Quiet Book - Carrots in the Garden

For this Project you'll need:

light blue felt

white felt

green felt

orange felt

red felt

gray felt

dark brown felt

light brown felt

scissors

thread

sewing machine (optional)

a button

This was one of the simplest pages to make because I didn't need to cut out any patterns from paper or make intricate details, I was able to freehand cut everything.  This pic shows everything cut out and laid out.

After I cut everything out, I used my sewing machine to sew first the clouds, then the light brown, leaving a few spaces for carrots to go (just backstitch on both sides of the opening), then the dark brown felt, sewing the sides, but leaving a large opening in the middle for carrots, then the green felt, leaving the whole top open as a pocket.  Then I sewed the red wheelbarrow and then the three gray strips of felt were the final, you'll see I decided to use a zig zag stitch on these.

Then I hand-sewed the button on as the "wheel" of the wheelbarrow.  The last step was to hand sew the carrots together.  I cut out two pieces of orange felt for each carrot, so I sewed around the edge of these, making sure the green leafy part was in between at the top.  As you see below, I tried different stitch lengths and techniques - I think that adds to the handmade charm!

I love thinking through all the things a child can learn from this page.  What carrots look like, what a wheelbarrow looks like, where carrots come from, how carrots are harvested, that carrots grow in the dirt, but the green top is above the dirt.

And I love the element of fun to pull the carrots out of the ground...

...and load them into the wheelbarrow!

Quiet Book - Counting Page

I made a felt quiet book for my niece Hadley a few years ago - it was so much work, but so fun to see it come together.  Click HERE to see her finished book.  Last time she visited, she brought her book with her and my 4 year old nephew saw it and looked through each page and said, "I love this book!" So it got me excited to make one for him!  A lot of the pages I'm planning for Henry's book will be new and different - unique to his interests, but the counting page is one that I did in Hadley's book and loved it and thought it would be great for Henry's as well.

For this project you'll need:

2 colors of felt

Felt number stickers - like these:

different buttons for each number

needle and thread

sewing machine

scissors

rotary cutter and mat (optional)

The most fun part is picking out fun buttons.  Obviously, when picking them out, remember the smaller numbers can be larger buttons and the larger numbers need to be smaller buttons, so they'll fit under the flaps.  Mine are from Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Walmart.

Real life pic - working on different pages!

After the planning phase, I cut my background felt into a 9x9 inch square, because that's the size I chose for my quiet book pages.  Then I used my rotary cutter and mat to cut the orange sparkly felt to a little under 3x3 inch squares.  Then I stuck the felt sticker numbers onto the squares.

Then I used my sewing machine to sew each square to the background felt, with a zigzag stitch.

Then, while watching Netflix (binge-watching New Girl) I sewed the buttons under the flaps.  Here is One Heart.

Two Monkeys

Three Stars

Four Cats

Five Soccer Balls

Six Owls

Seven Sea Turtles

These are actually beads I found in the jewelry making section of Michael's, so that's something to keep in mind - they had some really cute bead options.

Eight Flags

Nine will be Bees.

(Beads? Bees.) #ArrestedDevelopmentReference

I found these at Walmart and they had some really cute buttons there - some Disney and animals, so keep them in mind as well.

I love how it turned out - I think it's so fun to lift the flap and see what's there!

Stay tuned for more Quiet Book Pages - that's my main craft focus right now!

DIY Pirate's Treasure Map

I LOVE how my nephew Henry, who is 4, gets really into topics.  He's been into trains, dirt movers, colossal squids, octopuses, the human body and now pirates.  When he discovers these new interests, his mom takes him to the library and they check out all the books on that topic.  He listens intently and learns all the facts.  It is super cute.  So when my sister told me the new topic was pirates - my mind started turning.  I thought he'd love finding a treasure map and hunting for buried treasure!

I was searching through Dollar Tree  - looking for treasure and getting ready to buy giant checkers and spray paint them gold - when I found the perfect package of oversize coins in the party favor section!  In the same aisle I found a little gift box that was perfect.  And then I bought a 2 pack of gold bead necklaces (and pulled off the shot glasses).

Then I went to the park and surveyed it - I figured out a perfect place to hide the treasure and drew myself a rough map of the park.  Wichita has the perfect park for this activity - the play equipment is a pirate ship.

For this project you'll need:
brown paper bag
markers
"treasure"
"treasure chest"

I cut an oval out of the bag and then crumpled it and tore the edges - to add character and make it look old.  Then I used colored pencils, markers and metallic pens to prepare my map.

I got to the park ahead of Henry's family and hid the treasure and rolled up the map and told him I found it in Pirate's Park and I needed his help to find the buried treasure.  He was SUPER excited!

I helped him spot landmarks on the map and he ran to each new landmark - each one taking us closer to the treasure.

Once we found the treasure - he was still so happy and excited - he carried it all around the playground. 

His baby sister was very interested in the treasure too!  I love that for under $5 and a little effort - Henry and I created this fun memory together.  It's one of my favorite jobs, as an Aunt, to create magic for my nieces and nephews.

Ways to Earn Extra Money (Without a Lot of Effort)

1.  Sell clothing to a consignment store

2.  Sell any item you own on Facebook Marketplace 

Go to Facebook Marketplace

Click on: +Sell Something

It will then ask you the following:

     Select a Category

     What are you selling?

     Price

     Describe your item

     Up to 10 photos

I always recommend you take someone with you when you sell items.

3. Ebates

I'm always skeptical of things - looking for a "catch".  In this case, I'm sure your buying habits are being tracked and data collected for marketing purposes.  For me, that was a trade-off I was willing to take.  I don't really believe things I buy on the internet are private anyway.  To date, I have earned $86 - but it really is for buying things I would anyway - I don't have to do anything extra.  Click the button below to sign up and you'll get $10 just for signing up (which will come to you in the form of a check, after a period of time)!

4.  Sell Clothes or Accessories Using Poshmark

For sales of $15 or more, you keep 80% of your sale and Poshmark's commission is 20%. Once your sale has been delivered and received by your buyer, the earnings from your sale are yours. You can spend your earnings within the app or withdraw your money as cash whenever you like.

This is my sister Jordan's FAVORITE thing - here are her instructions:

Poshmark is my favorite place to get great deals on clothes! You can buy and sell on it and get the cash deposited for your items or even Poshmark credit to go toward your next order. It has every size and brand you can think of and people are always adding new clothes they are selling daily. It's really simple, here's the basics:

• Download the Poshmark app or click here on your computer and set up an account - make sure to click the link that says "referral code" or "invite code" and type in autumnprincess and you will get $5 credit to spend!

• List your items, (brand names are best, anything from Banana Republic or Maurices to Lily Pulitzer and Kate Spade)

• Only list great quality items and be honest about any wear and tear on the item, take lots of pictures, be sure to show front and back of clothing.

• You can make offers on items so the price isn't set in stone (I love making offers).

• Once you sell something - congratulations! You print off the custom shipping label and drop the package off at the post office.

It's a great community and easy to navigate. You even get to personalize how you ship the item, tissue paper and a thank you note are encouraged! Some people even branch into selling wholesale or boutique clothing and make a profit. I have had a great experience with it, in my opinion it's better than thredUP because you get a commission for your clothes that are sold and there's a lot more inventory. Shop my closet and follow me @autumnprincess, as they say on Poshmark, Happy Poshing!

5. Find something you're good at and market that skill or service

If you like to bake, advertise that you are selling cookies or cinnamon rolls (I have friends that do both!), if you are a teacher and have created lesson plans and materials, sell those; if you play an instrument, advertise that skill.

6.  Earn Money from the stock market

from reading a blog, I learned about the app Stash, which brings the stock market to every day people.  For me it has been an introduction to the stock market - it's really user friendly and continually has new articles to help you learn more about it.  It's pretty low stakes for me - I invest $5 a month - but you get to pick where to invest your money and it's an amazing feeling to see a return on your investment.  Start investing with @Stash today! We’ll each get $5 when you use my link: Stash  

If you need any extra encouragement - check out FIRE Drill Podcast (which I learned stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early) here (or wherever you listen to podcasts)(also recommended by my sister Jordan!) (so many parentheses!).

Lava Lamp Science Experiment

I invited my nephew Henry to come over and planned a really cool science experiment for us to do together and it went GREAT!  I definitely recommend this activity - I think kids of any age would enjoy seeing this.

For this Project you'll need:

an empty jar

vegetable oil (to fill your jar 3/4 full)

food coloring

1/2 cup water

original Alka-Seltzer tablets (broken up into a few pieces)

foil covered tray to contain mess (optional)

Step 1:  Fill jar 3/4 full of vegetable oil

Step 2:  Get 1/2 C water and let your helper add food coloring to it, then let them mix it up.

Step 3: To make this a learning experience - at this point, ask your child to form a hypothesis - ask what they think will happen when they pour the colored water into the jar of oil.  That helps them understand the scientific method and develop critical thinking skills.

Step 4: Pour the colored water into the jar of oil.

Step 5: Let your helper add pieces of the Alka-Seltzer tablets into the jar.  

The result is so cool!  

Henry was 3 at the time, and kids that age don't have a very long attention span, but he was very interested and engaged in this experiment and even wanted to do it a second time.  I love the time we spent together and the memory we created.

Guest Room Planning

Lately I've been obsessed with pulling together my Guest Room/Library.  A couple months ago I bought a bed frame from Facebook marketplace and fixed it up, but that's the only thing in the room, currently.


I'm trying to come to a decision about whether to leave the room a light gray, which matches the entire rest of my upstairs, or paint it a bright white, which is what I had in mind for the space.  I'll probably paint it...but I need to be sure in my mind before I start.

This is the inspiration board I've put together:



The words I associate with this room are: guest room, black and white, triangles, bright, colorful, splash of color, books, library, reading room, youthful, comfortable, welcoming, happy

My next steps are:
decide if I want to paint, choose a paint color, paint
get a mattress, comfy chair, bookcase(s), and night stand
punch out vinyl triangles and arrange them on one wall
add textiles - curtains with homemade tassels, bedding, rug, pillows
style the room - books, lamps, wall decor

I'm excited for it to come together and to share it here and with any guests I may have!