I’ve been left at home to ponder, what am I doing with my life?…  DH is away on business, and DD is on spring break and running around with friends.  I jokingly tell my friends, I will soon be out of a job;  23+ years of being a stay-at-home mom.  I probably have mentioned this before, and I will probably be talking about it again and again…  Meanwhile, with Koko and Hiro my steady companions, I have been having some fun doing crafts.  I signed up for yet another little Easter swap at Cozy Blanket.  After I saw this little needle felted applique mold at Tuesday Mornings, I knew just what to make.

We were asked to create 5 items no bigger than the palm of our hand, which Debby over at Cozy blanket would combine to make into a banner.  Here is the extra one I made into an ornament:

And as long as I was in a creative mood, I decided to make something for Saint Patrick’s Day.  I found this pretty lady over at Marges8’s Blog.   I surrounded her in a spray of green from Michael’s.  She has taken up residence in the corner of my kitchen as the rest of the house is already decorated for Easter.

And look at what else I found while rummaging through my craft bins – some air dry clay, I don’t even know how old it is, but it seems to be in good shape still.  My mind is going off again in another creative direction…

For whatever reason, my printer wasn’t printing on photo/stock paper, so DH switched printers with me – yay!  So, I decided to have some fun and print out some paper crafts at The Toymaker. I have her paper toy book, and spent last year with her “A Year Of Toys And Joys ” Calendar.  Anyhow,  I printed out a couple of her freebie Valentine crafts, a cute hanging heart basket and elephant delivery.  I also printed out mirror copies of each so I could have it double sided, embellished with satin flowers and ribbon, and got some cute vintage valentine graphics from the Two Crazy Crafters. While I was cutting and pasting, I thought to myself that it would have been a fun activity to do with the kids when they were young. But, then again, my boys were never the “color inside, and cut along the line” types, oh well.  I filled the basket with little flowers, and the elephant with small valentines:

If you want to play with The Toymaker, go to www.thetoymaker.com. She has tons of fun activities to do.

Thought I’d share a couple of things my daughter made during break (anything to put off doing her homework and last few college apps!).  Here is an adorable retro looking pink kitty with daisy cheeks – I think it is a gift for her grandmother:

She’s also very much into everything Disney.  We found a really cute Disney beading book at a Japanese bookstore, and she made these earrings:

I’m glad she is artsy/crafty.  It’s just another thing we have in common and can spend time doing together.

Two years ago, I bought my daughter a paint by numbers kit.  She really enjoyed it then, so this Christmas I bought one for her again, and one for myself.  This is an activity I have not done since I was a little girl – a bit nostalgic.  I found it to be no stress, non-demanding, and almost therapeutic in process.  And I love that deliberate, paint by numbers look.  Better still, it was a parallel activity we did together while sipping our favorite teas, and talking about almost everything.

I used to do yoga on a regular basis, and just recently started back. My daughter even invited me to go with her to her class, which made me very happy.  So, I decided to make some yoga mat bags for her and myself. It was a quick afternoon project. A yard of fabric, thread, and ribbon, and it was done.  Sewing is always fun with a project in mind: