Sweet Little Bits
Cute veggie theme Valentine’s Day card. This prints out to a 4.5 x 6 inches. Download the .jpg here
Tommy loves to watch the Peanuts movies. Charlie Brown Christmas, Valentines Day, Thanksgiving and everything in between. From one particular movie he walked away with an inkling to play marbles. He was very intent on identifying with a particular “best shooter” marble. I looked some how to instructions online and we went about our marble games. They are simple and fun…but require a skillful hand. Just because you haven’t thought of playing marbles in a hundred years or so..don’t mean it ‘aint a fun game.
There are a few different games you can play. Most of them involve a set of marbles, some larger “shooter” marbles, and a piece of string. 2 players and up is best, unless you are just playing around to perfect your shot.
Here is a link to some straight forward marble game descriptions. I would describe them myself, but how can I compete with “landofmarbles.com”?
http://www.landofmarbles.com/marbles-play.html
Happy gaming, Julie
This is a photoshop tutorial:Simple typography for the kids room..cool colors + neat free font.
Instructions:
Download free font here
Open Photoshop
File>New
Enter width :16 in
Enter height:20 in
Enter resolution: 300 dpi
Create a new fill layer with the color hex code #443048
Select the font type tool, and at 1296 pt font, create your big letter
Select the color square for the font, and enter the hex code #baa2bf
Save
Print on large paper or canvas for the wall
Here are some other fun color combinations:
These unique novelty washcloth/soap combos are so fun to make, especially with lots of little hands helping out. For this practical project, I ordered felting wool from amazon, and a felting needle which actually came in handy even though we weren’t doing any fancy designs..just to get the strands of different color fibers to stay in place. For the soap, I headed down to Marshall’s discount store and picked out some cheap..nicely scented soaps that would probably make really nice gifts all on their own.The felting wool, when wrapped around a bar of soap and dipped in hot water, begins to shrink down and hug the shape of the soap, so experiment with some fun soap shapes. Organic, rock-like shapes, ovals and circles work the best..but heart shapes could be really cute too. The wooly soap will be rolled around in your hands as you “felt” it, so it’s nice if it is a smooth shape and easy to hold.
The wool we chose from Amazon
Fancy soaps on the cheap - courtesy of Marshall's discount store
Materials
Old nylon tights or panty hose (cut into tube like sections with one tied end)
Soap
Directions:
–Start by wrapping the soap in one base color of felt. It needs to be completely covered.
–Add some embellishment colors on top of the base color if you want. It will all be loosely wrapped.
We tried making a heart..but it turned out looking more like a circle.
Getting them ready to dunk into the hot water
–Once the colors are in place..put the soap wrapped in wool into a piece of cut up nylon stocking
–Next, fill a bucket or a bathtub with hot water, and dip the soap in with your hands.
– Rub and swirl the soap around till it gets soap and sudsy in your hands. This is how you “felt” the wool around the soap. The fibers fuse together and start to shrink down to the shape of the soap.
–Continue for 10-20 minutes
Ready
Felting the wool in the bathtub
Their hands are going to get REALLY clean!
You know it’s done when the wool is looking tightly wrapped and there are no loose pieces.
When you feel things are finished, rinse with cold water and lay the soaps out somewhere to dry. They will continue to felt together each time you use them.
Three beautiful felted soaps
Ready for the holiday gift exchange..
This fall I started building Annabelle a pretty grown up craft kit. I found this cool craft tool box, which came stuffed to the brim with craft items such as feathers, beads and trinkets. Then, I added some grown up beading tools and signed her up for a wire wrapping class at the local bead store. She was the youngest lady there, and she brought all kinds of creative energy to the group. I sat at the bar next door and raved to strangers about my superdaughter who was learning beading crafts fit for a professional at a mere age of eight. The kit, paired with some real instruction and guidance, launched Annabelle into a new creative hobby. Mission accomplished!
Annabelle's glorious craft box
When the box came in the mail from our beloved Amazon.com, we opened it to find it already pre-stuffed with packages of feathers, beads and shiny little gems. I found some old necklaces that I didn’t mind contributing, so we cut them up for the beads. Annabelle’s jaw fell open when I started cutting up my own jewelery for her kit…must be some sort of kid-fantasy!
Essential tools: Jewerly making with the wire wrap technique
For the jewelery making tools: I got her three types of pliers. Round Nose Pliers, Chain Nose Jewelery Pliers, and Side Cutters . With those three tools you can do almost anything. You will also need some craft wire for stringing the beads and accessories together
Some feather earings and a bracelet
You can place your orders now my friends!
