December Crafternoon

On the 8th Crafternoon my true love made for me, 8 Gingerbread houses!
7 Clothespin dolls
6 Painted Ceramics
5 Bleached T-shirts
4 Cement Step-stones
3 Beaded Necklaces
2 Stenciled T-Shirts
And 1 Felt Embroidery!

Our 8th Crafternoon and we've only missed one month! Last month we had a bit of a swine flu scare so there were only three of us crafting. And only two had free hands to make the craft. And it was so calm and relaxing that I forgot to take pictures! We made little clothespin dolls with acorns for heads and felted clothes. It was a lot of fun although the kids could easily decapitate them so I think if I were to do it again I wouldn't use an acorn head.



This month was the complete opposite. The house was packed with children and the table was full with candy! My original plan was to make one gingerbread house with everybody. But after a bit of research I decided that graham cracker houses might be the way to go. The adults built the houses and the kids decorated them.



For the most part the houses were easy to put together if the crackers stayed in their large size without breaking. But it was increasingly more difficult to build the houses with half and quarter size crackers. One handy tip that I figured out, the crackers were easier to cut if the knife was wet with warm water.



The kids took to decorating their houses like, well like kids to candy! The crafters brought over an abundance of different candy to choose from. The kids would decorate for a while, then run around the house, then add a few more pieces of candy to their graham cracker house.



The house was filled with Christmas music and the kids were all playing music on the piano. The atmosphere was so joyful and festive it felt like a wonderful holiday party!

Halloween 2009

Dracula and our pirate had a wonderful Halloween filled with parties, trick or treating, and too much candy. This year I decided to limit their haul. I wrote out on a piece of paper the numbers 1-20. They put a piece of candy on each number and the rest disappeared. I was amazed that there was no upset over this plan. They were excited to pick out which 20 pieces they wanted and didn't bat an eye as I took the rest of it away. Now it's locked away ready to be handed out until next Halloween!

We had very little trick or treaters this year, 18. Last year we got about 45! Where did they all go? And no one starts trick or treating around here until well after 6! What ever happened to the 3 o'clock trick-or-treating?

Kindergarten Picture

I am in love with everything about our new school, but the one public school standby I can not live without is the school picture. I'm determined to take a school picture of him every September, or October. Here's how this year turned out.

October Crafternoon Painting Ceramics

This month we ventured out of my dining room for the first time and headed to a ceramics store. All of our painters carefully searched the store for just the right item to paint. And for some, one item wasn't enough.



When I walked into the store the place was packed. Every table was filled with friends and family painting away. A bit of a panic set in when I realized that I had invited 12 people to paint with me and there was no place for us to sit. I spoke to the staff and it so happened they were just cleaning up a party in the party room and we could slip right in there when they were done. No one was the wiser. It was the perfect space for our crafternoon.



After about an hour the kids started to go a little stir crazy. We had some cookies to hold them off for a little bit, but those quickly disappeared. Having antsy kids in a store filled with breakables is a dangerous situation. Fortunately there was a small park right next store. While some of our crafters stayed behind to finish their projects the rest of us made our way to the music park where some much needed running around was enjoyed by all.



One of the highlights of our October Crafternoon was our newest crafter, Sophia. Welcome to the world Sophia!

First Day of School!

Tomorrow L starts his first day of school! I can't believe it. He looks so big in this picture. Yes it seems late to just be starting school, but he's going to an amazing school called The Attic. We are so excited for him to go. Both K and I wish we could have gone to this school growing up.

Well as you can see L is sporting a new book bag that I made him with the help this blog. When he first saw it he cried. I asked him what he wanted on his bag and he had told me a cat and books (since it was a book bag). Well I cut out the books but they didn't look like much so I just left it with the cat. In his mind he was thinking that it would be a scary cat. But the mama didn't get this message. We talked about it and he decided that if there was a witch on it the cat would look scarier. So now we have this for my little Halloween lover:



I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Hopefully when I show him the witch I added he'll cry with tears of joy this time!

Tonight was also my first time making a school lunch. Even that was emotional to me. I made some granola bars from the cookbook Best New Recipe by Cooks Illustrated. They're a little over done but the boys didn't seem to notice.



This Friday will be my October Crafternoon. We'll be going out to a ceramics place to paint Halloween decorations! When I was growing up my grandmother used to go to a ceramics place once a week with some girlfriends. She was really quite talented at painting these little figures. Especially the eyes. Last Christmas my mom mailed me a couple of Christmas figures that my grandmother hand painted. The boys love them, and I love having something that my grandmother created!

September Crafternoon "Bleached Shirts"

The scene was set with watermelon and pink cupcakes ready to go. At around 2:30 there was squealing on the front deck as Daisy (our dog) went to visit some of our youngest crafters.

We were a small group this week of 4 moms and 5 kids. But there was much delight as we shared our stories of summer adventures and the first week of school for some of our kindergartners.

Our craft was an easy and enjoyable one. Bleached stenciled shirts. Here's how it went.

Step 1: Round up some happy women and energetic kids.


Step 2: Trace a bold picture onto freezer paper. (Shiny side down.)


Step 3: Cut it out.


Step 4: Iron the freezer paper onto the shirt with another piece of paper on the inside of the shirt so the shiny sides are together and they adhere to the shirt.
(Sorry I forgot to take a picture.)

Step 5: Pull shirt over a box top and spray with a 50/50 bleach/water solution.


Step 6: Rinse bleach out of shirt. You're done!


It was interesting to see what color the bleach would turn the shirt. The blue shirt in the middle would not take a bleach stain. It got slightly lighter which made a great effect. It was a Cherokee t-shirt if you're looking for a bleach resistant shirt.

Thanks to all my crafters! Next month we're moving out of my house to a plaster paint store!

Plugging Away

In my mind the holiday season is already upon us. I have this grand idea that everyone's Christmas present this year will be homemade. Whether my family likes it or not. Which makes it difficult for me to post my progress, since most of my readers are the gift receivers.

So in cryptic terms... I just finished a birthday gift for my husband's birthday, which is in the end of October. I have been working on a project for all the females in my family and it doesn't seem that I have enough fabric. And I bought the fabric at a craft fair so I can't really pick up more. Ugh.

I'm currently embroidering a picture that my son drew. It's a witch with a cauldron and black cat. It will replace the bunny embroidery I did a few months back. I'm hoping to make a new pillowcase for that pillow for every season and I love the idea of having L draw the designs.