Crescent Moon

Sep. 30, 2008

Outside

Posted in Crafts

It's still hot here, but not as hot as it was all summer. We've been able to turn off the air conditioner and open the windows. We have also been able to spend more time outside.

Saturday, Blaze and I talked about Fall colors and leaves swirling in the breeze. Then we made wet-on-wet water color paintings using the colors we had talked about.

we decided afterwords that the one above looked like an abstract Mickey Mouse.

Blaze has also been spending a lot of time on his favorite activity, making bubbles. We found a never-before-opened set for making large bubbles at the Hospice Resale Shop for 49 cents.

I spent some time over the weekend cleaning out the garden and preparing it for Fall/Winter planting.
It's a desolate wasteland now,

But, hope springs eternal:

The only plants that are still thriving in the garden are the lemon grass and the sesame. I have been particularly interested in what the sesame is doing, because I never knew how sesame seeds grew before.

Here are the flowers:

And here are what the pods look like that the seeds will come from:

More Fall foliage in Florida:

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Sep. 15, 2008

Craft Like a Pirate

Posted in Crafts

   Argh! It be time to show off some of my pirate themed projects:

    These bendy dolls were made for Blaze's 6th birthday, which had a pirate theme:

     The Crew of the Surly Toddled II:

                  The Captain : Phillip Fopp

The Captain's lovely wife Brigantine Fopp and their baby boy Jean-Pierre

The first Mate ( Ula came up with a name for him based on a historical character, but I can't remember what it was and lost the notebook I'd written it in).

Jack

One of the Tarr twins (common sailors)

The Helmsman and Navigator: Gaspar Perdido

The Captain's daughter Bonny, ship's cook and the inspiration for the name of Capt. Fopps other ship, " The Sullen Teen":

The following pirate doll is not part of the crew. I made him for a boy at school who wanted a pirate who looked like himself:

And last, but not least, the ship herself:

Here are instructions for how to make the arms for the bendy dolls:

One skein of embroidery floss will make 2 sets of arms.

1. Fold one tan or brown pipe stem cleaner in half, to mark where the middle is.

2. Fold each end inward, so the two ends meet in the middle. Press firmly on the folds to mark their location.

3. Beginning in the middle start wrapping skin toned embroidery floss arounf the pipe stem cleaner. When you come to the bend, wrap about 1 centimeter beyond that point and then fold the pipe stem cleaner's end down tight against the wrapped part and continue wrapping, catching a double thickness of pipe cleaner until you reach the middle again.

4. Repeat with other side.

5. When both sides are finished, tie off the tread in the middle.

6. Insert through arm holes in wooden doll body.

Here be some other Pirate Craft ideas:

How to make a shrunken head:
shrunken head

Door Hangers:
www.kidsturncentral.com/themes/piratedkh.htm

Balloon sword making instructions:

Introduction to Balloon Modeling : How to Make a Balloon Swords -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

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Sep. 5, 2008

Misc. fun stuff on the web

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I am declaring this a Fun Day. I'm letting Blaze sleep late, mostly because he was so tired this morning that he wouldn't wake up, and then we are going to go have a picnic at the nature center.

So, in keeping with this theme, here are some fun things from the web:

What was the number one song the day you were born? Find out here:

www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm

Nika's dad sent her this link and she used it to make a very cute little box that looks like Totoro. There are lots of other characters on the site as well. You really should check this one out! :

www.cubeecraft.com/index.html

Blaze loves his Hamtaro DVD and spent several days wanting to watch it over and over ( if you are not familiar with Hamtaro, it's a sweet children's cartoon about hamsters who have adventures while their owners are away). This site has free Hamtaro paper dolls:
www.ru****a.com/sm/dolls2.html
the above website address is not correct because the program that moderates language on this blog believes I was trying to type a forbidden word instead of someone's name. If you would like to access this website, the first * stands for s, the second is h, the third * is i, and the fourth one is t.

Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream has a cute set of New England style building to print and assemble:

www.benjerry.com/fun_stuff/papercrafts/neweng_village.cfm

And Honda has a site with print and asseble scenes that include cars, camping supplies, and a garden. Some of these pieces might be good for dioramas.

www.honda.co.jp/HondaToyTown/mizorogi/

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Dec. 14, 2007

A fresh wreath

Posted in Crafts

Today's project was finishing up the wreath I was making from all the branches I had to cut off the bottom of the Christmas tree so that it would stay upright in the stand.

For lack of any other heavy wire, we used an old metal clothes hanger. So old, in fact, that as soon as I started trying to bend it, the hook part broke off completely.

I used thin wire to make a chain of Douglas Fur branches and then attached the chain to the heavy wire with floral tape.

The pine cones are from our side yard and were attached with wire.

And then a bow was attached by wire to the bottom and another piece of wire used as a loop at the top to hang it up by.
And, this is the final result of my first ever live wreath making:

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Dec. 13, 2007

12 Days 'til Christmas

Posted in Crafts

Just for fun, since there are 12 Days left until Christmas, I think I will try to post a project (cooking or craft) to prepare for Christmas each day for the next 12 days.
We can start off with the project Blaze and I made today to give as gifts to his therapists and grandmother, potpourri jars.

Materials Needed:
one glass bowl (found at Dollar tree, price $1)
one string of 35 white Christmas lights ( our were from the after Christmas sales at Target last year, price around $.85)
your choice of potpourri (found at Dollar Tree, price $1)
one crocheted doily (found at Jo-Ann Fabrics, price $1.79)
fabric ribbon of your choice

1. Start by feeding a few of the lights into the bottom of the bowl.

2. pour in a little of the potpourri and then feed in a few more lights. Keep alternating until all the lights are in the bowl and it is full of potpourri ( one bag of potpourri should fill about 3 bowls).

3. place doily over the mouth of the bowl and tie in place with a pretty ribbon.

large mason jars can also be used for this, just leave off the lid.

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Dec. 11, 2007

Festive

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We have had a very festive couple days. Last night after we brought in the Christmas tree, Blaze painted these puffy cloth letters:

This evening we ordered pizza, listened to Christmas carols, and decorated the tree.

I put the letters Blaze painted on a red ribbon and hung them above one of the doors.

We also watched Shrek the Halls on t.v.

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