Our local Art Center hosts Family Days a couple times a year. After eight years in the neighborhood we finally made it to one this weekend, and I’m so glad we did! Kicking myself that we’ve never been before, too…

One of the activities was to draw with glue and then cover the glue with colored sands. If the kids wanted to they could also decorate with leaves & bits found in the Center’s gardens.

Maggie made a tree and painstakingly added small leaves one-by one to the branches.

Bjørn on the other hand, made a psychedelic spiral tree in rainbow colors.

The next time we head out to the beach I’m thinking this will be a fun project to do with shells, seaweed, and whatever little bits we find along the shore to make a sea-side keepsake.

We’ve been taking advantage of the many free events around town that don’t conflict with nap time (& even a few that did!). One of these events had an area set aside for kids to work with clay. Each child was given a good-sized chunk of clay to work with, and a teenager was on-hand to give them tips and advice, but other than that the project was completely up to them.  M&B really (really) got into it and spent a good hour and a half at the tables creating, smashing, starting over, smashing…

The only problem we’ve run into is that we brought their pieces home & let them dry on the balcony, but now I have no idea how to preserve them! It would have helped to have a bit of instruction for after-care.

If you know anything about clay, please let me know in the comments what we should do next. I figure we could finagle access to a kiln, but that seems like more work than it’s worth.

[Please excuse the poor quality of today's photo. I couldn't find my camera, so grabbed the kids' and clearly must have clicked on something I shouldn't have to make it so blurry]

I’ve been wanting to experiment with paper maché for a while now and made the mistake of mentioning my interest to the kids the other day. It should be noted that my kids are not the ones you want to mention stuff to in an off-hand way if you aren’t ready to take action. They JUMPED at the idea.

“Mom! We have everything we need, don’t we?!”

Well, yeah, but…

Miss M instantly knew exactly what she wanted to make and how she was going to make it.

So. Out came the balloons. I hate blowing up balloons. I’m always scared they’ll pop on me, and I can never tie them right. It’s an in-born failing of mine. Shockingly, I prevailed & managed to blow up three & actually tied them off without too many tears of frustration.

Next up was the fun part. We cut & shred a bunch of old papers. Saved me a trip down to the recycling bin. We then covered the table with more paper to protect it from inevitable spills. (like that worked…)

The last supply we needed was paste. I haven’t done paper maché anything since the first grade and I vaguely remembered dipping paper into a water/glue concoction, so that’s what I made, just mixing one part craft glue to two parts water. I have no idea if that was the “right” thing to do, but it worked out ok. Usually, I’ll have read up on a project before diving in, at least enough to know what’s involved.

It took a surprisingly looooonnnnnggg time to cover our balloons in paper. Very wet paper, I might add.

{This is the part that you might want to skip}

I set our masterpieces in process out on the balcony to dry. We live in Northern California where winter = rain. I’m sure you see where this is going. The balloons came back in the next morning to spend another 24 hours drying indoors with me chasing the baby every time he got close enough to them to say “Boo!”

Today they were finally dry enough to attach fins. I’m hoping this project ends soon. It’s stressing me out.

The kids were very quiet after breakfast this morning. Almost too quiet. In fact, so serene was my household that I actually enjoyed a second cup of coffee while it was hot.

If I were a thinking person, I might have worried a bit. Luckily, the olders were using those incredibly creative minds of theirs to do sweet things.

My Man B busied himself practicing piano (with headphones on!), and writing thank you notes to our incredibly generous friends who gave him their keyboard, along with all the widgets, and whosits needed to make it play.

Miss M created this family of magnetic paper dolls. All of the parts are interchangeable, and she has plans to make accessories for them all — books, shoes, bags, ribbons.  I had a roll of magnetic tape lying around which she cut sections off of to stick to the backs. Now we have a lovely, and ever-changing tableau on the fridge.

I’ve been thinking about the many (many) ways I keep lists. I have binders, books, wists, wikis, e-mail, word, excel, stickies, wish-lists, scraps of paper, white boards, cork boards… you name it & it’s probably got a list on it or in it.

Today I remembered another list that you might like. My del.icio.us "dothis" (do this) list. As I run into things I like on the web that I’d like to try out with or for the kids (& sometimes even Just For Me), I tag ‘em there. Way easy.

Except for the remembering to go back and check the list part…

Here’s my current sampling (along with my notes… notes I’m rarely good about including, but made an extra effort to do for this post):

1. Bella Dia: Vintage Vertical Stripe Crocheted Blanket Pattern
   

   This is perfect for someone like me who has lots of scrap yarn (all those projects I keep starting…)

2. rostitchery: done is better than perfect
   

   Ooooh!
   I know exactly who I am going to make a few of this (at least one) for.
   First I have to stop by Goodwill to find some funky pillowcases — ours
   are just too… Ikea…

3. » How to Make A Inexpensive Light Tent
   

   The more photos I take of the projects we do, the more I realize that I really, really need a light box.

4. Cut Out + Keep | Crafty and Creative Blog | Ribbon Labels | by Cat Morley
   

   I want to make these for my daughter’s sewing projects. How cool to have your own label at eight?

5. How to Make a 3D Paper Snowflake – WikiHow
   

   Next year…

6. atelier v. — Chopstick control
   

   For my sushi loving kiddos…

7. Kiddley » Blog Archive » Paper Santa Lucia crowns and hats
   

   Next year…

8. My Work with Kids’ Drawings – a photoset on Flickr
   

   I love the idea of making new things out of children’s drawings. In this case, it’s stuffed toys.

9. How to Make a Yo-Yo
   

   Sewing at my level. Even I could do this

10. craftster.org blog » Freezer Paper — Who Knew!?
    

    How to use freezer paper to make prints. Very simple.

11. house on hill road: Flapper Hats
    

    I’d learn how to knit more than scarves, just so I could make these for my daughter.