Happy St. Patty's Day! Did You Catch a Leprechaun?

Showing off their poems and treat from the leprechaun

I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever be pretending to be a leprechaun, but last year my daughter told me her plans to catch one and I wanted to encourage her imagination and creativity and told her to go for it. That didn't change this year and she set out to catch a leprechaun again (using a similar trap to the one she created last year - that didn't work, maybe next year she'll mix it up more.)

The whole scene with footprints leading up to the porch, the knocked over trap & the notes & treats left for the kids.

All of the footprints (my daughter noticed they were in a rainbow shape, which was total luck of the Irish because this leprechaun didn't do that on purpose.)

The failed trap with it's fake gold.

My very quickly thought up poem. Didn't know she was doing this again, next year I will plan ahead & try harder.

She's so excited to have discovered the footprints & went in search of the leprechaun in case he was still here.

Making Corn Husk Dolls

I am sure most of us have never had a corn husk doll to play with; we probably didn't even have a rag doll. I did have a doll when I was quite young that my great grandma knit or crocheted (I don't know which it was) that I can clearly picture (it was a plastic head and everything else was crocheted and it has a stuffed torso; there were no plastic hands or feet just a spiraled pink limb.) Some of us might have had knock-off Cabbage Patch Kids (you remember the knock-offs?) that someone in our family lovingly made for you because you really wanted a Cabbage Patch Kid, but they were just too expensive. So, I have diverted here and am not comparing a corn husk doll a crocheted doll or a CPK knock-off. What I am talking about is that dolls have a long history of being handmade, before there were plastic dolls.

I thought I would try making a couple of corn husk dolls for the kids and let them draw facial features and make clothing for them. The instructions I used to make the dolls are from the website Snow Owl. The instructions are easy to follow and the supplies are minimal (corn husks, string, scissors and water.)

If you have green corn husks you won't need the water. The water is necessary if you have dried corn husks, which is what I had.

It was fun to make them and I think my daughter is having fun designing clothes for the dolls out of some excess fabric, felt & yarn. Although, my husband does think these dolls are a little "Blair Witch Project" and I do admit they do seem a little voodoo-ish. Some homemade clothes will help with that.

I do hope to make my daughter an old fashioned sewn rag doll soon too. She has really taken to the Monster Stuffie I gave her at Christmas time. I love that my kids are learning to value homemade items that people have put time and thought in to.