Kid crafts, Needle Felting, My library mug…

What a week, anybody else thinking TGIF? I got my library mug this week! Our library has a program called “Hot Reads For Cold Nights” every winter and if you sign up and read 20 books you get a mug. This is the sixth year and I’ve gotten a mug every year. It was harder for me this year to read 20 books than it’s ever been before. I don’t know why cause I love a good romance novel! Here is the newest mug and all the previous mugs…

My Valentine came home with this for me on Monday…he knows I love frogs and things that make me smile, and flowers…he knows me so well!

I made this little turtle for my youngest son…the blue roving was dyed with blue Kool Aid and the green was dyed with green Kool Aid. (And I’m finally learning not to dye yards and yards at a time…but I have enough to make him some babies…lots of babies…sigh.) He’s such a cute kid, he came to me on Valentine's morning and wrapped his arms around me and said “Happy Valentine’s Day mom, I love you” and when I gave him a box of candy hearts he said “Oh mom, you’re something else, you’re just so special, and such a nice mom!” Good grief, can a mom ask for any more!

Then I babysat the little girl I sometimes get to watch, who’s two years old, for a couple days. We made play dough the first day and the second day we went to the library with Julie and her daycare kids and back to my house for a play date and lunch. We also did a little “sewing”. As I was heading to my craft stash for plastic canvas and a big blunt needle I saw this piece of plastic. It is the insert that holds up .22 bullets in the little box they come in. It is perfect for little fingers to sew with! No needle needed, only masking tape because the holes are so much bigger! I have a nice little stash thanks to my shooting sessions with hubbie and Julie has brought over several, knowing I’d use them for something, sometimes it pays to hoard a little. (The key is to have an organized hoard!)

Have a great weekend! Happy Crafting!!!

Wire tree part II – and other crafts…

Waaaay to cold to take a picture outside (-17 F!) so we’ll have to make do with cruddy indoor pictures for now. Here is the tree almost finished. I used modge podge to seal the sticky floral tape and it worked great! I didn’t even bother with the spray sealer. I’ve added a swing – but the swing seat is not permanent…just to be used “for now”.  The “roots” were never meant to be seen…that’s why they are so dinky. There will be much more to this tree by the time I’m done. And…I’ve started another, larger tree…yes…I really did.

Can you see it there amongst the clutter? Geesh, do you also have 15 different projects going at any given time or is it just me?

We did have girls craft night on Friday evening and we made these mushrooms…

It’s too bad you can’t see the sparkle, cause these babies are glittered! The project can be found at MarthaStewart.com! (LOVE MARTHA!)

And…Lisa sent some fabric my way so I quickly covered a couch cushion in this cute flannel. Thank you Lisa! The cover is removable so I can wash it up and keep it clean. It’s so cuddly!

Last but not least Gabe and I made this snow globe. He has a “thing” for snowglobes and has always loved them. Boy was he tickled to make this! The little snowman is a polymer clay snowman I made a couple years ago on another craft night with Carmen. The funny thing is he’s tall and skinny outside the globe…and fat and jolly inside the globe. I like him much better this way! I used hot glue to glue everything down and to seal the lid on – it works great so far. Otherwise it’s filled with boiled water (then cooled) and a half a teaspoon or so of glycerin and LOTS of glitter. (Maybe too much glitter – is there such a thing?) Thanks Julie for reminding me of this great craft!

Well, that’s it for now – Happy Crafting!!

Busy, busy, busy!!!

Isn’t this little guy CUTE! It was a perfect craft to do with the kids and the tutorial can be found at Then She Made.  Awesome idea! My son and his sidekick made these last night (sidekick’s project went home before a picture could be taken) – It’s always great when a craft encompasses boys and girls and is easy and satisfying!

Then my sidekick and I made more little birdies – again – pictures weren’t taken of hers…gotta get on the ball about that. But here is mine:

I rounded out their bellies and made each bird a 10% bigger than the next one – smallest bird is on the top and I really like it! I think this one has to live at my house rather than go to the bazaar…I’ll make them another one. There are tons of little holes on the top of each bird too cause it took several tries to get them to hang straight! I think I’m going to making a lot more of these birdies cause they make me happy – even bigger next time!

I started a project that didn’t make me happy yesterday. Curtains for the living room…shoulda known it wasn’t going to go well when first thing I did was cut myself on the tape measure…and bled on my fabric…and then my son got spaghetti sauce on the backing fabric…and I couldn’t cut a straight line for anything…it’s now in a keeper to be brought to my mom’s house so she can help me! I have 35 FEET of fabric to wrestle with and I’m scared of making a mistake…argh!!! (Purchased for about $8.00 at the thrift store!)

Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!

Disclaimer: the term “sidekick” is interchangeable with each person referred to and the other person referred to. All it is meant to mean is the person who we’re spending time with - “sidekick” was used to protect their privacy.

And thank you Carmen for the link to the video about our hospital… and yes…there is some irony there!!! (inside joke!)

Robot Pendent

My little guy made this to enter into our local county fair…and I was a dunderhead who didn’t read the rules close enough to know I had to pre-enter him three days before bringing the exhibit. Really! So it didn’t get entered. I think I was waaaaay more disappointed than he was.

Here is how we/he made it. He drew a picture of a robot and I shrunk it on our copier. Then he glued it to a piece of wood and I cut it out. Then he put in the arms and legs and such. We coated it with a clear glaze. Easy peasy…isn’t it CUTE!

Well, this will be my last post for a while as I’m going camping!!! Yippee!!!!! Hope you all are having a wonderful summer…

Happy Crafting! Kim

Teenagers are weird!

I’ve noticed that many of the bloggers out there are mothers of small children. Usually elementary aged children. Well, as a mother to a couple of teenagers I thought they should have a “heads-up” about teenagers. The stories that I tell aren’t necessarily only about my teenagers…sometimes I’ll be talking about a teenager I just know…because we tend to have a lot of them around here…

One mom was cleaning her back yard this spring and came across a plastic bottle with another bottle cut and taped to the top – basically one was a funnel into the other. Well, this mom had perhaps watched too many episodes of 20/20 and other news programs and instantly started to check her memory for clues as to what this was. Were they “huffing” or mixing dangerous chemicals, or what?! She picked the bottle up to inspect it more closely. The funnel part fell off so she brought it up to her nose to get a sniff. (Why are mom’s always sniffing things? Haven’t we learned that lesson yet?) She got some on her nose and realized it was pee! Yes, her teenage son had peed in a bottle and rather than dispose of it he threw it into a corner of the back yard. Upon questioning the son the mom learned he’d peed in it in his bedroom because he didn’t want to come downstairs. He had no answer as to why it was in a corner of the back yard rather than in the garbage can 20 feet away…teenagers are weird!

Teenagers are also funny! My son was going swimming with his youth group from church. A friend who wasn’t a part of the youth group wanted to go with him. Sure, that was fine. On the way to the pool the friend asked my son “So how do we read the bible in the pool? I’ve never done that before…” Funny!

Teenagers can also be dramatic! You will get a lot of “Why is everything in this house always my fault!” and “You never let me do anything!” (After hanging with the posse for 12 hours straight). And my personal favorite: “There is nothing to eat!” (After having consumed the equivalent of their body mass in food).

Good luck and God Bless all of you…

A glimpse into my life as a mother to a special needs teenager…

The following is what I wrote while sitting at my daughter’s dance…

Wow, I am truly in a funny/strange place right now.  I am chaperoning my daughter at the Snow Ball at her high school.  This is a BIG DEAL dance. It is a formal affair for only the grades 9-12.  I had been assured the girls take it very seriously and DRESS UP. You would not believe some of the dresses walking around here. They are tiny (the dresses that is, not necessarily the girls). I am restraining myself, just barely, from asking what on earth is keeping their hemlines on the correct side of their derriere’s.

Yes, I am at a high school dance, sitting at a table all by myself, and I don’t feel strange at all.  Had this happened when I was in high-school I would have been mortified. On the other side of that argument I do feel a bit OLD. Oh-oh – they’re pairing up for a dreaded slow dance…now I’m really glad I’m old!

Holy crap! I just saw a girl I used to babysit walk by with her blond hair dyed black, Goth makeup, and a ring through her nose!…and a sparkly, pretty dress – go figure!

I just did a quick circuit to find Abby and she’s in the middle of the kids dancing like nobody is watching.

I have to admit I was scared to come to this dance. I was scared I’d be the girl crying in the bathroom. Ever since 7th grade a family friend has taken Abby to all the dances cause she enjoyed doing so and I was more than happy to let her. Because Abby is special, it would hurt to see the other kids her age. Hurt to see them grow up and mature. Abby is probably not going to mature much more than where she is now. And at other times I’ve seen Abby run up to a group of kids, all excited, and they barely pay attention to her. They just drift off as a group and leave her standing there alone. Not even trying. Whether your kid is disabled or normal that is a special hell for a mother to visit. One time we were walking around town and a kid (boy) pointed to Abby, said something to his friends, and laughed – not in a nice way. I came uncorked. I don’t remember everything I said. Something along the lines that Abby didn’t choose to be how she is – and that I was glad she is “special” cause if he was an example of what “normal” is like…and that he better watch how he treats others cause he could have a special child one day too – you don’t exactly sign up for the privilege. Well, I don’t think that kid will forget that day, I don’t think I’ll forget it either. And in case your wondering, Abby didn’t witness that confrontation, I sent her into a store with my son while I went crazy on that boy.

So that is why I haven’t gone to the dances. But I’ve let Abby go cause she really seems to like them and by all reports has a great time. But you know what? I’m not sad!! I’m watching Abby dance like nobody else is watching – and really, nobody but me really is watching. But guess what, all the other kids are very aware that someone may be watching them – I’d bet that some of them are hoping that someone is watching them, and I’d bet that some are hoping that nobody is watching them. Abby is oblivious to all that. I’d also bet that some of the girls fought with their mother’s about what to wear to this dance. At least I’d like to believe that some of the mothers put up a fight about some of those dresses. Abby fought with me… she didn’t want to wear the slip I laid out for her. And when I saw the dress didn’t ride up her tights I didn’t make her wear the slip. Sheesh – she’s the only one in sleeves or tights – and I don’t think she’s noticed…I just love that girl!

This is her disco pose.

And here is my craft/storage tip for the day. My neighbor gave me a long down coat. Lovely, but not my style. However, it can get kind of cold up here in Minnesota, so I wanted to keep it. So, I pulled the arms of the coat to the inside, buttoned the thing up from top to bottom and rolled it into a tube. Then I put it inside two pillow cases – wallah – instant down pillow. Works great!!!

Minnesota Snow Fort

We haven’t gotten a ton of snow but the boys have made much out of the little we have gotten. They have scooped up all the snow from our yard…and from across the street, and some from our neighbor’s yard! They’ve been working on a snow fort. This is the second version. The first version collapsed and had to be rebuilt. Tonight they’ve added lights and I took this picture -

Do you notice they’ve added a rug? And… various kitchen utensils are either missing or bent because they’ve been used to scoop out the inside. I thought they were really clever when they requested popsicle sticks to shove down from the outside so they’d know when to quit carving the snow out from the inside. The box on the top is so they can stand up inside. The boys are desperately hoping that the predicted Christmas snowstorm happens – they’d like a couple feet! (And, they’ll do all the shoveling cause they want the snow on the fort!)

Easy Kid’s Art

My middle son and I had a great time cutting and gluing the other evening. It all started when I decided to start a new rule. The TV must be off until 6:00 PM. My kids get home between 2:30 and 3:30 – so this is quite a stretch of time with no TV or video games. Good! Nobody complained!!!!! Amazing. Here is what my little guy came up with -

It’s an alien. How cool! He’s excited to do it again…I can’t wait. PS: He used a magazine to make this masterpiece – cut out shapes and glued them together…

It was a special day!

Today my daughter participated in the Special Olympics. She ran the 50 meter dash and also threw a ball as hard as she could in the soft ball throw. I stood down-field from her and told her to throw the ball and hit me! What an opportunity for her! lol! She didn’t. She sure tried hard though!

This is the motto – makes me tear up every time I hear it. . .

 

The school where the Special Olympics were being held also held a plant sale. The students plant and sell these. I got this HUGE tomato (Roma) plant, and these three perennials for a total of $4.00! What a deal. The plants were just flying out of there. The perennials are called Dame Rocket. After I got home I googled them and found out they are very invasive. Huh. In a neighboring state people are encouraged to pull them up by the roots as they find them while hiking or camping. Huh! Now what do I do? Where I’d plant them they wouldn’t have far to spread – and they would be protected on three sides so the seeds wouldn’t fly around. . . Our yard is so brown and run-down I almost think it would take an extremely invasive plant to survive! It will be a couple weeks before I plant so I’d really appreciate any comments and advice.