Homemade Playdough

I've been having fun scouring Pinterest for fun activities for my son (especially with a new little one on the way). This is one I came across a while ago, but just decided to try it out.

How Does She? has a great tutorial for homemade playdough that I used. It was incredibly easy - it took about 10 minutes from pulling out ingredients to taking the pot off the stove. The only thing that took a little while was mixing the coloring into the playdough. I divided what the recipe made into four bags, added some food coloring, and mixed from there so I wouldn't stain my hands.

It was such a soft and easy to use texture. I think I had just as much fun as Malcolm did!

Starting to play.

Having so much fun! He didn't want to stop playing.

Story Behind the Little Crochet Octopus

While I love all the items I put into my shop, there are some that have a special place for me. And this is definitely one of those.

The first one I ever made of these was the first thing I made for my little son Malcolm before he was born. I had seen some cute toy octopus (octopi?) at baby stores...but I wanted to do something a little more special for Malcolm. I pulled out my yarn and crochet hooks that I hadn't touched for a while, and got to work.

Here was the first version of the octopus.

And from that, not only was this little crochet octopus born, but it really rekindled my love of making things again. It was a combination of this, and some incredible encouragement from my husband, that inspired me to open my Etsy shop last June.

He's an adorable crocheted octopus, with big, friendly eyes!

I wanted to make something that would be fun for him to grab with his chubby little fingers.