Mama's Little Muse

Shamrock Color Viewer: a craft and a tool in one

2012-02-22T21:18:00.000-08:00

In celebration of Saint Patrick's Day I bring to you the Shamrock Color Viewer! What better holiday to teach children about color mixing (and hence tying in the popular St. Patty's theme of the rainbow)? And what better way to do it than with a fun craft that takes the shape of the symbol of St. Paddy's Day itself — the shamrock?!

The pictures below illustrate the different color combinations that my son had fun coming up with. The viewer proved to be a very engaging and educational tool. My son is still learning what colors make up each of the secondary colors (orange, green and purple). I'm glad this proved to be motivational in his learning.

Yellow plus blue makes green

Yellow plus red makes orange

Red plus blue makes purple

Tutorial:

Materials (written in order) needed:

2 pieces of green construction paper
pencil
scissors
3 plastic report covers; 1 each in yellow, blue and red.
dry erase marker (or sharpie)
glue (Elmers, or Tacky)
paintbrush (to spread glue) optional
hole punch
brass paper fasteners

Step One: Folding paper (see above for reference)

Fold construction paper in half matching short sides.
Fold again matching short sides so it is quarter-sized.
Turn folded paper so the fold is at the top, and fold again matching short sides. Keep the paper positioned this way for the next step.

Step Two: Cut out heart

Draw an outline of half of a heart as shown. The mid-line of the heart is represented by the vertical fold. Make sure when drawing the outline that part of top arc of the heart is represented by the fold at the top. You want to keep this fold intact!
Cut out heart. Remember 2 folds should remain intact. The vertical fold on the left side of paper, and a small segment of the horizontal fold on the top.

Step Three: Cut out inner heart shape to make heart "window frame"

Draw a smaller half heart inside the cut-out shape.
Cut out. SAVE AT LEAST ONE OF THE INNER HEART SHAPES!
Unfold the heart "window frames", and see what you've got! You should have 2 hearts that each open up at the top (see the picture above on the right).
For this project, 3 hearts are needed, so use half of the other piece of construction paper and fold as needed to cut out the last heart.

Step Four: Adding colored windows

Using the inner heart shape cut-out as a guide, draw a slightly bigger heart with a marker (dry erase or sharpie) around it onto a report cover (1st picture, above). Cut out. Repeat so that you end up with red, blue and yellow hearts.
Open up heart "window frame" (2nd picture, above) and dab glue on. I used a brush to spread the glue.
Press on heart shape made out of report cover, and close "window frame". Repeat for other colors.

Step Five: Putting it all together

Stack all 3 finished hearts on top of each other (picture not shown). Punch a hole in the base of the hearts making sure they all line up (you may only be able to punch a hole through 2 of the hearts at one time).
Put a paper fastener through. Turn over and press down tabs.
DONE!

My son had SO MUCH FUN experimenting with his color viewer!

HE was able to manipulate it to find a butterfly shape!
We played a game where I would ask him questions such as, "What 2 colors make green?" AND "What do the colors blue and red make?" It was so cool to see him move the color viewer to figure out the answer.
I talked to him about the PRIMARY COLORS-red, yellow, and blue; and that combinations of these PRIMARY COLORS make SECONDARY COLORS-orange, green, and purple.
He had fun looking through them and seeing the world in different colors
We sung the song "The Colors of the Rainbow". It goes like this (to the tune of "3 Little Indians")

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple

These are the colors of the rainbow

The song is pretty simple, I know, and not technically correct, as technically the rainbow is made up of Indigo and violet, NOT Purple. Often when we sing this song, I state this correction. I'm not too worried though. He is in preschool. I didn't know the colors of the rainbow until high school. Purple, or Indigo and Violet, the kid is way ahead of me, either way!

Have fun crafting! If you have any other activities or relevant links that tie in with this I would love to hear about them in the comment section below!

Fat Tuesday! Mardi Gras Masks!

2012-02-21T07:08:00.000-08:00

I LOVE MARDI GRAS! OK, well, to be more accurate about it I guess I should say that I am 99% sure that I would love it. Truth is, I can't really say for sure, because I've never been, but it sure does seem like a blast!
So, in celebration from afar, we made MARDI GRAS masks yesterday! It was a real hit with my son. I found the inspiration for this at 4 Crazy King's Mardi Gras blog post.

Materials needed:

stiff paper (I used manila folder paper)
tissue paper, cut in 1-2 inch squares
pen (for tracing kids' hands)
scissors
liquid starch
paint brush
Elmer's glue
adornments (sequins, feathers, plastic "jewels' etc.)
string, elastic, a stick etc. — something to attach to the mask so it stays on child's face, or so they can hold it)

Step One: Trace child's left and right hand in placement shown on stiff paper.

Step Two: FLIP PAPER OVER so the tracing of the handprints is facedown! Have child apply a coat of liquid starch over surface of paper with a paint brush. Have them cover the surface with tissue paper squares encouraging them to overlap them. Have them put another coat of liquid starch on top of tissue paper to flatten surface.

Step three: Let dry. Cut out hand shape using tracing on backside as guide. Hold mask up to child's face to approximate where eye placement should be. Cut out holes.

Step four: Have child dab Elmer's glue all over mask and adorn with feathers, sequins, jewels, etc.

Attach elastic or string with a stapler so it will stay on child's head. Or if you prefer, use a stick so they can hold like a masquerade mask.

Happy FAT TUESDAY! Have fun!

Making Bird Suet

2012-02-20T20:51:00.000-08:00

Ever since a couple weeks ago when Bode and I visited the Cascades Raptor Center and I put up bird identification posters in his room, Bode has been noticing birds that he sees each day and commenting on them: "I just saw a robin", "That's a crow", and "the male ducks are the ones that look like UO football players" (he's talking about the mallard ducks with their iridescent green heads).
Before he was born, I used to have various bird feeders hanging outside my kitchen and bedroom windows — in the backyard — and I always took pleasure in seeing the birds come and feed. Since then, I moved elsewhere for a brief time, but eventually returned back here to the same house, sans the bird feeders. Such is the nature of moving, things somehow always get lost in the shuffle.
Bode's recent fascination provided me with the impetus to amp up the backyard again with feeders for our feathered friends. I never before had made suet and thought that now was the perfect time.

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup Crisco shortening
2.5 cups cornmeal
.5 cup millet
1 cup oats
1 cup sunflower seeds
.5 cup raisins

Over a low flame, we melted down the peanut butter and Crisco in a saucepan until they were completely liquid. Bode and I then added the rest of the ingredients incrementally, stirring each time until they were mixed in well. Other kinds of edible grains, seeds or berries can be substituted also (although be smart about it and make sure they are nontoxic to birds! See a list of 10 foods to avoid giving birds here).

After all the ingredients are incorporated, pour mixture into a mold that when ready will fit into a suet cage. I found that a square rubbermade container worked perfectly.

I ended up with more mixture than I intended. Fortunately, I remembered that I had a collection of pinecones in storage. I found a large-sized one and I tied twine to the top, placed it in a bowl and then coated it with the mixture, using a rubber spatula. I pushed the mix as far down into the cone as I could. I then put the pine cone in the refrigerator to set, along with the suet mixture in the mold.

An hour later, they were solid. I popped the suet out of the mold and placed it in the cage, and hung it up, alongside the pinecone.

That was 3 days ago. Each day Bode has been anxiously checking hoping the birds have discovered them, but apparently they haven't at this point. I'm giving it a week — I think I am equally as anxious as my son. I miss the birds outside my window! I already have my sights set on a few birdfeeders (including hummingbird feeders) from our local feed store to add to the mix!

"Love makes the world go 'round" Hanging Mobile

2012-02-13T14:24:00.000-08:00

As a salute to the highest state of being there is in life, may I present to you the Love Mobile...

This idea came to me a couple of weeks ago and it was too perfect and fitting for the Valentine Holiday not to follow through on. I made the Earth early last year out of paper mache' and it has been floating around the house ever since waiting for me to do something with it.

Turns out I'm so glad that I never got around to it until now.

I 'm refraining from posting a tutorial on how to make this as my construction was haphazard at best (the slippery fishing line I used and my rudimentary knot-tying ability worries me, for one). But here is a list of the materials I used.

embroidery hoop
fishing line
beads
paper
electrical tape
tacky glue
Glitter hearts (I bought 2 packs of 12 at Michael's for 1.99 each)
paper mache' Earth

Proceed at your own risk if you must!

May you all open your hearts to giving and receiving love on this Valentine's Day Holiday. Have a good one!

Easy Pop-up Valentine's Day card: Kid's Craft

2012-02-12T09:15:00.000-08:00

This is a very easy card to make, and the pop-up feature makes the card that much more special. Children of all ages will enjoy constructing this precious Valentine.

Inside Card- Three-quarters view

Materials needed:

construction paper
scissors
glue stick
doilies (optional)
stickers, markers, glitter etc.

Directions:

Fold one sheet of construction paper in half.
On another piece of paper cut a thin strip 4 inches in length. Fold this paper in half. Fold up little tabs on each end.
Attach strip of paper to card by gluing tabs to each half of card.
Cut out and decorate a paper heart.
Glue heart onto paper strip.
Voila! Done! Have child decorate the rest of card with stickers, glitter, markers, stamps or whatever! Have fun!


Front cover of card

Inside card - front view

"I love you this much" Keepsake Valentine Card Idea

2012-02-11T23:14:00.000-08:00

I thought a personalized Valentine featuring my son would be the perfect gift for his grandparents this year. There is a popular Valentine craft circulating Pinterest that features 2 paper hands with an accordian paper strip between them that says "I love you this much" (check out the craft here). Feeling inspired, I thought I would put my own twist on it, using a picture of my son — and a real banner made up of string and hearts.

Materials needed:

camera, computer, printer
Tacky glue
string (for banner)
scissors
construction paper
doilies
pen or print-out of inscription
mod podge and brush (optional)
stickers & glitter (optional)

First I snapped a couple pictures of my little man posing for me stretching his arms out on each side of his body as far as he could. I then uploaded the pictures to my computer. I chose the best picture, opened it up in Photoshop, set the PPI to 300 (in Image Size) and traced and cut out the body with the lasso tool. I then created a new white fill layer and pasted on his cut-out body, turning off the visibility of the old layers. If you don't have PS you can print out the picture and cut around the body with scissors.
Print out the picture and cut it out, leaving a small white border around body.

Next, I measured my child's "wingspan" on the paper (7 inches). I then typed up on my computer and printed out the phrase "I love you this much" making sure it measured the same. (I used mom's typewriter font) I typed the phrase multiple times just in case I messed up a letter.. (I'm not a big fan of having to go back and do things all over again!). I then very carefully cut each letter out in little heart shapes and lined them up in the order I wanted them.

I then flipped the entire phrase over horizontally (so that now the letters are lying face down, and the "I" letter is on the right side). I dabbed glue on the backside of each heart using scissors to press down the hearts so they "unstick" to the glue bottle tip (believe me you don't want to use your hand for this, it will get sticky and things will get messy real fast - take it from me I know!) Then I pressed the string down onto the glue, again using the scissors to push the string down into the glue. Leave enough tail on each side to tie into knot.

While the banner was left to dry, I then mounted and glued my son's body onto background paper that in some way represented "Valentine's Day" (I made 2 cards — one of the background papers was cut in a heart shape, the other one was a red piece of construction paper, see below). I then glued down the writing I wanted to include inside the card: "Happy Valentine's Day", and "Love, Carolyn and Bode". Of course you could handwrite whatever you want to say. Have your child decorate with stickers and glitter if you want. Put a layer of Mod Podge on if you like (if you don't know about Mod Podge you should! It is an incredible glue, sealer, and finish all in one. And it is water-based so pretty easy to clean up). I had my son help glue doilies to the back side to frame the cards. Doilies represent Valentine's Day to me (I seriously don't ever remember using them any other time other than this holiday) so I kind of feel they are an absolute must in Valentine crafting.

Card number one completed

After the card was decorated and mod podged, I attached the banner, tying knots at each end and putting a big glob of glue on each of the hands and pressing knots down. Don't worry the glue dries clear.

Banner up close

Card number two

We then sent off to grandparents! I think they will like this one!

Homemade fingerpaint recipe and making repurposed hearts

2012-02-10T07:19:00.000-08:00

I recently checked out this super cool book from the library called Recipes for Art and Craft Materials, by Helen Roney Sattler. It is jam packed with instructions on how to make an array of fun crafty concoctions to use with your children or students, such as pastes, modeling compounds, paper-mache, and paints, etc. Making these common craft materials at home from scratch cost way less than buying the finished items from the store...I like that!
On this day, I thought that it would be fun to try my hand in making fingerpaint using a recipe from the book as a reference.

Ingredients needed:

1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup cold water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
2 cups boiling water
small air-tight jars
poster paints

Step one: Mix cornstarch with 3/4 cup cold water in a saucepan.
Step two: Soak gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water. Let sit.
Step three: Pour boiling water into cornstarch mixture pouring slowly and stirring constantly.
Step four: Cook cornstarch mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, letting mixture boil until it becomes pretty clear in color.
Step five: Remove from stove; stir in gelatin.
Step six: Let cool and then pour equal amounts into jars. Add paint and mix well.

Store in refrigerator. The paints will last for a few days. Be sure not to let them sit out for too long as the paints will thicken up and lose their "slippery" quality.

Stirring up gelatin and water mixture

Cornstarch on stove: boiling and clearing...

Fingerpainting? Bode decides it is more fun for Gumby to be ice skating on the rainbow pond than to actually fingerpaint. LOL. Soon Pokey the horse was to join in also...


The finished paintings after they dried

This proved to be such a successful, fun project, for my son, who enjoyed helping with making the fingerpaint as well as the actual fingerpainting itself! The paint took a long time to dry — a good 24 hours — but once it did, it was glossy, hard, able to bend (it only cracked a teeny bit).

In honor of Valentine's Day, I turned the paintings into repurposed puffy hearts. I think this was such a sweet idea from Scrumdillydo. You can find the directions here.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Thanks for visiting!

String Art Heart

2012-02-05T21:18:00.000-08:00

String Art Project

Last weekend I went on a mini road trip and visited an old friend of mine, Jenny, in her new house 2 hours away from here. She is one of those friends that, despite distance and time, our friendship always takes off again where it last left off. I love friendships like that — no initial shyness, just being-ness. She has always been a crafty soul and this is one of the reasons why I think we have always connected so well.

Jenny's String Art Star

While sitting in her front room, I spied a precious little treasure on a shelf nearby (pictured above). The hand-crafted object looked like one of those antique relics one might find in a colonial arts museum.

Inscription on back

After further investigation I discovered that this object — made up of nails, wood and string — was actually made by my friend when she was young. Flipping it over and reading the words on the backside I realized that it was a present to her "Mumsie", AKA, Grandma. How cool! I can only imagine how touched her grandmother felt to receive such a thoughtful gift from her. I knew right away what my next project would be with my son. Because Valentine's Day was right around the corner, I thought positioning the nails to form a heart shape would be just perfect.
This project turned out to be a great way to introduce my 4-year-old son to using a hammer and nails. I do, however, think that it might be better suited for older kids (7 and up) as they will be able to do more of the steps by themselves (like holding nails, hammering them in, and tying knots).

Materials needed:

2x4 piece of wood cut into a square
medium grain sandpaper
hammer and nails (I used an 1.25" length nails with a head on them: "bright nails")
paper
scotch or masking tape
scissors
string
ribbon

Step one: Sand down edges of the wood block. I had to show my son how to do this by placing my hand over his and showing him the back and forth movement.

Step Two: Cut out a symmetrical paper heart that fits well on block. Center and place tape on the back and secure it down on wood.

Step Three: Hammer nails down around the edge of the heart spacing them about a half inch apart. I had to hammer in the nails first so they were secure and then I let my son hammer them in more. He was afraid to hold the nail at its base but I encouraged him to, explaining that if he focuses and he is careful he won't hit his hand. He was able to for awhile and then just ended up wielding the hammer with both hands.

Heart shape finished

Step four: Remove paper heart. Tie string around a nail leaving a tail so that you can tie the other end of string to it when done. Wrap the string around the heart a few times to define an outline (I did this part).

Weave the string back and forth every direction using nails as anchors. My son had a great time doing this part as I expected he would (his favorite pastime is stealing balls of yarn from me and stringing up the house). When finished, adult neatens it up by tightening string and pulling stray strings that wound up on the outside of the heart into the inside. Tie the two ends of string together and cut tails with scissors.

Step five: Center and wrap a ribbon around the edges of the wood block. Then tie a knot at the top as close to the wood as possible. Tie the 2 tails of the ribbon into another knot about 6 inches from the first knot. Hang and enjoy!

Kale Chips - Delicious! Who knew?

2012-02-01T23:16:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to make kale chips for years! — Actually, it has been ever since the time a friend mentioned that her son LOVED my favorite leafy green sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and baked. That had to be about 5 years ago at least, and since then I've had it in the back of my mind to give this recipe a whirl. Well, needless to say, that day did not come soon enough!
Yesterday, I had an appointment with a nutritional counselor. Even though I think I am a fairly healthy eater there are some things noted that could use a little tweaking. One is my mindless indulgence of salty snacks, AKA, an abundance of empty calories. Yeah, so what if I eat the "healthy" kind of potato chip? You know, the kind that is "natural", GMO-free, and with no tran-fats? The unfortunate truth in this is that no matter how seemingly healthy a potato chip brand choice is, the fact is it is still a potato chip: a thinly sliced potato, drenched in oil and deep-fried. There probably isn't any kind of potato chip on Earth that is truly healthy for me (unless, maybe if it is baked, then what, I ask, is the point?). However, the fortunate part in this is that the counselor mentioned trying kale chips as an alternative. Instantly I knew just what I had to do, and I knew just the place to find what I needed, and a little partner in crime to help me carry out my plan!

Lucky for me, I had one last stand of vegetables growing in my garden from the summer before, and it just happened to be — ***drum roll*** — kale! My son got completely excited about the process of helping out and making "chips" from ground up.

He loved ripping the leaves of kale into tiny bite-sized pieces and washing them in the salad spinner.

After washing the kale really good, we dried them best we could with the spinner, and then patted them dry with a clean cloth. We then tossed the kale with olive oil, some sea salt, tamari, and flax seeds. We were all out of parmesan, or else that would have been in the mix too. I lined a baking tray with parchment paper and put the kale in the oven (preheated to 350 degrees) for about 10-15 minutes. When I took them out and popped a few in my mouth, my response was WOW! I could have never guessed how delicious and "snacky" something so healthy could taste! Bursts of flavor melted in my mouth, and the warm crispiness of each piece added a unique texture to the whole eating experience. My son liked them too! Woo-hoo! Who would have thought? So excited to have found a healthy snack to add to my growing list, and the fact that my son likes it too — a double bonus! It is one of those things I think you have to try to believe — and I'm so glad that I did!

"Owl Love You!" Heart Owl Kids' Craft for Valentine's Day

2012-01-30T00:11:00.000-08:00

This cute little "love" owl is almost entirely made out of hearts. Not only is it a fun craft for kids to do, but it is also without a doubt going to charm anyone lucky enough to be the receiver of such a Valentine. Children of all ages will enjoy putting this together.

Materials needed:

brown paper (grocery bags are perfect!)
red and pink construction paper
potatoes
linoleum cutter and/or paring knife
scissors
glue stick
ink pad
black marker

Potato shapes cut for: eyes, beak and heart texture

Preparation: Adult carves out potatoes in shapes shown above with linoleum block cutter and paring knife.

Preparation (continued): Depending on skill level of child, either adult or child cuts out 2 large brown symmetrical hearts (for head and body), 2 medium-sized brown symmetrical hearts (for wings), 4 tiny hearts (red paper for ears and talons), and 1 small heart (pink for Valentine note).

Step one: Using ink from ink pad and heart-shaped stamp, child presses pattern all over one of the big heart cut-outs (the body of the owl).

Step Two: Child presses heart shaped potato stamp all over both medium heart cut-outs (the wings of the owl) — this time making the pattern denser as to create contrast between body and wings.

Step three: Taking the other big heart cut-out, child folds it as shown so that a beak shape is formed between what-is-to-be the owl's 2 eyes.

Step four: Unfold and stamp on beak.

Step five: Turn heart over and fold down beak. Stamp on eyes.


Head of owl complete: Beak and eyes stamped on folded heart

Step Six: Fold wings vertically and glue onto body of owl.

Step Seven: Glue down beak. Glue head onto owl's body in placement shown.

Step Eight: Glue on ears and talons as shown above.

Step Nine: Depending on skill level, adult or child writes "Owl love you" on pink heart. Glue on so that owl appears to be holding the Valentine note. Send off to child's Valentine!

I love to hear your comments! Please tell me what you think below!

Valentine's Day Love Banner: Tissue Paper Collage Craft for Children

2012-01-23T21:22:00.000-08:00

For the past couple years, I think just about every crafter in the blogosphere has posted a tutorial on how to make a sewn fabric banner (AKA bunting). I think banners are a pretty cool and unique way to decorate a house's interior. I know that I have had my eye on a few projects out there to make for myself (here, here, and here).
Being that Valentine's Day is coming up, I thought a banner spelling out the word "LOVE" would be perfect. I modified this trendy craft so that it would be something that my son could partake in. Replacing the fabric, thread, and sewing machine with contact paper, construction paper, tissue paper plus a few tools of the trade, we were set to go!

Material List:

Tissue Paper in various colors, cut in 1-2" squares
Black construction paper cut in quarters
Clear contact paper
X-ACTO knife and cutting mat
Scissors
Tacky Glue
String
Metal Ruler (optional)

Step one: With the X-ACTO knife, adult cuts out letter shapes from the black construction paper. For straight edges, use metal ruler as a guide. Use cutting mat to protect surface underneath. For the "O", cut out a smaller circle for the center.

Step two: Adult peels the backing off contact paper and places the construction paper FACE DOWN on the sticky surface. Make sure contact paper covers the full surface of black paper. Trim edges so that there is no contact paper extending past the outside edges of the black paper.

Step three: Have child place tissue paper squares one at a time on sticky surface. Encourage them to lay each piece down flat and to overlap the tissue paper so that the entire sticky surface is covered.

Step four: Turn it over to see how it looks. Arrange it in the order that you want it to hang. I decided to add two hearts to each side of the word "LOVE" for decoration's sake.

Step five: Flip up letters vertically so that the backsides are facing up.

Step six: Apply a bead of glue in placement shown.

Step six: Press on string (allow string to be long enough on both ends of banner in order to hang up). Let dry.

Step seven: Hang up in a window or doorway that gets a lot of light shining through from behind. Enjoy your child's craft!

Treasure Hunt and Suncatcher Craft: Part one

2012-01-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

For the past couple years I always felt a twinge of envy when seeing this suncatcher craft posted around the internet (here, and here). I wanted to do this craft with my son! But with the mild winters we have where we live, I didn't even consider it. What would be the point? I thought, the ice would melt entirely too fast! I envisioned these icy ornaments decorating the yards of their crafters all winter long. Lucky people!

It wasn't until the other day in the midst of a cold snap that I realized the flaw in my thinking. It's cold right now! Temperatures were predicted to dip into freezing level all week long. I realized that this was the time to do it. So what if we only had a few days to enjoy our craft before it disintegrated? The important part was that we had those days to enjoy it. Besides it's all about the process anyway, right?

Once I got this idea planted my head, my son and I were off and running on our quest to gather the material to use. We headed for my favorite wooded trail in our local park system and proceeded to collect items from the forest floor. I prefer to call this part "hunting for treasure."

Treasure Hunt

Running for treasure

Showing me lichen

Filling up his treasure bag

Close up of treasure bag. Tutorial can be found in Amanda Soule's Book The Handmade Home.

Collecting berries

Toting along his treasure bag, Bode eagerly started filling it with all sorts of natural objects: pinecones, pine needles, oak leaves, lichen, moss, branches, and berries. I took advantage of teaching opportunities when I saw them:

"Pinecones house the seeds of pine trees."
"Why do you think they call this lichen "Old Man's Beard"?"
"Why do you think they call this fern "sword fern"?"
"Why do you think the trees grow so tall?"

His interest was piqued about the wonders of this majestic forest and he came up with some of his own questions as well, such as: "How can trees breathe in the bad stuff and breathe out the good stuff if they don't have any mouths, how is that even possible?"
I tried to explain the best I could in his terms that the trees were able to absorb the carbon dioxide in the air through teeny holes in the surface of their leaves. It is this way too that they release the oxygen.

After the hunt was over we headed home to craft!

Read the next post here to hear how our adventure continued!

Treasure Hunt and Suncatcher Craft: Part two

2012-01-17T14:41:00.000-08:00

Making our icy suncatchers (Please see here for Part one)

Assessing our treasure

Assembling suncatcher

All ready to go into the freezer!

So when we got home we sorted through and arranged the objects in pie tins. When adding water, most of the things floated to the surface so we realized that putting any time in the arrangement of the objects was kind of futile. Bode had the good idea of adding food coloring. I added a little bit to my suncatcher, and, Bode, well, let's just say I turned around for a moment and when I turned back all the food coloring bottles were empty. LOL. Oh well, It gave me the opportunity to talk about the words "tranlucency" and "opacity". I placed a looped piece of twine that tied at one end and submerged it halfway in the water. I then put the pie tins in the freezer overnight. My pie tin ended up leaking so I transferred it to a baking dish. We also ended up making a mini one with leftover materials.


The end product! Very nice I think!

The next morning we hung them up and I was really pleased. The term suncatcher is really appropriate as the ice intensified the brightness of the light shining through them (well, on mine and the little one). Bode's was densely colored, but still it was beautiful in it's own right. We had fun. And I am happy to say after 3 days, 2 still remain hanging!

A visit to the local raptor center

2012-01-15T16:54:00.000-08:00

My son and I had a great day yesterday. We are fortunate to have a local Raptor Center in our town, and so yesterday I decided to pay it a visit. It had been a long time since we had gone there.
A couple of years before Bode was born I volunteered there for about 4 hours a week for a year. It was a pretty incredible experience, which I remember with fondness. It is always so nice to be back there again in the presence of all those grand birds.

Bald Eagle


Kites

Spotted owl

We enjoyed walking around and stopping at each cage. I read the stories out loud about why the birds came to be at the center - many got hit by cars, a few had congenital defects and were abandoned when young, and some fell from their nests. We greeted them saying their names that we learned from the placard - Hermione, Tristan, Luna, Shenoa, etc.
After our walk we gathered in the pavilion to hear a talk about the center and the birds.

What we learned:

Birds that live at the raptor center are there because they cannot survive in the wild due a birth defect or an injury.
Raptors are different from other birds because they hunt, kill and eat small animals such as birds, mice, lizards, snakes, etc.
Raptors are exceptional hunters because of their keen eyesight. If a raptor was at one end of a football field and someone was holding a newspaper at the other end of the field, a raptor would be able to see the individual letters printed on the newspaper.
Raptors eat their prey whole, bones and all.
They are different from other birds of prey because they catch their prey with their talons, while non-raptors that hunt and eat live animals kill their prey with their beaks.
There are 7 different kinds of raptors: Eagles, hawks, owls, kites, ospreys, vultures, & falcons. Turkey vultures are kind of an anomaly to the group because they are not really birds of prey, and only feed on dead animals.
The peregrine falcon is one of the fastest birds on Earth. When it is diving for prey it can reach speeds up to 243 mph.
Crows that are human imprints can mimic human voices.
Kites are loud. (This is the 1st answer that Bode said when asked what he learned today).

After our visit today I dug up these super cool posters that identify different birds and put them up on Bode's wall. I got them for a song at a yard sale a couple years ago (like a buck a piece). They were going for $20 at the center today. I love that!

Snowman craft

2012-01-14T20:26:00.000-08:00

I love my job as a preschool teacher. My most favorite part is coming up with craft projects that the children actually can do themselves. Nothing bugs me more than seeing preschool crafts where it is obvious the teacher did the entire thing his- or herself. Believe me, I'm all about helping the kids out, but I make them do what they can on their own. This snowman project was inspired by a Christmas card that I helped my son make for his grandparents. The preschoolers (ranging in age from 2-6 years old) had the fine motor skills necessary to do most of the project with little assistance and see it through to completion.

Materials required:

white, black, red and orange construction paper
small hole punch
circle punch (I used Martha Stewart 1 inch wide punch) or scissors and circle template
light colored pencil

Before beginning an adult cuts out black construction paper into a quarter sheet for background. Cut out orange carrot nose, and red hat and scarf.

Step 1: Tear a white strip of paper for the ground. Most of the children needed hand-over-hand assistance with this part.

Step 2: Glue the torn paper onto the bottom of the black paper. Trim the white paper that extends over the edge of the black paper so that they are the same width.


Step 3: Punch out 3 circles from white paper for snowman's body.

Step 4: Punch out 5 black dots with hole punch for eyes and buttons.

Step 5: Glue circles one on top of the other to make the snowman's body. Glue on snowman's eyes, and buttons. Glue on carrot nose, hat and scarf .

Step 6: Punch out white dots with hole punch. Glue the white dots onto black paper to make it look like snow is falling.

Step 7: Draw on stick arms with light colored pencil. Masking tape or brown colored art tape cut in thin strips can be used also.

Step 8: Glue on moon if you want. Moon is made by placing cut out circle in circle punch part way and punching it out.

Finished! Hang up on wall and enjoy!

Laminated bookmark gift for "Grandpa"

2012-01-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

My father's birthday is in a few days. Of all the people close to me that I have ever known, I have to say my father is the most challenging of all to shop for. He has everything (materially), or so it seems, that he could ever want. Only until I had a baby — his grandchild — did I feel that I hit the nail on the head in my gift-giving. He just loves his grandson so much, that anything I come up with involving him will make my dad pretty happy on his big day. This year I was lucky to stumble upon a pretty cool craft idea from Pink and Green Mama's blog which features making bookmarks of your child "just hanging around". Since my dad is one of the most avid readers I think I have ever known, this present couldn't be more ideal. I went out and purchased a Scotch Thermal Laminator for home use for only $27 and it worked perfectly! Here is what I came up with

I had lots of fun and they were so easy to make. I kept one for myself, of course, which hopefully means I don't ever have to use such lame placeholders again such as a pen, another book, a hair clip, or my pair of reading glasses — which always, by the way, ends up in me losing my place anyway. Now all I need to do is to find that rare gem of a book that my dad hasn't read yet and pop the bookmark in and voila, gift completed! Wish me luck on that last part!

Our trip to Seattle

2011-02-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

Waiting for the train to come...

Bode and I went on a big adventure last week. My best friend from childhood, Sara, was turning 40, and having a party to celebrate. She and her family live in Seattle, so I decided that this would be a great opportunity for Bode to go on his first train ride, and also, for me, avoid the drudgery of driving 10 hours round trip. This train route, particularly from Portland to Seattle is known for its breath-taking scenery, so I was really looking forward to it. It had probably been 5 years or so that I last ventured up there this way. A friend Gerry had a 2 for 1 voucher so it made this mode of transportation affordable as well. Bode and I woke up brutally early on a Saturday morning to catch the 5:30 train out of Eugene. When the conductor came around to collect the tickets, Bode eagerly told him "This is my first train ride". Later on I laughed out loud when I was reading (yet again) the train book we had brought along. This time I was paying close enough attention to realize that the little boy in the book said these exact same words when the conductor came along. I wonder how long Bode anticipated saying this! As we pulled into the Portland station, an announcement came over the speaker saying that there was a mudslide that had just happened north of us, and that if they were able to find buses to shuttle us up to Seattle we would be transferred, otherwise it might take hours for them to clear it up.

Pulling into Portland...

This is where the travel took a turn for the worse. We were loaded up onto a second-rate bus that had cramped leg space and no pockets in the seatbacks. They handed us snacks with no receptacles to put our trash, AND the bus driver (yes the bus driver) needed to be given directions from one of the passengers on how to get out of Portland, and how to get into the station in Seattle. At one point my son had to use the potty, so we went back and I was hoping he could tough it out. Instantaneously he started gagging and throwing up when he smelled the chemically smell in the bathroom. I cleaned it up best I could, and we went back to our seats - a failed mission with Bode never being able to actually use the toilet. 20 minutes later he says he is going to throw up and voila! All over me! Thank God I had my jacket covering my lap. The people around me were able to pass me a plastic bag and some napkins to clean up best I could. Bode slept the rest of the time. I was sooo happy to finally reach the station in Seattle. Sara, her husband John, and family welcomed with the understanding of the ordeal we just went through. The first thing we did when we got to Sara's house was take a bath (and load the clothes in the washer!)
Things of course could really only get better from this point on, and so they did. That night was my friend Sara's big birthday bash. They rented out the upstairs of a bar named Tavern Law. Guests could only enter by calling upstairs and saying a secret code word, and then the safe-like bar on the heavy door would unlock and they'd then be able to enter and ascend the curving staircase to the "speakeasy". Upstairs the decor was set in the 20's style theme. Old black and white risque pictures of women hung on the walls, and old time jazzy music that reflected the age played through the speakers. It featured a full bar along with curious colorful concoctions in glass bottles lined on the shelves. The bartenders were masterful at creating the most tantalizing cocktails.

Me and Sara decked out in our Flapper dresses.

Sara and John playing their 20's style characters & dressed to the nines.

The next day, Sara and I thought it would be fun to take Ginger (Sara's daughter) and Bode to the local zoo. Bode and Ginger had a great time looking at the animals and getting to know each other. They enjoyed riding in the wagon we rented, as well as trying to push and pull it.

The gorillas were very animated, especially the 3 year old, who was putting on a show for us, doing somersaults and chewing on his toes...

The kids watching the beautiful jaguar pace around its cage.

And of course the "chitlins" as we were calling them, enjoyed the merry-go-round.

That evening, I got an automated call from Amtrak saying that my train back to Eugene in the morning had been cancelled because the mudslide from Saturday still hadn't been cleared. After a long time on the phone I finally had a reservation for Tuesday. Despite the inconvenience I was excited to return on the "Coast Starlight" an upgrade from my original train home with no extra cost. (This is a double decker fancy train, with a lounge car and a dining car).

Monday Bode and I walked about 4 miles round trip in the rain (by choice!) from my friends' house to the water tower in Volunteer Park. When we got there, I was so surprised how quickly Bode climbed the stairs. Later when describing that we had gone to the water tower he said "Yeah, but there was actually no water, and there were lots and lots of steps!" I just have to love a 3 year old's perspective on the world - of course that makes sense. Guess I failed to mention to him that the water was in the big tank in the center!

The beautiful brick water tower featured in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill

The many stairs of the Water Tower. Despite my prediction, I didn't have to carry Bode up even a little bit of the way... He climbed/crawled up those stairs like it was nobody's business!

Finally at the top...

It was a cloudy day...Sometimes the view is spectacular with all the surrounding mountains in view...Although it was still nice to see the space needle down below and the skyline of the city. I wasn't able to capture it on my camera.

That night we celebrated my friend and daughter's birthday with Cake number #3 of our vacation, and yes I indulged in them all and they were all equally delicious!
The next morning we got to the station and I checked in, mentioning how glad I was that the mudslide was cleared...the man behind the desk expressed the same sentiment, and then went on to tell me that there was another one that happened the night before, and that we had to travel on bus to Portland!!! I thought what a cruel joke! But unfortunately not a joke. This time we fared better...the bus was actually pretty luxurious and only a quarter of the people filled it. The train from Portland to Eugene was amazing - Bode just wanted to explore the whole time! We pulled into Eugene safe and sound, and ready for bed.
An interesting note - when I got home a couple of days later I heard a segment on NPR about how outdated the structural engineering is around the Amtrak train tracks in the Northwest...and this is the reason for all the mudslides impeding train travel. In fact, the structural engineering that is still in use dates all the way back to the 1890s! Amtrak has tried to get funding fix this "minor problem" two times but has missed out on both occasions. Despite the obstacles, all in all our trip was fabulous, however next time, I'd book my tickets in the summer!

The kids, being silly for the camera.

Scrapbook Page

2010-11-14T16:38:00.000-08:00

Halloween scrapbook page! One finally completed!

I have been thinking a lot about starting to scrapbook again...I mean, really getting back into it. When Bode was an infant (and slept a lot) I digitally scrapbooked every moment I could, and as a result, I now have a really sweet book to look at and to remember his younger days by. It has been about 2 years since I stopped scrapbooking. My life just started to be busier — I started working again, and of course Bode grew older and so didn't sleep as much as he used to. Scrapbooking time became sparse.

Last week, I made myself sit down and complete a page. It felt good to finally do it again, and I hope that I continue. I have thousands of pictures in my iPhoto which I would rather not stay there!!!

I also wanted to mention that Jessica Sprague, an absolutely incredible digital and hybrid scrapbooking teacher is offering a free class on her website. Here is the link:

http://www.jessicasprague.com/

I highly recommend taking it, and checking out her other classes that her website offers (photography, working with Illustrator, working with an Intuos Tablet, retouching old photos, etc. etc.) I have taken probably 10 to 15 classes and love them all!!!

And last but not least, I want to mention a super cool giveaway: Imagine Childhood is giving away a handcrafted wooden bridge construction kit that pretty much any child I think would absolutely love. And they are also giving away a $50 gift certificate to their store to another lucky winner.

Here is the link. Good luck!

http://blog.imaginechildhood.com/imagine-childhood/

Halloween-come and gone!

2010-11-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe that it has been since October 3 since I last posted. I guess I haven't gotten into the flow of blogging, but I'm not giving up yet!!! We had a really fun busy October, with many crafts, visits to the pumpkin patch, parties, and a mushroom festival...Oh, and of course Trick or Treating. This year Bode wanted to be a rocketship. I searched the internet for premade rocket costumes, and surprisingly could only find little Einstein's rocket costume, NOT what I was looking for. So I tried my hand at crafting a costume out of fabric I found at Joannes. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with the result.

Here is my little rocket ship son! I remembered that I had a silver plastic egg (that nylons used to come in) stored in my art studio, and one of the halves came in handy for the tip of the rocket.

With Bode being a rocket ship, I of course had to be the moon, so I made myself to match the rocket, with lights (battery-powered) strewn through the front so it could light up (which of course you can't see in the picture).

After constructing the costumes, I talked to my friend about what she and her family were being and she said they were doing the space theme too...how coincidental...except she was the sun and the rest of her family ended up being aliens!

Here we are Sun and Moon:

This year was the first time that I ever took Bode Trick or Treating and HE LOVED IT!!!

(no surprise really). But I think he not only enjoyed getting the candy, he also enjoyed feeling brave and walking up to the doors and knocking. He insisted I waited at the sidewalk!!! I thought that was pretty cool.

I had to laugh at one of the houses that we went to...this particular house had a woman in her 70's answer, and she was a very kind and sweet person, but what made me laugh was that Judas Priest was being blasted from her stereo...no joke!!! Gotta love this town!

Apple Prints

2010-10-03T21:36:00.000-07:00

I had been meaning to make apple prints with Bode ever since apples started falling mid-summer from our backyard tree. Well, the last of the apples finally fell last week, and so I knew the time had come that we needed to get this project done!

One of my favorite memories I have when I was a kid was making potato prints, and I remember doing them on white polyester fabric that had a thicker spongy quality. For this project too, I thought printing on fabric would make the end result a little more special than paper that one would typically think to use. Also the paint absorbs into the fabric to some degree making it less likely to smear and a neater choice overall. I had muslin lying around the house, so I mounted the fabric on foam core board, pulling it taut, and duck-taping it to the back of the board.

The materials we used were:

apples sliced in half horizontally and vertically
trays (the ones found in frozen food meals work great)
folded paper towels to line the trays
paint in the colors of apples (Green, Yellow, and Red)
fabric-covered foam core
Corn-cob holders (*these were great for picking up the apples, otherwise it gets messy quickly!)

Bode had fun dipping the apples and pressing them down on the fabric. At first I directed him to keep each apple into only one color paint and not mix them, but by the end I encouraged him to experiment, and the last print turned out to be my favorite with all the colors mixed.

Apple Print Number #1

Apple Print #2

Apple Print #3: My fave...

Halloween is in the Air!

2010-09-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

OK, so I'm not really keen on the fact that Halloween items showed up in local stores in the middle of August. I was pretty much shocked! Is it me? Or have they (the marketers, that is) really jump-started the holidays in a major way in the last couple years? Maybe, it really is me, or maybe I just pay attention to these things a little more closer now that I have a little kid. Anything to make a buck, right? BUT, on a more cheerful note, I really don't mind the early anticipation when it comes to craft activities, especially, that is, when it comes to Halloween. Decorating the house with spooky props is something that I still remember doing and loving when I was a child. Things haven't changed for me much in all these years, except, that is, for the fact that now I have a son as an excuse to get down and crafty with! So in honor of the race to be the first one to decorate my house this season in all its spooky horrific gore, my son and I got crafting!

We did this really sweet "bat" craft I found on Family Fun's website last year that I was smart enough to bookmark. It is a really simple craft and ends up being a pretty fun interactive craft to have hanging around the house at Halloween time. Pulling on a string that hangs from the bat's wings make them flap; it is really cool. This is the link to the instructions. Enjoy!

The Start of Something New

2010-09-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of Autumn; it is also the day that I decided to start the blog that I've been dreaming up for months. I feel so lucky to be a mom to such a energetic, curious, happy little boy, and this blog will serve as a vehicle of documenting the adventures that we have together.

Life is something I realize that you really need to pay attention to, and give it your full respect, or it will pass you by in the blink of an eye. There is just so much I want to do and to share with my son. I hope I am able to pass on to him the things in life that I think are important...and that really comes down to teaching him how to live his life so that his spirit will prosper.