Cornflour slime

So what do you do with kids home from school and feeling generally lousy from whooping cough? You make slime of course! I found this recipe here. We talked a little about liquids and solids and then they got right to it. It was funny to see how each kid played with it. They are all individuals that is for sure!

And the mess I was left with. It kept them happy for an hour or more though so really it was a small price to pay. :-)

Echidna makings

This year Echidna Day crept up on me. We have all been feeling pretty lousy still trying to recover from whooping cough (which is taking forever I might add!) and virus' that seem to keep attacking our family.

Our Echidna makings were limited to the above this year. Esther and Ellamay made some Echidna's from foam eggs and pencils or sticks. And Ellamay drew the awesome Echidna picture above.

Usually we make some kind of Echidna cakes but we didn't this year. We made do with our "sticky" food of chocolate malt sticks and chocolate raspberry bullets.

Stay tuned. I might be able to find something crafty to share soon. :-)

Matchbox cameras and party craft

I love that when the kids friends come over now, it is just expected that they will be making something. I always wanted to be a mum like that. And what do you know? I am here. So it was natural that we would be doing some kind of crafts while Esther and Ellamay's (un)party was on. I started with the photo booth idea, which lead me to camera's, which seemed like a good theme. Here I was "planning" an (un)party and I now had a theme. Typical. Anyway, this is the main craft we did. It was a big hit.

We used a matchbox, ribbon, card stock, scrap paper, double sided tape and scrapbooking bling.

I cut out some scraps of white card to fit the tray of the matchbox so the kids could draw their own "photos" onto them.

"Say cheese!"

Other (un)party crafts we did were decorating photos mounted on mat board. We used stickers, markers and bling for that one. I had photos of all the kids from another play day together and had them printed for everyone. That was very exciting to everyone because it was pictures of another fun time together. :-)

As a stand by, I printed some frames from here onto A4 sheets and then everyone could make their own masterpiece that was already in a frame. I am keeping a few of these on hand. You never know when someone will need to create a framed artwork.

Guest Post on HomeSpun-Threads

As I told you a few posts ago, I am guest posting over at HomeSpun-Threads.

You can see it over here. I completely missed when it was put up and then I have been having trouble getting computer time. (Again!)

Check out the other ideas for the Summer Soiree while you are over there. Heaps of great ideas for entertaining the kids.

Have a great week. Hopefully, I'll be back soon with another post :-)

Another box cubby house

I love when we get a new appliance that comes in a big cardboard box. These boxes housed our new split system air conditioner. After we watched the electrician drive out of the drive way, Amelia and I raced outside and dragged the boxes inside. I was really hoping the boxes would be left behind. We haven't had a box cubby for a while.

The girls made the window boxes out of rice bubble packets and I struggled with the roof. We did make paper flowers for the window boxes but they didn't survive too long. After the cubby spent about a month inside being used as lots of different things, the girls dragged it outside to use in the yard.

It has gotten so cold out now and the kids all have colds so they haven't been able to be playing in it much. It gets dragged under the car port in the late afternoon so it doesn't get wet overnight. Once that happens it will be off to the recycling! Cubby houses are so much fun! Do you make box cubbies at your house?

Summer Soiree at Home Spun-Threads

You might have noticed this button pop up over the side there --->

I am extremely late posting this (of course - still trying to catch up!) but I was asked to do a guest post over on Home Spun-Threads. There is a great craft each day of May, for kids. Now we aren't coming into summer here in Oz but winter. Plenty of these crafts could be used in the winter time too. So pop over and check out all the crafts that are featured. I am going to be up some time next week I think... I have to work out how to send the post first! (Sometimes, I am not so tech savy.) And make sure you visit all the clever people featured.

3D Easter eggs that became other things...

Okay. I know Easter was last month now. You will just have to smile politely while I catch up :-) Got your smiles on? Here goes the first of the late Easter posts. Call it preparation for next year.

This craft is from the Disney Family Fun website. If you haven't seen this site before, it is an excellent resource for kids crafts.

This is the one I made. It started off being Amelia's but she lost interest because it was "a bit too twicky, Mummy". We decided to make them with only two sides of the folded paper because it was a bit harder than we thought it was going to be. The one I made could hang on the art string in the kitchen easier then too.

Ellamay and Esther both turned theirs into bunny houses. Ellamay's had staircases and striped floor boards.

Esther went with pink flooring.

And a bunny inside. The photo below he was having a sleep I think. He looks a little sick. Perhaps too many Easter eggs?

Ellamay ended up creating a pathway off the side of her egg bunny house.

They dreamed up all kinds of stories to go with them too. I think they had a lot more fun making these than playing with them. And a lot more fun making them this way than the original idea. It's great to see the kids take an idea and make it their own.

Cardboard hand bags for Easter

The kids put these together on the pump the other night. I had previously cut out and assembled the cardboard base. The girls then chose their favourite scrapbook paper to cover it and made the beads on pipe cleaners for the handles. I hope they last until Easter morning because they have been loading them up with things that shouldn't go in a bag made of cardboard and we have had to repair them with sticky tape a few times. I think I should have used some thicker card for the gusset.

In case you want to make some of these, I first saw the idea over at ikat bag. This blog is a favourite of mine especially for all the cardboard creations... but then I love all of it. There is a printable template and instructions on how to make them. We will be making some of these again.

Easter crafting

These are some of the things we have been making for Easter at our house.

Easter egg carton chicks found here. The kids enjoyed this but got frustrated when they cut out the paper pieces. The shapes they came up with didn't fit properly. It might be a good idea to work out the size for your kids first if you are going to try this one. My kids are like Tassie Devil's when it comes to crafting though so maybe you'll have better luck :-)

I found these glittery foam eggs on sticks at a junk shop in town. They were 10 for $2. When I saw them I thought they would be perfect as flower centres. My mum cut up these flower shapes ages ago (thanks Mum) and I have been getting out only a few at a time so they didn't get wasted (some of us don't have the fancy cutters still). This was a pump time craft. They look pretty. I am hoping they survive so I can pack them away for next year.

Here is the finished plaster eggs.

These chickies (or duckies for that matter) I found at Spotlight a couple of months ago. They were clearing last years Easter stuff. I got 4 of these for $1. They are supposed to be door hangers but I thought they would be great picture frames. Don't you just love how Ellamay has called hers "Alien Ellamay"?

This is a craft that Mum made up for the kids. (Thanks Mum again). Two sheets of black card with the window cut into it. Cellophane, double sided tape and the picture of Jesus is printed on vellum. The verse on top is just printed on normal paper. Ignore the finger prints on the window behind it ;-)

This last one, I made up for the kids to make for Palm Sunday. All I did was photocopy the story out of a bible story book onto card and cut out the pictures. They have little card props at the back to help them stand up. The palm branches I printed from here. This one is Ellamay's I like how she has added some orange paper robes on the ground. It's all mounted on photo mat board.

Still more crafting to go over the weekend. I will probably still be sharing after Easter! If you are looking for some last minute Easter craft ideas, check out One Pretty Thing.

Plaster eggs

What to do with children on school holidays in the lead up to Easter? Making and painting and all things creative in our house. We recently went to a country market with my sister in law and found some plaster eggs to paint.

I am sure if you could be bothered, making up some plaster and using some chocolate moulds would be easy enough. Messy though. And since someone else had done the messy part (or some of the messy part anyway) for me, who am I too pass that up?

The 3 kids had fun painting them and I got some peace to get some laundry done. Everyone happy. It didn't occur to me to take pictures of the finished product. Amelia's ended up all brown because she mixed her paint together. Esther and Ellamay seemed to be quite concerned about this. I pointed out that she is 3 and does things like that. And that they are Easter eggs so it is quite alright that they are brown. They just look like chocolate now. :-)

Paper cup lighthouses

This is a quick, last minute craft I came up with for the kids to do during Amelia's pump time.

I love lighthouses. I have a collection of little wooden ones from souvenir shops. This craft was from a sudden inspiration that hit me when I was trying to decide what we could make using these LED battery operated tea light candles. I found mine at the Reject Shop in a pack of 4 for $3.

We used a paper cup, a plastic cup, coloured paper, glue, markers and our LED candles. You can probably see how we made these. We covered the paper cups in white paper first and then added strips of red paper. Using our markers we added windows and a door. Then we added the bottom half of a plastic cup (which was a little smaller than the paper cup) for the top. We coloured the top with the black markers, added the LED candle and we were done!

Ellamay added a Barbie sticker to her lighthouse because apparently Barbie can be a lighthouse keeper as well as all her other careers :-)

The kids loved this. They have their lighthouses in beside their beds now. The candles flicker just like real candles so it makes the lighthouses look great in a dark room.

This would make a cool craft even with out the candles. Perhaps you could use some al foil in the top for the light. Or stick it over a torch. Just a few thoughts. (I probably don't need to point this out - but I will. These LED candles are not suitable for small children. They are a choking hazard.)

Have fun. If you have any great ideas for pump time activities, let me know :-)

Needle books

How do you store your needles? I have a pin cushion that use to take care of them but I was having trouble with little people pushing the needles right down into it. Frustrating, but again one of those things that I remember doing to my mothers pin cushion so it makes it hard to be too cross about that. :-) (Sorry Mum). This felt cloud is what I have been using lately. Although it looks kind of cute (to me anyway) it wasn't really doing the job. I have wanted to make some kind of needle book for a while now and even had a couple in the mid-craft pile (recently culled).

Since the three girls are now sewing with real needles, we are going to start working towards making up a sewing set for them while improving their sewing along the way. Good idea, don't you think? I searched flickr looking at all kinds of needle books that might be easy for kids. There were lots of great ideas and this one isn't exactly kids beginners level but the girls had an idea for what they wanted. Mostly, it had to be quick. I had seen this tutorial for a child's sewing kit a while ago, which includes a pattern for a needle book and pin cushion and thought it would do the job.

Mine is the pale blue, Amelia's is green, Ellamay's is purple and Esther's is the pink ballerina. Sticking with our regular favourite colours. Everyone got to sew the line in the middle of their needle book. I know that's not much but when there is three little girls all wanting to do theirs at the same time, you have to go with what works easiest.

They all did a pretty good job with the sewing machine. I am hoping to get Esther and Ellamay back on there some time soon to make some little bags. We have been dreaming up all the other things we need to make or buy for their sewing set. We aren't going to make the sewing box that goes with the tutorial at the moment, though I would like to try it some time.

This is the inside of my needle book. By the time we got to sewing my needle book, some one had fiddled with the sewing machine and the tension was wrong (again!). True to form, I didn't stop to try to fix it. Waste of time. It takes me forever to get it sorted out. I am an impatient sewer (sewist? Sewing type person? Whatever the word is).

I will have to get some photo's of the latest stitching the girls have done. They are pretty proud of it. Little felt hearts that turned into cushions for their Barbie's and little felt rectangles which have become mattresses for the Pony house. They want to start doing things that are more advanced. I might set them up with an embroidery hoop next and have them just do lines of stitching and perhaps learn some new stitches. They think using a hoop for stitching is a very exciting idea.

Sewing machine lessons

Esther and Ellamay have been craving Mummy time without Amelia around. Now that Amelia is back to daycare again for a couple of days a week, we have managed some. Aside from going out shopping with me, they really wanted to learn how to use the sewing machine. Now I was a bit stressed about doing this. I knew it would be a bit difficult to have the two of them wanting to learn at the same time. (One of the joys of twins, I guess). I didn't really think 6 and a half was old enough and was worried about them hurting themselves. I got over it though. Well, not really but if they want to learn, I should teach them.

Esther

Ellamay

They sewed ten lines each. Considering it was their first attempt, they sewed super straight. I told them to line the foot up next to the last lot of stitching. Some of it went a bit wonky because of this but they were pretty good. Esther and Ellamay were worn out from the concentration after they were done. Next time I told them they could make a draw-string bag. They are pretty excited about that though I am not sure when will be squeezing that in. School starts back on the 4th of Feb. (Hurrah!).

Making little worlds

When the kids were recently complaining of being "soo booored" I sent them outside to make some little worlds. I gave them a al foil pie dish, a paper cup, some pva clue and scissors and told them to go make something. They really didn't understand the idea at first but I think they did really well once they got started.

Esther's little world.

Ellamay's little world.

These make me think of the books I loved when I was a kid. The Littles. Ever read them? The al foil pie dishes weren't really big enough to make much so when we were out shopping we looked around for something to use. We found kitty litter trays. They are perfect. I had to explain what a kitty litter tray was to the girls... FUNNY. Anyway, when they make some more I will put some more photos up. If you need to entertain your kids, give this one a try.

Chipmunk pencil tubes

How do you like our new pencil holders? We made them after I saw this post over on One Crafty Mumma. It is actually a tutorial on making silts out of tin cans but I didn't have any cans on hand. I decided to use a cardboard postage tube which is a very handy crafting item! (Remember the barbie chairs?) Anyway, I used a disc of photo mat board and hot glued it onto the base. I cut up the felt from the pattern and the girls picked the colours for the background. All in their own colours of course! Green for Amelia, pink for Esther and purple for Ellamay. I went with yellow. I was really excited to make this because I have quite a huge pile of craft felt to conquer before I can justify going and buying anymore - I want a stash of quality wool felt. I had to help Amelia with hers but Esther and Ellamay put there's together by themselves. We just used a marker to do the eyelashes.

After we were done the girls did some more crafting with the left over felt. It was a hot day so we spent it out working on the outdoor setting. Today it's been raining and the kids have been working out there again. It is really a good spot for them to work.

Head over to One Crafty Mumma to see the Hip Hip Hooray for Holidays series and get some great ideas to keep the kids entertained.