Rafael's Softee

I was visiting my usual blogs for some ideas for craft day. We've been a little lax on that since Christmas. With the bitter wind today, this is what we did..
Home made softees.


I followed the great tutorial on Valerie's blog


She has easy, fun, frugal ideas to share with the kids. Rafael loved it. especially the stuffing part. He was amazed at how long and how much stuffing it took. The front fabric is from a very huge Ikea curtain. I've been using it a lot and still have 1 and a half curtains. Love a great deal from repurposing.

Go take a look yerself and spend some time at Valerie's.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

autumn tree tutorial

Yesterday, we were going to go leaf hunting to do some autumn crafts. By the time we finished looking for a few things at the store, we got rained out on the way to the park. Plan B.
I've been wanting to do a mac tac leaf craft for some time and kept changing my mind on what to do.
Yesterday, this is what came out. Here is a little tutorial.

I cut out the tree from the paper on the back of the mac tac, not through the plastic.


The kids used some gold sand I bought at a yard sale this summer to cover the tree trunk. ( I have no idea what this stuff is, it is very gold. Maybe some stuff we shouldn't breathe in there??!!)

I then cut off another layer of paper for the torn tissue paper and one for the feathers.


then I tore off the rest of the paper and let them put leaves on there. These came from Walmart and have glitter on them. I was hoping to use real leaves, but these are fine.


After they were done, i measured another piece of mac tac that was bigger so I could wrap it around the picture and fold it under to ensure it all sticks together. When the picture is so full, the top and bottom pieces don't stick together so well, so the overlapping helps this problem. I used a brayer to roll it together.


there it is... I plan on hanging them in the window after i get the eyelets, cropadile, ribbon and picture all in the same room at the same time.

Try one yourself. Neve also did one, but abandoned it at various stages. I would finish a stage and she would come to do the beginning of the next one. She was cranky from a cold. yeah me. All that to be said that it is a good craft for varying ages and stages.

thanks for looking,
Amanda

Kid learning to sew

When we were in nova Scotia, I was focusing on sewing the tooth fairy bags. Rafael was quite interested and wanted to learn how to sew.


A few little tips and some guidance and he picked it up like a pro. He said,"this is so easy. it's just up down, up down." Yes, I guess it is.

He went on to sew 2 more little flannel bags, just for the fun of it. It really helped one night when he was SUPER HYPER. He went in his room and sewed and came out normal again. Good life lessons this.

And so we continued sewing, of sorts the next morning before clearing the breakfast dishes away. They cut up straws and threaded them and hearts from the Martha Stewart punch to make a necklace.


I'm sick at the moment. A wicked, stuff up, drippy nose, shriveled lips, pounding head and ears, cold extremities and warm body and burning face. Yup, I got it good.

Wanna come and play?

thanks for looking,
Amanda

Rock Garden

Howdy!
Well, I have to admit that I haven't done much papercrafting lately, or any type of crafting to be truthful. Our days are filled with adventures and trips to new places. The kids are so busy, they fall asleep in the car to get caught up. There is only so much time in the day for sleeping when you've just learned to ride your bike, swim in the lake and visit friends and family.

Here are some pics of Rafael's rocks that he lovingly put in the garden. This project occupied 2 rainy days.



I think our local pool will be open today! HooraY!!!!!! (the city strike is over) so a little trip there after lunch will be very welcomed.

Thanks for stopping by. Especially, when I've been very lax in my productivity.
Amanda

long weekend activities

Howdy!
Did you have a good weekend? Today was a holiday for the Queen's birthday and yesterday it was mine. My bday is usually on the May long weekend. As a kid, it was a drag, as it is traditionally the 1st camping weekend of the summer. You got it, no one was around to come to my bday party. boo hoo. So this year, we went camping!

We had things to do and some visitors on Friday and decided to go up on Saturday. in the rain!! Everyone was so psyched. All I wanted to do was stay home and make a bunch of my new project. Shhh, can't tell you yet.
But in the rain we went. About 10 minutes on the highway, Neve puked her guts up!! She was sick in the middle of the night, I guess she still had some of the bug. We turned around, went back home to clean her up. I suggested that Henry and rafael go up and Neve and I would join them on Sunday, after I sang at church. NOOOOOOO!!!! was heard from little miss sicky. "I wanna doh tamping too!" What a trouper.

When we got there, it wasn't raining. It hadn't rained there all day. yeah! We set up and had a fire with marshmallows. The most anticipated event of the trip. It was a great time. I think i even got some wind/sun burn. The best part, my Dh loves to camp and cook outdoors. So we ate very well.

Rafael named the little area green island and had great adventures. He was sad to go and took some pictures to remember. I love this one of the sky in the water and take note of how you can see what's in the water in the foreground.



Thanks for looking,
Amanda

clay animals

Howdy!!
As I mentioned before, I've broadened my blurfing to blogs other than papercrafts and was excited to find my way to 4 Crazy Kings. She has awesome activities to do with the kids and I've done a few.

I found a stash of clay in my room. I had bought it from Dollarama a while back and thought it might work for this project.
I cased the whole thing... you can find the original here

The clay was a little more challenging to work with than the model magic. I'm going to look for some to try more things. When the clay did dry, it was brittle. Poor Neve's lion met it's demise as it fell to the floor. Shattered.


I love the colourful Fish that Rafael made. We did a plate background by watering down the paint and blowing it with a straw. they had fun with that one.


Neve's fish was looking colourful until her colours started to run into one another. The joys of no boundaries! I like her plate splat also.


Rafael's lion....


And my favorite is the owl. He painted the branch, then the backgrounds. it is night with a purple moon and the stars.


I highly recommend this activity. I would love to say that it took a long time, but it didn't. We did it in 2 sessions. Make animals and plate backgrounds in one and then painting them in the 2nd after they dried. Sometimes, I think it takes me longer to prepare the activity than it takes them to complete it. Thankfully, they like to paint. They were happy painting extra plates!

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Tulip thanks

Yeah!! I got to my room today. After 2 attempts to get my daughter to nap, she finally fell asleep in my arms on the couch. Problem is, she's still sleeping! It's 6:30pm. I think I'm up for a late night company tonight. :}

i got my son to make 4 thank you cards for his bday presents. It's not his best colouring. he found it a little overwhelming to colour 4 of the same things! Wait till he tries to mass produce 40!



I was inspired by his card, so I made a few of these also. Mine are the mini cards from Stampin' Up! i think they're about 2x3 ish. The sentiment is from the Michael's buck 50 bin, the tulip image is from a 2nd hand sale I went to . Have to check out the company later. And the wooden button came from the buck section at my grocery store. SCORE!!! I coloured with Koh i noor pencils and mineral spirits.





it's very very cold here these days. SO this nice, bright bouquet is a nice break. Hoping to play some more tonight. Will definitely play tomorrow morning. Have the morning to myself and don't have to go out to buy stuff. So I'm home, alone, with ideas, and products, some new toys. All alone, by myself, no one else but me. Oh, did I say that all ready??!!! LOL

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

too hot to stamp

I haven't been in my stamp room for days. It's all nice and clean, I have new toys and have had some free time in the day. But it's too hot to stamp. Very humid here. Since the room is in the attic, I just can't bring myself to stay there for any amount of time. I even have an order for 10 toothfairy kits for my dentist! But no inspirtation to sit in the heat.

Figured that since you're here, I'd show you another Rafael drawing, if I may..

This is a drawing of his best friend Emily. She has lost her tooth in this picture and he put it on her shirt. Don't know what the 2 circles around the nose and mouth is. I asked him to draw me another picture of his family. He drew us on top of her head! Too funny. You can make us all out by our size. Love the way he did the bodies. And those hands!

We've been enjoying wade pools in the area and look forward to much more. Neve is great in them. She is cautious, so her mother doesn't have to freak out over every little thing. Nice for mama.

Hopefully the heat will break soon. We've had several thunder showers, but no break.

thanks for looking,
Amanda

budding artist

My son, rafael, has been colouring for a year. He's a pretty good colourer for 4. he's mixing his mediums... crayon, marker and colouring pencils and uses more than one colour to create a shade.

Finally, finally, he's starting to draw. I was starting to get worried. he never was a scribbler. His original artwork has been few and far between. So I'm super excited about anything that he does in that realm.

Anyhow, here is his card for Father's day. It's me, daddy and himself swimming at the beach. The black lines makes the parking lot and his little sister is walking through the gate. Aren't the swimming arms a hoot?!



I'm hoping to play tonight. Pretty tired though. Trying very hard not to go to bed with the kids.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda