pom poms are good for...

roller skates, stocking caps, teasing cats, Christmas ornaments, party favors, juggling, ice skates, sock monkeys, sisterly bonding, nonsense, present wrapping, pony tails....Can you think of some more?

something pretty for a boy

Doesn't Jude look dashing in his neckerchief? It's kind of hard to find a way to dress a boy in something pretty. The stores are awash in camouflage and sports themed things that are horrible, I mean HORRIBLE! A little vintage handkerchief is just the thing for a party, and I've got tons of them.

a vintage craft book

I found this great book at the thrift store. Not the most graceful title in my opinion but it has some really sweet projects in it. This book was published in 1962 and belonged to a young lady named Marguerite Horn.

The fish kite would be a lovely decoration for Boy's Day (a Japanese holiday celebrating boys) on May 5th. I love the "enchanting paper village" too. I'll file it away under things to do with my kids when they are a little older.

head first

I've been working on a new design for a doll (it's taking me forever). I think I've got the head pretty much figured out....now on to the body. Here is a sneak peek.

On a related note, thank you Mom for the quiet place to sew yesterday!

oscar's watercolors

I think these paintings Oscar made are so lovely. I've always just let Oscar use my paints and brushes so I think that's part of why these turn out so well. A couple nice brushes and a set of good watercolors will last a long time and will be so much nicer than those cheap plastic brushes with hairs falling out all the time and icky clumpy paints. With Jude I'll have to wait a while before introducing him to paints as he is still putting everything in his mouth.

I'm having a hard time getting Oscar interested in making art lately so when he agreed to sit down with me a few days ago do to some painting I was happy. The more I want him to do it the more resistant he is. I'm trying to adopt a nonchalant attitude about art with him but so far it has not worked at all. I'm sure he can see right through my act!

tiny treasure

We went to a birthday party for our little friend Lucy this weekend. We gave her my new favorite present to give a three year old. I bought this beautiful little deerskin pouch at a great Minneapolis store called Northland Native American Products Gallery. The little mouse is from one of our favorite local toy stores, Wonderment. This tiny wooden mouse was .50¢ and was the perfect little treasure for inside the pouch. As usual, one of Oscar's maps was used for wrapping paper. Happy birthday dear Lucy!

and now the chard!

Okay, I promise not to post pictures of every single sprout that comes up but these are just too beautiful.

sprouts!

new shopping bags

Mostly these bags were just a way for me to justify some recent impulsive fabric purchases.

a kid sized bag

and the mom's bag has some lady-like pleats.

more office stickers

an invitation to a birthday party

office stickers

Here are some art projects using office stickers. My friend Rebecca who has taken many flights with her children suggested paper and office stickers as a good airplane activity. We tried it on an excruciatingly long flight with our son when he was 18 months old. It was a great idea...Lot's of entertainment and no mess.


Oscar made these "robot people" when he was two and a half or so. (I drew faces on some of the stickers ahead of time so I guess you could say it was a collaboration.)

I think these tags are so beautiful. We use them as tags for presents sometimes but these two beauties have been on our fridge since Oscar made them on that long flight to Italy.

spring fever

Well technically I shouldn't have spring fever anymore since the calender says it is already spring but I woke up to snow this morning....I guess the garden will have to wit a little longer. Oscar and I decided to start by growing some seedlings inside to be planted in the garden later. This batch is arugula and silverbeet or rainbow chard. I decided to try this idea I found in the book Sow and Grow, A Gardening Book for Children by Tina Davis of planting the seeds in eggshells. The shells are the perfect size for the seedlings, biodegradable and very charming!

After planting the seeds in the shells, cover loosely with plastic wrap...

and keep in a warm dark place until the seeds have sprouted.

Ha!

If you never see any more about this project here you can assume it was a total failure but hopefully I'll have lots of lovely little sprouts to share with you in just a week or so.