Artwork

Art projects just aren't my thing as a stay-at-home mom. I rarely dig out materials to have the kids lose interest in .2 seconds. Not to say that it never happens. Recently I've made a very distinct effort to do more artsy crafty activities with the kiddos. That being said, it has also led to the accumulation of papers around the house-- and I cherish those papers, I do. However, many of them have found their way to the recycle bin after being displayed on the fridge for awhile. But not without me taking some photos first! 

September 19 @ MOPS

I printed this off and Jackson completed this work sheet on September 19th. His only challenges were the letters that are similar to others (d/b; p/q). Not bad for a then 3 year old!

Jackson traced most of the dinosaur and drew his head and tail. I snapped this photo on October 8, so he worked on it around that time. 

Jackson enjoyed making this rainbow in October too. {He mainly enjoyed eating fruit loops as he worked}.

Notice the bite missing?! That's because little sister pulled it off the fridge and was trying to eat some of the fruit loops as well. Mind you, this was nearly a week after later. Gross.

This is Jackson's first attempt at writing his name with no help from me! Dry erase boards are genius.

I think i already shared this photo maybe, but I love it. It's a project from MOPS last Spring. The kids took off their shoes, traced, cut and then glued them. on the opposite side. Miss Deborah just loved how Jackson insisted that his dinosaur participate and she traced and cut the dinosaur's feet too. 

This is from the library today- December 11. Drawing tracks and smoke is about as interested as Jackson gets with crayons. 

And lastly, the next projects are ones we worked on this week. I'm a little bit proud for coming up with these on a whim-- the tree one especially because I even made Christmas tree cookies and so it was like an entire "themed" afternoon. Seriously, it was like an out of body experience. But anyway...

I cut simple shapes for the tree, trunk, star and presents. And then I used a whole punch, placed a ton of glue dots on the tree and the kids went to town. I kept adding more and more dots! So simple, but the kids enjoyed it-- and it's a pretty Christmas tree!

And lastly-- this activity is GENIUS. I'm telling you {it's the brainchild of a stressed out Mommy because it's too cold to play outside and the kids have too much energy!} I like these abstract pieces and it was amazing how much it helped with the crazy afternoon energies!

Let me tell you-- this lasted 40 minutes. Seriously. 

1. First, I got out all my scrap pieces of construction paper from other projects. I let Jackson practice cutting, a skill I know they test for pre-k. He loves to use scissors (kid ones definitely!) and it was good practice too! Eventually, he got bored. 
2. So I began to think how to expand the project. And I remembered that one time the librarian at storytime told us that tearing paper was a great way to practice fine motor skills. So then the kids tore into smaller pieces! 
3. Eventually we ended up with a million pieces of construction paper all over the table (and floor). The dots of glue were a hit earlier in the week, so I tried it again. I did about 6 dots at at time. And Jackson was completely into the project... carefully selecting his pieces. Belle enjoyed it too! It's rare for Jackson to ever care that anything is colorful (he colors with black, 5 seconds top) and he was so proud of all of these colors. 

So not only was this a long (worth the effort of getting out materials and cleaning up mess) project, but the kids also practiced good skills! It entertained my not-interested-in-art son and it was a great way to utilize my construction paper scraps. And we have some pretty new artwork for the fridge. Win, Win, Win, Win!

Mother’s Day

I had a wonderful time celebrating Mother’s Day yesterday. It was definitely my favorite Mother’s Day yet. Mostly because Jackson made me a necklace and kept telling me “Happy Mother’s Day” and “Happy Valentine’s Day” interchangeably.

Jackson was so happy to give me the necklace he made in Sunday School. He said, “I made it for you!” and when I said, “Oh, I LOVE it!” He replied, “I’m so glad you like it! I love you Mom!” Make my heart melt!

My kids were really well behaved practically all day, which was a wonderful treat! I told Derek it was so nice not to have to be a mean mom for an entire day! I could easily get used to that!!

I love my kiddos and I’m so glad to be their mom {or “naa-nee” as Belle calls me}.

I’m also super thankful for my Mom. Even though I can’t french braid or sew matching dresses for Belle and her baby dolls, I hope that I can still be a super awesome mom like her. I’m blessed with a great Mother-in-law as well! I’m a lucky gal!

Faux Canvas Prints

Ever since my friend created some super-cute Faux Canvas Prints in September, I've been anxious to make some myself. It wasn't until my crafty-nesting bug (yes, instead of just having the urge to clean while preggo, I get uber crafty) hit me in December that I finally got inspired and made it happen.

This is what was originally on the wall above Jackson's dresser/changing table. I got these picture frames from a thrift store and painted them when I was pregnant with Jackson (see, I'm telling you... pregnancy = craftiness). There were a few pieces of broken glass and the frames were a funky size to ever get it replaced. The weird size also made getting prints to fit very tricky. Anyway, I was ready for something new.

 

I had grown to love several of the pictures though, so I knew I had to incorporate them into my new project. I browsed through the hundreds (thousands?) of photos of Jackson looking for the best face shots and I used Picasa to crop the pictures into squares and to make the black and white. Diane used 12x12 prints, but since I was going to be making a collage of the prints, I thought 8x8 would suffice. Thanks to a friend, I was able to purchase through Costco, as well, and I paid a total of $16 something for all 9 prints. That included shipping to the house. 

Step by step instructions can be found on her site here and she answers questions here. She took photos of each step so it's easy to follow along.

If I were to do this again, I would:

• probably consider the 12x12 size anyway
• be sure to pay for nicer plywood- (she used birched, I have no idea what I used... it split when it was cut and was very, very rough)
• double check the cuts by the Home Depot Guy (I had 3 perfect 8x8 pieces, and the rest were all off).

So this is what it looks like all up on the wall. It is impossible to keep the pictures straight when a little squirmy two year old can't keep his finger and toes off of them during diaper changes! The prints are in chronological order from just weeks old until two years old. I love looking at how he's changed and I absolutely LOVE the personality that shines through each picture!

We've been crafty...

In the past few days, we've been crafty and it's been fun. Jackson is at a good age that he can work on a project and I think he actually enjoys it. And maybe if I give him good opportunities to color on actual paper, it will mean less artwork on my walls.

Anyway, yesterday we painted pumpkins (the much easier substitute, less dangerous substitute for carving). When buying the pumpkins, I had to tell him several times that pumpkins could not be bitten into like apples, though it didn't stop him from trying. It was definitely messy, but Chacey and Jackson both had a ton of fun!

 (Derek's was bummed about seeing his tshirts being used as paint guards... but I assure you all that I chose shirts that already had paint on them. It's not a conspiracy, despite what he thinks.)

We have one tree in our back yard that has already begun changing colors and several leaves have already fallen. I raked up a big pile and the kids had a ton of fun running, jumping, kicking, and throwing the leaves. So, when it was time to come in, I decided to let them pick some leaves to glue to some paper (the only way leaves were going to be allowed in my house). It doesn't seem like much, but they had fun and it changes things up a bit.

This little crafty streak all started when I went to MOPS last Wednesday and got to partake in my own craft project! Our craft was "green" as we were just reusing old supplies! After the kids were down for a nap that afternoon, I continued the crafty fun.

The supplies: any old paper. I used left over scrapbook pages that I kept because they were too cute to throw away and cut up old maps. Other people had old songbooks, pages from torn up old books. Scissors and glue.

And I made these:

(the card on the bottom right isn't just about the United States, it's actually an I Miss You card... so don't think I'm weird.)

Aren't these fun?! I love sending letters and I love cute stationary. Even better-- I made them (envelopes and all myself! And even better than that, I just used stuff that would have gone in the recycling (or worse, the trash!). Here's a link to the type of template we used for the envelope. Making the envelopes really took less than 5 minutes and the cards are as detailed as you want!

Now if only I could find away for the craft supplies to put themselves away...