Oil on Paper Sun Catchers

Four kids....One project!! Wow!

Is it me, or do these days seem to be extra extra long??? 4 kids saying "I'm bored" is enough to make the sanest Mother crazy.... and I'm far from sane as it is! My special 'me time' is spent searching the blogs and Pinterst for any ideas to keep these guys busy so I can get a little work done....and breath. I found this post on Meaningful Mama (I just love that blog name!) and gave it a go with my brood. 3-13 year olds working on the same project...YES! That's like finding gold in my house.

Follow this link to a great tutorial and enjoy:)  MeaningfulMama.comhttp://www.meaningfulmama.com/2013/05/oil-suncatchers.html

I don't have a great picture of them all done.....we ended up spilling oil on some...hey, it happens..... This one is from the tutorial.  So pretty:)

 

And because I love my dogs..... Cricket before and after her summer grooming....same dog..I swear.

and that's my 5'8" soon to be 14 year old baby!!! How does this happen?????

 

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

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:)

Belly Bands for Mill Rescue Dogs

So, what is a belly band? It's like a doggy diaper for boy dogs and you put a panty liner in them and strap them on. I have never heard of such a thing until my sister started talking about it. Here I am, making belly bands for my sister....not for her exactly...I assure you she is totally potty-trained:) She has gotten very involved with doing what she can to help rescue Puppy Mill dogs. I am shocked at the lives they lead! Shocked! I've always known to stay away from buying puppies from a place like that, but I honestly can't believe anyone can treat such innocent animals the way they do. My sister adopted a Mill dog and they don't come potty-trained. This little guy had gone from home to home because of his lack of control. It makes these dogs harder to place into forever homes. In come the need for belly bands. When you "eliminate" the accidents...(I know..but I had to) people are more willing to give the dog longer to acclimate to their home.

measure and cut one fleece and one liner.

sew right sides together on 3 sides and turn.

iron sides and stich inside - sew on square of Velcro

sew on long rectangle of softer side of Velcro.

My sister is so sincere in her wanting to help she went out and bought her first sewing machine and taught herself to sew to make these. I'm so thrilled that she has discovered for herself what our Grandmother loved so much.Sisters always want to help somehow, and of course the fact that I could sew something that had meaning made the task so much more great.

My beautiful model.

Now all I have to do is mail them to:

National Mill Dog Rescue
P.O. Box 88468
Colorado Springs, CO 80908

The size that we made were the ones they said they were running low on. I guess she had also made some smaller ones.

Thank you my dear sister for letting me help. I love you.

Good-Bye Mr. Dove

T

After 2 hours on Criaglist Mr. Dove has a new home. I tell you, if I was looking for a business to be in I'd have one that focused on chickens. I know they don't sell for much, but anytime I've posted a chicken on craigslist.com I've had response in a matter of hours. I've had people drive for hours for some of my extra chicks. Granted, we live in Central New York and you have to drive hours to go anywhere it seems, but still...for a little chick them come from miles.

I thought a rooster may be harder to find a home for because there were a few listed. However, we are taking little Mr. Dove to his new home on the way to the soccer game today. I always get so nervous when we part with a feathered friend. I can't come out and say "you can't eat him!"...though I'd like to. I always charge, because I feel that a free chicken is sure to end up in the pot..but then again $5 is nothing for an organically grown chicken. He's small though....

You can tell that we not actually farmers. It's a shame really. I do see the irony in it. We eat chicken, and I spend a lot on the local chicken. Why can't we grow and eat our own? That was that plan really. A friend and I were going to each grow a small clutch of meat chickens and then trade them. That way we would have no emotional attachment....and neither would our children..to the chickens we were eating. Organic chickens are crazy expensive and I'm forced to only offer chicken occasionally because we are too weak to grow our own food. We wouldn't survive in the wild.

My husband looked at all the YouTube instructions on how to process them and thought for a while he could do it. ( what would life be life without YouTube??? It's the best thing EVER!!) He thought about it for a while and we got all excited about being homesteaders. Then it kind of hit him. One of my sons is a total vegetarian. We are all pretty close to being meat-free (except my oldest son - he would eat a cow on his own if he had never met the cow face to face) I guess we just have to accept that we can't do it. Our chickens keep us in fresh eggs and friendship.

We wish Mr. Dove well, but we know his fate is his own. I don't want to know.

Angel Kitten

Our Angel Kitten

Thank you for the wonderful comments and support.

Francis is doing great and my son is doing the best he can. Thank you again for the prayers. He'll never get over losing his father, but as the days pass and the kitten grows, he is dealing with things well.

I can never explain how this little kitten came into his life to comfort him at the very moment my son needed him the most. He is indeed an Angel.