The Color of Water

Water Coloring takes on a whole new meaning in this simple (and CHEAP) (...oh, and UNmessy!!) summertime activity in which kids paint with --what else?-- plain old water.

Today I gave the kids a large bowl of water and several fat paintbrushes.  You'd be surprised how long kids (even big kids) on a hot, sunny day will paint with water.  They are fascinated by the way it evaporates.

My kids and their cousin started off painting the patio wall, but it wasn't long before they moved on to other surfaces and then eventually dumped the bowl of water on the wall. No problem!  Just refill that bowl and get back to Water Coloring!

Summer Fun is in the Can

When one thinks of childhood, one often pictures unlimited creativity and imagination. 

And then one wakes up and realizes that children also have an amazing ability to be bored after only TWO DAYS of summer vacation.

So glad that we have The Can.

Years ago (so long ago that I can't remember where I got this idea) I decorated an old oatmeal container with my daughter. We wrote "Summer Fun is in the Can".

Lots of little pieces of paper fit into the can, and on each piece is an idea of what to do if boredom strikes.

At the beginning of each summer I go through the papers to remove some and add others.  For example, "Put on a Barbie fashion show" is no longer in there, now that my daughter is in high school and the Barbies are in the attic.

Our rule is that up to two pieces may be picked in one day, but no more. (I didn't want the children just reading through all of the papers out of sheer ennui.)

The kids make up many of the papers in the Can, but I also add some each year. If I'm reading a magazine with a fun craft or game idea, I'll tear out the page and put it in the Can.  Also, if I notice a neglected toy (think of that Lite Brite in the closet), I'll write the name of it on a paper and throw it in the Can, too. 

Today the boys made a fleet of paper airplanes.  Here are some of our other ideas:

make a house for the fairy garden

ride bikes

do a puzzle

have a catapult contest

look in a cookbook for something to make

plan a family game night

play 'radio station' over the intercom system

make a coloring book for a friend

write and mail a letter to a cousin

host a teddy bear tea party

wash the car

set up a scene with blocks and soldiers

make a marble maze

read the Dangerous Book for Boys

sort all the books in your bedroom

climb a tree

write a story with pictures and staple it into a book

play 'circus' outside on the swing set

use sidewalk chalk

play 'school'

hide something and make a treasure map for someone to go find it

look under your bed/in your closet (you'll likely find something you've forgotten you own!)

make a stuffed animal 'zoo' using laundry baskets for cages

Teacher Gift

I have long wanted to do something with chalkboard paint, and was recently inspired by Craft-Werks' chalkboard mugs and then Someday Crafts' repurposed bottles feature to make this gift for my son's teacher:

The room moms always give the 'big' gift at the end of the year, so I wanted my son to be able to give his teacher something that was more personal.  He wrote the message and picked the flowers with me.  He takes pride in the eggs he gathers.  The glass bottle can be reused as a vase or repurposed as a container for rice or beads; the chalkboard makes it versatile.

To make the chalkboard area on the bottle, I taped off the section I wanted to paint, primed it with a multi-purpose primer, and simply painted three layers of chalkboard paint on it.  [Then I went a little crazy, painting old --and ugly-- photo mats, cheap frames, and anything else that wasn't moving...I'm loving the chalkboard paint almost as much as my kids love the fuse beads.]

Another Use for Chicken Fabric

Found a great tutorial for a fabric keychain on U create and finally I got around to making my own version.  This is a great way to use a little bit of fabric you *really* like. It is also a great way to find your keys!

Ipod & Phone Case

Getting crafty this week!  Or, you could say, getting sick of not being able to find something I could buy that would hold my ipod and phone without scratching it up.  So I found a fabric I would enjoy seeing every day and some felt to match, some ribbon, and a snap fastener kit.

DISCLAIMER: if you know how to sew, how to follow directions for a sewing project, how to do any real crafting, or have left-brained tendencies you may find yourself feeling queasy as you read the following directions. Around here, we just sort of do thing by trial-and-error and hope for the best.

The first thing I did was measure out how much fabric I'd need.  [Yes, I just put the phone and ipod on the fabric and cut around it...  I warned you.  Really left-brained people may want to measure and draw out a plan, but do what works for you.] 

Then I cut ribbon for each side of the case. The ribbons need to be as long as the case fabric, but will be each folded in half. 

 Finally I cut another piece of felt to use as an insert between the ipod and phone, so they won't scratch each other.Felt is great because it does not fray.  The chicken fabric is cotton and does need to be sewn on the edges to keep tiny threads from coming loose.  To do so, I folded under the edge and sewed it to the large felt piece.  You can see they are already sewn together in the photos above.

Just to prove that I do know a *little* about correctly-done sewing projects, the above photo shows that I did iron the folded ribbons and large rectangle.  It is all crooked and crazy-looking, but at least it is flat.

Next, I sewed the felt insert to both sides of one half.  I put the ipod in and it fit. So far, so good!  However, to put both the phone and ipod in the case at this point would make the case too fat to close.  This is why I added the ribbons to the sides, but I tell everyone the real reason is that it looks really good with ribbon on the sides.  See how this works??

Here is where I started wishing I were a bit more left-brained, but I forged ahead bravely.

With the fold of the ribbon where the top of the case will be (shown above at the top of the picture) I sewed a ribbon to each side of the top half of the case.

Then, with the case felt-side-out, I sewed the other side of the ribbon to the other half of the case, stopping near the bottom.  I did not sew across the bottom (unfolded) side of the ribbon.  Since nothing tiny, like a coin, will go inside this case, I am not worried about the small gap this will leave in the case.

I then turned the case right-side-out.  Notice in the above picture that the bottom of the ribbon tucks neatly inside the case. Notice also that the left and right sides of that ribbon are sewn differently.  I'm telling everyone that I did that on purpose because it looks cool that way. You may be thinking that if I had drawn out a plan, I could have figured out a way to make the right and left sides match, but if you are thinking that, you are too left-brained to do crafts with me.  [I did warn you.]

Because my purse is a disaster area, I needed something to keep the phone and ipod inside the case. It had to be something I can undo with one hand (not that I get these things out of my purse while I'm driving, but I may need them while I'm arm wrestling or something, you know).  I opted for snaps. 

Using a snap fastener kit, I attached snaps at alternate places.  The snap fastener kit was easy to find at JoAnn Fabrics and easy to use. The kit requires pounding a hammer on the little fasteners. But like Martha Stewart likes to say, you might not want to do that on your mahogany dining room table.

I've been using the ipod and phone case for a few days now and it is working really nicely. Success!

Chicken Fairy

My littlest guy has been on a fuse bead kick for a few weeks now, ever since we made plant row markers for the vegetable garden.  Usually when my children figure out that some sort of fun activity has a purpose, they no longer want to do it, but not this time.  "N" has made a fairy for the chickens, using a pattern that came with some of our fuse beads.  I hung the Red Faced Chicken Fairy on a pole in the chicken yard.  And I thought that pole had no purpose.  It was just waiting for the day when the Red Faced Chicken Fairy would arrive.

This chicken was not impressed at the turn of events.  When asked her opinion, she said, "Er...shut the door, would ya?" (That chicken is named Teriyaki.  Such a cruel name. No wonder she's so paranoid all the time.)

Here you can see the pole formerly known as Useless now holding the tiny Red Faced Chicken Fairy to overlook our Empire of Dirt.  No wonder I get the Nine Inch Nails song in my head whenever I visit the chickens. It all makes sense now.  (And if you haven't heard Empire of Dirt covered by Johnny Cash, check it out.)

Boo can't figure out why the chickens would need a Red Faced Chicken Fairy.  Hmmmm....

Black Tie and Blue Jeans

We went to a fundraising gala called "Black Tie and Blue Jeans" last night.  Since my husband did not want to wear jeans with his tuxedo, I decided to make him a denim boutonniere.  I used fabric from an old pair of my son's jeans; kids' jeans often are a thinner and softer denim than adult jeans tend to be.  I used the fabric from the knee area so it was well-worn.

For the leaves, I used Modge-Podge to glue together two pieces of green fabric with some floral wire sandwiched between.  Once dry, I cut out the leaf shapes. 

For the flower bud, I glued floral wire inside one edge of the denim rectangle with Modge-Podge.

Once dry, I folded down the top so the edge wouldn't show and then wrapped the rectangle around until it formed the bud shape. 

I then arranged the leaves and bud together, securing the wires with electrical tape.  I would have used floral tape, but after an hour of searching for mine, I settled.  Finally, I wrapped a thin ribbon of denim (which I ripped, not cut, from the jeans) around them and used the Modge-Podge to hold it all in place.