I am a reader. An avid reader. Reading is important to me. I want to do everything in my power to help my grandchildren develop a love for reading, too.

So when I saw these cute-as-a-button-because-they-do-use-buttons bookmarks I knew I just HAD to share them here!

Even though Little Birdie Secrets came up with this idea as a teacher appreciation idea, this would be a great activity to do with your granddaughters. They will learn very simple sewing and crafting skills.

(I think I can make that flower.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can . . . if I say it often enough will that imbue craft skills into my klutzy fingers and hands? One can hope, can’t one?)

So, go to Little Birdie Secrets tutorial on making these cute fabric bookmarks. (They have graciously allowed me to use their photo.  Thank you Little Birdie Secrets!!)

You could have extra snippets of lace, and ribbons, rhinestones, small silk flowers, and other fun things to decorate the bookmark instead of the flower if you want.  Have a grand creative time together!

You can have individual time with individual granddaughters as you make these darling bookmarks.  Or, you can invite all of your granddaughters and have a sewing extravaganza complete with treats.  Granddaughters can make bookmarks for themselves, for their mothers (as a Mother’s Day gift) gifts for friends for birthdays, high school graduation, or just because.

You can sew these with your grandsons, too.  Only I wouldn’t recommend putting a flower at the top of the bookmark. That would be too girlie! Go to ye olde local craft store and see if they have some craft foam shapes of critters, soccer balls, police cars, dump trucks, or airplanes to use instead. You also might want to use camouflage fabric instead of floral prints . . .

You could even go to a bookstore and let your grandchildren select a book (that grandma would pay for of course!).  A maybe even stop for an ice cream cone.  Assuming it isn’t snowing in your neck of the woods as it is in mine . . . If it is, you could fix hot chocolate instead.

What other simple sewing projects have you done with grandchildren?

Over the week-end, I met Grandma Julie.  Such a delightful person.

I asked her if she would tell me something that she does with her grandchildren that I could share on my site.  She immediately said, “Make sleeping bags.”

Oh my!  Sew adventurous.  (Get the pun?)

If you’re a sewer, I think you’ll be able to follow the directions she gave me.  She puts some quilt batting between two pieces of fabric and sews a couple of rows of stitching to keep the batting in place.  Then, she sews in a zipper.  She makes it sound so easy.  But for all of you seamstresses out there, I’m sure you could figure out how to make a sleeping bag.

She also makes a matching pillowcase.

She has all of her grandchildren over.  They put the sleeping bags on the family room floor, pop popcorn, and watch a movie. Then they sleep on the family room floor.  (She admitted that she slept on the couch.  Good for her!  I certainly would.  My old bones would complain if I slept on the floor.)

Did I tell you she had 10 grandchildren?  So she has made 10 sleeping bags.  Wow!  What a nice grandma.

If you’re not much of a seamstress, you could probably just sew a velor blanket together (probably without a zipper would be okay) and then be done with it.  You could probably get several bags out of one king sized blanket.

Or, you could take the easy way out.  Just watch the sales and buy some sleeping bags.

Saturday my niece gave my daughter-in-law, Lisa, a baby shower.  There was a little craft project for the guests to do: put an applique on a onesie.  When the onesies were all finished, we gave them to Lisa so she would have them when her son is born in a few weeks.

I didn’t want my delicately unskilled craft hands to ruin a onesie so I thought that I would just sit by and watch.

“You can do it, you can do it, you can do it,” my niece said to me.  “Come on.  See?  It’s not hard.  You can do it.  Just take a deep breath.”  All that coaching just to get me to pick up a pattern.

I selected a giraffe design because I thought that it would be the easiest one to do.  The orange polka dot fabric spoke to my heart.  I love the color orange. Hot diggity dog! Within 20 minutes, I had a finished project.  It turned out pretty good, even if I do say so myself.  Here are some pictures of the other onesies.  (I think our son, Tyler, will love the hedgehog one since he LOVES hedgehogs.)  Click on the pictures to see a bigger size.

Here’s how to apply an applique. (Apply an applique –say that ten times really fast!)

1. Select a simple design for your pattern.  Cut out a paper copy of the design.  (See below on where to get patterns.)
2. Place the cut out design on the back side of the Wonder-Under (the papery non-bumpy side) and trace the design onto the Wonder-Under.  Be mindful of whether or not you need to put the pattern on the fabric so it is a mirror image of the design (so the design won’t be backwards).
3. Rough cut around the design (not cutting on the exact lines of the design but away from it 2-3 inches)
4. Put the rough side of the Wonder-Under to the wrong side of the fabric.  Press with a hot, dry iron for 3-4 seconds.
5. Cut exactly around the edges of the design.
6. Peal the paper backing off from the Wonder-Under.
7. Place the design with the fabric side up (and the Wonder-Under side down) on the object that you are applying the applique to.
8. Press 8-10 seconds with a dry, hot iron being very careful not to scorch the material.
9. Let the design cool.

If you are having any problems, feel free to contact me.  I won’t be able to help you any more than the directions you see here because I my craft brain is so inept.   But you’re still free to contact me!  Otherwise,  you can read what the Pellon Consumer Products page has to say.

If you are artistic, you can draw your own pattern to use. If not, you could use simple shapes from a coloring book or clip art from your computer. Or, you could use some of the free applique patterns from this site.

If you have grandchildren that are around eight years old or older, this would be a good activity to do together.  (You might have to supervise the ironing.)  Your granddaughter could give her project away as a Christmas present, birthday present, donate to a humanitarian project, or just keep it herself.  (I’m being sexist here to refer to only granddaughters.  Grandsons would enjoy this activity too if they were doing monsters, dinosaurs, pickup trucks or any design they consider to be ‘manly.’)

If you use the really heavy duty Wonder-Under, you’re not supposed to need to sew around the edges of the applique.  But I’ve read on the blogosphere how some  people have had to stitch around it.  Maybe by the time it starts peeling up around the edges, the hobo look will be in.

Here are some things on which you could put an applique:

• a baby blanket
• t-shirts
• little Levi hats for children
• coordinate appliques on a t-shirt and shorts or pants
• aprons (either for cooking or doing craft/painting projects)
• tote bag to carry their books to and from the library
• a skirt or dress
• pajamas
• pillowcase
• homemade bean bags
• personalized tooth fairy pillow
• dishtowels

I’m almost embarrassed to tell you just how excited I was about the little applique that I did.  Now I’m concocting all sorts of projects that I can do with appliques.  I’d venture to say that if I can get excited about doing this type of project, your grandchildren will probably enjoy doing it too!

(Now, I’m trying to figure out how to convince my husband I need a new Bernina sewing machine to make more appliques . . .)