Crafting With Kids

PBK Inspiration

 The Ya-ya is a little Summer-bored (Defined as: Boredness intensified by a flaming ball of gas in the sky and no school and no like-minded girls on the block) and I found a fun little sewing project that we wanted to try out.  It comes from the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and really, if sewing isn't your bag, the price isn't outrageous (Defined as: Not actually snorting when looking at the product details.).  Plus, the store one comes with legs.  And feet.  And your daughter's unmet summertime fun expectations.  Well, maybe not your daughter...

Crafting with kids is all about managing expectations and surrendering creative control.  And when crafting with The Ya-ya, it's best to surrender any notions of being "in charge" at all.

Here's mine.  I call her Penny.

I roughed-out a newspaper pattern, we choose some fabric out of the stash and went to it. She did her own cutting and sewing.  She sat on my lap to use the sewing machine.  She cut felt for the eyes and nose.  I tried half-heartedly to teach her the blind stitch to finish it up but when she dove in with her own whip stitch I couldn't see that it mattered.  Anyway, the first rule of crafting with kids is to avoid drifting into the oncoming lanes of Mommy Dearest. (No wire hangers ever!)

The Ya-ya calls hers Layla.

It was really fun and really easy and a great way to spend an afternoon.  Now what do we do tomorrow?