little critters

I've been steadily working away at this fun project for my sister's baby shower coming up in Oct. I'm making things for decorations that can also be used in the babies room after the party. So it all matches the bedding she picked out.



These are little wall stickers of the animals and such that the bedding features and you can view the entire room collection here on Babies R Us.


So I got the idea to make some of the little animals out of paper mache to set around on the table looking cute which can then be set on a shelf to look cute later. :) I got lots of good tips from this segment on Martha Stewart.
And so, started with making bases for my critters out of cardboard.



This is the fox and one of three owls, two little and one bigger.


Here is the bear after a first layer of paper mache. He was a bit more technical to figure out, I used a Styrofoam ball for the head and backs of the ears on a base of cardboard. but despite the lightweight Styrofoam he was top heavy and falling forward so I raided my husband's garage and came up with some very heavy washers which I placed in his hips to counter balance him.


and here you see a much more filled out bear, an owl and fox still in the process of building up and not pictured here but I also did as much with the other two owls and a raccoon.



I think one more night of paper mache will give everyone a finished plumpness and then I can move on to the paper clay step. I can't wait to start painting them though! they're gonna be so cute!!!

and here's a sneak peak at my next project for the shower...

delayed blogging

I've been meaning to do this post for over a week now, indeed even uploaded the photos but then blogger froze up and I couldn't finish it. :(


Anyhow, I started home schooling Gabriel this year, we've been at it about 3 weeks now. We do a lot of little projects, coloring, painting, making and play learning games to make it fun and interesting. And lots of reading too when I can get him to sit still and listen! :)
This project was to learn how mixing colors makes new colors. We started with the primary colors of course and made green, purple and eventually a nice brown! He had so much fun playing scientist with his baster that I had a hard time getting him to stop after nearly and hour.





We've also been learning about spiders as there are many in our area at the moment, providing lots of fun study material. So of course making spiders was a given!
(ps, those pants are re-purposed from a shirt of mine I just never blogged cause we've been busy!)


busy doing what you ask? well aside from school, keeping the house clean and all the normal mom duties I've been planning my sister Erin's baby shower which is now a couple weeks away. I'll be sharing more on that soon I promise! but for now here's a peek at the invitations I made...