Start 'em young...

Last week, I decided to let the girls start their Valentine crafting, making refrigerator magnets for all of their grandparents.

This kit came from Oriental Trading Company, one of my new best friends.  There are enough pieces to make 12 magnets, and the price was under $6.  Paired with Glue Dots ( the best invention on the planet!) and minor supervision, the girls are able to work on projects for gift giving.  Here is Abby and one of her hearts:

And Emma:

And Katie:

And here are all 12, ready to go in the mail:

We have one more set that we will do, probably tomorrow.  I've also ordered kits for St. Patrick's Day and Easter.

Here are the projects I've been working on this week:

I hadn't done the ladybug booties before, so it took a bit to work out how to do the face.  A lady in my MOPS group requested them for her daughter's doll, and I'm glad she did.  Now I have another variation, to go with the solid and the "Converse" style.  I also tried the ones on the right, thinking they would look like little dress up shoes for babies.

And here is the first of 3 crayon caddies I'm making for the girls for Valentine's Day:

I finished the second one last night, and will most likely finish the third tonight.  I've also done 3 of the 5 pairs of ladybug slippers I need for next Thursday, with a 4th pair on the needles now.  Oh, and I joined a dishcloth/washcloth create a long from another blog, so I will hopefully have some of those to post soon as well.

You must think that all I do is sit around and knit, which could not be farther from the truth, although my husband might argue with me on that!  Two days ago, the little girls and I made a quadruple batch of gnocchi for the freezer...they had fun helping, and due to all the flour on the floor, I had to do a thorough cleaning on my kitchen!  And today, alas is laundry day, which started with making a fresh batch of laundry soap.  Some would argue that it is just nuts to make your own soap, but it saves me money AND time...in 30 minutes or less, I've got 5 gallons of detergent made and bottled.  I couldn't get to the store and back in 30 minutes!  I'm also due to make a fresh batch of fabric softener as well, but that will wait until next week.  If anyone wants the recipes, leave me a comment with your email address, and I will be happy to share!

Time to get back to the kitchen...dinner tonight is chicken saltimbocca and roasted cauliflower...yum!