I never really liked that song, but it’s was in my head all day as I did the final touches for Super-E’s Egyptian costume. His Egyptian Opera was this evening.

moody Egyptian eyes

The kids did a fabulous job of performing an opera that they created (songs, music and script). Unfortunately, I had to sit through 5 other plays first, in a crammed cafeteria with my little I-guy on my lap, WHILE trying to video tape the performance. The other plays were cute and all, but those folding chairs do not make a pleasant experience for thee ol’ buttocks.

We made the collar together. I used an old piece of black-out lining (for curtains). It has a great surface to paint on and it won’t tear or fray. I drew the design he wanted and he had at it with the paint. Then we put his name on a shirt with hieroglyphics using this table. He LOVED that! I also sewed up an Egyptian kilt to complete the costume.  It was a fun time, but now I’m beat.

Now to bed…yaaaawwwn.
Good night!

1. Tooth Fairy Pillows, 2. PICT0202, 3. toothy pillows!, 4. tooth pillow, 5. first tooth, 6. tooth fairy pillow, 7. New tooth fairy pillow, 8. Tooth Fairy Pillow 008, 9. tooth pillow Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

We have our first loose tooth in the house and I’m going to need a magic tooth-keeping pillow soon. I searched on flickr and found some amazing ideas. These are my favorites. There is a really cute bear idea on MSO too. Just thought I’d share.

First you have to see what my baby I-guy painted yesterday with his memaw (my mom). He only needed a wee bit of help with eyes, beaks and legs. These are so precious to me. His art is starting to take shape and become something other than a brown puddle of mixed up colors. I couldn’t be more proud.

(for memories sake, from left to right, a rainbow, grasshopper, orange, strawberry, chick, horse, sheep and humpty dumpty)

These beautiful embroidered beauties are dish towels given to me and made by my mother. Eight of them! They are so needed, but they will be so hard to use. They are gorgeous!!

Tomorrow, I will share something that I spent all day making.

Do you have small kids? Do you have this CD/DVD? You HAVE to get it!! It totally ROCKS!!! Really it does, unlike no other kid’s music I’ve heard. Being an old They Might Be Giants fan may help a wee bit, but I really don’t think so. It’s the kind of music that you don’t mind too much that your kids are listening to over, and over, and over again. You might even find yourself singing it at work or at the store. The kids love it too! It comes with both a cd and dvd which is great for when one gets destroyed, the other will (hopefully) still exist and be in playing condition. A special thanks to Aunt Jenny and Uncle Chris for this gift. It’s a definite hit!!

This was made a few weeks back for my super-I’s birthday gift. I’m in the process of making a blue one for his brother who has to have one too, of course. It’s sorta inspired by one I saw on Mahar Dry Goods. Super-I loves his monster towel. It keeps him nice and warm after getting out of the tub.

Don’t forget to sign up for my notecard swap . You have until Sunday, March 16th!  THIS swap looks fun too.  Check it out!

Like I said in my last post, my two little guys are like two totally different creatures.  Super-E loves constant interaction (boy can he talk!).  So you can imagine how great it is to give him something that will keep him quietly busy and keep his mind buzzing with ideas.  He loves drawing (oh! how I love this) and he loves making stories, so naturally he needed a creative notebook.

I had meant to embroider his name on the front, but time quickly escaped from me.

Inside: a space for scrap paper, pencils and a Star Wars notebook.  The recycled paper notebook had a plain cover that I covered with this printout.

The other side has a pocket for handmade paper books and more scrap paper.

He just couldn’t be more pleased with his notebook.  He carries it around wherever he goes, just in case he has a really great idea he needs to right down.

My I-guy is kinda hard to give gifts too, because he really doesn’t need much. He will very happily play by himself, with whatever he finds, for long periods of time. He is so different from my first guy. I finally decided on felt food which ended up being perfect for him and it goes perfectly with the play dish set that Grandma C gave him. The colorful dish set is Austrian made and fits his cute little hands just right.

To kinda go with the felt food are these little sock puppets made from two odd socks. I had to make these because whenever I-guy would find a stray sock (dirty or clean) he would shove his arm in and play puppet. Now he has two (one to share with his brother) whom he named Roxy and Ruby, complete with eyes nose and mouth. Maybe now, he’ll leave the stray socks alone.

Roxy and Ruby love feasting on salad with carrots and tomatoes, pancakes, mandarin oranges and an assortment of yummy cookies. I already have special requests to make strawberries, cherries and watermelon.

I’m sure you’ve seen these boxes and these little paper books. Of course I had to copy and make two boxes for two little friends of ours (sisters). They are such a great idea and super easy to whip together.

I added probably an hours worth of work time to these by painting them. I wished I hadn’t the minute paint brush went to wood, but there was no going back. I did a single coat of acrylic craft paint, so you can still see a little of the wood grain.

Inside are a bunch of goodies to keep the creative mind working. Stickers, scented colored pencils, glue stick, 4 multi-sized paper books, and in the envelope a few smaller envelopes and blank note cards. I would have LOVED one of these as a young girl. I may be doing a more boyish set for my little guy. Such fun!

Here is what we made with our salt dough.

It was such a great family project. Everyone played, even daddy.

See the little Yoda in there.  It’s a mommy/daddy collaboration.  Daddy did a fine job sculpting and I painted. The force is strong with him, don’t you think?

Here is the recipe in case you want to try this out. Very basic.

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup warm water

Combine all ingredients and knead for 10 minutes (really work those arm muscles). The dough should be soft, elastic and not sticky or too dry. Add more water or flour to get correct consistency. Allow to rest for 30 minutes then roll, press, twist, smash, form, shape– whatever suites your fancy. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees for a long long time (2-4 hours, depending on how thick your ornaments are).  They are done when they are brown on bottom and very hard.  When cooled, paint, paint, paint.

TOMORROW:  Ornament GIVEAWAY!!!!! 

I’m flying solo this week with the kids. Really missin’ the daddy right now. It’s times like this that I really count my lucky stars that I have him. He really does so much with the kids and around the house. So, you can imagine how late I’ll be staying up to get a wee bit of crafting in, if any at all.

So the kids and I have been playing, making stuff and organizing. They don’t like the organizing part very much. We did make goey gunk today, and let me tell you, it was goey!

And we had a little horned visitor too. Thankfully, it politely stayed outdoors where it belongs… Meet Mr. H. Toad.

Here is the recipe for goey gunk, if you feel so inclined. It kept my kids busy for about an hour if that’s any incentive.

Solution A= 1 cup white Elmer’s Glue + 1 cup water + 1 drop green food coloring and 2 drops yellow. Stir together.

Solution B= 1 1/3 cup warm water + 4 tsp Borax. Stir together in a seperate bowl until disolved.

Now here comes the fun part. Pour solution A into solution B. Do Not Stir. Swirl around a bit (see first picture). Drain out water and dump the slimey stuff onto your kitchen counter (see didn’t I tell you this was fun?). Knead the goey gunk for a couple of minutes and hand it over to your very excited, eager to make a mess, children. When done playing, store in an air tight container or zip lock baggie. Good for up to a week (depending on how many times it is dropped on the floor and how clean your floor is).

Enjoy!

To start off summer vacation right, we made some *play* dough to smash, form and smash again (with an occasional toss across the room). Yep, ’tis the craziness of my boys. We even made a yummy looking faux fruit salad. I did all the shaping as per instructions from my guys, along with a lengthy discussion on fruits, seeds, avocados, tomatoes and squash.

We made our dough plain white. When it cooled, I seperated it into 6 pieces, then carefully kneaded in several drops of food coloring to make a rainbow of colors.

I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend.