I had planned on making my little I-guy some felt food for his birthday, but time got away from me. Fortunately, my lovely sister came to the rescue with some felt food for him from Oceantribes on etsy. Yay! There were more veggies in the mix, but they are missing in action.
I made a burlap bucket (pdf pattern from Maya Made) for him to keep all his play food in. He uses it to “go shopping” and it fits perfectly under the sink of his play kitchen.
You can’t really tell from the pictures but it rained all day, was gray and cold. But that didn’t damper or darken my little guy’s day. He has a light of his own that he shines brightly every day. Always happy, chatty, funny, and ready to go anywhere and do anything without complaint.
He woke up early ready for the much expected abundance of love from mommy, daddy and brother. He is very much loved every day, but today was extra special of course because of the presents, specially requested food and all the cards in the mail from loved ones.
He didn’t ask for much, just a penguin made by me. So, every little gift was a big surprise. He said, “Everyone must love me A LOT!” They sure do, little buddy!
Like our caterpillar book? Made it with my I-guy. He LOVES Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar book and he wanted to make his own version. See the leaf with little egg?
Originally, I was trying to remember how to join square pieces of paper so that it folded into a little book. I had made these when I was little (grade school). Once I figured it out, I put I-guy to work decorating it.
He loves doing projects like this and was very happy to oblige. Especially because I opened up my art supply box. He really loves getting into the art supplies.
We very carefully and slowy wrote our own story. We read it often and he has been ever so pleased to share his book with anyone who will look.
It took me forever to get a christmas package together for my dear little niece Ruby. I finally sent it off last Thursday and she received it in the mail today! Hooray!!
I had wanted to make a wee wonderful doll, but that didn’t happen. I couldn’t handle the idea of making little clothes, at the time, but would love to tackle the project at another time when it is less stressful.
I made another barrette holder too, with sweet little felt covered barrettes.
They were so much fun to make. I might have to make a few for me, just cuz.
Lots of little gifts were made for the little people in my life. Many things, unfortunately did not get photographed 
, but here are a few things that did.
Colors of the rainbow gnomes (inspired by these) to help my, just over 2 year-old niece Cassarah, learn her colors.
Hair clips & band holder for my friend’s daughter Ruby, to hang on the wall.
And for my little I-guy, a play kitchen, made by my sweet, sweet husband. The poor guy spent a good week locked up in the garage making this and fixing up a mountain bike for Super-E. For the kitchen, we used this and this as models, both of which were IKEA hacks of the RAST table.
I LOVE how it turned out, and so does I-guy. Now he is asking for more felt food (pizza and pasta), hot pads and an oven mit. Maybe I can get those done by his birthday in February.
Both Super-E and I-guy spent private sessions alone with me in my craft room making little stuffed gifts for each other. I-guy, the little one, wanted to make an owl for his brother, since there has been a big interest in Guardians of Ga’hoole. I-guy spent the whole time with me, very interested in the process, helping with all the embroidery stitching, felt and button choices. He did ALL the stitching on the eyes, beak, and chest and was so, so proud!
Then, Super-E wanted to make his brother Picachu, which happens to be I-guy’s favorite color– yellow. So, that is what we made. Super-E couldn’t wait to escape the craft room. He did the directing and choosing of things and dashed away as fast as he could. It’s alright though. I couldn’t torture the poor kid and his heart was still very much in the right place.
When they gave eachother their gifts, there was so much excitement and love shared. They both adore their gifts and keep them close at bedtime.
These two, I can honestly say, are best of friends. They definitely have their moments, of course, but Super-E is extremely patient and nurturing and the little guy can’t WAIT for his big brother to get home from school everyday. What more could a mom ask for.
I’ve been saving up my paper rolls in hopes of making something with them. I decided to make these little ornaments after folding, bending, cutting and just messing around with the rolls. My little guy helped me out.
Here’s what you need:
paper rolls
craft acrylic paint
ink marker (optional)
hole puncher
strips of fabric, ribbon, yarn, twine (whatever you like)
water-based, nontoxic satin varnish (optional)
1. Fold paper roll as seen in first image.
2. Match points up and press together.
3. Repeat on other end.
4. Paint.
5. Decorate. You can paint something directly onto the roll or glue images from books, fabric, wrapping paper, etc. Use small drawings that the kids have done on paper and glue them on, or a photo would work great too. Add a little glitter or stickers. Sky’s the limit.
6. Give a light coat of satin varnish (optional).
6. Punch holes into each point and tie together with twine, ribbon, strips of fabric or yarn. Repeat on other end.
fronts
backs
7. Add another string for hanging on your tree OR use as gift packaging for a small treasure (jewelry, small toy, money). Wrap the small gift in tissue paper and stuff inside. Use a long piece of ribbon that you can tie the bottom ends together in a bow so it can easily be re-opened for a surprise inside.
8. Enjoy!
Here in the southwest desert of Arizona, we don’t really have a typical autumn. The weather is cool, which means that it is finally in the 80s, but there are no scarves, jackets or changing leaves. It’s the changing leaves and Autumn colors of the higher elevations that I love most.
On our trip up to Northern Az last weekend, we had meant to collect some leaves. We came home with only a few, which are pressed in my moleskine journal. I had wanted to make some kind of Autumn decoration for the house, so with some creative thinking, the boys and I decided to make our own leaves.
Now, you may have beautiful leaves that surround your home, but the great thing about these is that they don’t crumble, you need paint, and they involve making a mess. The ingredients for a fun activity with the kids.
Here’s what you’ll need:
A brown paper bag
acrylic craft paints in assorted Autumn colors (yellow, orange, green, red, brown, copper, gold)
paint brushes, sponges, old toothbrush
blow dryer (optional)
scissors
twine
1. Take one brown paper grocery bag, tear it open into one flat piece. Tear into 3-4 large pieces and crumple into a ball to give it lots of texture. Flatten out.
2. Prep paints by diluting with a bit of water
3. Slop paint all over paper.
4. Allow to dry. Use a blow dryer to speed the process (optional).
5. Lightly sponge on metallic gold and copper paint
6. Spritz some diluted brown paint with a toothbrush to create speckles.
7. Admire your pretty paper.
8. When paper is completely dry, cut into leaf size squares and cut out leaves (this is where the kids lose interest). If you are lucky to have sizzix machine with leaf shapes, that would be a really easy way to make leaves. I don’t have one so I cut them all by hand. It wasn’t as hard as it may seem. I stacked several squares together and cut several leaves at the same time while watching Glee (again).
9. Glue stems onto twine and hang your pretty garland on a window or around a door.
Today little I-guy started the day with some drawing which led us right into sewing.
How could I refuse a, “can we make him?” complete with big begging eyes.
He picked everything of course. He is a guy who knows exactly what he wants. Green and yellow, pocket, buttons nose and eyes, ribbon trimming and even the color of the thread. He was especially thrilled to find a triangle shaped button in my stash.
He is very proud of his design and plans on keeping his new cat close by, especially at night. He says that the pocket is for crackers. Oh boy, I better be checking that little pocket before bedtime.
I hate it when I forget my fabric grocery bags!! URGH!!! I try so hard to remember. They are hanging right by the door! But, it happens every once in a while. I’ve been known to shove 10 lbs worth of groceries into my purse, just to avoid a plastic bag.
Well, it happened again, on Sunday. A trip to Trader Joe’s resulted in lots of yummy food and 3 stuffed paper bags. After we put the groceries away, I was folding up the paper bags and was noticing how thick the paper was. Then the creative wheels started turning and because I’ve been reading A LOT about art journaling, well…
I was able to get 2 small journals (4 x 5 inches) and one large journal (8 x 6 inches) from two brown paper bags.
Here is a quick bit about how I made them:
For two small journals cut 16 pieces measuring 5 x 8 inches. Eight sheets for each journal. For the large journal, cut the paper into five or six 8 x 12 inch pieces. I ironed each sheet with steam to get them flat and then folded each sheet in half. Then I hand stitched the binding using THIS TUTORIAL. For one of them, I hand stitched a straight stitch.
You can paint the pages with one or two thin layers of gesso to make the pages thicker and stronger and to give you a clean, white page. Just make sure to use a dry brush or very little water with the paint to keep the paper from getting too soggy. From there on out, the sky is the limit! Paint, draw with pencil, charcoal, chalk, oil paintstiks, crayons, pens, markers, decoupage with paper, photos or fabric, use stamps. I use mat gel medium for all of my collage needs (or you can use modge podge)
Ideas for your journal:
*Color study, paint a different color on each page and then write feelings or draw pictures that each color evokes.
*Words. Write a random word on each page then paint, draw something that is associated with that word.
*Copy old black & white photos of family members and paste them to your journal. Paint colorful hats, dresses, vests on everyone.
*Use pictures from magazines and paste them in your journal. Fancy them up with markers, pens, paints, colored pencils.
*Make a numbers or alphabet book with the kids.
*Themes: Pick a theme , make a list then and fill your journal with each listed item.
The great thing about these journals is that they are a really inexpensive way to get creative with art. There is no pressure to make a masterpiece, just a really fun way to get ideas down on paper and experiment.
P.S. I thought I’d see if anyone else had done this, and because this is an amazing and huge world full of a gazillion creative people, I found that my idea wasn’t all that origianl after all. Ah well. I can happily say however, that I learned more and was inspired by the following three really cool paper bag journal makers:
Yoli’s Sacred Journey: Brown bag art journal
Journal Junk: Paper Bag Journal (video)
Judy Wise: More Stuff
*********************Cheers!!*********************
