Crafty (Backyard) Camping Birthday

My oldest girls turned 9yo this past weekend.  They wanted a backyard camping sleepover.  My husband and I went around and around about whether to have a 'theme' or just go with a sleepover party.  Ultimately the theme idea won - if for no other reason than it helped to reign in ALL of the ideas that the girls had about their special birthday party.

I found this great camp cake recipe/idea online and did my best to create one similar.  I think I did pretty well.  In fact, making and decorating the cake with the girls was one of the highlights of the entire party planning experience.

I picked out two crafts for the girls to do as well.  The first was a photo holder: A wooden cube that could be decorated with camping signage, and then add a groove in the top that can hold a photo.  We all loved doing these!  I found the camping signs online at Etsy, each girl got her own sheet to cut from and we used Mod Podge to secure the 'signs' to the blocks.  My husband made the blocks and then used a saw to cut the groove.  Each girl went home with a couple of blocks and one photo holder.  I kept the extra blocks until the next day and then made our family a set of blocks for camping.  I can imagine using them for so many things when we are in the great outdoors - story cubes, conversation starters, etc.

The other craft was creating shadow puppets of northern woodland animals.  The girls (painstakingly) cut them out and taped each on to a chopstick.  They practiced shining the images on the side of the tent with their flashlights (a party favor) and then my husband made up a story and they acted it out.  The whole idea/production turned out even better then I ever could have imagined.  The animal shapes were free templates from a designer on the internet - there are thousands out there to choose from.

We roasted hot dogs over a fire pit for dinner with corn on the cob, watermelon and chips.  We did the crafts right afterwards, then were inside for a movie.  Then outside again for sleeping in the tent.  Luckily the weather was on our side for the weekend.  The girls all slept really well (until 8a!) and after breakfast and some playing it was time for the girls to get picked up again.  It was a great party and after the guests left my daughters ran to me with hugs saying that the party exceeded every dream they had about it before hand.  A very happy Momma moment.

This was our first foray into a friend party - up until now, for all our girls, we've kept these celebrations close with just family.  It was a lot of work to pull of the party for kids but very much worth it.  And the party was in touch with our family 'vibe' which made it really enjoyable.  I even got to craft/create along the way.

A New Year: FO's and job news!

As 2012 came to a close I reminded myself of all that I have to be thankful for.  In taking stock, I keep coming back, humbly, to the gift of my children, their health, happiness and safety.  I am a lucky mother and wife; and happy to be ushering in a new year full of hope and wide-eyed wonder.

In looking forward to 2013 I have some exciting news to share: I will be returning to paid work in a few short weeks.  I accepted an adjunct teaching position in my old department and will be working with masters' students on their final papers.  I am excited to take this step and my New Years' wish is that my family can whether my return to campus and adjust to a new family schedule.  I hope to be able to maintain a goodly amount of knitting, but we'll have to just take it one day at at time.  In the meantime I've enjoyed getting re-connected with campus and all that our little university town has to offer.  I received my doctorate two years ago in December and the time is right to return to the classroom - this time as an instructor.

On the knitting front I am happy to share three FO's!  I finished a small shrug and pair of socks (both gifted) in late December - my last FO's of 2012.  The socks are made with Felici: a self-striping washable wool by Knit Picks (colorway: botany).  The pattern is by Ann Budd - 8 sts/inch.  It is amazing what great socks you can whip out these days with a simple pattern and striped yarn.

basic socks, self-striping yarn




 

The shrug is made with Vintage DK, a great washable acrylic/wool/nylon blend in a bright magenta.  It suits my niece perfectly.  I finished it with a dark gray dragonfly button (not the one pictured below).  The pattern is by Knitting Pure and Simple.


girls shrug, vintage dk

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 





And I finished a hat on January 1st - my first FO of 2013.  Made from bulky weight Toboggan by Classic Elite yarns, it is a thick, comfy and warm blend of alpaca and wool that has fantastic stitch definition.  The pattern is Foliage from knitty (not to be confused with the other foliage hat I knit in the fall).  I'm not sure if the gold color suits me - this is the left over yarn from the sweater repairs late last year - but it is a lovely hat and one that I will hang on to for the right person.

foliage hat in toboggan

While I didn't come through on the handmade for my own girls this holiday, DH sure did!  He completed a set of three beautiful house-shaped shadow boxes for the older girls' rooms.  They are the perfect place to keep all the 'little stuff' that is so important to them.

 

And if that wasn't enough, he pulled together a fantastic art caddy for the whole family that fits snugly into one of the built in cabinets in our dining room.  No more half-ripped ziploc bags full of broken crayons, missing-caps-markers laying about, and repeated requests for more paper please! 

Dispatch from the Workshop, Part 3 (Woodworking)

This year my husband set out to make our girls some special boxes.  The twins each asked for a necklace from Santa, so we reasoned they would need each want a special place to keep their new treasures.  These two boxes are made of walnut, and the top is birdseye maple.  They close with simple hinges and are lined with red wool felt. 

Our middle daughter is not yet old enough for a necklace, or jewelry box, but is old enough to want what her older sisters have.  So he set out to make her a 'treasures' box.  The box is constructed of birch, stained to look like walnut, and opens and closes by sliding or rotating the top.  It is likewise lined with red felt.

And the baby got a new set of blocks.  Unlike the classic building blocks of years past, these are natural tree blocks, made from a single birch tree that was cleared from our family's land west of town.  The tree was sliced into sections and sanded.  There is also a protective coat of food-safe varnish. These are extra special building blocks - the emotional connection to the wood itself is enough to make me tear up.  They look amazing with all the natural detail of the bark intact and so far all the girls have had fun trying to recreate the tree, matching up the sections and building it high up into the air. 

Holiday Gift: Landscape

This was the big gift for our girls this holiday season - a play landscape with some horses. They watched many a toy catalogue arrive at the house during December and set themselves to picking out toys to tell Santa about. One of the things they got really excited about was a set of horses with a stable.

DH and I decided that with his skills in the workshop we could come up with something just as nice - and probably more adaptive to other play interests - here at home. However, time ran short as the basement renovations took top priority. So rather than an entire stable set-up we came up with this landscape idea; we can always add a stable later.

The horses and paddock are from playmobil. The grass is a piece of felt from my stash, the sand is from the barrel at the corner (our city places these out in the winter to help with the slippery driving conditions), the water is acrylic paint and the rocks I snatched from their growing collection. DH used a router to cut out small recesses for the felt, paint and sand. The large piece of plywood was cut with a jigsaw. Assembly took place during the late afternoon of the 24th and all was dry by midnight when we set out the gifts from Santa. Whew. While I was busy in the kitchen DH and his sister worked on the project. This year my only role was to gather supplies, they did all the work. The piece is relatively lightweight and can be moved all over the house. It's great for tabletop play. I've already watched as it changed over from a paddock to a savannah - giraffes, baboons, lions and tigers have all had a drink at the cool waters edge.

Mauda Woodworks

My husband is an amazing woodworker. He has recently decided to sell sets of his heirloom-quality, all-natural children's blocks at Mauda Woodworks. I'm here to support him - shamelessly.
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edited on 12/7 with new photos!
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I've also added a photo of a recent gift from him to me; one that he made for me. A beautiful cedar-lined blanket chest. Contrary to it's stated purpose, the first occupants of this piece are some skeins of yarn and other knitting supplies. For now it's tucked into the corner of the living room. DH says that he didn't make it to be a downstairs piece of furniture - it's supposed to go in a bedroom - but I think it's too beautiful to squirrel away up there.