Fun with Paint and Canvas

The thought of my three-year-old and splattering paint originally gave me a bad case of hives. But when I replayed the story in my head again, only with a slighly rosy tone, it all worked out great. And oddly enough, in reality, it all worked out great! How often does that happen?

I realized I've lived in my "new" house almost a year now, and still have lots of bare walls. That's what prompted me to run out to Michaels and pick up some cheap artist canvas for a fun little project with the Pumpkin Boy. Not that I wouldn't LOVE to buy this or this or this from some of my favorite Etsy sellers but, well, money doesn't grow on trees and so I opted for the homemade art option.

Canvases were 40% off so this one was about $13. Then we hit Menards (like a local Home Depot or Lowes) and picked up paint samples (little jars, perfect size for this project) in three colors. Those ran about $3 each. So for under $25 we have this awesome artwork for our office. One thing I should not have done -- but I'm a control freak and can't help myself -- is I did kind of steered him toward these colors. I really should just take a deep breath sometimes. But now that I know how fun this is, I think we'll make a few more and next time he can pick the colors without steering from me.


We took our supplies home and then Pumpkin Boy and I went about dripping our paint on our canvas. We took turns, and it was really a lot of fun. I had to help him not mix the paints together (a natural instinct, I think), but otherwise he was a pro at picking up one brush at a time and watching the paint drip all over. At a few points he dripped such a huge gob on that we had to pick up the canvas and let the drip slide a little, but that made it all the cooler looking, I think.

Have you ever tried a project like this with your kids? Do share, because I'd like to do more. How about decoupage? Is it a huge mess? I was thinking it'd be fun to have him cut up paper and decoupage it on the canvas, then drip paint over the top...we'll see if we ever get there.

Some New Things / Old Things

I whipped up a couple of new items for my shop this week. I've been going gangbusters sewing lately I think mostly because I know I won't have time soon. I've been saving up quite a stash to list on Etsy little by little. This past weekend, I decided to part with two adorable pieces I've been saving for the perfect project. I'm sure they were intended for a quilt or something, but I think they look pretty cute appliqued on these, too.

The first is a little 4T tee shirt with a kitty cat, and the second is a little pink onesie with a cute little girl in a bonnet. I see these little bonnet girls around a lot...do they have a specific name? I just think they're sweet. Maybe I'll make some more... it's been fun trying to come up with girly things for the shop. It's given me a little time to adjust to the idea of being a mama to a girl.

I don't know why, but having a girl freaks me out a little. I'm not much of a girly-girl myself, so hopefully I do right by her. I haven't bought her a doll yet. Am I a bad mom? Ha! This girl better like diggers and trains, or none of us will know what to do with her!

Anyway, here's to hoping I can crank out a few more projects before I'm deep in diapers again!

Easter Pants

My little guy loves his mama-made pants. And for that, I'm grateful. He's so opinionated about what he wants to wear it's sometimes a bit of a crap-shoot. Some mornings he wakes up and absolutely INSISTS he must change his pajamas immediately. And he refuses to just put on clothes. He MUST have a different pair of pajamas on. And then there was the perfectly nice pair of slippers I bought him that were refused and then were outgrown. Then there was the sweater I spent 9 years knitting and wore once, the second time around claiming "I don't like it."

Just last week we sat down together in front of the computer to pick out some sandals on Endless.com (Have you tried it yet? Free shipping!) on which there are ENDLESS numbers of shoes to choose from. He saw one pair he liked and when they didn't have his size, it was a no-go on any sort of second choice. Luckily by the time we dragged him into Sears, he had changed his mind and wanted car shoes which they had! And they lit up! Bless Sears for carrying them -- even though my son has never seen the movie (It's a movie, right?) he loves cars, and therefore loves the shoes.

That's how it is with him. All clothing must have some sort of vehicle on it. Train, truck, car, etc. Now pajamas are an exception. But this fabric I scored at Crafty Planet called Wheels by RIley Blake just fit the bill for an opinionated little bugger. I used McCall's pattern 5284 as a template and it was great. This one has cargo-style pockets that I just opted not to use. And the pattern also has dresses/jumpers which would be mighty cute and easy to whip up.

He loved the pants and wanted to wear them right away. WIth his John Deere sweatshirt of course. Good thing there are lots of great transportation-themed fabrics out there. And good thing we're having a new baby soon, because infants are considerably less opinionated about what they wear, right?

Be Out There

Here's a scary thought. According to some research from the University of Michigan, kids today spend an average 4 - 7 minutes outside per day. That's basically a walk to and from the car and maybe to and from the bus to school. Ugh! The National Wildlife Federation has reacted to the facts with a new campaign, called Be Out There, which encourages parents to get their kids outside through tips, ideas and activities for kids. Check out the Be Out There website. If you're committed to getting your kids outdoors, take the Be Out There Resolution.

I spent lots of quality time outdoors with my family, ice skating on a little pond in our backyard and eating wild onions out of the woods next to our house. We made about 1,000 snowmen and spent many weekends on the dock at our cabin. Now that I have my own kiddo, I am going to have to get out of my "city mouse" mode a little more and get him out fishing, camping and exploring the outdoors. I'm looking forward to the ideas from NWF and putting them to use!

What were your favorite outdoor memories as a kid? Any you can't wait to share with your kids?

Bottlecap Game

Our friends in Iowa got us this awesome John Deere bottle opener that we installed in our kitchen. It even has a little basket that catches your bottle caps. The other great thing about it is that with all those bottle caps in easy toddler reach, we are forced to find something to do with them.

Thus the bottlecap game. You may be more familiar with a game played at babyshowers (or at least one I was at) where you put a clothespin between your knees and try to drop it into a Mason jar. In this version, we got a little stool out and dropped the bottle caps into a little container. I didn't have a Mason jar handy, but any glass or cup will really work. We had lots of fun playing this game, and I love how there's virtually no supplies (unless you consider garbage to be a supply), preparation and almost no clean up. What's more, your kiddo can play it right in the kitchen while you're getting dinner on the table.

Got any good games going at your house lately?

The Verdict: Toddler Butter Making

A few days back I posted some ideas for keeping your wee ones busy during these long, cold months. I have been working on testing each of them out. First up was making butter. I remembered making butter I think back in fourth grade back at old Frank Allis Elementary School when one of our classmate's mom's came in to teach us how it was done in the old days, so I was naturally inclined to want to try it again.

My tot's interest came from the book Thomas and the MIlkshake Muddle that he checked out from the library. I don't want to ruin any big surprises if you've got this one ready to read on your bookshelf or anything, but in the book Thomas ruins all the milk from the dairy by driving too fast and shaking it into a butter state. Now, if I were conducting a Myth Busters-style experiment, I would have insisted we get our butts on a train and see how fast it'd have to go to turn milk into butter. I'm no scientist, but I'm pretty sure Thomas would have to have been going mach 80 million over gravel to make this possible.

For our non-scientific activity, we simply poured a little heavy cream into some clean baby food jars and shook (and shook. and shook.) until the watery part separated away and left behind some yummy butter. Of course we had to peek a few times first, and taste test a little.

Here's the verdict. My kiddo is 2. He liked this activity for about the first 4 minutes of shaking it. He liked the part where we strained out the watery stuff. He liked tasting. But the hard-core shakin' your booty part, not so much. Even though we set this activity to music, it still did not hold his attention the whole time. But it was fun, and we did get some tasty butter out of it! Mmmm, butter. I'd definitely recommend it, maybe for older kids. With older kids you could even try some butter varieties like garlic or honey!

If you try it, be sure to post your results!

Child's Placket Neck Sweater, DONE!

See this little guy? Isn't he cute. Well, when he was about this small I started knitting him the Child's Placket Neck Sweater. Cut to present time, when I have a super tall, ever-growing 2-and-a-half year old. Voila, sweater is complete and...


...doesn't it look great on him? It should fit him for approximately 27 seconds before he outgrows it. But at least he got one good wearing out of it!

I enjoyed knitting this sweater quite a bit. It was just challenging enough for me, without totally frustrating me. My only wish is that I could have been a little more expedient in my knitting of it! The hardest part of the whole thing was the placket. I found this reference to be invaluable. I love the yarn I used, too -- Cascade Yarns Cash Vero DK (merino, extra fine wool, microfiber acrylic, and cashmere) in color 020. I knit really tight, but the size 2 - 4, in my opinion, fits a 2-year-old, but probably not a 4-year-old.

Thanks to my friend Jen for going first -- she inspired me to give this pattern a try, and I'm glad I did!

Toddler Indoor Activities

In winter, I vacillate between being so eager for spring I can hardly stand it and reveling in all the indoor fun I’m “forced” to succumb to, like baking, making and reinventing my surroundings. This winter is a little different, having just moved, but essentially it’s the same. The most different part, really, is that whereas last year our little one was just learning to walk and hardly spoke any words at all, this year he is a fully formed person who wants to play, explore, learn and chatter from one end of the house to the other. Coming up with activities that we all enjoy is a formidable task. And learning how to break the activity into very small chunks so as to keep the attention of a toddler, a must!

Since many of my friends are also “trapped” indoors with toddlers this winter, I decided to compile a little repository of fun indoor activities to do with a toddler in the winter, or really whenever inclement weather keeps you inside the house. These are just things that appealed to me personally – but by all means there are many more ideas out there. I just happen to gravitate toward creative or crafty projects or things to do in the kitchen.

I’d love to hear what others are doing to maintain their sanity this season. Aside from indoor play gyms and the like, what are you doing with your shorties right now?

Teach your kids to make pasta

Making butter with kids

Make your own lollipops

Making Pine Cone Bird Feeders

Making Homemade Finger Paint

Cork Race Game

5 Instruments to Make with Kids