we had to leave our Christmas stuff behind for now, and we aren't going to have any snow for Christmas (a first for the kids). With this, you make like 5-8 ornaments, and mail them to the people they give you, and you will receive some from other families in return. I think it would be cool. Plus get us in the spirit of Christmas and giving. I encourage you to check out the site, for further detail, and consider it. :) Plus it is a fun thing to do with your kids.

Here is the site: http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/2008/11/kids-ornament-s.html

Hope you enjoy!