mosaic

I know some might not like it, but it's been my kind of Summer. A fair bit of rain, lots of overcast days and cooler temperatures. It's meant we've spent less time poolside and more time indoors. I've been putting my thinking cap on to come up with some different ideas to keep us busy. It's not always an easy task, it's got to be something we all can do together and keep them interested at the same time, not to mention keeping me interested too! 

I went hunting in the garage, the poor dumping ground for my craft supplies of years gone by. I discovered a box of Fimo (polymer clay). I was a bit dubious if we could make a go of using it, sitting in the hot garage for a decade! I had one keen helper who quickly deserted me once he discovered all the kneading involved to make it pliable, though to be fair for a five year old he put in a valiant effort!  Once all the hard yards were completed (me kneading it for an hour) I quickly found a new friend, she was suddenly super keen to try out this new crafting material. 

We worked together on a couple of projects, some beads for necklaces, some Lego inspired pendants using a mould that I also used here and today inspired by the view outside our window, some brooches. Did you know that Fimo can be baked twice? That's how we made our mosaic pieces! Rolled out sheets were scored and baked. Once baked the scored lines were cut through. Then the little pieces were applied in a design on a fresh piece of unbaked clay! Cool huh?

Now I'm off to my Pinterest boards to find some more kid crafting inspiration, here's hoping I've got the supplies stashed away in my garage!

ice battles

There has been a battle raging at our house these school holidays, the ice battle. I filled an ice cream container with water and froze it, I had envisaged the kids spending some time playing a "soccer" type game with it, kicking it to each other. That's why they are wearing gumboots. It seems though, that my visions were not aligned with what the kids had planned, the story of my life.

Let the ice battles begin. They worked out a game where they both chucked up their blocks of ice, letting it smash down on the ground. Then the race was on to gather up as much of the ice as they could, jamming it back into their containers. The battle raged on for a long time, while I prepared dinner. I heard giggles, and a few cross words too (it was a battle after all) eventually I was greeted with some small slivers of ice and instructions on how I was to keep them safe in the freezer, um yeah.

There has been talks of "ice battle #2", luckily the battle supplies are easy to gather. What have your children been up to these holidays? Any ice battles? No? Just my children then!

Rustic bird feeder - a DIY tutorial

Welcome to my "Matariki crafting" project! When Juliet first suggested this Winter themed blog hop I struggled to think about a project to share, then I remembered our Winter-time tradition of making a bird feeder! Each year for the past three years we've been making bird feeders, each year a little different than the last, you can read about the past feeders here, "For the birds" part 1, part 2 and part 3.

But this year I came up with the best so far! (well in my opinion anyway). So lets get creating!

Gather up your supplies, you will need: soft bendy twigs (I used Silver Birch), wire or natural string or twine, scissors, insect mesh (sold by the metre at hardware stores - you will only need a little bit), Wild bird seed. Also helpful are secateurs and wire cutters. A wee note on the bird seed, I've had limited success with the home-brand seed, seems our local birds don't like the mix and didn't really eat it! For the sake of a few cents don't skimp! One packet goes a long way. No soft bendy twigs in your backyard? Gather up the kids and go for a walk in your local park, I'm sure you'll be able to find some twigs to use, say you are on "a hunt" and watch the kid's eyes light up!

First up, grab your scissors and cut a rough circle shape from your insect mesh - mine was around 20cm in diameter. Why insect mesh you might ask? Well Winter is often rainy here in New Zealand and I've found in past bird feeder making experiences that water can pool in them, creating a floating bird seed soup! This way the water can drain away, hopefully keeping the seeds fairly dry. Brilliant!

Wrap the twigs roughly around your mesh shape - don't worry about all the straggly bits, we'll sort them out in the next step. Cut off any large thick pieces with the secateurs.

Cut a length of wire or twine/string and start attaching the twigs to the mesh, because I used wire it was easy to thread through the mesh, but if you are using twine or string you might want to use a large darning needle to make the process easier. Work your way around till all the loose ends are tucked in and the mesh is attached all the way around. I used a blanket stitch, but you could easily just use short lengths and tie them at intervals.

Cut two pieces of wire or twine, each one around 60cm in length. If you are using wire, twist is as per the photo above. If you are using string, tie a knot around 10cm down, this is what will slide over the branch to hang the feeder from.

Twist the wire through the mesh and over the twigs at four equal intervals around the feeder. If you are using string, thread up a needle to make this step easier.

Find a spot in a tree to hang it! Keep in mind any local cats that might be able to get to the feeder! Put it high in a tree to keep the birds safe, we don't want to make a "cat cafe".

Fill it up with some Wild bird seed - or take the next step........

 Make some bird balls! You can really just clear out your pantry and make the birds happy all at once! You can use any of the following sorts of things to make your bird balls:

Stale cornflakes, rice bubbles, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds etc, stale - but not mouldy bread, peanut butter, malt (not honey), suet (animal or vegetable), raisins or sultanas, any other cereal that isn't full of sugar - like weetbix.

Some things that are bad for birds and you should try to avoid : Avocado, salt, honey (use malt instead), anything mouldy.

I used some stale bread crusts, peanut butter and some malt. Add all your ingredients into a saucepan and warm over a low heat. One of your ingredients will need to be a "binary" ingredient like malt, peanut butter or suet.

 It will look like a big sticky mess! With wet/damp hands roll into balls, then roll in Wild bird seed.

Pop in the fridge to firm up! Then you can pop them into your feeder, either by themselves or with some loose seed. It's better not to put too much out all at once, but top up regularly as needed.

Sit back and enjoy the sound of happy birds in your garden!

I really hope you have a go, either with this rustic feeder or one of the others that I've made over the years (links at the top of this post). Many birds do die over Winter months when food becomes scarce, feed the birds!

Don't forget to hop along to Stella's blog tomorrow to see what she's been up to!

gifted

I was generously given a large bag of buttons from a friend. It bought me a ton of quiet time over the holidays. The kids spent many hours sorting them out. I'd suggest a colour or a size for them to find and they were off! I gave miss E the task of finding any mother of pearl and glass ones, she's got a keen eye for the "special" ones. I think I'll have to bring the buttons out again when I need some quiet time to get the dinner on, it sure did the trick!

banded

 Remember these? Well we decided to try another (tried and tested this time!) dying technique over the holidays. Miss E loved tying rubber bands all over her shirt, I helped mr A and we concertina folded his one securing with rubber bands. I mixed up the dyes, I used ones from this lovely local online shop!(A little goes a long way) The kids did all the stirring and the great thing about this sort of dying is - there is no right or wrong way. A perfect activity for kids to get involved in. They were really pleased with the results and have been wearing them proudly!

rainbow

The kids and I had lots of fun one afternoon in the recent school holidays. I froze some food colouring in some ice cube trays let them "decorate" some white t-shirts that I had from a local thrift store. They loved watching the colours melt and merge into each other and having a race to see who's ice blocks would melt first. I (somewhat foolishly) thought that if I ironed the colours they would be colour fast - can you see where this is going? Well turns out the answer is no, I was very surprised to find two white t-shirts in the washing machine! Eeek! Miss E took it in her stride, but mr A, very proud of his "rainbow" shirt no so. I've told them that we will have a go a tie-dying them. Of course I'll be using -PROPER dye for that!

thanks

Today I'm feeling thankful for a number of things.Things like:
Activities that cost little and entertain for a long time (and big thanks for pinterest in helping find such activities)
For sunny Winter days and going for neighbourhood walks on such sunny days
Easy, yummy and quick recipe
Not worrying too much about the mess these "holiday" kids are creating ( I can clean later right?)
A warm and cosy home and electric blankets!

bubble snakes!

These holidays have been cold and the kids have been getting over some winter time bugs, so lots of outdoor play hasn't been high on our to do list. I remembered this idea from pinterest - you can find the pin here. I didn't have any small drink type bottles to try it with, but I did have some empty milk bottles. It worked really well and the kids had a great time playing away, out the window! Yip it was still a bit cold for them this morning. I'm sure it would work lots better if you did have a smaller "juice" type bottle as it took quite a big breath to make a "bubble snake" with the big milk bottles, also with a smaller bottle you could use a rubber band to hold on the towel rather than the tape that I used. That would make it a reusable bubble maker . I will make some of these again over the summer months I'm sure the kids will enjoy them again.

easy peasy pom pom tutorial!

I spent many hours making pom poms as a child. I cut out rings of cardboard from cereal boxes and wound and wound my little heart out. I made hair ties mainly with them, in school colours and other colours to match outfits, I got orders from friends and many a pom pom I did make. But when I sat down recently to make some, I really didn't feel like all that fiddly winding onto rings. I wanted something quicker and easier that would keep both my children amused with quick results. So I've come up with this little way of making them.

I cut this template out of the bottom of a plastic ice cream container.
the width will be the diameter of your pom pom.
(obviously it doesn't have to be cut perfectly straight to work!)

start by placing a length of your yarn through the gap in the middle
(the rest of my photos show two templates, one on top of  the other
to give a bit of extra strength, it also works just with one)

start winding! Round and round. You'll get the best results
if you try and wind the yarn close together through the middle
of the template.

before you know it, it will be nice and fat! Cut of the other end of the
yarn as above.

now it's time for tying the pom pom off. Bring the two ends
together on one side and tie tightly with a knot. It's helpful if you've
got an extra pair of hands to get the knot nice and tight.
Bring the ends over to the other side and tie a knot on that
side too.

now it's time for cutting! The picture above shows just one
side cut. Cut both and gently pull the pom pom out through
the middle slit. This is where a template made from the ice cream
container is better than cardboard as it's nice and flexible to
get the pom pom out.

now you have a nice shaggy pom pom! You can leave it like
that, or give it a trim.

This one has had a quick trim - (I've left the "tying tail" on
so I can use it for a project)

So there you go! Quick and easy yes? Hope so!

Happy weekend friends xxx

for friends

I know there is a big debate with mums about goodie / take home bags for parties. They either love or hate them. Being a crafty mum I do quite like to do a little handmade something as a way of saying thanks, I don't like to spend much though and certainly try to avoid a whole lot of plastic. I've done a lot of different little things over the years, play dough with little cutters, little handmade notebooks with pencils and other little things. This time I did something a little bigger cause there weren't too many coming and  this time I wanted miss E to help me too. Inspired by this pin, we used a Pebeo porcelain pen (from Spotlight) to draw the designs on some thrifted mugs. It was fun and I enjoyed watching all the little designs that she came up with, most were bumble bees (we seem to have loads in the garden this year). Once the drawings were completed we "set" the images by baking them in the oven.

 I had grand plans of making some hot chocolate mix to go in the cups  (see this pin, this one too) but I realised I'm not "super mum" and just bought some instead! I also popped in some mini marshmallows and some sipper straws. They were a big hit and I'm thinking that they would make a great gift for grandparents too. Perfect  activity for a rainy afternoon.

for the birds - part 3

Each year in Winter we have been feeding our local wild birds - by local I mean the ones that visit our garden. We made pinecone feeders the first year.  Last year we made bird cake and hung it in bags, but this year I was inspired by something that I saw on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/pin/118534946/ . It was really easy to do and instead of using straws to make holes I just used the end of a wooden spoon. We hung them up using some hemp twine from Trade Aid. They look nice on the bare Winter branches, a bit like decorations.

No birds have taken advantage of the free food yet, but just like previous years I know that once they find it it won't take long till it's all gone.