robot

 

Last Christmas, both boys were given a Makedo set – little joiners and hinges to create “stuff” out of boxes. Boy2′s box showed a robot, and it has henceforth been known as “robot craft”. So late last week, the boy comes running up, “mummy, mummy, we does wobot cwaft?”, and so we hit up the recycling pile, one of our favourite craft supply sources. But it was sadly lacking in boxs, so instead we used a cling wrap tube, part of an egg carton, a tissue box, a yoghurt pot and lots and lots of packing tape, and the boy was chuffed.

 

Until it wouldn’t stand up. *THAT* wasn’t in the design brief!!! But he soon got over that, and Mr Robot is still living in his wardrobe and comes out to play occassionally.

 

Today has been cold and miserable, and with Bear home all day thanks to a teachers strike, I’d had high hopes of a delightful day enjoying my small people. Until I saw the state of the toy room, so after a lovely morning or crafting and playing postie and reading, we teamed up and tackled the lego. Ugh. I managed to whip up a little softie last night/this morning, but I can’t blog him until he reaches his new home. Tonight is craft group and I’m still undecided what to do. First port of call would likely be clearing my crap off the dining table where we’ll be. But that’d mean I need to clear the crap off my desk which is why I’m on the dining table in the first place. I’m thinking possibly some painting tonight? For something different. Hmmm. 5 hours to decide. Two days until school holidays and I can’t wait, I’m already making a list of stuff to do – all fun! But first, a busy two days so I can make the two weeks count. Bring on the nice weather and productive days.

tap-tap-tap… the connected generation.

When pregnant with both the boys, I craved sweet things. It was nothing unusual for me to burn through a packet of smarties in a day. Yes. The family sized one. Seriously. I’m talking major addiction. This time, though, the thought of chocolate has made me want to run to the nearest bucket. My cravings have been much more towards the savoury end of the scale. I went through a brief party-pie phase, where lunch everyday would be 6 party pies, cooked two at a time to be piping-burn-the-roof-of-my-mouth hot. After two or three weeks, the party-pies gave way to bacon and eggs. Big time. Two eggs, two short-cut rashers of bacon (sans fat), and two golden pieces of toast every morning. In two serves, so it was nice and hot. Often some for lunch as well. And bacon and eggs for afternoon tea wasn’t an uncommon occurance.

Which means we are up to our ears in egg cartons. Some have been sent to my parents’, hopefully to return full of yummy farm-fresh eggs. Some have made it to the recycling bin.

And some have been turned into computer keyboards for little boys…

It’s been a lovely homey day today. Cardboard computers, sandpits, swings. Finding my mojo and finally back in the groove. Some sewing. Some unpicking. A bit of work. Planning. Dreaming. Waiting. Looking forward and looking up. Hello groove, nice to see you again, let’s do this!

Uses for the egg carton #964

I found myself in a predicament. Bear had made a tractor from some boxes (photos soon!), and was merrily painting away. Chubba Bubba thought he should be involved too. I glanced around, and my gaze alighted on an egg carton, dragged enthusiastically into the toy room by the children, and just as enthusiastically cast aside in favour of other games. I swpet up the baby, plopped him in my lap, and with a squirt of paint in a couple of the cups, let him loose for some finger painting. One would think such a self-contained activity would be reasonably clean, wouldn’t one? Yeah. Me too. Or not, so it seems. Sigh.

It’s a rainy overcast kind of Monday. A rollercoaster weekend has me feeling a bit flat. Maybe some crafting is in order. And I need to mop the toyroom (see painting activities above). With Bear at preschool, and Chubba Bubba asleep, I need to make a move and get productive. And maybe do some sewing. The rollercoaster is on the upwards run again, but I can spy the down not that far ahead, so I’m going to rock this up & up while I’ve got it. Happy Monday everyone, let’s do this!

eggsellent.

As I stand at the sink, bubbles swirling around my arms, I hear the rattle, clink, thunk of two small boys ferreting through the recycling box. A small box hits the floor, maybe the muesli bar box by the sound of it, nothing too substantial. Then comes the double plunk-ding of a soft drink bottle landing cap first on the floor. It is soon joined by several more boxes, another bottle, and the deeper “clunk” of a glass jar. An excited yelp, and Master Three appears at my elbow. “We make someding mummy? Do craft wiv dis?” he asks, eyes wide as he triumphantly waves an egg carton in front of him. “Can we make a puppet show mummy?”

I dry my hands, and rummage through the craft box. Texta. Wool. Paddle pop sticks. Sticky tape. A little of this, a squiggle of that, and our puppets were ready for their debut performance.

Meet Jerry Caterpillar and Rebecca Rabbit. With the top of the Lego box gangpressed into service as a stage, our puppet show was ready to begin. “hello, I’m Jerry.” “hello, I’m Rebecca”. Ummm. Errr. Ahhh. And then, finally, inspiration. Rebecca needs to go to swimming lessons, but is a wee bit scared. And so on we went, until both Rebecca and Bear were jumping out of their skin excited for swimming. We’ll see if it works next week!

Today I awoke to another dreary grey sky. A cooler morning, that will be perfect for some outside play. Swinging. Sliding. Building tunnels in the sand. Maybe a book for mummy. And when the rain threatens, we’ve got a couple more canvases to paint. A change quilt to sew for a dear friend, welcomng their first little boy into the world. Trying my best not to get clucky. Failing miserably. Oh well. Hello Thursday, we’ve got big plans for you. Let’s do this!

Autumn blooms

There is a rare & delicate flower, I have found, that dares only bloom when it’s true beauty may be appreciated. When most others tremble at the though of a frost, and their petals wither & fall. When a small boy reach for glue, paper, scissors. And of course, the ever-handy egg carton!

 

So much fun we had to do it all over again this morning

 

Love, love, love toddler craft. Messy, crazy, unpredictable. My little man is a child after my own heart, and loves cutting, gluing, painting. Creating. And being with Mummy. He loves to sit on my lap as I  sew, watch me cut fabric, draw when I draw, getting messy together. Though sometimes I wish his drawing requests would bo for something other than “Thomas please, Mummy, a real big one. In yellow. And maybe some green”, I love nothing more than exploring our creativity together.

 

I’m riding the “don’t think” train today, and feeling like I’ve accomplished a lot (not that it looks like it). With children mid-nap, I’m going to roll with the motivation, and after a spot of housework, I’m going to tidy this studio and CREATE. Sew, paint, scrapbook. I have a creative itch that needs scratching, so let’s do this!

Delightful Digger

On our daily meandering to the mail box one day last week, we heard a dull roar. “Gar truck?” Asked the small one. “No, sweetie, no garbage truck today” says I. “Fire truck, mummy?”, sniff sniff, ”nope, I don’t think so, baby”. “Um, pet-ril truck?”, “I’m not sure, I don’t think so”.

Having exhausted his repetoire of trucks, we decided to go for a wander, and what should we find, but a bobcat! “Digger, mummy, Digger!!” (And yes, it was a digger with a capital D according to the boy, quite excited he was!).

So guess what we did for craft that afternoon? Yep, a digger!

 

Made from the ever-versatile egg carton, two pipecleaners, and a plastic cup (oh, and a little man appropriated from the duplo set to drive it, of course). It’s very cute to hear the toddler digging up his train tracks – “brrm, brrm, dig, beep, beep, brrm, ooo, crash!”, Another 20 minutes well spent!

Another rainy day

This rain seems to be here for a few days, so we have had another crafty morning.

 

First, after singing ‘Incy Wincy Spider’, we were inspired to create this little critter:

 

And then we had some fun making little envelope puppets:

 

We also did some painting, and I introduced the boy into that well-loved activity of “butterfly painting.

 

Lots of fun stuff! When he wakes, we might have to do some more baking, all those biscuits seem to have mysteriously disappeared…