Grandma Ideas

It is so interesting to look at the statistics for this website.  Like where all of my fabulous readers are from.  Like how many hits I get a  month.  Like how many of you are unique visitors and have never been to my site before.  (I guess that’s what unique means, huh?) And what you are searching for on my site.  (It’s almost scary to think of all of the information that gets collected about us on the Internet, isn’t it?

Guess what is the top thing searched for?  Patters for carving soap!  Who knew . . .

So, let me tell you what I’ve decided.  I’ve decided to get off my duff and make some patterns for my readers.

(I’ve searched the web and can’t find any!  I find that amazing.  You’d think that somebody out there somewhere would have some.  Maybe my searching skills are insufficient. . .)

Here’s the deal.  I’m going to make a few patterns and put them into a PDF file and have them available for all of my fine readers to download.  I’m going to have them posted by Friday.  As in this Friday.  March 5.  As in four days from now.  (How’s that for putting my feet to the fire??  After all, I wrote about soap carving with your grandchildren a mere 2 years ago.  My how time flies . . .)

Your part of the deal is to download the patterns, use them, and then give me feedback so that I can modify them and improve them if necessary.  Deal?  Good.

I’m making this goal public.  I figure that way, I’ll get it done.  I won’t put it off to do something more important . . . like checking for belly link and toe jam.

Friday.  That’s the day.

So in my post yesterday, I mentioned that I had dolls on my mind.  Here’s another doll that I think is fabulously fun!  I love the little curlicue curl on the forehead.  I love the lollipop.  I love the Scotti dog.  In my book, a pink checked Scottie dog is much cuter than a red plaid one!

Another reason that I love this doll is because you use computer printer fabric and print up the doll pattern on your ink jet printer.  How cool is that? A techno craft is right up my alley!

Tim (the brains behind this darling doll) said that he got the fabric at his local JoAnn’s store.  Since there’s a store within a ten minute drive from my house, can you guess where I’ll be going tomorrow??  You’re right!  JoAnnes!  You are so smart . . .

You can go here to see his directions and download the pattern.  All for free.  Isn’t he wonderful to do that?  I say let’s all give him a round of applause.  (Clap, clap, clap.)

But that’s not all, folks!  He has five other freebies that include cute, cute Gnomie Paper Dolls (with three outfits) and a Gnome Bowling game.  What a hoot!  (It seems like I’ve been using that word a lot lately.  I had better brush on some synonyms so I can fling them out at you as I write!)  Another round of applause for Tim!

He also mentioned that you can use printer fabric for quits and pillowcases.  You, my dear readers, are so creative that I bet you can come up with a plethora of ideas on how to use printer fabric now that you are aware of it.  For things such as little cloth purses, book bags, aprons, place mats, bookmarks, table runners, and framed art.  Make a comment below and tell me some of your ideas that sparked in your creative brains.

Thanks Tim, for granting permission of the use of your photo and for freely sharing your creativity.  And — JoAnnes, here I come!

I was a tomboy growing up.  In fact, I was well into my thirties before my parents stopped asking me if I was acting like a lady.  I was a wife and a mother of three by then.  Sigh.

One of my favorite toys was a Matchbox race car.  It was green.  (I like red sports cars now.  Red ones that go fast.)  So that’s why I’m rather surprised about my interest in dolls lately.

Dolls, dolls, dolls.

Maybe my interest is because these dolls aren’t your normal cuddy-mama-put-a-diaper-on-baby dolls.  (Although if you want to cuddle and snuggle with these dolls, I guess that’s okay.  I just might shake my head,  look at you with askance, and roll my eyes like I am often wont to do at times . . . )

These dolls are not dolls per se.  The delightful creator of this fascinating dolls calls them mannequins.  (Ever thought of snuggling with a mannequin as a child?  Trying to pin a diaper on it?  Give it a bottle of milk?  No?  I don’t understand . . .)

These mannequins are not made out of hard plastic.  They are not expensive.  These mannequins are made out of cardboard.  They are rather quirky.  Adorable quirky.  That’s why I like them.  Quirky is my middle name.

There’s no real expense if you have some cardboard boxes laying around the house.  You probably have crayons or marking pens already so the only expense would be the googley eyes.  But, hey.  If you are into crafts (like many of you are), you might have some of these tucked away in some crafty corner.

Check them out at ikatbag.com. You can see more pictures and get her directions.  (As usual, I have used her picture with her permission.)

I think it would be a hoot to have a whole flock of these mannequins — mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins.  It would be fun to have a gaggle more of friends, pets, neighbors, chickens, elephants, the local clerk at the grocery store.

I can see where you could spend a whole afternoon making these mannequins — and then playing with them!  Don’t you think it would be great fun to do with your grandchildren?

Now let’s expand this thought.  Instead of making these cardboard mannequins, why not make some out of plain white card stock?  I can see it now — funky drawn stick figures.  At least that’s what mine would be.

Then, you can dress them by snipping scraps of material and gluing on shirts, Levis, dresses, pajamas, winter hats and scarves, formals and tuxedos — whatever.  Then, rough cut around them and glue them on  popsicle sticks for paper dolls on a stick.

What if your grandchildren live far, far away?  Maybe you could make a kit with cardboard, markers, fabric scraps, and googly eyes and send it to them to create their mannequins.  You might want to make one up (as you??) to include so they can get an idea of what to do.  Then, have them take a picture of them with their mannequins and e-mail the picture to you.

If you think your artistic abilities are lacking and can’t draw out a paper doll pattern, see what you can find on the Internet or in simple coloring books.  However, I think if you hand draw them, your grandchildren will love them.  And, you’ll be able to personalize them to make them look like the person they are modeled after.

Have fun making and playing with your mannequins!

Having babies is expensive — more than when I was a young mother back in the Dark Ages. (If I was a young mother back in the Dark Ages, that means I am OLD. But, that means my children were alive back then, too. Which means THEY are old! Heh heh . . . I’ll have to share that idea with them . . .)

Now, where was I?  Oh yes, the expense of having babies.

I don’t know of one single young mother that uses cloth diapers.  I’m sure there are ‘green’ mothers somewhere out in the world who use them for the sake of saving the planet.  Which is all good and well.  I just don’t happen to know any.  Disposable diapers are great — and expensive.

And, I must say that I am totally impressed by the quality of disposable diapers of today.  Totally.  They are so much better than the ones that were available back in my day that shredded into soggy pieces of cotton when they were full.  And the marvelous tabs on today’s diapers that hold the diaper on.  You can actually ‘undo’ them without wrecking the diaper and the tab will still ’stick’ afterwards. It almost makes me wish I had a baby.  Wait!  Who am I kidding?  I don’t want a baby at this stage of my life.  I am very happy with being a grandmother and loving the babies that my daughter and daughters-in-law have.

Okay.  Let’s move on to the topic at hand.  Homemade wet wipes.

I read a young mother’s blog yesterday where she shared the ‘recipe’ for homemade wet wipes.  It seems that her delightful son seems to have lots of blowouts lately and that she has been going through tons and tons of wet wipes.  (Is wet wipes a registered trademark for a specific product?  Probably.  I ought to use a different phrase here . . . but I’m too lazy to come up with a generic phrase.  I’ll probably get sued for using this name without it’s registered trademark symbol. . . )

Back to making a homemade product that you can use to clean a baby’s bottom.  (Saying ‘wet wipes’ is more succinct.  Less words.  Aren’t we all about conservation?  Word conservation is good.  You know, I’ve just realized my words are forever getting off track here.  Sheesh!)

Here’s the ‘recipe’ to make those wipes.

Baby Wipes

1 #6 Rubbermaid container (or any container that won’t leak and can hold half a roll of paper towels)

In container mix:
2 cups of water
3 tbs baby oil
1 tbs baby shampoo

Take one BIG roll of Bounty paper towels and cut in half with your electric knife or a knife with a serrated edge.  (So when I’m carving the Thanksgiving turkey, I need to be sure there aren’t any chunks of paper towel still clinging to the knife.)

Leave in the cardboard tube. It will be easier to take out after wipes are made.

After you have your mixture made and your paper towels are cut, put the paper towels in the container and put the lid on. Tight.  You don’t want anything leaking out here.  Then put the container upside down for about 4 hours so paper towels will get entirely soaked. After it’s soaked, remove the cardboard tube.

Voila!  You now have cheaper baby bum wipes.

The mother who shared the recipe says that only Bounty paper towels will work for this.  She also said that her husband didn’t like the fact that they were so ‘wet.’  So, she reduced the amount of water to 1 1/2 cups.  You might want to keep this in mind.

So, there you have it. A great recipe to have tucked in your recipe file box between the Rollo Cookies and the sinfully rich chocolate dessert recipes.

You might want to make up some wipes and see how this all works.  Then, share this with your daughters and daughters-in-law.  This is a great way to help them save a little money.  And that’s something that all of us like to do in this rough economy.