Spooky Halloween Eyeball Flowers

It started with inspiration from pinterest.. Jess posted these last year and they look so interesting! A perfect combination of ease, thrift, and coolness!  

Jess at The Pumpkin Carver cleverly used items she had to create this creepy coolness, and made a great tutorial for it.  However, I neither eyeballs nor old sunflowers in my craft stash.  I looked for eyeballs at a couple of stores and couldn't even find any.  However, I found a pretty good substitute to share with you:

Instead of round eyeballs and hot glue, I used halloween colored google eyes and craft glue.  

I'm thinking this would be a great Halloween party craft for school.  Fall flowers are at bargain prices right now, and googly eyes are cheap. Frugal and easy fun!

Happy Spooky Halloween!

Farewell, Mother Tree!

The huge old oak in our "backyard" (actually, the neighborhood's greenbelt) stood out among its peers. The boys named her "mother tree." She had a grand departure last night, taking down a half dozen other trees with her while she managed to close down a cross road for a bit. We have mixed emotions... so sad she is gone, empty for the capriciousness of the violent storm, so grateful she didn't fall on our house, and humbly appreciative for the abundant new play opportunities and firewood she will provide. It is a marvel to wonder what all she witnessed in her lifetime. A glorious golden light is falling on her remains through the new hole in the tree canopy. Farewell, Mother Tree.

Afterwards, we took a bike ride to see the gorgeous rainbow that hung around for a long time. It was so ironically peaceful to see all the neighbors outside, talking and playing together.  Maybe we should schedule pretend "power outages" to bring back community spirit...

A Tree is Nice, A Forest is Sublime!

Tree puppets for Earth Day (especially using recycled fiber felts), and Arbor Day, too!

Do you have a favorite tree story? 

Our Tree Named Steve, by Alan Zweibel and David Catrow, is my all time favorite tree book.  The story is delivered as a letter tenderly written to kids from their Dad.  A favorite tree in their yard named Steve, because the youngest in the family couldn't pronounce "tree" when they first met him, has fallen over, and Dad wants them to know before they come home. The sweetly nostalgic memories of the children growing up with Steve (the tree) overhead are kept light by the exuberant Catrow illustrations.  You just have to laugh, even as tears may be in your eyes, as Steve's legacy captivates and motivates you to read this tribute again and again.  This comforting story is truly about friendship, love, and family.  My kids, now 7 and 10, still love this story...

We received a copy of A Tree is Nice, by Janice Udry and Marc Simont from a dear friend and adored it at once.  This book is a non-fiction early reader with rich, colorful illustrations.  How telling it is that the child's perspective of why trees are nice is timeless!  Ours is inscribed to Karen, apparently a Christmas gift from Ellen and Jim in 1957.  My favorite part is the ending that encourages everyone to go plant a tree for themselves.  Hooray for trees!  Hooray for the spirit of passing good things on!

I just put The Tree by Karen Ruelle and Deborah Desaix on hold at our library.  It looks like a good one, going through history that took place during a famous tree's life (New York City's oldest Elm). I'll be back with a review soon!

Tree Felt Finger Puppet Pattern

Easter Fabric Carrot Decorations

What do you call a scrap of pointy orange fabric, a bit of stuffing, and some clips of greenery? BUNNY BAIT!

Materials:

1) orange fabric (mine was $1 from the remnants bin, cut in carrot shapes slightly smaller than the stem wire)

2) stem wire

3) stuffing material

4) wrapping wire/floral

5) ribbon for decoration

6) tools (wire cutter, scissors, sewing)

HAPPY EASTER!

Welcoming the Leprechauns!

St. Patrick's Day is coming... will the Leprechaun's stop by?

We'll do our best to welcome them,  shhhh... don't spy!

With shamrocks, rainbows, froggies, too,

May our green and friendly spirit shine through! 

The kids drew their special pictures which were so loved by the Leprechauns that they disappeared on St. Patrick's Day morning.  Phew to Mom's foresight to scan them first, or all evidence would have disappeared!

Chica and Jo showed us how to turn Halloween pots into Leprechaun friendly pots of clover (thank you!).  We dug clover from our yard, added potting soil to our pots, and in just a few "dirty" minutes, our railing was looking very festive!

We could tell the Leprechaun's liked these, too, because they left a shiny coin in each and every one!

A fresh coat of chalkboard paint had our blackboard pot looking spiffy.  (This idea has been around awhile... you just need a spray can of chalkboard paint, a big terra cotta pot, and some painter's tape). An artist-helper added the seasonal detail....

Which turned into making a chalk dust rainbow... and foot prints... tracks... then paint... and well, you know where this is going, don't you?

On the dog, of course. Who made out great with a big treat after he was cleaned up... and then there was the laundry, the floor, the chair... wasn't this an outside project? Creativity is messy!

One more thing I tried inside was a St. Patrick's Day banner.  I saw this idea on Pinterest.  It captured the St. Patrick's Day spirit so perfectly I couldn't stop looking at it... spring green against the black and white winter background.  Only problem was, the provided link didn't lead me to the original post. Could I make this on my own? Sure... the trickiest part looked like the black and white background. Where to get the paper?   Shopping wasn't an option.

I found some flowered paper in my stash, and played around with the black and white copy options on my printer. Whala!  I had what I needed!  The heart shapes were easy enough to trace and fold.  I hot-glued them to the pennants and folded the pennants over twine, keeping with a rustic look. 

 I made a couple of extras, singles, for hanging on window latches.

Then I was messing around on Pinterest again and got curious... This time I was able to trace the original banner all the way back to Lil' Luna.  Wow, it sure would have made things easier to go there first!  Kristyn even provides an Irish map banner to use as the background, and distresses her hearts with black stamp ink around the edges. Simply elegant! 

In the end, the test was to see if the Leprechauns liked it... and I'm happy to report, they came with their map and treasure once again. :)

Wine Cork Tree

This idea was posted on Stonewall Kitchen.  Just darling, so I had to pin it to my Christmas board on pinterest so I wouldn't forget!  It looked simple enough... a bunch of corks, some paint, ribbon, wood pieces.  Hey, I wouldn't have to buy anything!

Finding a stick 2" in diameter was no problem in the woods near our house. Finding a straight one, especially one that would be straight after my handsaw attacked it was a bit more difficult!  I just did the best I could and vowed to make it do with gobs of hot glue.

I painted corks first, though the original directions say to decorate and paint afterwards.  I thought I'd add more flair to it later. Of course, I haven't gotten around to it!  Start with gluing the bottom row, and add more layers as you go up, alternating colors. My tree is bigger the original... just seemed to need more layers to balance with the stem.

I couldn't find anything precious to top the tree so I made star from gold paper (template below).  Merry Christmas!

3d Paper Star

Fast & Easy Chili Shaped Party Favors for Cinco de Mayo

Looking for a last minute party favor to add some fun to your fiesta? These chilis are colorful, easy, and fast... I made two while my enchiladas were baking!  Their small size and simplicity made them more practical than a pinata for our family's celebration.  Of course, the boys loved them! 
Materials
masking tape
paper cardboard tube
green tissue paper
red crepe paper (used for paper streamers)
glue
scissors

Cut a paper towel tube in two.  Make slits from one end towards the other, leaving an inch or two uncut.  Collapse the slits into a curvy cone shape, using masking tape to hold the shape in place.

Put a little glue around the outside of the chili and wrap it in red crepe paper (streamer paper).  Let dry!

Find some prizes to put inside.  These cute fruits were on clearance at Target...  The tubes don't hold much, so a bag of Skittles would be plenty!

Take a quarter of a sheet of green tissue paper and fold it.  Wrap LOOSELY around chili as shown, securing the end with a rubber band.  Fill your chili with the surprises.  Then fold the green tissue back up over the rubber band, working the layers separately to avoid tears.  Twist the folded tissue into a stem shape. 

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Happy May Day!

The boys were busy this morning delivering flowers and gourds to the neighbors... Now they are busy peeking out the windows to see if anyone has discovered them!

We made classic tissue paper flowers (cut a standard sized tissue paper rectangle into two the long way, fold it in half, fold each half into accordian style pleats, wrap a wire around the center of the folded paper, spread out the tissues, wrap wire onto wood skewer stem).  We ran out of time for leaves!

We added cardboard tube sunflowers, one for each basket (http://www.bhg.com/crafts/easy/1-hour-projects/what-to-make-with-craft-scraps/).  Of course, the professional ones look much nicer than ours... but ours are still colorful.  You take one 4" section of paper tube and cut fringe toward the center on both ends, leaving about 1/2 inch in the center. I painted mine white before the kids decorated them so all the colors would adhere well.  Poke a hole in the center of the painted flower with sharp object (Swiss army knife awl), then poke a painted bamboo skewer through for the stem.  Crumple a small square of tissue paper inside for the flower's center.










We put three tissue flowers and one paper tube flower in each paper cone "basket."  The kids wrote "Happy May Day" on the handles.  They hung one basket on each neighbor's door.

Bird House Gourd Painting

We inherited a bird house gourd last spring and had great fun painting it.  A bird even attempted to nest in it... It was full of twigs by the end of summer! The boys loved watching the little wren flying to and fro.  What fun!

Of course, the gourd was full of seeds.  We just had to plant a seed or two after we carved it.  Instructions on the web said plant seeds, water, then leave alone until you can't stand to look at them any more (or the gourds have dried).  Easy enough!  The gourds grew and grew, taking over our front yard.  It gave the neighbors something to talk about besides the weather!  By Halloween, the shriveled plants were looking nice and spooky.  We stored the gourds in our garage until last week...

This spring, our job was to decorate!  My plan was to have a neighborhood paint party but the neighbors were all busy with other things, and we wanted to get them out for May Day, so we set to work.  Another great use for the joust pole!  Note, I painted all the gourds white (old house paint) to give the boys an even background for painting.  When the kids got tired of painting, I added the spirals and had them "dot" extra colors.  We used tempera kid's paint for color (WASH OFF!).  Then I added a few coats of polyurethane for weathering.

Do we have seeds now, you betcha!  I think the squirrels got most of them. Meanwhile, the boys are excited to deliver these to neighbors in the morning...

Spooky Trees

These not-so-scary trees can be fun favors for a Halloween or Harvest celebration.  Also, consider using them for environmental education-- wildlife trees or snags!
Spooky Tree Felt Finger Puppet Pattern

Sweet-Gum Easter Chicks

Cheep, cheep!  Spring is here, spring is here! And so are seed pods are from "sweet gum" trees.  We turned them into Easter chicks that made colorful decorations for our Easter table. (I'm sure you could do this with pine cones or other seed pods, too.) 

Ahead of time, my preschooler and I collected and painted the seed pods bright yellow.  I cut orange pipe cleaners in half and twisted each into a three-toed foot and leg. If you are using pine cones, have the legs stick out to the side for a sitting chick.

Next, the kids poked the legs into the holes of the pods, balanced them, and glued them in...

Then we glued in feathers....

Lastly, we attached eyes and beaks using Crayola Model Magic. The kids used a sharpie to add pupils to the eyes. My favorite part of the project was seeing the kids' personalities shine through their art!

Happy Spring!