B is for BEAR!

The alphabet...oh my...the alphabet. Twenty-six letters to form all communication. Little Miss is on the road of learning it and I am on the road of learning how to teach it. I have a new respect for teachers. I have always respected those in the profession, but now hold them in even higher respect. Teaching is not easy.

We have already worked with the letter A but I failed to take any photos while we practiced it. I, generally, fail at snagging photos while I am focused on my children. But 'B', I was more on top of things. But will admit, not a single one was edited for this post. First step for me was Googling pages for tracing the letter B. I found these two printables in the images that fit with what I wanted to teach. Little Miss did a great job completing them.

After we traced and wrote words on our dry ease board we headed into crafting. My daughter's favorite part of learning. I had no real plan or idea what we should make. The krafty part of my brain started spinning. I pulled out brown paper, pink paper, glue, safety scissors, google eyes, and a black small pom-pom. I thought about the parts of a bear and cut out crude shapes for those parts.

These really are only a fast attempt at crafting a bear. You can switch any of the colors to suit your own little crafter. Little Miss likes pink and brown. In the above picture, the parts are not glued down yet, I wanted to make sure I made them small enough to fit on the paper. I handed the glue stick over and watched the little creative mind work.

She was so happy to have the control of the glue and of the project. I did not tell her where the parts went, just what part of the bear they were.When she finished with the bear, she decided, "girly bear's have bows." I cut out a quick pink bow to make the girl bear complete.

The moment it was finished, we used "sticky tape" to hang it up on the wall by the dinner table. She loves to see it hung there and was so happy to show Daddy at dinner time.

It is not much, but it was enough for her. Please, feel free to use this idea when teaching the Letter B to a child. The BEAR craft, krafted me through a moment of life's kraziness.

♥Kelly

Try It Thursday: Mini Journal

Hello everyone!! Today, I would like to share with you how to make your very own mini paper journal. I am in a Crafty Valentine's Day swap and decided to make something special and new for her. So, after some thinking, I designed this idea of a small crafty journal that could fit in her handbag for her to write down ideas when they happen during her day. ☺

Supplies Needed:

1 sheet of 12 x 12 Card-stock - any color (I chose Brown)
6 sheets of 12 x 12 coordinating Scrapbook paper (you could mix it up and not coordinate - free creativity)
scissors
ruler
paper cutter (if you have one or prefer to use one)
hot glue gun
decorative tape, ribbons, or other fun flare

First, you measure your card-stock and cut a rectangle 5in high by 7in long. Then you are going to cut out two strips 4 3/4 in high by 6 3/4 in long from each scrap book piece of paper. You should have 12 total to make you inside journal papers.

Now comes the folding of your pages. You are going to fold 6 papers with print outside and 6 with the print inside. Then you put the print inside into the print outside make individual books. If you have a bone folder you can crisp up your fold edges with it. You should end up with 6 individual 'books'.

Then you stack them up, even them up and head to your sewing machine. I was able to sew my 'books' together with my sewing machine. I hand turned my wheel and did one stitch at a time and used a brand new sharp machine sewing needle. It took a touch of time and patience. So go slow if you use your machine. You can also hand sew the books together with a book binding needle and embroidery thread.

Now you need to warm up your hot glue gun. And put a bead of hot glue along the inner edges of the 'book' pages and place the card-stock around the inner pages. Making your book.

Add your final touches to the front. I added a saying and a few layers of different scrapbook paper scraps. Then topped it off with a ribbon bow and animal sticker tape. I am pretty happy with how it came together! And am very excited to send off to my Valentine's Day Swap!! I know she will be able to put it to good use!!

I do hope you give this tutorial a try!! I'd love to hear how it went, just comment below!

♥Kelly