Subject: Birthday Craft

Melissa -

I hope you had an amazing weekend with your girlfriends and their hubbies! Suz and I had a great weekend together...Mr. Lass was sick with some kind of stomach bug, so we spent a lot of time together and away from the house as much as we could (less of a chance for her to catch whatever Da-Da has). On Saturday we had plans to go to my friend Holly's daughter's 2nd birthday party.

The party was an alligator theme, because little Camille loves alligators, so there were inflated alligators and little kiddie pools in their backyard and kids ran around in the bathing suits - it was a lot of fun. Plus it was, like, super humid, so it really brought the swamp theme to life :) We had sandwiches and fruit for lunch and an alligator-shaped cake that was super-yummy.

I knew that Camille loves to color, so I decided to make her a Crayon Roll based on instructions on found on this blog. The instructions were really easy and I was able to use fabric I had on hand, which was fun to mix & match. Plus, one piece of fabric had animals on it (including alligators!) so it seemed especially appropriate. Here is my finished product:

The original directions used ribbon to close the roll, but I liked the idea of using something different. Plus, it seems like the ribbon could get dirty or fray and I wanted something more durable. I had these D-ring clasps and straps from when I made a few nursing covers, so I cut the straps off one and used it for the securing the roll.

Some more pictures:

I love the way the crayons fit into their own little pockets! And the whole thing is pretty small, which is perfect for moms to throw into their bags and take crayons with them wherever they go. Plus, it seems like the task of putting the crayons back in their slots would be an activity in itself and occupy kids for a few minutes - maybe while you're waiting for the check at a restaurant, aka classic meltdown time? So in some ways, this gift is for moms and kids.

At Target I found a little straw bag that I used to pack everything up. I included some coloring books and a set of animal-themed pajamas and tied on a zebra-stripe ribbon for extra fun.

I think I will be making this for all my friends' kids for future birthdays!