Cranberry Garland

HOLIDAY TRADITION

Our tree is predominantly red, brown, white and silver and looks very dapper in strings of cranberries. Hubs, this year, had fun stringing some cranberries with Spud to add to our tree. Spud turns out to be a stringing machine and declared "I really love working with my hands".

The cranberry coloured button helped to start things off.

Hubs found this perfect needle amongst the sewing stuff we've inherited from grandmas and such. I'm sure there's a technical term for it but all I know is, it's large, thick, blunt, and therefore perfect for our little 5 year old's fingers. Perhaps it's a rug needle? Anyway, it rocks.

The fishing line worked really well too.

Looking good. Getting there.

Here it is in action.

We also have wooden ones we bought from IKEA years ago so we don't have to string all day.

Bird Feeder Wreaths Mobile

INDOOR WINTER ACTIVITIES

MATERIALS
· Bagels cut in half
· Peanut butter [or suet]
· Bird seed
· Spatula
· Ribbon
· Pie plate

First we tied ribbon around the bagel for hanging. Next, we spread the peanut butter on the cut side. Then we dipped the peanut butter side onto a layer of seeds.

We thought, given that we live a rainy city, it would be best to make them a bit of a roof too. And this turns the whole project into a mobile.

Finally we hung it outside Spud's bedroom window ... just waiting for the birds to find it now.

Paper Snowflakes

HOLIDAY TRADITIONS
Boy, things are gearing up at work so much lately; with working more and more 12-14 hour days it's getting harder and harder to find the time to hang out with my Spud. So, I took full advantage of the time I had with him this morning to do something Christmassy. We decided on continuing a little holiday tradition of ours ... hanging paper snowflakes from the top of his bedroom door. He likes to run through them. I'm also hoping they scare away Mr. Stick [his current, most-dreaded, resident monster].








HOW WE DID IT:
1. Started with a square piece of paper and folded it in half [tissue paper is easier to use for little hands but I didn't have any handy]



2. Folded it in half again



3. Then folded it in thirds, so ...



it looked like this.



4. Trimmed off the bottom tails



And then off we went ...

Robot Bag

Check out this crazy-cute bag that one of my uber talented customers, over at Wampeters come and come go made with the Robot Gear Garden Fabric.



Check out her blog. She links to where she found the bag pattern.

School Concert Costume Time

SUPER SIMPLE PENGUIN COSTUME
Spud was pretty hesitant to try it on at first. "OK, but don't laugh at me" he warned. Which was a bit alarming because I don't think we do a lot of that. When we got to the concert though and he saw all his other little penguin buddies running around he couldn't get the costume on fast enough. "Hurry, hurry!" he scolded.

One little girl must have thought it was pretty special also because she was chasing him around the stage trying to pick him up [she is much smaller than him] and give him a big hug. This went on for 10 minutes before the show started. I asked him about it after the concert "No, she's never done that before". We didn't anticipate the chick-magnet qualities of the costume at all. That was just a bonus, I guess.





MATERIALS
·My black hoodie with arms rolled way up
·Scrap piece of white faux fur for the tummy [which we will repurpose later]
·Yellow baseball cap for the beak [which we thankfully already had]
· One Styrofoam ball cut in half for the eyes [plus buttons and sundries]

That's it! I loosely tacked the fur onto the hoodie so it would be easy to take off later. Hubs carefully constructed the eyes and sewed them onto the hood ... he has way more patience than I do.

I Love Advent Calendar Season

I guess that's why we have two!



Well, it's day 6 on the advent calendar and that means that St. Nicholas paid a visit to our house last night and left a few treats in Spud's wee shoes that he left outside his bedroom door last night.



A book about bad dreams. Some chocolate. Stickers. Wind up toy. Cute erasers. A shark ring. And lego candy. You can build with it ... and then eat it! Spud held his hands up to the sky and said "Thank you St. Nicholas. Thank you!" with such passion. I think it helped blow off some of that waiting-for-the-big-day steam.

Wee Holiday Napkin

We decided to make some Christmas themed napkins from the Christmas fabric I designed some weeks back, for Spud's bento lunches. And here it is, in all its zigzag, rolled hemmed glory.

Wee Bento Napkin

We took a square of some of my Robot Fabric and made a little napkin for Spud's bento lunch. Maybe this will encourage him to stop using his school clothes as a napkin? Maybe?



This was our first project using our new "rolled hem" foot for the sewing machine. It makes tight little 1/4 inch hems pretty nicely.

Double Decker Bento

The top layer, on the left, is for snack time. Some of this is saved for lunch time as well [and any of the veg that is left after school gets reintroduced on the way home, when he's his most hungry and therefore most vulnerable. Sorry kid. Wink. But it works].
Clockwise:
Burger patty [leftover]
Butterfly cookie [from he freezer]
Cheese sticks
Mini orange
Celery half moons
Molded egg [I used a star shaped mold but the egg was too small so it looks more like a flower]
Carrots [protected by the bunny]

The main compartment simply boasts a turkey sandwich and some strawberries.

Wee Stickers

Just had some of my robo sticker designs printed ... to give to my fabric customers ... as a little treat. It's a little addictive. I want to make more and more!

Happy Weekend

Our Hallows Eve

Cat got the [pink?] canary.



Spud's first jack o lantern ... without any direction. I carved out the pieces he indicated. It's unconventional but charming somehow.



Then 2 princesses and a robot went out into the night searching for loot.



Spud's last year's M-O costume, from the WALL-E movie, made a reappearance this year. Thumbs up from the Spud.





The glowing red light on top was added to this year's model.

Mummy Dogs

Thanks Instructables for the inspiration of this halloween-y lunch.



· Mummy Dog
· Cuke slices
· Baby carrots
· Tub o' ketchup
· Pink flower cookie



To make these mummies, we wrapped chicken dogs in 3/4" strips of store bough biscuit dough. Then we baked them for 12 minutes at 375°F. Finally, Hubs made little facial features with tiny scissors and a sheet of nori.

Featured on Tip Junkie

We might have some visitors from Tip Junkie today. Hello!

Number 4 on the feature list are my little paper dolls dressing up like skeletons, super heroes, robots and vampires ... tis the season! Check out all the other halloween ideas on Tip Junkie too.





See the original posts here and here.

To download the free printable paper dolls, and their wee little halloween costumes, click on the "weelife printables" in the side bar.

For the Worms

This day's bento included, by special request, "things with peels so I can put them in our worm compost at school".

SNACK
· orange slices, with peels as ordered
· red pepper
· grapes
· cheese
· graham crackers

LUNCH
· ketchup [for the chicken nuggets in his thermos not seen here]
· cherry toms
· apple grape skewers
· sugar snap peas
· lady bug cookie
· banana, again, with peel

Happy snacking worms!

Photo Friday #19

TRAVELS WITH KID | SEASIDE, OREGON

So, the part I love about travelling the most? Unexpectedly running into and witnessing a local cultural event. Take one giant pumpkin, the winner of the Seaside Giant Pumpkin Contest [easily over 1000 lbs. maybe it was 1300 lbs. I was only half paying attention], one old surrey and hundreds of spectators ... this is what you get.

The Giantest Pumpkin going for a ride.



Dilapidated Surrey waiting for its doom.



Now the giant crane is getting involved.



Lining the pumpkin up carefully before hoisting up.



And up she goes.



To the top!



Does anyone have any safety concerns here? Two guys tugging on the "quick release", 1000 lbs directly overhead, waiting for the right moment to run out of the way. Yoiks!



There they go, spry as ever.



Impact.





Pumpkin guts abound.



Then there was the mad dash; dozens of children running to see how big a piece of pumpkin they could snatch up.





And there they are.



Together. Pumpkin and Surrey.



What did Spud think of the spectacle? The look on his face was of horror. And almost to the point of tears. His commentary: "That was WAY worse than I even thought it was going to be". When probed, it turned out, his 5-year-old-self, predicted that the pumpkin would still be intact when it landed and squished the Surrey. "You know," he said "all you would see is the pumpkin and the surrey would be hidden underneath it."

For other travel pics, check out my favourite family travel site Delicious Baby. Or go there to share your travel photos on Fridays too.