Did you have Childcraft books when you were a kid? My favorite one was the Make & Do one. It had all those fun crafts and art projects. I loved flipping through those pages and imagining all those crafts! Well, my friend Marie LeBaron from Make and Takes has released her own craft book! And it’s got that same yummy feel as my Make & Do book! In fact, when we got it in the mail, Lydia sat down and read it cover to cover!

Marie’s blog is one I’ve followed (and linked heavily to) ever since I started blogging. I also consider her a real life friend so I’m totally ecstatic about her first book, Make and Takes for Kids: 50 Crafts Throughout the Year! The kids have looked through the book about 100 times and my husband even commented on how nice the inside design is.

What I like about it is that it’s crafts to do throughout the year—each chapter is a new month. So you have winter crafts for January, summery crafts for July and holiday-themed crafts throughout. Last night I told the kids to pick out their favorite November craft.

They picked the Leaf Rubbing Turkey Feathers. SO CUTE! They ran outside to find leaves, ran back inside and happily went to work on their little turkeys. My husband even helped them–we had a little impromptu thanksgiving family-time last night!

It was an easy enough craft for my 3 year old, but would have been enjoyed by kids of any age, I’m sure. Plus, I think they turned out pretty cute! We might just have to make some more and display them at Thanksgiving dinner!

This would be a great book to get your kids for Christmas! Or maybe a themed gift for the kids’ friends with some craft supplies wrapped up with it? Or a fun book to grab a craft idea for the kids to do when the family gets together for the holidays? However you use it, I know you’ll love Make and Takes for Kids!

And if you’re not following Marie’s blog, Make and Takes, you need to! Go visit her and say hello! Speaking of Make and Takes and turkeys, here’s a guest post I did for Marie a few years ago: Oreo Turkeys!

Marie gave me this book to review. But I would have bought it and gushed about it anyway because I love her and Make & Takes!

I have been wanting to dye pasta for months. (Seriously, I saw an article in a Publix magazine about dyed pasta crafts, then lost the magazine and then emailed Publix and they sent me one to my house. That must have been before Pinterest!) Add this to finally finding some ABC pasta and I decided it was high time to test this out!

It’s super easy! All you need is some pasta (any shape or size will do), rubbing alcohol (or hand sanitizer in a pinch), food coloring and a couple of plastic bags.

Pour some pasta into a bag. I did 1 cup per bag.

Then pour in some rubbing alcohol. I eyeballed it. Maybe a tablespoon?

Now for the fun part–food coloring! 2-3 drops will do it. But if you want some outstanding color, add more! We did about 8 or more drops for the bright orange.

Zip up your bags and start shaking, smooshing and moving that pasta around. Keep going until the color is evenly distributed.

Then pour out the pasta on some cookie sheets or paper towels and let dry. We put ours on the sunny porch to speed up the process.

We made a sensory tub out of rainbow pasta. But you could make a rainbow out of some big pasta, use tube pasta to make jewelry or just glue it on to a can or a box to make a treasure chest. I think these would be fun to have around to decorate any craft or poster you’re working on. Check out my Pasta Fun Pinterest board for some super creative ideas!

The following post is from Jessie of  Vanderbilt Wife. She’s filling in with her awesomeness today while I’m on my bloggy hiatus:

We have discovered so many wonderful books through Impress Your Kids. My daughter just loves How to Be a Baby (By Me, the Big Sister), The Parable of the Lily, the Jesus Storybook Bible, and My ABC Bible Verses.

I was excited when I told Amanda about a wonderful book we found that she actually hadn’t heard of! Libbie’s newest favorite bedtime story is Miss Fannie’s Hat by Jan Karon (yes, the Mitford lady).

“Miss Fannie has lots of hats. And each one is her favorite.” How can you go wrong with a story that starts like that? Karon’s witty humor creates a story that is lovable, memorable, and teaches a wonderful lesson.

When Miss Fannie is asked by her “handsome young preacher” to donate a hat to the church auction, she’s a little troubled. All of her hats bring back memories. How could she give one away? But as she realizes that one little gift could make a big difference at her church, Miss Fannie remembers what it’s like to be a joyful giver.

I wanted to do a craft with Libbie (3 in October) to help her remember Miss Fannie’s favorite Bible verse: “With God, all things are possible.” I decided to create a wall hanging featuring a copy of Miss Fannie’s favorite hat (and the one she donates)–a pink straw hat with roses.

First, we painted a small straw hat (from the doll section at Hobby Lobby) with pink acrylic paint and let it dry. Next, we used a hot-glue gun to add small pink fake roses to the hat. I let Libbie pick where she wanted the roses, I glued, and she placed.

Then, I wrote out the Bible verse on a piece of pink vellum. I glued it to the hat with a ribbon, and then glued a loop of ribbon to the top of the hat so it could hang on the wall.

Libbie is extremely proud of her project; and, best of all, she can recite the Bible verse in her precious 2-year-old voice.

If you have a daughter, Miss Fannie’s Hat is a wonderful read. It’s a little lengthy for Libbie’s age, but she loves it so much she will happily stay still for the whole thing. I think girls up to age 9 or 10 would enjoy this great book!


Jessie is a stay-at-home mom and freelance writer/editor in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She has two children: Libbie, 2, and David, 7 months. Amanda was her very first blogging friend! You can find her on Twitter @vanderbiltwife.

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