Did it Myself

I decided to make a counter for a corner in my kitchen which needed some help. I am a piler and can't seem to find a good place for some things so they just start to collect. That's what was going on in this corner of my kitchen. I saw a post on facebook about making things from pallets and got the idea to use the pallets I already had! We used them for holding all our wood but I figured I could try it out and if I wanted newer pallets, I could do it again with newer pallets. So these are aged, and were a bit dirty but I cleaned them up and sanded them down and put them together with a little bit of sawing and nailing. It fit perfectly (I hadn't bothered to measure it so I was certainly pleased when it fit just right in the spot.) I tucked my piles under and on top and now I feel so much better. It's not much to look at but it does that job! And I only got two splinters in my fingers!

Mess Maker's Heaven

MICA Maker Day was our latest field trip. We drove down to Okemos, MI  on Thursday (1/30) so my kids could be crafty. I'm glad we went because they did things we will NEVER do. I forgot my real camera and didn't think about my iPod until halfway through the event. Unfortunately, it only has one camera so it was a little tricky getting the shots to look right. Anyway, the kids had a great time and made lots of fun things.

 

The messiest station was the shaving cream, dye and paper station. You put shaving cream in a pan, then sprayed dye, then swirled it. Then you put a piece of paper on top, pulled it off and went to the other table to scrape the shaving cream off. It left behind a really neat marbled pattern. Coolest thing ever, but I'm not sure I will ever do it on my own - what a mess, and our hands came home stained.

They all enjoyed embossing and making cards. All I could see was a huge mess with the glitter. (You can see Kemiah's stained hands from the shaving cream craft.) Anyone who knows me really well knows that I truly detest glitter of any type. I controlled myself and the kids had a great time watching the magic of melting the glitter to their paper.

The girls learned to sewing with metallic thread so that they could light up a light bulb. It was fun to see them get so excited when the light lit up.

Poor Harmonie spent most of her time tied in the stroller, but I did sit by her and fed her and even gave her water (which she spilled down the front of her twice). And I changed her diaper, too!

 

Camdilyn spent most of her time in the stroller or being fed. Lucky baby. She was awake a lot of the time but did take a nap at least once. I even changed her diaper a couple times!

What a sweetie!

There were several other stations that I didn't get pictures of: paper bracelet, decorating a notebook cover, daily planner sort of thing, finger crocheting, and making a picture of a robot that used a battery and a light bulb and electric paint to connect it. Ben is the only one who did the robot one and it didn't work very well. Anyway, it was fun for the kids to be around other kids and some of their teachers and to be messy and creative all at the same time. Domonique isn't in any of the pictures but she was there, sticking by me most of the time but eventually she was brave enough to wander around to see what the guys were doing. She made her way over to a teacher who was doing a type of glue/glitter tattoo and she ended up with four of them on her arms. She was delighted to take part in some small way. We didn't have any accidents, outbursts, or vomiting so I figure it was a total success!

Ornament Activity

Grandpa Nichols came over last night to drop off the gifts for the kids. He had two for each, so they opened one while he was there. They each got an ornament to paint, so that's what we did today, after they were done with their school stuff (and lunch). It was so fun to see the kids being so careful and trying so hard to make it look nice. Then there was Harmonie. I tried to help her but she wanted to do it all by herself. I tried to let her do it on her own, as much as possible, but I did have to keep her hand under control. It was a fun activity!

Finished works! Domonique's tree, Xiomara's snowman, Kemiah's Santa, Harmonie's stocking, Marissa's sleigh, and Emily's penguin. They look so great hung in our window.

Ben wanted to hang his in the tree so here is his nutcracker. He didn't want the paint to fade from the sunshine.

Reindeer are visiting!

I loved the craft at the library this week. It was so fun! I was working with Domonique and decided I had to have one for Harmonie. We used the child's foot to make the face and hand to make the antlers. (The paper was folded in half so we only had to trace and cut once.) I thought they all turned out great, and each one is a bit different! I love how small Harmonie's is, with the big black eyes. Top row is: Ben, Marissa, Emily, and Xiomara. Bottom row is: Kemiah, Domonique, and Harmonie. The kids really had a good time, too!

Ginormous

We go to story time at our local library every Tuesday. The librarian is fantastic and we love it. She has a craft for us each time, too. I count that as the kids main art source. I was really impressed with this last one we did... giant paper snowflakes. They are super easy to make and look really neat. I had to hang them up when we got home and I love to look at them. Of course, I couldn't stop there. I decided to try and make a smaller one for the Christmas tree (which is still up). It was a little harder to do but I'm glad I did it. Just a neat craft all the way around. I will have a hard time taking them down because I won't want to toss them out and, really, how would I store them any other way than hanging from the ceiling?