My Husband Likes Crafts Too

Yes, Andy enjoys doing crafts. Except his crafts consist of using saws and drills. We have large fenced-in back yard. We love it and so do the girls. Last summer the fun outside consisted of a sprinkler and small pool. We figured the girls would like a swingset.

For Nina and Nichole, a swingset is not just swings and a slide, it is real physical therapy. They love it, they want to be on it, so they learn how to move their body, they learn balance, how to hold on to the swing, and how to climb.

And so Andy started crafting away!

 Ellie was a great helper. She was very proud of the part she played arranging the boards on the deck.

 Once the swings were up, we had excited little girls. Nichole did pretty well holding on.

 There is a bench where we can even have some snacks or play "restaurant."

Isn't it cute? Not only is it fun, it is a "tree house" and it even has little flower pots that the girls are excited to fill.

Next time the girls ask dad to do a craft, he will have no excuse, I mean, using water colors has to be easier than building a swingset....right?

The 5th Season

Yesterday, Andy mentioned that Christmas feels like a 5th season. It happens during Winter, yet, it has a "feel" of its own. The feel of lights, peppermint mocha, music, baked goodies, warmth, family, love, and your life's blessings as they dance before you in moments so simple, as putting up the Christmas tree.

As we set up the Christmas tree last night with the girls, we felt overwhelmed by God's love and provision. After 2 years of transition for our family, our house brimmed with joy and love. It was impossible not to recount the ways in which the Lord has been with our family. "I am the luckiest man alive" Andy said. His statement was so powerful to me that it brought tears to my eyes as I watched my family smiling, dancing, singing, and even the rascal complaining there was no Barbie movie playing. Surely the Lord has been good to us. So good.

Christmas, to us, will from now on be a 5th season. We will count our blessings and be thankful to the One that came to us, so that we could have life, and have it to the full. We will bask in His love, that has been poured to us, and we will give Him all the glory, for the richness we have in this life have come from His hands.

This wreath was made by yours truly. It was inspired by my friend Natalie.

Linked to: No Ordinary Blog Hop  and Messy Mondays

Pom-Pom Pets

For school, Ellie and Nina had to make their own pets.Ellie made a puppy a long time ago, but Nina was taking her time deciding what she wanted to do. When I was a kid, I had a pom-pom craft book. For a while, I was obsessed with pom-poms, making all sorts of creations. One of those creations, were pom-pom pets! So when I heard the girls had to make a pet, I figured it was time to teach the girls the art of making pom-poms. When Ellie realized what Nina and I were up to, she decided she needed to make a new pet. A pom-om puppy!

They turned out pretty cute, don't you think?

 So, this is how you make pom-poms. 

You need sturdy cardboard. We found a box and we cut different sizes. One for the body, one for the head, and 4 for the legs.

Once you have the strips, you wind up the yarn around and make it as thick as you want. The more yarn, the fluffier and fuller the pom-pom.

 

Once you have the desired amount of yarn. Slide it off the cardboard (it helps to bend the cardboard in the middle). Hold it really tight. Then with another piece of yarn, you tie it around the middle. Make a tight knot.

Carefully cut the loops on both sides. 

 

 Once both sides are cut, you begin to see the pom-pom taking shape. Fluff it, and give it a nice "haircut."

Remind your kids that it is only a little haircut, or your pom-poms will get to be really small!

Here you can see how big those pom-poms really do get once they are fluffy.

We were having trouble tying the pom-poms.  Ellie does well with tying, but I was having to do Nina's. I came up with a solution. I cut a slit in the middle of the cardboard strips. I had the girls wind up the yarn around the solid part. When they were done, we slid it to the part where there is the slit. Then they were able to tie the yarn in the middle without loosing the loops. It made it a lot easier!

See? I wish I would have thought of that from the beginning!

 

We got all the pom-poms needed for each pet. Ellie was making a dog, and Nina was making a kitty.

 

Then it was time to glue the pieces together. This is the part that needed special mommy involvement. 

 

I put the glue on the legs. I handed each leg to the girls, and they each placed them on the body. 

 

Next we did the faces. At some point we realized we did not have ears for Nina's kitty. We cut triangles out of brown felt.

I glued all the parts in the face because I was afraid the girls would burn their hands with the hot glue. I had them place the eyes exactly where they wanted them, then I glued them on. Same with the nose. For Nina I did the ears and the whiskers too. Ellie was able to do the snout, and the ears.

Finally, we had the body and the faces. Now we were ready to put them together.

 Nina's kitty! We added a little string of yarn to make a scrawny tail.

 

And Ellie's puppy.

 Nina with her kitty.

Ellie with her puppy.

And here is Ellie's original puppy. She made it with no help at all! She cut out cardboard, then she covered it with tissue paper. Then she taped all the parts. I think she did fantastic! I told her this puppy is just as nice as the pom-pom one, so much so, that I wanted to share it with you too!

Ellie's Journal, a Homeschool Craft

Ellie and I try to be creative as we do our homeschooling adventure. It seems like there is a lot of Language Arts and Math, and crafts sometimes take the backseat (although she would gladly just do art).

Yesterday we went to a store with the intention to do some "paint your own pottery." Ellie was really excited about the idea, but as soon as we got there she decided she did not like any of the choices available to her. So I asked if there were any other crafts we could do, and it turns out that there are quite a few options available, which means we have found a fun place to go at least once a month.

Ellie loves notebooks and journals. so she was really excited at the prospect of making her own journal. She got to choose the paper, ribbon, and stickers. I would say she did a pretty good job!

Color and Paint

A few months ago, as we were getting ready to begin our journey with homeschooling, I bought the book, "The Great Big Art Activity Book." Ellie loves to draw, color, paint, and craft away. Homeschooling, for Ellie, needs to have enough creative fun.

I love this book! It has different sections for drawing, painting, world art, sculpturing, and printing. I am able to pick and choose projects that I know Ellie will enjoy and that will help her be creative and practice some skills.

Today, we had our first official Art lesson, and Nina decided to join in the fun. Nichole was not interested, so she hung out with her daddy.

We looked at all the different ways to create texture when we color. We did crosshatching, curved lines, short lines (for fur or feathers), dotting, smudging with oil pastels (our favorite!) and even turned a scribble into something creative!

Ellie did a great job and her creations ended up being pretty sweet!

We then painted a color wheel. We started with primary colors and then we mixed our very own orange, green, and purple. Ellie really enjoyed this activity, and found the "perfect" color combinations.
Nina of course, wanted to participate. She has a very hard time with coloring and drawing. Tracing is hard! But, she has come a long way since she got home. She had never held a crayon before, and now she tries hard to color and be precise with her pencil strokes. Although I helped her a lot for this creation, you can see that she is getting it, little by little.
Nina's color wheel was phenomenal! She loves to paint, and she had never tried to stay within lines. I know she gets to practice at preschool, but I was so proud of her! She needed help mixing the colors, but she did all the painting, all by herself! No help from mommy!

Ellie's Creative Creations

This is Ellie's most recent creation. She used different media to make her picture. She still loves coloring and drawing, but she is going through a stage where that is boring and she wants to do a craft, or something that requires, gluing and pasting besides coloring or drawing.

She is a creative little girl and I am really looking forward the day that our walls are covered with her art. This particular one, she wants framed and put in her room. I think we can do that!

You can see more of her creations by clicking here.

And make sure you don't miss my previous post about Nichole and her rascal activities!

Crafty Caterpillars

Once again, Ellie, Nina and I got crafty!

(If you wonder what Nichole does during these time, she is either watching her Barbie show while singing and dancing, or she is watching a Signing Time show, occasionally running to me to yell the word and do the sign.)

We used paint, styrofoam balls, pipe cleaners, toothpicks, glue, googly eyes, and tiny pom poms.

We cut a couple of balls in half, and then used toothpicks to secure the balls that we were painting.

Once they were all done, we had to let them dry. I did help Nina quite a bit, and Ellie only when she would ask me to get the bottom of the balls.

Once the balls were dry we cut pipe cleaners in half. We folded one of the pieces in half and rolled the top to make the antenna, then we just jabbed it on top of one of the balls. We then put on the googly eyes and used our glue to paste the pom pom nose. This was hard for Nina, but she almost got the eyes all on her own just with a little guidance. Do remember, crafts are so new to her, before we had her, I don't think she had even held a crayon before! Now she is using paintbrushes!

We used the toothpicks to connect the balls. We broke the toothpicks so only a little piece was left to each ball. I did that for both girls as I was afraid that they would poke their fingers with the sharp ends of the toothpicks.

Then we inserted the other small pieces of pipe cleaners to make the legs.

And voila! The caterpillars were ready to crawl on our awesome green carpet!

And as a final picture, here is Ellie, showing the watch she made with play-doh.

Happy crafting everyone!