Fall “Easter” Eggs

The other day I hard boiled eggs like I do every few weeks, and I decided that Jack and I were going to color eggs again.  We did it for Easter and loved it, so why not do it more often?  I chose fall colors this time (yellow, orange, green and brown) and I think they turned out great! 

I started out with my tools :

The paper towel roll cut up into little egg drying stands works best if they’re not glued together.  For the colors, I followed the ‘recipes’ on the back of the food color box.

One egg must have had a crack in it when I put it in the pot.  We didn’t color this one, but it sure was fun to eat after we were done coloring the rest of the eggs.

I have a feeling we’ll be dying eggs for every holiday coming up.  Thanksgiving will be the same, but Christmas may look a tad different. 

I’m linking this up with La-La’s Home Daycare Holiday Kid Craft link up.  Hop on over to see what other holiday crafts have been posted. 

Marble Painting

We had our first Educational Play Date today.  (Bekah, I think we need to come up with a more FUN name for these dates)

We decided to try marble painting first.  I went searching for marbles this week, since I don’t own any.  Did you know that you can’t find marbles very easily?  I ended up with some round decorative ‘gems’.  They worked and they were very cheap.  I also bought paint.  I found some Tempera Paint and figured that’s what most elementary art teachers use, so I should be good with that.

Before giving them paint, we decided to show them how the whole marble painting thing worked.  We gave them a marble and showed them how to move the box around to make the marble move back and forth.  That also gave us a chance to see that we needed to tape down the paper.  It was a good dry run for everyone.

Then the pretty paint came out.  The boys kept saying “Can I paint now??”  (notice their cute, PLAIN shirts?  grrr)

We dipped the marble in the paint and plopped it into their box.  Away they went! 

They were cautious at first, even moving the marbles with their hands, but they got the hang of things after a few seconds and really started moving and shaking those boxes.   I think one marble even landed on the floor because of the feverish winging of the boxes. 

Cage’s box was a little more flat on the bottom, so his paint moved all around the paper. Jack’s box had a pretty bumpy bottom, so the marble tended to stay in the middle. 

After they did one page of marble painting, they were ready to really paint.  Evidently, marble painting to a 2 year old isn’t actually painting.  So we gave them new paper, put the paint in their boxes (GREAT idea, Bekah!) and let them really paint until there little hearts were content.  That lasted about 3 minutes.

Cage’s mom brought pom-poms and feathers to adorn on the paintings.   (I love Cage’s chubby little hands!)

It was a successful Educational Play Date this morning, I’d say!

They boys ended up playing in our sandbox for the rest of the time.  Which, we found out, has a mouse living in it.  I guess the tent over the top of the box didn’t keep the mice/chipmunks/moles/whatever it is! from digging up from the bottom of the box. 

 

 

My New Toy

Look what I just bought!!  It's an early Mother’s Day gift to myself.  It’s a middle-of-the-road Singer sewing machine.  Not their cheapest, and not their fanciest.  I was surprise to hear that Singer isn’t the same as it used to be .  I thought they were a reliable brand, but it seems that they have gone down in dependability department.  But, it’s what we can afford, so it’s what I got!

 

First, let me explain to you how NOT crafty I am.  And, while I’m at it, let me explain how VERY crafty the people around me are. 

Not Crafty Me – I can’t sew, can’t crochet, can’t knit, can’t scrapbook, can’t decorate (rooms or desserts), can’t draw, can’t come up with a creative idea to save my life.

Very Crafty Friends – Can quilt, knit, crochet, spin and dye wool, sew, make jewelry (and that’s all ONE person so far…my SISTER!), decorate, garden, needlepoint, scrapbook, draw…the list is endless really.

In my life I’ve tried to find my ‘thing’.  My sister’s thing was quilting for a long time.  Now it’s making yarn and knitting.  My friend Beth’s thing is crocheting.  She crochets everyone blankets.  One of my favorites to snuggle up in on the sofa is a Beth Blanket.  My Friend Heather *kinda* scrapbooks and paints pottery.  She scrapbooked her two daughters’ first five years.  I have friends who decorate cakes masterfully, bake delicious desserts, and can decorate a room beautifully without batting an eye. 

I have to confess that I sometimes become jealous of these friends and their talents.  Since at least high school age, I have tried to find my niche.  I’ve tried needlepoint, crocheting, quilting, scrapbooking, and baking just to name a few.  I’ve figured out that I’m not a ‘stick-with-it” kind of gal.  I usually start something, find that I’m not great at it (which no one is at first except my sister), and stop trying.  It’s probably saved me a lot of money now that I think of it! I haven’t invested in a lot of supplies for anything, so I don’t have a lot of wasted materials.

You might say that my niche is meal planning and cooking regular meals (dinners only for now) for my family.  But that doesn’t feel very creative to me, so I’m still looking for something else.  I’m still looking for something to spark my creativity –if I have any!

Recently  I’ve been wanting to start sewing.  Nothing major.  Maybe just some cloth napkins, a curtain here or there, and an apron for my friend.  This past Christmas I found three or four ideas for gifts that I wanted to make for my family, but I couldn’t do them without a sewing machine.  I’m excited to see what I can actually create with this new sewing machine.  Maybe this could become a creative outlet for me.  Of course, I need to learn how to sew a straight line first.  That will come with time, right?