Sister Drum

A semi-empty can of salt, dried lentils and decorative tape can make an excellent drum for a baby sister named Gemma.  Annika is incredibly thoughtful in the things she makes for Gemma or in always picking up two of everything: "One for me and one for Gemma. She can use it when she grows up".

Painting the Bump

 Two weekends ago we finally got around to painting my belly. I had talked about it with P and she was very eager to go to town.  But every afternoon was taken up by some other activity.  Fortunately, we did this when Dave was home so he took pictures.  It was a lot of fun to do. Mostly, it was a lot of fun watching P have fun with the process.  How often does one get to paint their Mama?  It was also another way of getting P involved with the process of her sister's arrival.

Valentine's Day Necklaces

 

I wish I could take credit for all my creative ventures.  My secret is that I'm addicted to reading blogs!  There are women, mothers who are amazing.  I just came across Flax & Twine via Design Mom.  I was looking to get P something special for Valentine's Day.  These necklaces were just perfect and what's even better is I could make them for her!  Dave had a last minute day off yesterday so we both went to Michael's to get supplies.  I'm so glad because it made him part of the process.

Instructions to make the necklaces can be found here.  Per P's request I used buttons to secure them at the end instead of tying them off.  

P is feeling cool with her new necklaces and a new outfit.   I ordered this tee and pants from The Mini Social weeks ago and they arrived today so we came off as super champs!  Phew, love it when things work out like that!

 

Clothespin Dolls

 

One of my favorite places for art project inspirations is Made by Joel. He's beyond creative, a father, etc, etc. Over the summer P was very into fairies so I thought this was the perfect project for us. Well, I got a little creative with the fabrics we had laying around and we went from fairies to Rapunzel to just making lots of dolls. P loved it but I realized I should have done this with her back when she was 2.  The dolls are perfect for that age but as P has gotten older she wants a more anatomically able doll, ie legs, arms, movement.  

With my new found knowledge of age appropriate dolls I decided I'd make a very good friend of ours her own set. She turned 2 in August. Her gift came out pretty good. I stood all the dolls up on an upside down egg carton. I cut an X on the top of each egg bubble and pushed the clothes pin in for a snug fit. 

Thank you Joel for making me look like such a creative genius!

Too Many Crayons

I reorganized P's creative space.  It felt great to put things in proper places and discard the junk.  It also made me aware of what we have too much of.  Crayons for example....and there might be some childhood trauma associated to this.

As a child my parents bought me very few things unless they had something to do with tennis. Crayons were one of those things I desperately wanted but never really got. I think the biggest box I got was 64. I dreamed of the large box with the sharpener in the bottom. Instead I colored with the side of the crayon and rotated it so that it would stay sharp!  

Anyway, when I cleaned out the art box I realized P had so many crayons she could launch her own school.  She's gotten the largest box possible from us, as gifts and then there's me with my trauma. I bring home every crayon from every restaurant we've dined at that offers free crayons. I actually got annoyed with myself and a little jealous of P that we have so much now and I had so little of it then.  Then I got over it. 

I remembered some pretty cool art projects done with crayons from some of my favorite blogs.  But, I thought I'd start with something not too complicated. Melting crayons seemed like a possible task. I got my directions from this blog.  It was easy to follow. 

We started by sorting through all our crayons. We kept only the clean crayons and melted all the pieces and restaurant crayons.

Every step of sorting was wildly entertaining to P. She loved finding pieces and taking the wrappers off and then putting each crayon where it belonged.  

 Then we sorted by color. Even more entertaining to this 4 year old!

 Dave got me mini cans of soda to cut and use as the melting containers for each color.  These soda cans went into a pan with simmering water.  I would recommend using a pan you don't really care for. I made the mistake of using one of my good ones. When you pour the melted crayons into the molds the wax will drip down the side of the can.  You will have to put the cans back into the simmering water as you work to keep the wax liquid. Also, if you fill the pan with too much water the soda cans tend to float if they don't have enough crayon in them.  An inch of water or less keeps the cans from flipping.  I was paranoid of getting wax on my good pan! I can't imagine eggs tasting good with an essence of Crayola!

You will want to cover the space where you'll pour the wax into the molds with newspaper or something.  Even though our counter top is granite and the wax came off easy, there was quite a splatter of wax. It was much easier to just pick of the paper and throw it all out when done.  

I bought star and heart candy molds from Michael's for $1.99 each.  They have many different options but I thought I'd start small.  

The rest was pretty easy. Just pour the hot wax into the molds and then put them into the freezer for 5-10 minutes.  After they've cooled they slide out when flipped over very easy.  Because this was my first time I didn't do too many color combinations. On the few that I did combine it was pretty cool to see the color swirls. 

My only changes from the original instructions were that I cut the paper off the crayons before melting them. I found it easy to cut whatever wrapper was left on the crayon with a sharp blade. For the most part, the wrapper seemed to fall off in one piece that way.  And P helped throughout the entire process. She did not handle the hot soda cans but she did stir the wax with large Popsicle sticks.  It depends how comfortable you are with a stove and kids.  P cooks with me all the time so both of us were cautious but ok with it all. 

Dave was so amazed we created fresh, fun crayons out of old junky pieces.  And I feel so much better about our excess of crayons. And to some extend my soul healed a little bit. 

Getty

We've done some fun things in the weeks since I've last blogged. Best adventure was going to the Getty. I've taken P to the Getty Villa several times but this was her first time to the Getty off the 405.

Their kid's section is amazing. Absolutely amazing!  It's divided into five separate rooms or cubicles, each inspired by art throughout the center.  One room had a giant, backlit, manuscript wall where the kids could draw on it like a dry erase board.  P LOVED it!   She's moved on from a paining phase to a drawing phase so this was her cup of tea. 

The next room was inspired by the King Louis bed located in the museum. This version was small but took up the entire space.  It was done just like the real thing with ornate, blue silk with tassels and rolled pillows on each end. It also had a cubby with books all devoted to beds and sleeping.  P loved bouncing on this bed and grabbing books. 

The third room was inspired by a sculpture I saw when we entered the museum.   The room had foam tubing all connected at various places on the walls.  P could take the tubings out and reconnect them as she pleased.  


The fourth room was inspired by a Hockney painting and it was filled with mirrors to "mirror" the effect Hockney did in his painting. I know P didn't quite get it but she did find it interesting. 


Last was a spot where the kids could draw their own masks. The inspirational painting was one with lots of faces looking at you. I forgot to look up the artist bc I was too crazy following P with crayons and the three masks she was attempting to create all at one time.  

After spending about an hour in the kid's center we went outside to the garden. P saw where we were going and took off running.  She ran and ran and ran. The garden is a maze that leads to a lowered center.  As you're coming in it feels like a giant drain. P was a little drop of water making her way down. 


This was the perfect adventure: she got culture, creativity and exercise!  I couldn't have been happier and  neither was P.  As we drove out of the parking garage she said "ahmazeeeing time Mamma, ahmazeeeing time" and then fell asleep before we hit the first light. 

Octopus

I just made Octopus for P. I read that babies at this age only see in black and white and red is the next color they see. I'm trying to stimulate P's senses so I thought if I made her a stuffed octopus that wiggled with red at the end of its tentacles she would start to track it.

I have no energy for this and I did it in tiny shifts here and there. Right now it's what's keeping me sane. I found extra red fabric for the face and rectangles and grey soft jersey for the tentacles. I sewed the whole thing by hand. Crazy. My first "couture" project.

So far she's liking it.