The Lucky Draw Project at My Poppet

image courtesy of My Poppet

Have you ever visited the blog My Poppet?  It's written by the lovely & very clever Cintia, and it's full of vintage and crafty goodness.  Now there is an extra fun reason to visit My Poppet -- The Lucky Draw Project!  What is the The Lucky Draw Project?  Good question! Cintia describes it thus: 

It’s a collection of printable colouring pages each illustrated by a different Australian artist available every couple of weeks right in your in-box. Over time you can collate them into your own colouring book, or even frame your favourites and display them in your home. - See more at: http://mypoppet.com.au/the-lucky-draw-project#sthash.wpEiM2hy.dpuf

It’s a collection of printable colouring pages each illustrated by a different Australian artist available every couple of weeks right in your in-box. Over time you can collate them into your own colouring book, or even frame your favourites and display them in your home. - See more at: http://mypoppet.com.au/the-lucky-draw-project#sthash.zIqx1IsV.dpuf

The Lucky Draw Project is a collection of coloring pages each illustrated by a different Australian artist available every couple of weeks right in your in-box.  Over time you can collate them into your own coloring book or even frame your favorites and display them in your home.

It’s a collection of printable colouring pages each illustrated by a different Australian artist available every couple of weeks right in your in-box. Over time you can collate them into your own colouring book, or even frame your favourites and display them in your home. - See more at: http://mypoppet.com.au/the-lucky-draw-project#sthash.wpEiM2hy.dpuf

It’s a collection of printable colouring pages each illustrated by a different Australian artist available every couple of weeks right in your in-box. Over time you can collate them into your own colouring book, or even frame your favourites and display them in your home. - See more at: http://mypoppet.com.au/the-lucky-draw-project#sthash.wpEiM2hy.dpuf

It’s a collection of printable colouring pages each illustrated by a different Australian artist available every couple of weeks right in your in-box. Over time you can collate them into your own colouring book, or even frame your favourites and display them in your home. - See more at: http://mypoppet.com.au/the-lucky-draw-project#sthash.wpEiM2hy.dpuf

It’s a collection of printable colouring pages each illustrated by a different Australian artist available every couple of weeks right in your in-box. Over time you can collate them into your own colouring book, or even frame your favourites and display them in your home. - See more at: http://mypoppet.com.au/the-lucky-draw-project#sthash.wpEiM2hy.dpuf

It’s a collection of printable colouring pages each illustrated by a different Australian artist available every couple of weeks right in your in-box. Over time you can collate them into your own colouring book, or even frame your favourites and display them in your home. - See more at: http://mypoppet.com.au/the-lucky-draw-project#sthash.zIqx1IsV.dpuf

image courtesy of My Poppet, artwork by Madeleine Stamer

To find out more and sign up you can visit The Lucky Draw Project information page here. And guess what... it's free!

image courtesy of My Poppet, artwork by Madeleine Stamer

Thank you, Cintia, for the beautiful artwork which has been arriving on a regular basis in my in-box.  And thank you to all the wonderful Australian artists who have shared their work via this delightful project...

It’s a collection of printable colouring pages each illustrated by a different Australian artist available every couple of weeks right in your in-box. Over time you can collate them into your own colouring book, or even frame your favourites and display them in your home. - See more at: http://mypoppet.com.au/the-lucky-draw-project#sthash.wpEiM2hy.dpufzThank you, Cintia, for the lovely artwork which has been arriving on a regular basis in my in-box.  And thank you to all the wonderful Australian artists who have agreed to share their work via this delightful project...

Happy Anniversary

These shy birds...

     

Sat on top of this beautiful cake... and it was a beautiful day...

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear :: Finger Leg Puppets

 

The other day my little one & I were singing the song Teddy Bear Picnic and making our fingers dance; I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be fun to have some of those dancing finger puppets to go with this song?"  After a little research, I discovered that this type of puppet is sometimes referred to as a "finger leg" puppet, and I set to work whipping up some of our own...

MATERIALS
Scrap cardboard (a recycled cereal or biscuit box is a good weight/thickness)
Colorful craft paper
An exacto or other sort of craft-knife
Scissors
Gluestick
A pencil
A pen or markers
Two fingers
A silly song
A giggly child

Start by drawing your designs on a piece of cardboard.  My puppets are 10 cm tall, and the holes for my fingers are about 18 mm wide.  I can fit my fingers in these openings but they are not so large that my children cannot operate the puppets.

Cut out your puppets with a scissors and then use an exacto or craft knife to carefully cut out the finger holes (mine are a bit ragged, but this a toy and just for fun, so no big deal!!)

Trace the outline of your cardboard figures onto colored paper and cut out with a scissors.  The tracings on the colored paper will be a bit larger than the cardboard one, so you might want to trim 1 or 2 mm around the edges of the colored paper cut-outs.

Use a glue stick to attach the colored paper to the cardboard figures then cut faces out of contrasting paper. Decorate with pen or markers and attach the faces to your puppets.

For templates and fun space alien designs you can have a look here, and on Etsy there is an amazing printable for free download!

Now it's time to play!

Happy Father's Day!

 Happy Father's Day to anyone who is a father or has a father!

note: we downloaded these fun card templates here (thanks Martha...)

School's Out

Schools out!

So, today we went here...

 

And did this...

 

We saw lots of crabs, 2 tiny eels, small tide-pool dwelling fish, sea stars, limpets, mussels & barnacles, sea snails, sea anemones, hermit crabs, a bright purple sea urchin, and just past the tide pools where we stood, there was a harem of sea lions playing in the water, waving their rear flippers and sunning themselves on the rocks (yes, I looked it up -- the word for a grouping of sea lions is "harem"...)

"Mama, look here... what's that?"

And then his brother caught another crab...

Rainbow Checkers

When my older son was small, he used to play "checkers" with my father-in-law.  They would stack the checkers into towers and then organize the red checkers on the red squares and the black checkers on the black squares.  My father-in-law passed away six years ago, and the memories of these checker games with his grandfather are special to my son.  We now have the box of checkers lying around the house -- the sides are held together with masking tape and inside there is the familiar battered checker board and a Ziploc bag full of mismatched black and red checkers.  

My toddler pulled this box off the shelf the other day, and we enjoyed matching red checkers to red squares, black checkers to black squares and building red & black towers.  But I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be fun if we had a few more colors to play with?"  And so the idea of a "technicolor" checkerboard was born.  Of course, the boards I devised are not suitable for playing an actual game of checkers, but the buttons I've substituted for playing pieces are delightful in their variety, and perfect for this color-matching game.

SUPPLIES
"Astrobrights" printer paper, colorful craft paper, origami paper, etc...
White printer paper
A paper cutter and scissors
Glue stick
Cardboard
Clear adhesive laminate sheets (I found packets at an office supply shop)
Decorative paper punches (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS
To create the game, I gathered assorted pieces of colorful paper from my cupboards: "Astrobrights" printer paper, origami paper and a bit of scrapbook paper -- whatever happened to be on hand. Then I used a small paper cutter to create 4 cm squares.  If you don't have a paper cutter, using a pair of scissors for cutting squares will work just fine (and also, you could make your squares smaller or larger according to your preference.)

After I had cut as many squares as I thought I might need (at least 30 per board), I arranged them on a pieces of white paper in a pleasing pattern.  When I was satisfied with the arrangements, I used a glue stick to affix the squares permanently to the pieces of white paper.

Note: If you use white glue instead of glue stick to affix your squares, the paper will buckle and your child will not have a smooth surface on which to lay his buttons. Hence, I strongly recommend glue stick for this project!

To create a sturdy backing, I cut pieces of cardboard to match the size of my checker boards (mine are approx. 19cm x 23cm) and then used a glue stick to affix the paper checker boards to the cardboard pieces.  After that, I used clear plastic adhesive laminate to cover the boards.

Note: I tried using ModPodge to seal the checker boards, but it caused the paper to ripple and, sadly, my first board had to be pitched in the rubbish. If you cannot get your hands on clear adhesive laminate sheets from an office supply shop, you might try strips of clear packing tape (the type of wide adhesive tape one would use on parcels.)

And you're done... it's time to add buttons!  I found some really nice ones at this shop by searching  "bulk buttons" on etsy.

My little one had so much fun with the new "checkerboards" that I was inspired to try a few variations.  For some reason, the game of "Butterflies Buttons" was not popular with my toddler, however he loved arranging the buttons in circles around the rainbow "bulls eye."  I made the "Butterflies & Buttons" game with a craft paper punch, and to create the bulls eye, I used a pencil to trace around various dishes and cups from the kitchen, then cut the circles out with a scissor.

Are you a fan of checkers, too?  How about a game of Rainbow Checkers!

Ten Times 'Round the Sun

Today we celebrate the day... the first moment I ever set eyes on his precious face...

Happy Birthday to my beautiful boy!

Win a Copy of Making Peg Dolls!

photo courtesy of Aleta: Hinterland Mama

Lovely Aleta, of the blog Hinterland Mama, is hosting a give-away.  What is she giving away?  A copy of my book!  A kit with some peg dolls, felt flowers & butterfly wings! You can find all the details here -- Why not pay her a visit?!

photo courtesy of Aleta: Hinterland Mama

Thank you, Aleta, for generously hosting this give-away and for saying such nice things (I am blushing a bit...)

Knitting Mitts & Mice

It's the start of June, and as the first day of summer approaches, it hardly makes sense for me to be knitting up a pair of mitts, right? Except that these were knit for a friend in the Southern Hemisphere, where the mitts will warm her hands against the encroaching winter chill.

I knit this pair with the most delicious yarn -- a fingering/sock weight, tonal yarn called Stroll from Knit Picks, and the pattern is a simple one I made up myself.  These mitts can be made with fingering, sport, DK or worsted weight, but no matter the weight of the yarn, for small even stitches, I nearly always knit them up with size 3 needles.

To make them I cast on 52 st., then worked 52 rows of knit2, purl2 ribbing.  After casting off, I stitched up the sides (leaving holes for thumbs), embellished with buttons, and that's all.  Sometimes I make similar mitts with a knit3, purl1 ribbing.

Of course, to make the mitts a bit larger you can cast on a few more stitches, to make them longer, knit a few more rows, and yes, one could knit these in the round on dp needles, but I find it tiresome to keep the tension as I shift from needle to needle (I would rather just sew up the seams.)

I wish I had the energy for more complex projects, but right now, these mitts are the perfect knitting project for me -- small, knitting meditations...

As for the mouse, you can find a pattern for him in this book here.

p.s. Thank you to my 10-year old for modeling the mitts.  He has the most gorgeous (slightly grubby) hands, don't you agree?