Pounded Flower Shirt

Following Jen’s fern printing tutorial and taking a cue from Spring Thinking I pounded out this shirt a couple weeks back. I had a bouquet that was past it’s prime just screaming for me try. Once I had exhausted the viable flowers from the bouquet I was hungry for more. So I raided the herb garden for some chives. I placed a paper towel covered board between the two layers of fabric and more paper towel on top of the flowers and bashed away to my hears content. Boy did my eyes water when I was pounding those chives! I had a lot of fun and even let Seth take a whack. I still want to try ferns but I think other plants in the garden warrant a try as well. Next time I’ll remember to place a towel under the whole thing a lot sooner. Luckily there were no holes but there was a bit of discoloration on the side facing the patio blocks. Oops!

Once all was said and done I actually liked the back of the shirt the best. Also, after washing, the chives held up the best. The flower portion has faded somewhat but not the blades. The Gerbia’s from the bouquet did fade a bit but still are recognizable. I wonder if the result would have been different had I used flowers that were fresher.

Bandana Dress

Here’s another birthday present I made for Eleanor. I basically followed the pattern from Daisy Janie except I turned it inside out giving the top a bit of a ruffle. It was my mom’s idea to turn it inside out after I complained about having to fold so much down that it seemed too bulky on the inside. Although this means the side seems are on the outside I think that just adds to the country bumpkin look. I happen to have a denim diaper cover that I think completes the ensemble nicely. The dress is still too big and would be better suited for an 18 month old but it’s fun and didn’t take much effort. I did finally break out the sewing machine in case you were wondering. After hand stitching the sides the kink in my neck told me to just go for it. I can’t believe I held off for so long. Once I remembered how to get the bobbin in it was a snap to make up.

Variations on a Theme

After figuring out my original wave bottle earlier this week I wanted to make something similar with corn syrup and thought I’d ask Seth if he wanted to help. Not only did he want to help make one for Eleanor but he almost had a breakdown because he wanted to make a wave bottle for himself. Anna had commented on my earlier post about using different oils for different effects so I tried to encourage a variation for Seth’s bottle. Well, this didn’t go over too well. He was more than willing to make other varieties for Eleanor but he wanted a blue wave bottle almost identical to his sister’s as his own. Alrighty then!

So here you have it. The bottle above was made with corn syrup a little food coloring and more of the bug buttons with the shanks cut off. Again I super glued the cap back on to avoid a spill. I left a little air at the top this time though. I’m not so happy with the color as I meant for it to be light green but accidently grabed the red at one point. The bugs do eventually float in the corn syrup but it takes them some time to slowly make their way through the goo. It’s great for little bug races. We spent quite a while turning the bottle over and waiting to see which bug would make it to the top first.

These bottle were made according to the directions in my previous post but with some variation in the ingredients. Seth’s wave bottle was filled to the brim with blue water, vegetable oil with blue glitter and seashells. We also varied the height of the water. Unfortunately, we did have to make this one twice as we found out you must mix your food coloring with the water prior to pouring in the oil or the oil gets rather cloudy. At least we think that’s what did it.

This last bottle was made with orange colored water, olive oil and a few pretty pebbles. That’s it! We filled it right up to the top and glued the cap in place. I love the color combination and the olive oil makes great bubbles when the rocks go through it.

We haven’t given these to Eleanor yet but I can tell you that a neighbors 21 month old liked them so much he tried to steal them. So I have no doubt Eleanor will find them intriguing. If nothing else it was a great project for my almost 4 yr old. He got to play with color mixing and learn about the density of certain liquids. What more could I ask for?

Wave Bottle

Eleanor’s 1st birthday is this week and I’ve decided to go with homemade presents. This is the 1st of hopefully several gifts I’m attempting to make before our little party this weekend. We’ll see how productive I can be in the face of several other commitments, my day job and the fact that several family members are arriving Friday.

I’m calling this one a wave bottle for lack of a better term. I was actually thinking blue sky when I made it, hence the floating bugs. However, you could just as easily do fish in an ocean. We all know oil and water don’t mix but more fun can be had when you add other elements. The idea is that she can shake and roll this little bottle to her hearts content watching the liquids react but never mix. The blue will stay blue with bugs in it and the clear will sparkle with the glitter. Here’s the low down if you want to make your own. I think it’s enticing for babies and toddlers to play with as well as a fun experiment for preschoolers and maybe even grade schoolers to make.

Materials:

• Half full water bottle
• Food coloring
• Glitter
• Vegetable oil
• Trinkets - completely optional
• Super glue

I added a couple drops of blue food coloring to the water and a few plastic bugs. The bugs are actually buttons in which I cut off the shank.

I then added a bunch of glitter and filled the bottle to the top with vegetable oil. The glitter will stay suspended in the oil for a bit when the bottle is given a shake. Interestingly not much of the glitter will mix with the water. I then covered each and every thread on the top of the bottle with super glue and screwed on the cap. I have no desire to clean oil out of the carpet so I wanted to make sure the cap was on for good. You could also add a strong tape for good measure but I think I’ll tempt fate.

Now, on to a few more presents or I’ll end up at a toy store right before the celebration. Wish me luck!

[Update - Although this version of the waive bottle can take a lot of shaking, try not to shake too vigorously as it will cloud the oil portion. To see more variations on this project click here]

Making your own watercolors

At Easter some lovely blogger posted how they did watercolor painting with left over egg dye. (Forgive me, I’ve forgotten where I saw it. Please let me know if it was you so I can link.) I thought it was a fine idea and set aside our easter egg dye in tightly covered wide mouth Ball canning jars. I finally picked up a large tablet of watercolor paper on sale and let Seth at it. I allowed him to pick 3 colors and stuck to my guns this time. There was no way I was going to let him do all 6 colors. To my surprise he gave up the battle fairly quickly. I was also happy to finally realize that I could put a different brush in each color. What I’m going for here is not to have all paintings look like they were painted with the single color brown. Guess what? It worked. He still really liked mixing colors but the limitation of 3 colors with 1 brush per color really helped preserve some areas of the original colors.

This really differed from using dry cakes of watercolor which Seth has done many times and asked to do so again after making the above creation.

Not only does Seth prefer a different size brush with this method but he uses much fewer brush strokes. Personally, I think it has something to do with all the effort it takes to wet down the cake of paint to begin with. Of course that’s part of the fun.

Next time? The wet on wet method where I’ll have him paint the paper with water before using the liquid dye. That way we can watch the colors bleed more into the paper instead of pool and only bleed with other colors. Maybe we could do a combined project like this from Bloesem Kids where Seth can do the painting and I’ll draw flowers over it. A little mother/son collaboration if you will. The best part of all this? I can have great liquid watercolor on hand without needing to buy, and more importantly store, any more special art supplies. Here’s the recipe I used, although the measurements are VERY forgiving.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbs vinegar
• 10-15 drops of food coloring
• 1/2 to 1 cup boiling water

Mix together and let cool to room temperature.

Give it a whirl and let me know how it turns out!

Build Your Own Flowers

Since the gardens are still buried in snow, this build your own flower kit will have to provide us with that Spring feeling for now. It accompanies our newly made felt board nicely and was a breeze to put together. I created piles of stems, leaves and pedals out of felt for Seth to arrange as he pleased. Actually, he preferred to direct me on where to put each item but it was still fun and we were still doing something creative together. The addition of a few clouds and a grass base pulled it all together. You might be wondering about the green stripe running from top to bottom on the left side. Well, according to Seth, it’s a beanstalk, as in Jack and the Beanstalk.

Note to self - just because your having fun with the rotary cutter doesn’t mean you have to use it for everything. Circles really mar up the cutting board.

Making a Felt Board

We had quite an Easter weekend. There was egg dying, Easter baskets, an indoor egg hunt, snow forts and snowmen. An odd combination even for here in Minnesota. It just kept snowing and snowing. Even with all of the holiday festivities and snow fun I still managed to make a felt board for Seth. I’m so proud of myself. I’ve been meaning to do this for about a year now and am happy to say - mission accomplished! Here’s the how to if your interested:

Materials

• Large frame, including a back panel - I used one with a roughly 16×20 opening
• Felt for background - a little larger than opening
• Adhesive - I used a spray photo mount
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting board
• Straight edge - optional
• Newspaper

Steps

1. Remove glass from frame - reserve for another project (coasters? a pendant?)
2. Cut background felt a little larger than back panel of frame. I suggest blue felt as it makes a good sky, ocean or just about any other background.
3. Adhere felt to back panel. The spray photo mount worked really well. Lay down a layer of newspaper to protect tables as it’s hard not to get some over the edge. I sprayed two coats on both the felt and the board, one vertically and one horizontally. Let dry a few minutes and lay board onto felt, tacky sides together. Smooth down to avoid wrinkles and puckering. If using other types of adhesive remember that felt absorbs well so stay away from things like craft glue straight out of the bottle.
   
4. Using a rotary cutter trim excess felt along edge of board.
   
5. If one side of the board tucks into a slot on the frame, use a straight edge and the rotary cutter to trim a little back from the edge.
   
6. Slip board back into frame and lock into place. Walla! Now all you need is something to stick on the board.
   

My first batch of items for Seth to play with on the board were inspired by some felt finger puppets that had come with a group of board books his Auntie Ellie gave him a ways back. Some of the books are no more but the puppets are all still in tact. I simply added a grass boarder, a barn and some clouds.

Prefer something a little more open ended? Try simply providing geometric shapes made out of felt. Although Seth thought the farm scene was a hoot, he definitely played more with the shapes.

It took Seth a couple minutes to see how the felt stuck to other felt. There was a little frustration when the first couple pieces he put up fell down. It didn’t take long before he got the hang of applying a little pressure in any direction to make the fibers “lock”. I’m working on a set of build-your-own-flowers and will hopefully be able to post about them later this week. If time cooperates, that is.

Finger Painting

Seth tried finger painting for the first time this evening. I wouldn’t call it a raving success but he did enjoy it. Here’s what I learned:

1. Purchased paints from a kit are probably not worth it. Seth is 3/4 of the way through the jar of green already.
2. Next time I’ll try a homemade version like Keda suggested. I’ll need to hunt down some good recipes.
3. That slick paper made especially for finger painting IS nice, but the ones that came with the kit are way too small.
4. Don’t use construction paper, it gets soggy.
5. Go straight to the sink with him once he stands up. No last minute “here try this paper”. (Both of our pants are now soaking in soapy water)
6. It was nice to have a wet rag on hand.
7. Have more newspaper at the ready to put down after completing a few pieces.
8. It would be way more fun and free to do this outside. Assuming the weather is better than the single digits we’re seeing right now.
9. I need a better place for the masterpieces to dry than on the floor next to my bed.
10. We’ll definitely be doing this again soon.

Routine Help

To help Seth understand what’s expected of him and to keep us focused on what needs to be accomplished I created these routine cards. The top row is for getting ready for school and the bottom is for bedtime. With the exception of the sun and the moon each card has a photo depicting a task on one side and a gold star on the other. The sun and the moon cards are simply to identify morning or evening routines. The cards are laminated and held on the wall with magnets on a bar. As each task is completed Seth gets to turn over the card to reveal a gold star. So far it has really helped us create a consistent routine and keep Seth focused. It has also come in very handy with babysitters; no need to write a list, everyone knows what’s expected. After using the system for some time our routine is firm and we’ve been using it less often. However, it still comes in handy with sitters and the hope is one day Seth will be able to complete his stars without any reminders. Here’s the how-to:

Materials:

• Card stock - use a different color for each routine
• Gold paper - I used a sticky back metallic paper
• 8.5 x 11 self laminating sheets
• Inexpensive bar with magnets (like this one)
• Photos of each desired task
• Scissors
• Photo or paper trimmer (optional)

Steps:

1. Determine your desired routine. For our bedtime routine it’s put toys away, go potty, change into pjs, put dirty clothes in hamper, brush teeth. There’s also books and songs once in bed but there’s no need to motivate with those and Seth certainly won’t let us forget. Besides, I don’t want him out of bed to flip the cards over at that point.
2. Take pictures symbolizing each task. It’s best to take pictures of items of significance for your child, they’ll be more likely to buy in to an idea if they feel a connection. However, that’s not to say you couldn’t cut pics out of magazines or if you’re talented, make drawings. For picking up toys I chose a picture of Seth’s toy box but you could also take a shot of your youngster actually picking up. Getting dressed in the morning was also a tricky card. In the end I chose a picture of Seth’s dresser with a drawer ajar rather than showing specific clothes that he will inevitable grow out of. As long as there’s some connection it will work.
3. Cut down the pictures and card stock to desired size. Make sure you’ll have enough room on the magnet bar to fit all cards. Our cards hang off the end a bit, but still works just fine.
4. Cut out stars. I made a drawing of a star on paper board and cut it out. You could easily make the template out of an empty cereal box.
5. If your creating more than one routine consider identifier cards such as the sun and moon cards pictured above.
6. Glue pictures, stars and identifiers to cards.
7. Laminate and cut out. You should be able to get at least 4 cards per pair of laminating sheets
8. Hang on wall and most importantly, use consistently until a firm routine is established.

Enjoy!

Picture Calendar

A preschooler’s concept of time often leaves something to be desired. The joke about the child who asks if we’re there yet every 5 minutes can, in fact, be a toned down truth. I’ve literally had Seth ask the second after I’ve said “not yet” for the 10th time in under a minute. Dealing with this same concept for the question “are we going to grandma’s TODAY?” lead me to develop a picture calendar. As my 3 yr old can’t read yet, this seemed the logical choice. We started with a simple 3 day hand drawn calendar on construction paper. As he became more comfortable with the concept we moved on to a 5 day version:

Sorry about the crappy photo, but when I took this I didn’t know I was going to be blogging about it. At any rate, the calendar really helped on a number of levels. It helped prepare Seth for individual events such as going to see Grandma or going to the doctor and it also helped with more routine things like determining if we’re staying home today or going to school. Many evenings we quickly review the day and note what’s to happen the next day. Most mornings we review yesterday and acknowledge what’s to happen that day.

Pretty soon, it became a little tedious to fully draw out a calendar every few days, not to mention wasteful with the construction paper. So, I’m happy to say, we’ve now moved on to a white board version:

It doesn’t always prevent the tantrum over unexpected or undesired events, but it has definitely reduced them. If you have a pre-reader in your family give this notion a shot. Don’t be shy about your drawing skills, I can guarantee you draw better than the child you’re drawing for. Stick figures and smiley faces are perfectly acceptable. If your child is starting to recognize letters, feel free to stick in a few for symbols as well. In the above example the M & P stand for who’s dropping off and picking up from day care. Here’s a few symbols to get you started:

house = staying home

birthday cake = someone’s birthday

car = road trip

book = library or story time

stethoscope = doctors visit

happy faces or stick figures = people (identify specific people by using distinguishing characteristics, such as long hair or placing the 1st initial of their name above or below)

toys = playing

lots of faces = play group

plate of food = going out to eat