Arbitrary Skinny Drink Pattern

One of life's happy accidents.

Skinny drinks made a pattern with themselves. Yay.

DIY Stargazing Box for Baby

I saw this idea all over Pinterest so I gave it a shot. It took about 15 minutes to make and has been a fun activity for Archer. All in all...worth it.

I simply took a big cardboard box, laid it on its side, poked holes and shoved led lights in there. I felt like it was a little blinding so I taped some dark blue tissue paper over the lights. Love it!

DIY Baby Shakers

Found some old sprinkles bottles and decided to make some "noise makers" for Archer....added glitter cause I couldn't help it. Baby should be supervised while playing with these.

I hot glued the lids down for obvious reasons.

In retrospect, they seem a bit girly...so this could be fun for a girl's tea party or play kitchen. 

Veggie Dinner

Roasted Sweet Potato with Spaghetti Squash, Steamed Green Beans and Honey Glazed Garlic Carrots

Stamping Onesies

I carved some stamps last month and decided to try them out on some white t-shirt onesies for Archer.

I'm using Fabric Printing Ink.

"arrow stamped onesie"

Beginning the envelope onesie....tried to be official with the ruler on this one.

 I think they turned out fun! I'll heat set them by putting them in the dryer before washing them. 

This ink takes about 24 hours to fully dry. 

Safari Hat Adventure

"Adventures in The Safari Hat"

Part One: To be read in the voice of Steve Erwin

Featuring: Archer

................…......................................

The key to a good Safari is a great breakfast of pulverized squash and breastmilk. 

Once that's out of the way, then you take a good power nap. 

Now it's time to dawn that new Safari hat and be on your way.

You'll start by noticing a wild creature on your right called a Millie June. A majestic creature but deadly if you mention the words 'dog park'.

Now I wonder why type of mammal we'll discover as we trek through these open fields...

If you look to your left, you'll see a pack of wild giraffe. If we get close enough, I might can wrestle one to the ground. 

Ahh, mate! I got one by the hooves! 

Wild giraffe is delicious this time of year.

That was filling. Let's see what else we can spot out here, mate.

Got me another one! The ears are the best part! 

It's really not a crime, they are abundant down here in these parts. Trying to thin out the herd.

Really. It's fine. 

Moving on. I bet we can see some wild grass snakes over there.

Shhhhh...here comes one.

Got one! Don't worry I won't eat it.

They're not as good as giraffe meat.

Well, mate, that just about does it for our great safari adventure. Thanks for joining us and don't forget to tip your driver. 

Dyeing Eggs and So Much More...

Hey fellow artistic/crafty/holiday loving moms out there...or dads.

I decided to dye Easter eggs for my sleeping 5 month old today because now it finally seems appropriate. Been doing this super fun Easter tradition for years, all started by my mother. We used to draw on the eggs with crayons first then dip them in different colors. There was always the egg with your name on it...the 'I Love So-and-So egg", the spring flowers drawn better than everyone by mom egg, etc. 

Well this year as I was browsing Pinterest I came across lots of ambitious ideas and settled on the plain and simple rubber bands and just dyed eggs. No frills.

I also learned that you can use food coloring instead of those cheap little tablets so I thought I'd try that this time around. 

Don't these guys look cute? Like gnomes or something. Anyways...

I used this chart for mixing colors but soon went rogue and created my own versions. You can find yourself a better version on Pinterest...but you get the gist.

Here's my notes...

Okay so I'll quickly admit how fun this is...I even felt a little guilty that I was having so much fun while Archer was asleep, but he's 5 months old...it's not like he would actually enjoy this...is what I kept telling myself.

First I boiled some eggs....don't make my 7 year old mistake when I just grabbed some raw eggs out of the fridge one year and started dying those. Poor cousin Leah never saw it coming when she threw those eggs in her beautiful Easter basket that year. Yeah...boil the eggs first.

I tried setting the eggs out to get them room temp for a few hours but I still ended up with some cracked eggs. Oh well. I'm not a perfectionist.

So everyone is raving about how great using a whisk is for dipping your eggs...I am not convinced. Maybe for little kiddos this would be good, but an old fashioned spoon was my tool of choice. Or my fingers which now look zombie-esqué.

Love having art hands again. 

Anyways...I did attempt the lace-wrapped egg but it didn't do much. 

Here's my Roy G. Biv eggs...which brings me to the "more part" of this post. If you're not using this Easter tradition as a color theory lesson for your kids, you're missing out on a golden opportunity. If you aren't an art teacher, then just experiment with color mixing and discover with your kiddos. Soooo fun and educational for everyone.

The color theory lesson doesn't have to stop there. Before you just pour out all that beautiful dye...you can experiment with mixing the dyes together...try to make intermediate colors like blue-green or yellow-orange. 

Then I realized that my failed lace egg produced a beautifully dyed piece of lace...so I cut several strips and put them in each color. Now I have rainbow lace! Yay!

Sooo many fun things to do with this dye! 

Finally, when you're done exploring the colors...use them as watercolors! Duh! I'm kicking myself for never thinking of this before. Obvi.

 So many things you can do with this painted paper rather than just letting it be a painting. You can make paper bows, do a paper weaving, weave a basket...the list goes on and on. 

So I hope you explore your dyes a little more this year and see what color experiments you and yours can hatch. (Pun intended.)