Pine Cone Bird Feeder Craft

Do you remember making bird feeders with pine cone and peanut butter when you were a child? I remember making them in kindergarten. I thought of this as an easy craft when we were desperate for something to do one afternoon while Pumpkin napped. The girls were wild and I had to get them out of the house so they wouldn't wake up their brother. It soon became one of the best afternoons we've spent together in a while. Being outdoors and exploring has a way of doing that to you: taking ordinary moments and making them extraordinary. The bird feeders were a big hit with Darling and Doodlebug, and ended up being free for us to make because I already had all the items on hand. Pine trees are so prolific here that they might as well be our state weed. Seriously, they are everywhere.

We started by exploring the vacant lot next door for pine cones. This ended up being 45 minutes of running, jumping, and general merry making. It was wonderful!

 

 

 

They gathered up tons of pine cones, and we made kind of a counting game out of it. See? You can squeeze some school in just about anywhere. We made quite a pile:

Then we had to separate the worthy pine cones from the unworthy:

Now for the messy part: the peanut butter! I found an unopened jar of Jiff peanut butter in the pantry that my mom bought an untold number of months (or possibly, years) ago. It has never been opened because I am a peanut butter snob and am particularly picky about peanut butters (and I'm comfortable okay with that label), so what better way to use it up than for crafting? I opened the jar, gave each girl a spoon, and let them go to town. It was a job which they took very seriously:

Next, we rolled the coated cones in bird seed.

It was pretty messy, but that's part of the fun!

Did I mention that it was messy?

And last of all, I used some crafting twine and my trusty hot glue gun to make hangers and, voila!

We hung them in a tree for the birds:

Happy Thursday!

Handmade Holidays

Christmas is upon us! I have become obsessed with the idea of homemade decorations. There are so many wonderful ideas floating around there! The kids and I are having a great time making ornaments. I have found that they make great little gifts for loved ones from the kids. Here's a list of my favorite homemade goodies this year:

Check out this cute advent calendar.
Jingle bell wreaths make me smile
This jingle bell garland would be super easy to create at home
It just isn't Christmas without getting a little glitter everywhere
Make an cute partridge for your pear tree

I am on the lookout for a cute tree topper to make at home. Do you have any suggestions? How are you getting ready for the holidays?

Blanket Update: It's Finished!

Do you remember me telling you about Pumpkin's blanket waaaaaayyyyy back when? After his birthday passed and it wasn't finished, I set it aside to start some other small projects that needed to get done, and well, kind of forgot. I saw it folded up last week and thought that there really was not much left to do, probably two more hours and it would be finished. Seven hours later, I wove in the last end. I way underestimated how long it would take me to make that cableknit border! I'm pleased with the way that it turned out. I hope that it will be a special blanket for him. It really is cute, but even more than that, it's the reason I learned to knit. It's been a very emotional project for me, and while I know that Pumpkin will not understand until he's much older, one day, if I can remember, I hope to tell him this:

Dear One,

Here is a blanket that I made with just you in mind. I hope it will keep you warm when you are cold, comfort you when you are sad, and protect you when you are scared. I left the mistakes to remind you that life, like this blanket, is imperfect. Sometimes we mess up, but if you can just keep going, you will make something really wonderful in the end.

I love you,
Mommy 

Old Fashioned Bean Bag

I don't know why, but I love to browse through fabric. If I find a pretty fabric on sale, I always buy a yard or two, even though I never sew since I had kids. Consequently, I have lots of pretty fabrics on hand. Sometimes I just pull it out and look at it, and it makes me smile. I love that it's still completely untapped potential. I can make it into whatever I want it to be. And I think, "Someday, I will start sewing again.
Well, that day has not come, but I did whip this adorable bean bag for my girls to play catch with.

pretty calico print

soft chenille

 My girls LOVE beanbags. Actually, they absolutely love to throw whatever is in their hands, and I prefer that they throw beanbags. Bean bags are perfect for small children, because they are easier to catch and throw than a ball. The fact that there is no bounce or roll means they don't have to go running after it, and more time is spent throwing rather than chasing.

This bean bag is about 6 inches square finished, and I used two squares of polyester batting to make it sturdier. It is filled with actual dried beans (because that's all I had on hand), so it is not washable, but if you filled it with poly pellets it would be. This is going to be a stocking stuffer for my kids. If you have ever sewn before, you probably already have everything you need to complete this project for free, as I did. It took me about half and hour to make it start to finish, and I'm just a novice seamstress.

I realize that this is a super simple achievement, but it is my super simple achievement, and so I'm excited about it just the same!

Stitch School Blog

I have been playing around with making play food out of felt. So far, I have made a loaf of French bread and an eggplant with moderate success. However, I had no pattern, no poly-fill, and no idea what I was doing, so I think I did pretty well for the first time. Plus, I made them for about 60 cents instead of $5-$8. Hurray for being mildly crafty!

But, I came across this fabulous blog and I had to share: The Stitch School. I looked up how to do a Blanket Stitch for my next play food project. I have a feeling I'll be visiting often!

Crafty Blogs

Check out these cute, crafty blogs that I came across tonight while looking for craft ideas to do with the kids:
One Crafty Mumma
just what i (squeeze) in

Lovely Links

I've been scouring the four corners of the internet recently, looking for educational/craft ideas. I have found that for my family, the best defense against toddler meltdowns is a well-stocked craft cabinet and a little imagination. This has led me to find some really fantastic blogs/sites that I just have to share.

First, The Rhythm of the Home. One of my friends from NorCal posted a link on her blog to this excellent online magazine. What wonderful ideas! It is specifically for families with young children, and from the articles I have read, has an unplugged childhood vibe, which is exactly what I strive to give my own children. Check out the blueberry pie recipe!

Next, Jump Into A Book. This blog has me completely inspired! It is exactly the kind of thing that I want to do for my kids to encourage a love of reading. I think it really makes everything come alive. Although my kids might be a big too young now, I'll be saving these activities and ideas for a few years down the road when we are ready for them, or maybe I can modify them to be more age appropriate.

Next, NotebookingPages.com. I read about the idea of notebooking a few years ago, and filed it away in my memory for later. Tons of freebies, but also lovely notebook sets that you can purchase to download and print. Lots of information on notebooking, too.

Along the same vein, DonnaYoung.org. FREE printable organizers, calendars, weekly curriculum planners, shopping lists, menu planners, the list goes on and on....If you are a mom, you may want to bookmark this one.

And store it all in a Mom Agenda folio. These organizers, planners, and calendars (with separate schedules for mom and up to four kids in one weekly planner!) are pricey, but are gorgeous, well thought-out, and just plain nice. I think they make a great gift for any mom who has suffered through losing all her contacts and calendars in a computer crash or phone upgrade, and wants to keep a paper back-up. Plus, free printable pages, and the planners and folios can be personalized.


For free children's books online, check out The Baldwin Project and The Rosetta Project.

For free classical music downloads, check out Classical.com. Get a new, free,  editor's pick album every week, plus unlimited online listening. You have register, but it is free (although there is a paid subscription option) and the albums are yours to keep forever.

And to expose your toddler to great music and audio books, check out the SweetPea3 MP3 player. I'm in love. It is childproofed (unlike that $400 iPod), and can be dropped and chewed on. It also has a speaker, so does not need headphones (which are very bad for your ears) but can be used with headphones when your children are older. These suckers also come pre-loaded with songs and audio books (20 in all, which is at least $20 of free stuff) and they only cost $60, but with a new Audible.com account, you can get them for $40 a piece. Just check out www.audible.com/sweetpea. Although I went ahead and bought one for each of my girls, I'm putting them away until Christmas. However, it's all I can do to not break it out of the box. They are just so darn cute!

Late-Summer Baking

I don't really bake, and I'm not sure why. I love baked goods. But maybe it is because once the delicious goodies are made, I feel compelled to eat them. I feel that I cannot waste even a single one, and so I hear an evil little voice in my head whispering, "Go on! Just one more!" and I wilt.  And let's face it: even when home-made, baked goods are little more than empty calories. Delicious, empty calories. So normally, I abstain from the temptation as much as I can, but yesterday I couldn't resist getting my girls in the kitchen and making some sugar cookies. Two sugars making sugar cookies: how could it go wrong? Well, it couldn't, and it didn't, and our cookies were magnificent. I wish you could have seen my littlest one's face when she poured scoops of flour into the mixing bowl. You would have thought  we were making something magical. Their squeals of delight brought a surge of joy to my soul. Yes, this is what life is truly about, and I've decided in my Heaven, my children and I will bake cookies together every day, only there won't be any calories or sugar highs. Oh, and we'll actually take naps. Yes. Naps and cookie baking. That MUST be Heaven.

The girls poured all the ingredients in the mixer for me, then I rolled them out and they picked the cookie cutters and cut them out. I must say, it was a learning process for me. I consider myself to be pretty easy going (as far as women go. Let's face it, what woman is TRULY easy going? I can't think of one), but I found myself having to relax when they pulled at the dough and tore the shapes, causing me to have to re-roll them and cut everything out again. I mean, we weren't baking for anyone but ourselves, and it was just for fun, so I don't know why I got uptight about it at first. But after a good reality check, I was able to calm down and remember that this was their time and their project, and we needed to do it at their pace. It's amazing where we pick up these little kernels of realization. What did it matter if we ended up adding extra sugar, or if the flour went everywhere? I feel it would be totally unrealistic to expect two toddlers to not make a mess in the kitchen! But what a rich experience it was! There were so many learning opportunities, and the girls were ripe with excitement. It is definitely something we will do again!

Things I Love This Week

Apricot Baby Oil
 Summer days in the sun and wind dry out my girls' skin, so I've been using this all-natural apricot oil after bath-time to keep them soft and smooth. Its natural scent is nice and mild, and once it is dry on their skin, it is not greasy at all.

Wicked Plants
This book is one of those books that is great for browsing through, not really to read all in one sitting. Nice if you've got just a few minutes to peruse. It is full of cautionary tales, interesting histories, and the pictures are great (if a little gruesome). Who knew that over 68,000 people die every year from accidental plant poisonings? Many of the plants featured in the Harry Potter series actually exist and are featured here. It was fun to learn the actual history behind Wolf's Bane and Mandrake Root.

A Homemade Life
I love Molly Wizenburg's thoughtful prose. Some stories have made me laugh out loud, and the recipes sound delicious. I haven't had a chance to make anything yet, but you'd better believe that I'm planning to!

The Diaper Pin
I'm planning on doing cloth diapers again for my new baby, as well as for my other two, who are both potty training. I wish, wish, wish that I had done my homework and found this website when I was choosing cloth diapers before. Although I lucked out and ended up with some quality diapers that served me well through two babies,  the reviews on The Diaper Pin are indispensable. I feel very confident with the choices I made this time around, and I ended up spending way less money.

Etsy:
I just had my first "Etsy" experience! My aunt made stockings from Bucilla Kits for all my brothers and me when we were born, and it has always been one of my most cherished Christmas traditions. Although I would have loved to make a stocking for each of my own kids, these stockings are tedious, requiring between 40-60 hours to make (that translates into about 100 hours for a novice crafter like me) and I knew I simply would not have the time. Thanks to Etsy, I was able to buy a completed stocking for my little baby's first Christmas. It doesn't come personalized, of course, but I'm handy enough to do that part myself. Of course, I spent way too much on it, but it was worth every penny to satisfy my sentimentality and not have to make it myself.

Painting Pots

Since it stays so hot so long here (it's warm through October), I decided that I wanted to put in a late-summer crop of greens: "lacinato" kale, "bright lights" chard, and "catalina" spinach. I chose varieties from Renee's Garden that were said to do well in containers, and I got inspiration from our local botanical garden, where they had huge clumps of rainbow chard growing in giant ornamental pots. Then I got it into my head that it would make a fun art project for the girls to each paint one of the terra cotta pots! I thought it would be a good way to add color and incorporate the wonderful whimsy of childhood into the garden. Plus, what great memories for years to come!

The only problem is: how in the world do I go about it? A Google search of "how to paint terra cotta pots" led me to a message board on some garden website with a thread of exactly that subject. The advice was to use a brand called "Patio Paint", which I found at Hobby Lobby, but they apparently sell at Michael's, too (our brand-new Michael's does not open until this fall).  After painting, seal it inside and out with a coat of Patio Paint's sealer. Well, Hobby Lobby didn't have the sealer, so I found a brand called "Tree House" which the helpful employee assured me people use to seal painted terra cotta pots.  Everything looks okay so far, my only concern is that if I didn't do it right, the paint will peel and not last more than a few seasons. However, there's no way for me to know until it happens.

The girls had a BLAST painting the pots. I pretty much just let them go at it, supervising to make sure no one ate any paint. They're too young now to do any kind of real drawing or pattern, but this is definitely something that we'll do again.