marytree

This is from a bit back, Maddie's birthday to be exact. After reading The Creative Family I decided that it would be nice to make some handmade gifts for each other. I had asked Maddie what she would like me to make and she said a little blankie for one of her bears. Nice and easy. I explained to Annie what Maddie had asked for and then mentioned that I thought it would be nice if she made a gift. Her original plan was a whistle, I am quite happy she changed her mind because I had no idea how to make a whistle and a google search of how left me a bit scared that she would really want to make a working whistle, ummm, no easy task. I think a little mommy prodding led her to decide to make a little sleep set to go along with the blanket. She sat for hours working on all her little gifts. There was a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste. A sink and a pillow and a basket full of little books. She had to have made 15 little books no bigger than a stamp. Each with pictures and bits of writing. I picked up a little box from Michaels and painted it then bought a bunch of stick on jewels that Maddie could use to decorate, the girl loves jewels. Every thing was tucked neatly inside and wrapped. I stole the idea of the little box from Mama Urchin. This was perfect for Maddie, she is a collector kinda kid with little boxes full of treasures that she hides away- "oh mommy, this will be perfect for my ballection" and off she goes.



The bear with blankie and toothpaste.



Some of the little books.



You can never have too many jewels.



Opening up.

Maddie loved the gift and plays with it all the time. Annie was so darned excited to share her gift with Maddie, I thought the girl would burst. There was nothing crazy or expensive in her gifts, just the few things she asked for (a fairy barbie included) and lots love. Do ya think it will be this easy when she turns 14?

One



Two



Three



the love....the Locks of Love that is.

Yesterday Annie, Maddie and I cut off a total of 28 inches of hair. Annie's and my hair were donated to Locks of Love and Maddie's will go to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths (they take 8 inches and you need 10 for Locks if Love.)



We had been talking about doing this for a few months. I've donated in the past and brought the idea up with the girls. At first they weren't so sure and then Annie was fully onboard. She decided that she would look like Snow White with short hair. Maddie never fully committed but the kid only had one haircut in 4 years-(yeah, I know, what sorta mom am I-the kind that couldn't stand to part with the hair that had been on her head since birth. Um, yep, I'm that sentimental.) Once we went to the salon she was game and 4 pigtails were made and measured. The girls were so excited and I almost cried. I was so amazingly proud of them. Annie said "I'll have Snow White hair and some other little girl will have a wig of Snow White hair." Such a simple way to teach kids about giving and so very personal. And well, they look so darn cute to boot. "New short summer hair" - Annie





I had been planning to cut my hair but was going to make an appointment for another day but I got caught up in all the cutting and joined in the fun. I'll post a picture of my new do when I get Dan to take a shot. I'm going to miss their cute little pigtails but I had Annie's hair brushed in 2 seconds this morning with not a single whine. Bliss.

The kidmade self-portrait gallery is up and I have posted the May challenge. I was so excited to recieve all the submissions for the first challenge. As it got closer and closer to the end of the month I had that same feeling you get 5 minutes after a party starts and no one has shown up yet. You know that, oh, maybe no one is going to come feeling. Thank you all for playing along it was really very inspiring. I loved seeing the different ways all the kids expressed themselves.
I have to admit that our little self-portrait session did not go over so well. I waited until the last minute, bought canvases and asked the girls if they wanted to paint a self-portrait. Maddie just wanted to paint and Annie was much too overwhelmed and went into perfectionist mode. In the end they both were happy with their work and that's all that matters. I think we will start much earlier on this months challenge.

I also wanted to share a book I picked up recently at the library. Doing Art Together by Muriel Silberstein-Storfer. Well worth checking out. Lots of great info on how children develop through process based art and how to talk to your children about their art.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend. And the picture is just a bit of fun from the zoo a few weeks ago.

I tend to get swept up when I log on here. I'll google one thing and then go somewhere else and on and on, you know how it goes. Each time I do this that old faberge shampoo commercial....and so on and so on plays over and over in my head. Every once in awhile my wanderings stray from the usual crafty, mommy type blogs to others and I have turn away. Really a girl can only have so many intrests and spend so much time on the computer. So great gardening blogs, nope not even going there and food blogs nope not gonna do it. But today I stumbled upon this little blog and thought maybe I could do this. Weekly baking challenges using the same recipe...hmm sounds familiar...and the first post I see is all these yummy homemade marshmallows.YUM. and then she goes on to say there are more blogs like this out there. Really more people all baking and cooking away with the same recipe and sharing it. But no, I am not going to follow those links, not going to get lost in the whole food blog world,(I don't even have time to cook dinner). But maybe one of you all will and then you can tell me about it and maybe send some homemade marshmallows my way.

Also, kidmade challenge #1-Self-Portrait are due on the 30th so start painting, or drawing or sculpting or whatever just send them in details here. The second challenge should be up on May 1st and I'll have the gallery up by Friday.

This one is from a bit back. I am always a bit stumped by the boy gifts and this time I was a bit short on time so it was more hand decorated.



The girls each drew a picture for the 3 year old boy and then I scanned and printed them onto transfer paper. We ironed them onto t-shirts from Target. Pretty quick and the girls were very proud.



The next weekend was a birthday for my 2 year old cutie of a nephew Mikey. I had no gift on Sunday morning but had seen this post via the Crafty Crow. I had about an hour so a felt board seemed perfect. I used a plain black frame, only a couple dollars and self-adhesive felt. It really did take less than an hour. I think I need to make one for the girls.

We've been following along with the art classes over at Camp Creek Press. Yesterday we packed up a little picnic and our pencils and sketch books and headed to our favorite park. We had a yummy lunch by the river and then headed off to play at the park. I figured we would get some of our energy out and then take a walk and wind down with some observational drawing.
The girls dug around in the sand for a bit and then Maddie found a little butterfly that decided to hang out with them for a while. They built a sand house with lots of sticks for the butterfly to sit on and made a nice little cave.



When it is was set I asked Annie if she would maybe like to draw the butterfly. She asked for her sketch book and a pencil and started. I was surprised she wanted to take time away from the building but she was enthusiastic.







Not a lot of detail but she was happy with it and it was a good introduction to drawing outdoors. As she drew one of the little girls she had met at the park seemed very interested. We shared a piece of paper and pencils and she joined in. Our own impromtu art class at the park.

Never, ever, ever decide to change your whole blog look at 1:00 in the morning. You probably won't remember to save all your widgets and back everything up and then well then you know, you shoot yourself in the foot. And you know I don't even really like it. Off to bed with me.