Day to Day

Stamp making.

 

 

 

We spent an hour or so today making our own rubber stamps.  Actually as I type this, James and Bella are sitting back up at the table carving out more designs to add to their personal stamp stash.

 

 

It was an easy and rewarding activity for the kids to do.  I found all the information that I needed for stamp making HERE and the supplies (ezy carve printing block $8.30 + carving tools - I think they were $6 - $7 for a pack) at my local art supply store. 

 

 

 

The tools aren't sharp enough to cut little fingers when carving, but they're strong enough to glide right through the rubber.  I was really quite surprised at how easy the whole stamp-making process is to do.  We traced a few of the designs (the elephant, dog and owl) directly from books, but the others were just sketched out by hand.

What are they going to do with their stamps?  Well, James just wants to carve, stamp once or twice and move onto the next stamp, sitting them aside to look at and admire.  Bella has plans for tags, cards and all sorts of things.  They're pretty fun to do though - and quite addictive once you get started!

Getting well again.

 

The fog is lifting here and we're all starting to feel a lot better (except for Rich who is just coming down with it).  School holidays have started and we have lots of activities planned, most of which I hope to share with you on my blog over the next couple of weeks.

My Mum made us the butterfly jelly cake by the way - isn't it pretty!?

See you hopefully later on this afternoon with our first holiday activity that we've been busy working on today.  Thankyou for the well wishes, they were lovely.

P.S.  If anyone is still following my crochet blanket progress, the latest photo is HERE.

P.P.S. For the Twilight fans (I've realised there are a few of you!!) I've nearly finished the second book and it's so, so good!!

Be back soon.

We're all feeling a little tired and under the weather here, so I'm taking a small blog break - be back soon :))

Random pieces from today.

 

James, feeling unwell.

 

Sitting on our table.

 

Wishing I was crocheting right now.

 

Ready for afternoon tea.

 

Reading and loving.

 

James' hippo and elephant collection in his bedroom.

 

 

Some new Amy Butler Software that arrived in the mail.  YAY! There are some gorgeous patterns on the CD.  I just need to figure out what I'd like to sew first.

Crunchy raspberry.

 

 

I could make and eat these until the cows come home.  But, sadly I'm now the only one that likes them in my family.  Everyone else has a severe raspberry jam aversion.  Here are a few of the most common statements that I hear when I make a batch:

- I don't like raspberry jam.

- You can taste the bits of jam and I don't like jam.

- They'd be good without the jam.

- Jam?!  Ewwww. Why do insist on making those biscuits??

But, they really are so good and not at all difficult to bake.  The recipe is HERE.  They freeze well too :)

Mini inspiration wire.

 

 

My cute white shelf with all those black accessories just wasn't doing it for me, so I added my Mother's Day cabinet in the middle of the shelf to add a splash of colour. 

Then yesterday I had an idea to add an inspiration wire underneath to hang sweet postcards and notes on, so I did.  I used wire and two drawing pins plus some mini pegs that I had in the cupboard to hold everything in place.  I'd really love a few more of these in other corners of the house now.  Perhaps when we finish renovating the lounge room I can have a really long one across one wall and fill it with photos, drawings and cards.

  

You can click on the photos to enlarge if you'd like to see them closer.  There's a mix of things hanging up at the moment: a Black Apple card, a postcard I picked up at We Heart Shinzi (the tree/bird one), a couple of cards that I made myself using large playing cards (LOVE and Love is powerful), a Sassfras Lass card (Umbrella) and a darling card from the lovely Ngai (She just had this way of brightening the day).

I'm away on a craft weekend with some gorgeous friends as this post goes up (the magic of Typepad being able to publish each post when I want), so I hope you're all having a great Saturday.  Thanks for stopping by!

A pet rock.

 

 

Meet Edward the owl, he's a real hoot to have around!! He's the latest addition to Bella's pet rock clan.  I made Edward for her last night using a Hambly Screen Prints rubon and some mod podge to seal him onto the rock. 

She loves him dearly and is already talking about Edward having his own pillow and house - we'll see, we'll see.

Cave man diorama.

 

Created solely by James - we did help hold the newspaper for the cave while he glued.  He spent hours on this, creating the clay cave men and figures from hand and then painting them once they were dry.  My favourite part is the little fire place!

 

 

Making Paper - day 3

 

Yesterday saw the final stage of the paper making process - peeling the dried paper off the board and deciding what special project to make with the paper.  Bella settled on a couple of writing books for recording some stories that she's been wanting to write.

 

We added some little bling dots on top, cut out some lined paper for inside and stapled it together on the side.  Then, she sat by herself at the table, writing madly - a story about a wanted brother.  James had quite a chuckle to himself when I read it out to him this morning - I'm sure the 'did not play with his sister bit' was truly inspired from an argument that took place here yesterday (sometimes Pokemon Platinum on the Nintendo DS seems more appealing to a 13 year old than his sister).

 

(Click on the photo to read part of the story)

That was a fun and rewarding experience.  Roll on school holidays so we can make more!

Making paper - day 2

  

Wow, you girls had some great paper making stories & hints. Thankyou for all the lovely suggestions.  We plan on making a whole lot more paper in the school holidays that are coming up here soon, so your comments were all very much appreciated.

For our first batch we chose to just add a touch of glitter across the top of the paper.  Last night Bella used our hand held blender to make a pulp, which didn't take that long.  Then everything went into the laundry sink ready to create our first piece.  Wow, messy stuff - we had paper pulp on the floor, bench tops and even in our hair.  Now I know what we're doing, the mess will be a little more streamlined next time and kept to a minimum.

 

I took the photo below this morning.  Already the paper has started to dry and lift off the boards and hopefully with some sunshine through the window today, it will be dry by tonight.  We'll see.

 

Our next step will be creating a project with our paper.