all about the feets

Yesterday I spent much of the day making cute little baby shower cards for my Sister in law. Shes giving me a new nephew in about 2 months :) So I obliged and make these gorgeous little feet cards to invite her friends to celebrate this little boy whos almost here.


After making them, Amahli was keen to make her own footprints with her hand like I did and so I set it up for her and Jared to have a turn.
He would have none of it, but he humoured me with this awesome picture of a dinosaur. Sometimes he shocks me in his able-ness. I think sometimes he acts like he cant do anything cos I get off his back... hmmmm.....



But Amahli was well keen so I showed her how to make a fist, then print that fist on the paper to make the foot. then using a little finger, make the toes! She loved it and soon I had a table full of tiny footprints.

We talked about what feet do, how they help us, and how we look after them. She then wanted her toes painted to celebrate them :)

So it was pink piggies all round :)

self portrait

For the next 30 days, Im taking part in a 30 day photography project ( that totally sounds stupid but Im too tired to redo that sentence). It began on Saturday with a self portrait.

This is me. Just me.

I dont like photos of myself, theres too many things I wish I could change. But I kinda like this photo :) At least now my kids will have something to remember me by :)

Want to join our 30 day fun?? Click here to go to the facebook page! Or you can just go there and see the other photos too! And whilst you are clicking all over facebook, why not head over to my other facebook page Karina Baker Photography and give me some love ( or likes) there too!

Go on, take a photo of yourself. Look at it. No, REALLY look at it. Know that the person you see looking back is an awesome piece of marvellousness.... something the world would be lost without. Like it. Love it :)

flower stacking toy

I think I made mention last week sometime that I have fallen in love.... with a scroll saw. Now, really, I dont need ANOTHER craft to do... I have 4 unfinished quilts, two shoots to edit, The Body Shop, scrapping, as well as whatever else Im halfway through... but I saw this awesome idea off Made By Joel and knew I wanted to have a go :)

So I was lucky enough to find out my father in law owns a scroll saw, and was happy enough to let me have a go. I was instantly hooked by how fun it was turning wood and creating something awesome.

It turned out really well and its a toy she has played with alot since I gave it to her. She talks to herself whilst she stacks, sorts colours, and imagines a real garden.

Now what else can I cut?? :)

easy party fun

This weekend I lost my little 2 yr old... and gained a great big 3YR OLD :)

A party was needed to celebrate this little one and so preparations began. The thing Ive found with parties though, is that so often we go to HUGE lengths only to have them not go to plan, or end up costing a fortune. This party I was all about easy cheap fun that would entertain whatever age of child I had come to her party ( they ranged from 2-12 yrs).

So we made our bubble wands last week and they were a ridiculous hit with not only all the children, but the neighbours kids too, plus all the adults as well.

Here are some of the awesome photos from it :)

One of the other cool things I had easily prepared for her party was the decorate some "ninjabread men". I bought the coolest cookie cutters awhile ago in the shape of ninjas and made a butter biscuit base the night before and it was ready!

You obviously dont have to get ninjas cutters to do this you can use whatever you have.

At the party, I set up the ninja biscuits with pink icing and things to decorate. We started with the youngest child and I thought it would just be the littler kids that would do it but soon I had all the other kids ( up to the 12 yr old) wanting to decorate!

Such an easy party activity!

What do you do to make party life easier for yourself?

bubble awesomeness

This weekend, my littlest sprite turns 3. Yes she actually made it ;)

And to celebrate we are having a little party on the beach for us and a few of her friends. Today, and actually over the past few days, I have been busy planning, preparing and creating masterpieces.... in the form of bubble wands. What more fun could you ask for than giant bubbles on a beach??!! I mean really...

This is the final result after much tweaking, refining, and a heck of a lot of dishwashing liquid.

The wands themselves are really easy, the mixture is not.

But here are some photos from this afternoon to show it totally worked and our beach bubble party is going to ROCK :)

Ill give you the tute next week!

( or you can google giant bubble wands, its everywhere really!)

paper dipping...again

Ummm WHAT!?! How did it get to November?? And how the heck did I miss my bloggy birthday almost two months ago!! :( happy birthday, blog. :)

Yesterday, as I was quietly contemplating the day, Jared came and almost literally knocked me off my chair. He wanted to do dipping painting and he wanted to do it now! ( he came barrelling around the corner which is why I fell off my chair figuratively but also literally).

So I jumped to action and got out some absorbent paper and food colouring. Now we have done this craft ALOT but I was keen to do it again considering he was so keen.

He knew exactly what to do and we soon had a table full of amazing colours, shapes and designs.

Take a piece of absorbent paper, fold it into quarters.

Carefull, dip each corner in ink or food colouring. Dip it quickly or the whole square will soak up too much colour.

Once dipped, turn the square around and watch the colour run..

Then carefully open it ( making sure you dont rip it!)

And....TA DA!!

We even had painty fingers!! And he didnt care!!!!!

The addictive thing about this craft is that you never know quite how your pattern will turn out.
He totally loves doing this. I think its the surprise element at the end. By the time he had finished, we had nearly 40 pieces of gorgeous absorbent paper... now trying to work out what to do with it! I think I will try and turn it into a banner... stay tuned :)

Salt painting

A different sort of art today but something that was really effective and both kids loved it. It started with some paper and a kitchen accident but ended up being a great experience.

Amahli, in her usual gung ho attitude, was attempting to find morning tea, 5 minutes after breakfast. I asked her to wait but its kinda like asking a stampede to turn around. She's a man on mission.

So I'd said no, but she continued her task of getting it herself. In the process, she knocked the full salt shaker over and then watched in fascination at the waterfall she had created. Quickly realizing she would be in trouble, she began trying to collect it in a container. So craft today was going to include salt :)

I got out glue and card stock and sat them up at the table. I showed them how to make patterns with the glue and then we sprinkled salt over the wet glue.

I then got out some watercolour paint as I'd seen wet salt paintings that had then painted them for a cool effect. So very carefully, we touched the wet salt with bright colours.

The results were awesome, the colour bleeds and runs along the salt line. Jared was totally fascinated by this and the excitement on his face was priceless. We talked about colour mixing too as the blue and yellow and made green.

I loved that this was something that he was interested in, he seems to be getting more interested n craft as I try to find new things for him to do.