shoe box pull toy

Ji loves pulling and pushing things around our house all of the time, and i always save shoe boxes, so we decided to make a pull toy. we made our Mates :). a bus would be cute too!                                       

Ji puts all kinds of things in it: wooden blocks, stuffed animals, even his cars :) 

tip: we glued 4 feet on to the bottom - 3 squares of thicker cardboard glued together, so he would be a little elevated and wouldn't drag his stomach on the ground, plus a piece of felt on each to make it less :) noisy!

we also made a bowl of water and some paper dog food and 

Mates even came to see if it was real - it was so funny!:)) 

tiny glass cars :)

aren't these glass cars cute ? ! ! ! they were made as a custom

order for me by a czech glass artist David Johanes - his shop.

...two weeks ago when we were on a mini vacation with my mom and the boys at the Karlova Studanka spa(which was by the way super!) we came across a shop that sold the cutest tiny glass animals made by a local artist. we bought a couple of them - Ji picked out some fish, a snail for St a ladybug for me and some others as presents for upcoming friends' birthdays. and right then i knew that if the animals were so cute, that tiny cars would be also! so i contacted the artist and he was so willing and upon my request made these - they're a cross bug-citroen :) 

simple paper daffodils

tools:

- color paper

- glue stick

- scissors - straight and zig-zag

- cylinder of some sort - pencils

   or markers work well

- wooden skewers (optional)

directions:

- cut out yellow flower leaves - the easiest is to cut out circles and then cut triangle wedges :)

- cut strips of orange paper (one edge zig-zaged) long enough to wrap around your marker, having the short edges overlap a little. apply a "stripe" of glue to one short edge, wrap paper around the marker (zig-zag end to the center of the tube) and press overlapping edges firmly to let the glue set. then move your paper roll so that the end sticks out and start folding the end inward as i started on the photo to create the bottom of the "cup" - start with the overlapping glued edges). before you fold the last part, apply glue to it and then press to a flat surface to set glue and have it as flat as possible. then apply glue to the bottom of the "cup" and glue to the flower :)...when you glue it on, it should slip off of the marker.

- then make stems and leaves of your choice! - cut strips of green paper and tape daffodils to your windows and walls, or glue onto skewers and put them in a vase or for areas with low chance of rain (this is especially for my sis ;)!) "plant" them into your lawn :)....careful if you have sprinklers ;)

for green skewer stems:

- cut a strip of green paper, apply glue to the top end and start rolling it onto the skewer - use an angel similar to the one on the photo. tip - i use my bottom hand to hold the paper in place and the top hand to roll it.

- before you get to the end, apply glue to the end and roll the end on.

- cut up little yellow squares, and with the skewer in the center of it¨, glue it on to the flower.

confetti balloon play

what you need: 

- balloon - at least somewhat see-through

- paper
- hole-punch or scissors

- funnel or tube of some sort

- string

- make some confetti - using a hole-punch or just cut up some tiny strips of paper

- insert a funnel or tube into the mouth of your balloon

(i used a thread bobbin tube) and pour your confetti into the balloon

- blow up balloon and tie a string on and tape/tie to your ceiling/ceiling beam

- play time!

both Ji and St had fun with it....well, i did too! Ji and i ping-ponged it to each other which amused St, then St played with it which amused us :) - i put him within hand's reach of the balloon (...he had the most fun, when he was in his bouncer) and he waved his little hands and feet trying to hit it. and when he succeeded he started screeching with joy - it was so cute :)

when the primroses bloom...

this is a drawing Ji drew for my mom’s birthday a couple of day ago - on her last visit in the winter, she promised him that she would come to visit again "in the spring, when the primroses bloom"……he remembers the wild primroses, because he and grandma picked them together last spring on the meadow behind our house. so every time we talked about her upcoming visit, since “spring” doesn’t have much of a meaning to him, he would say that she is coming when the primroses bloom. yesterday she arrived :)

snowdrop        wild primrose       snowflake

mail/garbage carrier

all you need:

recommendation for cutting the box - i find it the best to take apart the glued top/bottom and lay the box flat and cut in one line, instead of having to cut all around and ending up a bit off the start point, and then re-glue the  closure again.

when we finished making the mail-carrier and i attached it to Ji's vehicle(JD tractor, that is way to small for him now, but he still loves it!), he announced that he will be a garbage man instead and that he wants to collect garbage....luckily after we made some pretend mail with our stamps i persuaded him back to the mail man gig!!! garbage...maybe next time ;)

fun postage stamps!

fun to play with or use as "additional" postage ;) on your real mail!

all you need is:
- brown paper tape (found at office supply stores)
- stamps and stamp pads
...you can find a great tutorial for making your own stamps here!
- zigzag scissors

paper garland wand

it is REALLY quick and easy to make!!!

takes only 10 minutes and the fun is everlasting!

all you need is:

- plain paper - it "flies" the best!

- scissors

- wand - mine is a wooden craft-stick,

but anything will do - even pencil :)! 

- sewing machine

 - cut paper lengthwise into strips about 4cm wide and have your kids cut them into smaller strips....if they're not all the same width, the better ;)!

- then slowly feed the strips into your sewing machine, leaving gaps between them about 0.5 to 1cm long - Ji and i turned this part into a color game having him find and hand me the color i called out.

- the final length of our garland is 1m, which seems to be the best length - long enough for a nice flying tail but not too long to get tangled!

- tie garland to wand - make a little notch on your wand where you are going to tie your garland on so it doesn't slip.

ice-suncatcher

this is for my sister :)

i was planning on making an ice-suncatcher this winter, but my sister really urged me to do so, since she would have loved to make one, only arizona weather doesn't get quite cold enough to make any sort of outdoor ice project...

all you need is: a plastic container, piece of twine and some leaves/flowers/twigs - Ji and i used some rose hips and dried: lavender, flax bulbs and heart grass. 

- pour water over arrangement and loop of twine and let freeze overnight. and hurry up before winter ends :)!!!

tiny airplane

 last week, i stumbled upon some wooden cutouts, that i bought a couple of years ago (....well, more like 10yrs ago...pfff, i'm getting old!), intended for making trees for my school models....ended up not using them and a year ago was actually thinking of getting rid of them while on a cleaning-the-attic streak, but i'm glad i didn't, cause they sure came in handy to make a tiny airplane :)

tools:

- elliptical cutouts - precut or DIY - wooden or even card stock (i bought the bag of assorted wooden cutouts way back then i think at Michael's)

- xacto knife - for cutting slits, and elliptical shapes if you don't have premade cutouts like i did

- glue

- color (the most important, kid-part) - pencils, paint, markers, etc.  or just colored card stock .....i like the colored pencils on wood the best!
- optional - jump ring, string/thread .....for playing with it! :)

 directions:
i think the photos of the finished plane are pretty self-explanatory of where to cut the slits in the ellipses. after cutting, color them out and then glue together - since it's tiny, try to use the least amount of glue possible, so there aren't gobs of glue all over the airplane. then, it's play-time!...we attached a jump-ring and "flew" it on a thread flight-course taped to our ceiling beams :)

p.s. with a couple more of them, they would also make a great mobile!