The WWW feels smaller than ever these days. I keep "bumping into" people I know online, or people are bumping into me.
My cousin lives in Rhode Island and couldn't sleep one night so she was dinking around looking at craft blogs. She somehow landed on Buttercuppity, which is written by a Ari, a gal here in town that I've gotten to know over the last few months through crafting and blogging. My cousin didn't realize Ari lived in Spokane, so imagine her surprise when she scrolled down and saw a picture of me and my girls at Ari's fabric store opening party.
And then today I was on Sew Mama Sew checking out a post they'd kindly written Sunday about my Julie & Julia heart badges. Well, it was my turn to be surprised to see a post there today about the duffel bag patterns by Spokane sewing guru Cherie Killilea, who I wrote about just last week on Dwell Well--and whose duffel bag pattern I bought a few days ago.
I can't wait to sew this baby up:
So either the Internet is getting smaller or Spokane is the center of the crafting universe. Hmm ...
On a separate note, here's an activity for your kiddles and bits.
This might be especially helpful to the snowbound among you on the East Coast. 2008 and 2009 were rough winters here, so I know all about being stuck at home with little kids and nothing to do.
Like any parent/child, we're pretty much constantly coming up with goofy things to do. Ninety percent of it never makes the blog because I either think it will bore everyone to tears or because my idea for the day fails miserably and we end up watching Sesame Street.
This one--STORY STARTERS--is a keeper, though. The girls can't get enough of this new little game we've been playing.
The concept is old and simple. Tell the kids the start of a story and then have them make up the rest. Of course, since my kids aren't old enough to write their own stories, they have to act them out.
I have to admit, playing pretend is not one of my favorite things to do as a parent. There are only so many times I can be the bad witch or the evil queen.
These story starters have somehow freed me from my pretend responsibilities. The girls still want me to watch their show, but they don't need me to be a part of it anymore. The two or so sentences I provide are enough to get the game going.
The instructions here are simple:
1. Download the story starters and print--or create your own.
2. Cut them out.
3. Place each story starter inside an envelope (I used tiny coin envelopes from Office Depot).
4. Stamp a number on the front of each envelope.
(Those last two steps are optional, but I think they make it more fun for the kids.)
5. Place all the envelopes in a bowl. Have the kids draw one, read it aloud and tell them to start pretending.
6. Let them carry on for as long as they like or set an egg timer for five minutes and have them draw a new story starter after the buzzer rings.
Here are the girls pretending they're ballerinas about to go on stage and perform in The Nutcracker. What you don't see is me getting a load of dishes washed during the "ballet."
Halfway through they retrieved their Nutcracker book so Bo could imitate the Sugar Plum Fairy's exact pose with the help of Magpie, the director.