spring flower sun catcher

There are beautiful crab apple trees all around our house that bloom amazingly every other year. They get flowers every year, but some years there are gillions of flowers while others there are just a lot of them. Even though last year was supposed to be a bumper year, the crazy spring weather of 80 degrees in March followed by a hard freeze just as all the buds opened caused all the flowers to fall off. (Side note, this happened all over Southeast Michigan and really harmed some farmers. There was literally no apple crop.) Extrapolating that we missed a good year, I assumed that this year would still be a dud year. Well, happily I couldn't have been more mistaken. The trees seem desperate to make up for an off year and have bloomed more intensely and beautifully than ever. This photo is through our screen on my phone, but you can see what I mean.

When the flowers are done blooming and all the petals gently drift to the ground they create another pretty scene with carpets of color under the trees. As this happens I find myself in awe of the beauty yet also a bit sad that another spring is so quickly turning into summer.

Yesterday we were playing underneath a redbud tree that was dropping its flowers all around us when I spontaneously started collecting them in my pockets. (Were you that kind of kid too? Saving anything interesting or pretty to make yourself smile later?) Then I thought it'd be fun to use the idea I've seen floating around the web lately of sticking the flowers to contact paper for various purposes. (Over on Housing a Forest, they made sun catchers on a road trip right on the car windows--genius much?)

So this activity went much like our others...I taped the contact paper sticky-side-up to our train table and then brought over the flowers I'd collected. Charley promptly exclaimed, "Construction site!" (I can't make this stuff up) and then gathered up a few vehicles. Namely, a garbage truck to collect the flowers garbage, a digger and a little "worker" to help. He stuck a few flowers on the paper, but mostly he hauled them around and then got all excited when the trucks drove on the "bumpy road" (e.g. over the flowers). 

Here's how the sun catcher that I made in the middle of his construction site turned out. I like to think we're hanging onto those spring blossoms just a little longer. That is, until they rot in our window, when we'll literally have some garbage to haul around. :-)

happy mother's day!

Just a quick little note before bed...today all I wanted to do was sleep in (not that late, just a little later than the boys) and go on a family walk in the woods. I really wanted Charley to see a real Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and they're blooming right now. I pretty much got both. Will ended up taking a nap before we got out the door, so Charley and I went by ourselves and had a fun time. He says his favorite part was the sandbox. Gotta love that little stinker.

We also got to visit with Drew's parents, uncle and grandmother (she's 89!) over a fun late lunch. I won't say it was relaxing, since *someone* brought along two little boys, but it was great to see everyone and catch up a bit. Charley had his first "build-your-own" ice cream sundae. In typical C fashion, he munched on the toppings separately for awhile before finally dumping them all on the ice cream. Also according to his M.O., he only ate about two bites of ice cream, because he's pretty amazing at knowing when he's full, even when there's something deee-licious in front of him.  

I hope you had a great day!

teacher appreciation week

Hello!  Things have been a little crazy here. I didn't forget I had a blog, but I was too tired to tend it lately. I made something this week that made me happy and proud, so I thought I'd share it with you, because who doesn't love a little paper crafting joy?

Did you know it's teacher appreciation week? At Charley's school they had a luncheon and every class made a thank you craft that one of the parents organized. I volunteered to head-up his class's craft, because a) I love his teachers and b) I love making stuff! Here's what I did...

His room is the Jack-in-the-Pulpits room, so each kiddo colored a flat piece of paper cut into a curvy shape that I then curled/folded into the flower shape (it was my friend Magda's idea to make them 3D like that...do you have a graphic designer friend? If not, you need to find one *now,*because they have nothing but good ideas). Each child also each wrote a letter on a bunting triangle to spell out the message "We Love our Teachers." If you look closely you'll notice that one has a backwards "E" and another is upside-down (so it's blowing up in the breeze). I love that! I had to stop myself from making more bugs and plants, because it was really fun.  

Turned out pretty neat, don't you think? Here's another plug for The Scrap Box if you live anywhere near Ann Arbor.  I bought all the scrapbook papers there for a pittance.  

Are you familiar with the books by Lorena Siminovich? When I was gathering ideas for this project and pulling out board books from our home library I realized that we have a whole bunch of her books!  She creates amazing illustrations with paper collage. Check her out and happy creating!

Linked up here:

spontaneous learning

As a former elementary teacher, I'm all about the teachable moment and helping young children make connections about our world. What I'm not into is thinking too hard about what Charley will learn when we do various activities. He's two (for a few more days), and my philosophy is that by exposing him to a variety of texts, experiences, places, etc. and talking about them together he's going to be just fine. 

In other words, you probably won't ever see me pointing out the educational value in what we do together. There's nothing wrong with that approach; it's just not my style or my goal with blog.

This week reinforced that this approach is working for us when Charley showed off some of what he's learned without my knowing it.

He's coordinated enough to use tongs to pick up small cars. He swiped the tongs himself and thought of this activity himself...I gave him zero guidance.

He can sort things by color and size.

He knows what it means to cut something "in half," as he kept saying, "In half!" every time he cut a fruit or vegetable. I did tell him about thirds when he was cutting something with three pieces, though; I'm not going to mislead him on stuff. I'm just not going too far out of my way to design anything for teaching fractions. Does this make sense?  

It's really neat to see what kids do with materials that are just out for them to explore. They're usually way more creative than we are. Happy learning!

l'il sack o' rock crayons!

Remember our ribbon eggs from the other day, well the idea came from my blogging buddy Katie over at Childhood List. I don't remember how I first found her blog, but what kept me coming back was that she lives in Baltimore (where I was born--yay!), her simple and easy-to-read blog format, and her super ideas for preschool activities and projects.

I'm not a giveaway junkie like some people, but when one catches my eye that's fun I'll participate. A couple months ago she wrote this post, looking for help in naming her new rock crayon colors. This sounded exciting, so I gave an idea (which would have resulted in ten-word-color names...not super practical, but interesting, right?) and she ended up sending us a set of the crayons! 

There are so many things that I love about them: 

1. They are beeswax and soy, so I don't worry quite as much when I catch Will munching on one.

2. Their shape and size are perfect for small hands.

3. They come in an adorable, hand-stamped muslin sack.

4. They're in super vibrant colors.

5. They are rock-shaped, making them great for all kinds of imaginary play if you don't mind a few crayon marks around the house.

Charley was calling his other crayons "logs" since they were with the rock crayons.

In typical Charley fashion, he colored a few minutes, and then hauled cargo for a long time.

In her Etsy shop she sells crayons in various shapes and types, like some awesome double-decker squares and an alphabet set, as well as fun sets for birthday parties. There's even a crayon of the month club you can join, where your kiddo gets a different set each month. How ingenious is that?

Go check out her shop if you're looking for a fun birthday present, rainy day activity or just feel like adding a wholesome art supply to your collection!

custom crowns

Phew! The past couple of weeks I've made six custom crowns, which is a lot for one little mama who needs sleeping kids so she can get stuff done. There have been good napping days and bad napping days, but here are a couple of the crowns I made...

Number One: I actually only sewed the buttons on this one, since I made it in December. If Picasa would cooperate I'd show you more photos of it, but they're missing. (Am I the only person who seriously does not understand how it works? I probably should have watched a how-to video when I started using it rather than fumbling around. Added that to the ever-growing to-do list...) It was for a dear friend's baby girl, so I used some of my all-time favorite fabrics (I knew her mama would appreciate them), including one with little tiny pink and orange fishes that's from the 80s, a batik I picked up in college at a five and dime, and the Kaffe Fassett macaroni. Then my mom made the numbers, which brought the whole thing to life. 

Number Two: A sweet college friend (side note: we played in a woodwind quintet together...I played bassoon, and she played oboe. Did you know I was a dork? Oh, you can tell I still am? Nevermind.) posted her daughter's crown on her FB page, and a friend of hers ordered one for her nephew. Got that? The point is that it's awesome when friends and family share their crowns, because it spreads the word! This friend really liked the monkey crown that's in the shop but wanted numbers on it. Since I couldn't bear to cover up that little monkey in the front, I made her a whole new crown. We included a #1 as a gift, because I thought there might be more babies in the future to wear this spunky little number, be them in this generation or the next.

Number Three: A customer ordered two crowns in the shop for her niece and nephew and then decided she wanted one for her own little guy. I made this one exactly like his cousin's. How cute is that?

There are four more crowns awaiting their buttons and numbers, and then I'll share those as well. One is for my own sweet little William, who will be one *this weekend!* I cannot believe a whole year has passed. He started walking today, just in time for his big day!

If you have a little one in your life who needs a special hat for birthdays or just to wear around, send me a message. I've decided that making custom crowns is my favorite. It's fun having a kiddo in mind when I'm choosing the fabrics and such. Thanks so much to everyone who's already invited us into your kids' lives through these little creations!

charley's ribbon eggs

Charley and I made a fun Easter craft that a blogging friend of mine shared the other day. (Her blog is A Childhood List, and you should check it out. I'll eventually do a post on her wonderful crayon rocks...in the works...) I'm not going to lie to you, diggers were involved. Happily, though, so was ribbon! As in satin, grosgrain, bona fide RIBBON! Naturally, the whole time Charley was calling it garbage and picking it up with his digger. Details, details, at least we made something together involving fibers.

mini eggs...These were going to be Charley's Easter cards for his grandparents.
Since he didn't make them we're keeping them!

exhausted from so much creativity

"garbage" collection

All you have to do is this:

1. Cut out an egg shape from construction paper by folding a rectangle in half, cutting half an egg shape so that the middle of the egg is on the crease (like you're cutting a Valentine heart...get it?) and then cut a smaller one on the inside so that it ends up open in the middle. Two concentric half ovals. Is that clear? Technical writing is hard!

2. Tape some contact paper sticky-side-up on the table using painters tape, masking tape, or whatever you have.

3. Stick the egg shape to the contact paper.

4. Let your kiddo stick stuff to the middle of the egg. I say "stuff" because you could use all sorts of materials other than ribbon: fabric bits, glitter, sequins, bits of tissue paper, etc. I highly recommend rick rack, because it jazzes up every project.

5. When he or she is done, use a glue stick to glue the two eggs together (try to line them up...for some reason this was really hard for me?!)

6. Stick another piece of contact paper sticky-side-down to the first piece.

7. Cut out your egg, and voila! Instant window art. I figured out that double-sided tape looks way better than Scotch tape for this! I know, d'uh.

Charley was exhausted after making two eggs, so I made more myself. It's super fun. I'm really into contact paper (like everyone else these days).  Here's our last contact paper project, which could be adapted to any shape and color scheme.

Linking up here: