My boys are 7 and 11 and have birthdays close together and many friends in common. This is the first year we decided to do a combined birthday party. It's getting a little difficult to do a theme party for 11 year olds and we were planning to have a simple home party instead of going out to laser tag, bowling, or any of the other popular party outings. I was looking for ideas online and came upon tie-dye. The boys loved it and I see many of them wearing their shirts often around school.

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Huge fun! Use old socks to make playful creatures - not just monkeys! This guy has been named Rupert Snodgrass and his less-than-superhero persona is still evolving, since Luke just received him for his 7th birthday.

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We've got loads of little crayon bits saved up in our craft zone, just waiting for a good use - and here it is!  I stumbled upon this project one night and have been eager to try it out. It worked so well that I want to make another again very soon with what I've learned in this first try.

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I just finished listening to a great audiobook called Digging to America by Anne Tyler, read by Blair Brown. Loved it! It's about two couples who adopt babies from Korea. One couple is American and the other is Iranian. The story covers the lives of these two families that meet at the airport on "arrival day".

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In my Yahoo! Loom Class group there was a message about illusion knitting. I'd never heard of this before and set out to discover more about it. I found many very cool patterns for needle knitting, but none specifically for the Knifty Knitters or other knitting looms. Aha! A puzzle! I began to use bits and pieces of information from various needle patterns and loom knitting websites to develop my own pattern. After two slightly off attempts I had the concept down. This purse is made on the yellow 38 peg Knifty Knitter long loom.

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