kids – Page 36 – the long thread

July 17, 2008July 17, 2008

Princess Leia Necklace

Just trying to keep the troops entertained around here. Perhaps this was a bad parenting decision, but we’ve been letting the girls watch Star Wars. I feel sorry for my husband being surrounding by females (even the cat). I do worry about the violence in the movie, but I think it’s one of those “I did it when I was a kid and turned out fine” things. Of course, we also rode in the back of station wagons with no seat belts. Whatever. So today we made a “Princess Leia Necklace” with tin foil, string and glue. See, like this one:

July 11, 2008

Amy Arnold

I love these peepwool dolls created by Wisconsin-based artist Amy Arnold and available at Nonchalant Mom. At $220, rosie here is a bit out of my league, but such an expressive doll. These remind me quite a bit of the rough-hewn characters seen in folk art throughout the American South.

July 8, 2008

Mass Edit Mode

We’re cleaning out around the house and there is just too much STUFF (reminds me of Georgie Carlin’s stuff routine). My husband took the kids to see WALL-E the other day and I think it scared him a bit. The fact that we are filling up our planet and our bodies to overflow is a pretty frightening thought. Ironically, they were giving out cheap-o plastic watches as promotional items for this movie. It is Disney, after all. It has occurred to me more than once that handmade might be better in some respects, but I am buying lots of fabric and supplies, likely made in an environmentally unfriendly way (in China). Oops, sorry to be a downer. So I’m going to start buying less, making more things myself and I’m finally going to start composting.

While we’re sorting and organizing, we have compiled a large box of kids’ artwork and hate to keep it in a closet.

Saw this idea on Design Mom last month and have been thinking about doing it. You can send your child’s artwork (25-112 pieces) away to turn it into a beautiful custom piece like this. They will be scanned and printed on archival paper. So you don’t have to decide which works to display. The Jan Eleni Collage is available from Love. Of course I would try this project myself in some form, but after I scan in the artwork I still think I won’t be able to put it in the recycling bin! So I’d still have a box of artwork, but oh well.

July 6, 2008July 6, 2008

Preserves and Pinwheels

These preserves were a challenge. I’ve never done any canning before, but one word sums it up — hot. You boil the fruit, then you heat the jars, then you boil them. All this in the summer heat? We used fresh-picked blueberries and a flat of strawberries from the farmer’s market. I tried to make mine all natural so I skipped the pectin, used a small amount of sugar and added lemon rind. It didn’t gel quite like I wanted it to, so next time I will try to add some apple peel as this recipe suggests. The tops seem sealed, but I am skeptical so we will eat them quickly. A little runny, but yummy nonetheless. I think I’ll buy the proper equipment and try this again in a few weeks.

My five-year-old made this pinwheel mostly on her own. I helped attach it to the dowel rod with a paper clip and a couple of beads. She was very motivated and wanted it to look just like the picture in the instructions here. And by the way, trying to hammer a pin into a dowel rod as suggested in the instructions is ridiculously hard.

July 5, 2008

MuuMuu

I was going to make a peasant blouse for my three-year-old, but she will only wear dresses, so it looks like I have made a muumuu! I used elastic around the neck, but skipped it for the sleeves. I wonder if I could get away with making one of these for myself. Looks pretty comfy, huh?