Day 134: Rain Rain Come Again!

It has already been unbearably dry this year.  My allergies, the person who doesn't have allergies, are through the roof.  My husband has been struggling for almost 2 weeks with allergies.  It is time we wake up and smell the climate change people!  That being said, I saw these really cute umbrellas with rain drops craft today on Pinterest and decided that they would be great for the kids.

Finger paint paper cut to the shape of an umbrella, a pipe cleaner, and some news print (in our case a phone book) cut into rain drops.  Paint, cut, glue, done!  So I did most of the "cutting" but Iris did cut out 2 of her own rain drops- i was really impressed.  Penny put all of hers together, but Iris ran out of time before bed, so I put hers together for her.

Day 129: Downward Facing Dog...

Mike took on craft today.  Iris wanted to make a dog, and he came up with these styrofoam dogs with pipe cleaner legs.  The girls really seemed to enjoy it, from what I could hear while I was making dinner.

They decided to use knitting needle to make pilot holes in the styrofoam to make jamming the pipe cleaner legs/tails in much easier... on a side note, that vase of knitting needles that I inherited have come in handy for craft more so than knitting, but hey, they are getting used at least :)

To finish them up, they put cotton ball heads on them.  I like the little ears that mike managed to mold out of the cotton balls.

So, the craft:  Iris made the dog that is standing straight.  Mike's dog has a curly tail.  And Penny made the dog that has taken yoga :-p

Day 95: Butterflies

why is it that ALL over Ohio it was 50-60 degrees today, but in Cleveland it only hit 41??? Have I ever mentioned that I hate Cleveland?  Oh well, we had a lot of shopping to do today and then we came home still needed to do craft while dinner was in the oven.  Iris had asked to make "circle" butterflies a few weeks ago- are we noticing a trend with Iris' craft requests yet???- and I saw these really cute toilet paper roll butterflies on Pinterest earlier this week and thought that they would be PERFECT for a craft, and it fit the "circle" butterfly request.

I have been trying to break in all of our new craft supplies that I got this week- I don't think I told you all this, but I got a gift certificate to Fat Brain Toys, and I stocked up on craft supplies and musical instruments for the kids.  We got a big coloring book, new construction paper, new paint brushes, watercolors, finger paint paper, doodle paper, and maybe one or two other things, as well as some bells, and other musical instruments.  Needless to say, we have been having a lot of fun this week!

Today, my handy paper cutter was the perfect tool for the job.  All i did was slice a 4" piece of construction paper to wrap around the tubes, then four 2" pieces for the wings.  Then we used the super tiny (1/8" i think?) hole punch that I have, to make a spot for the antennas, and used a glue stick to stick everything together.  We fed half of a pipe cleaner into each of the punched holes, wrapped the tops around our fingers and then made faces on them.  Penny wanted nothing to do with craft until I had my butterfly done, at which point she decided it was HER butterfly lol.  Iris did all of hers herself, with the exception of wrapping the paper around the body.  I was really proud of her artistic license with this craft.  And I am SO proud of her artistic ability today!

I threw in a picture that Iris drew today of a Crocodile wearing a hat.  I don't know that I could have drawn a crocodile that well!!!  I have some budding artists on my hands :)

Day 13- 2-in-1 crafts!

I spent the day painting again.  The back room is ALMOST finished, however, that made crafting a little difficult again.  I decided to make the butterfly clothespins (http://www.jugglingwithkids.com/2012/01/butterfly-snacks.html) that three or four people have sent me now.  Honestly, I figured that what was a little more paint today??? haha.

 

I gave each girl a plate with three colors of paint, a clothespin, and a paint brush and told them "have at it".  They had a blast painting the clothespins- any paint project is a hit with the girls.  Iris was obviously more deliberate with her painting than Penny, but Penny managed to get everything covered, though a bit heavy handed.
While I formed the antennas with their chosen colored pipe cleaners, the girls started playing with the paints on their plates, and it turned into craft 2.0.  By the time I had the antennas glued on, these are what they created.

I asked Mike if I could just keep these as a fall back for a day we may not get to a craft.. but he said no lol.  Wish us luck, almost ready for the realtor to come in and look at our house to let us know what it is worth.  If anyone is looking for a 3 bedroom house in Parma, let me know! haha

Day 8- wishing for warmer weather

Well, we are in the midst of a heat wave.  It was 39 degrees and sunny today!  That got me in a good mood, so as I started thinking about what craft to do today, I decided to do something that would allow Penny and Iris a lot of freedom again.  We made flowers!  Mike is having eye issues, so he was home the second half of the day, and as a treat, we all got to do crafts together.  It is a lot of fun when he is home for Craft time.
Pulling out a nice smattering of crafting supplies really turned into creative flowers.  We used a lot of beads and I finally broke out the hot glue gun, wow is that easier to use than Elmer's Glue! haha.
Mike cut out big flower shapes that the kids, and he, decorated.  I made a decent a dent in our supply of pipe cleaners.  Good thing Mike bought us a LOT for Christmas!

 I am pretty proud of our flowers.  Iris loved the beads, and Penny still loves buttons.  I don't know if i should be offended that Mike mentioned that mine is "The floweriest of the bunch"

Mike's Alien Flower.

Honestly, there isn't much exciting to say about today's craft.  It was enjoyable to spend the time with the family together.  I love watching the girls focus on something so much having so much fun.  tomorrow, Iris starts school again tomorrow.  I feel like she has been off for an eternity now.  But tomorrow also starts my next venture, learning to knit!  Wish me luck :)