Whole Lot Of Crafting Going on

Hey hey!

So in anticipation of the kids' classroom Valentine's Day celebrations, and budding spring-like weather, there has been quite a lot of crafting going on this week.

First, a few words on the Valentine's we made for the kids.
For William's preschool buddies, I pretty much did what I did last year (but failed to blog about) which was heart-shaped bean bags.

Made thirteen of them, all of which were in these nice contrasting colors

I've talked about making bean bags on this blog before, and we did make heart-shaped little cloth Valentines before.
But this hybrid is really, in my opinion, such a perfect gift for the holiday because it's part-valentine, part-toy, and part-learning tool (gross motor skills, anyone? :D).

Going to be honest, William didn't do much by way of creating these Valentines himself...besides "testing" them out by playing with them all week. Ha! But oh well, as long as the kiddos get to enjoy them, and William sees yet another example of how homemade rawks.

As for Ella's Valentines, she and I delved into the beads box we have and made a bunch of bracelets for her class of sixteen:

All delivered in a little origami box that I made yeeeeears ago~

Did I ever tell you how we scored this huge collection of beads while walking by a dumpster during the great Student Exodus a couple of years back? Well, that collection just keeps on giving, and we were able to make a lovely selection of Valentines tokens to express Ella's appreciation for each and every classmate. Good stuff~

Besides working on these Valentine's Day presents with the kids, I've also been doing a lot of good knitting on my own time.
Specifically...

Fun with scraps!

That's right! Another pair of handwarmers made from that giant stash of wool yarn I scored from a friend off the CFGE page. My goal is to use up all that yarn in these sorts of projects before I dare acquire any more yarn. That's my resolution!

I honestly have lost count as to how many pairs of handwarmers I've knit by this point. But I am getting faster and faster! It now takes me only a couple of hours to knock out one handwarmer. :)

This pair is for a friend of mine that I made handwarmers for maaaaany years ago (which I alluded to here!). When Kathy-neechan showed her the new wooly ones I'd made her for Christmas, this friend expressed some envy for the softness that wool offers that acrylic just can't. So! I made her this new pair...and since I don't want to leave my other good friend (her roommate!) out in the lurch, I am making her a pair of handwarmers too. Heh!

Then...then I'll finally get around to knitting that other sock for Dash. I'm sure of it!!

I've been listening to We're Alive double-time this past week ever since I learned that my pupil is hooked and I can't very well let him get ahead in series~! So I am about eight chapters away from completing the entire show. When I'm done with it, I'm totally treating myself to a podfic ;)

Last but not least, one more bit of creative crafting that's gone on this past week, came from Ella unbeknownst to me until this very morning:

Nice archway!

In case you can't tell, that's a Fairy House :D
Apparently Ella has a couple at school too and has even had them visited by fairies! She says she knows because the fairies leave the beds unmade. I wish I had that kind of magic going on when I was that age!

Not the most structurally sound Fairy House, but that dragon tears pathway makes up for it!

Aaaaand that's just about it for crafting this week.
Next week the kids don't have school and I have one book due, so I look to get some major sewing in there. Namely for this lady who gave me a stash of fabric to work on for her (back in October! Gulp!!) and the last set of curtains for little Henry's room. <3 p="">

Until next time, I hope you all have a great weekend, take care, and Happy Whole Lot of Crafting Going On!!