Broomstick Lace

Sorry that I haven't been posting. We had the stomach flu visit our house. Magically it hit a different person each week for the last four week. Now that everyone's mostly back to normal (normal for us anyway), it's time to catch up with everything.

This is my first (non-frogged) attempt at broomstick lace. It's done in Sugar N Cream and is on it's way to becoming a short sleeve shrug for my daughter.

There's a great tutorial by Stitch Diva.

While I do own a broom, I found it much easier to do it with my ruler. The video shows it with large knitting needles, but I don't knit and therefore don't own any knitting needles.

Just so you don't think I'm neglecting my son, I did make him something recently as well. He has had a blanket hung from the top bunk to keep his sister from bothering him at night. (They share a room.) The blanket was an eye sore and constantly fell down. So it's been replaced.

My mom bought this fabric for me two years ago and it's been waiting for the perfect project. It almost became a giant lizard at one point, but instead survived to become a bed curtain. It's hung with velcro so that it can be taken down easily. Eventually I'd like to add a few pockets for small toys, etc. Aside from the three needles that I broke trying to sew through two pieces of velcro plus four layers of fabric, it was a really easy project.

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Biz.

Here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


7 things about me (in no particular order):


1. I have a weakness for good chocolate, not the over-sweetened American version. Despite being related to Milton S. Hershey (through his mom), I am not a fan of Hershey chocolate.

2. I can type really well one-handed. I can even use the shift key. It's a skill I acquired when my first child was born.

3. I don't like wearing shorts. I would wear blue jeans all year round if I could. Unfortunately, living in Arizona that's not a good idea. Let's hope capris never go out of style.

4. I suffer from periodic depression. Usually it's pretty mild and no one but me realizes it. Only once have I had a serious bout and that was shortly after my grandpa died.

5. This will be my first summer without a move. I have moved every summer (and sometimes more than once a year) since I graduated from high school twelve years ago.

6. I grew up collecting sea shells and have since added sand to that collection. We have sand from New Zealand, Taiwan, France, Australia, Japan, the Caribbean, Mexico, and more that I can't think of off the top of my head.

7. I am responsible for most of the pranks that occurred in my apartment during my freshman year of college and a fair amount that happened during the first half of my sophomore year as well. The list includes bear-napping and moving copious amounts of furniture.

I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you'd like to tag yourself just leave your blog address in the comment section.

What I Learned Today

Two year olds are too young for paper mache.

My son (5 years old) declared today Bug Day. Tomorrow is Water/Ocean Day. It seems that special days such as these require crafts. I thought about doing a pom pom/pipe cleaner something to make some bugs, but I wanted to do something different. Remembering the water balloons, I thought we could do paper mache. It's been years since I've done paper mache and I remember it as a really cool way to make stuff. I made a pinata in my Spanish class in high school. It was a blue VW Bug. I had a neighbor that used a shopping cart and chicken wire to make a dinosaur mini-float so that the neighborhood kids could be cavemen in a parade. Plus the other school projects like small models of the Earth, etc. So you can see why I think of paper mache as being a great craft. What I failed to remember was that I was quite a bit older than my kids when I did my first paper mache projects.

We did great with the paper strips and blowing up balloons (except that water balloons are difficult to blow up). We did fine attaching balloons to each other to form buggy shapes. I made the paste myself since it involved cooking (see recipe below). So we were all set up and ready to begin. I did a quick demonstration and then prepared the paper strips for the kids. My little girl (two years old) had some problems sticking her paper on the balloons and quickly lost interest. She wandered off and entertained herself by popping the remaining balloons. My son tried but couldn't quite get the hang of it. He got a little overwhelmed with trying to cover all of the balloon and he hated having the goo all over his hands. So I finished his for him while he made more paper strips for me. The plus side of me having to do all of the work is that their wasn't a huge mess to clean up.

The future bugs are drying now. The original plan was to let the kids decorate them with markers, but they may need a coat of paint once they're dry. My son plans on making a cricket, a bee, and a dragonfly. I'm not sure what my daughter's will end up being. So far it's two balloons stuck together. I'm not sure I'm ready to for painting after doing paper mache this morning. How long does it take to dry anyway?

Tomorrow is Water/Ocean Day and I've already decided that there will be no crafts. Water balloons will be much easier.

Paper Mache

Mix 1/2 cup of flour with 2 cups cold water. Boil two cups of water. Add the flour mixture to the boiling water and bring it back to a boil. Remove from heat. Add 3 tablespoons of sugar. Let it cool. While it cools it will thicken and be ready to use.

Glow Bugs and Camping

Tomorrow is the Father and Sons Camp Out, which means the guys will be off doing manly things like cooking outdoors and here at home we'll be having frozen pizza and watching a chick flick. Although I do like to camp, I'm more than happy to send the guys off so that I can do girly things and sleep peacefully in the middle of my soft queen-sized bed.

My daughter thinks that she's going with them. When I tried to explain it was just for the boys she responded, "please?" She's even packed her bag to go with them. She put in her pink bear, shoes, and socks. She wasn't the only one getting ready. I've been pulling out the camping things, creating big pile for hubby to organize when he gets home. I like doing this because then I know that the sunblock, bug spray, and extra batteries got packed. It also means that I get to send along some fun stuff for my son. Aside from snacks and stuff to keep him entertained on the drive, I made him a glow bug. I got the idea from About.com, but I didn't have the same kind of glow stick that they used. I already had glow bracelets at home so I changed the pattern a bit.

With one end of a pipe cleaner I made 3-leaf clover shape. The middle leaf (the head) is smaller than the other two, which will be the wings.

I used hot glue to stick the eyes on.

Wrap the long tail around the glow bracelet. If you leave some space between the coils, the light will show through the bug more. Loose coils will let the bug slide along the bracelet, but with my son I want something that won't slide off too easily.

And be careful not to bend the bracelet in the process or you'll start the glowing before you're ready for it. Luckily I had an extra.

Not only will my son have a little something to remind him that I love him, but he'll also be glowing brightly and be easy to find in the dark.

My family has a tradition that started when I was a little girl. My dad would travel for conferences and meetings, but not too often thankfully. Each time he went, we would sneak a stuffed animal into his suitcase. It was our way of saying that we loved and missed him while he was gone. My husband and I have continued the tradition. Once again, I am grateful that hubby doesn't travel very often either. The fun part is having my kids pick the stuffed animal and try to sneak it into Dad's suitcase while he's not watching. It's a little tricky since it has to be done after the suitcase is packed, which doesn't always leave much time to be sneaky. Maybe we should make another bug to hide in hubby's bag.