Monday, November 10, 2008
Collaborating with my Girls
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Indianapolis Hearts Children
As we pulled into our neighborhood tonight, car both much less full from a big sale to Half-Price Books and a little more full from a few little sales from the Goodwill Outlet Store, bellies happy with cheap noodles, one child sacked out with her head resting on her brand-new-to-her dinosaur toy, the other contentedly mumbling, "Nurse, nurse, milky-nurse" to herself in her carseat, Matt commented, "It seems like we've been gone all weekend."
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Crayon Crayonis
I mentioned before that I collect those silicone baking molds when I can catch them on sale, just for making crayon crayonis (Latin for "crayon of crayon"--I have two Master's degrees. Sigh), and so today we made more leaves in autumnal colors:
and two sizes of hearts in Christmas colors: and pumpkins, of course, in very special Willow and Sydney colors:
And just so you know that I'm really a consumer at heart, here are other silicone molds that I covet:
But what do you do with big fat fancy crayons, you ask? Why, we colored:
And we colored, right up until Willow just randomly fell into bed, eyes already closed (I hate you, Daylight Savings Time!!! Freakin' MyManMitch!!!)
What did you color today?
P.S. Check out my rant about wool felt over at Crafting a Green World.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Party Hero, Party Foul
First, we make books. I need to fold and sew up 17 blank books for the kiddo gift bags that I'm putting together. I'm periodically asked to make additional blank books for the girls, who are digging through my cardstock stash and apparently finding gold. Syd dictates a book that goes something like this: "Now a cat. Now a cow. Now a horsie. Now a pig," and Will dictates a book about a pony princess who sails the ocean in search of polar bears. Illustration is crucial:
The girls are working so happily that I sneak off into the study to stitch up my 17 blank books, yet something seems awry...
Obviously, what fun is a creative and engrossing activity engaged in on your own at the living room table, when you can run off into the study and squeeze into the three inches of space in between Momma and the wall and run little dinosaurs up and down her arms while she tries to sew?
We did books and blocks and lunch and nap after that. But while the baby (I can still call Syd a baby, right? She is only two-and-a-half) napped, Will and I made some melted crayons with a new mold that I got on big sale--I've been itching to try it out. Although I'm sure it's an enviromental nightmare, I LOOOOVE silicon baking molds. I don't actually bake in them, of course, but they're terrific for melting crayons:The mold comes out of the oven and separates from the crayon so easily that it's just pure happiness itself. You can't tell, but this mold is half pumpkins and half leaves. Will did all the pumpkins, which came out AWESOME, and I did fall colors, red/orange, orange/yellow, green/brown, with the leaves.
And so after an entire day, here's the party stuff so far:
We have all 17 blank books in the back, the birthday girl's birthday bunting, TWO birthday crowns in the making (Syd insisting upon her rights as the baby, I suppose), and some little tchochkes from Learning Treasures to fill out gift bags. Coloring pages made from the party attendees' names are still in process at my computer, manilla envelopes for the birthday girl to decorate for gift bags are with the birthday girl, the party music mix is being compiled in my itunes, and a citywide search is underway for the best price for Crayola 8-packs, on account of I do NOT use RoseArt.
And that's the party hero. Party foul--At 6:30 pm, getting ready for Soup Night at a dear friend's house, Will throws a big screaming fit so I, who am exhausted anyway, lie down on her bed and invite her to lie down with me and snuggle. She lies down, sings the continents song to herself a few times, plays with her fingers a bit, and falls soundly asleep. Apologetic phone call is made.
Curse you, Daylight Savings Time!!! Curse you, MyManMitch!!!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
To Do with my Kids
- I'm already starting out unrealistically, because I wouldn't buy new silk (from silkworms, you know), and any vintage silk scarves I came across wouldn't likely be all white and pristine and dye-ready, but I still love this tutorial for dyeing playsilks with Kool-aid over at the Artful Parent. The girls love to dress up and the playsilks look so versatile and light and fun--perhaps I could someday find actual vintage playsilks?
- I love the birthday crown tradition over at SouleMama. I mean, of COURSE you deserve to wear a crown on your birthday. The girls would certainly like to help with this, as only they can come up with the perfect garish/creative color choices. Perhaps I'll have one ready for a certain little birthday friend's birthday party on Monday?
- Over at Strange Folk in September, I bought a bunch of beautiful rainbow-dyed wool roving. Since then, it's been draped over a shelf in my study looking gorgeous, but my intention has always been to fill a couple of sinks with warm, soapy water and make felted balls or felted rocks (like these from elsie marley) with the girls. I wonder what else I could felt around?
- For an fundraising art project at her child's school, Perpetualplum made mosaic tiles out of small squares cut from the students' artwork. I'm as a rule quite against altering my children's artwork in any way, but Willow, I think, would be old enough to create art specifically for this purpose, and it would also fall in line with some projects I have in mind to work with the girls' love of Eric Carle--he does this same kind of thing, you know.
- You know that my Sydney is into babies and cars in a big way. I'm not that excited about the idea of making doll clothes for her--she's not really into dolls in a "dress them up, dress them down" kind of way, anyway--but I do like the idea of making her some cloth doll diapers, like these from Skip to My Lou. Natural parenting, right?
In other news, I have a game for you. It's called Find the Monkey:
P.S. Check out my other list of autumn-themed art projects over at Eco Child's Play.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Busy Little Beaver Gets Her Just Dessert
in a new space that Handy Matt created by moving around some bookshelves and hauling a third out into the yard; it will join all the stuff he hauled out of the garage on Labor Day, which he STILL HAS NOT REMOVED!!!!! And, I just finished writing a tutorial for Crafting a Green World on painting vinyl records, a project the girls and I did together this morning before voting and storytime.
Yep, I'm awesome. Except, you know what happens when I'm so studious and multi-tasky and organized and productive? My immune system rebels. And I get a cold. Which is why I'm sitting here at office hours all stuffy and runny and achy, but you know what? I'm still staying up late with Matt tonight to watch election returns and drink champagne.
Go Barack!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sisters
Then, three hours later, during a picnic lunch at the park, you see this:Sisters.