Congratualtions on becoming Grandparents! Such joy and love Holley Brielle will receive from such loving GP's Carol your quilt is so beautiful! I have always admired quilters, their patience in designing putting it together, sewing each piece so that it comes together with such artistry. Olivia's name is darling! Kirk I love it when Hubby's beam with love and pride at their beautiful wifes and of course their creative talents! God Bless You both Con el favor de Dios NanaGrandma

I used to baby-sit an 8 year old and he loved making things out of bread dough. I suppose air dry modeling clay works just as well, but I think children like the idea that they can take everyday household things and turn them into something else. Bread dough is simply one slice of white bread (is it good for anything else anymore?), with the crust removed (You can use the crust to feed the birds, or for stuffing recipes). Pinch it into tiny pieces and in a plastic bowl, add one tablespoon of tacky glue, plus a bit of acrylic, or craft paint to color it. Mix well with a plastic spoon, or use your hands. Kids seem to like using their hands. The 8 year old loved making green dinosaurs and I let him paint in the eyes, or use moving eyes you can buy from a craft store. With the tacky glue, you can also glue just about anything to the bread dough before it dries. If your granddaughter has a doll house, she could make bread dough items for her doll house, like plates, platters, bowls, faux lamps, etc. She could also make Christmas ornaments out of the bread dough, like gingerbread men, flat round balls, and decorate with paint. She could even use cookie cutters to cut out the different designs. If she has a miniature Christmas tree, she could make miniature decorations for her tree out of bread dough, too. Another Christmas ornament idea: Toothpicks, sweet gum balls, paint, and a bit of ribbon. Have your GD glue the toothpicks to the sweet gum ball to represent a star. She can paint them with acrylic gold, or silver craft paint, or you could spray paint them gold, or silver, for her. Be sure to seal them with the appropriate sealer (oil, or water based sealer, depending on what paint you use). Glue on a ribbon to hang from the tree. I did an entire tree with these once, along with lace bows. It looked great! Another idea: Copy pictures from coloring books and let her make paintings out of them by gluing dry foodstuffs, or glitter onto the picture to add color and texture. Besides glitter, you could use colored pasta, rices, couscous, dried corn, dried wheat, dried things you collect from the woods, etc. Not only does she get to create a 3-dimensional painting, but also gets to spend time with you collecting materials from the woods and kitchen. You really need to find something that sparks her imagination, making her look at the world in a whole new light. Something that she can use, or display, that she can be proud of. What interests her? What does she play with the most? How can you expand her interests? Here is a link that might be useful: Bluebonnet Craft Network

When I look back at my very 1st scrapbook, I get disgusted at how much I thought I had to cut the pictures. Now, I only cut off the part of the photo that no one would ever be interested in...such as a recliner that takes up the whole left side of a photo, or excess grass at the bottom of a pic. I get tons of compliments on my albums now, and people tell me I should quit nursing and just scrapbook professionally. Good luck w/your album, and congratulations. There's a ton of stuff to choose from out there, but be creative and imaginative. Don't buy stickers of flowers...create your own. Don't place stickers messily over your entire page..group them together to make a scene or corner decoration. This way, they won't take away from your pictures (which should be the focal point of your album). Hope this helps.

Becki & Amanda: We could go ahead with just the three of us and send to the other two people, but I think we better plan on sending to the other two either once or every month until we get tired of it. Our birthdays might be so scattered throughout the year and someone might have to drop out before completing the exchange and that wouldn't be fair to the other two. Do you want me to make up some type of questionnaire and send it to each of you privately? Do we want to just stick with exchanging new, packaged embelishments with a specified cost range in a specified category OR making several embelishments to go on a 2-page layout in a specific category OR maybe one thing one month and something else the next month. Let me know as soon as possible what your first choice is. Sorry I haven't got back sooner, but I've been visiting my daughter for 1 1/2 weeks. She is buying a house and we spent the week painting, cleaning carpet, etc. I also have my granddaughter this week and she is going to bible school every evening at our church. She is 4 and I don't have to keep a close eye on her so I would have time this week to make up a questionnaire. Let me know your thoughts. Ruth