Christmas Crafting in Progress!

I finally got to the craft store to pick up the yards and yards of felt I need for all of E's Christmas presents.  Can I just say right now that I LOVE felt?  Especially wool felt, but even the Eco-recycled stuff is good.  No finishing seams or hemming, no applique, and it stands up to play pretty darn well.  I've been working for the past two naptimes on E's card table playhouse.  I am discovering that our card table is pretty much on the tiny side - but I still think it's going to work out OK.  I am pretty much done with the front side.

There is the obvious, um, a door to get in and out, a plant (stuffed, and I plan to make flowers she can stick on it as well), and a mail box (the door opens and she will be able to drop mail into the house through the slot).  I also sewed a few "bricks" on there for ambiance.  All that is left is the edging for the top and to back it.  Not too bad for a couple hours work!

Other sides of the house will be a garden with an apple tree, a birdhouse, and at least one window.  Gotta have some light and air in that house, ya know?

We Play: Playsilks

E has been playing a lot of dress-up lately!  We don't really have a dress-up wardrobe, though.  I'm working on it, gathering hats and accessories on my garage sale and thrift store days.  We do have several playsilks that I dyed for E for her birthday last year.  Honestly, I think I like these better than dress-up.  Every morning, E brings me a silk and asks for a swimming suit, underwear, a skirt, a dress, a hat, whatever.  I tie it on for her in the appropriate place, and she's off for the morning, happy as a clam!

This outfit consisted of a red dress, purple shawl, and yellow head kerchief

She loves these so much, I am considering dying several more to play with, and maybe even some really long ones to cover the unfinished ceiling in our basement playroom.  I'd love to learn how to tie dye them!  *hint, hint, Missy!*

Silks!

One of E's favorite toys are her playsilks. I'm definitely a Montessori mama - I haven't done much research into Waldorf, but these silks are so beautiful and offer such a variety of creative play that I am hooked. I even dyed some myself for E's birthday this year.

I bought the plain white silk handkerchiefs from Dharma Trading Company. They had so many sizes to choose from - I got 4 medium-ish ones and 2 larger ones. And because I was a new customer, they gave me a small one for free!

I looked around and around on the web for quick, easy, and beautiful silk dying directions. I opted for the more quick and easy as opposed to the most beautiful, and I think mine came out quite beautiful themselves, anyways.

I ended up using Kool-Aid to dye the silks. Wow - makes you think twice (or three or four times) before drinking any more of that! The silks dyed such vibrant colors!!

Here's what I did:
1. soak the silk in hot tap water for about 20 minutes.
2. pour in a couple good glugs of plain white vinegar.
3. add the Kool-Aid - I used three pouches per silk.
4. stir carefully for about 5 minutes.
5. microwave in the bowl for 2 minutes, rest for 2 minutes.
6. repeat 3 more times for a total of 4.
7. let silk sit in the bowl until the water turns clear. Give it a good bit of time. No rush.
8. rinse in cold water and hang to dry.

E already had a blue silk and an orange one, dyed beautifully by a fellow swapper on Craftster. I used lemon-lime to make a lime green silk, cherry for red, grape for purple, yellow food dye for yellow, and I made a dark green with one packet of blue Kool-Aid and green food dye.

I tried to do pink with strawberry, but it did not turn out pink, just red. So I added orange to it and made it a brilliant red-orange color. I used 2 strawberry and 2 blue packets to make a lavender silk. I didn't stir it quite long enough, so it has patches of blue and red in it along with the purple, which I love!

E loved opening the present and finding her new silks. And yes, that is baby wrapping paper. I need to use it up, and I ran out of happy birthday.

Silks are so much fun to throw up in the air! And one of the few toys where throwing is allowed!

And it's really fun to cover up Daddy with them!

I even left the little one white. She balled it up in her hand, gave it to me, and announced it was a snowball. Best snowball ever!