Road safety when walking with children

O.K. I have to get something off my chest!    

When I am driving home from the school pick up with my charge buckled safely in the car I pass another school that gets out at the same time.  It is in Short Hills, N.J. in a very residential area and many people may live within walking distance of the school.  There are a great pair of traffic wardens to cross the busy road which I often have to stop for.  Shortly after I am on my way again and
I sometimes pass a nanny walking her 2 children home from school. 

This nanny has to be one of the most careless nannies I have come across.  She walks down the side of a very busy road where there is the narrowest strip of dirt, 2 people could probably walk side by side and no more.  Now the reason this nanny drives me nuts is that she is always in front of her 2 children, often on the phone, while they walk behind her where she can't keep a watchful eye on them. The children I would guess would probably be around 5 and 7 years old.  Not once have I seen her holding the children's hands or watching them.  She walks in the same direction as the traffic with her back to the on coming traffic.
Not only is this nanny not doing her job and watching and protecting her charges she is not teaching them proper road safety either.

So I thought I would write a few pointers that we should all remember when walking by a busy street

- always face on coming traffic so that you may step out of the way if a car
   doesn't see you and is too close

- always hold hands with younger children keeping the child on the inside,
   the furthest away from the traffic

- if you need to walk in single file always keep your child in front so you can
   keep a watchful eye on them

- pay special attention to driveways, teach your child to stop at each driveway
   to check for traffic coming out that may not see them

- if your child has to walk to and from school, bright coloured clothes and maybe
   a reflective patch are great ideas so that they stand out clearly to traffic

- always talk to your child about road safety and potential dangers
   STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN still works these days just as it did when we were growing up
   and try and hold a hand when possible

Did I miss anything?
Safe travels!

Hand Made Felt Christmas Ornaments

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
OK, seeing as though it is now December (scary).....we can start talking about Christmas right?
I think that's the rule!

I wanted to share something that I worked on during my power outage.....thanks Sandy.....some great things did come out of lack of electricity I guess!

I re-taught myself blanket stitch.  Ever so easy, I had to learn it in college but hadn't attempted it since!
I brushed up my skills here in about 2 minutes!

There are no pictures of before or during for this sewing project.....that was just too much when in lame survival mode!

But here are the pictures of my handmade felt ornaments, if you look at them carefully they are pretty self explanatory.  The stockings are felt at the back and on the front I applied iron on interfacing to regular cotton fabric to prevent as much fraying as possible (I think a little fraying helps with the homemade effect).

Wrapped for giving with a little story of origin on the back

I think the Christmas Puddings are my favourite, followed by the dog bone!

I also made some decorations for Hanukkah, those will be coming soon.

They are on sale at the Woman's Exchange in Little Silver, N.J. and will hopefully be on sale at my Etsy shop soon!

2nd box to the Woman's Exchange

Hi all.....

I've mailed my 2nd box of Textile Trolley handmade items to the Woman's Exchange Shop in Little Silver, N.J. a wonderful shop that benefits crafters like myself and local charities.

Here's a sneak peak at some of the items I sent.

Box of seasonal goodies

A couple of small bibs

 

Matching place mat and napkin set

Christmas Pudding Ornament

Still working on getting the Etsy shop up and running!  It's taking WAY longer than I thought!!
LIFE IS SOOOOOOO BUSY!

Happy Friday to you all.....have a great weekend....I'll be decorating for Christmas on Sunday....
....it never stops around here!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

We had our 2nd major snow fall of the season on Tuesday.....a perfect opportunity to get out and have some fun. 

I love snow, it looks beautiful and makes everywhere look magical.  And even though staying warm inside might seem like a preferable thing to do, once you get out there and start acting like a kid you have so much fun.  I wasn't particularly in the mood on Tuesday to participate in snow activities but had a great time once I was out there.

Here are some scenes from Tuesday.

Scenes from the garden

I think we got about 3" of snow

Perfect snow to build a snowman.  Not to fluffy not too wet!

We used clementines for the eyes, an end of a cucumber for his nose and almonds for his mouth

Snow angels next or should I say Rabbit Snow Angels!

And we finished with a snowball fight.....which of course was impossible to take pictures of as I was trying to defend myself.

If you are in an area that is lucky enough to have snow.....get yourself out there with your children, you'll be surprised how much fun you actually have!

Stay warm.

Easy to sew Christmas gift: tissue holder

Anyone want to get busy with Christmas gift making???

This is another easy project for a beginner sewer or a child (with a bit of help from an adult) and uses up your old scraps of fabric.

A tissue holder.....just the thing for those seasonal sniffles.

This was one of the first things I sewed for Christmas gifts when I was a teenager.....its so easy!


What you will need

A scrap of fabric measuring 8 1/2" x 5 3/4"
pins
thread
sewing machine
iron...you know, the usual stuff

Please excuse the difference in colours of the photo's I was still mastering my shot taking at night (still am).

First iron your fabric flat then on the short sides iron up almost 1/2" and fold over and iron another 1/2" on top of that

This pic should make it easier to understand

Do the same at the other end so it looks like this

Flip it over and top stitch a straight line at both ends, securing the hem underneath

It should look like this

Fold in the two ends to meet each other, make sure they touch (or overlap slightly if you want a tighter opening)

Secure with pins to hold in place

Stitch a running stitch along the sides.  I back stitch always at start and finish and where the two sides meet

Trim with pinking shears or run a zig zag stitch to prevent fraying

Gently push the corners out.  I use a knitting needle

The finished product

I didn't like how the corners were baggy when I put the tissues in so I squared them off.  Here's how to do that.  Pinch the corner together so the stitching is in the middle

I marked a line from side to side that measured 3/4" at each corner.  I then sewed on the line and snipped to corner off to prevent bulk.

It gives it a bit more of a boxed, polished finish

TA DA the finished product!

Quick and easy Thanksgiving decoration

My little girl loved doing the Thanksgiving place cards so much last week that she was begging me for another Thanksgiving craft.  Short on time I handed her some wooden turkey cut outs I had found at Michaels a while ago and some markers and asked her to colour them however she liked and we would use them to decorate the Thanksgiving table!

So we went from this.....

To this.......

To this........

I love how bright and cheery they are, I think they add a pop of whimsical to Thanksgiving.  Hang them from a chandelier, a drawer pull, door knob anywhere you can think of.
If you don't have the wooden cut outs you can always draw your turkey free hand or from a template and cut it out of card stock.....you could even write names on them and turn them into place cards.....or glue them on a card and send them to friends and family as a 'Happy Thanksgiving' card.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Movember

Have you heard of Movember?

Apparently November has been made prostate and testicular cancer awareness month!  In order to create awareness men start November clean shaven and throughout the month grow a moustache.  They raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their growing and grooming. 

If you want to find out more you can check out the website http://us.movember.com/

Throughout my searches on the internet I have come across various moustaches that have made me smile.  Here are just a few for the little ones in honor of Movember!

My favourite pacifier by Fred

Moustache bib by babymonkeys@etsy.com

Baby onsie by meandmy3boys@etsy.com

And just to make snack time even more fun modernmadness@etsy.com have these great glasses

Happy Movember (even if we are more than half way through....I'll be on the ball next year)!