Hop on Pop Valentine

For my husband this year Gabriel and I made a shirt for him that says HOP ON POP. It sums up how they play together. I bought a shirt at the craft store and acrylic paint, the kind you use on a canvas. I had my brother in law hold Gabriel's feet and then I painted and helped place his feet in the right spot. I reapplied a new coat of paint before each new print. I then brushed on the words. For the front breast emblem I used Gabriel's initials and the date with out any dashes to separate the month, day and year to add a different touch. The paint drys very fast and stays on through the wash.

LOVE BUG

In the spirit of Valentines day I wanted to bring you the LOVE BUG today. I had a bunch of egg cartons left over and wanted to have Gabriel do some sort of craft with it. Being an artist myself I was so excited to see him hold his paint brush the right way. He had a great time painting something other then just paper. I helped after the paint was dry with some pipe cleaners, googly eyes and a button.

Will you.........

Be My Valentine???

With Valentines being so close we made little Valentines to send out to family. With a little patience, stamp pad, paper, scissors, stickers, color photo copier/printer and some mono adhesive we made cute little Valentines. I suggest using a washable ink pad!!! With my guidance I helped him make a heart with his pointers and thumbs. Then I used my handy color copier/printer and did a copy of his hands and then doubled up to make more hands per print out. After I got the right amount it took some time to cut out each heart hand print, but well worth it in the end. I then added a few things here and there and WA-LA, we made Valentines. I expect lots more help from the little one next year! :) I wanted to do more but run out of time. I hope to have the Valentine We are doing for my husband up tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Home Made Playdough

We had lots of fun with playdough today! We made it at home... Here is a very very easy recipe:

Uncooked Playdough (salt and flour)

1/4 cup salt
1 cup flour
1/4 cup water

I made half the recipe for a smaller amount. It was the perfect amount for him.




Have your child mix the flour and salt in a bowl then add water. Knead and squeeze the dough to make a clay consistency. You may need to add more water

PAINT, what a horribly great mess!!!

"The only time I feel alive is when I'm painting." - Vincent Van Gogh
Today I was at the wonderful target and found a pack of 10 finger paints for less then five bucks! Finger paint and a almost 2 year old, you can imagine the mess in your head! However as a painter my self I couldn't resist. I took our kitchen table away from the wall, covered it with brown wrapping paper I got from the dollar store and places him up on it. As an artist I put the colors on a paper plate, I suppose thinking he would just use one color at a time. I was wrong, he mushed them all together and man what a mess, BUT WHAT FUN!!! He got a kick out of mushing the paint in his hands and mixing the colors. When he was done with that he decided it would be fun to see what it would look like on his tummy. After the mess was created I stuck him in the bath and like magic it all was gone before he was even done playing. It was a very easy clean up and we will be doing this a lot more!

Side walk chalk...

My sister gave us a big pack of side walk chalk. It has been dry the last few days, amazingly enough for Oregon. We went out side and swept off a small area to have a little chalk fun. It was cold so we didn't get to do it for long. I like that we did it when rain will surely wash it away soon.

Family Wall

Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future. ~Gail Lumet Buckley

To help my son transition into his "big boy" bed, I put pictures up next to his bed. I wanted to make it safe, durable and long lasting. You could use stickers, art projects, flash card and anything your heart desires.

You'll need the following material:

• Roll of clear contact paper
• Scissors
• Colored card stock
• Clear packing tape*
• Your choice of decoration*
• Mono adhesive*

*Not shown in picture.

First step is to plan out your project; color coordinate your pictures (I printed pictures out on regular printer paper) with your card stock, where you want it to go on the wall, how big or small you will want to print out your pictures, how you'll want to arrange them.

Take mono adhesive and attach picture to card stock. You won't need much.

Layout your design and measure out how much clear contact paper you'll need. The contact paper has a tape measure on it. You'll want to be sure to leave enough around edges to stick to the wall.

Cut as much as you'll need. Pick up and lay photos to the side. Lay contact paper down stick side up. Carefully peel backing off. Take care to touch sticky side as little as possible. It is tricky but once laid out it should be lying flat on your work surface.

Place your photo's face down on to the contact paper lightly (in case you need to rearrange). Once in place smooth back side of card stalk.

Using packing tape stick a few loops on to the back of the card stock to help keep pictures on wall.

Take project to destination. Starting with the middle of your project, carefully smooth on to wall.

Put a strip of packing tape on all sides of contact paper. Keeps little fingers from peeling off contact paper.

Last, take a step back and watch the children enjoy the family wall!