Pumpkins 2009.

They loved painting their pumpkins!

Henry has his pumpkin pattern sketched out.  They love this season so much.  It is as good as a birthday to Miles.

Kids’ Craft swap boxes.

SeaBird craft swap

I am not the best crafter, but I try. I love swaps though, and this swap was a great idea. It was created to get new craft ideas for moms. I pack up and mail all the supplies and instructions for crafts designed for the each child of my swap-partners. In return, I receive boxes full of crafting goodies. Spending limit was $10

I tried to do something original, and these are what I came up with:

Pretend Terrariums

My partner’s son was 3, so I put together a box with these items:

Here is a finished terrarium:

The next box was going to a girl aged 2 years old. This was trickier, since I am only used to entertaining boys. What girl can resist:

Design and Dress Up

The child gets to cut out and color or paint the clothing and dolls. Pretty simple

Thanks, Laura, for hosting the swap.

Jewelry tree.

Since I spend my days at home, I often will forget to wear jewelry when I get a change to go out. To help remind myself to accessorize with a little sparkle, I started to look for a way to make my jewelry more accessible. Ikea had this tree to offer:

I remember seeing a Martha Stewart Kids magazine project which made a tree using real branches painted black with Halloween ornaments hung on it. It looked much more interesting than the simple design of the Ikea tree. So I headed outdoors this summer to find some branches and make my tree. Here is what I came up with:

• A baby food jar
• Plaster of Paris
• Tree branch
• Decorative container (I chose an antique brass… thing)

It is simple.

1. Follow the instruction on the Plaster of Paris
2. Pour the wet plaster into the jar
3. Insert branch and prop up the sides of the branches until the plaster is dry
4. Place jar into decorative container
5. Hang jewelry

I left my tree branches unpainted, but i thought about painting it with acrylic paints in a solid color. I do recommend making sure no creatures are on your tree branch. I accidentally grabbed a branch that was home to a small spider who made some beautiful webs in the top of my jewelry tree, but later perished for lack of food.