paint cut paste

i adore january because it has my favorite holiday in it: my daughter’s birthday on the 26th! all month long we indulge in party planning fun. maybe i’m just cheesy, but we always roll party-theme style for her birthday parties.

when N turned one, it was just a pink & green cupcake theme – from the birthday girl’s outfit and bib to, well, the cupcakes:

one

N’s second birthday fell on the chinese new year. it worked out great because she was OBSESSED with only reading the grace lin books at that time. (our copy of fortune cookie fortunes got completely ripped apart from overuse.) so, naturally, we did a chinese new year theme that year — with origami cranes tied the the end of each balloon string, fortune cookies, take-out boxes full of party favors, lanterns, etc. fun stuff!

two

when N turned three, her birthday party was all about fairies: every child (and some grown ups!) wore wings, enjoyed fairy cake, played in a fairy tent, and were given homemade magical fairy wands.

three

last year on N’s fourth birthday, she requested a “rainbow art party” so we went all out. i created this juicy, hefty blog post showing the execution of all the party details.

four

so far this year, we’ve engaged in our annual tradition of bringing out and decorating her birthday ring with little fairy friends. N chose the color of beeswax for her five birthday candles from our assortment.

she then got busy rolling five beeswax candles for the ring.

she was so excited to place them in the ring and begin the countdown to her fifth birthday!

this year, i’m doing my best to fulfill N’s fifth birthday theme request, and it’s proving to be lots of fun! stay tuned for all the fun party details – i’ll dish here at the month’s end!

do your children have themes for their birthday parties?

welcome to 2012, friends!

this time last year, i wrote a post about how the face and pace of this blog would be changing shape in 2011 and majorly s-l-o-w-i-n-g down. in january, it really looked like it would. then february hit, and it. did. not. happen. i continued to blog my fingers off all year long. and here i am, january 2012, with a similar resolution as last january.

my intentions this year involve devoting much more psychic energy and mind space to building my art therapy practice (and chasing the ever-elusive california LPCC by jumping through multiple hoops called three insane standardized tests. shudder.) that means that i reeally reeeally do need to treat this blogging addiction hobby of mine like what it has always been — a fun outlet. not a career, not a source of income, nor a book i plan to write someday. no stress. no pressure. no deadline. just the rainbowy icing on top – it’s a super delicious treat! so i’m needing to breathe space into the new year, and just let this blog evolve and grow naturally into what my life is becoming.

new years day

don’t get me wrong. i will be CREATING, ALWAYS. i will be MAKING ART WITH MY DAUGHTER, CONSTANTLY. these are also priorities in 2012. i will also be blogging about these on occasion. though, in all honestly, more of my own creations will likely show up on this blog than hers. with the onset of 5 mornings per week of kindergarten this past fall, N’s artistic time at home has been more focused on her true love: drawing drawing drawing for a couple hours each afternoon. and while “look at what my kid drew today! and today! and today!” makes for a nice blog for the grandparents (which is how this whole blog thing started way back in tha day) but, admit it – it’d be sorta boring for all of you wonderfully creative readers. seeing as i’m way too pinspired not to make homemaking creative and meaningful, i’ll share an early january creation with you all…

i wrapped a straw wreath from michael’s (super cheap and on sale) with yarn i already had at home (on new years eve. yep, i’m wild and crazy! but in my defense, my house was plagued by a stomach bug over new years so i didn’t have much choice.) N even helped to spiral up these lovely felt flowers (much like the ones we made for our autumn wreath.)

my poor baby has some dry winter hands right now

we hung it on the window pane we scored at that salvage yard last fall.

yay for yarn-bombing! doesn’t that wreath look cozy and warm? (it should – it’s about 70 degrees *outside* over here!) we dolled up the mantel with a few other warmy wintery friends.

and miscellaneous sidewalk finds and random objects from the back corners of cabinets.

N calls it “the winter circus” and says it’s her favorite mantel yet… AND she wants to be “totally in charge of” our spring mantel… so stay tuned for that! in the meantime, i will see you back here every so often. let’s just see if i can hold to my resolution to reprioritize where and how i express myself and allocate my energy… and maybe there will be a new year’s miracle that gives me the strength to step away from this pretty, colorful, friendly, flickering, alluring screen on some evenings… just maybe.

happy winter! happy 2012!

since winter’s coming, we decided to help out our bird friends, once again. we’re definitely friends to the winged creatures around here — pimping their living spaces with our nesting orbs and birdhouses in the past, so this time we thought we’d help them dine on some fine holiday cuisine with a couple birdfeeders.

i’ve always been a bit wary of creating birdfeeders with my nut-allergic little one, so safety was key to this project. i found some great nut-free birdseed at the hardware store. it was still processed in a facility that has nuts, so we played it safe and donned dust masks and gloves while exposed to the seed.

the first type of birdfeeder we wanted to make is a cute sleeve feeder to put onto a tree branch a la the mofatt girls blog. all we needed was:

• birdseed
• a cardboard tube (toilet paper, paper towel roll, etc)
• nut/seed butter — we used sunbutter sunflower seed butter

N applied the sunflower seed butter to the outside of our tube.

we spilled some seed out onto a baking tray, and she rolled the sticky buttery tube through the seed to cover it (with gloves on.)

we ventured into the backyard and found a branch to slip the tube over… it’s in the same tree as three of our kid-painted bird houses. love that.

when we checked on our feeder a few hours later, we saw that we’d entertained some customers! and the next day, the birdseed was totally gone. see photos below:

the second type of feeder we aimed to make was more complex, but promised a little more aesthetic satisfaction. we followed the tutorial on mom ready for these birdfeeder ornaments. our supplies included:

• birdseed
• 2 packets of gelatine (we used knox)
• a jello/chocolate mold and/or cookie cutters
• string

first, N mixed up the gelatin concoction. we used 2 packets of knox gelatine with a half cup of cold water. (*note: this may be the wrong ratio – read on…) we put it in the fridge to wait for it to gel a bit.

after about 10 minutes in the fridge, we slowly stirred 2 cups of birdseed into the gelatine. in hindsight, i would have used less birdseed – maybe 1.5 cups – but when reading the mom ready blog, it seemed important not to have too much extra gelatine in the blend. i just think ours could have benefitted from more “glue” — thus, less seed or more gelatine.

then we used our gloves and masks while pressing the wet birdseed mix into our trusty heart mold tray (the one we usually make upcycled heart crayons in.) apparently you can also spread a layer of seed out on a cookie sheet and use cookie cutters to cut the shapes… but our loose seed blend was of no consistency to survive that.

once they were pressed into the tray, we used a pencil to poke a hole in the center (to allow for less string slippage) of each heart. we put them into the fridge for 3 hours to “gel” and then left them out for 2 days to “harden.”

after they were hard enough to pop out of the mold, we tied some baker’s twine through each hole. the ones that survived this looked pretty cute!

survivors

we trimmed a tree in our yard with these edible ornaments – waiting for a partridge, 2 turtle doves, 3 french hens, 4 calling birds, 6 geese, or 7 swans to swing on by our house. (gosh, there are a lot of birds in that christmas carol!)

we are delighted to have been invited to be a part of tinkerlab’s creative challenge this month! our tinkerfriend has asked us to upcycle magazines to create a project that is child-directed. given all of the junk mail and catalogs inundating our mail box this season, i was more than happy to accept this challenge so we could upcycle some of this unnecessary paper! (why all the catalogs from stores who have web sites?!)

the other night, while sorting through the stacks of catalogs, i said to my daughter, “i wonder what we could make out of all of these extra magazines…” with christmas undoubtedly on the brain, she immediately responded, “ornaments!” but of course! she said she wanted to rip them up and glue them to balls. sounds like a plan to me — so she got right to work on the ripping that evening (thus the dark photo. my apologies: it’s a casualty of wintertime blogging.)

the next day we took a trip to michaels and scored these brown paper ornament shapes for 60 cents each (which turned out to be even cheaper with a coupon – love it.)

later (and again after a mad-early sunset,) N got to work mod podging her “magazine confetti” (as she termed it) onto the ornaments.

once they were covered (and she was kind of bummed by the white look of wet mod podge initially) she said she wanted them to sparkle more, and asked for glitter. [artsy-mom guilt-producing confession: i so HATE loose glitter.] while i knew glitter would be a lovely and festive addition to something for our tree, i shuddered when N asked for it. then sighed a bit of relief when i realized quickly that we didn’t have to sprinkle it onto the ornament. i suggested stirring the glitter into the mod podge and painting another coat of glittery mod podge onto the ornaments. she was sold - phew!

we hung the ornaments to dry (which only took about an hour actually – not bad in terms of fairly instant gratification.)

and they are super cool, colorful, and sparkly on our christmas tree!

thank you, rachelle, for including us in this challenge!

check out all of the other amazing bloggers below who gave their junk mail a second life:

• tinkerlab (our lovely hostess!)
• kids in the studio
• teach mama
• the imagination tree
• childhood 101
• teach preschool
• hands on as we grow
• the artful parent
• a mom with a lesson plan
• toddler approved
• kiwi crate
• art 4 little hands
• red ted art
• the chocolate muffin tree
• imagination soup
• michelle’s charm world
• messy preschoolers
• mommy labs
• putti prapancha
• sun hats & wellie boots

visit each of their amazing projects on the linky below – so many fun ideas! there’s a second linky at the bottom where you can join in the fun and add your own upcycled magazine ideas, too!

add your own ideas here:

every year, i wrap our holiday gifts in natural kraft paper, which makes them sort of like a blank canvas for whatever ribbons and adornment we select. this year, i’m thinking butcher twine and these wonderful handmade tree tags.

i saw this idea on pinterest (of course because i live on there! wth?!) and had to try it out! i’m always the chick who’s pocketing paint chips at the hardware store, so that part was easy. i have a large stash of buttons and ribbon, and a glue gun, so we were set to go. N was excited to cut the paint chips into triangles together, and was a huge help in doing so.

after she cut these lovely green ombre triangles, i hot glued a loop of ribbon under a button to the top of each one. N instructed me NOT to put a brown trunk on each one, so we left the trees as they were.

they turned out to be so cute! now i just need to get the actual GIFTS made!

paint chips are so naturally amazing — in what sorts of artistic ways have you used paint chips?

creating garland out of the natural beauty of autumn leaves is always a favorite activity of ours. this time, we made it even more vibrant!

we have gone on many leaf collecting walks around our neighborhood these past few week, and brought home some beauties. we pressed them for about 24 hours or so to flatten them out.

the opportunity to mod podge our autumn leaves passed us by last year somehow, but this year we were able to do so. after the leaves were pressed, i applied a coat of mod podge to each side of each leaf (in the evening – thus the dark photo – sorry.) this preserves the color and returns some suppleness to the leaves — like magic!

notice it doesn't say "modge podge" on the bottle, folks.

once they were dry, N and i got out our wooden beads and some wire to string the garland.

we wrapped each bead through twice, to hold it in place.

we had fun interspersing beads with the leaves, and it looked pretty when finished.

now we have it hanging over our balcony for thanksgiving time… (but secretly, i’m sooo ready for christmas decorations instead!)

while we can choose to include expressions of gratitude in our every day lives, this time of year reminds us to give thanks for all of the blessings we’ve harvested. acknowledging gratitude on a daily basis can help us all to feel more balanced, joyful, and peaceful. it can also aid us attracting the energy of abundance into our lives.

often, in the busy-ness of thanksgiving, the true meaning of the holiday can get lost somewhere between parades of oversized floats and the cranberry sauce. here are a few reminders for expressing gratitude during this season, and carrying it into your every day life.

• gratitude journal: keep a simple book beside your bed where you can jot down three things you are thankful for at the end of each day. (or begin each day with gratitude instead.)

• gratitude blessing at mealtime: before eating dinner on thanksgiving night (or every night, like we do in my house) encourage each family member to share at least one thing they are thankful for from their day.

• gratitude garland: this is a sweet art project N and i made last year (inspired by the artful parent) that uses the beautiful natural materials the earth provides for us. go on a nature walk and collect vibrant fallen leaves. ask each person to write one thing they are thankful for on each leaf (using glittery pens or markers) and string them together by poking wire through them or hot gluing their stems to a lovely ribbon.

• thankfulness jar: start by decorating a jar (a simple ribbon holding an autumn leaf against the jar can be a nice touch) or finding a container you love. count your blessings all month long by writing them on little notes each day and placing them in the jar. spend some time around the thanksgiving table reading the notes of thanks aloud to each other. (from tip junkie)

photo from tip junkie

• gratitude mobile: collect leaves, acorns, pinecones, and string them across a stick or from an embroidery hoop along with lovely papers where you and your children write down the things for which you are thankful. (from rhythm of the home)

photo from rhythm of the home

• expressing thanks: send a handwritten letter or make a phone call to a person for whom you are thankful, expressing the gratitude you feel for them. it will surely brighten their day, and in turn, yours.

i’ll leave you with a quote i enjoy about gratitude by thornton wilder: “we can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”

i’m a grateful for you all, my wonderful readers and blogging community. thank you.