Tales of a Crafty Mommy

A few months ago, I guest-posted an article for MommyMaestra called 12 Ways to Promote Early Literacy in the home . The article is geared towards bilingual homes, but certainly each idea can be incorporated in a monolingual home. I invite you to head on over and read it. :-) What do you do at home to incorporate literacy? When do you start? What kind of things do you do most often? Do you do them with the intention of teaching or do they come naturally?  ~Fabi 

Letter B Materials: Print capital and lower case 'B' - I used the ones found at this coloring page site .  Buttons Glue  *** I like to cut the letters and glue them on cardstock to create a firm base for our activity first. Steps: 1. I placed a bunch of buttons in a little plate for her and asked her what these were called. She said 'botones.' That's right, botones or buttons both begin with the same letter, B / b.  2. I asked 'what is the letter for buttons / botones? She looked and responded [be] when she saw it on the paper. Then she said [bee]. 3. [be] in Spanish and [bee] in English both refer to the same letter.  She told me there was a big [be] and a 'ochito' (chiquitito/small) [be] on the paper. 4. Then she glued buttons on the capital and lowercase b. We will use this poster as the introduction for our week doing crafts with this letter. ~Fabi

I've been quiet here on bloggin' land the past...hmm, I don't remember how long, BUT I have been keeping busy with my facebook page and on pinterest, of course. Crocheting is my new -almost- daily activity after a long and busy day at home with the children. There are so many different types of yarn available. --- Have you ever looked through all them? different weights, textures, colors, shimmer or plain, baby soft or not, etc. So so many possibilities.  There are so many types of projects to do with yarn! Anywhere from crocheting hats, blankets, home decor, to craft projects with children (more on that last topic coming soon), flowers ( check my daisy pattern here )   The ability to sit down in one spot and complete a project in ONE hour! Yes!!!! That's what I've needed. As much as I love to sew, make ruffled pants and skirts for my daughter, I enjoy being able to complete matching hats for both my children in a matter of hours.  I love it.   ...

We have a new baby boy on the way due July 11th. That said, I can tell you I've been sewing and crocheting for this baby like there's no tomorrow!  I've been to craft store more often than I should, finding lots of pretty baby fabrics to make different things he'll use.  I've been working on burp cloths, reusable wipes, baby blankets, baby hats, bibs, and stuffed animals.  Uff! These projects have kept me on my toes to the point that I don't know where the last 6 months have gone! My due date is right around the corner. :-) Yay! Although we have a name for the baby, we're still thinking it through and waiting in case we find another name that we like. By this point, both my other children were already named. My first daughter was named as soon as we knew we were expecting a baby. The second time, we waited until finding out the gender and then we chose a name. This time, well, we had a name but I guess we're still debating if it's the right name. M...

A couple of days ago, I shared the pattern I wrote to make a daisy for a spring hat .  I was inspired to make that flower by a cheery, yellow hat I made for my shop. Visit Florabella Boutique on Etsy or visit me on FB  to learn more about my products and special offers.  The hat may customized to any color up to size 4T.   Here is a close up of the flower:  Another view of the daisy : Now here are some pictures of the hat I made: What Easter/Spring colors are you using? ~Fabi

Daisy Flower Pattern by Fabi W. Materials: Weight 3 yarn Size H Crochet Hook Yarn needle for weaving in ends Abbreviations: Ch – chain Sl St – Slip Stitch Sc – Single Crochet Hdc – Half Double Crochet QC – Quadruple Crochet Pattern Notes: MC – Main Color CC – Contrasting Color Start out using MC: Round 1: Ch 5 and join with Sl St on first stitch of the chain. 9 Sc into same space. Round 2: 11 Hdc into ring  (you will notice your circle will grow larger now) Join with sl st into first sc, How to make a petal : Use CC , do Sl St into same place, then ch 4, then do 4 QC in same place, ch 4, sl st into place.   (Now you will have completed the first petal) 1 Sc in next space, 1 Sl St in next space. Repeat until you have completed 5 petals. All rights are reserved. This pattern may not be sold, or posted to any website, or electronically transmitted, or copied in any way, without the written consent of the copyright own...

Working with Foam Shapes Classifying & Sorting (Pre-School Math; Language Skills) Classifying and sorting is an everyday skill that most adults have mastered as we have practiced it our entire lives. Most of us began to acquire this skill when our parents told us to put the toys away for the first time. Sounds like a simple starting point, right? This is because most of us put our own office supplies away in an orderly manner according to their purpose without giving it a second thought. To a child, however, to put their toys away can honestly seem like a major task. Why, you may wonder. The answer is quite simple. There are so many toys that it may be overwhelming having to figure out where to put them, especially at a young age when they yet have to learn about this skill. This is the main reason I tell my daughter (3 yrs) where to put the toys away. For example: put the animals away in their basket, put the blocks away in their bag, and so on. She is learning to classify...