Our entire family is in love with Crayon Rocks. Z has always been a marker girl, snubbing crayons for markers or paint since she was given a choice between the two. It'd gotten to the point that I was actually considering getting rid of all of our crayons since they were so neglected.

Then the Crayon Rocks arrived in the mail. Z hesitantly used them the first time and as she used them she got more and more excited. Crayon Rocks, made of soy wax rather than (petroleum-based) paraffin, glide smoothly over the paper and leave behind brilliant, bright colors that can be blended and smudged in much the same manner as pastels. They are rock shaped not typical crayon shape and the rock shape encourages the use of the tripod grip which helps early scribblers train the muscles they need for fine motor skills. The rock shape also encourages an exploration of different techniques of marking the paper - using a flat side to make a wide swath of color or using a tip to make a thin line more than a standard paper wrapped crayon.


Fall colors.


Crayon Rocks are priced at $7.50 for 16 rocks or $5 for 8 rocks, and sold on their creators' website. The company is currently sold out but they are taking pre-orders and they have assured me that they will be shipping in time for the holidays.

After years of struggling with an old, not-quite-working sewing machine, I finally splurged and bought a Janome a few months ago. (I got the Heart Truth model, which does 50 different stitches; it's a great deal at under $400 for a great brand). I love sewing with it - I had no idea that sewing was so fun and easy when you have a machine that doesn't hang up every 37 stitches.

Newly inspired, I tried my hand at making some softies for Z. I had her draw a couple of pictures and pick the one she wanted to turn into a softie. We dug through my fabric scraps for some fabric and got to work, with the idea being that we would try to represent what she had drawn as specifically as possible - body shape, limb proportions, and facial features.



Z was thrilled with them. She loved that she made them and has been very interested in doing more sewing. Overall, I'm pretty happy with my first try at softies. My one difficulty was getting those giant arms and legs into the inside of the body so that when I turned it right side out the stitching would be nice. I've never looked at a pattern for softies but I assume that there must be an easier way to do this (other than the obvious making the limbs smaller). Any ideas or tutorials?

As for the sewing machine, it has since been instrumental in creating Z's evolving ideas about her own Halloween costume. At this point, she's a "hippo princess," which is basically a pink cape (thanks, sewing machine!) and a hacked-up stuffed hippo. Must be seen to be believed - I'll have photos after the big day.

I've also been playing with those stitches. Check out what this baby can do!