#34 Make my own cards - linoprinting!

#19 make or rennovate piece of furniture

Activity ahoy! I've been tinkering away on this one in mum's garage.

Can you tell what this is? No? Clearly some old drawers, about to become a play kitchen for the kids. Naturally, when I say "about" I don't mean in the next few days.

Meanwhile, I tried my first painted calico doll.

Elliot loves him, although we have since had an argument about why Iron Man isn't smiling. I went for the genuine creepy static mask but he thinks the mask smiles when Tony smiles.

#31 WEA course

It was, as Elly would say, awesome.

Mung bean madness

I was planning a post reminiscing about things I've made the kids over the last few years, but have been distracted making new things. Today Elliot got excited about beanbags. This would have been a super-quick project without a four year old helping. He "helped" with most parts, but I did draw the line when he crawled under the table and pushed the sewing machine pedal with his hand. Yeah, while my foot was on it.

Here he is helping me measure.

At this point he got a little bored and started to crack open the mung beans (while I made jokes such as "making some dal over there, darl".) This would normally be hard work but he happens to have a fibreglass cast on his right arm, which proved effective. A little tip for the future there, should you lose your nut crackers and have an injured child nearby.

A bit of sewing later, and ta da!

This first game looks mighty civilised. Naturally it soon degenerated into a pretend snowball fight and the institution of two basic rules for beanbags:

1. Underarm only
2. No throwing at my face.

Outdoors, we had some fun last week in one of our dormant veggie patches. Elly's childcare centre installed a butterfly garden, so we decided to make one at home too. Builders hat apparently necessary because we were digging holes.

Glorious op shop finds

Since I have been such a shocking poster for the last year I thought I’d ease myself back in with some photo-heavy posts. You know it's bad when you can't remember your blogger password.

One of the things I love to do is to meander through op shops. I say meander because, as you know if you have tried to browse with children, there’s no meandering allowed. I have three favourite shops nearby that I visit regularly. Sometimes I take the kids, give them a few dollars and let them pick toys. Elly has brought home spectacular finds, including a number of things with functioning batteries that I’d thought would have worn out by now. Fireman Sam book with siren button - I am looking at you.

But nothing beats a slow meander round the shop, poking into all the treasures. If you’re like me and love to re-use and re-purpose things there is always something sweet to find. On rare occasions I buy clothes that fit me. On others I buy dresses and skirts and amend them. Or I pick up really large men’s shirts, pillow slips and pretty table cloths because I want to make something from the fabric. Sometimes I even do! Martha von Trapp sports a sweet little yellow dress at the moment that I made her from a pillow slip. On some rare days, serendipity is on your side and you find a stash of goodies. Today was one of those days.

Let's start with the first two things for me: some lovely handbags. I don't buy leather much, but second hand is less problematic for we veggie types. It's had a fair amount of use, and the cow is well past its use-by date. How pretty are these colours! About $2 each.

Because I can't help myself with haberdashery, some funky coloured zips and wee silver buckles. At 50c each this may be a better strategy than that time I bought a coat for $8 because it had about 20 huge wooden buttons on it that I wanted. My financial calculations were fine, but then I ended up with a button-less coat I didn't want to wear.

The obligatory pillow case so I can sew something with this purple birdy fabric... I haven't yet thought of what.

No little cat, they are not real birds. Please do not kill.

Great $5 find - a single doona cover with colourful alphabet animals. This is for a large single by the looks of it, and has the same pattern on the back. As there's only one side seam I can split it open and use the whole width. I'm planning one big floor rug for the kids, and there will be heaps of material left for other things as yet unthought of.

See the cute animals?

 

Look how life-like this one is! Spooky.

This is a neat little case, perhaps originally for a camera? I'm going to turn this into something fun for Martha. It's nice and solid and all the zips work well, which is important for kiddie bags or they get rather frustrated opening and shutting them. Car garage? Doll house with dressing room? Doctor's kit?

Lots of space inside!

But without a doubt this last one is my absolute favourite. I've been keeping my eye out for old board games. I was thinking it would be fun to customise a Monopoly board, with local places and activities the kids know. Instead I found something - if you'll pardon the expression - genuinely retro.

I haven't counted to verify the 56 claim, but it is packed with different activities. There are pieces missing of course, but disks and dice are easy to replace. We've been having half an hour quiet game time with Elly every night after Martha goes to bed. This will be fun to explore. Check out these boards:

I adore the design of the set. The colours and graphics are lovely. Here are some close ups:

And the truly best bit?