Busy, Busy Busy

Hi friends! Just a quick note to let you know that we haven't fallen off of the face of the planet--we are just crazy busy with our move! Yes, for those of you that have been following us from the beginning, you know that we have moved a lot over the last two years--but we found a house that we couldn't resist and so this Saturday the 20th we will be laying our heads on our pillows in the new place.

I will miss a lot about our current home--the little architectural details that make me smile, the warmth and coziness of the kitchen, the great memories we have made here in the last year--and most of all I will miss the new friends I have made--especially my crafty friend Flannery. We have promised to stay close--and we are only moving 25 minutes away--so there will be plenty more joint crafty projects to blog about over at Vintage Pollyanna.

So in the meantime, that is where I have been. Painting at the new house, packing in the old house and certainly not blogging. But no fears--I will be back at it soon enough. I have also not been taking pictures--but I did snap this quick one a few days ago--highlighting the fact that in this house my kids build block towers with vintage kitchen tins!!!



Best to you and yours this week--be sure to come back and check in on me after the 20th!

What a Fantastic Advent Calendar Idea!!!

For all of you sewing, crafty types out there (a group I am new to, but proud to call myself a part of) here is a really fun Advent Calendar idea, using repurposed wooden spools of thread!!

You can find the info here at Just Something I Made, a new blog that I am in love with!

Gotta dash--baby girl is not feeling the best and I am giving her lots of cuddles and kisses today.

A is for Alligator

Here is a fun craft that we are going to do for our alphabet comprehension.
We did the letter A yesterday.

Materials:
scissors
markers
card stock
cardboard
colored or scrapbooking paper
googly eye
gluestick
tape

When we craft I try to reuse materials so that my out-of-pocket expenses are minimal.

James' grandpaw sent him a book in the mail the other day and
the cardboard that he packaged it in was perfect for this idea.

First I drew an A about 5" high on bright yellow cardstock and cut it out. I asked James if he thought the alligator should be eating the A and he said yes and got very excited.

Next I free handed an alligator shape on the cardboard.


I let James go to town on the alligator with a glue stick.
Next, he placed little triangles that I had cut out of scrapbook paper all over the alligator.


Then he glued on a googley eye, and pasted the A in the alligator's mouth.


A few final artistic flourishes,


and VOILA!

Hmmm . . what shall the B be for?

Another Fun Spring Craft

I try to do a craft with James every day. It is special time for just he and I, and he really looks forward to it. I get great inspiration from around the web, but yesterday came up with an idea of my own.


I have wanted to put up a banner for Spring. I also have a ton of leftover scrapbooking paper that I need to use up. James loves to glue right now, and so I drew big letters on cardstock, and cut scraps of paper for him to glue. (I did the gluing this time and he did the sticking).


This was fun because we were able to have fun and learn at the same time--sounding out letters, spelling, and talking about what season it is.


After we finished gluing, I cut the letters out and hole punched them to hang. James inserted pipe cleaners to hang them from a ribbon we ran across the mantel in the livingroom.


How much fun is this? Tomorrow we are going to make some ducks and butterflies and flowers to hang in between the letters.

A Child's-Eye View

We have been enjoying birdwatching as a family here at the new house. We have several feeders set up, and have seen a number of birds, including Robins, Woodpeckers and Nuthatches. James has a great view of the feeders from his seat at the table in the kitchen, and he knows nearly every variety. His favorite is the "Chick-a-dee-dee-dee" as he says it.

A few weeks ago we did a little craft project with cut paper. I asked him body parts for birds (body, legs, wings, beak) and I cut them out. He then glued them on the paper. Here is a comparison of the real birds we have photographed, and James' versions.








Of course, being his Mom, I think these are pretty fantastic. Maybe I have a little John James Audubon on my hands!