Pioneer Dolls

Happy Pioneer Day my friends! (A little late... 7/24). To celebrate with my Activity Day Girls we got together and I showed them how to make these simple Hankerchief Dolls. We talked about all that the Pioneers sacrificed as they left there homes to follow the prophet and find peace in a new land. I reminded the girls that the children were simply not able to bring there toys and favorite belongings with them most of the time. There just wasn't room. That is where the Hankerchief Doll comes into play. Here is a poem that tells a little about that.

Pioneer Dolls

Judie Fordham, “Pioneer Dolls,” Friend, Jul 1992, 27
When pioneer children were crossing the plains,They didn’t have cars, airplanes, or trains.They walked beside wagons loaded clear to the topWith food, bedding, and seeds for the next season’s crop.There just wasn’t room for a toy or a doll—The wagons were filled with all they could haul.So Papa’s handkerchief became a new toy,A cherished soft doll that brought lots of joy.This cute little doll loves to play or just sleep.She’ll brush away tears if ever you weep.So keep her close by—she’s easy to hold—And pretend you’re a pioneer child of old.

I had a good time figuring out how to make these dolls. I tweaked the instructions I found in the July 1992 FRIEND magazine and came up with these. A friend of mine is moving and donated a bag of lace for our cause. Each of the dolls my girls made has a different lace on her skirt. I prepared the fabric before the activity by hemming a 12 x12 square of beige muslin and added lace to one of the corners. At the activity each girl learned how to form their doll by tying the arms in knots, using ribbon to form the head and body. I was so proud of them when they eached sewed on their own bonnet. They loved picking out their own lace and were quick learners when it came to the hand sewing. I let them draw the eyes on their dolls because we only had one hour to work and it took me a good 20 minutes to figure out those darn French Knots! (I got it down though!) The girls did an excellent job!

The finished project! I also provided a list of Pioneer Girl names and let each girl name her doll. They loved that part and made sure that no one else used the same name. This was a great activity for the girls. We learned church history, practiced a new skill, worked together to help one another and had fun all along the way!

Way to go Sun Prairie Activity Day Girls!

"Love Rocks"

My best friend from High School is getting married so I just had to make her one of my original "Love Rocks". What is really special about this design is that I made a new template. This box is all done using digital scrap-booking through Adobe Photoshop. I went ahead and designed all my own paper and elements and scanned in my own ribbon etc. I played around with it and came up with this. Unfortunately I printed all my designs and then went to pick up a blank box the night before I headed out of town for her Bridal Shower. It turns out that my blank boxes have been discontinued! Fortunately I had this black box on hand in my basement and was able to re-print my design to fit it. Lesson learned though, have the box on hand before you design and print all of your packaging to fit it!

I labeled the box with their names along with their wedding date.

Inside is the actual rock that I have painted along with a poem explaining what to do with the Lobe Rock.What would any product be without actual Directions and a Warning? There is even a bar code on the other side which uses their wedding date as the code. I had way too much fun with this!

Hugs and Squeezes

This is a pretty simple idea that can be made as complicated or as simple as you want. I first saw this when a family from our Church in MN was moving away. They brought Oranges and Hershey's Hugs and distributed them at Church on the Sunday before they moved to say Thank You to all of their friends and neighbors. Personally, I think it is more fun to give away to friends when they are moving. From experience I know that when you are in the process of moving, putting together fancy farewell gifts are not #1 on the priority list, and neither should they be!

This Friday my dear friend Jenni moved away to AZ. This is what I gave to her family to send them on their way. I'll admit it is pretty cute BUT, it doesn't hold a candle to what they deserve for all that they have done for me and my little family. I'm really going to miss Jenni, but she has got great things ahead of her. Including a winter with no snow! Woot! Woot! (Fortunatley she left me her snow shovels, because here in WI we still need them!)

These are images of a scaled down version I put together before we moved from Pennsylvania for some of our friends out there. Now, my friends here in Wisconsin don't get your hopes up. If we ever move from here don't be expecting any little trinkets from us! Just plan on bringing over your buckets and mops working your tail ends off! My glory days are over, it's time to be realistic!

Summer + Sugar

Sad, but true. I find the summer time to be a much more challenging time to eat healthy than any other time of year, including Halloween, Christmas and Easter. It's birthdays, barbecues and beaches... and a whole lot of belly-aching! Having said that, here are a few of the fabulous sugar concoctions that have graced my palette recently. All of them tasted fabulous and were really not to much work to make.

Sparklers!
These were easy, but only because I remembered to use metal when melting my white chocolate chips and not plastic! Yeah My chocolate did not seize up! The red and blue sprinkles made these pretzels a really fun Fourth of July food.


Yum! Yum! And more Yum! (p.s Don't plan on eating any dinner before you have this cake. It's a doozy!) My friend found this recipe at the Duggar family website. It is an easy recipe that will wow any crowd without stressing you out!

LAYERED ICE CREAM CAKE
Makes a 9”x 13” Pan
24 Ice cream sandwiches
8 oz. Cool Whip™
1 Hershey’s™ chocolate syrup bottle
1 Smuckers™ caramel syrup bottle
2 king size Butterfinger™ candy bars chopped up
1st layer -12 ice cream sandwiches
2nd – half of whipped cream
3rd - half of Butterfinger™ bars, Squeeze 1/2 of caramel &
chocolate over that.
4th - rest of ice cream sandwiches
5th – Cool Whip™
6th - rest of Butterfinger™, caramel & chocolate
You can freeze this and eat as desired! Yummy! Yummy!

So Ryan hit the big Three - Two on Saturday with a request for chocolate cake. With the intention of pleasing I took the chocolate theme to the extreme and whipped up this bad boy for him. Sure, we are still shaking a little from the sucrose rush, but it is all smiles over here and there were no complaints about this Sugary-Show-Down. I made a whipped chocolate frosting (that was about an inch thick on the top!) The inside cake layers were held together by this frosting and some of the extra-fudgey store bought kind. I inserted Mini Reses Peanut Butter cups on the side and M&M's on the top. The whole thing was then topped off using the old cake decorating tools and some more of that extra fudge frosting. Delicious! This was served with a side of Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. Oh yeah! I thought that I might die in my sleep last night, but I lived to tell the tale, and I even had more today.