Masterpieces of Art in Historical Context

Or rather, color print-outs of artwork cut out, glued in the right(-ish) spot on our big basement timeline, and then painted over again with glitter Mod Podge:

After a brief foray into a library copy of the computer game Masterpiece Mansion, Willow decided that she wanted to learn more art history. All of our print-outs have so far come from The Worldwide Art Gallery, although this will also be a great subject to have in mind the next time that we attend one of those used book clearance sales that happen here pretty frequently--can't you imagine how perfect a five-cent used art history textbook would be for this project?

I still have much to do to figure out other points in an art history unit study, especially since Will has also asked to learn about Ancient Egypt, and we're still doing projects about China, dinosaurs, ballet, Independence Day, cooking, and geometry, but just from our brief study so far, Willow has already achieved the hallmark of cocktail party conversation material, in that she now has a favorite artist.

Hieronymus Bosch. Oh, dear.

Throwing the Rainbow

Oh, my goodness, bean bags have been quite the plaything around here of late. After close to an entire lifetime of being fairly uninterested in tossing and catching games, the girls are both now just about obsessed. Syd likes straight catch, but Will is in love with the "pop fly game," in which I toss a bean bag high, high, high up for her. However, she has her own particular take on the skill, preferring to crouch like an animal as I toss it, then spring up for the (hopeful) grab.

Since I like to include a couple of play shots with the still life shots in my etsy listings, I combined a game of pop flies with a photo shoot for the rainbow bean bag set now up in my pumpkinbear etsy shop. Yeah, "catching" a good shot of a good pop fly catch...

Tricky, a bit. Fortunately, I try to keep my focus at least as much on the child-centered process as I do on the child-centered product (not saying I'm perfect at that, every day, every hour, but I try), so a tricky photo shoot that involves a little girl thrilled to be leaping up to catch tossed bean bags for an hour at a time is an okay photo shoot in my book.

Here are the other photos in the rainbow bean bag listing, some more sedate, one not so much:

How lucky we are that so much of our work is just as pleasant as this.

At Least It's Clean Laundry

Near-ish enough to bedtime for little girls to start feeling sleepy, Sydney apparently came across her beloved I Spy quilt, all fresh and warm and fluffy, in the bin of clean laundry ready to be sorted:

In the effort of True Mom Confessions, I must tell you that all I did was drag the bin into her bedroom and turn out the light, and then I carried on with my evening plan of red wine, chocolate ice cream, and the final season of The Tudors on DVD.

...and Bubbles

While Willow had her wool felt bug kit, Sydney had her own kit, at which she worked diligently--

--in order to make--

--bubble wands!

 
 
 
 
Bubbles on a summer afternoon--I'm not sure what a better day would look like.

P.S. Don't forget about the Artterro craft kit giveaway that I've got going on over at Crafting a Green World. Missing out on it is NOT an option, my friends.

Bugs...

Because I can't thoughtfully review a gorgeous-looking eco-friendly children's craft kit until my children have had the chance to see if they can wreck it, throw a fit over it, or use it to shoot their eyes out, I do occasionally get sent the odd freebie, such as this Artterro wool felt bug kit that I threw at Willow to see what she'd do with it.

Here's what she did, as a matter of fact:

Played with the wool felt shapes:

Hot glued some stuff together:

 
Did a little sewing:

Admired her work:

And did a little more sewing:

And yes, her fingernails are filthy. Finally had to trim them practically down to the nail bed to get them clean:

 
Cute as a bug?

 
Definitely nothing cuter than that bug-making baby!

You must now click yourself over to Crafting a Green World and enter the Artterro craft kit giveaway that I'm hosting. You can't win if you don't play!

Rainbow W.I.P.

Bazaar Bizarre Cleveland is in less than two weeks! I need the whole family's help to get ready in time, even, apparently, the help of those who might not seem traditionally helpful:

Walking too close to the iron and ensuring that I have to inform people that my products do NOT come from a cat-free home are important jobs, too, you know.

And thus stands my stack of cut fabric, ready to sew into rainbow sets of bean bags:

Add to this the additional cat duties of knocking over my fabric stacks if I leave them out, batting bobbins underneath shelves if I accidentally drop them, and scattering the dried beans if I leave the box open and unattended. They keep me tidy, those cats.

A Girl, Her Cat, a Book, and a Suspicious Amount of Rope

Otherwise known as your average, ordinary, typical, everyday Saturday afternoon.