Puffy Paint

Materials needed:

closeable plastic baggies - one for each color
Into each bag put -
 - 1/2 cup flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup water with more on hand to reach desired texture
- food coloring
- card stock.  The moisture makes paper curl..so cardboard would be great. 

 Half the fun with the puffy paint was making it.

Just snip off the corner and squeeze into the bottle....no mess! I bought these off of Amazon for about $3 but I am going to remember to save our mustard bottles from now on.

 I always have their old cookie sheets ready to go. We do most crafts on these and they are so easy to clean no mater what kind of project you are doing. (I keep their play-dough in a plastic container on them and leave it sitting on the table all the time. Great for when I'm making lunch! )

 Keep the constancy thin enough to come out easily but thick enough to keep it's shape. I had to add water after a while.

Beautiful Artist

Yes, it's safe to eat......

I found this through a picture on Google images and checked out a number of recipes. I never have self-raising flour or shaving cream so I felt discouraged. I really try to make our crafts out of stuff I have around the house otherwise I'm afraid of going down that slippery slope of supporting our craft habit. I'm sure some of you can relate:)

I found these directions and voila...I knew this was the one. This is from Tried and True (click on the link)  There are all kinds of great ideas on her site!


Some tips:

Our paint thickened up as we went....we played with them for a while. If this happens just add more water and shake really well. I also had a hard time with clogs. You'll want to make sure it's mixed up really well and you might have to rinse out the top a few times. My youngest had some problems with it a while before I realized it was partially clogged.

 I opened the microwave to find my towel and my daughters picture had brown burn marks. That was the last time I set the time to 1 minute! Some microwaves are stronger, so keep an eye on your work. I highly recommend drying the pictures in short bursts so you can keep an eye on it. I did 30 seconds at a time and stopped as soon as it was dry enough. Warning though...it must be dry "enough" or you may find some mold at a later date. We don't tend to keep stuff we make for very long...or we would be surrounded!

 Keep your water glass away from a thirsty kitten.....he has his own water but ours must taste better. He even tries to steal my tea!

Francis our dog-cat.<3

Ranting About Waiting

I've read that it's not good to hold your anger in. It can actually shorten your life. So, this is strictly for my own health. When I take my child to the doctor I am always 15 minutes early to make sure they have all the paperwork needed. I also have things filled out before hand and pre-register when possible.

We had a 2:15 appoint. We were there at 2:00 with paperwork in hand. At 2:45 someone came out and checked my sons eyes. This took a few minutes and simply checked with the eye chart and for color blindness. Nothing we really needed, but fine, it's part of seeing the ophthalmologist.  We were then taken back to the waiting room to wait. I always ask how long it will be because with 4 kids I always have to be somewhere. I can't be late getting home for my youngest son to get off the bus. She kindly informed us it would be about 45 minutes before the doctor would see us. I kindly informed her that we had a 2:15 appoint. They then told us that any time we go there we need to expect to be there for 2 hours.

WHAT?? 2 hours to wait to see the doctor?? Why not just set the appointments so everyone doesn't have to wait 2 hours? That sounds logical to me. I told her that we would have to reschedule but she made it clear that everyone just needs to know that they will have to wait that amount of time because he sees 80 people a day. Granted, we live in an area that just doesn't have much and there is a huge concentration of older people. (the young people have all moved away...like 2/3 of the people that used to live in central New York are now gone)  Still....there are other ophthalmologist in the area.You can be assured that we will find one and tell everyone I know not to go to this place!

It's not just the waiting and clear sign of total disrespect for the patients time but the waiting room as well as the examining room were FULL of posters and pamphlets for Botox and braces. Why?? The whole set up was just really insulting. Clearly these are not doctors we are dealing with but simply businessmen who spent a little more time in school. I was waiting for a used car to be for sale in the waiting room.

I can't say if the doctors were any good or not because I'm not going to be so insulted as to expect to wait for 2 hours when appointments could clearly be set up better. I can say though that none of us will ever go to that eye physicians office on Ellinwood Drive!

Ok, I'm done. I feel better.

Do you blame me? Would you wait 2 hours?

Muffin pan crayons

The finished crayons

 These have all ready been used in hours of pretend play...none of which included actual coloring.

I didn't shave the old crayons...I just cut and let the girls sort them how they wanted.

 

 

We made these up while we were waiting for cookies to come out of the oven. I'm cheap..I mean thrifty smart.. and didn't want to run the oven without another use. I had the oven set at 350 degrees and stuck these in as soon as I took the cookies out. I just watched them, so I don't have a set time to tell you.

One thing I will say about how they came out is that we needed to sand the smooth side a bit to color. There was residue from the non-stick spray I used. I'm guessing you could do it without the spray, but the directions that I remember called for it. My girls mostly like these for "jewels" but we will also be using them for plastic leaf rubbings later this week.

This is the new smile face:)

Innocent Looks

"Gypsy the Innocent"

Gypsy's new friend

There isn't much that needs said about that.....she's perfect and we have all fallen in love with her completely...we just keep the vinegar spray at the ready. Really, we've done great. We've had many accident free days and the end of mistakes is right around the corner...I just know it:)