the vintage umbrella

Peeps

2014-04-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

Do you love peeps like I do? We are going to my mom's for Easter this weekend and I'm planning on doing a few cute peeps projects to bring with.
Last year we dipped peeps in white chocolate and sprinkles. So cute!

These little tags are made with my free printable found here... http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Peeps-bunnies-601153

Peeps in rice krispie nests!

Rice krispie bars with peeps and jelly beans. Wrapped in containers from Joann's.

Peeps projects from my tv appearance last year.

I love these peeps topiary trees. Have a wonderful Easter!

Happy Spring

2014-04-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

Hello again friends! I had to share a few cute spring projects with you.
Last week we read a bunch of rain books. The children made puddles with eye droppers and then glued raincoats, umbrellas and boots on them. These were sooooo cute.

I printed out a little poem and used these little raindrops on the magnet board.

These flowers are from lakeshore... we painted them with eye droppers and paint.

The little chicks are made with dot art paints. My preschoolers cut around the edges of yellow circles.

These bunnies were a hit last year too. I bought marshmallows at the dollar store and we glued them to white paper plates. Yes, they ate a lot of marshmallows.

Last of all these eggs were made with shaving cream with paint swirled in the top. Run a squeegee over the top of the egg and the colors will swirl all over the egg. Messy and fun!

Preschool Nursery Rhyme book

2014-04-13T12:19:00.002-07:00

Hi friends. I hope you are having a great spring. We finally had some warm weather last week which was enjoyed and appreciated by all. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have spring after a long Minnesota winter. I saw pots of pansies yesterday and wanted to grab loads of them!
Today's project is my favorite thing we've done in preschool this year. For a few weeks, we had the students make an art project to go with each rhyme.

My assistants and I glued them in each child's books. It took time and organization, but the results were worth it.

The best part is watching the children "read" their little books. They couldn't wait to bring them home!

Most of the poems and drawings came from here... http://www.kizclub.com/nursery1.htm and here... http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-Mailbox-Themes-Nursery/dp/1562343408

Preschool Collages

2014-03-19T05:42:00.001-07:00

Hi friends! Did you know that March is National Craft Month? I have been a crafter my whole life. One of my earliest memories is drawing a princess and coloring it in. One of my favorite things about teaching preschool is seeing the creativity that comes naturally from 3 year olds.
Lakeshore Learning recently sent me these wonderful craft scissors... http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C896%2C828&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1395232097670
They come in a storage container, perfect for clean up time. I watched one of my students take all the scissors out, and then put them all back in. Everything is a learning tool for preschoolers!

The wonderful thing about these scissors is that they cut different lines. Magic! They are the perfect size for small hands. We painted white paper with Lakeshore paints and then cut our paper apart for collages.

Next we glued the paper onto large sheets of construction paper.

Now is the really fun part... the preschoolers got to choose from the Decorate It! Craft Center http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C928%2C767&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1395232609631 If I would have let them, these containers would already be empty. They absolutely loved shaking them onto their collages.

Isn't this a work of art? It's amazing what happens when you let kids create!

Happy Craft Month!

Five for Friday

2014-03-07T16:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday! I'm late getting this post up because I came home from school today and did this...
my husband thought he was really funny taking this picture. I have to include it in this post because I know all teachers can relate... by Fridays, we are exhausted. I can't even think straight by the time I leave school!

I'm linking up here today... http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2014/03/five-for-friday-linky-party-march-7th.html
This week we have been having lots of fun with Dr. Seuss! We've made colorful fish and the cat in the hat!

I absolutely love how these Thing 1 and Thing 2's turned out. I drew the faces and copied them. Their hair is made out of feathers!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Dr. Seuss activities

2014-03-04T04:30:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! Are you celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday this week? What kid doesn't love Dr. Seuss? He's a favorite with my preschoolers. Today's projects are favorites from last year, but I will have new ones for you on Friday.
A fun and easy snack is blue jello with swedish fish. We ate this the day we read One fish, Two fish...

we made these cute painted fish too!

I made the pattern for this Horton last year. The preschoolers loved the pink pompoms.

These Cat in the Hats require lots of cutting prep work but they are soooooo cute! I came with a really cute Thing One and Thing Two this year. I will share them later this week.

Last year Kohl's had these cute Cat in the Hat plushies for $5! I just picked up a Go Dog Go plush this week. We are planning a silent auction with a kid's book theme at my school. I'm going to try to round up a bunch of stuffed book characters to use for decorating.

Have a great day!

Five for Friday

2014-02-28T19:33:00.002-08:00

Remember me? Sorry I've been so neglectful. But I'm back for Five for Friday tonight. I can't say I've been doing anything very important. It has been cold and snowy in Minnesota. We've had lots of indoor recess days at preschool. We braved the cold today and it was wonderful to get a little fresh air. We will be enjoying spring before we know it I hope!
I have been spending the past 2 weeks on Nursery Rhymes with my 3 year olds.
We've made the three little kittens...

and the dish running away with the spoon!

This little piggy went to market...

and some adorable Humpty Dumpties.

The faces!

We finished the unit up with itsy bitsy spiders. The spiders are made with pompoms and pipe cleaners.

In other news, I've been knitting away. A good friend is becoming a grandmother! My knitting friends put together an adorable little box for her.

I had fun making a bunch of little tags for the gifts...

It is Dr. Seuss's birthday on March 2nd. We will be doing all sorts of fun Dr. Seuss activities in preschool for the next 2 weeks. I'll be back soon!

Vintage Valentines

2014-02-12T04:30:00.000-08:00

I've been collecting vintage valentines for years. Sometimes I buy them at antique stores, but most of them came from an estate sale. I bought bags of them... someone was very sentimental and kept all of them. Every year I color copy a bunch and make my own valentines with them.

This year I made some banners and mailed them out...

A few years ago, I made this big heart out of foam core and mod podged the valentines on top.

The colors and illustrations are right up my alley.

The punny sentiments are cute too!

Olympic knitting

2014-02-11T04:30:00.000-08:00

Isn't it fun to have the olympics to distract us this month? I've been knitting up a storm. This pattern is a replica of the Ralph Lauren hats... http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/usa-2014-hat
I made one for 2 of my daughters.

Now I'm knitting the mittens to match the hats. The pattern is here... http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sochi-mittens

Lots of knitters cast on a project during the opening ceremonies. My friend Andrea and I decided to make these mittens. Thanks to a long Saturday at a soccer tournament, I've already finished one!

Are you watching the olympics? I love all of the games, especially the figure skating. Have a great day!

Pete the Cat

2014-02-10T05:55:00.002-08:00

Hello friends! So sorry I haven't blogged in awhile... I'm still here and everything is just fine. I'm just going to blog when I have the time this year... so if you don't hear from me for awhile, don't worry! Life is good!
We have been reading Pete the Cat books at preschool. The publisher provides free songs to go with most of the books. The kids absolutely love them. Check them out here... http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat/

Of course, we made some Pete art projects too. I love translating illustrations into preschool art.

There has been some Valentine crafting happening around here too.

And some Valentine treat eating...

Some of my college girlfriends came over to make pompom wreaths. We made a million (it seemed like a million) pompoms and glued them onto yarn wrapped wreath forms. They turned out so cute!

I'm off to work on a very cold Monday. Have a wonderful day!

Five for Friday

2014-01-17T04:30:00.000-08:00

It's Five for Friday already! I will be linking up here today... http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com
This week we made Olaf snowmen from the movie Frozen. The preschoolers all talk about that movie... my niece has seen it 3 times. They recognized Olaf right away when I showed them what we were going to make.

We made scrappy striped mittens too.

I got an adorable new farmer's market from Lakeshore Learning. http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/

My preschoolers have dumped those baskets out over and over this week. With some encouragement from me, they sort the veggies by color and put them back in the baskets. When I bought it I imagined many other ways to use it... lots of "stores" could be set up in these little baskets.

I've been busy knitting a couple Olympics hats for my daughters. I ordered a couple Olympics pins too... my favorite is the nesting doll!

I've even started a little Valentine crafting this week. More on that soon. Have a wonderful weekend!

The Mitten

2014-01-15T04:30:00.000-08:00

We have been reading Mitten stories for the past week. When I had 2 extra days off last week I made this finger puppet set for the Mitten.

The little animal finger puppets are all made with felt and hand stitched. I sewed the mitten together on my sewing machine. The preschoolers love to put the finger puppets in the mitten and then scatter them when the bear sneezes.

It was a time consuming project, but one that I will be able to pull out every January. What are you doing to stay busy in January? It's always a quiet month, but I like it!

more mitten projects

2014-01-14T04:30:00.000-08:00

These little felt mittens are hanging on a clothesline under our chalkboard. Clothespins are surprisingly hard for preschoolers to open and shut, but they have been practicing all week.

We made these little handprint mittens last week. I'm trying to come up with at least one handprint or footprint project each month. The kids love having their hands painted.

Are you starting to think about Valentine's Day yet? Last year, we made valentine cards out of these cute doily snowmen. We shrunk the artwork down and glued them to white cardstock. I think we will do something like that again this year.

Happy crafting!

sponge painted mittens

2014-01-12T17:09:00.002-08:00

Hello friends. I've taken a little break from the blog. Thanks to those of you who emailed me to make sure all was well. Our family had a great holiday break. I did lots of knitting and relaxing. I also spent some time cleaning up my craft room!

We had an extra 2 days off last week because of the bitter cold in Minnesota. My little preschoolers were so happy to be back at school on Wednesday. I think their parents were happy too! Our theme of the week was the Mitten. Our first project was made with fabulous sponges from Lakeshore. Find them here...

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C925%2C136&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1389574459502

I have to rave about these sponges. There is a great variety of shapes and textures. While we were painting, the preschoolers would remark on the shape of the sponge they were painting with, and the color. I love to see them learning while they are playing.

We also used glitter paints from Lakeshore... bright colors and glitter... how can you go wrong?

To finish the projects up, I matted them on colored cardstock, just to make the colors pop. They are hung on a clothesline with clothespins in the hallway. The sponges washed up beautifully. I can't wait to use them again.

Are you watching the Golden Globes tonight? It's award show season... big fun! Come back Wednesday and see this cute felt version of the Mitten.

Merry Christmas!

2013-12-24T04:30:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas friends! I'm hosting dinner at our house tonight, so I'm busy cooking, wrapping, baking and fluffing. Fun! Today I'm sharing a few of my favorite Santa pictures from the last few years.

This hat... I made it this year and had people begging me to knit them one. Find the pattern here... http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ho-ho-hat-2

We made these Santas this month... oh so cute.

My new favorite (old) game. Much more fun than the Cherry-O version.

I love this cute old Golden book. Adorable illustrations.

I mod podged a bunch of these plates one year... such a cute, inexpensive gift!

Enjoy the holiday with your families!

xoxo Jenni

Five for Friday!

2013-12-20T04:30:00.000-08:00

Hooray! It's Friday... I am so ready for Christmas vacation to start. We are having a Grinch Christmas party at preschool this morning. The energy level has been high this week... they are excited for Christmas!
We made these cute gingerbread houses this week. They were 60% off at Michael's. You could have heard a pin drop as they pasted and peeled stickers.

Of course, we made baby Jesus in the manger this week too. I am so happy to work at a school where we can tell the story of Jesus' birth. The preschoolers love to tell it too.

One morning the children lined up as many stuffed animals as they could find. I let them serve them snacks and dixie cups of water. It was quite the party!

I drew a Grinch for our pin the heart on the Grinch game at the party. He is taped up in the hall, waiting to be covered in construction paper hearts. Don't you love that story?

Oh these angels... they turned out sooooo cute. I know the mommies are going to keep these. Have a great weekend everyone!

Christmas house tour

2013-12-19T18:32:00.004-08:00

Can you believe that Christmas is in a few short days? We are hosting Christmas Eve at our house this year so I've been decorating all month. I like to use things I already have when I decorate...

this china hutch always holds my milk glass collection. At Christmas, I add the snowbabies that my sister and I collected for many years. They remind me of when my girls were little and I just love them.

I bought 10 boxes of candy canes at Target the week of Thanksgiving and I've used them all over the house.

The Natalie Lete plates are from Anthropologie. I've been collecting them, one at a time for years. They look so cute on a table.

Here's more of the plates and the candy canes on some garland. The tin platters are from antique stores and have been used and loved.

Last week I had my sorority sisters over and set a table with a milk glass/daisy centerpiece. I used bright floral glasses with my painted anthropologie dishes and they looked so cute together.

We moved to our little townhouse a year and a half ago and I really love it. It's cozy and happy.

I hope you enjoyed taking a peek... Merry Christmas friends!

Preschool Baby Jesus projects

2013-12-16T04:30:00.000-08:00

I love teaching at a Christian preschool. Celebrating Christmas with 3 year olds is wonderful. They are so interested and excited about the story of the birth of Baby Jesus. Below are a few different projects for any young child.
These mangers are so simple... made from craft sticks with a little raffia straw in the manger. The halo is a gold pipe cleaner.

Last year I made this Nativity scene out of felt...

This Baby Jesus was made with felt and yarn.

I went to Michael's to get supplies to make this little ornament and (gasp) all their little peg dolls were gone! I may have to come up with something else this week. Our last day is Friday... hooray! I am so looking forwards to 2 weeks off!

Five for Friday

2013-12-13T04:30:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! I'm linking up here today... http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2013/12/five-for-friday-linky-party-december.html Our Christmas service was last night...it was adorable. And a test of patience for every adult involved. The parents were thrilled and the preschoolers were proud!

We made gingerbread men this week. We decorated them with colored glue and lots of glitter!

These reindeer were made with the kid's handprints. So easy and cute!

My new favorite treat... coat popcorn in colored candy melts and sprinkles. It's sooo good!

I bought this Hi-Ho Santa Claus game at a garage sale this summer. It has every piece! I play it with the preschoolers and they think it's wonderful. I love old games like this!

We also made these Santas. I think I would frame one of these. So darling! I got the idea on pinterest... not sure where! Do you follow me on pinterest? Find me here... http://www.pinterest.com/jenni_swenson1/

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hello...

2013-12-11T18:37:00.001-08:00

Ever since I've learned to knit I've made many, many hats. December always seems to be hat month for me... I end up knitting a bunch of last minute gifts. Who doesn't love a handknit hat. (As long as it isn't scratchy?) It has been perfect knitting weather... freezing cold in Minnesota!

Can you tell I love pompoms?!

This chunky hat is a free pattern from my favorite knitter Susan B. Anderson. Find it here... http://susanbanderson.blogspot.com/2013/11/scrap-happy-hat-recipe.html It is such a quick and easy pattern.

This hat and the mittens are a gift for someone very special...

and this hat was knit for myself!

What are you crafting for Christmas?

Five for Friday

2013-12-06T04:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday! It's my husband's birthday today! We've been married for half our lives... oh my goodness, we are getting old! He is a great husband and father and I'm thankful for him every day!

I'm linking up here today... http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2013/12/five-for-friday-linky-party-december-6th.html
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in preschool...
I broke out the new Santa magnetic paper doll. He's a big hit with all his cute little outfits.

The preschool tree is decorated with the storybook ornaments. It looks awfully cute if I may say so myself.

Each preschooler got to make a gift for our bulletin board...

of course we talked about the best gift of all, Jesus!

It is cold and snowy in Minnesota. Hopefully I will get a little baking and shopping done this weekend. There is lots of knitting to be finished too. Every year I end up knitting lots of extra things in December. Enjoy your weekend!

knitted gnome mittens

2013-12-02T04:30:00.000-08:00

Are you geared up for the gift giving season? I just packaged up 24 gifts and handmade tags for my adorable Goddaughter, Lauren.

My craft club friends got together yesterday and I gave them their knitted gnome mittens. I made them this summer and I've been dying to give them to them. I wrapped them in these cute burlap bags. I stamped the bags with a wine cork and red paint.

I stamped these cute little gnome tags...

the ornaments came from World Market.

The gloves are fingerless. You can find the pattern here... http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gnome-mittens

Bachman's Christmas house

2013-11-29T04:30:00.000-08:00

If you live in the Twin Cities area, you just have to go visit the Bachman's Christmas idea house. http://www.bachmans.com/store-locator.ep?currentNodeBean=IdeasHouse

This year's theme was scandinavian which I absolutely loved!

The house is an old house that was lived in by the Bachman family. It's just the cutest. The garage and greenhouse were decorated for the holidays too.

There was an adorable cocoa bar in the front porch...

oh how I loved these yarn trees...

The table in the dining room was all red and white. The bird dishes were adorable.

Every time I visit the house, I think I would like to live in an old house again. I grew up in a cute old house, and lived in one when my kids were little.

Bachman's does such a good job blending the old and the new. You want everything in that house!

This mantle was so sweet and simple... handknit stockings, and twinkling candles and lanterns. It was just wonderful. I'm sure many of you are decorating your home for Christmas today. I hope this gave you a little Christmas inspiration!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2013-11-27T09:53:00.004-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving Eve... we are spending the holiday in Mankato with my husband's family. I'm making corn pudding. My husband insisted on making the pumpkin pie. Here are a few last minute ideas to keep the kids busy tomorrow!

Have a wonderful day with your families!

Fair Isle hat and mittens

2013-11-25T04:30:00.000-08:00

Fall is the perfect time of year to knit. It's getting colder and Christmas is coming...
I've been working on a couple colorful fair isle projects that I want to share with you.
The pattern for these mittens can be found here... http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/en-revant-de-provence---mittens

Aren't the colors declicious?! Some of my knitting friends in my bookclub are making them too!

This hat is such fun to knit... it just flies off the needles. The crown was a challenge, but worth it. It fits like a dream!