Button fun

After school this morning, T2, her friend K and I played with the button collection. Scooping. Pouring. Stirring. oh, and of course examining the buttons.

Trying something new

We usually wrap the Children's Birthday gifts in fancy paper or use gift bags and tissue paper. Each year I realize I didn't manage to make the reusable cloth gift bags that I meant to!

I decided to try something different this year - instead of buying paper, I wrapped the gifts in plain florist paper (which we already had for crafts) but instead of leaving them plain I chose for each package a word that describes him and wrote it repeatedly on the paper. I wished there were more packages so I could have written more words.

Hopefully he'll feel good when he sees

Awesome fun good friend loving handsome smart passionate thoughtful caring strong & helpful

This might become a tradition - not necessarily to use descriptive words but maybe words relating to achievements of the year. Next time, I won't leave it until the last minute so it looks better : )

My first baby....

...turns 9 tomorrow

I can't believe it.
He's so big, all knees and elbows when I catch him unaware and and he lands in my lap.
His shoes are size 5.
He technically doesn't need a booster seat in the car since his last Birthday and he's frustrated that we insist he still use it because he doesn't weigh much and it's safer.
He's very good at speaking French and on occasion will speak in French rather than English by mistake, even though we don't speak French.
He knows more about the Titanic than many adults.

His favourite colour has been yellow for as long as I can remember - in fact when he was about 3 he wanted to be yellow when he grew up.

He is very mechanically minded and could very well become a third generation Engineer.
He's crazy about transportation - especially planes and trains.
He is a master at Lego building.
He loves the Discovery channel.
He's a very picky eater - but he's wiling to try more things now than before.
He never fails to wash his hands after going to the bathroom (except during the night).
He loves vanilla soy milk but only Silk brand.
He detests socks and pulls them off the second he gets home.
He loves Croc season!
He insists on sleeping wrapped in fleece blankets, even in the summer.
He has bonded with Huds more than I expected.
He is easily irritated by his sister.
His favourite chocolate bar is Aero.
He and I have matching moles - exact same placement.
He is not yet embarrassed by us, his parents and has yet to refuse a kiss or hug - even in public.

He's awesome. As much as he denies it - he'll always be my baby

Things I miss about summer......

A few of the many things I miss about summer.....

Solar dried laundry - air drying it in the house just isn't the same

summer clothes

Leaves, flowers, grass and even weeds

The beach.

Puppyhood

One of the things about last summer that I am not missing!

In the summer, I'll be missing things about winter!

ABC bean bag toss

Last year when T2 was learning her letters and letter sounds, I made this from a shower curtain. I drew the circles using a plate as a template, drew the letters and coloured them with permanent markers. Either she would throw the bean bag and then name the letter/letter sound it landed on or I would ask her to aim for a certain letter. We also used it for jumping on certain letters. It's still fun now, even though she knows the letters, now she gets to work on her aim!!

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Belated bird treats

Way back when we had our first snow, T2, her friend K and I made bird treats. At the time, my computer was acting weird so I wasn't able to blog. Here are treats our birds have been enjoying while our part of the world has been frozen....

Buttons, buttons and even more buttons

I needed buttons for a craft project but didn't want them to be new ones. I wanted old mismatched buttons, in shades of white so I asked on my local freecycle group if anyone had any buttons they no longer needed. A few people had buttons they had been collecting for a while. One woman's collection was over 20 years old. I was excited to collect them, bring them home and wash them and check them out. When they were clean and dry, I picked out all the ones I wanted (a huge container of mismatched white ones - perfect!) and set the coloured ones aside. When I was small my Mum had a box of buttons - not many, but I loved to handle them and sort them. I thought my kids might like to do the same. We have buttons for threading but there's not much variety and these freecycled ones have great shapes, colours and textures. I'd like to know the history behind some of them - I wonder if my children will imagine what they might once have been attached to like I do......

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr

We had another snowfall last night and would have loved to go out and play in the snow but T2 was feeling kind of grouchy wanted to stay in her jammies so I brought the outside in to her.

It turned out looking more like a snow penguin but it was fun, Huds licked up all the puddles on the floor and we stayed warm!

Sand dough

Yesterday I made sand dough for T2. It was very easy and the results interesting for sure.

3/4c water
1/2c cornstarch
1tsp vegetable oil
1c clean dry sand

Bring water to a rolling boil.
Remove from heat, add oil and cornstarch - it will foam slightly Stir hard until foam subsides. Put back on (medium) heat for about a minute, stirring constantly until cornstarch thickens and is mostly incorporated. Texture should resemble watery mashed potato. Cool 10 minutes.
Using hands mix in sand. Blend well and knead until dough forms. Enjoy!
This dough can be baked at 120 degrees for about 1 hour.

Thinking of the Whitt family today.
Tuesday Fiona Whitt
October 11, 2006 - January 30, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

T2 and I made a hasty NYE craft today - a shiny noise maker. She won't be staying up until mid night but we'll celebrate with her earlier in the evening - T1 will see the New Year in with us, a movie and a big bowl of popcorn!

It's so quick to make and doesn't need too many materials.

You'll need: dowel/wooden spoon/pencil
Aluminum foil
curling ribbon
bells if you have them (if not - it can just be a NYE 'wand')
small piece of cardboard
Chenille stems if you have them.

We wrapped foil around the dowel,
Drew a star on cardboard (I used a cookie cutter as a template) and roughly folded foil aaround it and squished it into shape.
While T2 coloured on the star with markers, I threaded bells onto a couple of chenille stems and wound them around the dowel (could be threaded on ribbon if no stems)
Then I cut several lengths of curling ribbon and tied them to the top of the dowel.
Finally I added the star - this can be easily attach by hot glue/staple/tape




You may also need a couple of these

Glue, glue and even more glue

I had collage goodies ready, a bowl of glue, glue spreader and paper all ready for T2. I let her do whatever she wanted to do with it. The result was definitely gluey and may take until next year to dry but she totally loved searching through the collage box until she found what she was looking for.

Letting go...

I like my craft cupboard to be organized so I can easily find what I'm looking for. As part of my post-Santa reorganizing, I set to work on the playroom cupboards to make room for new toys. I didn't stop there and decided to take out all the collage goodies and make sure everything was back in the correct bag/envelope so they would no longer over flow out of the designated container. Once everything was back in it's place, I started thinking about how, were I a child, I'd probably prefer rummaging through a box of wispy, sparkly treasures than simply pulling out a package. Here's where I felt an overwhelming desire to let go of the Kate Gosselin in me and I took the box out, opened all the packages, dumped out all the pom poms, foam shapes, feathers etc in to the box, plunged my hands in and tossed them like a salad. It was strangely liberating!

Exhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaale

Now I can breathe - no more gift shopping/wrapping/delivering.

As one year draws to a close and another dawns, we'll be planning a year of buying less, making more and using what we have. Simplifying this part of our life will hopefully balance the chaos of a probable house move/school change for T1/start of Kindergarten for T2 and Huds the dog probably leaving us to train as a dog guide (unless he gets chosen for the breeding program - he's one of 4 that's being considered).

My head has been spinning with ideas of things I want to try to make - so much so, it's keeping me awake at night. Waiting for sleep is about the only chance I get to really think without distractions and ideas come flooding in.

My relaxation time has been consumed by loom knitting/ I am so 'hooked' (lol). I've made many hats and now I'm working on a blanket. It's so easy and the result is much more even than when I knit with needles.

The kids are thrilled with their new toys and the homemade gifts I made seemed well received so all is good.

Happy New Year.

Happy Holidays

I'm having computer problems. Check back with me next week and hopefully they will be solved!

Grrr

It's hard to feel jolly when the sewing machine malfunctions halfway through a project aaaaaargh

It's all about the glitter...

At this time of year a craft isn't complete without glitter. It's a rare thing to reach December 25 without glitter being spread throughout the house via fingers or feet (this year we can add doggy paws to the list) and this year is no exception.

Today T2 and I made glitter ornaments for our tree. I cut out an upper case 'T' from cardboard. T2 smothered it in glue and a sprinkle heap of glitter. We repeated this with a triangle and a circle and once she, the table, the floor and surrounded area were suitably sparkling - she was ready to move onto something else leaving me to deglitter and remind myself that soon the glitter can go away again until it's time to do it all again next December!

Busy, busy, busy....

Like most people, I am crazy busy right now - finishing projects, shopping, planning and suffering from brain over load. Within the craziness, I have been trying to find opportunities for fun and relaxation. My latest discovery is circular loom knitting. I can knit but not very well - I have a problem with tension which results in uneven knitting and that causes tension and frustration for me too! With the circular loom - I can knit a baby hat in less than an hour and it looks pretty even too. This will be a great activity for me when I sit for a while - it's portable too so perfect for anywhere pretty much! I think I'll make a bunch of tiny baby hats. When T2 was born, we were offered a basket of hand knitted hats to choose one from rather than the usual jersey type. It was nice knowing that someone had crafted it for a new life. I'd like to donate some too - how nice to think it might be the very first piece of clothing a new baby will wear.

T2 and I had fun today making hanging snow flakes and a snow flake ornament. I found the hanging snow flake craft somewhere online but my computer keeps freezing and I didn't bookmark the site so I can't remember who to credit for the idea. It was the simplest craft ever and it looks really cute (pics to follow).

I've been finishing up some home made gifts and getting them ready to deliver - several tutus, hair clips, head bands and I'm almost finished a landscape board for my little friend J's train track to be built on. He had a train table but it was too small so he'll now have a 3'x4' board to play on and it can slide under his bed when he's done with it. I just have to seal it with a clear coat and it will be done!

Next I need to make T2 a stocking because T1 has a large one and until now T2 has had a small one but now she's 3 - I'm sure she'll notice and let us know how unfair it is so I will be sewing that tonight. Lastly, inspired by my friend Crisa - I'm going to (try to) make us matching PJ pants and add motifs to shirts so we can all have homemade holiday jammies to wear on December 24. I am not at all experienced at sewing so this could be interesting!

I've been having computer problems -being able to type this much without it crashing, is pretty amazing!!

Through the eyes of a 3 year old or two.....

...I am an amazing artist. I'm totally not but I am able to colour inside the lines quite neatly and therefore T2 and her friend watched me colour as if I were some kind of artistic genius. It's nice to be admired - even if only for a minute or two!!!

There's nothing quite like.....

....being 3, dressing up and twirling with a friend. The pictures might be blurry (they were moving very fast!!) but I love them all the same.

Brrr

Winter is here - snow is on the ground - I love it. I always dread winter but when it arrives I mostly like it. I don't enjoy the puddles made by boots, the icy sidewalk or the windchill but crisp snowy days I love. I like the way snow makes everything look so bright but I don't enjoy the dark mornings and having to leave my comfy warm bed to start the day. Snow sculptures, snow angels, door wreaths and lights wound through the trees make everything look magical, dark evenings make me want to snuggle under a blanket and go to bed early with a good book.

Today I decided that T and I would make some icicles like these. I didn't use ornament hangers - instead I knotted a loop of ribbon and hid the knot among the foil with the loop poking out the top. We scrunched the foil and glued and glittered and they came out really cute in a 3 year old smushed kind of way. I took pictures but they didn't come out great. You'll just have to use your imagination. Anyway - it's simple to do and doesn't take long. The end results = sparkly and shiny - what more could you ask for?

I've been busy getting ready for the holidays. Tonight I completed another gift. I wanted to make my little friend G a tutu - which I did, but I felt it needed something more so I made a hair clip and a head piece to go with it. I hope she likes them!

Finally...

T1 and I finally completed the puzzle. T1 put in the last piece!

Overheard....

Tired of finding miniature animals all over the floor, I told T2 that she needed to pick them up and put them in the box or I would suck them up with vacuum and they would be gone. Her response "No Mommy, the elephant won't fit -but if it does, it is strong and it will swipe the vacuum away with it's trunk"

T2 -1
Mommy-0

Hand Holiday tree

We haven't quite finished this project as nap time snuck up on us but we'll finish it later this afternoon. All you need are tissue paper, cardboard/sturdy paper, glue, pencil, scissors and a small hand to draw around.

Draw around child's hand on cardboard and cut it out to use as a template. Fold green tissue paper so you have several layers - draw around the template on the top layer and cut through all the layers to give you many tissue paper hands.

Next - cut out a tree shape out of paper.

Glue the hands in rows, starting at the bottom and overlapping the rows until you get to the top. You can add glitter if you dare!

Holiday ornament.

Today T2 and I made ornaments for our tree.

Using a cookie cutter as a template I cut out a tree (any seasonal shape would look great) and then cut out the middle to leave a tree frame.

I cute out 2 pieces of contact paper approximately the shape of the tree. We sprinkled holiday confetti and then glitter on the contact paper (yay no glitter clean up as it all stuck!!). I stuck the second piece of contact paper on top to seal all the pretties inside. Next I glued the sandwiched contact paper to the back of the frame and trimmed the contact paper to make it neat. Lastly I punched a hole and threaded a ribbon for hanging. These would look cute as sun catchers too!

They look so cute on the tree with the lights shining through!