{our creative space..} papier-mache fairy mask..

It's the school holidays here in South Australia so I've been trying to keep the little princess busy while at home for the extra couple of days. Yesterday she was booked in to do fairy crafts with her little buddy but unfortunately the class was cancelled.. so mumma had to have a little sneak peak into spotlight to see what she could come up with.

One item that we've purchased a couple of times now is a little fairy mask so she can dress up like Harmony or Rhapsody.. and each time they fall apart within a couple of wears.. that dancing gig is quite taxing on the masks by the looks of it. So needless to say, when I stumbled upon a papier-mache mask that was nice and sturdy and just waiting to be glitzed up and decorated, I grabbed one for her and one for her little buddy and figured they could still do a little bit of fairy craft while at home.

It really was a simple project and although tired, they both seemed to rush through it and tackled it with ease. The girls painted the mask first and we sprinkled glitter all over it while the paint was still wet. Once dry I punched a couple of holes on the sides, thread through some thin elastic and Ella added a few more sparkles to it. The total cost of the project was less than $5 as we used paint and glitter we already had at home.

Pop past our creative spaces blog for more creative inspiration..

{etsy love..} pdf doll-house pattern..

I've been on a hunt for a doll house for my little girl for a while now and have even contemplated making one myself. No big dramas either way, but I guess what has been stopping me is the question of whether it will just be another big item in her room that will get used once in a while but mainly just take up space. We've got a little castle and a few of the Little People range buildings which do just that.. take up space. 

So when I stumbled upon this little treasure, the Eco Friendly PDF Dollhouse Pattern from a fellow Etsykids Team member, DollsAndDaydreams.. there was a huge smile on my face and finally an answer I was happy with. 

There are even printouts to decorate your house and turn it into a farmhouse, dollhouse and a school house.. So potentially you could have a whole little village. 

What I really love about this idea is that you get to teach your kids about recycling and making things yourself rather than buying a manufactured product. It gives you the chance to make something with the kiddos and gives them the chance to decorate the house themselves. Great for all ages and such a cool idea for school projects too. 

Well.. I'm off to purchase this little download and its going on the rainy day to-do-list.

{easter craft..} chocolates for our friends..

I'm slowly getting used to the concept of school holidays. So like many fellow mummas out there I've lined up a selection of craft activities to keep my little darling occupied. 

We spent the day today making chocolates for her and zaccy's friends at childcare for tomorrow and also for her teachers and our neighbours and friends. I made up some cards that say Happy Easter from Ella and Zaccy, printed them off, cut them to size and we popped a little bit of double sided sticky tape on each card and stuck an easter egg to it.

For the older folk we (I) added a bit of cointreou to the chocolate and we made little eggs and popped them in cello bags..

I'll try and pop up piccies of our other easter crafts before easter.. but no promises.. 

this week has been bought to you by the letter {P}..

{image from here}

My little Princess turned four on Tuesday and we celebrated her birthday with a trip to the zoo. Her favourite animal (and of course merchandise that came home with us) was a little Panda called Funi, dressed in none other than pink. The day after we did the annual trip to the podiatrist and sadly to say.. my little princess ain't going to be wearing thongs or little beauties like the ones above for much longer.. yup.. she's got her daddy's feet and has to have orthodics..

I spent the morning painting t-shirts with Ella's class today, just for something a little different, to celebrate her birthday than the party bag for each kid to take home sort of deal. I had a ball, got covered in paint and the kids were quite simply hilarious and adorable all at the same time.

Then off to the podiatrist for me.. yup yup.. mumma can't ignore that excruciating pain in her foot no more.. and the winner is "a torn ligament", yippee for me!! I now get to have a foot/ankle nicely taped up, get to wear a wedge in my shoe and have to wear closed in shoes from the moment I wake up to when I go to sleep for 12 weeks. Fun! NOT! On a good note.. at least the weather is cooling down.

I finished the day off with making 24 party bags for the little princesses party on the weekend and stewed some cinnamon pears.


On that note.. goodnight!!

{kiddy art..} festive crafting with the kiddos..

Almost all the pressies are now wrapped and sitting on top of the bookshelf (safe zone).. We just had to think of something for Ella's and Zaccy's friends at kindy.. so with the inspiration from Emma over at Frog Goose and Bear, we made little bags of Magic Reindeer Food. Oh my goodness... so easy and so much fun.. Here are a few snaps..

ella was such a great little helper!!

these are the little cards i printed off and cut to size.. 

ella counting the little bags to make sure there is enough for everyone..  

basket full and ready to take in to kindy tomorrow.. 

my proud lil cherub.. 

ps.. i've decided to pull the {kiddy art..} linky and just do my kiddy art.. posts as we do art with the kiddos.. feel free to leave any links in the comments section, I'd still love to see what everyone is up to!!

xx
kasia

kiddy art.. hanmade wrapping paper..

The advent calendar is out.. The house is looking more and more christmassy.. meaning that once my birthday has gone, our christmas tree goes up..

We've been busy making wrapping paper with the kids.. such a simple concept.. paint on large pieces of paper, dry, wrap and bingo.. but such a gorgeous and personal result..

what are your gorgeous monkeys up to?

are you getting into the christmas spirit?

here are a couple of links to christmas projects you can do with your kids

Scissors Paper Rock - Gift Tags

Seven Cherubs - Cheap Christmas Crafts

Tree Top Angel

Christmas Photo Stars

Christmas Foam Stamp

Box of Love

see you next week with some other ideas.. 

feel free to share any other links to kids craft you've come across

this linky is open all week so no hurry here.. 

have a great week.. 

kiddy art..

I completely missed {kiddy art..} last week.. my sincere apologies.. We had another big week of ticking off things off that to-do list which after this weekend I must say is looking much more achievable..

Totally and utterly loving Ella's drawings at the moment.. from top left..
~ the sun ~ daddy ~ daddy's van ~ daddy in detail

The kiddo's have been into the blackboard wall lately.. a lovely relief from cleaning up paint continuously.. and some amazing artwork has been created.. it's just a matter of getting a photo quickly enough before the duster or cloth comes out..

We've also started on some christmas decorations that need to be photographed.. stay tuned..

What have your kiddo's been up to in the art department this week?? Do you have any great ideas for Christmas crafts?? 

Join in with your kids artwork.. links to kids art ideas or anything creative thats happening in your kids world.. 

kiddy art..

It really does seem that no week passes without a ton of painting at our place.. so no painting pics this time.

Ella is really loving kindy at the moment and each day we role play all the different kids and carers and one thing she has been asking for is a white board to help out in the role play area. So of course we went on a little adventure to officeworks to invest in a whiteboard, colourful whiteboard markers and an eraser.. hey, I'm all for promoting creativity and imagination in every way humanly possible.

There has been a lot of role playing using the white board.. writing letters, numbers, shapes etc.. its just glorious.. Its such a fun little addition as both kids can sit down to draw and draw and draw and I don't have to keep running to get paper..

So in a long, round about way, I have caved in and pens, markers and pencils are fair game for both kids now.. A little extra supervision is sometimes needed when Zaccy takes off with a texta, but its been a lot of fun!!

Example below.. a daily chore of cooking dinner can be a lot of fun at our household.. While making a potato bake the other day, Ella decorated the potatoes before they were peeled by giving them little faces and smiles and adding sticky tape hair and Zaccy played shop with the onions and potatoes.. spreading onion skin throughout the house.. nothing a vacuum cant fix... Cisco, our little visitor had a lot of fun in the process too..

Before I ask you what you got up to.. check out this amazing post from one of my all time favourite blogs.. lil blue boo.. I have my roll of paper from ikea ready to be decorated.. Just building up the courage.. 

So what amazing crafty, arty, decorative things did your kids get up to??

Use the linky below to link up to your blog or add a link in the comments section.. I'd love to see.. I love to be inspired!!

kiddy art..

One of my absolutely favourite art activities for my kids are the reusable water painting books I picked up at a $2 shop a couple of years back.. and I am sooo glad I bought a little bundle of them. They are the perfect quick activity to set up for the kiddos to give me a snippet of time to whip something up for dinner. All that's involved is water, paintbrush and the book... no aprons.. no worries about what they are wearing and a cloth wipes up any spills and splashes in a sec..

And they really are reusable.. they dry out and are ready for the next round within about 10 minutes..

Love love love these books!! If you are a new mum and stumble across these on your travels.. pick up a bundle!!

what activity do your kiddos love and gives you a few minutes to yourself?

kiddy art..

cold.. wet.. windy.. that's our weekend so far.. meaning we did a lot of art while at home.. we got the rollers out this week, which are always a ball. i normally leave these for a special treat mainly because i need to be really attentive so that our walls don't develop a new look...

feel free to add your link to a blog post or facebook album featuring your kids art.. and please link back here so others can join in too.. 

have a great weekend!!

kiddy art..

we didn't get up to anything supersonic new and interesting in the art department this week.. the paint was out as always and a lot of it.. ella was very liberal with the amounts she put on each page... she even made a sculpture out of one of the pages as it was so incredibly wet and insisted i hang up her little sculpture to dry..

the photos of it remind me of my trip to antelope canyon.. which just happens to be one of my favourite places on this planet.. so she did pretty well as far as i'm concerned..

what have your kids been up to in the art department this week??

join in using the linky tool below..

and please link back to here.. so others can join in too..

kiddy art..

this week we got inspired by mr maker.. its one show on the telly that we all sit down and watch.. and i particularly love it as it guarantees the kids attention long enough for me to make, sit and drink a hot cup of coffee.. thank you mr maker!!

anyway.. this week he was making paint monsters, where he thinned out some paint with water and the dribbled a bit of it on the page and blew it around with a straw.. you can get some cool effects.. we didn't quite get to the point of drawing in eyes but it was fun just blowing the paint around the page... we used sparkly paint of course :o) 

what have your kids been up to in the art department this week??

join in using the linky tool below..

and please link back to here.. so others can join in too..

kiddy art..

The sparkly paints, fairy stickers, popsicle sticks and sequens came out this week.. Ella is gearing up for her fairy dancing which starts this week so its been a girly sort of week.. she danced to the fairies, dressed up like a fairy and the art was very much reflected her excitement for all things fairy.. 

what have your kids been up to in the art department this week??

join in using the linky tool below..

and don't forget to link back to here.. so others can join in too..

kiddy art..

Keeping on the art supply stash theme.. here is another little find.. a set of scissors (kid safe supposedly) they cut little wiggles, zigzags etc.. I got these from Ella's kindy fundraiser catalogue for under $10 for the set.. bargain. She just loooves them but my magazine stash is shivering. I think we will be making our own gift tags for christmas with these little guys.. The possibilities are endless..

Its the school holidays here in SA.. and I'm sure your art supply stashes are being raided by the kids.. what's cool in your stash?? what have your kiddies been up to these holidays??

join in using the linky tool below.. 

i'd love to see what other cool stuff is out there as far as kids art tools

and i'd love to see what creative adventures your kids are up to..

don't forget to link back to here.. so others can join in too..