This week the kids painted these cute birdhouse ornaments. We got them this past spring at Joann’s I believe. Hopefully we will get a chance to make some birdie ornaments to go with them.
Fairy has this pretty pink bracelet that she got some time ago. I can’t even remember where any more, but the Pixie girl has recently taken in interest in it and for all of you with two little girls (or if you have a sister) I’m sure you can imagine how well that has gone over…. LOL… not well at all. Gammy, ’cause Gammy can, indulged the girls in a jewelry making endeavor this past weekend. Pixie made herself a new favorite pink bracelet and Fairy made a lovely rainbow necklace (with a heart) that she has yet to take off. Gammy and I each made ourselves something too and Bug came to the party late but ended up making a ‘surprise’ for Mommy for Christmas. 🙂 And although we used a full rainbow of colors here, I’m including this for our Unplugged Challenge theme Purple. We had wanted to use some of Fairy’s Purple Shoe Beads she got over a year ago… but of course couldn’t find them at the last minute.
We used glass, plastic and silver beads on elastic string. We used the elastic string so the girls could put on or remove their jewelry themselves. After you tie off the elastic string it is a good idea to use a dab of super glue to hold the knot…. but be careful! Gammy glued one of the bracelets to her finger. We all found this quite humorous. She even had a good chuckle until we gave up on solvents and she had to pull it off. So be careful.
For this week’s Unplugged Challenge theme Wheel, we made fuzzy yarn color wheels. We started by reading one of our favorite books, Mouse Paint.
We’ve done a Mouse Paint project in the past, so I wanted to do something different this time around. Since my kiddos are part hamster (they love to shred, cut, rip little bits) we took scraps of yarn and cut them up into little bits to make our color wheel.
After we cut up the yarn into little bits, we sorted them into the color piles.
I then took paper plates (regular card stock with a circle template would work too) and cut out the center circle.
I found the center of the circle and then used a ruler to divide the plate into 6 equal pieces.
The kids covered the plate with a liberal amount of glue and started with placing the primary colors in every other piece. They then went back and filled in the secondary colors.
For the Unplugged Theme Weather, we read the book It Looked Like Spilt Milk which is all about finding shapes in clouds. Unfortunately it has been sooo cloudy and rainy that we couldn’t look for cloud shapes outside. The sky has been a thick blanket of grey clouds not the fun puffy ones on a blue background. But we had fun with this project.
After we read the book (if was fun having a copy for each kiddo), we ripped up white construction paper in little shapes. Some of the shapes we were trying for, others were just happy accidents.
Once we had a bunch of shapes we glued them onto a large sheet of blue construction paper.
Then we wrote across the top "It Looked Like" and labeled the images with a white pencil.
Inspired by last week’s Unplugged Challenge Theme Feather, we broke out a Dream Catcher kit that has been sitting here for a couple years. Fairy has repeatedly asked to do it but I figured it was still beyond their skills.
It still took a lot of mommy guidance and help but she definitely had fun with the finishing touches of adding the streamers, beads and feathers. Bug helped a bit too with the wrapping of the ring but he was more interested in playing table hockey with the beads ;).
It has been cold and rainy all day. So after we finished up our school activities we raided the craft cabinet for a project. This is what we came up with… a Felt Leaves Fall Garland.
What you need…
Various pieces of fall colored felt (craft felt is perfectly fine here – no need for wool)
Yarn
Yarn needle
Lots of beads with large holes
Leaf Pattern (get one from Wee Folk Art or collect leaves from your yard and trace)
(Embroidery floss or fabric paint if you would like to add the leaf vein details – after trying one, we decided to leave ours plain).
Cut out a bunch of felt leaves (we used 13).
Cut a long piece of yarn (3 to 4 yards) or for multiple family members cut out a yard of yarn each.
Poke the yarn needle through the top of a leaf about 1/2" from the edge and tie a large knot on one end.
String about 12" of beads and then add another felt leaf. Continue until you have strung all of your garland.
We each beaded a one yard section starting with a leaf and ending with a section of beads.
I took all the completed sections, tied them together, added the last leaf so both ends ended with a leaf, then trimmed the yarn to make our one long garland piece.
I think it adds a fun festive touch to our mantle.
Last year while completing our Harvest Activities we made 10" square batik quilt blocks each month (September, October, November) with the intent to make a quilt showcasing the kids artwork. This project got buried in the craft cabinet during the holidays and never resurfaced. Recently, I’ve been working on another quilt project and all of the kids have been begging to help. That project is not one that I can have the kids help on but I remembered the lost harvest blocks. Today has been a rainy day and it seemed like a good time to pull the Harvest Quilt.
I cut out some additional 10" squares of fabric that seemed to go with the harvest theme. Then we laid out the pieces in a random manner. The only thing I planned was that the kids blocks stayed in one row so they could each sew up their row.
The kids took turns pinning and then sewing up their rows (with mommy’s help of course). They love getting to use my sewing machine ;).
I then sewed all the rows together to form the quilt top and ironed the seams.
During nap/quiet time, I found a piece of muslin (the only fabric I had large enough laying around for the backing) and some batting. I sewed up the quilt (layer it batting, backing right side up, top right side down… I messed up this order once in high school and still have a quilt mocking me in my closet that is finished with the batting on the outside. I’ve never had the energy to seam rip all the way around that queen sized quilt. LOL) leaving a 6" opening.
I trimmed the edges, flipped the quilt right side out, hand stitched the opening closed, and then iron the side seams for a finish edge. I pinned the quilt and then tied the corners with a thick cotten thread.
And we now have a Harvest Quilt that showcases some of the kids art work. It makes a fun lap quilt/play mat that the kids are very proud to say they made.
Pixie has recently discovered Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? and it has become a must read every night at bedtime. For something fun for her we used this book as the basis for our art project this week. We read the book, talked about how Eric Carle made the pictures and then created our own cut paper pictures of animals. My kids love anything that lets them use scissors and a glue stick. They sat around the table quite content for some time 🙂 .
Cut out the main shapes to build the animals (lol – take note of the floor 😉 ). We used construction paper because it is what I had on hand but tissue paper would be nice as well… although it might be harder for little kids to use to cut shapes.
Glue everything onto a large sheet of white paper forming your animal. For the older kiddos, have them pay attention to the order you paste the pieces down. What you place on top will seem closer in the picture.
Add details with crayons or markers.
I was reading in my little Advent book our church handed out, about a German Tradition that includes 12 specific ornaments to ensure a happy marriage. I thought it would be fun to create these 12 themed ornaments with the kids.
Angel (symbol of God’s guidance)
Fish (symbol of Christ’s blessing and of fertility)
Teapot (hospitality)
Bird (joy, happiness and the Holy Spirit)
Rabbit (hope and peace with nature)
Fruit Basket (generosity and plenty)
Heart (love in the home)
Pine Cone (fruitfulness, motherhood)
Flower Basket (good wishes in the home)
Rose (symbol of affection and the Virgin Mary)
House (protection)
Santa (goodwill, giving and sharing)
This is a project I have wanted to do with the kids for awhile now… a great summer project. My nephew’s birthday was last week and we will be seeing his family for the first time in a long time at a wedding next week. The kids have already picked out a gift for their cousin but I wanted to give him something homemade too… something the kids could make for him. Sooo… Bug and I decide that the t-shirts would be cool.
This was our first attempt but the kids have already been asking to do it again. I’m sure we will get better at it… of course the big mistake was on my part. I had too many colors to pick from for the first try. The kids wanted to use all the colors and like an Easter egg that has been dipped in every color (if you have ever dyed Easter eggs with a two year old I’m sure you know what I’m talking about) the shirts started to take on that mucky brown/purple color.
We started with washed but damp 100% cotton shirts, Dylon brand permanent dyes, salt, rubber bands and containers. The Dylon brand dyes are reactive with salt and warm tap water (safer for the kids with no boiling water… of course don’t eat it or get it in your eyes). You will probably want gloves… but I didn’t have any. I think I need a manicure before the wedding ;). The kids were dressed in their swim suits and old t-shirts.
Then off course comes the tying part. Bug was able to do this part on his own but the girls needed help. They would pinch off the fabric they wanted tyed and I put the rubber band on for them.
After the shirts were tied I prepared the dyes. I followed the directions on the packet, which included I believe (I didn’t save a packet to look at) 4 TB of salt, 4 cups warm water and the dye. A quick dip was enough to get light colors. Had we only used one color… thorough soaking would have led to much brighter colors. The dye colors mix like they should… red and blue will make purple.
Then we rinsed the shirts until the water ran clear (I actually did this part… the kids held the hose for me).
It was very exciting when we took the rubber bands off. Of course the kids didn’t totally understand what was supposed to happen and they eagerly awaited each shirts unveiling. I rinsed them again and then hung them to dry in the shade.
