Malfunctions and Distractions

I'm experiencing a little technical glitch - camera-wise. I'm hoping it's simply a dead battery issue. I meant to go buy some today. But there was a more pressing errand to be run and the sun was shining, which (in my book) makes it a one-errand day. Sunshine is not to be wasted walking up and down the aisles of a windowless bulk foods store, even if one doesn't manage to make it out in the sun for more than grilling dinner. Even if one spends the afternoon in the kitchen doing puzzles on the hardwood floor while listening to the chink of aluminum bats hitting leather balls just outside. A slumbering baby, a toddler's pride at completing her puzzle, and a kitchen made new by a sunlit cast - all ample reasons to stay unplugged and put off batteries for another day.

So the only pictures I have for you are these of on-going projects. The first (taken with my phone) of Audrey creating her version of sock puppets - complete with arms and legs - using a kit given to her by a friend. The second, a picture I took a couple days ago as I worked on a project I hope to finish soon. Audrey named her creations: Audrey, Fluffy, and Gassy, ahem (I think she was actually naming it Cassie, but I laughed and said, did you say Gassy? - and it was all over then). I've only given mine first initials.

Maybe, tomorrow we'll go buy batteries. Or, maybe, we'll keep running on another kind of energy.

Paper Pushers

My parents gave me an Origami Page-A-Day calendar by Margaret Van Sicklen for Christmas - the perfect accessory for a creative mama's desk, but apparently, an even more perfect gift for my crafty three-year-old whose daily attempts to swipe it prompted its removal from the desk to higher (ahem, safer) ground. The swipe attempts turned to daily inquiries as to its whereabouts and if we could get it out.




Today, we did just that. We pulled down the calendar and grabbed a stack of origami books. Audrey had already been introduced to origami through one of her favorite books, Lissy's Friends by Grace Lin, a sweet story about a girl who takes comfort in the origami friends she creates when she has trouble meeting friends at her new school (you can see just the corner of it in the top of the first picture). After what might have been our six hundredth reading of Lissy's Friends, along with reading a couple other origami-inspired picture books we found at the library, we pulled out our bone folder and got down to some serious creasing.

With the exception of a few origami facts thrown into the mix, each day of the Origami One-A-Day calendar features instructions to make a paper animal or object. The calendar is made of beautifully printed origami paper. The instructions appear on the front of each calendar entry while the backs are nice patterned prints. Essentially, you use the backside of yesterday's discarded paper to make today's object or animal. Not ones to burden ourselves with dates, we skipped straight to the handy index to pick our projects. First, I chose the Kimono Heart. It looked simple and sweet (notice the green in the photo above creates a heart shape with pieces that cross each other like the sides of a kimono, hence the name).

Masters of the Kimono Heart, and Audrey sold on this new art form (especially her new found power tool, I mean, bone folder), we decided to try our luck at another. I asked if Audrey wanted to make an animal like Lissy (all of Lissy's origami friends being animals). I had in mind a crane or a dove, thinking that these might be simpler since they seem to be the equivalent of an origami cliche. So, it should come to no surprise that Audrey answered without hesitation (and in no uncertain terms), "Yes. An elephant."

For my part, I was able to morph the "Oh my," forming in the back of my throat to "Let me see what I can find," before it hit open air. Luckily, the index had four elephants to choose from, and the cute little guy you see above was the second one we found. We made this one out of excess card stock. He looks a little like a dog with an accordion snout. Hmm...there's a breed you don't see everyday.

Salt Dough Ornaments

We haven't totally forgotten about Christmas around here. Even with an organization-crazed mama anxious to see what lies ahead in the coming weekend and week for our little family, the Christmas spirit is still very much alive. And growing. The last few days, Audrey and I have been working on a little project: Salt Dough Ornaments.





We followed this basic recipe, with minor changes. We didn't use food coloring, opting for painting ours after they dried and then covering them with glitter (as Audrey wished) while the paint was still wet.

This was a three day project for us. We made the dough the first evening. The recipe instructs that you roll out the dough, cut with cookie cutters, and move the shapes to a cookie sheet for baking. This dough is sticky and a bit hard to move. I placed parchment paper onto a cookie sheet and separated the dough into smaller sections. With the help of some flour, I rolled these smaller sections onto the parchment paper, Audrey cut out the shapes and we scraped the excess dough away, leaving the ornaments on the sheet where they lay. Using a straw, Audrey poked holes into the ornaments to create a space to add ribbon later. Then, they went into the oven on 250 degrees for a few hours, followed by a night of the ornaments being left out on the counter to dry.

The following day, Audrey painted the ornaments and added glitter. She was in a white Christmas mood, favoring white paint with a dusting (or downpouring, which ever you prefer) of red or white glitter - every once in a while throwing in a green ornament for good measure. The last five ornaments she decided to leave white, without "sprinkles" saying as she set each one down to dry for the evening, "that is so special."

This morning we shook the excess glitter free, I added ribbons, and Audrey placed the ornaments on the tree (before taking them off to rehang on her newly built Lego castle). I may just have to run out and buy a festive paint pen to write names across some of them to use in lieu of gift tags. Because, she's right, they are so special.

*I think this is an activity we could easily revisit each year, and one easily adapted to fit kids of all ages. Even the smallest kids love to get their hands into dough and pound with cookie cutters, whether their work amounts to an ornament or not. As a child's artistic talents grow, these can be made more complicated, using their favorite art supplies of the moment to decorate them. This recipe also makes quite a bit of dough. We ended up with a baker's dozen of ornaments, and still have a small tub of dough leftover in the fridge for those times this week we feel like getting our hands a bit dirty.

Art Sticky-Style

I was perusing my friend Jenny's blog, when I noticed a collage project she had completed with her daughter. The work area set with some full sheets of paper, scraps of material or paper, and a bottle of glue, she let her toddler loose to create in any way she pleased.



I'm not going to lie, we hadn't tried glue yet because, frankly, I was off to invest in a mound of wet wipes just thinking about it (and I'm the sort of parent who usually forgets to pack the wet wipes, doesn't carry hand-sanitizer, and believes strongly in the 5-second rule). My child isn't one to use just a dab of glue per piece. She, ahem, has her own style. But after some encouragement from my friend, who told me about the Ooey Gooey Lady, who focuses on learning through play (which is about the only kind of learning that stuck with me) and encourages glue bottle squeezing for the development of fine motor skills, I was off to the school supply aisle to give this a shot.

And, the project was a success (even if I did start muttering the mantra "fine motor skills, fine motor skills" halfway through). Audrey loved it and was fully engaged until we had to stop. I couldn't help but be really intrigued by the art she created when left to her own discretion. I didn't expect the layering of felt and paper that she seemed to favor. The mounds of glue, well, that I expected.

Her art complete, I whisked it outside to dry, using large rocks or planters to hold the papers down. That still-fresh glue resting on those papers was too enticing to keep close by. But she wanted to check on their progress all day. I see more of these projects in our future. Now I just need to get a picnic table, and make an artist's smock - definitely an artist's smock.

Chalk Walk

Yesterday, we participated in a Chalk Walk at the library. Each child is armed with a couple plastic baggies of chalk, a small carpet to protect their knees from the hot asphalt (which Audrey, of course, disregarded), a pre-drawn square "frame" (We monopolized two squares. Oops. What can we say? Sometimes our art is too big to be contained in one small box.), and their imagination. What comes next is a little chalk-meets-pavement magic.



Followed by a walk (wearing 3-D glasses, if you prefer) to admire your work and the work of your fellow chalk artists. So without further ado, we bring you some summer art (Audrey's favorite, showcasing a dog, is at the end). Enjoy!

Boxed In

In an attempt to break away from the activities that have become our normal routine as of late, I pulled out a few cardboard boxes that have been taking up space in the garage. My plan was to break them down and then use duck tape to secure the pieces together to make an indoor playhouse of sorts (letting Audrey use crayons to decorate the outside). As I broke down the first two boxes, Audrey played in the third, asking me to stop every few minutes to "close [her]." After stopping to "close her" and restarting my project several times, I stopped altogether. If I made a house for Audrey, I would have to take the third box from her, which she had already found a way to enjoy. I didn't know if she would even like the house better once I finished. So I let the house go and we played with two flattened boxes and the third that was still partially assembled. That box served as an alcove in which she could hide, a tunnel to crawl through, and a treasure chest in which to hide her blocks. The flattened boxes became a dance floor before we propped them up into a makeshift shanty house, nothing like the house I had originally envisioned, but functional enough for the two of us to sit together with a few Lego furnishings.


As we played, I was reminded that sometimes the best plan is to not have one. Sometimes the best thing I can do for my child is just get out of her way. And, most important, the house we build is not near as important as the imagination housed inside.

The World as She Sees It

An afternoon outdoors (all pictures taken by Audrey):

Her torn chalk bucket - the chalk replaced by 3 newly-found rocks;

Garden dirt and a corner of Frisbee;




The grass and Mama's leg;

Standing in the garden, admiring her feet, Frisbee, and afternoon shadow.

Anticipation

I'm not much of a planner. But daydreaming, well, I do that in spades. Lately, I've been garden daydreaming - thinking about colorful blooms, knee pads and dirty fingernails, trips to the yard rather than to the store. I have friends - go-getter friends, friends who make things happen - who have had seeds started for their gardens for weeks. Me? Still daydreaming. I meant to get going on this project over a month go. I did some research. I checked stores for seed cell packs (the plastic trays with domes used to start your seeds indoors). Jason and I had the "our expectations for our garden this year talk." Still, all talk and dreaming and no action.

Then, Friday at my Mom's group, I won a pellet greenhouse kit (a souped up version of the cell pack I was eyeing at the store) for drawing the house and garden closest to the specifications given, with my eyes shut. Just one more thing for which I have to thank my former high school art teacher, the greatly missed Mr. Berry, who made us do a similar exercise in class.

Today, Audrey and I bought a few packages of seeds (tomatoes, green peppers, and parsley) to add to the stash of herb seeds at home. Seeds in hand, pellet greenhouse on counter top, we thought we were finally ready for some action. We thought wrong. We filled the cell pack with the specified 32 ounces of water and waited, and waited, and waited for the pellets to expand. I assumed it would take several hours for them to expand the 1.5-2 inches required. We're still waiting. At 8:15 pm, I let Audrey (who was very excited about planting seeds today) look at the packages and touch the pellets one more time before heading off to pajamas and bed. Looks like we'll be daydreaming for a little while longer...

For the Love of Dogs

Lately, Audrey has been on the outs with our dog, Emmy. Memories of having your tail pulled by an 18-month-old die hard, I suppose. Audrey has tried to overcome the past, offering toys for Em to play with, showering her with unwanted affection, and trying to feed her food from her bowl [a gesture which Em mistook as stealing and got Audrey banned from the laundry room (a.k.a. Emmy's room) for her own safety]. The fact that Em will fall all over herself to drop down by a child, any other child, and expose a warm belly for the scratching does nothing to soften the blow, I'm sure.

So yesterday, I told Audrey that she could show her love to the standoffish one by baking some dog treats. Always eager to help in the kitchen, Audrey donned her green apron and we got down to business. Dumping the ingredients into a big bowl and rolling out the dough were a huge success. However, I did not realize how difficult metal cookie cutters are for a two-year-old to push into thick dough. This, coupled with our current case of Don't-touch-itis, and our project hit a snag. Afraid the dough would dry out before making it to the oven, I went in search of another small cookie cutter, which made the process much smoother and much more exciting for Audrey - TWO cookie cutters to choose from! Of course, the only ones I could find were Halloween shapes,

which is why some of Emmy's current dog treats are shaped like bats. Of course, our little marine biologist claims they are sting rays. Hmm...bats and bones, so very, Spring? Interested in making your own dog treats? Find a slew of free recipes here.

Can You Find The Circle?

Do you remember this February walk I took with Audrey? Well, I have a confession to make. I had meant to take her to the zoo that day. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those put-together moms with an accurate planner and spare wipes in the car. Had I been one of those moms, I would have checked the Internet before leaving the house and discovered that the zoo is closed on Tuesdays during the winter months. Once at the closed zoo, I had to come up with an alternate plan for the afternoon - quick. I opted for a walk along a path close by and invented a little game unimaginatively called "Can You Find the Circle?" As Audrey and I walked, we searched for circles: those occurring naturally (the bottom side of a pinecone, a hole in some limestone) and manmade versions (a clock face and a "no swimming" sign). At some point, I began taking pictures of the circles we found. This made Audrey even more determined to find circles. Every once in a while, being a non-planner works in my favor. This accidental day turned out to be one of my favorite afternoons that we've spent together. It has inspired many more days filled with circle hunting and picture gathering. We've amassed quite the collection of digitally-captured circles. This morning we sat down with our artwork.





I found a bound book with blank pages that has been hanging around since my childhood. I think I bought it for myself at a gift shop while on some family trip. I'm sure I had some great idea in mind for what that book would become when I bought it, but obviously that idea never came to fruition. Today, we finally gave that book a job. (For those of you interested in a similar project, but unable to find bound books with blank pages, I found a tutorial on how to make them here).

We decided to create a photo journal of the shapes we find. First, I developed mini prints of our circle pictures. I backed them with colored cardstock. Then, Audrey used double-sided tape squares to attach the pictures to the book's pages, ordering them any way she liked.

Of course, we only made a couple of pages before she decided it was time to move on to other things, like running around (who can sit still for long when we're on the cusp of Spring?). But I have a feeling that we'll be back to it soon, adding new pictures, new shapes, and memories of many walks yet to come. Looks like this book just might be destined for something great, after all.

Project: Valentine

Stay tuned...

Spreading the Love

I'm not sure how old I was when my grandfather died of lung cancer. I was young enough that the memories come back more as splashes than waves: being surprised that such a physically imposing man (he was 6'4") was confined to a bed; the gentle reminders to be quiet as I played in the family room with my sister and cousins; going into the bedroom one-at-a-time for visits; it being dark except for the glow of a candle when it was my turn inside. I also remember each grandchild receiving a monetary gift from my grandfather to spend as each of us wished. I don't remember now if it was $25 or $50. I do remember that it was enough to give someone as young as I was a moment's pause as to how I would spend it. I wanted to be respectful of the gift, to get something that would last and remind me of my grandfather. I decided on a bird feeder. I had spent many afternoons at my grandparents' house watching birds and squirrels with my grandmother. But most importantly, the bird feeder went front and center in our backyard, a daily reminder when I looked out our kitchen window - one that stayed there well past my high school years until the wood began to decay and it had to be taken down.






I hadn't given much thought to bird feeders until a couple weeks ago, when it dawned on me that I haven't had one for years. Even before the purchased bird feeder, we had made the typical run-of-the-mill pine cone and peanut butter versions and displayed them proudly in our trees. Such bird feeders gave me a special feeling of responsibility as a kid. I remember going into Poor & Sons to buy bags of seed and the sense of pride I felt carrying the seed out of the store, as if I was taking responsibility for a little flock of wildlife - that my small action somehow mattered. What made me stop making these simple bird feeders? When did I get too old or too busy to do something so simple that used to bring me such joy?




So, I was thrilled last week when Jason brought home a bag of seeds from a generous coworker (Thanks, Ruby!) intended for Audrey to use in her own bird feeder endeavors. Yesterday, we spread out the vinyl tablecloth and got down to business with our peanut butter, birdseed, and some heart-shaped cardboard cut-outs. If you are interested in the bird feeders we made, you can find instructions here. There is something satisfying about pulling out the tablecloth, knowing you're going to make a mess - and then following through with that mess. The smiles that getting messy elicit from your little one and a sweet little valentine to share with the birds are more satisfying still. We let our little seed valentines dry overnight before taking them out to hang on our fence this morning (we really need to work on planting trees this year). I can't tell you what Audrey was thinking this morning as I lifted her up to loop her bird feeders around our fence posts, but I was remembering what it felt like to be hoisted onto my grandfather's shoulders and have my head skim the ceiling above.