Painting soap suds

A lot of our projects are a culmination of creative thinking and whatever items are strewn about the house.  TnT love to paint and they can not resist sticking their hands in any dish that happens to be filled with soap suds, so why not make it into fun tactile art? 

Start out by squirting some dish liquid into an old pan or bin. Fill your container with water to make lots and lots of suds. Now, who can abstain from touching all these glorious bubbles?

There's no rhyme or reason, just grab your paints and experiment. You can make various shapes in the suds, but when your concoction decides to disintegrate, then the paint and soap morph into wonderful abstract pieces.

 

After your master artists have decided everything looks just perfect, then lay some water color paper or cardstock on top of the colorful soapy display. Lift and rinse under the faucet and set to dry.

Creative children

Our children conjure up the most wild and delightful ideas, some more messy than others, but nevertheless they are always busy creating.

Big T writes very inventive stories and really puts his heart and soul into developing games, greeting cards, and gifts for others.  One of my favorite gifts to receive from him are his massage certificates and boy, does he deliver!  I can honestly say that I will never find a more unique massage technique than his, which is enhanced with marbles and race cars.  Hey, do not knock it until you try it...a race car massage is simply divine.

Little T seems to make things out of whatever is available. He loves to collect containers, paper, business cards, and whatever else he finds interesting.  To him, everything has a use and should not be thrown away. I find myself sneaking to the garbage bag sometimes to throw away, well... "trash." Most of the time I save stuff for him because I know he will enjoy it, but once I start finding an over abundance of things like egg carton containers, paper towel rolls, and boxes, then I have to take action. One day he may be some kind of green environmentalist, a super engineer, or fast track architect, or perhaps I may be cultivating a hoarder.  Whatever it is he decides to be (he says a basketball playing doctor chef), he certainly is a lot of fun in the meantime. 

I relish the fact that TnT are imaginative boys who are free and able to dream.  It is such a blessing to homeschool and witness the little things, nuances that I may miss otherwise.

Artistic Valentine's cards

This project rates on the craft scale as easy peasy!

Here are the supplies you will need:

paint tray - paint brushes - rubber cement - water colors or watered down paint - water color paper

Have your artist drip, scrape, & brush the rubber cement onto the water color paper. Sky's the limit here; abstract creativity, purposeful design, or a combination of the two can create some beautiful art.

Let the glue dry for about 10-15 minutes. It can feel tacky to the touch, just not wet in order to paint.

ne pas déranger l'artiste

do not disturb the artist                                                    no molestar el artista

Cut out cards after masterpieces are dry!

Good for you fudge

Thanks to NaturesKnockout on youtube, our family has some very delectable fudge we can snack on.

I am really not sure what possessed me to try this recipe, because we don't usually like fudge in quantities bigger than a bite.  Nevertheless, the creation seemed foreign and fun.

There's no baking involved, so it was perfect to let Little T take the lead and explore. We tasted all the ingredients! Baking cacao powder may look good to my six year old, but to his dismay, it was not like chocolate milk powder in the least.

We were both mesmerized by the coconut oil and agave nectar.  The oil has a consistency kind of like chap stick and the agave nectar was pleasantly light and sweet.  The coconut oil received a lot of our attention! It can not only be eaten, but used as real chap stick, lotion, or hair conditioner.  What a resourceful & healthful ingredient!

If you are not into coconut, then this recipe may not be for you, but I must say that we are not huge coconut lovers and adored this fudge.

The recipe is as follows:

1 cup organic coconut oil (we used extra virgin)
1 cup agave or light agave nectar
1 cup organic unsweetened coconut
Carob Powder - fill half cup almost full, about 3/4 (ordered mine online) 
1/4 cup cacao powder
1 cup raw organic almonds (we used slivers)

Mix all ingredients in blender or food processor - give it a light chop - pour into pan - refrigerate for 2 hours - slice - eat & enjoy!

Before!

After!

             

Pull 'Em Closer

Do you have a spouse that travels for work? Whether your spouse travels a lot or every now and again, it is never easy to run a homestead alone. And one interjection before I go on...hats off to single parents, like my mom, who did it ALL solo.

I tend to pull my boys closer to me when J travels. He is never gone long, but his absence is certainly noticeable. So, what do we do when dad travels?

That is easy, we spend extra time doing the small things that keep us bonded and closer. It may sound ultra simple, but I turn to hot tea.  TnT have their favorite flavors now (peach for Big T & peppermint for Little T), but once upon a time they would only take a few sips and let the rest sit.  The tea is not the point though, it is the love put into the act that is the meaning. 

                              


After our bellies are full and warm, we move onto stories. I let them pick out the books, and we snuggle as close as possible in our most comfortable pajamas.

                               

The boys delight in this time, and it gives me a sense of doing something wonderfully nurturing for my children.  It is that little extra "care" while dad is away that makes it seem not all so bad, and when dad returns they are always so excited to share their special experience with him.

T-Shirt Scarves for Boys & Girls

We just got a burst of cold and wet weather, so this project is quite timely. Although, these are great to wear in the Spring as well. 

I wanted to create these fun scarves for a while now, and got some much needed inspiration from a beauty guru named Carah.

Prep:  For this project, you will need sharp scissors & over-sized T-shirts that are pre-washed. You'll want to use shirts that are 2-3x's bigger than your normal size.

Step 1.  Pick a T-shirt to deconstruct. Local Craft stores have them for cheap. We got 4 shirts for $9.99 at our local craft store.

Step 2.  Spread T-shirt over cutting surface & smooth out wrinkles. Next cut straight across, starting under one sleeve & over to the other. You are cutting both the front and back of the shirt, and only using the lower half of shirt.

Step 3.  Cut the bottom seam off of the shirt.

Step 4.  Now you have a band, like an infinity scarf.  You are going to cut fringe on both sides (long ways), leaving the center of the band uncut (about 2 inches).  Don't cut the short ends/sides, because you want to keep it like a band.  We ended up liking the fringe wide, so you can experiment with that.  And cuts don't have to be precise. I let Little T cut it up.  **Helpful hint: we found that if you fold the band over length wise, then the cuts only have to be made once, but you must have sharp scissors for children to be able to maneuver through the fabric.

Step 5.  Pull & tug on the fringe pieces. Also, stretch out entire length of the scarf.

Step 6.  Wear & Enjoy!

Hermit Crab Switch-Eru

TnT were fast asleep when this was filmed at 3:30am. Hermit crabs are naturally nocturnal and I am beginning to think that I must be of the night as well.  I noticed that Mr. Soccer/Lola (Little T can't decide on the name) was in a new natural shell, but still hovering over the previous painted soccer shell she (Little T says his crab is a girl) inhabited.

Mr. Soccer/Lola kept standing on her old shell and moving it every which way. I thought the behavior was a bit odd, so decided to grab my camera and film.

Sure enough, it happened...