crafty holiday plans

I think I can safely post about holiday gifts at this point as some of my intended gift recipients don't read my blog.

I have plans for handmade gifts for the littles in my family. Luckily that's just three handmade gifts. For my nephew R, I'm putting together a rainbow pillow. Last time I saw him I noticed he kept scribbling an arc everywhere and pointing to it saying something that I finally figured out was "rainbow." I think he'll enjoy the tactile sensation of the embroidered letters that spell out each color.

I left out indigo, however. I have a feeling that it might confuse him more likely than not. Also, I couldn't find a solid indigo colored fabric at the store.

On the flip side of the rainbow, I'm going to embroider the numbers 1-6 on each strip of color. And I'm going to tuck some big flat glass beads into each strip so that there are the correct number of beads in each numbered strip. I'm going to rig it so that you can slide the beads across the arc of the rainbow (sort of like you would slide the beads across an abacus?). It's meant to be educational and subtle and tactile. All stuff that I think little R can appreciate. Hopefully his parents won't think I am trying to send subverted sexual identity messages to their preschool kid. There's also going to be a fluffy cloud involved which I think will help. More photos to follow which I think will help to explain.