Introducing the Ultimate Alphabet Craft Collection

I love using crafts to teach letter recognition and beginning word sounds.  There are so many great ideas out there in books and online.  I usually stumble upon them by accident while I am surfing blogs.  However, they can be difficult to find by themselves since they can be referred to by so many different names (Letter crafts, ABC, Letter of the week,  the specific letter, etc. etc)  I never know what to search for. 

So I decided to start compiling these ideas into one collaborative collection.  I call it...

The Ultimate Alphabet Craft Collection

The purpose of this collaboration is to collect all of the wonderful alphabet crafts on the web in one place.  This will allow us all to share ideas and inspiration, surf other blogs, and show off our children's art work.  :)

A separate page has been created for each letter of the alphabet to make it easy to find a craft for the letter you are looking for. 

You can see a master list of all of the Alphabet Pages and read more about the Ultimate Alphabet Craft Collection here.

Now...just to get the creative juices flowing, here are just some of my favorites alphabet crafts online:

P is for Pig from The Sellers

C is for Caterpiller AND Circle from Delightful Learning

V is for Violets in a Vace from Counting Coconuts

C is for Crab from Homeschool Creations

O is for Ocean from Walking by the Way

Thanks for reading!

Valentine's Day Party and Outfits

This year was Sophia's first Valentine's day. Our neighbor and friend invited us over to her house for a special Valentine's day party. So I decided to sew some outfits for the kids to wear. The fabric was a gift from my mom. And she also provided priceless babysitting while I sewed the outfits. (Without that I never would have finished them in time!)

For Marcus, I made a dress shirt using Burda 9792, view A out of a red and white striped cotton fabric. Marcus HATES tags in his clothing...so I sewed my "mama labels" on to the very front bottom so they wouldn't touch his skin. :)

People probably think I am strange because I always post pictures of the labels inside the clothing. I don't know why I do this. I guess it is probably because I took the time to sew them in, so I guess someone should at least see them. ;)

I sewed a dress for Sophia using some Simplicity Pattern I picked up last time they went on sale for 99 cents. I forget the number. But it is really a simple dress to make. The skirt and straps are made from a cotton red fabric with white hearts. And the bodice is made using the same red & white stripe fabric I used for Marcus's shirt. It is also lined in the heart fabric. And for the grand finale, heart shaped button and heart lace trim. :)

Halloween with the Holmes's

This was Sophia's first Halloween and Marcus's second Halloween. (Wow! Two kids in two years! While I love being a mother very much, I hope we are not celebrating another first Halloween next year!)

Here were our costumes from this year:

(From left to right: Nana Schiller as "Granny", Mama as "Bo Peep", Baby Sophia as "Sheep", Dada as "Big Buzz Lightyear", and Marcus as "Baby Buzz Lightyear")

This was Marcus's first year trick-or-treating. We practiced all day saying "Trick-or-Treat." He got it down eventually, but now he is a little confused and thinks that "Trick-or-Treat" is another way to ask for candy. (He is still saying "Trick-or-Treat" around the house today when ever he wants a piece of candy.)

Begger's night was on Thursday night in our neighborhood. So, on Thursday my mom, Dean, Doug and I walked Marcus around the neighborhood. We were joined by a couple other of Marcus's little toddler friends and their parents. Marcus pushed his blue doll stroller around the neighboorhood to carry all of his candy. He didn't seem to care much about the candy, but he did like it when the house had a dog. He would ring the doorbell and then yell out "DOGGGGGGYYYYY!!!" And if they didn't happen to have a dog, he would get very upset and start to cry.


On Saturday night, my mom and Dean had a costume party at their house. Marcus had a blast! He loves going over there. And Sophia was so sweet in her little lamb costume.



(Isn't she the sweetest little lamb??)



(Sophia the Sheep falls alseep on Mama after too much partying.)


(Daddy Buzz saves the day!)

Doug makes the cover of Business First!

My husband Doug owns a small printing business in downtown Columbus. They print things like banners, fliers, business cards, etc. They are also union based--so they get a lot of business during political season.

Recently Business First Columbus did a front page story on the effects political campaigns have on local businesses. Doug's business was highlighted in the article.

You can read some of the article online by visiting this webpage:

I am so proud of how far Doug's company has come in just a few short years.

Cosi

Over the weekend, we took Marcus to COSI. It was a really fun time. They have this special area called Kid Space that is especially designed for toddlers and infants. Doug, Marcus, and I liked it so much that we became members--so expect many more visits to COSI. Here are some pictures from our visit:

Tag Blanket

Here is a tag blanket that I just finished for the new baby coming in April. The top fabric is a really soft minky with a raised star pattern. The bottom is a light pink satin. Then, in the seam, I sewed various ribbons to keep little hands busy.

I saw a commercial version of this blanket online. But, couldn't see spending that much money, so I put one together myself.

Dinosaur Pajama's

Here are some pics of some PJ's that I just finished for Marcus. I felt bad because all I have been doing is sewing for the new baby, so I thought it was time that I made him something too!

I like how this came out because I made the entire thing out of little tiny pieces of scrap fabric. I'm always happy when I can use something that I would normally have thrown away or packed in storage. Sewing clothes for babies is great because you use so little fabric. With some creative cutting, you can literally make something out of almost nothing. I am also proud of these because I didn't use a pattern. I just started piecing things together--and luckily they ended up fitting him in the end!

It is very soft and snuggly. The blue fabric is a flannel dinosaur print, and it has red fleece "racing stripes" and accent under the front/back yoke.