Chalk Art Fun!

Here are some more ideas for having fun with Chalk. We have tried a variety of shocks and I find that the Crayola brand has the brightest chalk. It also helps if your asphalt surface is darker, hours will be resurfaced this year as it has worn

If you would like some more chalk art ideas please check out my post on Northern Cheapskate called 5 Fun Ways to Play with Sidewalk Chalk. Also try out this idea on How to Make Your Own (Sidewalk) Chalk Paint.

These are all designs I drew out last year for my daughter's birthday party which was an art themed birthday party. Then I took pictures of all the kids in any of them that they wanted pictures of. They thought this was pretty fun.

Make All Natural Play Clay

This is an old post of mine, from September 2009 and was originally #107 in my post of tips to be greener, unfortunately this post was getting spammed A LOT. I still wanted this out there but needed to re-post it. Look how little my girl is. So tiny!

This recipe came from the October 2009 issue of Family Fun magazine (p.18). We made this today and it was fun to make some Vikings Colors for her to play with. We made the recipe for the yellow using tumeric, but since we don't eat beets here I wasn't sure how I would make that one, but then today when I had thawed frozen blueberries. It occurred to me that I could use the juice from the blueberries to color it purple. I had about 1/4 C blueberry juice and added hot water to make it 3/8 C total of liquid.

Ingredients
1 C flour
3/8 C salt
1 T vegetable oil
Natural Dye (see below for colors)

Directions
In a bowl, combine flour and salt. Pour in oil & natural dye and stir well. Knead dough for a few minutes. If clay is too soft, add a bit more flour. Store clay in sirtight containers in the refrigerator.

Natural Dye
Brown: 3/8 C plus 1 T hot water, 4 T cocoa powder
Fushia: 3/8 C hot beet juice
Orange: 3/8 C hot water & 1 T paprika
Yellow: 3/8 C hot water & 1 tsp. tumeric

Pinterest Inspiration - Part 2

If you recall, I previously shared  a project I made for my daughter that was inspired from a Pinterest post, so now I wanted to share some more inspirations from Pinterest.

This first project came from Hands On As We Grow, which is filled with a ton of ideas of things to do with all kinds of blocks. so, I thought I would start with this one and made my son a set of 8 cards to copy the pattern.

This was a lot of fun for him and he couldn't wait to finish one and get started on the next one.

My son had a great time making his own dinosaur that is from Homeschool Creations. I cut out all the parts and told him what part of the dinosaur they were part of and put a dot of glue on each piece and he applied them.

I think he did a pretty good job of getting them in the relatively right location.

He thought that they dinosaur needed a nose so I needed to cut one of those for him and he thought a couple of the plates should be spikes at the end of the tail and he put those there instead.

I did this birthday card for my son's friend, who love Yo Gabba Gabba and made it using the Tombow Adhesive Tape that I reviewed.

The link on Pinterest to this creation goes to just an image.

This is one of the many gifts we gave to her teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week. We printed off "Thanks A Latte For All You Do" posters and she wrote her name on them and decorated them with stickers and used double stick tape to adhere the gift card in it's holder.

And finally -- This a a sheet she filled out on questions about Daddy that is called "Meet My Daddy". It will be a part of her Father's Day present to him.

And what I loved was that my little (almost 6-year old) girl could show off all her reading skills and read all the questions out loud to me.

Earth Week Plans

As the start of Earth Week begins today, we will begin our own Earth Week activities & crafts. I plan to have at least one thing that I will do with my family each day that is different from what we normally do daily. We will try a variety of crafts, recipes & cleaning ideas. I am also making it a goal this week to eat from the pantry & freezer, although I do have to make it an exception to go for a couple items since it is my husband's birthday and my daughter & I have a special dessert planned that we will need 1-2 ingredients for.

Sunday: 1mi Walk & Pancake Brunch @ River Bend Nature Center, Plant in Watch & Grow Planter, Cleaning Homemade Natural Toilet Bowl Cleaner, Start hanging clothes on the line, Eat From My Freezer with Homemade Veggie Lasagna (zucchini & tomatoes from my garden) and Recipe Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Monday: Craft Egg Carton Eyes, Trash Pick Up at Park & Play, Recipe Tortilla Soup

Tuesday: Craft Egg Cup Insects, Craft Make & Play with Homemade Bubbles, Walk & play at the park

Wednesday: Walk & Picnic at the Park, Cleaning Wood Floor Wax

Thursday (EARTH DAY): Planting Activity @ Old Navy, Cleaning Microwave Cleaning

Friday: Craft Homemade Stickers, Craft Carton Wallet,

Saturday: Build a Birdfeeder @ Lowe's & hang up in yard, Recipe Homemade Granola Bars

In years past we have had a couple friends over to do some planting on Earth Day, but due to regular weekly activities our Thursday is quite busy and doesn't allow for us to have a playdate at our place, so we have moved our plating playdate out to the following week.

#135 Rose Petal Tutu

I bought the tulle for $2, I already owned the thread, elastic, ribbon, & flowers. Actually, the flowers you have seen previously on a Christmas present project and they were ones I got from a rummage sale.

To make this tutu I used 2 yards of tulle. I left the tulle folded in half and then folded over the top (unfinished edge) twice to make a waist through which to string the elastic through. The bottom edge was folded. I stitched a seam across the waist, strung elastic though, stitched ends of elastic to make a loop. Next I filled with what flower petals I had (I kinda wish I had more) and then stitched a seam on the inside of the skirt, sealing the to open ends. Then I stitched a ribbon on the back seam, allowing it to be tied around front.

I left the elastic wide enough so it would fit comfortably but have plenty of give for putting over other clothes (as she sometimes like to layer many outfits.)

We are giving her this as an Easter present. Now I just need to finish the other Easter presents for her & her brother.