Leaf and Crayon Suncatchers

I know everyone has seen and probably made at some point in their life the crayon shavings sun catchers. Well the wonderful staff at the arboretum added a twist by providing pressed leaves.  If you’re interested in making some of your own here are my hints and tips.

First you’ll need to go for a hike to collect leaves. Press them between sheets of wax or parchment paper in or under heavy books. Another alternative is under a cookie sheet piled with heavy pans. Leave for 1 day to 1 year.

Seth’s is on the left, Eleanor’s on the right. If you’re wondering what the little rectangles are toward the bottom of each sun catcher, they’re labels with the tree variety that the leaves came from. The goal, of course, was to get the kids to recognize the trees by the leaf shape. I wrote the tree names for them with pencil and wouldn’t recommend it as you can barely read them. Maybe just a sharpie right on the wax paper if I were to do it again.

Materials:

• Old crayons – I’m thinking it would be easier for little fingers to use blocks of crayons. Heck, it’d be easier on my big fingers too. Try melting a bunch of stubs or chunks into a muffin tin.
• Old grater that you won’t be using for food again – I suggest box graters vs the flat one pictured here. They’re more stable.
• Wax paper
• Pressed Leaves – or you could put any paper cut out shapes here, the possibilities are endless. If you are doing this project in connection to a themed event add paper shapes representing that event – pumpkins or bats for example.
• Iron
• 2 sheets of aluminum foil
• Scissors
• Hole punch (optional)
• Yarn or cording (optional)

Steps

1. Take a piece of wax paper and fold in half
2. Choose a leaf or leaves and place on one half of wax paper
3. Grate crayons over the half of wax paper with the leaves. I was impressed by how well Seth was able to do this on his own. If it had been a box grater with large chunks of crayons he would have had no problems whatsoever. For those with younger ones you may need to grate some ahead and just let the child sprinkle it on. Note – it really doesn’t take much so easy does it.
4. Fold the uncovered half of wax paper over the assembled side so that all of the crayon shavings and leaves are now covered by wax paper on both sides.
5. For adults only of course – iron the wax paper between two sheets of tin foil. If you don’t use the tin foil you will get crayon residue on your iron. It doesn’t take long to seal the sheets together.
6. Peal the tin foil back and let the sun catcher cool.
7. Cut down the sheet to your desired shape
8. Optional – punch one or two holes (Seth’s favorite part) near the top and tie on the yarn to hang in a window or around a proud little neck.

Stump Art

Not only do I love the name “stump art” but I thought it was a pretty darn cool idea as well. While at the the arboretum we ran across these stumps perched on a picnic table. They were cleaned of all dirt and completed covered in items found in nature along with colorful nylon cording. There were buckets of bark, pine cones, branch cross sections, leaves, sticks, rocks and more nylon cording with a couple pairs of scissors sitting nearby. A sign was posted encouraging any passerby to add their own touch to the piece.

I loved how interactive it was. Seth did too. He loved cutting pieces of cord and hanging items from the stump’s many outstretched roots. I had to help him with tying the cords but the placement was all him. He also enjoyed rearranging rock piles others had placed there as well.

Some items were carefully placed and some were tied down with the cording. Eleanor was more interested in moving items from one bucket to the other. I assume that they clean off the stumps every once in a while refilling those buckets. The fact that it is ever changing makes it that much more intriguing.

As I don’t have a spare stump lying around and have no hopes of obtaining one in the next year here’s an idea that I’m playing around with for our backyard: a wall of tree branches. If I can convince my husband, I think it would be fun to lash several branches to a section of our cedar fence with jute or sisal twine. Then when we go for nature walks we can collect items to add to the wall. Although the brightly colored nylon string on the stump art at the arboretum was fun and enticing for Seth I’m thinking we’d use more jute or sisal to both keep the cost down and keep with the more natural look. Now, I just need to find some good branches…

Searching For Inspiration

As you may have been able to tell from the last few posts my creative juices have been running on the low side. Stress tends to poke holes in my reservoir and it was time to make repairs. So I packed up the kids for a day at the MN Landscape Arboretum. If you’re local and you’ve never been, go. Even if you have been there, go again. Regardless of the gray skies, this day had the triple effect of giving hubby time to work on the house, entertaining the kids and jump starting the right side of my brain. Nice!

I took more pictures than I care to admit. I know Martha will understand this. But, truly it was so inspiring. I’m hoping you too might find a little inspiration in what I found there. I know I did. And in an effort not to lock up your computer with the biggest post ever I’ve broken it down in to several, and I mean several, posts. Enjoy!

I saw the most amazing variety of dahlias:

As usual, the art was unexpected. I want to go back to see more as I got sidetracked before getting to see the entire Art ‘n Trees Trail. This birch was no birch, it was actually a polymer replica with fun little doors all over it:

The colors blew me away. I wasn’t expecting so much color in the flowers at this time of year. It was a bit surreal.

The texture combinations were amazing. I just couldn’t get enough:

I never fail to learn something as well. Did you know it takes about 9 times as much water and 7 times as much land to produce a single McDonald’s burger as it does a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

Not all, but many of the posts over the next week or so do have a kid friendly tilt. I can’t even describe how many crafty ideas it has inspired me to do for them. Even if you don’t have kids I know you’re a kid at heart and may still find inspiration through their naturey goodness. I’ll probably also be adding some pictures to my twin cities photo set if you’re interested. I promise not all of the posts and pictures will be of flowers, but they will be nature related and may hopefully, provide you with some crafty ideas as they did me.

Perfect Fall Purse

Hopefully I’ll get creative this weekend. In the meantime check out this fabulous purse I stole, um, I mean borrowed from my mom. It was handmade down to the core by Carolyne for the Functional Felt Swap. She wet-felted the felt fabric to construct the purse and then did some nuno and embroidery on it. I absolutely love it. We’ll see how long it takes for me to give it back to my mom. Click here for a better picture when it was shiny new.

Summer Reading Recap

Way back in May I signed up for Necessary Chocolate’s Summer Reading Program. I loved the idea of a reading program for me vs. the kids. I also loved that it was very flexible and about moments spent reading, not how many books I could finish. Now that summer is officially over here’s my update:

1. Quit reading a book that you don’t like – this is what won me over to do this program to begin with. I have a hard time stopping reading a book I don’t like. I keep thinking it will get better. Triggerfish Twist by Tim Dorsey never did for me. You see, my husband liked this book and I was trying hard to like the book too. In the end it was a little too twisted for me. I know I don’t need it, but it was like I had been given permission to stop reading it.
2. Read in bed. Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman. If you think my parent’s basement is impressive you should see their mystery book collection!
3. Read with a child – easy peasy. At a minimum we read 2 books to Seth and 2 books to Eleanor every night. I strongly believe this is the reason Seth, at 4 years old, can use the word cumulonimbus (a type of cloud) 5 times in a single sentence. He just LOVES words. Some kids collect cars, he collects words. His current favs are any Usborne beginners, Go Away Big Green Monster, and Fish is Fish.
4. Admire great illustrations – with children’s book overflowing from our shelves this wasn’t hard either. Some of my favorites? Leo Lionni, Ezra Jack Keats, Barbara Knutson. I realize there are illustrators for adult books too, but these are still my favs.
5. Return a library book on time – Really the library should take credit for this one. I just love how I can request, renew and check the status of my library books online. Not to mention how they email me when the due date is coming near. I had checked out The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Can you believe I had never read it before?
6. Read a poem – I love children’s poems but struggle a bit with the adult stuff. I think I just need to find the right fit for me. As a reminder of poetry I used to enjoy I picked up my old copy of Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends. His lyrical, humorous poems reminded me that not all poetry has to be difficult to decipher. Now I’m reading a poem a night to Seth as well.
7. Read before the dishes are done – Not to put too fine a point on it but this was beyond easy. No one ever has to encourage me not to clean. Sleeping in a Sack: Camping activities for Kids by Linda White.
8. Read while you listen to the rain – my favorite time to read. The Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory.
9. Look at a new craft book or magazine – I recently picked up a copy of Debbie Bliss’s new mag. A fun peruse for knitters. I was especially inspired by her Gray Matters collection. Maybe I’ll actually get around to knitting a sweater for myself in the next year. (or so)
10. Try a new recipe or cookbook – I love new recipes, some of my favorites this summer have come from Everyday Food.
11. Wander through a bookstore – we did this on our anniversary last week. It was the first time in a long time I’ve been able to just wander and look at adult books instead of chase a child down in the kids section.
12. Read while exercising – People Magazine. Trashy – yes, kept my mind off the burn – yes. Worth it. I realize this is the opposite of what the little ice cream sticker was suppose to symbolize. But for me it symbolized what I was trying to avoid.
13. Share a book with a friend – Jen was gracious to lend me her copy of Lotta Prints. Incredibly inspirational and worth every penny if you want to try your hand at printing on fabric.

As you  might be able to tell I’m 3 shy of actually completing the reading program. No worries. I’m just thankful that it encouraged me to get a bit more reading that I think I would have otherwise. I also appreciate that it got me to take a step outside of the reading rut I tend to fall into. I still plan on finishing. Here’s what’s on the docket:

• Read something more than 75 years old
• Read outside
• Try a new author

Any suggestions? For at least one I’ll download an audio book for free from my library. That way I can listen and workout at the same time. I just love it when I can multi-task.

Campy Not Crafty

I haven’t been feeling crafty lately. Too much to do in too little time to do it, and I’m not even talking about craft desires. Not to mention I feel like all the clutter is going to fall in on me. There’s just not enough space in this little house for me to breath. I really need to do something about the situation.

There is good news however! I had set three goals for my family at the beginning of summer – go biking, go kayaking and go camping at least once. I am proud to announce, mission accomplished! The biking was a breeze to get in. And once we got out, we went again and again. Kayaking was a little harder as this is our first summer with our own boat and we weren’t quite sure were to go that was quick and easy. We did get out, but I wish we had gone a few more times.

Camping on the other hand was elusive. Every time we tried we were somehow thwarted. Mostly it had to do with scheduling and to a lesser extent the weather. This last weekend I wasn’t going to let anything stop us. Even when we realized our camp stove had a big leak. Even when the first campground we stopped at was full. Even when Seth threw up in the car. Several times. I won’t go into detail about Eleanor’s diapers either. We made it anyway and I’m very happy we did.

Although it did cause another pile of stuff to clean up in the living room. And the laundry! Good golly, the laundry! (See more photos of the trip here.)

Did you accomplish your goals this summer? Are you ready to move on to fall? I know I’m ready for the slower pace fall brings.

September 19, 1992

What I was doing 16 years ago:

I still can’t believe he asked me to marry him.

Behavior Modification

Try this on for before and after shots. Above, a mischievous little smirk. Below, the result of sucking on a vinegar and water covered paint brush.

I forgot to mention this in yesterday’s post, but the beauty of making your own liquid watercolors is you don’t have to worry if they try to eat it. And it only took a couple tries before Eleanor decided she was not a fan.

Is it art if you don’t know you’re doing it?

Seth did some watercolor painting on coffee filters at preschool recently. I’ve seen this done before and have been meaning to do it and mentioned such to his teacher. She promptly handed me a stack of coffee filters to play with at home. A few days later we gave it a go. Eleanor included.

There are a few different types of watercolors. At school they had used basic watercolor pans. The little pats that you pick up the color with a wet brush. This is the coffee filter in the top left of the above picture. As you can tell Seth has been enjoying the use of black in his paintings as of late. The other two were done using our homemade liquid watercolors. They have a much more pastel subtle quality to them.

This project is a bit of a stretch for me. I realize that it needs to be about the process and not the product. But really, what am I going to do with a half a dozen painted coffee filters? We should make these butterflies but then what am I going to do with them? I’m entirely to lazy to hang them up. Maybe the kids would enjoy running around with them. Heaven knows Seth enjoys prettending to be a butterfly coming out of a chrysalis.

OK, back on track. Once we ran out of coffee filters Seth moved on to paper towel. The fun part of both the filters and the paper towel is how the watercolor bleeds so nicely and differently than on paper. And when I say bleed, they really do bleed – right through the paper. At school they placed a paper plate behind the coffee filter to absorb the excess. Since we were doing both round filters and square paper towel I just used a piece of actual watercolor paper taped to the table. One per child.

I realized when I was cleaning up the lovely pictures that resulted underneath the filters and paper towels. In my annoying round about fashion, this leads me to my question: Is it art if you don’t know you’re doing it?

Random Artist

We were having a high class dinner at Denny’s for kids eat free night when this random guy asked for our kids names, then handed us these drawings and walked away. We noticed him doing this several times around he restaurant with other families. Steve thought it was a bit creepy and maybe it was a little. However, I think he’s just a lonely guy who likes to sketch faces.