Chica Schmica

textured domino game

February 10th, 2009 § 5

Last week, The Toby Show posted about a domino game she recently purchased for her son and mentioned how easy it would be for someone to recreate it. I’ve been wanting to put something together with textures ever since I saw this, and I happened to already have some pre-cut wooden boards cluttering up my crafting area. So, I set forth to see what other textures I could gather.

It probably took me less than an hour to find the supplies and glue the pieces onto the wood.

For the textures, I used:
red craft foam
green felt
corrugated cardboard
corkboard
rubbery shelf-liner
chenille stems

I just cut the pieces into 2 inch squares and hot-glued them onto the wood….soooo simple!

I only had six boards, but it ended up being just right for my toddler. Enough to be fun without being overwhelming. She can play by herself or with a friend (aka Mommy) and she can finish the game quickly with a feeling of accomplishment. As she gets better and is no longer challenged, I’ll pick up some more wood and add more textures to the mix.

Sandpaper would be nice. Maybe something spongey. Really, there are so many possibilities. Any other ideas?

frozen nature wreath

February 8th, 2009 § 5

It’s not often that we get freezing temps around here, so when I saw these gorgeous wintry creations I had to console myself and find solace in the fact that it just wasn’t meant to be.

And then…we got a freeze! And I don’t just mean temperatures hanging out around 32 for an hour or two before daybreak. I mean a good solid freeze with lows in the mid 20s!

I was determined to make a frozen wreath with the girls, so I gathered some sticks and leaves and stems and flower petals and let the girls arrange them in our pot. Then I poured the water in and brought it outside to freeze.

There was much anticipation come morning. Mostly from me. I was downright giddy with excitement at the prospect of hanging our beautiful nature wreath. Unfortunately, our cold spell wasn’t enough to freeze through all of the water. Major disappointment. But I was determined…so I put it in the freezer. And I waited.

And when the time came to take it out of the freezer I was downright giddy with excitement over the prospect of hanging our beautiful nature wreath. Unfortunately, it was very frozen…completely frozen through. I was impatient. I wanted the beautiful nature wreath to come out of our pan so that we could hang it and admire it’s natural beauty. I decided to help it along by bending the sides. This proved to be ineffective so I took a more aggressive approach. I turned it over and tapped…tapped harder…stomped…and then heard a crack.

@#OIU#@*#

It had broken into 3 pieces.

After a brief period of mourning, I regained my composure and decided to try again.

We gathered some sticks and leaves and stems and flower petals and I let the girls arrange them in our pot. Then I poured the water in and put it in directly into the freezer because our cold spell was over.

After checking several times over the course of the day, it finally froze. There was much anticipation. However, this time there was also patience. Over time, the ice loosened and our beautiful frozen nature wreath released from the pot very easily.

We hung it, admired it, and photographed it. We felt the smooth ice and the soft petals that slowly revealed themselves. And we watched as it melted in our 60 degree temperatures.

3-d cardboard hearts and a book

February 4th, 2009 § 4

For as long as I can remember, the only thing that was ever exciting to me about Valentine’s Day was the chocolate. Not much has changed, really, which is why you probably won’t see much more about the upcoming holiday here. But, I do have my two little ones now and I try not to let my biases get in the way of their fun…too much.

In the spirit of being festive, I figured we’d make some V-Day inspired decor…3-D hearts!

I’m posting a tutorial for this easy project, not to insult your intelligence, but because I like taking pictures and I know some people really prefer to look at images rather than read.

What you’ll need:

painted cardboard (the girls painted the backs of oatmeal boxes).
ribbon
stapler
hot glue gun
scissors

First cut out small, medium, and large hearts. I used the same template that I used for our heart scarf then eye-balled the other two hearts from there.

Fold the smaller two sizes in half and layer all of them on top of the big heart. Then staple right in the middle. I covered the staple with a little dab of paint. Use the hot glue gun to attach the ribbon…and you’re done. That’s it.

When I originally added the ribbon, I intended on using it to hang the hearts. But that’s silly. These will only be up for a few weeks and I’m not about to puncture my wall for some fleeting decor. So, I used wall putty to stick them to the wall. That being said, you can forgo the ribbon if you’d like, thus alleviating the need for a glue gun!

We also went to the library a few days ago and brought back some Valentine-y books.

One particularly worth mentioning is the one on the bottom: Secret Valentine. Just a simple story about a little girl who, with her mother, decides to skip the greeting card store and make all of her own valentines.

So sweet it just warms my heart right up.

She even makes one for her kitty.

Surely there are other decent Valentine’s books out there. Any suggestions?

thumbprint valentines

February 1st, 2009 § 6

I originally saw these thumbprint hearts on bookmarks. Very cute. I decided they would be just perfect for Valentine’s Day cards from the girls to the Grandmas.

Annabelle chose the yellow cardstock and the pink and blue paint. Blue for her and pink for her little sister. It actually took us several attempts to get the thumbprints to look like hearts. I’m sure this would be much easier for those not working with a 1 and a 2 year old.

For our little ones, we found that it was more difficult to get it right when we had their fists closed, as seen below:

Once we opened their hands up and had their thumbs sticking out, it lengthened the amount of thumb space we had to work with and made the process much easier!

I left the front cover as is with just the hearts and let them each leave a "message" inside. I really wanted the cards to be as much of them and as little of me as possible. These could definitely be jazzed up a bit, but I think I really like the simplicity of just two tiny hearts.

Charlotte doodled on the left and, it’s hard to see, but Annabelle wrote A’s all over her side on the right. I’m so proud of her and her writing. I do believe a writing journal will be coming soon.

We’ve been working on some Valentine’s decor here and there, so, if it turns out the way I hope it does, I’ll be posting it in the next couple of days.

See you soon!

favorite time of day

January 31st, 2009 § 3

Anytime the kids are sleeping!

No explanation necessary, I’m sure.

To see more click here!

something i love

January 29th, 2009 § 9

Here are just a few things…

I love this guy:

I love this swirly whirly cinnamon roll belly button so much that I just want to gobble it up.

And I love these little twinkletoes:

She always walks on her toes.

Check out what other people are love by clicking here!

heart felt scarf

January 29th, 2009 § 9

So, I kept you all in suspense, and all it was is this simple little scarf for the girls. Got the idea from Martha, but it came as no surprise to me that the idea was originated by Betz White (whom I’ve mentioned several times before). Just to catch you up, Betz White is the queen of felted sweater crafts…and she’s a genius.

I needed to do something with my felted sweaters and I thought the girls might like wearing this for dress up (because nobody actually wears scarves in Florida). I was going to just post a few pics of the completed scarf today, but I ended up taking some pics of Charlotte with the scarf…so now this is pretty much just a post with pictures of Charlotte playing with her new scarf…which she loves.

It’s actually a very cozy scarf. Charlotte went back and forth between snuggling with it and wearing it. So, if you’re north of the Mason Dixon line, you could probably make this to keep little necks warm during these last few weeks of winter.

She also drug it around quite a bit.

And of course, the pigtails. So cute. She’s eating a pine-needle.

There you have it. My littlest girl and her brand new felted heart scarf! Thanks for looking.

P.S. Can you tell I’m still playing around with PW’s actions? I’ve been meaning to take on a new “no photo editing” policy…but these actions are just so darn addictive!

something i’m working on

January 27th, 2009 § 8

Lately my new blog (shameless plug) has been taking up the majority of my free time. However, I have a few things that I’ve been wanting to make for the girls for Valentine’s Day.

I cut these hearts from wool sweaters that I felted months ago, and then abandoned them for other projects. All I have to do now is attach them to make a …

I’m not telling. A little suspense is fun, isn’t it?

Actually, tomorrow’s project photo is “something on my wall” and I have nothing to show, so I’ll be over here posting my completed work (assuming I finish it in time!).

Check out Jenny’s blog to see what others are working on!

something in my town

January 26th, 2009 § 9

Less than 5 miles from our house is beach access to the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a very small beach and the water is too polluted to swim in. But, it’s still a beach, and I think there are few things as humbling as seeing the water stretch out over the horizon. The vastness is such a beautiful reminder of the greatness of God’s glory.

Sunday night we took the girls up to the beach for a picnic dinner at sunset. The girls had an absolute blast and it was the perfect way to close out the weekend.

Click here to see what’s in other people’s towns!

something that makes me smile

January 26th, 2009 § 10

Seeing my two girls play together.

Few things make me happier than seeing these sisters play and connect and enjoy each other. I know they are building the foundation of a relationship that transcends the bond of blood. They truly love one another.

The other night in the bath Annabelle put her arm around her little sister and declared, “Charlotte is my best friend.” Already she knows that the other child in this house is particularly special to her and is not like the other kids she’s befriended at her daycare.

As they grow they will learn to trust each other like no other. They will look out for each other. And I hope that they will always be there for one another.

These little mutual displays of affection bring a happiness to me that is unmatched by anything else.

*Today’s post was part of a photo project that can be found here.

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