frozen colour cubes

Someone, please tell me who did this first? Remember it from my blurfing....
One night, I put food colouring in the ice cube tray.

My DH did a double take in the morning!
silly girl
We set it up on the trampoline outside with a piece of white fabric on the bottom to catch all the wonderful colour!

see how purdy it is?!

They started painting with the ice cubes, but the colour wasn't very vibrant, nor could you really tell what they were painting.

So we decided to draw pictures with a white crayon.

It worked a little better..

but the colour was still dull.


Can you see the squirrel!??

But look at the nice cloth we have now.

We took this big cloth inside. my intent is to cut it up to make some napkins. I have a feeling the colours will wash out.
Here's the sad part of the story... we left the rest of the paintings on the clothes line. It has rained all night and day. No colour anymore, just some crayon markings. But hey! Now we can use the canvas to paint something else.

Have a good one,
Amanda

Treasure Stones

The parenting Centre, where we frequent, has this activity at times.
It's an altered playdoh with an added bonus. It takes a few days and you get 2 activity times from it!
Here's the recipe:

1 cup flour
1 cup used coffee grounds
1/22 cup salt
1/4 cup sand
3/4 cup water
Mix dry and slowly add water. Knead mixture. Cover little bits and bobs so it's in a ball. Let dry 2-3 days or bake in oven at 150 degrees 15-20 minutes. Let me say, that the baking in the oven takes much longer than that. it's not worth it. let it dry for a few days. Put it on a baker's rack to let the air flow underneath too and turn them over now and again.

Choose your treasures. these are mostly bugs. it was what was close to me in a cup. i didn't feel like getting adventurous and looking for things. there were no complaints.


Here they after more than a few days. i kept the activity until a friend visited.

Actually, a different friend was here for the making of them. She took some home with her.

The various digging implements that you saw from the ice treasures.

And a reward! The doh is still a bit soft in the middle, so it's not so difficult to get out.

There you have it.


Next time, a post about some more clothes I made for the doll. A beauteous red velvet and grey linen dress. All fancy and with a cape too! i got a tremendous amount of time to sew yesterday. Ahhh.... so nice.

have a good one,
Amanda

volcano!

At Munchkin camp this week, Neve made a papier mache volcano. They made it erupt in class and they got to bring it home. So of course, we had to try it here too!

1 cup of baking soda

1/2 cup of warm water with some dishwashing liquid in it. Don't forget the dish liquid. we did the first time. It helps to slow down the eruption. Mix the baking soda and water together.

1/2 cup of vinegar. you can add food colouring to it.

Pour,

pour....

pour...

and if you really want to drag it out, just pour a bit at a time.


it was a fun little project. I think i just may have to get some coca cola and mentos though!

ciao,
Amanda

Ice Treasures

A few years ago, I showed this ice treasure activity here (she looks so small)
During a heat wave like we are going through right now, it's a perfect activity to cool off. Ice treasures...

During the year, I collect bits and bobs with this activity in mind. little picks, brushes, eye droppers.

I also take little things like kinder egg toys, beads, pom poms, buttons, marbles, figurines, you name it and put it in a container for summer. Put them in water in a plastic container and freeze.
It's neat to see them try different methods to try and get them out. Try to have a mixture of floating things, sinking things, larger sizes that they'll have to work at and easier things like buttons and foamies to pick off easily.

I make sure I make up a few extra for when friends come over.

Back to sit in front of the air conditioner.

Ciao,
Amanda

Pixie Pop

Hi everyone,
Here's a great game for the kiddies that I saw over at We Bloom Here, who saw it at Kleas
(sorry for the poor photos, it was a dark, gloomy, rainy day and I was sick sick sick on the couch.) I don't think I even have this in a good story telling order, but here goes..
after making the pixies (most excellent tutorials in links above, find some kind of lever device. I tried the popsicle stick with a dowel, but this combination made the best jump for us. a nail file and a sharpie. Oh, i got the kids to spend some time making the faces on the pixies by 1st sanding a bit of the varnish off with the nail file so i could catch up with the hat sewing in my ill health. They really enjoyed giving them personalities. That activity in itself was amusing.

glue the same coloured pieces of felt inside the carton. If they get it in, it's a point. If they get it in the right colour, 3 points. Be warned, pixies will be flying all over the room until you get the knack for popping.

They spent another few days playing meeting with the pixies. Here's the mayor. He held a very long meeting for about a day. Long winded I guess.

The only picture of some faces. they look like they're having a good time. Maybe the mayor is talking about tax breaks and free popcorn.

And the last shot of an aerial view...


Apologies for the lack of posts lately. I'm on the Fun Fair Committee at my kids' school. There are 3.5 of us doing the whole thing! Crazy. I'll be having a table there with my things. Luckiliy, I have a bunch of stuff leftover from another sale, so that's what they'll get. Ever feel that what you put on the table is not representing all that you can do? I don't have any roving/felted things. Only some birds. What about my penguin and owls and acorns and soap?ugh.

The fun fair will have a crazy hat contest. My son has decided he wants to win the tallest hat. If he doesn't, it should be the most original. It's going to be a sandwich, made out of foam. yep, crazy I am. After making a few little sandwiches and burning my fingers once too many on the hot glue, I called it a night and went to bed at 9:30. yep, woke up at 4:30 with a full night's sleep. So here I am. Maybe I'll have some breakfast now, the sun is coming up and the birdies are singing. :}

have a good one,
Amanda

games bag

This was fun to figure out.

I think it is the first time I made a quilting block like this. Any kind of quilting block. There's a reason for that. Precision. Precise I'm not. Anyhow, it works for a checker board.
And a note book to keep score of card games. (cards inside the bag)

On the other side, a tic tac toe board with a felt star from Ikea. It was in the Christmas aisle. I bought a few. Or more.

The gift's recipient likes it. that's what counts.


Have a good one,
Amanda

Marble travel a la Serving Pink Lemonade

Loved this idea when I saw it on Serving Pink Lemonade
So many great ideas there.. go take a look..



Make sure you sew the lines big enough for a marble to go through. And make sure you don't sew the marble into a corner. Ask me how I know?!!
I came up with a few of my own runs for the marble. It's kind of addictive, thinking them up and sewing them up.


And some letters for the kids names. Can you imagine doing a whole pile of them in letters to spell the birthday kid's name?!! How much more personal can you get?


i crudely machine sewed the slit on the side. too lazy to hand sew.

Next round that I make, I will put the turning right side out slit where the ribbon is and attach and sew seam all together with the machine. Just makes a little more sense there.


I brought one next door to the neighbour's daughter with her initial. She wasn't home, but her mother couldn't stop playing with it and exclaimed how addictive it was.

Try it for yourself and have a good look at Serving Pink Lemonade

thanks for looking,
Amanda

two tutus

I've been admiring these tutus at Treasures for Tots
So this week, when I went to Michael's I picked up some tulle. Today when Angelina Ballerina came on, Neve ran for her princess dancing dress. I knew then that I had to make the tutu right away.


I love how easy it was. The worst part was the tulle hooking on all my little hangnails from my winter dry hands problem.
(BTW, Burt's Bees cuticle cream really helps, but I can't find what pocket I put it in.)


I wrapped the tulle around a mimi muffin tin and only cut one side of it so that the tulle measured 10 inches when put on the elastic. i wanted a longer tutu rather than the traditional shorter one.

After she tried it on and danced a bit, there was a request for one for dolly. so here it is


This doll has been nicknamed "Bride of Chuckie" as she is motorized and energized. she talks, asks for bottle, blankie, bear and plays peekaboo and makes raspberry sounds. yeah, not so fun when there is no one to play with her. Turn her off and walk away kid.


So, this is step one for the tutu. I'm going to embellish it with ribbons and maybe some jewels. I'll show you the final one when it gets done.

Happy weekend!

Thanks for looking,
Amanda