Leaf rubbings

The other day we were driving in the car and my son was talking about the different sizes of leaves on the trees. Aha I said, we should do some leaf rubbings! So a few days later we set off on a walk to collect some different leaves to try. It was still a bit hard for my four year old to get much impression from rubbing over the paper and leaves, so I did need to help him at times. My one and a half year old also had a go.

Toilet Roll People

Inspired by Playschool and Onegirl. Ok, I did most of them because we were using wood glue and scissors, so it wasn't quite as child involving as I'd hoped. But I'm sure it will work better when the Cat is a bit older. He and I had a ball anyway so that's the main thing. I may have spilt a whole lot of glue on my new jeans but thankfully I got it out in a hurry! Meanwhile the Cat was shouting at me to help him get the masking tape off his fingers.

How cool is "the Monster" that the Cat made!? Originally it had enormous eyes but they were falling off because the Cat kept touching it before it dried, so later he changed them for little eyes. Ok now go read this because Amber Dusick is awesome.




For this activity we used:
toilet rolls
other cardboard tubing
wood glue
fabric scraps
pipe cleaners
old bits of ribbon
googly eyes
felt pens
rope from bag handle
rick rack
masking tape
mesh from garlic packaging

Next time I would get some yarn for the hair.

Winter fun indoors

This winter has been particularly cold. I have been feeling it a lot especially considering that I was pregnant this time last year and I was feeling pretty toasty! So this winter the Cat and I have been enjoying some time indoors doing craft.

Easter Eggs

Easter craft with E. We drew on hard boiled eggs with crayons, mum and I dripped candle wax on some and we dyed them different colours with food colouring. I was reliving fond memories of my childhood. Easter is my favourite holiday.

3rd Birthday Party

E's third birthday was last Sunday. We had a train party because trains are his current obsession. I had so much fun organizing this party, I think there is a frustrated party planner in me... what with the Wedding and High tea I planned last year for my sister. It is nice that he is a bit older now so they can play some party games. We did pass the parcel and some train craft activity. The train cake was the first cake I had made on my own. My mum made the cupcakes last year and for his first birthday mum helped me make the aeroplane cake.

Cookies and craft

My friend organised a Cookies and Craft party for some little friends of her son. It was held at a cafe in a local park. The cafe holds these one day a week. They get out some little boards covered in non stick paper and fill bowls with various things to decorate the cookies. On arrival every child dons an apron, sits down, is given a ball of shortbread dough and selects from some plastic cookie cutters. Each child is given a baking tray of their own lined with baking paper to put their finished creations. These go into the oven and while they are baking the children are given a paper bag to decorate in which to put their finished cookies. It was a fun morning and I thought it was an interesting business model.

Christmas wrapping paper

Star Wrap is white and blue stars drawn with crayon. Then painted over with my favourite kiddy craft supply - Dot paint dispensers!!

White, green and yellow Christmas trees with purple and green painted over it.


Gifts wrapped and under the tree. The wrapping paper was a big hit with the family.

Christmas activites

My friend from Mother's group held a Christmas craft party for the kids, so I decided to make some gingerbread men with E to take to the party. I must admit I find it hard to relax and let him get too messy while cooking and crafting, I am too much of a control freak and my husband hates mess too. The recipe is a great one from Donna Hay's Modern Classics 2. I want to use this recipe to make a gingerbread house because it made a nice sturdy gingerbread.



She read a book about the Christmas story, we sang Silent Night and we did some craft activities like these star pictures using bits of paper stuck on vellum with a star frame around it. When you stick it on the window it looks really pretty with the light shining through it.

Filth Wizardry

I just discovered this fun kiddy craft blog called Filth Wizardry. There is an interesting interview with the blogger, Lindsey on the Artful Parent. I wish I was not so precious about the house and doing messy craft activities! Note to self : I would love to make one of these bandanna skirts for my little girl when she is older.

Finished quilt!

Finally this quilt is done! It is my first finished quilt for my firstborn. I used some Peas and Carrots fabrics and various others I picked up to match. I decided to hand quilt it in a circle pattern because I much prefer the look of hand quilting.


I love the binding that I chose recently to finish it off. It ties all the fabrics together I think.

Sewing for the nursery

I'm making a flock of birds right now. The tulips were from my Mr, aren't they perdy? That bird feels right at home.

Easter Craft

I wanted to do some Easter craft with E so I got some sheets of square paper (I think it is canson paper for scrapbooking) and cut out some egg shapes which he glued on the paper and we did some stamping with some of his bunny stamps. We made some cards out of these.


I also found some little chick chocolates which were flat on the back so I glued them onto cards that Ethan had drawn and stamped on. These were for his cousins!

toddler play - coloured pasta

What does a stir crazy (and sick with a cold) Mother and two year old do whilst waiting for the plumber to arrive? Dye pasta bright colours of course!!



Next time yellow, red and blue... and E's request purple. The coloured pasta is for playing with, not eating, incase you were wondering.

A question about crayons...

These crayons I just bought for Ethan because I'm not sure what shape is right for toddler hands. Previously we were using Crayola's triangle shaped crayons. The colours are gorgeous! But I thought I'd try these thicker ones. The tips break off every time Ethan and I drop one. VERY ANNOYING and could pose a choking hazard I'm guessing.

So what do other people use?

Playgroup craft

It was my turn to host craft today at playgroup. I drew this picture of an elephant. I printed copies for the kids to stick coloured bits of tissue paper onto the image. I thought originally to use heavier paper for the collage, but decided on the tissue paper so you can still see the image once the paper is stuck on. The kids loved playing with the glue pots. Its a cleaner way to get them used to the action of painting.

Ethan wanted to pop the cotton balls from the following craft activity into the glue pots!! He walked away with cotton balls stuck to his cord pants!! I didn't get a photo of it though, the mum hosting that craft hastily pulled them off his pants. I was tempted to paste more on just for the funny photo!