Preschool Nativities

I taught Adelaide's preschool class this week and since it was the week before Christmas, we focused on Christ and Christmas. After wandering around Michael's for about an hour, I came up with this little craft for us to do--a little nativity set with Mary and Jesus in his manger. I may have had a lot of fun doing this with the kids. 

I wouldn't call myself an inherently crafty person, but every so often, I find them delightful and fun. 

Gratitude Countdown: Day 11

Today I am grateful for the ability to create. I don't just mean babies, though I think I did a really good job with that the one time I tried it. I still sometimes look at Zara and marvel that I grew her myself. Totally from scratch! How did I do that?!?

I've come to see that women have the innate ability to create. It's something that I've come to love about myself as well. I didn't set out to be "crafty" or "domestic" or "housewifey" or any of those terms; in fact, I resisted them for a long time. But as I've embraced those attributes within myself, I've found great joy in creating things for myself, my family, and friends. I love to bake and cook and am grateful that I enjoy those pursuits since I know so many women who absolutely dread the kitchen. I love to sew and fill my house with the work of my own hands. I've undertaken a new sewing endeavor (which I'll share with you soon) and I'm surprised by own enjoyment at being hard at work at a sewing machine. I also (gasp) started making my own Christmas cards this year. It started out as a Relief Society project but I discovered that I really enjoy the artistry of paper crafts (I know, I know). It's a delight to create this things and I am grateful that I have the ability to do so.

Hand-made Gifts

This past year, I took up sewing again and I really enjoy it. One of my goals for the year is to set aside a certain number of hours each week to spend sewing. I've got several projects in mind, from quilts to purses to pillowcases to toys and clothes. But since I'm really good at starting projects and not finishing them, I'm hoping that having "sewing hours" will induce me to actually finish some projects, like Zara's baby quilt and my quilt blocks for my Quilting Group. For Christmas, I made a few gifts to give away. And I actually finished them! So I have to document this momentous occasion.

Zara has two cousins (and 3 second cousins) who were born within a month of her. My brother and his wife welcomed their first baby--a girl--on August 24th. Zara followed a week later on August 31st and my sister had her third child--her second boy--on September 21st. (And my other sister just announced that she's expecting her second next year.) So for Christmas this year I decided to make everyone a diaper and wipes case. I used a tutorial from Make It and Love It, one of my favorite crafty sites. It's not the best tutorial, but now that I've made so many of these things, I can whip them out in under an hour. I love quick and easy projects that can be finished in a day.

These don't use a lot of fabric so they're a simple project to do with your scraps or other fun fabrics that you're not quite sure what to do with yet. I made the one on the right side for myself. I just couldn't help myself.

The insides. I actually started working on these quite some time ago (I did the one in the center during the summer) but I had just never finished them. But I got them all done and sent off before Christmas. I was insanely proud of myself.

Well, I had so much fun finishing that project (finally!) that I decided I wanted to do another quick and easy project. And since I've got this really adorable little baby now, who's suddenly very interested grabbing and holding onto things and shoving them into her mouth, I wanted to do some simple toys she could play with.

So I turned to Make It and Love It once again and found tutorials for cloth blocks and cloth teething rings.


I made 6 inch, 5 inch, 4 inch, and 3 inch blocks using lots of fun, vibrant fabrics. The 3 and 4 inch blocks are easier for Zara to hold and play with now.

Here she is with her 3-inch block clutched tightly in her hand. Next up, the cloth baby rings. These were another pretty quick project, but I think I stuffed them with just a little too much fabric because they were kinda a pain to sew together. And I broke two needles in the process.

Luckily, black fabric hides a multitude of sins.


And Zara certainly doesn't seem to mind my less-than-perfect sewing projects.

She's just that awesome. Also, she really will stick anything into her mouth. At least these are easy to wash.