Who Let The Dogs Out?

If I was on X Factor, as requested by @GreenBeenFood, I would sing "Who Let The Dogs Out?" and work out some wild chorey, and probably wear a Wilbur suit.

That's just in case you were interested.

Otherwise, if you were just here to check out the calibre of my origami doggies, well WHOOMP! here it is .

Leanne, Emily, still interested?

Do you know how many completely rad songs I just linked to? But most importantly. Who let the dawgs out?

Feeling Crafty (And Quiet)

Excuse my absence, but I'm under the weather, bored silly by myself, at home, literally bored with myself. Folding origami cranes, folding origami dogs. Folding washing. Folding my brain into a cube and waiting until this illness decides I am no longer good company.

For the record: I AM NO LONGER GOOD COMPANY.

This is a great book for smalls. Papercraft: Kathreen Ricketson. Thanks Lisa for the introduction to such a great resource.

The Worst Day Ever

Raining and cold, we woke this morning bummed about the weather.

Never fear. Matt was off to work and the smalls and I settled into some crafting, with the Doctor taking the lead and creating gardens for each of us. We were then to customise them as we pleased.

We pasted. We coloured. We cut. We stuck. We marvelled at one another's handiwork. We used straws as power lines, as flower stems, as pipes.

Then we watched a movie together, and the smalls started to get restless - so I suggested getting out of the house and go for some afternoon tea. Tiny was Pumped with a capital P. The Doctor, however, was not as excited. He was boycotting our outing.

We finally muddled our way out of the house and drove off to enjoy a cupcake and a coffee. By this stage I almost required toothpicks to keep my eyes opened. That rain was conducive to sleep, baby.

Tiny chose her cupcake, I ordered a coffee, and the Doctor's boycott continued. And continued. And continued. Until he was finally wooed by the fact that his sister was so into the cupcake it had disappeared - icing AND cake (unheard of!) in mere minutes. He finally succumbed to the cupcake.

We sat in the cafe for a little while, and then went for a quickbeforeitrainsagain walk, and returned to the car. Where the Doctor got a foul temper and declared today "the worst day of his life".

Must have been the chocolate cupcake.

Kiddie Craft:: We Painted. And Then We Painted.

Today we sat outside and enjoyed a brief moment of sunshine.

We had my four year old niece over for a play which was fab for the Doctor to have someone to cavort around the place with.

I made some pint-sized potato stamps and the smalls had a great time stamping away with them. We were well into our expression session. Stamping the funny little carvings onto the paper (for the record I had a kooky looking bird, a wonky heart, a spindly little star and a circle).

Until things went a little awry and I quickly scuttled them on to the next activity.

Watercolours. I love watercolours for the fluidity of the medium. And I love watching the smalls work it too. The older children use single colours well, whereas Tiny likes to dip her brush in every single colour before taking to the paint - resulting in a murky palette. Oh well! I'm not one to interfere too much in making, I like to see what the smalls make by themselves.

Above is the Doctor's whale. I think he's pretty darn ace.

After watercolours, we continued on with collage. That was fun, despite Tiny just wiping glue all over her page and declaring that she was finished (with nothing stuck to the glue). She's a little bit Jeff Koons, a little Basquiat, a little cuckoo.

Kiddie Craft:: The (Not) Yellow Submarine

We're in the thick of school holidays, which coupled with being sick, feels like it's going forever.

The Doctor, Tiny and I have been doing a wee bit of kiddie craft, to be followed by some more later this week.

There is nothing better than fresh playdough. Seriously. Fresh playdough is the shizzle. It's so malleable and smells so good, and it's tactile and it just feels so darn good I love it. The Doctor made a submarine (the paddlepop sticks) and Tiny made a birthday cake (pipecleaners, cutters, and finally loads of pencils). My smalls love to play with playdough and the three of us can play for a long time.

And while Tiny was asleep, the Doctor and I made 'boats' from regular kitchen sponges (new ones of course), a straw and a piece of a kitchen wipe (that I cut to size to make the sail). These have been favourites in the bath tub.

Today, because we are wildly crazy and we absolutely know how to have fun, we're going to clean the car.

Cheap. And Very Cheerful.

I have restarted frequenting the local garage sales, and I must say, I've rebooted with great results.

This weekend I found a hat block. Awesome. Wunderbar. Ace to the power of spades. It was only $35. Thirty five clams. That is all! Until I went to pay for it and the woman said, 'Do you realise this is $85?' Shocked and in fear of rigor mortis setting in, I replied, 'Er no, I thought it was $35, I misread the label.' The lady then kindly said she would go and ask her mother how much she was willing to reduce it.

I have a growing and yet completely unvaluable vintage hat collection. I love hats. I love hats in the Spring time. I love hats in the Fall. I love hats in the Winter when it drizzles. I love hats in the summer fo' shizzle.

The lady came back seeming despondent and said, 'Oh she will only take it down to $50'. Of course I took it. I would have been a fool not to. Ordinarily there's no way I could buy one of these babies.

Hat blocks are GO! Enough about the hat block - I'm not here to bang on about the darn hat block.

I also snaffled a range of children's books for the grand tootin' sum of $3.00. And I saw a cork pinboard. Which I didn't get..

And yet, later in the day, after my brain had birthed an idea, I went back and found that pinboard and snaffled it for the Doctor's room (for about $1).

I gave it three coats of 'Passionate Blue' (do you ever have passionate blues?) and have resurrected it to be a new addition for the Doctor's special things. For approximately $10 for a customised pinboard, we likey.

We're Not Emo. We're Fimo.

I've decided that these school holidays are going to be fun to the max. Last holidays - well the six weeks - I think was completely boring. We didn't even go away.

We've already been to see my Mum & Dad. And this weekend we're day-tripping to this. Secretly, I am really, really excited. I will indulge my inner-child! I will, I will!

While we were in Tamworth the Doctor got the opportunity to do some clay work with my Mum. He loved it. So I bought him some Fimo (more manageable and less gritty - I hate clay under my nails) so he and I have been making dragons from Fimo. We have to do it when Tiny is asleep because she will most likely try and eat it. Like everything else she has shoved in her gob.

Meeting New People

Today the two smalls and I went to the park. I was meeting a friend who has children a similar age. We started chatting to a new mum who had just moved into the area. I asked for her phone number as we were about to leave to go to our next 'thing'.

It's my new thing. I've met so many mums in the park and never asked their number for fear of looking like a dork. It's something that I have occasionally regretted. Particularly because I am not exactly heavy on friends who live close by. Today I asked for her number. I am crazy like that.

On yesterday's post front, I'm not feeling particularly lonely/sad, it's just that I always do think about that proverb. My family is incredibly supportive, they just don't live conveniently next door (and they are interested, yes! they are). But sometimes it would be good to have other offers of help. I always feel a pang of envy when I hear someone say, 'oh blah blah is looking after the kids so I can clean the house.' Silly to feel envy about cleaning the house, but without two smalls - pure luxury!

And as an aside, wouldn't it be interesting to remove the stigma of being lonely or asking for help, if everyone started talking about it? It wouldn't be so shame-inducing!

The Doctor and I have been working on some Easter decorations. I've let him be the Cruise Director, so we made a HAPPY EASTER! poster. It's an eclectic array of drawings, painting, stickers and cutting and pasting. I quite like how it's turned out, and it's fun to sit with him and let him direct it. Tiny had a wee bit of work on this one too.

PS - there's a giveaway over at Fat Mum Slim's giving you the opportunity to win your own Jumi shoes.

Kiddie Craft:: Heart To Heart

The Doctor and I are starting to hit our stride for 2010. We're setting aside some time to do some craft together. This week we've gone with a theme, and since it's Valentine's Day.. Well you guessed it, we're having a heart to heart. We're making hearts for those we love. And even those we like. We are kind of cute like that. Well he is at least.

All you need is some paper, some paint, some sparkles (and in our book: the more sparkles, the better), and we've upcycled some old wrapping paper to make hearts to the max. Is your heart exploding yet?

I'm not really into Valentine's Day, but the Doctor makes it fun, and he LOVES to give people he loves something he's made or drawn or painted. So we're getting into Valentine's Day the recycled, home style, crafty way. It can't hurt to tell someone

If you want to amp up the lovin' stakes, head on over to Toni's space. At Little Suitcase she's been counting down the 12 days of love. So much lovin' to be had at her place. Can you feel the love tonight?

Christmas Kiddie Craft:: Big Fat Fail

I lined up an orange and some cloves for the Doctor thinking that this would be an ace old school Christmas crafty activity to do with him. A heavily scented orange pomander, those scents are what Christmas is made of, well for me at least. It was to be a meditation of sorts.

Big fat fail for me because the cloves hurt his little fingers and proved very difficult for him to push into the thick skin of l'orange.

I wound up doing most of it then the Doctor decided to art direct me, and well my cloves were breaking and what happened to my patience, so this is our new age orange pomander. He smells nice. He has a big fat combover. What more could you want for Christmas?

And yet again, dear Blogger has revolutionised my images by rotating them. Thank you no-good Blogger. HMPH!

This Is Where You Learn That I Am Not Lena Corwin (Kiddie Craft)

Amber from Kids Craft Weekly never fails to get the creative juices flowing. She's been working on some fab Christmas crafts with her smalls, and since the Doctor and I haven't been getting very crafty lately I thought we might do well to create some Christmas cards.

We set to on some potato stamps, with me wielding the paring knife to bang out a few sketchy designs. Let's keep it simple people. So it was that I carved out a heart, a star, and a Christmas tree which the Doctor kept referring to as the arrow. Ahem.

We kept the palette simple. The Doctor tried to go nuts mixing, but I pulled him up. Usually, I would do no such thing, but I didn't like the thought of posting out some musty/dirty coloured Christmas cards - it really would have been festy rather than festive.

Once the paint has dried we've got plans to embellish our designs. I'll show you those once they're done.

While we certainly won't be giving Hallmark a run for their money, I hope our recipients like our little cards.

Blogtoberfest Day 9: Little Peeps

Looking for crafty inspiration, it's been a looong time since the Doctor and I joined forces to craft. I sought inspiration. I found it with Sophie from Her Heart My Hands. Little people to do with the little people.

Kiddley is such an awesome resource for parents. And I love this little person template created by Sarah at The Small Object, oh I salute thee. So many brilliant ideas, right there at your fingertips - and with a search engine to boot, I can sit on there for days and marvel at all that BRILLIANCE. I must admit, I'd forgotten about it. I'd fallen off the kiddie craft bandwagon. Had a bruised hiney to boot, but now I am back, and searching for more brilliant ideas. I am back in the saddle! Raw hide, yeeeehaaaa!

So many salutes, so little time. Back to the glue, the doilies and the glitter pens.

Crafting with the Smalls

Today at PMM we've been keeping busy by getting our hands dirty. We were going to come at you and talk kiddie craft, and yet - it would seem highly hypocritical given that a certain someone started eating the freshly made playdough. And not one to be put off by a high salt content, she then went on to taste test the red watercolour paint.

Therefore our crafty content of the day resulted in me trying to get as much of the paint out of a certain someone's mouth without a) being bitten and b) causing a certain someone to gag and thus vomit. And then one did what one could only be expected to do in such a situation, one called the Poisons Information Line just to be certain that a certain someone was not going to sprout an additional head or start talking in tongues (when a certain someone's tongue was already bright red due to a certain someone's desire to digest some red pigments).

And then I spoke to Matt and mentioned the incident whereby a certain someone ate a certain paint product to which he replied, 'well I wouldn't eat it', and I replied 'yes, well you're not 20 months old, are you?'

So it is that our kiddie craft went wayward, the Doctor curled up on the couch with a suspected ear infection, and a certain someone whisked off to downtown lunch-ville and then to bed to sleep off any red pigment related craziness.

And, well you may wonder why in tarnation one PMM would have this image on her blog? I wonder the same, but in keeping with craziness and paint pigments, I present this. And you can click through here to see more Dogue than Vogue images.

More Colours

Apparently some small people residing in our house decided that sprinkling confetti around the living room was a great idea. Given we don't have any Oompa Loompas currently in residence, I think I've got a pretty good idea who it may have been.

Yo Yo Yo It's Mother's Day

Well not yet, but Sunday it will be. And just by the skin of my teeth, I got to the post office on time and posted off my Mum's present (the Doctor and I crafted together for the card).

What are your doing to celebrate Mother's Day?

I'll be leaving the recipe for Bills ricotta hotcakes out somewhere very in plain view. Ahem.

Kiddie Craft:: School Holidays

here's Tiny flirting with the camera on our way back from our holiday

So we're into our first round of school holidays. After spending four fantastic days with my parents (and my sister and her family) we're back to the humdrum of life. This means the Doctor has spent plenty of time around plenty of people, and has now returned to hanging with his mama and little sister. Matt's sadly back to work (come home, we miss you!).

First up this morning, two fresh batches of playdough. Yum. I like just squashing this in my hands, warm, it feels sensational. Beats a stress ball any day.

I'm enjoying the freedom that comes with holidays. Even though we're at home. No having to wake Tiny up in the mornings (she's an 8am kinda gal). No crazy dash to down breakfast. No mad tussle to get out the front door for pre-school. No bad traffic (well hardly a speck). I like it. I even like not having sewing on so that I can just roll into my evenings, tonight I'm planning for some on-couching hand sewing. Ah yes, just the way I like it.


What are your sure-fire ways to keep a cruisy holiday cruisy? Do tell!

The Egg Flippin' Truth

We finished the foam eggs, but the world knows, it requires some restraint from me, because I keep casting my mind back to the 'bedazzler' and thinking how razzly I could make these babies, if only the Doctor let me. They're a little bit Faberge, a little bit...morning infomercial. He tells me - they're finished.

No matter which way I look at them, I love them.

Needless to say, the Doctor stuck a few bling blings on, but left me to my own devices once he got bored. Oh how that was like being given reins on a beautiful steed to ride off into the sunset. Or maybe it was like being just told you can stick the sparkles on to a foam egg, both prospects excite me.

Later today we might try Amber's confetti eggs. The Doctor loves hole-punching (am happy to rent him out for hole-punching duties if you're in the midst of filing-a-go-go).

(Don't forget to enter the supersonic Georgie Love Birthday Giveaway!)

An Eggy Update

Have you ever had eggnog? I've not, I used to think it sounded terribly romantic, until I read a recipe and realised that it truly involves eggs. Ik! Eggs are not so romantic in my book. However, the Doctor and I have been getting into our Easter crafts with great aplomb, there goes my house cleaning for the morning. Oh well. We've got results peeps, and they're quite cute.

First up for this morning: foam eggs. We painted two of these babies with a mix of acrylic paint and PVA glue. This seals the foam and allows for an optimum work surface. We also stuck a wooden skewer in them to minimise paint/PVA mess, and fingerprints on the egg. This is just the first step on this egg craft journey. Stay tuned.

Second egg craft activity: foam eggs with fabric scraps. PVA glue is required again, wooden skewer is optional (I went without, the Doctor went with), I chopped up small scraps to make them even smaller, then we went to work sticking them randomly onto the foam egg. I wonder if you can guess which is mine and which is the Doctor's?

Third egg craft for today: as blogged about earlier, this one's straight from Amber's idea factory. It's easy and quick to realise your Easter egg dreams. All you need is some cardboard, an egg shape (I used a cookie cutter and drew freehand because my middle name is Matisse - ok ok, it's not, but it could be if I changed it by deed poll), some foil, some paint and some cotton tips, or the end of your paint brush. Here's where my key learning comes in for today. Don't put out more than 2 paints, unless you dig on the colour brown.
You know brown is great if it's chocolate, dirt, cake or a little cat or shaggy dog, but I am not a big brown fan. I saw a woman on the weekend dressed head to toe in brown. I'm talking, dark brown hair, brown sunglasses, brown top, brown skirt, brown tights, brown shoes, brown handbag, everything BROWN. Hey lady, you're not a gigantic walking, talking poo, stop with the brown.

Back to the crafting at hand. A good time was had by all.

Oh we did manage to do one other crafty eggy thing. I picked up this neat little pack of dyes from the local IGA (for international readers, that's a small, independent, local supermarket) for next to nix. We popped some boiled eggs in the dye mix and look at those colours. Loving them.

And now friends, it is time for the small fry to sleep and for me to make hay.

Digging On Ditching

I'm digging on ditching daylight savings. It means I get up extra early and can make hay while the sun shines. Well the sun's not shining so bright here today, but it's still just as super.

The Doctor is home from pre-school, sick. Tiny is in fine form, trying her darndest to get the Doctor's goggles on while she nibbles toast.

I've got to get some work done today, so am busy looking for some crafty Easter collaborations we can work on.

Do you get Kids Craft Weekly? If not, you certainly should! Amber has such beautiful and fun (for both parents and kids) ideas - painted foil eggs are on our crafty little menu today!

AND you can't go past the Kiddley archives. Such a rich resource that we're all lucky to have access to. Claire's creative genius is.. well GENIUS!

Average April

There's nothing wrong with being average. Most people are average on first glimpse, though once you take a closer, longer look, they are supersonic. Charge your glasses, because FINALLY Magical March is at a close. Phew. There were days when I didn't think I would make it all because of the pressure of my own sodding project, but I've made it out the other side. Thanks to everyone who participated.

As part of April I am going to be blogging daily about what's average in my life. Just jokes. BUT - exciting things happening here right now-skis...:

- received my copy of Meet me at Mike's - so exciting, can't stop looking at it. But where to start? 26 projects to choose from... Where are you starting? At the start?

- my Mum brought down my grandmother's sewing machine. The one that was missing the pedal. Yes. Now thanks to my Mum it has a pedal and is ready to roar into the evenings. I've been practising sewing making a bath mat and towel for the Doctor's doll house

- we're getting ready for the Super Dooper Mail Swap organised by Christie at Pigeon Pair. The Doctor's excited big stylie to get some mail, and we're super excited to be getting crafty with some postcards. Just don't expect too much from us, alright?

- my Dad thinks I seriously think alright is spelt awright. Nope - Dad I really know how to spell it, I was just being a geezer

- it's raining and I love the rain. Perfect for snoozing

- I played a really great April Fool's joke on my sister - yeeehaaaaw!

- Easter is JUST AROUND THE CORNER - giddy up, Easter craft here we come.