The Gossamer Goddess

Summer Dress

2012-04-20T00:50:00.000-04:00

Well I have to say I'm in LOVE with making dresses this month! Between my Tutu business, Photography, child care, my own children, and renovations around the house I've been a very busy gal!
I did this up a week ago, and my daughter finally took it for a test run today at school! She loved it ;) It's a bit long for a 'play' dress so my next one I won't make a lengthy.

I followed this: Summer Dress Tutorial to a T. No adjustments needed on this one! Although I will add I did end up making a purple version of this dress which I DID edit... But that was because it was for a different girl and her shoulders needed more support than a spaghetti strap. I may post that one up sooner rather than later.
Until then keep it crafty ;)

Easter Dresses

2012-04-07T23:49:00.001-04:00

So this year I was determined to make Easter Dresses for my daughters. I searched for a few weeks before falling in love with a tutorial.
Butterfly Dress and Headband
Now although I love the dress, I had a really hard time with the tutorial. It's very well written and the pics are awesome but with no messurements I had a bit of a difficult time.
To get through that I grabbed two old dresses of my daughters and used them as a template. I added a few inches on the width of them so I had enough for the gathering parts.
You'll see in my dresses below that I did not follow the tutorial to a T. I added my own little touches to make the dresses a little more dressy.

Front of Dress1

Back of Dress1

Front of Dress2

Back of Dress2

Dress 1 is more of a 4/5T while Dress 2 is more of a 12-24months. I am super happy with how these turns out. If anyone wants me to show how to make the extra touches to the original tutorial please let me know and I'll post up my version of the tutorial. :)

Breakfast with the Kids!

2012-04-05T21:49:00.000-04:00

Want a super easy and yummy breakfast idea? I have to tell you it is NOT quick, so if you're in a hurry stick with a bowl of fruit or cereal!
One of the girls wanted to make breakfast with me the other morning so I thought I'd take a pin from my Pinterest Board - Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups.
Now for those who hate clicking unknown links... Like myself ;) Here is the links details. I should add that this is NOT my recipe, this is MY version of the recipe linked above.

This Recipe makes 6 Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
8 slices white or whole-wheat sandwich bread
3 slices bacon
4 large eggs
1/4 cup of cheese (I used Old Cheddar, but this would be delicious with anything really)
A splash of milk (I didn't measure I just went by what looked right. Maybe 2tbs?)
1 chopped green onion (Optional, you can add other smaller veggies if you'd like)
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter 6 standard muffin cups. With a rolling pin, flatten bread slices slightly and, with a 4 1/4-inch cookie cutter, cut into 8 rounds. If you don't have a round cookie cutter than use a pizza cutter. Simply cut the crust off in a circle like shape. Cut each round in half, then press 2 halves into each muffin cup, overlapping slightly and making sure bread comes up to edge of cup. Use extra bread to patch any gaps. Brush bread with remaining butter.
In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium, throw in the onion at this point too. Cook bacon until it's almost crisp, 4 minutes, flipping once. (It will continue to cook in the oven.) While the bacon is cooking combined the eggs, milk, cheese and pepper/salt. Whisk together and set aside for a moment. Take the bacon out and lay 1/2 a piece bacon in each bread cup. Throw the onions into the milk egg mixture and give it a quick whisk. Pour the mixture over the bacon and bread. Bake until egg whites are just set, 20 to 25 minutes. Run a small knife around cups to loosen toasts. Serve immediately.

And that's it! Serve them up right away and dig in! These are so delicious and all seven people in our house were asking for seconds, and thirds!

You may notice there is only Five... Some went missing between the muffin tray to the plate due to "testing" ;)

Blah day activity

2012-03-11T22:54:00.000-04:00

So the other day was a beautiful day but it was COLD and WINDY. Instead of popping in a movie I decided to get a bit more 'fun'. I've made them bottles of oil and water previously and decided to use the good lighting to our advantage.

All you need is:
* Food Coloring - 2-3 drops work wonderfully
* Plastic Bag - it MUST be able to zip up and be leak proof!
* Cooking Oil - any kind will do... You can even use baby oil if you have it on hand

You combined everything carefully into a bag and then tape them up against the window. As long as you don't have any chewers and the kids know how to play gently you can keep them entertained for a few hours. My girls loved watching the water and oil mix and then settle again. I taped my bags close enough that they could flip the bags up and see the colors change when pressed against each other.

I have to admit I always have loved the oil and water combo. It's been a favourite of mine for years since I was a little girl, and I'm so glad I can pass on it to my little darlings.

Airplane Cockpit

2012-03-09T22:39:00.001-05:00

So my darling husband has been busy working on a project for the little one's class. We received a note home stating that the class was studying airplanes and that any donated materials would be greatly appreciated. Now I am a HUGE lover of school projects, functions, and bake sales. I participate as much as I can, whenever I can.

We sent in an old fire fighters dress hat and wrote that my husband would LOVE to help add a few details to the airplane cockpit. Below you will find pictures of the finished project. We did not paint or draw the cockpit, that was all the teachers doing. He added everything else. Everything on that plane was from the dollar store or found around the house/a friend. My husband has a lot of 'trade' friends so spare parts float around a lot.

Anyways, I was so proud of the outcome I had to share it with you all.

The whole cockpit

These actually move up and down and side to side.

Button One

Coils

Clear blue sky

Gage

Lights all lit up

Switch One

Switch Two

Switch Three

Switch Four

Close up of Button One Off

Close up of Button One On

That's all for today!

Spring Cleaning

2012-03-04T09:15:00.000-05:00

March is finally here! It's one of my preferred months! Besides the fact it's my birthday month - it also signifies the beginning of spring and with the mild winter we've had I'm thrilled to get this years planting started!
Sadly I haven't touched my sewing machine in weeks due to renovations and reorganizing the house. So there's nothing new to share in the way of Crafty Clothes, but I still have been busy being frugal.

A while back I found the link to making my own Orange Vinegar cleaner. Basically it consists of orange peels and vinegar, you let it sit for TWO WEEKS - this is key to getting the orange scent to last longer. I put mine in an old jam jar and left it on my stove for a week and a half, then I couldn't wait any longer and broke it out. It smelt MUCH better than regular vinegar and water but I think if I'd held back a few more days I could have gotten a better scent.

Next I enlisted in some help to clean my cupboards and walls. I made up some Dish Soap Foam put it out for the daring daughters and wa-la a morning activity that kept the busy, made my house cleaner and had them playing cooperatively together without a single squabble for hours! It was pure bliss. What more can a mother ask for?

I'm in the midst of picking out a color scheme to my laundry room/master bathroom/walk-in closet, and yes it's all one room, so I'd like it to flow nicely. I think I have it all picked out just need to execute my plan. I'm also repainting my ugly, ugly kitchen and trying to figure out the best way to redo the hideous counter tops. Evidently someone thought it would be a good idea to faux rock finish them without covering the surrounding walls and drawers so they all need to be sanded down as well. Anyways wish me luck because this house is in for a big make over! I'll be busy the next few weeks but it'll be worth it to make my house super pretty! ;)

In the mean time keep it crafty and hopefully next post I'll have a few updates on my reno-projects!

Super Muffins!

2012-02-21T10:26:00.000-05:00

So today I'm posting my 'go to' muffin recipe all year around. I only have two go to muffin recipes. My Monster Zucchini Muffins with Oatmeal and Brown Sugar crumble top, and my Iron-Rich Muffins.

I'd love to share my Zucchini Muffin recipe but it's a family secret ;) So instead I'm sharing my super delicious and moist Iron-Rich Muffin recipe! All seven members of our house hold LOVE this recipe and it can be gone literally in an hour.

The recipe calls for

1/2 cups of rolled oats (Instant works fine)
1 cup of milk (You can used skimmed if you want)
1 cup of flour (Half and half works nicely as well as white or unbleached)
1 cup of baby cereal (Rice or Oats)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg (Omega rich if you'd like)
OPTIONAL
1/2 cup raisins
OR
1/2 cup chopped dried dates
OR
1/2 cup chocolate chips
OR
1/2 cup walnuts

*I've never added the OPTIONAL 1/2 cup of something... I like how they taste without the added flavour.

Step 1. Preheat the Oven to 350F (180C)
Step 2. Line a 12 cup muffin pan, or grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
Step 3. In a large bowl, mix oats and milk.
Step 4. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baby cereal, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt (Add optional ingredient now too if desired)
Step 5. Add oil, brown sugar, and egg to oat and milk mixture. Mix well.
Step 6. Gently mix together wet and dry ingredients, until just combined.
Step 7. Pout batter into muffin cups or loaf pan.
Step 8. Muffins should bake for roughly 20 minutes and a loaf pan should bake for roughly 30 minutes. Test with a toothpick.

This recipe is suppose to make only 12 muffins but I can get 12 mini muffins AND 12 regular muffins out of this recipe!

I got this recipe from a book my dietitian gave me called 'The Joy of Life Recipe Booke for Heathy Women and Babies'. I do not own this recipe and do not suggest anyone use this recipe for mass production or profit.

Had to cover my butt there ;) Hope you all enjoy your baking!

Lunch Ideas

2012-02-17T13:56:00.000-05:00

I recently decided that I was going to start making 'Non-Bento' styled lunches for my little ones. I know my eldest doesn't start school for a while but I figured if I start making them now then I'll know what they will and will not eat and how big of portions to try.

Now a few of you have no idea what Bento is but it's a traditional Japaneese lunch. It's actually REALLY cool and if done properly can be super healthy and super cute at the same time ;). Sadly I'm just starting out so mine are only Bento inspired and not actually Bento. When I get some experience with what I'm working with I'll branch into more traditional Bento. I'm hoping to try egg molding this weekend ;) So I'll keep you posted!

Butterfly and Bumble Bee made from left over homemade MacNCheese, with a pepper flower, snap peas, yellow tomato, carrots, humus , and a few crackers.

Left over Hot Dogs, crackers, apple, cheese, cherry tomatoes, carrots. and peppers.

I know I promised a PJ tutorial a while back and it is coming, I've just been INSANELY busy.

Another Valentines Day Post!

2012-02-13T00:16:00.000-05:00

I can hardly contain my excitement!
I searched and SEARCHED for something for my darling little ones for Valentines Day. I found TONS of candy, cheap plushies - which they have TONS of, and more candy...
So I went searching through the net to see what I could come up with. Originally I swore to myself to do something with as little chocolate/candy as possible... But that kinda went out the window when I found Non-Bento Totoro Chocolate.
I don't know about any of you readers but myself and my children are HUGE fans of Hayao Miyazaki. If you are unsure who that is... IMDB.com will give you a list of his work. I recommend (Along with Totoro) Ponyo, Arietty, Spirited Away, and Howls Moving Castle. Those ones I find are good for all ages. :)
Anyways enough about Mr. Miyazaki and how awesome he is ;)
I followed the tutorial to the letter and below are just a few pictures of my work. I also decided to make my litte one a chocolate letter ;)

And that's all for today! Enjoy :D

PJs!

2012-02-07T00:30:00.000-05:00

I made PJs! I didn't even use a pattern! I'm so excited about this project! It was my first project using stabilizer too without 'adult super vision'. ;) Seriously though... I was kinda nervous about that. My mother-in-law was thankfully just a phone call away and walked me through the gathering part of this idea of mine. My Husqvarna is so alien to me sometimes... Lol it never fails though and I'm also insanely happy with the end results with it!
Anyways!
Onto the project!
Basically I took a pair of existing PJ bottoms for reference.

Now I'll admit it... I got carried away and didn't photograph anything else of this little project... But here's what it looks like finished! YAY!

I'm planning on making a few more pairs of PJs so I'll do another post another time with more in-depth details. :) Although I'm not doing the fancy trim on the legs any time soon... That was a fun learning experience but I've learned it's a lot of work for PJ pants ;)

Valentines Day!

2012-02-04T20:55:00.000-05:00

I can't express how happy I am that V-day is upon us! I usually don't buy into the commercialism of it all but with my eldest in pre-school and showing a big interest in giving out valentines I found myself googling and Pinteresting and becoming hooked! I didn't want to give anything sugary so I went to creative route ;)

I found these beautiful crafts and of course we did our own versions of them ;)

We did some of these Handprint Valentines - Honestly they look really cute but for kids that are just learning to write it was a bit of a chore... lol
Next we tried these cute crayons out! Heart Crayon We emptied our crayon bucket and took all the odd end ones, we also raided my in-laws crayon bucket and stole their broken ones too. The kids LOVED them. A word of advice, use a razor. Cut one line down the paper jacket, let the kids peel and break the crayons. This whole process takes like a minute or two. If you do it 'the old fashion way', you'll be peeling for five minutes and having children whining about how long it's taking and a lot of 'Are you done yet?'.
Darling Daughter can't sign her name yet so she signed her valentines with two thumb prints to make a heart.

Valentines 'Package'

A small v-day card, some goldfish, a crayon heart and some stickers :)

This is our handprint hearts before writing around the hearts. With the writing you can't tell what they are saying and the words go all over the page... lol

An that's what we've been up to for V-day! ;)

Reversible Apron Tutorial.

2012-01-30T15:53:00.001-05:00

So I had to make two special little girls Aprons to help me bake in the kitchen. They are both pretty baking obsessed so I figured they'd enjoy their own little Apron and Oven Mitt.
I liked two different Tutorials Mini Me Apron Set and Childs Apron, but ultimately took pieces from both, combined them, and made my own. ;)
The Mini Me Apron Set tutorial is 100% free. No fee at all but a lot of work due to the bias tape...
The Childs Apron is not free... You have to pay some sort of membership fee to download the pattern but if you can make your own pattern the Tutorial aspect of the page is just fine. It's a VERY simple pattern/apron.
And below is MY version ;)
I used the Mini Me Apron Set pattern to start off with.

What you need
1/2 yard of Side A
1/2 yard of side B
2 yards of ribbon
1/4 yard of towel material
Other basic sewing accessories

Side A

Side B

Pockets A and B

Place one A and one B right sides together and sew together leaving an 1.5'' opening at the top of the two pieces. Use a 1/4'' seam allowance at the top but for the curve you can switch to 1/8''.

Turn the pieces right side out and iron the opening to fold inward like the picture above.

Sew to top closed. Then pin one pocket with reserve side out. You'll see in the picture above I put the Pocket B side up and the Pocket A side inwards to match and Apron A piece. Sew the pocket in place following the curve using a 1/8'' seam allowance, increase to 1/4'' if desired. Repeat on Apron B piece with Pocket A side up.

Next comes the 'ties' I heat sealed my ribbon ends to prevent fraying. I then pinned the ribbon on to the wrong side of the apron. You'll see above that I places the ribbon 1.5'' from the arm curve.

I used a few 'tacking stitches' about 1/8'' away from the aprons edge. I did this to all four pieces of ribbon. Two for the sides and two for the neck. The neck ribbons were place roughly 1'' from the sides.

You then tuck everything in and pin it Sides A and B together with right sides facing in and wrong sides facing out. Sew leaving an 1/4 seam allowance. Make sure that your ribbon is straight when you sew over it. It can become crocked if not checked.

Side A finished

Side B finished

Side A finished

Side B finished

Cut the mittens out. Place the right sides together like the picture above and sew leaving a 1/4'' allowance.

Clip around the curved part of the mitten and the fingers. Turn the mitten right side out. Stick the towel mitten inside the outer shell. Fold the rough edges inwards twice... then iron. I only folded ONCE... As you'll see in the picture below it leaves an unsightly mess to do it my way so I suggest folding twice. Sew using an 1/4'' to 1/2'' seam allowance depending on how much you folded inwards.

Inside few of mitten.

And that's my version of a Reversible Apron Tutorial + Oven Mit. :)

Baby Doll Diapers

2012-01-20T22:19:00.000-05:00

Wow the 20th already!? OMGosh! I can't believe it's been so long since I updated last! Oh well I've been busy on Pinterest ;) The Gossamer Goddess Pinterest.
Well today I've been busy (Kinda) working on four projects.
I made Felt Baby Doll Diapers.
I followed this tutorial to the letter! It's SUPER easy and great for sewers, or non-sewers of all ages. If you can trace, cut and glue you can do this one!
Here's some pictures of my own version of the project!

And that's it! That's what I've been up to today... Among other things ;) But they aren't ready to post up yet! :) I'll get them up sometime in the future! ;) Promise! Till then keep it crafty!

Cute Reusable Bag!

2012-01-06T14:01:00.000-05:00

Alright so I went hunting through reusable bag tutorials for the past few days. I wanted to make a multi-purpose bag. Nothing too big, you know 'I need to pick up a few small items' kind of bag but that could double up as a small purse if needed. So it HAD to be cute and functional. It sounds easy enough to find something like that but I'm picky so it took me a few nights ;)
Finally I found this: Little Bird Book Bag. It's SUPER cute and I fell in love with it right away!
I'm going to do my own walk through of this tutorial since I changed a few minor things with my own purse that you may want to do too. I love experimenting and trying new things and found I actually preferred my way - it was easier for me. Just remember that my changes were what was best for ME and MY skill level. If you're more comfortable you should try your own way, or if you rather do it to the original than do so. Always work with within your comfort zone or else projects that should be fun can turn into nightmare like chores :(

Anyways!

Now I followed the cutting of the sweater and the sewing of it exactly as the tutorial told me to.
I then proceeded to change the bird to a flower. I also used my machine to sew on the flower... I wanted it to be secure and find my hand sewing lacks when it comes to loose knits.

I added a button from the sweaters top

This is what it looked like after the flower was sewn on

The next couple of photos are just me lining up the fabrics and then sewing them. DO NOT SKIP THE IRONING!!! I will admit I'm bad and sometimes skip the ironing on some projects... This is not one of them!

So being super awesome I managed to be short on material ;) I had two choices. Make a short handle...

Or sew a few pieces together and make a longer one.

I decided I liked the longer one. I four cut 2'' by 7'' pieces in the fabric I had left. I then sewed the pieces together, I didn't worry about lining up the fabric or anything. I thought it looked cuter being a little miss matched. I then ironed down the seams (pic below)

I then sewed the piece of fabric closed with a 1/4'' allowance. I ironed 1/2'' on both sides upwards. So the good side was showing 1/2'' against the rough side. I then turned the piece of fabric right side out making sure to keep the 1/2'' ends in place so they didn't pop back out.

I sewed all along the sides with a 1/4'' seam allowance. I then attached it to the purse in the same fashion that the tutorial used.

Close up of the strap

And wa-la! We're done! That's what the bag looks like 100% done! I took this picture with the other strap pinned down still (silly me) I can upload some pictures of the inside of the purse later. :)

Crafty Christmas

2012-01-01T21:03:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's here already! I thought for sure I had a few more days of 2011... Oh well 2012 is my year to be my craftiest ever! I promise ;)

So I guess I'll do a run down of everything I made for Christmas and share inks to everything that I made... ;)

I made my little ones Rag quilts. Now for those I didn't really do much in the way of 'research' I was just told how to do it and then I proceeded to well, do it ;)

Basically I took 16 squares that were 18'' by 10'' and made them into a rectangle by doing four by four. I then added a boarder around it with two long pieces that were 72'' by 8'' - folded in half to make 72'' by 4'', and one that was 40'' by 5'' for the 'ends'. Sewed them all together, clipped them and wa-la. I had two rag quilts made with love. ;)

I'll post pictures up when I can tackle the darn things down long enough for hold still. The quilts are a big hit right now and are taken EVERYWHERE around the house.

I also made this: Turn a Wipe Container Into A Toy My youngest is in love with this. It's a lot of fun for her to toss the 'wipes' around without being scolded. It also is really easy to clean up. Which is a huge plus for me.

Admittedly I had a horrible time with this next project... Fabric Doll House. I'm not sure if I was just tired of crafting or what was going on but this project felt like it went on forever. It turned out to be pretty cute for my daughters Calico Critters but I'm making another version of the Doll House because I wasn't completely satisfied with the way it came out.

I made some more of these too: Repurpose a Sweater These were loved by all! They are just so cute and for what you pay for a sweater dress brand new are totally worth it. It is a super simple project and I encourage EVERYONE to try it!

Now for you bakers I also made up nine dozen of these wonderful cookies! Chewy Chocolate Chip This recipe is GREAT but I suggest always making more than size dozen. I have no idea why - I'm sure somewhere with better baking experience can tell you... But for some reason larger batches just turn out better. Also I suggest putting the cookie dough in the fridge for 30-60 minutes to make it easier to work with. Also check it FREQUENTLY. It's a fine line between brown and burnt. These cookies are better the next morning/day too.

Well I'm pretty sure that's everything I made for Christmas but I'm sure I'm missing something somewhere ;) Till later!

Mermaids!

2011-12-16T00:44:00.000-05:00

Well I decided to use my 'new to me' sewing machine and see what I could do with the ancient beast. Now my machine is 20 some years old so really all it does is go straight, back, and a very touchy zig-zag stitch. It took me HOURS to figure out how to get the darn thing to thread properly and even now it's hit or miss. It's a very particular thing... But I refuse to accept defeat ;)

Anyways, since Christmas was coming up I decided I'd make my girls some dolls. After a Google search I found the most adorable little Mermaids! - You can find a link to this pattern in my tutorial page.

So I can up a tester of these little darlings.

Tester Mermaid - Made from old Receiving Blankets

I LOVED her so very much! I was very sad when my parents-in-laws dog ate her :( He took an arm and all of her hair clean off... Was very traumatic.

Anyways after I got a feel for how this doll was made I made some very minor adjustments. I made her arms longer, just a little bit... I also added stuffing inside the tails walls.

Next came the 'Next generation' lol

Mermaid 2nd Generation - Yarn hair

So I got pretty good reviews about this one. I decided I liked the look of it but for playing the yarn hair would be a lot less practical, so I switched back to fabric hair for the third generation. ;)

Mermaids 3rd Generation

Mermaids 3rd Generation - Finished Purple Feather Hair

Now some of you may think that the purple crazy hair is a bit extreme, but I knew the little one I was making it for would love it. I was getting kind of sick of ladder stitching too and it was a midnight. 'Gah I just need this DONE!!!' moment... I'm sure we all have those ;) I can't be the only one right!? :P

So I looked in my craft cupboard and found a purple boa. I played with it a little and then carefully, and I mean CAREFULLY glued the hair to the mermaids head.

Complete Collection of 3rd Generation

3rd Generation Yarn Haired Mermaid

3rd Generation Blue Mermaid Close Up

So that's the complete 3rd generation of Mermaids... But I wasn't done there... Oh no! I'd bought enough material to make an army of mermaids and I wasn't going to just stop at six!

4th Generation

Close Up of 4th Generation - Red

Complete 4th Generation Set

For the 4th generation I didn't do anything too crazy. I did add a fray flower with a 'diamond' and beads sewn around it to give the pink mermaid 'bling'. I love how much it turned out if I have time I may have to make some as hair clips! We'll see ;) It was meant for a very girly girl who loves pink so I thought it was fitting. ;)

That ends my mermaid adventures for now. I do have to remake a tester mermaid as I gave it to my youngest since it was the most expendable. I think I have some girls birthdays in march too...

Well I'll leave it there for today! Make sure to check back later in the week to see what else I'm making for Christmas! ;)

Dino Day Five - Pteranodon

2011-12-12T23:02:00.000-05:00

Wow... Been awhile since I updated! I haven't been able to pull away from my sewing machine... I apologize!

Anyways onto day five!

Honestly it's been a while since day five but I knew that we choose a Pteranodon because of Dinosaur Train. My darling daughter, LOVES Dinosaur Train, and it's one of the few shows I can sit down and enjoy with her ;) Always a big bonus in my house.

Dino Mural - Day Five

For our pteranodon all we did was watercolors on some card stock with googly eyes! Pretty simple... My little one was so proud of herself when this was all done! She did an amazing job and learned a lot about dinosaurs.

Even now it's hanging up in my dinning room wall, and she can remember every dinosaurs name, and what kind of food they eat. Pretty good for a random week project ;) I was very happy with the end results!

I think my next few posts will be about the insanity that is all my Christmas projects :P

Till then... Keep it Crafty ;)

Dino Day Four - T-Rex

2011-11-29T13:01:00.000-05:00

Finally day four! Been insanely busy with some orders. Yay Christmas special! ;)

Anyways we did a T-Rex today. Energy had returned from resting the day before so we did a few crafts and then spent the rest of the day outside.
We read Blues Clues Dinosaur Week Countdown, my little one really enjoyed that Blue was doing something that she was doing. It was similar but not the same, still it was nice to see we aren't the only ones obsessed with Dinos for a week. ;)
For our T-rex I free hand drew one on card stock. My little one painted it with water colors and added some pompoms. Why Pompoms? Who knows! It was fun and my little one insisted on it. To a three year old everything could use a pompom or two now and then ;)
So we took Pommy and added some googly eyes and some random star... Why a star? I have no idea... It's just what she wanted and I didn't feel like arguing that T-Rexs didn't have pompoms or stars on them :P

Pommy the T-Rex

End of Day Four Dino Mural

We finished up Dreamy too. All she really needed was a face and some scales. I just used little foam pieces I cut out randomly. For the eyes we used extra big googly eyes and the mouth is just white paint. I was going to draw on teeth in black marker but my daughter said no, she was afraid it would make Dreamy look to mean... lol

That's the end of day four. We did some printables, and some more water coloring but nothing else was added to the Dino Mural.

Dino Day Three - Triceratops

2011-11-27T00:22:00.000-05:00

So day three was a bit slower then the others. My little one wasn't feeling so well that day so we opened the Dino Day with a movie. One of the Land Before Time movies, I can't remember which one. I'm pretty sure there's close to a dozen of them... So no one can blame me right? ;)

After the movie I free drew up a Triceratops on a piece of card stock and cut it out for my little one. Now you'll notice that the Triceratops is TINY compared to the other dino's that are already on the mural. That's because it's based of Sarah from the movie, and since she's still a 'child' she's smaller. The logic somehow worked out in my head... lol Anyways... She painted her with water colors and attached some googly eyes.

I kept everything pretty basic since she wasn't feeling that great.

Dino Mural - Day Three

We finally got around to painting Dreamy. She painted two base coats of purple. I then gave her a sponge with a darker purple and had her tap it all over to make it look more 'textured' and 'scaly'

Dreamy

That's all we really did for Day Three. A pretty productive day for a little one who wasn't feeling so hot! :)

Dino Day Two - Albertosaurus

2011-11-25T12:22:00.001-05:00

For Day Two we had a bit of a field trip to the London Childrens Museum. Since we studied the Albertosaurus and there's a skeleton there it tied in nicely.

We also did a scavenger hunt there too that I made up. It covers the whole museum and is only objects that start with A, B, or C. I wanted to tie in our Alphabet lesson into our Dino week in a fun and unique way.

Museum Scavenger Hunt

To mark the sheet I just used little stickers I had in my craft closet. For a 'prize' I gave out a glow bracelet, and two silly bands. Everyone on our play date got the same prize. ;) (Play dates with our family can get pretty creative sometimes :) )

We had to make our Albertosaurus as well. So I free hand drew him onto cardstock and had her color him. She added glitter to the top of him and some googly eyes. Wa-la he was done. :)

Dino Mural - Day Two

Now some may ask, 'Why is he upside down?'. The answer that only a child could think of is that "He is playing peek-a-boo with his friend!". You'll notice that there are some real leafs now on the small bush. We added those from our garden.

And so ends day Two. Dreamy was still wet so we couldn't do much with it. I let it sit for another day so I know it's for sure set and not going to fall apart during painting!

Take care and please feel free to comment. :) I'd love some feedback!

Dino Day One - Ankylosaurus

2011-11-24T23:19:00.000-05:00

So my little one wanted to learn about Dinosaurs... And who doesn't!?
The challenge was finding something within her attention span, and that wouldn't be a pain to clean up. I broke the work into five days. Each day we'd chip away at something different.
Today was the Ankylosaurus. Not the most friendly looking guy huh? But my girl is obsessed with his cool armor and club like tail.
I started by drawing an outline for a Dino Mural on canvas with a sharpie.

Next I made water colors from some 1/4 cup of warm water and a few drops of food coloring. Please make sure that whatever your own little one is wearing isn't going to be missed if it gets stained...
The next few photos are of how my darling painted the sky, ground, mountain, and trees.

Not to shabby for one day but it was only... What... 11am by the time we finished? So no where near time to call it quits and there was still a bit of time to kill before lunch so we started work on her Ankylosaurus.

All I did for him was free hand what he looked like roughly and had my little one color it. After it was all colored we glued on beads for it's armor, she drew a smile and we added googly eyes of her choice.

Ankylosaurus

Then we added him to his new happy home... We also added a bush because my little one was afraid he wouldn't be able to reach the leaves in the top of the trees... Lol, she's so thoughtful sometimes! :)

Dino Mural - Day 1

End of day one of the Mural!
But no where close to being done for the day...
After lunch we went on to make our other week long project...

Build Your Own Dino - Day 1

This girl is made up of an egg carton, toilet paper rolls, an old Ritz box and a mini cereal box. I had to do most of the baby dipping because it was so darn hot! After almost 45 minutes of cooling the glue mixture still hadn't cooled enough for my little one not to burn her poor fingers! So I had to do that 'messy' part...
Oh well Dreamy turned out really well.
And then... At 3pm... I was calling the crafts off for the day ;) We did a few printable dinosaur colorings in between and some tracing of lines/connect the dots...
And so ended Day One! It turned out really well... Just wait till you see Day Two ;)

The Realization

2011-11-23T15:36:00.001-05:00

So my daughter is starting JK next September... The realization itself was earth shattering, but I managed to pull through and decided I needed to prepare my little angel for the road ahead.
We made a quick stop at Scholars Choice - a deadly store to anyone with a few extra bucks to spend, and picked up a few things. A wipe-able calendar, some whip off crayons, a sticker chart, some flash cards and not much else. While I was there I picked up a membership too because I figured I'd be back there again and the 10% off seemed appealing. When I signed up I also got two $5 off coupons.
We went through the flash cards, which were colors and shapes, played some memory and I realized there's very few shapes she needs help with. She's doing awesome!
Her letters were another story but we'll work on it ;)
I asked her what she wanted to do for her first week of learning and she said she wanted to learn about DINOSAURS!
So I said 'okay' and I did some research into it. I then had a week worth of small crafts to make a Dinosaur mural and a actual dinosaur.
Keep watching for Dino Day 1 ;)
Till then take care!

The Gossamer Goddess - Intro

2011-11-23T13:40:00.000-05:00

Hello all! Welcome to my blog!
Lets start off with a small bio of myself! Right now I'm a stay at home mom with an small crafty Tutu business that's just starting up. Business is slow right now but that's common for new business so I'm not disheartened ;) I've been crafty since a child and even taught art classes before the kiddos came along. I carried my crafty nature and became a crafty mama. :)
I hope to share some of my craftyness with you too! Everything I post in here will hopefully be FREE for you to do at home too! I'm crafty AND frugal and try to share the 'wealth' with others. ;)
Well that's enough for now, I'm working on my first Blogging project right now... DINO WEEK. A week filled with Dinosaur crafts and fun printables for your little ones!