Our Little DIY Art Center

The challenge for the 25th was “something you made” and for the 26th it’s “colour”.  Again hitting two birds with one stone, here’s a photograph that covers both topics:

 

For my fellow DIYers out there, I know you’ve seen the “play kitchens” made from old TV cabinets.  Well, we created kid kid’s art center from a corner TV stand.  We pulled out the dvd storage, added storage for her art supplies (they are bamboo kitchen utensil caddies), put up some of her finished art projects, and in a few hours we went from an unused, unwanted, fast-becoming-archaic piece of furniture into a desk/hutch that gets used daily.

Lots of colour, and lots of things we’ve made.  🙂

A glittering sparkling sea of tulle

I had full intention of sharing a little of our daily routine today, just as the January photo a day challenge demands…  however, our routine wasn’t routine.  In fact, our routine simply WASN’T.

Early this morning I got a phone call from my sister.  She wanted to take Lily-Ann out for breakfast and then for a walk down by the river.  The girl has been aching for some time with her auntie, and I was more than happy to make things work.  So the girl and I jumped out of bed, she picked out some clothes (I sent her back to pick out something different – a summer dress just doesn’t work for a walk in the snow), got dressed, threw on her outerwear, and she was ready to go!

So what did I do with my kid-free morning?  I worked on a tutu her pre-k EA had commissioned.  🙂

Last year I made a purple, plum, and black tutu for Rhonda’s Halloween costume.  She was a wicked fairy.  It turned out wonderfully.  I made it extra long and super wild.  It ended up being such a big hit that she keeps it at school to wear every so often, just for fun (and has even lent it to some of the other staff – both male and female).  Well, last month she asked me to make another one for her… this one with a water theme.  And I have to say, it’s turned out beautifully!

It was the most complex tutu I’ve done to date, with five different colours of tulle.  All various shades of blue, including one earthy blue that was covered in sparkle.  I alternated lights and darks so that while Rhonda walks it will look like ocean waves, cresting and flowing – light to dark.  It’s a very elegant tutu.

Lily-Ann and I dropped it off for her at school on our way to Lily-Ann’s classroom.  Rhonda was just thrilled, and I’m sooo glad.  Damon even overheard her raving about her tutus when he went to pick the girl up after school – which made me feel pretty good.

the tulle elegantly flows from dark to light and back again, like the ebbing of the ocean tide kissed by the glittering moon.

I really do love working with tulle. Tutus are one of my very favourite things to sew.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll be a little more successful with the challenge topic.  After all, with such an open topic I’m sure the bigger problem with be narrowing it down.  😉

Craft Crazy!

This time of year I tend to be on crafting overdrive.  Far too many projects and not nearly the time needed to comfortably complete them all.  I love it anyway though.  🙂

A My Little Pony Artist’s Trading Card for the Trading Post. The theme was “holiday specials”, which is why Frosty is stuck in the corner – clearly I didn’t feel adventurous enough to sketch him myself.

It used to just be me, crafting all by my lonesome… but now that Kid Kid is five, she’s in it right along with me.  It’s awesome to see how well she’s doing to, in so many mediums.  Embroidery, sewing, painting, drawing – and that’s just today.  We still have planting, baking, decorating, packaging, more painting, more embroidery, more drawing, and a buttload of sewing still to go.

Paint covered play clothes. Crafting is a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

I wish I could share all the projects, but some of the folk who are on the receiving end of our efforts may stop by the blog, so we gotta keep it all under wraps.  I gotta say though, as artsy fartsy as we are, all this creative work is absolutely exhausting.  It is with great relief that we welcome bedtime tonight.

The girl and Sweets (the old man chi) drifting off to sleep as Daddy reads… a bedtime well deserved after a day of working hard.

December is Almost Upon Us.

I don’t know about you, but I could use another couple of weeks before December.  YIKES!  How on Earth did it jump from November 10th to November 25th so quickly?  Way too many holiday projects are about to become due in no time flat.  I had plans to make our own little advent calendar for the girl, but I’m now wondering if I’ll have time to do all the sewing I’d planned to.  I may just have to cut some corners and find little pre-made baggies to put each days “treasure” in.  LOL  Well, either way, I’ll get something put together.

For now I intend to put on some super comfy warm holiday themed PJs, pop on a show, grab a puppy or two, something yummy to snack on, maybe my husband, and cuddle into the bed.  The temperature drop today definitely says “holiday’s a’comin”, and rather than pump the furnace into high gear just yet, I’m retreating for the coziness of a very full bed.  😉

Night!

A few photos, and a brief update.

I’m exhausted.

Seems I start blog posts like that more and more often.  It’s true though.  Halloween is exhausting normally, with all the parties, sewing, crafting, pumpkins, treats, etc.  But add in caring for puppies and trying to get ready for the big move?  Yeah.  I’m exhausted – and being sick all weekend didn’t help.  And yes, I just plowed on through…  too much stuff to do, too many events to take it.  It’s Halloween, remember?  😉

Yesterday we gave the pups a new bed.  Their first “big dog” bed.  It’s still in the nursery, but we took out the Nature’s Miracle litter box that serves as a newborn bed (and containment), and brought in the doughnut bed.  It’s all cute, and pink, and silky soft.  And the boys love having free reign of the entire nursery now.  Mom likes having a nice comfy spot too.  So it’s a win all around.

Today I spent the afternoon working on the girl’s Halloween costume.  Yes, yes, yes…  I know she was Merida…  but that was her Halloween PARTY costume.  On Halloween itself she’ll be dressing up as Fairy Berry – her My Little Pony persona.  For those who don’t live in Saskatchewan, YES.  One costume for indoor parties, and a different one for trick or treating is necessary.  It’s darn cold out there at night with the snow.  Soooo….  LOL  I found these cute little iron on strawberry patches, which ended up saving me some time.  Instead of having to create both the Fairy Berry plant AND the strawberries that grow on it, I only had to create the plant and just iron on the berries.  MUCH easier.  Then it was just a matter of creating wings, sewing them on, upcycling a wig into a tail, and BOOM.  Fairy Berry costume.  Well…  I bought her some pony ears too.  Can’t very well be a MLP without the ears.  So tomorrow it’s pumpkin carving in the morning, ballet in the evening, one more sleep, and it’s the big day.  YAY!

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Oh!  And tonight was the Avenue Community Center’s first Family Mixer…  the Creepy Queer Halloween Family Fun Night.  We had a great time.  Got to see lots of familiar faces as well as many new ones too.  And the kid had a blast playing with the many children all close to her own age.  It really was wonderful.  I’m looking forward to many get togethers in the future.

I Miss Friday Afternoons!

With Halloween parties, Samhain, and Yule all just around the corner it feels like I’ve got a million projects on the go.  I’ve got four costumes to put together (the girl needs two – one for our group theme, and one for trick or treating and school).  I’m also collaborating with someone on my Yule gift for Damon, and I’m in the planning stages for some holiday crafting.

Autumn has always (at least as far as I can remember) been my favourite time of year, and now that it is officially here I’m starting to feel like myself again – all the holiday crafting and planning definitely helps with that.  The last few weeks had been filled with a lot of anxiety.  This time of year never used to include sending my girl off to school, and I really miss having her around.  Now that we’re getting into a routine again, while I still miss her a ton, at least the stress of transition is over.

I have to admit, I really preferred kid-kid’s pre-k schedule to her kindergarten schedule.  Yeah, okay… so there isn’t a huge difference.  We’re on afternoons still, and Thursday is still early dismissal, but now she goes five days a week instead of four.  You have no idea how much I treasured our Friday afternoons – just the girl and I.

Fridays have been my favourite day of the week for a couple of years now.  Yeah, I like that Friday night is sleepover night and the girl is off at my parents place…  but even more than that?  I loved Friday afternoons.  It was the one day a week when the girl and I would spend a few hours baking or crafting or playing card games.  The mornings are filled with routines, getting ready for the day type of stuff and then getting lunch made.  Friday afternoons were all about the girl and I just doing something fun, for the sake of fun.  I really do miss that.

So I’m glad I’ve got holidays to plan for.  Things to sew.  Things to bake.  Things to create.  Things to make.  It keeps me busy and takes my mind off of Friday afternoons.  Not sure how exactly to fit those afternoons in anywhere else during the week, but I have to try something.  Chances are, if I’m missing them, the girl is too.

Recoup and Recover

I could certainly do with a few days to recoup and recover…  It’s been a crazy week, and I’m feeling completely worn out and exhausted.  But no.  That’s just not in the cards (not for a mom with a high need little girl, anyway).

To attempt a recap?  I’m not sure I could even do it.  But I’m hoping that I’ll be able to share a little more again as things settle down. For now though, I do hope you’ll forgive me.  Two boring blog posts in a row?  *slaps self on wrist*  BAD BLOGGER, BAD!  I’ve been punished, and hopefully tomorrow I’ll come through with shining colours.  Maybe then I’ll be able to actually share a tutorial or two for the fabulous gifts I helped the girlie to craft for her Dad and Pop Pop.  See you then!

A full life, a good life.

Tonight is one of those nights where if I were someone who actually planned out their blog posts I might have something to write about.  LOL  But I’m not.  The fact of the matter is that my muse is pulling me in a few different directions and I’m feeling somewhat scattered because of it.

I want to write about the fabulous Father’s Day crafts the girl and I have been working on…  but if either my Dad or hers actually read the post it would ruin the surprise.  I want to write about a MW friend of mine who’s ghost hunting stories got me thinking about all the things out there we don’t really know about.  I want to write more about Skippyjon Jones, and my surprise at how few people I know have heard about this fabulous series of books.  I want to write about the fact that kid-kid is going to be “graduating” from pre-k this month, and what choices we’ve made about our next step.  So… yeah…  kinda being pulled in a few too many directions just now.  😉

Do you ever have one of those days?  When you’ve spent time working on so many different projects, and thinking about so many different things, that you’re just left feeling kinda scattered at the end of it?  The girl and I do so many fabulous things (today we actually drew our own chalk zoo on the sidewalk in front of our house – complete with lion, 2 crocodiles who’s heads we created by tracing our butts and legs, a baby elephant who’s nose is too big for her face, a hippopotamus, a bear wearing blue jeans and loafers, and a bunch of people who came to see them all), and I always have so much on the go that the problem is rarely coming up with something to write about – rather it’s narrowing down to ONE thing to share.

I really do love everything I’m involved in, and the fact of the matter is, I’ve actually cut back a great deal.  I’m no longer the President of the Green Party of Saskatchewan, nor am I associated with Camp fYrefly, and I haven’t been dedicating the time to scrapbooking that I used to.  I’m also done with dog shows (at least for the next month or so – I doubt I’ll ever actually be done with them, I love them too much).  Yet my plate is still happily full.  And of everything I do?  I love the things I do with, or for my daughter the best…  and that includes a LOT of things.  😉

Whenever Lily-Ann and I get talking, I can’t help but emphasize to her how lucky we are…  in so very many ways.  But one of the simplest is that our lives are full of love.  We both have so many people who love us and care about us.  And that is a very big deal.

Yep.  It’s a good life.

The girl, posing on her “sitting rock” on our way to school today.

Skippyjon Jones – preparing to party

Kid-kid will be turning five on July 20th.  And the two of us are both fans of theme parties.  Being a crafty momma, I love making things for her birthdays – both for her and her guests.  Which means it’s time to get working, lest we run out of time prior to the big event.  😉

This year the girl has asked for a Skippyjon Jones party.  Not familiar with our little skippito bandito buddy?  I’d highly recommend doing some reading.  Here’s a link to get you started:  http://www.wegivebooks.org/books/skippyjon-jones  Not only can you read the books for free, you can also help give books to programs that make them available to kids who otherwise wouldn’t have access to them.  I’ve blogged about We Give Books before (see here, and here), and we still absolutely love it!

So…  ideas thus far:

• Chihuahua window clings for all the mirrors
• Bandito masks for all the party guests
• mask, cape, and Chihuahua ears for Lily-Ann
• Skippyjon stuffy gift for Lily-Ann
• Skippyjon cake or cupcakes
• have a pinata
• Read the original Skippyjon Jones book

But that’s where my ideas stop.  We could definitely use a craft idea, and a game idea…  So I’d be up for any thoughts from the peanut gallery (or from los chimichangos).  🙂

DIY Fish Bowl Tissue Paper Lanterns

This year the kid and I worked on several projects for Valentine’s Day.  We did up individually wrapped cupcakes with hand made heart flag picks.  We created 20 foam bookmarks for her friends and her Pop Pop (and one for her too).  We worked on some scrapbook pages, and did a lot of colouring too.  But I think our most impressive item this year were the two tissue paper lanterns we made for her Daddy and her Grams.

For such a simple craft project, they are awfully impressive.  And it really is something you can do from start to finish in an hour (not including clean-up, which definitely includes a bath or shower).  Here’s a list of what you need:

• various colours of tissue paper
• fish bowls (or other glass containers – a used/clean pickle jar would work)
• white school glue
• water
• glitter
• decorative stones (optional)
• candle(s)
• paint brush(es)

First things first! 

Make sure your glassware is clean.  We used old fish bowls that we purchased at one of our favourite thrift stores.  Real fish shouldn’t live in bowls, but that doesn’t mean fish bowls aren’t good for other things.  An old pickle jar or jam jar would work well too.

Mix up your paste!

Roughly 3 parts white school glue with 1 part warm water is perfect.  Don’t worry about being finicky over the measurements.  You just want the paste a little more watery than it comes straight from the store.

Prepare your tissue paper!

For the fishy lantern we used white, turquoise, blue, and red tissue paper.  For the heart lantern we used white, turquoise, pink, and red.

Tear the white into pieces about 2″ x 2″…  again, don’t stress too much about the size or uniformity.  It doesn’t really matter all that much.  Too small and they take longer to put on, too big and you end up with a lot of wrinkles – but either way?  They’ll still turn out great.   If you are doing a fish themed lantern, tear your turquoise (or light blue) paper into wavy strips about 2″ long by 1″ high.

Fold the remaining coloured papers so that you have six or more layers.  Cutting multiple layers at once will save you a lot of time – but if you’re little ones are old enough to cut out some shapes too, this isn’t such a big deal.  Choose the type of shape (we did fish for the one, and hearts for the other) and cut away.  Vary your sizes.  Having everything big or everything little isn’t nearly as fun as a good mixture.

Get messy!

Take your paint brush and paint some of the glue/water mixture onto the outside of the glass.  Working in small areas, start covering the entire surface with the white tissue paper pieces.  Paint the paste under and over each piece.  While it’s still wet, sprinkle a little glitter here and there.  You can skip this step, but it’s awfully purty.

Now start on your more decorative layer.  To make it look like water, start the turquoise about 1/4 of the way down – so you have some white still visible at the top – and work your way down, covering all the remaining white.  For the heart lantern go to town, place things wherever you feel like (this would also work for stars or any other shape you come up with).  If you are doing a fish lantern, the fishies will be your very top layer.  And again, make sure you have the glue/water paste both under and over each tissue paper layer.

Finishing touches!

In the fish lantern we chose to put some decorative blue crystals in the bottom prior to placing the candle.  But didn’t do the same for the heart lantern.  We also used a permanent marker and wrote the date and the girls name on the bottom of each lantern on the exposed glass.

That’s it!

Super easy peasy, right?  And they are sooo cute!