Valentines day fun

Its february 14th :)

Also known as a Hallmark holiday, I prefer to know it as a day to let those I know they are loved :)And yes, they get told often of thsi fact, but Valentines day is a day I can do something extra special.

I guess as a teenager, Valentines day was the dreaded day you hoped to get a secret valentine but often didnt.. or it came from goodness knew who, or the one who was supposed to remember forgot. But for me, today, I wanted to do something. I lost a friend recently to cancer and was sharply reminded that days are numbered and to take each chance to make a difference and to let those who matter know. So last night, I printed off this beautiful page from Missy ballance and coloured it in for Jumeirah. Its a reminder of the ten best things I love about her.

As she walked to school, we talked about it and she decided she wanted to do some as well.
I left her with the comment " I had to pick the ten best things, but I could have written a million more" and watched as my gorgeous girl grinned a beam of a smile that I hugged close to me all day :)



For hubbin, I wanted to get rid of the hallmark holiday idea and make my own card. Time short and creativity flat, I found the most perfect card to print off for free from Cottage Industrialist which was absolutely perfect for me ;)

For Amahli and Jared, I set out a heart craft and as we completed it we talked about the things we love... about the day, each other, ourselves. Such a warm fuzzy morning we had.
The craft we did was a contact heart and its really easy to do.

Supplies:

Contact paper

cellophane

Scissors

Cardstock or heavy paper

Cut a heart shape from cardstock or heavy paper.

Place a piece of contact sticky side up on one side of the heart ( Jareds I stuck on the wrong side, it should have been on the plain side rather than the patterned side but he didnt care)
Allow your child the stick cellophane all over the sticky contact heart. Make sure you fill in all the holes!

Once its all filled in, place another piece of contact over the heart ( to seal the cellophane in).

It doesnt matter how messy it looks from this side.

Hold up to the light and admire the beauty you have created :)

We added stars to ours, you can add what you like, and if you dont have cellophane, tissue paper works well too. ( just not as transparent at the end)

Did you do anything for Valentines Day??

project 52: week 5

This photo is from Jareds birthday last weekend.

Its not amazing in its composition, but its the first photo I have successfully managed to get rid of something in the background... Im learning!!!

Next week it should be something more spectacular... a gorgeous friend has given me something that should tie me to my editing photo love for a good few weeks :) xxx
original:



FIXED!

scissor play

When Jared came to me yesterday brandishing a pair of scissors and saying " I just cut a bit, ok Mum?" I knew it was time to either do some scissor activities or risk losing a mop of blonde hair with the potential of losing TWO lots of curly mops... And so I grabbed out some paper and the playdough and we set to work :)

I set Amahli up first with some simple playdough cutting. Using no blade scissors ( trust me, they will still cut hair) sh got to practising using them, holding them so they would cut through the dough, and also making tiny cut pieces of playdough. Its great for general scissor pratice but its also great for strengthening little muscles and helps prevent the frustration that comes with not being about to cut through paper just yet.

For Jared, I did something a bit harder to challenge him. I folded up a square of coloured paper, drew some shapes on the folded piece, and got hinm to cut the lines. This was pretty tricky to do, first to manipulate the scissors onto the line but also to work them to only cut along the lines. He did really well, only needing some verbal encouragement and help in turning the paper.

Once unfolded, he was surprised to see a cool pattern emerge from the cut paper.

It was then that Amahli wanted a turn and so we swapped activities and she began ( with a little bit of help) to cut her own piece of paper. I didnt fold hers the same, just allowed her to snip around the edge.

Understandly, this is the only photo I took at this point. I value the use of all ten fingers and both eyes ;)

She was pretty proud of herself once she had finished and wanted to do more.

I was happy to oblige, and after 25 minutes both of their hands were sore enough from holding scissors that neither of them were keen on moving onto hairdressing.

For today at least ;)

cake decorating the easy way

Recently,we have had a run of birthdays in my family...... starting in November we have everyone from Amahli, Jumeirah, my brother and sister, my mum and myself, Gran, Nanna and Jared. All done and dusted in just a little under three months. Its rather crazy and makes for a LOT of cakes. Now, I love to make cakes. And what I lack in taste and execution I make up for in enthusiasm..... mostly.

Mums birthday this year was big 60 and so I wanted to make her cake special. We were going to the Hunter Valley with all the family and so it had to be able to travel and then last for a few days before we ate it. Hmmmm... got me thinking about how the heck I could pull that off when I realised that the easiest way to do cake decorating is to make it out of FIMO! Time and time again, I have been saved by making cake decorations at least a few days to a week before the cake event. It makes for stress free me which is such a lovelier version that the crappity crap crap stressed version.


These are some of my FIMO cake toppers.

For mum, I wanted to do something related to sewing and quilting ( her passions) but it had to be simple cos I was going to have to get whatever I made through a car trip to the Hunter unbroken. So I decided to have a go at making a quilt cake.
I bought a packets of FIMO, put the kids to bed and the husband was happy in front of the box and I set to it. Once softened and flat it was easy to work with.
I cut basic shapes out, almost exactly as you would fabric and pieced it all together. it did take a while, but seeing as I wasnt rushed for time and it wasnt going to be edible, I didt worry too much. It was a bit tricky trying to get the corners right but it turned out pretty good :)

Once we had actually sung happy birthday, I just whipped off the topper and cut that gorgeous chocolate mud up.

Jareds cake I make the rocket out of an icecream cone covered in silver cashous but the stars are fimo :)

Maybe one day I will have a go at Fondant, but for now, this works a treat.

So, if you have a birthday cake coming up, I thoroughly recommend going for something easy and making out of FIMO :) The plus side is, you can keep the toppers you make to use again! My kids are often asking for the fairies from Jumeirahs cake to decorate their own playdough cakes :)

threading and gluing for little fingers

I have been a bit floaty floaty after having such a lovely long school holiday break but last night I got my creative butt into gear and began to plan some arty crafty activities for my littles to help us through the days....

Today was simply a weaving and gluing activity, very easily made with things we found around the house.

This activity is great for: fine motor skills, learning opposites ( in and out), patience and hand eye coordination.

I began by hole punch some thick cardboard ( its actually a box I got deliveries in last week) right around the edge. The cardboard needs to be thick as little fingers are rough with pulling wool through the holes and they break easily if the card board is too thin. Its also easier to hold if its more sturdy. I then gave them each a long strand of wool that I had stickytaped around the end for easy threading. I then let them thread it in and out the holes as they pleased.

Look at that concentration :)

Amahli threaded about half of hers ( which was a mighty fine effort for a 2 yr old!) and then wanted to paste. Jared did his the whole way around until he had no wool left and then wasnt sure about the paste bit, but I did the glue bit, he did the collage bit.

I was well impressed with these gorgeous creations, as was a big sister when she came home.
Art like this is great displayed for a week or so. It is easy to make a loop of wool to hang it on a door handle or picture hook, and it gives my littles a great sense of achievement to see their art on the wall :)

How do you display art??

Anyone got some photos of art display ideas?

macro love

WHAT?! a post on a Saturday??
Acutally I couldnt resist :) My gorgeous friend Kim over at Mom tried It has posted today about another awesome blogger Household 6 Diva who hosts a friday fotos... this week is SOOC and I just couldnt resist sending this one over to take part.. Its a singapore orchid, bought at my local fruit and veg shop, by my daughter for her grandad :)

absolutely no editing done on this one. Actually I dont want to touch it!!




Head on over to Household 6 Diva and check out the other entrants!

Simple satisfying friday :)

Today it was too hot to do anything much.. its also the last day of a VERY big week of which I have really been dragged through by the seat of my pants backwards... but today, it was also made up of moments that made me stop and realised how, if you just stop, the moments are always there :)

The beautiful boy who conquers a puzzle for the first time on his own cos I was busy flapping about something else. How proud he was of himself that I just had to sit and watch him do it again....

The two who then came and happily collaged together cos I had no brain to find them a really cool craft to do, but who so thoroughly enjoyed it they asked to do about 5 each....

The two littles who asked to set up a train track ( which I did cos I knew it would keep them busy for at least 5 minutes) and then played together for almost an hour with the little set up, WITHOUT screeching at each other.....

The lovely big girl who, with her own pocket money ( 4 weeks worth) bought the most amazing singapore orchids to give to her grandad who is laid up after a foot operation. When she asked to do it, at first I said no. We were going to cook them a meal, and I was running late and halfway home, when I caught her eye I saw her true intent and turned the car around and went back to the florist. Her thoughtfuless gave me the most amazing flower to photograph I have truly ever seen. The colours are just incredible and the child, well, she is just something that will forever take my breath away.


enJOY your weekend, your families, yourself :)