DIY Dino Rattle

Make this cute little dino rattle for your baby.

Start by making your pattern. I picked out a dino shape I like from google images and printed it out. Cut your pattern out twice using felt.

Next cut out your ribbons of choice. You can fray check them to keep them from fraying, however fray check is highly flamable and this is for baby so I suggest burning the ends of your ribbons instead.

Your ribbons will be folded in half to make dino scales along the back.

Pin your ribbons in place along the back of your dino.

Using embroidery floss begin to sew with the back stich. I find this stitch the most secure which is why I recommend it.

Begin stuffing with your fiber fill.

Add a bell to the inside of your rattle and then pack your fiber fill around the bell so it's not hard.

Finish sewing around your dino and you're done!

Button, Button, Whose Got the Button?

One of the biggest downfalls to my being pregnant was that my old job took away all my hours and hasn't even scheduled me for the past 2 weeks. Around the same time, my sister took on a new job and was in need of a new daycare provider. This seemed to work out perfectly so we worked it out that I would watch her girls for her and she'd pay me to do this.

While I have enough colors, coloring books and Barbies for casual visits. Coming up with long-term play ideas hasn't exactly been easy, or cost effective.

So here are some of things I've done:

A box of "hair pretties" that are easily accessible to the girls to take out when they want to do each other's, or more often than not, my hair. This keeps especially my youngest niece entertained for a long period of time. She loves doing hair and all it took was my putting all my hair clips and bows in one place for her to get to.

Baking Mondays. This is a win-win for me because it provides for my sweet tooth and it gives me something to give them for an afternoon snack for the whole week. On Monday afternoon we bake something good to eat together. This is really easy and doesn't have to cost much. It keeps the girls entertained and a sense of accomplishment because "THEY made it!"

Pre-nap story time. We visited the library which is of course, my favorite thing- FREE! Each girl picked out 10 books each and every day before their nap they each pick out two books. One for them to read to me and one for me to read to them. They love reading and they love being the ones to read to me because they are in control of the story. I think for them it's a great way to encourage creativity, and being a writer myself I find that really important to the human spirit.

This week we are having craft time because their mom's birthday at the end of the week. So each day they are doing a little bit to make their mom's birthday gift. They don't know what they are making yet but they will know tomorrow. Thursday we'll make cards and wrap their gifts and Friday they will be able to give their mom her presents. I'll be doing a separate post on what they are making later this week so you can see each day.

While looking through my craft space this week I came across probably one of the best finds for keeping the girls entertained yet. My Grandma's old button tin. This is great, because it's free and they have so much fun playing with the buttons. I presented them with the button box yesterday and my mom had the idea of also giving them muffin tins to separate the buttons into. They loved it. Today we added the addition of some twine for them to string the buttons onto so they can play at making necklaces. Tons of entertainment for them, zero cost to me! Can't get much better than that.