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Friday, March 24, 2017

Bunny Business!







































Around here, the business of bunny building is a serious one. We need those little critters to decorate our kids' table for Easter Sunday dinner. We also need an appealing "make it and take it" to teach to mommies and daddies that day - one that will yield an even bigger bunch of bunnies - and miles of fond smiles in the years ahead each time they reemerge from springtime storage bins!

Hand wound yarn bunny making isn't new. I fended off my own pet cats ages ago while mother taught me how to wind and snip and glue. The floppy, fuzzy, felt-eared, button-eyed results delighted me in those early years, well before aisles of wiggle eyed choices and wee ribbon spools popped up a hop away from the crafty kids of today, making this project easier and cuter than ever!

I'm excited to sponsor an advance "grandkids only" workshop to practice our crafting and sharing skills. The parents we'll instruct a week or so later won't have to worry about a thing, especially counting to "100 wraps" by themselves - we've got one little lady who just perfected that art and will be "hoppy" to take the lead! All that'll be left for grandma to do is ready the supplies and be on hand to coach from the sidelines when the business of bunny building opens its doors!

Here's my palm-sized version of easy-to-make, easy-to-teach fun!




For each 4" x 4" bunny, you'll need:
  • Yarn, white or pastel. Lily Sugar 'n Cream preferred
  • Felt scraps, white and pink for ears
  • Pom pom, pink, 1/2" (1) for nose
  • Pom poms, white, 1" (3) for tail and front paws
  • Wiggle eyes, 15 mm (2) 
  • Ribbon, pastel, 3.75" wide x 8" long
  • Foam board or cardboard:           
    • 2.5" x 10" (1) for body template            
    • 1.5" x 8" (1) for head template
  • Scissors
  • Ruler
  • Pencil
  • Craft glue or hot glue gun                                           
1. Mark a 1.5" area near top of head template as shown. Wrap yarn around board 100 times, keeping it all between those lines.
2. Cut a 6" length of yarn, slip wrapped yarn off template, and pinch tightly at center. Tie yarn tightly at center to hold. (see photo)
3. Cut all loops open, yielding a 1.5" pom pom. Fluff it up and trim until round. 
4. Glue eyes and nose to center front for face.
5. Cut two 1" x 2" pieces of white felt for ears. Cut two 1/2" x 1.75" pieces of pink felt. Trim the white pieces so they are rounded at top and slightly taper towards bottom. Trim the pink pieces the same way. 
6. Place pink pieces, centered, on top of white and glue together.
7. Separate yarn at top of head and glue ears inside.
8. Mark a 2.5" area near top of body template as shown. Wrap yarn around board 100 times, keeping it all between those lines.



9. Repeat steps 2 and 3, yielding a 2.5" pom pom
for body.
10. Glue head to body.
11. Glue a 1" white pom pom to lower center back for tail. Glue two 1" white pom poms side by side below head for front paws.
12. Tie ribbon into a bow and glue to side of head.

  • Bunnies are not toys for kids under 3 due to small parts. 
  • This is not a sponsored post. I personally like the texture of this yarn but you can use any brand you prefer, of course! 


This original design, like all blog content, is intended for personal use only. Copyright 2017. All rights reserved. Thank you!            

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Picture This!




























Picture this: 

You. Sending an email. Typing an address. 

This one, for example:

xox@myphotoandgo.com

Now, paste in a picture. Any picture. One from your phone. Or desktop. A favorite. Or not. Now send. Now wait. One minute. Two. Maybe three. Four or five at most.......

and then it happens.....


OMG, you gotta see this! 

Go ahead! Try it! I'll wait!.....

So, what do you think?


Me? I was amazed! Pictures, you see, are all I really want as gifts. Even those I give myself. My "grandma closets" bulge with tablecloths and Tupperware and trinkets. But hand me photos of those I love and you envelop me with the best of all I'll ever need.













But wait! I want convenience, too. "One stop shopping," if you will. Show me my pictures before I buy, prettied up in frames. A choice of frames. And sizes. All while here, at home. Not standing in line with a clutter of coupons while my ice cream melts in the car. Let me wander about here, in fuzzy slippers, measuring, deciding.....glass of wine in hand, a cat or two upon my lap..... 

And when I click to buy, I want my goodies fast! Hmmm. How about 72 hours fast? Can you do that? Really? YOU CAN?





And they did!

Ava is part two of our twin sissy duet. I chose "Magneto FlipFrames" for the girls. Heavyweight card mounted photos will easily "flip" to new shots "if" grandma ever finds cuter faces!












When daddy opens this one on Father's Day, he'll have not only a "Moderna Metal" portrait of himself and Brielle, but a lasting memory of the evening he escorted his little princess to the Father-Daughter Valentine dance! 













Since he'll be adding a fifth family member by the time Father's Day rolls around, we'll give this daddy his "Aurora Glass" portrait early. Perfect for his desk at work - in celebration of his new promotion!











There are other frame styles, too! Ones you'll enjoy mixing and matching with photos currently held hostage within the gloomy confines of your phone! I liked seeing my own fly free for the first time. You will too!


This is a sponsored post. I have been compensated with sample products and a sales commission for promoting my honest opinion of photoandgo®express

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

TMI - For Grandmothers!

My personal source of unfiltered info! From this chatty pair I've learned where
mommy hides the birthday gifts, which brother doesn't pick up his dirty socks,
and the identity of the kitty who licked the cupcake frosting! 








































TMI. That slangy acronym doesn't enjoy a friendly connotation - often with good reason. I've had "too much information" served to me in the form of a grandchild's graphic description of dismembered insects embedded in a pet's slimy hairball. Then there was that earful in the grocery store line last week - a teen age couple's vivid lament over plans gone awry when mom and dad came home early and "spoiled all the fun."

TMI masterpieces? In those unsettling instances? Clearly!

But I navigate daily life as a grandmother without cause for limiting the amount or depth of information I absorb on topics related to the nurturing of successful family relationships. There's no such thing as TMI in my pursuit of a well built nest feathered with respect, affirmation, and stability for all of us - adult children included. The skills I need to accomplish that formidable task don't always come free, rising to the occasion by instinct! I'm constantly on alert for a quick injection of tips, encouragement, and "Grandma TMI." Some of it I find useful, some I discard. But what a wealth of choice abounds when one knows exactly where to look!

My personal niche is fun - crafts and puppets and baking and scavenger hunts - but what good would it do to stuff closets with glitter and glue sticks if grandkids didn't come to play because mommy can't get along with grandma?.....

Advice from grandma bloggers to the rescue!

Sometimes the key to a solid relationship isn't just "communication." That's too often practiced as one-sided yabbering on disappointments, needs, and suggestions. There's "listening," too, says Lisa at Grandma's Briefs, acknowledging the adage that we're gifted with "two ears...one mouth" for a purpose! "I Say That Shutting Up is Hard to Do" woke me up in more than a few ways. It might be time to curb my voracious appetite for dispensing, and settle into....well, shutting up and listening!


Exchanging thoughts and feelings with adult children for the purpose of mutual understanding can be a "delicate dance," says Donne Davis of The GaGa Sisterhood. Drawing from the expertise of a panel of respected professionals, Davis offers a compelling case for relying on an arsenal of "sensitivity, empathy, patience, and a lot of practice" to build an emotionally safe place anchored with shared trust. I like the definitive check-off summary of usable strategies - no blah-blah-blah ambiguous meanderings here, at Learning the Boundaries of Communication!