Magic Mud with Daddy

If you're feeling little stir crazy with all the snow, this is a great way to entertain your children and husband for at least an hour!

Magic Mud
3 Parts Cornstarch
1 Part Water
Optional Food Coloring

It's so much fun because it's liquid until you squish it, at which point it becomes solid, until you let it drip through your fingers. The in-between state of this magic mud is called a 'colloid'. Somewhere in between a solid and liquid. Just a little tip...wait for the mess to dry and it's much easier to sweep up.

Easy Wooden Alphabet Blocks Tutorial

Here are a few lost photos of some ABC blocks I made for Daniel when he was learning his letters. He still loves them and now he's using them to spell. They're so easy to make!

Supplies:
Jenga Blocks (I used a no-name brand and saved a few dollars)
Permanent Marker, preferably non-toxic
Paper
Optional-Stencils, if you don't like drawing!

1.) Plan your simple drawings for each letter on the sheet of paper. Simple is best. Here are the objects I used, in alphabetical order:
Apple, Balloon, Candles, Duck, Egg, Fire, Gingerbread man, Hat, Ice cream, Juicebox, Kite, Leaf, Mittens, Nose, Oven, Pencil, Queen, Rabbit, Stars, Teepee, Umbrella, Vacuum, Watermelon, Xylophone, Yarn, Zipper.

2.) Start drawing! It only took me one evening for the whole project because I made everything as simple as possible. I drew the upper and lower case letter with a picture of an object starting with that letter on one side, and left the other blank. I repeated the capital letter on both ends of the block as well.

3.) I used a few of the extra blocks for simple sight words as well. Right after I gave Daniel his blocks, he saw a coupon (he had just turned 3) and said "Mommy, why does this paper say 'off'?" I just about fell over! I wrote one word on each side On/Off, Mom/Dad, Open/Close, Yes/No, Go/Stop, Hi/Bye etc.

This is a great gift because you can personalize it for your child with color, drawings and sight words that you think they'd enjoy!

Festival of The Arts and a New Friend

Turner Valley sure has great support for artists, artisans and crafters. I was really impressed with the organization and the turnout. Making it all better was the fact that Sarah of Bubblegum Sass (from the Etsy Alberta Street Team) was right there, with her helpful hubby to keep me company.

In other news, I was lucky enough to finagle a trade, which scored me this perfect bag for all my crochet gear! It reminds me of Gumpy Bears cute little Care Bear belly!