Valentine Arts

(That was a play on "hearts", did you get it?)

Decided to try a little craft project with Boy today - a straightforward Valentine's heart shaped collage suggested by http://galway.mykidstime.ie/d/things-do/art-crafts/valentine-craft-children. It took about half an hour to make, though Boy's sole contribution was a very grudging thump on one of the little bits of paper to make sure it was properly stuck down. I don't think he's really into the whole arts and crafts thing - yet - but I will persist and make a little Van Gogh out of him yet. Or someone equally artistic but with fewer tendencies towards self-mutilation. He did enjoy proudly presenting the finished product to Daddy while I swallowed back my feelings of plagiarised creative pride. Girl enjoyed scrunching up the leftover magazine pages and chewing on the cereal box cut-offs. So at least someone got some enjoyment out of it.

I will try this project again on Tuesday at the City Limits mother and toddler group in Oranmore, but will be using much smaller hearts for a quicker result. We will also only glue the collage on one side and write a little "Happy Valentine's Day" message on the other side. If they work, I'll even post a picture.

New Beginnings

(9 Feb 2012)
I have spent the last month trawling blogs for cool things to do with my babies. Found some very cool things, but they often don't quite work out the way I want. Like today, I saw this article about making heart-shaped rainbow crayons for valentines day, using broken crayons and heart shaped silicon baking molds: http://mollymoo.ie/2012/02/for-crayon-out-loud/

I got all excited and started emptying the cupboards looking for a heart-shaped silicon ice cube tray I bought in Ikea ages ago. No luck. I did find the formula dispenser I bought for Boy and couldn't find this time round. I also found a silicon ice cube mold for making little fishy ice cubes. That'll do I thought. So I started hunting down all the boxes of crayons scattered round the house and collecting up the broken bits. I especially look out for bright colours as the instructions suggest. An hour later I have 6 tiny bits of broken crayon. And four of them are navy. Girl is wailing to be fed. Boy has gone to bed. DH suggests I break up some whole crayons to melt down if I'm that desperate. I take the high road. I have decided to start collecting bits of broken crayon in a special tin, and make valentines' crayon fishies next year instead.

Hoping my blog will progress to become a little more inspiring.