Last weekend I had a mini craft night with my Juniper. She chose a doll from one of my new books, picked out the fabric to use, helped me trace and cut the pieces and sat on my lap while I sewed her up. She did good for the most part, but got a little restless towards the end. Have you ever tried cutting fabric with a 4 year old crawling all over you? She’s silly. Unfortunately it got to be pretty late and she needed to go to bed before the doll was finished. I messed up sewing her fin and she ended up looking quite indecent so I just glued a felt heart on there and called it good. Then I added the cute pearl necklace just because I thought it would look pretty.

Juniper was very excited in the morning to find her finished doll, and she was so proud that she helped me make it. During the initial stages of this project, she got pretty upset that I didn’t have the exact right fabrics to use. Juniper is of the opinion that projects made from books need to look EXACTLY like the photos. I had to convince her that it was ok to use different fabric for the fin, and she chose this sparkly pink as a replacement. She was also a bit weary of that pearl necklace, but she has decided that she likes it.

I need to craft more WITH Juniper as opposed to simply FOR her. I remember my mom teaching me how to sew little purses when I was a girl, and I want Juniper to have memories like that. And I definitely want to nurture her creativity and teach her some valuable skills. And when Flynn is older I’ll do the same for him. (He loves to steal Juniper’s mermaid. I should make one for him, a merman perhaps?)

I love this little lady.