Rapunzel! Rapunzel!

She's been talking about her birthday for four months, and yet I wait until a week before to start preparing. Hello, my name is Christianne, and I'm a procrastinator.

Playdough Fairy Garden

I mixed up some of my favorite play dough to let A make her own fairy flower garden. This play dough turns out so smooth and non-crumbly, I much prefer it to store-bought. Today we used it as a base for the garden.

I gave A a basket of silk flowers (leftover from E's Fancy Nancy party last year) and let her arrange them in the "garden."

She's got her grammy's gift for flower arranging! When she was finished, I gave her a few of these adorable fairy cupcake toppers to add to the garden. Aren't they precious? My boss found them at TJ Maxx and had to pick them up for my girls.

Half an hour later, and she's still playing in her garden. I don't blame her... I might just join in!

Fairy Colors by Caroline Repchuk

This is about the cutest book I could find on fairies, although it's a little young for A. As you may have guessed, the story is about different colored fairies getting ready for a ball. It's a nice reinforcement of colors, and the sparkly pages will probably hold the attention of babies and young toddlers.

But I want something better. So spill it... other than Disney and Dora, what fairy-themed books are worth reading to my kids?



I'm linking up to:
- stART @ A Mommy's Adventures

Halloween! Little Red Riding Hood

You knew I'd do storybook-themed costumes this year (and every year I can convince my children to do so)! This worked out well as E's school is doing a storybook character costume parade tomorrow. Her outfit came together just in time.

I bought red corduroy and red cotton fabric in the hopes of following this pattern from Martha to sew the cape. Aw, hope springs eternal. Turns out I don't have time to sleep let alone sew while getting the house ready to sell. So, I do what I always do... I called my mother in law! She whipped up this beauty in a couple of hours. (Just FYI, she hated the instructions I printed out for her and adjusted a doll pattern she had on hand to make this gorgeous cape.) The dress was a recent purchase from Crazy 8, and that's my favorite little basket.

Isn't she the cutest? I can't wait to take her trick-or-treating on Sunday, and I'm sure she's going to be a hit at the parade tomorrow.

Little Red Riding Hood by Andrea Wisnewski


This is my absolute favorite version of Little Red Riding Hood. The woodcut illustrations are gorgeous and add a feeling of history to this classic folk tale. The story is a bit more contemporary than traditional Brothers Grimm translations, and I love that it's the father instead of a huntsman who rescues the child. It's an all-around beautiful retelling of the beloved story, so ignore other versions and check out this one first!

Step Into Fairytale Land

I packed the kids into the car and drove to our local Enchanted Storybook Forest. Yes! An Enchanted Storybook Forest opened at our local botanical garden! We walked through the gates and found ourselves exploring Wonderland before we discovered the remains of a piggy's house of straw.

Don't worry, all three piggies were safe in the house of bricks!

The Big Bad Wolf had already headed over to Grandmother's house...

He'd eaten Grandmother and was waiting for a tasty little girl to finish off!

Little Red Riding Hood remained safe outside. Whew!

Apparently Jack's beanstalk was already chopped down when we arrived...

But we did see the sign he made out of magic beans...

As well as the one warning of Giants nearby!

And we got to pet the goose AND her golden egg.

Speaking of geese, several of the houses were straight from Mother Goose: There was a crooked man...

And an old woman who lived in a shoe...

We even played in Old Macdonald's farm!

Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Where'd all my bows go?

E doesn't have many hair bows and clips. She did but they've nearly all disappeared... somewhere. Rapunzel to the rescue! Inspired by this one from Mommy Meatloaf, I made a Rapunzel Hairbow Holder for E's surviving hair accessories.

What you'll need:
- cardboard
- polyfill
- fabric
- lots of yarn
- hot glue gun

Directions:

1. Trace a circle on the cardboard and cut out. (I used a salad plate as a stencil.)

2. Cut your fabric (I used an old t-shirt) in a larger circle.

3. Place the polyfill on the cardboard and stretch the fabric across, hot-gluing it to the back of the cardboard.

4. If you want to make it prettier, glue a circle of cardstock to the back to hide the extra fabric.

5. Cut strands of yarn for the hair. Mine were about 4 feet long, which is definitely LONG, but this is a Rapunzel hairbow holder, after all. Divide the strands into three even groups and tie to secure. (The picture shows my first attempt of 10 strands each, but I ended up doubling that amount.)

6. Braid! If you're really adventurous, you can secure the yarn to your fridge and try to teach your 5 year old how to braid. After a few frustrating minutes of me teaching and her not getting it, E turned to me and said, "Mom, why don't we work on it together." Excellent idea. She did one side and I did the other.

7. Glue the braid to the face and add the remaining hair. I didn't get any pictures of this part because my fingertips were too burned to pick up the camera.

If you can figure out how to press yarn into hot glue without sacrificing all of your digits, please let me know.

8. Glue a ribbon loop to the back for hanging.

9. Set Rapunzel in her tower and get ready to accessorize!

If you're wondering why poor Rapunzel is faceless, I plan on adding fake eyelashes once I can get to the store to buy some. I think they'll look darling, but I didn't want to add other features until I see for sure. To be honest, I think she's good as-is, but my everything-must-have-a-face daughter insists I'm not done.


Rapunzel by Brothers Grimm

You know when you see that shiny gold medal that the pages of a book will be filled with wonderful illustrations. The pages of this Caldecott Award winner reveal this classic fairy tale in the style of Italian Renaissance paintings. The story is long for little ones, but grade school children will enjoy hearing the story and examining the rich and detailed illustrations.

This was my favorite fairytale as a child (I think I've always been a little vain about my blond hair), and I'm happy to have found a book that allows me to share it with my own little blond!


I'm linking up to:
- SOYS @ Fireflies & Jellybeans

Easy Princess Hat

The tiara is so 2009. With just a few easy supplies you can make this princess cone hat for the little girl (or doll) in your life.

What you'll need:
- Cardstock or poster board
- paint, stickers, etc.
- tulle

Steps:

1. Draw a half-circle on your paper. The highest point of the circle will be the approximate height of the hat. I used cardstock to make this doll's hat, but you would need a much larger piece of paper, like poster board, for a child's hat. To draw a half-circle I traced a plate, but a pencil tied to a length of string should work as well.

2. Cut out the hat. The center of the straight edge will be the point of the hat. Curl the two corners toward and into each other, forming a cone. Continue to twist and shape until it is the width you desire.

3. Unfurl the hat and place a tip of the tulle in the inside of the point and tape to secure.

4. Reshape the hat and staple.

5. Decorate!

Have you guess our theme yet? This week we're diving into Fairy Tales (with a heavy emphasis on princesses, of course)!

My Bedtime Book of Favorite Princess Stories by Roger Priddy


This is one of those books I wouldn't normally pick up, but my mom bought it for E and it became one of her favorites. What I appreciated about it was the use of clipart in place of words throughout the story. I would read the story and pause at each picture, letting E fill in the blank by "reading" the picture. This was a wonderful exercise to teach E to anticipate what the next word will be - an important skill when learning to read. (At 5 E is now reading at a 3rd grade level.)

The book includes The Little Mermaid, The Frog Prince, and Sleeping Beauty. If you're looking for a book to introduce the classic (non-Disney) versions of these fairy tales to your preschooler, this is a good choice!