Making the Most of Departing Warmth

I must apologise as I haven’t been around the blog much lately.  The days are getting shorter and nights more chilly Down Under, so most of us are trying to wring the last out of the sunny, warm days that remain in early Autumn/Fall.

Our little family has been hitting the outdoor activities pretty hard.  I have been snapping pics left, right and centre to get some good ones to put in my Project Life album (see post here).  Today I thought I would show you some of the activities we have been up to in this glorious weather.

Feeding the ducks and afternoon bike rides….. I thought I was being such a fun mum, whisking the boys off on an adventure after kindergarten.  All was going well until jealousy erupted over the choice of transport I brought for our bike ride.  Nothing says ‘fun’ like a crying 18 month old at the park!

 

Fishing….We all love throwing in a line and the thrill of winding in a fish.

Bush walks….This walking area had a playground and an education centre.  Many an hours could be spent here.

Picnics and playing at the beach….This wasn’t one of the white sandy beaches I like going to.  This was a mud flat, mangrove beach the kids love to go to.  Lots of sticky mud and messy fun to be had.

Long drives and country shows…..we went to the Marburg show the other weekend.  It was great to see the horses and cattle, check out the ute muster and flower, cooking and art competitions.

Winery lunch….We have a lovely winery with a greatcellar door restaurant not too far from us.  You get to sit under shady trees, looking out over green, grassy hills.  completely relaxing.

As soon as the weather cools down completely, I know I will be about the blog a lot more, but for the moment I want to savour this joyous weather. I hope wherever you are, you too are enjoying wonderful weather.

Easter Craft: Fingerprint Chicks Revisited

Today the blog has hit a time warp.  This is a post from last Easter, but it is such a fun craft, we will be doing it again.

The lead up to Easter is one of my favourite times of the year.  I think it has a lot ot do with the weather and the fact that the mornings are crisp but the days are warm with clear, blue skies (well, maybe not here at the moment).  It may also have to do with the fact that I am absolutely addicted to Hot Cross Buns.  I am NEVER the one who complains about the fact the grocery stores have packets of buns for sale on Boxing Day.  However, I always feel if you blink you will miss enjoying the lead up.  With the craziness of the Christmas/New Year season you seem to just get back into the ryhthm of life and Easter is at your doorstep.  So it was Friday just gone that it dawned on me that I had only 2 weeks until the Easter Weekend.  I had not even thought about Easter at all.  So I seized the day and created a craft project for Master O and I.

Last Christmas I fell in love with the Fingerprint reindeer  Bianca at A Little Delightful  completed with her son.  Taking inspiration from this and these cute little chicks you find everywhere at Easter time,

I created a fingerprint chick project.

With little time or effort, I designed and printed some placecards for our Easter table.  Then with some yellow paint, Master O fingerprinted the cards. 

When they were dry, I added the chick’s features with black and orange felts.  To make sure they were going to be sturdy and last if we wanted to use them next year, I laminated them.

I think they are super cute.  Tomorrow we plan to make some matching cards and present tags.

Easy Easter Rag Wreath

Two weeks ago I was in a homewares store looking at their Easter decorations.  They had a very cute rag wreath for sale, but at $39.99, there was no way I was going to buy it when I could make it myself using materials I had at home for next to nothing.

A rummage through my fabric box, I came up with a few cute colours and patterns perfect for my own budget Easter wreath.

I cut the fabric into strips about 4-5 inches (12 cm)  long and 1 inch (3cm) thick. I wasn’t too exact with this.  If they varied a bit, or my cuts were less than straight, I didn’t care.  Once I had a good stock pile of strips, I was ready to tie these to my wreath.

The base of my wreath was a wire circle purchased from the embroidery section in a craft store. The 12 inch (30 cm) round was less than $2. If I hadn’t had this on hand, I would have shaped a wire coat hanger into a circle to use.

I tied the fabric strips to the wire with a simple knot until the whole wreath was covered.  

I chose to alternate the different fabrics around the wreath, but I think it would look just as good tied randomly, or completed with just one choice of fabric.  I did think this process was going to be tedious and long but it was far from so.  Once the wreath was full, I ruffled and twisted the tied strips to ensure that the wreath looked full.

As it has been raining uncontrollably here, I didn’t risk wreaking my efforts by hanging it at the front door.  For now it is hanging on the inside of my front door, which I really like.  I love that I get to enjoy it as I move about the house and it has brought an injection of colour, much needed during this dismal weather.

I wish that there was enough light around to photograph the Easter wreath properly.  It is really cute.  Probably a little too girly for a male dominated house, but for now the boys are a too young to notice and I don’t care!

Linking up with some of these fun parties
Monday: I should be Mopping the Floor, Cherished Bliss, The Gunny Sack, Skip to my Lou, Craftomaniac, It’s so Very Cheri, Keeping it Simple, Creating Really Awesome Free Things, Alderberry Hill, Its A Blog Party, A Pinch of Joy, Making the World Cuter, Mad in Crafts,  Sew Can Do, Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Junkie, New Nostalgia, Ladybug Blessings,  How to Nest for Less, Watch Out Martha, Clairjustinexoxo,

Tuesday: Coastal Charm, Today’s Creative Blog, Not Just a Housewife, A Bowl Full of Lemons , DIY by Design, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Home Stories A to Z, Hope Studios, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Organising Homelife,  Carolyn’s Homework, The Blackberry Vine,   A Little Tipsy, Gingersnap crafts,   The Thrifty Home, Its a Very Cherry World,  Cornerstone Confessions,   Rae Gun Ramblings, Clean and Scentsible, Creatively Living , Ivy and Elephants, Romance on a Dime,   The Real Housewives of Riverton, DIY Dreamer,  Primp, JAQS Studio, 

Wednesday:  My Girlish Whims, Uncommonly Yours, Creations by Kara, Raising Homemakers, The Thrifty Home, Twin Dragonfly Designs, A Creative Princess, Sugar and Dots, Seven Thirty Three, Fabric Bows and More, Someday Crafts, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Trendy Treehouse, Women Living Well, We are that Family, The Mommy Club , Raising Homemakers, Sew Much Ado,t Simple,  Fireflies and Jellybeans, Beyond the Picket Fence, Free Pretty Things for You, DIY by Design, Bloom Designs, Mom on Timeout, We Like to learn as we Go,  Family Home and Life, Savvy Southern Style, Fine Craft Guild, Embracing Change, HandyMan, Crafty Woman, Polkadots on Parade, No Minimalist Here

Thursday: House of Hepworths Delightful Order, Its a Keeper,  The Frugal Girls, The 36th Avenue,  Thrifty 101, A Glimpse Inside, Brambleberry Cottage, Bear Rabbit Bear, Michelle’s Tasty Creations and Crafty Ideas, Shabby Creek Cottage, Goings on in Texas, Happy Go Lucky,  Raising Oranges,  The Answer is Chocolate, The Taylor House, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Imparting Grace, Made in a Day, 52 Mantels, Loving This Crazy Life, Days of Chalk and Chocolate, Confessions of an ADD Housewife

Friday: The Shabby Nest, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, At the Picket Fence, Whipperberry, French Country Cottage, Thirty Handmade Days, Creation Corner, Finding Fabulous, Stuff and Nonsense, Fingerprints on the Fridge Naptime Crafters, While He Was Napping, My Romantic Home, Bacon Time With the Hungry, Hungry Hippo, Kitchen Fun With My Three Sons, Remodelaholic, Happy Hour Projects, Simply Designing, Simply Sweet Home, Tidy Mom,  Young and Crafty, Serenity Now , Life as Mom, At the Picket Fence, Tatertots and Jello, Craft Junkie Too, A Little Knick Knack, Blissful and Domestic, Maiden D’Shade, Petites Passions, Bubbly Nature Creations, Here Comes the Sun, Liz Marie Blog, THe Grant Life, Craftionary, Redoux Interior, Common Ground, Just Us Four, Delicate Construction, AKA Designs, Family Ever After,

Saturday:  Be Different Act Normal, The Girl Creative , Funky Junk Interiors , A Vision to Remember, Positively Splendid , Its Overflowing, Natasha in Oz, Shaken Together, Homemaker in Heels, Addicted to Decorating

Sunday:  I Heart Naptime, Under the Table Dreaming, DIY Showoff, Nifty Thrift Things, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Homemaker on a Dime, DIY Home Sweet Home,  Cherished Treasures, My 1929 Charmer

Teacup Biscuits

Every Christmas we visit one of our favourite churches.  Every night in December they put on a huge light display and amongst other things, a terrific coffee shop.

Master O stood in awe at the treats in the cabinet and settled on one of these cute teacup biscuits.

They are so easy to make.  If you lay out the ingredients, your kids will certainly be able to knock them up themselves.

You Need:

Tic Toc Biscuits (or really any other biscuit to use as a base)

Marshmallows (cylindrical ones)

Freckles / Jazzles (or large chocolate buttons if you aren’t in Australia or the UK)

Musk flavour Life Savers, cut in half

A small amount of melted white chocolate to ‘glue’ everything together

I showed my 4-year-old how to do one and he completed the rest.

1. Dip each end of a marshmallow into the melted chocolate and place standing up on the biscuit base.

2. Top the marshmallow with a freckle or chocolate button

3. Take a cut Life Saver and dip the cut ends in the chocolate. Attach the Lifesaver to the side of the Marshmallow to look like a  teacup handle

Lots of fun to make and lots of fun to eat!

Christmas Craft: Salt Dough Santa Handprints

Yesterday, I shared with you the Snowmen families we made out of the kids’ handprints.  You can read about them here.

In keeping with the handprint theme we also imprinted and decorated some salt dough.

I had seen these Santa ornaments about the place, loved them, but thought they looked like a bit of work.  Surprisingly, the salt dough is really easy to make and cheap!  The decorating didn’t take long and was a lot of fun. So if you want an easy, budget-friendly christmas craft to complete with the kids, give this a whirl.

Salt Dough

Ingredients

1/2 cup salt

1/2 cup flour

1/4 water (give or take)

(These measurements allowed me to make two thick handprints, with a little dough left over)

Method

Knead ingredients together until dough a forms.

How to make your Santa Ornament

1. Roll the dough out and press your child’s hand into the dough.  With a sharp knife, cut around the imprint, leaving a small border.  Using a skewer or the tip of the pencil, make a small hole at the base of the handprint so that it can be hung once it is baked.

2. Place the ornaments into a 90 degrees celsius oven and bake for 3 hours

Baked Salt Dough Handprint

3. When cooled, paint the whole ornament white. Using some red and pink paint and a black marker, fill in the features of Santa’s face, beard and hat.  Use mine as a guide or make your own creation.

I think they look so cute!

We are going to make another batch of salt dough this weekend and use Christmas cookie cutters to make some more ornaments. My 4-year-old is going to love it!

 

Christmas Craft: Handprint Snowman Family

I regularly take imprints of my boys’ hands.  I love looking back at those paint-splodged reminders of their pudgy little fingers.  So cute!

Our latest handprint has been given the Christmas treatment.

You have probably seen these about the place.  I think they are just to precious for words.

To make these handprints extra special, I purchased some small blank canvas which I painted a background colour.

 

A white hand print, some snow blobs and a bit of texta work later, the snowman family was complete.

These are great as Christmas gifts for the family.  The ones I have kept for myself, I have attached magnets to and hung them on the fridge.  I hope to do a series of these over the years.  They will be a great visual reminder of how they have grown.

 

 

Christmas Craft: Pine Cone Christmas Trees

Earlier in the year, Master O collected some pine cones while out adventuring with his grandfather.  I had told Master O about the Christmas craft I used to do with pine cones as  a child and for months he had reminded me we were to do some pine cone craft together.

I feared what I planned was going to be messy and difficult for my 4-year-old.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  It was lots of fun and simple.  I recommend giving it a go with your kiddies.

Earlier, I had dyed some rice green.  To avoid mess, I put the rice in a ziplock bag and poured in a few drops of colouring I had mixed with about a tablespoon of water.  Closing the bag I gave the rice a good rub until it was all well coloured.  I left he bag open to allow the rice to dry out for a few hours.

When the rice was ready, Master O covered sections of the pine cone in a thick layer of PVC or craft glue.  He then popped the pine cone in the ziplock bag and rolled it in the rice.  In no time the pine cone was covered in the coloured rice and looking very tree like.

Together, we then decorated the tree.  In the place of baubles, we glued on sequins and jewels.  Some glitter pipe cleaners easily transformed into tinsel and treetop star.

Master O loved this activity so much, he moved on to creating more pine cone Christmas trees without my help or prompting.  Christmas crafting score!

I think they look adorable.

Countdown to Christmas: Advent Traditions

Like most, I love Christmas time.  I especially love the lead up – the planning, cooking, gift wrapping and craft.  As a child, I especially loved the Advent calendar tradition.   It is no surprise then that we have a whole myriad of ways to celebrate and countdown the Advent season in the Crooked household.  Today, I thought I would share these with you.

Advent Calendars

I really hate the chocolate mould advent calendars.  Nothing about a Cars or Barbie themed calendar screams ‘Christmas’ to me.  I instead love the ones with beautiful illustrations and glitter.  They can be hard to find these days so whenever I find them I buy a few to put away.  This year we have this lovely Santa one.

Advent Stockings

A few years ago I picked up this cute string of stockings.  In each stocking I put two small chocolates for my 4-year-old and husband to have after dinner.

Santa’s Beard Christmas Countdown

I saw this free printable on A little Delightful.  Each day you trim a little more of Santa’s beard in the lead up to Christmas.  I thought it was a great idea for my son who needs to practise his use of scissors.

My Mother-in-law is Danish so we have a few Advent tradition from Denmark in our household.

Advent House and Presents

My Mother-in-law has made both the boys their own Christmas house which each year she fills with little presents.  Each morning in Advent they can open a new present.  The kids love it, obviously!

Danish Elves – Nisse

These guys are seriously cute and such a fun tradition.  Folklore says the Nisse lived in farmhouses and helped the family take care of the farm.  Around the  holiday season they could be mischievous, playing pranks on the householders.  Children on Christmas Eve would leave rice pudding out for the Nisse in the hope he would be ‘good’ and not play so many pranks.

I have  a collection of cardboard Nisse, each day in Advent I hide another cutout of a Nisse in the house for the kids to find. This year, as Master O is 4, he is old enough to have the Nisse trick him a few times.  Today, they left an apple in his shoe.

Advent candle

Many houses in Denmark burn an Advent candle in the lead up to Christmas, taking the time each night to sing carols while it burns.  I didn’t burn mine last year as they are hard to come by in Australia.  This year, Master O is preparing for a Christmas concert, so I hope we can practise his songs in the light of the Advent candle.

After writing all these down, it looks like we won’t have time to do anything but countdown to Christmas in December!  At least there is no way we are going to miss it.

Carnival Party Decorations

Yesterday, I shared with you the carnival party I threw for my two little boys.  You can read about it here.  Today, I thought I would share some of the decorations I used to create the carnival atmosphere and point you in the direction of some great online resources for your carnival/circus themed events.

I first got the idea for a carnival party from the Klapper Cirkus range of kid’s toys at Ikea.  We had the circus tent set up in the front yard.

 

And I had a selection of ringmaster and jester hats and  clown hand puppets for the kids to play with. You can view these online here.

 

I also had a selection of different sized Ikea Nyttja  frames which I filled with free, carnival-inspired printables from Pink Zebra Lounge.  There were some great food ones.  I loved the hot dogs one for our food buffet and the lemonade one for our drinks table.

 

Ikea also inspired me with their candy striped Christmas wrapping paper.  I used it most importantly as an easy clean tablecloth for the kid’s table.  To add a bit of height and interest to the dessert table’s focal point, the ferris wheel cupcake holder, I covered a box in this wrapping paper for the wheel to sit on.  You can see I also did this for the water urn in the picture above.

I used cardboard bunting to decorate the front fence and above the food table.  I printed the boy’s names on some of the bunting in a carnival style font.  You can download a gazillion different carnival font for free to make your signs and invitations.  One of the better sites is Font Space.

If you are in Australia, you can pick up this bunting in most variety shops these days, along with a whole host of matching decorations and tableware for your carnival parties.

I created my own backdrop for the dessert table with some fabric I bought on sale at my local haberdashery.  I just bought a length of light, narrow timber from my local hardware, luckily it was the same length as my table.  I used a staple gun to attach the material along the length and fishing line to hang it from my window that sat behind the table.  You could create your own backdrop in a similar manner, or try covering a painting canvas or foam sheets which you can then prop up on the table.  I was happy to buy material as I have a use for it after the event, but for a less expensive option, buy some wrapping paper to do this.

I purchased invitations, gift boxes and the like before I came across a fantastic site for free printables.  Catch My Party has a whole range of circus party printables including banners, water bottle and chocolate bar wrappers.  I printed this great sign and my food labels for the table.

 

Pumpkin Petunia also has a range of cute free circus printables.  I am thinking that this thank you card will get used by me.

 

There is a massive range of carnival/circus printables available for purchase online on sites like Etsy.  Most are affordable and adorable, giving your party a real cohesive feel.  Some of my favourites you can find here and here.

I had such fun putting together this party.  If you take the time to do a little internet surfing, you will fall in love with the idea of a carnival/circus party just like I did.  The inspiration out there is endless and I wish I could have jammed more ideas into this little party.

 

 

Not So Scary Spider Cupcakes

We are gearing up for Halloween in the Crooked House.  It is not a huge affair here in Australia, but we are lucky to have a nearby Halloween Street Party and most shops stock a reasonable selection of Halloween goodies.

The other night I decorated the entrances to the boy’s bedrooms with skeletons, pumpkins and bats while they were sleeping.  I was woken the following morning by my 3-year-old gasping, “Oh, I love that, Mummy!”  I was aiming for not too scary, so I think I got the right mix of gore and whimsy.

Yesterday, my son convinced me to make some Halloween inspired cupcakes.  He asked for eyeball toppers but I thought I would try something less scary.

After icing the cupcakes we took some Smarties (or you could use chocolate beanies, buttons or MMs) and placed them on the top.  Using a packet of store-bought icing tubes, I iced each Smartie a set of spider legs.

They were a huge hit with my son.   “They are so cute,” he exclaimed.

If you have more patience than I did yesterday,  you could first ice a spider’s web on the top then add Smartie spiders.

It coffee o’clock here so I’m off to gobble up some spiders now. Mmmmm