Halloween 2011 Summary

Here's a look at what our Halloween was like this year.

We had Jack-o-lantern pancakes for dinner on the weekend.  I used my favourite whole-wheat buttermilk pancake recipe, and added bananas and raisins for a face.  The idea come from here. 

My four-year-old loved making the faces, and the banana was delicious.  I think jack-o-lantern pancakes will be a new Halloween tradition.

We just moved last week, so sewing has been on the back burner.  I did not make any of our costumes this year.  The kids wore costumes from the dress-up box, and my husband and I planned to do the same.  The day of Halloween, however, my daughter decided that she would make her daddy a turtle costume.  I was so impressed.

I cut out two turtle shells from a cardboard box, and M did all of the colouring.  I poked two holes in the top of each, and attached them together with ribbon.  It was very sweet that M worked so hard, and also that her daddy wore it. 

That's a pretty convincing turtle, don't you think? 

We came home from trick-or-treating with a decent candy haul.  Today we have had fun organizing the candy.  This is a fun way to work on math skills like sorting, counting and patterning.

I hope your Halloween was just as fun!

Paper Village

I found this printable Halloween Village via the Tangarang blog.  The blog shares both a colour and black-and-white printable.  We used the black-and-white one and this was a lot of fun to decorate.  I thought I'd share because it was a big hit at my house.  Once you've printed the pages, I suggest cutting them out and folding before colouring as the lines are quite faint and it was tricky to see them once they were coloured over.  To finish our village, we taped it to a piece of cardboard and decorated that too.
First we made a Halloween themed village.

It was so much fun that we decided to make one for fairies. 

I'll be bookmarking that page because I think the paper village printable is a fun project for any time of year.

Fall Leaf Art

I think that Fall is my favourite season.  Today, when I was outside raking leaves with my girls, my four year old stopped me mid-rake and said "Mom!  Look right now!  It's so beautiful.  All of the leaves are dancing around."  She was right - it was beautiful.  In addition to admiring dancing leaves, my daughter also loves to collect leaves.  After collecting tons of "really special leaves," I usually wonder what to do with them all.  The answer of course, is to make leaft art!

I think sometimes simple is best. 

Here's what you need to do to make your own leaf art:

1. Collect a lot of leaves. 

 2. Use white glue to stick the leaves onto construction paper.

3. You're done! 

I think that was the simplest art project ever.  Does anyone have any other brilliant ideas for using up a leaf collection?

Apple Prints

I don't know how it goes it your house, but at my house my kids do not play by themselves.  (Well, the baby crawls around ripping everything out of cupboards and off shelves, but the four year old just does not have the "entertain herself" skill.)  So, I feel like I need to have a lot of tricks up my sleeve to get through the day.  One of our favourite projects recently is printing.  In September apples are abundant, which makes this kid craft perfect for fall.

To make your own apple print, simply cut an apple in half, dip it in some paint, and stamp away.  I've seen this done with other fruits or vegetables, too. Don't you think corn on the cob would look neat?  I'm not going to lie, most of my daughter's paintings end up looking like the blue mash of paint you see in the picture below.  (And, yes mine is the neater print you see in the bottom of the picture.)  However, I always remind myself that kid art is about the process, not the product. 

With older kids, you could get into patterning, or use permanent paint and print onto fabric.  Has anyone else tried printing with fruits or vegetables?  Later this week I think we'll try leaf printing for another fall themed art project.

Paper Flower Garland

Today you'll see a case of great minds think alike.  Or, maybe it's more like"some minds are great, and others try and keep up."  You'll see what I mean in a second.

Like Carlee, it's also birthday season in my house (we come from the same family, where summer is always birthday season).  To brighten up the house for the past few birthdays in my house, I made an easy paper flower garland.  This was a project that my four year old daughter and I did together.  My decoration isn't purely for birthdays, or long lasting, but it was a fun project for kids, and something that you can easily make to decorate for any occasion.



The idea for this quick project came from the Usborne book 50 Rainy Day Activities.  (It's a great little book kid's art book, by the way, as are most Usborne books).

To make your own paper flowers, you'll need to cut a bunch of circles from coloured paper in three different sizes.  My four-year-old helped with the tracing and a bit of the cutting.  Next you glue the flowers together - first big, then medium, then small.  This is a job toddlers and preschoolers can do on their own.  My daughter had a lot of fun mixing and matching colours.  Finally, you can add petals by cutting triangle shapes out of the big circles.  (Optional step: smear glitter glue all over the flowers.  If you are four, this step is essential!)

To hang, tape right to the wall, or tape to ribbon or strung across a window.  See - doesn't that look cheery?

Canada Day Round Up

Hello all of my South of the border friends!  (I'm not talking about Mexico, but hello to you too if you are reading.)  Up North here in Canada we are celebrating our country too.  Canada Day is tomorrow (July 1st), so I thought I'd share a few Canada Day inspired images.  If you'd like to know a bit more about Canada, click here or here.  As far as celebrating the holiday goes, we Canadians indulge in a fair bit of picnicking, firework watching and flag waving ourselves.  Usually when looking for patriotic crafts, recipes, sewing projects, etc. as a Canadian I have to take an American look, omit the blue, and exchange stars for maple leafs.  While the pure Canada Day selection is a bit more limited, it does exist.  I hope you are inspired by something to make for tomorrow's celebrations or maybe to store away for next year.  Oh yeah, and of course feel free to add some blue and stars to make these ideas fit for the July 4th holiday!





 Image sources: cheesecake bites, cupcakes, flag cake, printable labels





For the table: These strawberry cheesecake bites by Ohsheglows look delicious.  The recipe includes a yummy gingerbread cookie crust. 

I love the simplicity of the red and white cupcakes on a chocolate base by Canadian Living.  I think you could get the same effect without maple leaf shaped sprinkles. 

This flag cake by Kraft Canada is a classic.  If you click on the link it even gives you a video of how to make the cake.  I think I would just make a white cake and top with icing and strawberries instead of the jello/cake base. 

Polka Dot Print Studio gives a bunch of printable dessert labels and some great red and white treat ideas too.

Image sources: subway art, handprint flag, maple leaf garland, red and white bunting

For the house: Bloggin' with Bobbi has some free printable subway art, Canada style.

This handprint flag via Dad Super Cool looks like an easy and cute kid craft.

I love the simplicity of this maple leaf garland from GFetti's etsy shoppe. 

My favourite "Canadian decor" is Viastyle's red and white bunting.  Subtle, but still patriotic.

What else have you seen out there for the Canada Day set?

Whatever country you are celebrating this weekend, I hope the weekend is a good one!

Paper and Felt Tangrams

I don't know about you, but I always have a really hard time thinking of something I can make for the men in my life for Father's Day.  In general I think I'm a bad and inconsistent gift giver, but it's even worse when it comes to making something for my dad or husband.  I finally came up with a good idea this year - I decided to make a toy for my husband that he can use with our kids.  And this is what I came up with:

For Christmas, my older son got a great magnetic tangram toy.  He really likes puzzles, and these have provided hours of entertainment.  I thought it would be nice to make another set that is a little more portable - something I can bring with us when to church. 

A few months ago I saw an awesome tutorial on Elsie Marley, for making a tangram set from Balsa craft wood.  I love toys made with wood, but I wanted to make my set with the materials I have at home.  I also thought it might be nice to back it with felt, to help the pieces from sliding around when we are playing with them (especially helpful for sticking on the back of the pews at church).

I traced my set to make a pattern, but you can find an image for cutting out the correct shapes here.  I started with a set drawn on chip board, and glued patterned cardstock to the back.  I let my older son choose the paper, and this is what he decided on.  After my glue dried, I cut through both layers with a straight edge, xacto knife, and cutting mat. 

After I had all my pieces, I painted mod podge over the top and edges.

When this dried I glued all my pieces to a sheet of felt.  After this was mostly dry (I'm an impatient person), I cut everything out for the last time.


The internet is full of puzzles to solve, and even some sheets that you can print off for reference.  Or just play around and see what you can come up with yourself.



Since my baby was still napping, I made a quick bag to store everything in (my son choose the fabric also).  This is a super basic drawstring bag with jersey ties.  The construction is really similar to the Hobo Sack from Made, but I didn't bother with boxing the bottom corners.

I am trying to remember to stick my tag in things that I make.  Sometimes I feel a little silly doing it, but I like the way it finishes a project off, and it's nice to have a way to identify my work.
I know my son and husband will have a good time playing with the puzzle set, and I have been brainstorming about other toys I can make for them to use together.  Any suggestions?

Paper Flower Crafts for Kids

Although it is officially spring, flowers are not yet blooming in my garden. Despite (or because of) the yucky weather outside, flowers have been the craft project of choice for the past few days. This week we made two different versions.

We made the tie-dyed flowers first.  Here's a simple how-to:
1. Start with a bunch of strips of white cardstock (mine were left-over from a different project). 

2. Use washable markers to color on both sides of the strips. 

3. Use a spray bottle to soak the paper strips with water.

4. Once the strips are dry, take three strips, and lightly fold each one in half (don't crease the paper).  Staple your three "petals" to another strip of green cardstock for a stem.  Repeat until your bouquet is complete!

The idea for the circle flowers came from the Made By Joel blog.  Click on over to the website to find his Standing Paper Flowers Craft.  Joel makes his with wire so they can stand alone.  (Super cool!)  I didn't have any wire, but thought some cardstock would do the trick.  The stems on my version use three strips of cardstock glued together for a strong stem, and two circles glued together for the flower middle.  (We sandwiched the stem between the two circles so it looks the same on both sides.)

I think these flowers thrown into a small vase or glass jar would be great as an easy Spring or Easter decoration for your little ones to create.  Hopefully the real kind of flowers will be appearing on my table soon, but until then, these paper ones look pretty cheerful too!

Make Your Own Kids Book

My daughter loves books.  We often sit down together with a pile of story books and read them all.  We both have many of her favorites memorized.  These favorites have simple, predictable text, and pictures that help to tell the story.  One of her favorite "books" to look at, however, is the photo album.  Like most kids, she loves seeing and hearing about things that are familiar.   I decided to take this love of the familiar and combine it with a simple, predictable text to make a personalized story book that is just for her.

Meet Daphne, the well-loved baby doll.

I created a picture book about Daphne.  The story is in a simple day-in-the-life format.  Each page has a picture of Daphne, and one short sentence.  Daphne wakes up, eats, dresses, and goes about her day.  My daughter and I planned and took the pictures together, and I edited the pictures using a free, online photo editor called Picnik.  My editing was basic: I upped the contrast and brightness, and added some text.  Finally, I printed the pictures at Walmart (for free - I had some free prints) and popped the pictures into a dollar store photo album.  The total cost for my project was $1 plus tax.

Here are some tips for those who are interested in making their own personalized picture book:

• Plan to take all of your pictures vertical.  You don't want to keep turning the book around when reading.
• Use a simple background.  Especially when text is placed on top, you don't want a lot interfering with the focus.  I used a white fleece blanket and propped it up against my daughter's bed. 
• When placing text, leave lots of room on the sides.  Photocenters often crop your picture slightly.  You don't want the first letters or punctuation to be cut off.
•  Write the story in your child's language.  Even if your child is pre-literate, he or she can still "read" the story by describing the pictures.  Use words that your child uses, or even phrases that he or she says often.  For example, we call books "stories," so at the end of the day when baby Daphne reads a book, the text says, "She reads a story."

Have fun!  We'd love to feature any similar books in a future Monday post where our readers show-off.

PS - Daphne's clothes and bedding were made by Carlee - aren't they sweet?