Gifts and more art

While I was at the Midwest Homeschool Convention at the begining of this month my girls made me these sachets with help from my MIL.  I thought they did a good job on the hand sewing.  They used some perfume, which was way too strong for me, on cotton balls that they stuffed inside.  I put them in a plastic bag but the perfume still seeped out so after gaining permission, I took a picture and threw them away 😦  It is VERY hard for me to throw items away that my children make me but having come to the conclusion that even if I had a 1200 sq. ft. house I couldn’t keep everything nor could I keep something that would give me a migraine every time I’d come across it.  Thankfully my girls understood.

I need to post more of Bethanne’s art work she does but until I take some pictures here are more of Hannah’s.  She is getting close to finishing Book 1 of ARTistic Pursuits (remember that excellent art curriculum I keep talking about!) and these are some more of her projects:

This is using water color paper, oil pastels (resist) and watercolor crayons.  That is a guinea pig.

This is an assignment for art on floors using construction paper and chalk pastels.

This is an optical illusion she did in elementary art at our co-op.  Can you see the stars?

Olympus Mons

What is the biggest volcano in our Solar System?

Did you guess it?

That’s right, it’s Olympus Mons located on the planet Mars and we got to make our own!  We haven’t yet exploded it since I want to do it outside in case of a volcano goes wild – wouldn’t do well to have ‘lava’ all over the kitchen.  So here are pictures of our Olympus Mons.

This is the foil lined baking dish and empty pill container:

Our homemade clay supplies and the girls helping in making it:

The clay formed around the pill bottle:

When we get to make it erupt (hopefully tomorrow, if it’s warm and not raining) I will post more pictures!  The children want to make it erupt in many colors!

Creative Randomness

My oldest is always creating something and it could be out of items that we would see as trash.  I wish I could keep all of my children’s creations but even if we didn’t have a small house it just isn’t feasible.  I’ve started to take pictures of those things which I don’t eventually toss so that we can remember it without taking up all that space. 

Here are a few of her creations:

This is a portrait of me made out of packing peanuts (we get a steady supply of these with all the reviews I do) and packing paper:

My husband has been getting his comic called Ponder in our local paper as well as a few other local counties since last year and in honor of that she made a pair of Ponder glasses:

If you’d like to purchase a Ponder book you can find more information here:

Ponder Comic Book

Hands-On History

I really enjoy history – and since begining Mystery of History my children have been enjoying it too.  Even my 4 year old son sometime joins in – he’ll get to through it again when we cycle through it and I’m not sure yet how that will affect my girls as they are pretty much doing both the middle and older student activities.

I do have one confession – after much discussion with my husband we have decided not to make the timeline.  I had good intentions and we even began coloring in figures but between everything else the time line fell by the way side – maybe we’ll do one when we cycle through Volume I again in the future?

Okay the other day we studied, Moses, the Exodous and the Tabernacle.  I had a Tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant model on hand, little did I know how detailed things were so I ended up spending about two hours making this but the children enjoyed seeing it.  My husband’s response “so what now, do you trash it?”  Uh, no honey,

This is the layout before the walls went up:

The walls going up:

1st Covering/Tapestry

Completed w/the fence around the outer court:

Ark of the Covenant with manna, Aaron’s staff and 10 Commandments (the lid comes off and the items go inside.

This was an awesome book chock full of additional information on the Tabernacle, the Ark, and the Exodus.  I was given a copy from Kregel Publications to review in exchange for my honest opinion, no other compensation was given.  This books is $14.99 and can be found at www.lionhudson.com and there are others in the series as well.

Lego Creations

My son, C, was given a set of the big Lego blocks for Christmas but all the children have had fun in creating things with them – of course not what is shown on the box but that is the fun of Legos, creating what you want.  The following are some pics of things my children created.  Sorry the picture quality isn’t good that was my fault.

A Bumble Bee:

Flowers for the bee:

The bee and flowers together:

These were mainly made by my oldest but her younger siblings did help.  She is very creative and enjoys art and designing.

**This post is copyright 2011 by Sarah @ Growing for Christ

More Christmas Presents (if you are my SIL don't read any further!)

This is a set of two bibs, two burp clothes and a diaper wipe holder that I made for my SIL and brother.

Now for Bethanne, I finally completed this baby doll bunting.  I found it last Christmas on the Moda Bake Shop site and couldn’t wait to make if for her for this Christmas.  The baby doll bunting was easy to make the only part I didn’t do was the quilting (I tied Bethanne’s) and instead of sewing up the closure I used hook and loop closure.  The bulk wouldn’t fit under my presser foot and the hook and loop works just fine and now she can use it as a baby doll blanket if she wants to.

I can’t wait for her to open this on Christmas morning.

Tomoson Reviews: Gaddy Nipper Crayons; Rough and Tough Dump Trucks (and giveaway)

 

Tired of those same ol’ same ol’ crayons?  I know my children are and Gaddy Nipper Crayonshas just the thing to solve that issue.  This mom of two recycles Crayola brand crayons into works of art that can be enjoyed by children of all ages, especially since they are non-toxic.

Packaged ready for gift giving these crayons will delight just about anyone who enjoys coloring or crayons.  There are a wide variety of themes to choose from Eiffel Tower, silly swirl snowflakes, mustache, tea pots and many more.  The sizes of the crayons vary depending on what set you buy, the rough and tough dump truck set measure 2.25″ by 1.5″.

These are some awesome crayons that would be great for a gift, stocking stuffer or party favors.  They are a great deal beginning at $2.95 and going up – she’ll even make a custom set  for you including your child’s name.  So go to Gaddy Nipper Crayons and see what else is available.

Giveaway!!!

$10.00 Gift Certificate to be used in Gaddy Nipper’s Etsy shop

Open to U.S. Residents and ends January 3rd, 2011

Make sure to leave a way to contact you so if you win I can notify you – you will have 48 hours to respond then a new winner will be picked.

Must do #1 first

#1 Go to Gaddy Nipper Crayons and look around then come back and tell me what you’d like if you win

#2 Friend Gaddy Nipper Crayons on Facebook and come back and leave a comment telling me.

#3  Follow me on GFC (see left side bar) and leave a comment; if you are already are leave me a comment telling me so.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com and sponsored by Favorite Wigs Shop Name Brand Wigs at Low Prices! Large Wig Selection of Estetica Wigs, Quality Wigs. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

Tomoson Reviews: Python Printable Games; Christmas Printable Paper Dolls

 

Remember the yester years when young girls played with paper dolls and they were all the rage on all of Christmas wish lists?  Even if they aren’t all the rage now, with all the electronic gadgets, young and old girls still enjoy the flair of old time fun with paper dolls and Python Printable Games has made a very cute set. 

Whether you’re looking for something fun for all the children to do (I guess some would let their sons use these too) or you just want to travel back to your days of paper doll cutouts then these would be a nice way to combine Christmas with printable paper dolls.  They are priced at just $6.95 and you’ll get 14 pages of paper doll cutouts – 7 in black and white to color as you see fit and another 7 already colored in.

If you have a laminator then this would be a great time to pull it out and create lasting paper dolls for your young daughter.  The age listing says 5 years and up and with the lamination these will last her awhile as she enjoys something you did as a girl.  I will mention that as with most paper dolls the doll is in her underthings and the girl then adds the clothing.   There is a selection of both pant outifts and dresses/skirts, one outfit reminds me of something Santa would wear and another of his elves.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

2nd Annual H.S. Craft Fair

I’ve organized our home school groups craft fair for the last two years and the children have really enjoyed it.  I’m already kicking around ideas for next year’s fair, including letting parents make things and whole families selling and turning it into our nightly meeting so we can get the word out more and get more people coming in.

The craft fair really helps the children learn the value of their work, entrepreneur skills and money skills.  This year my girls sold cookies in jars, gift tags, Christmas cards, Whatever Bars, leftover foamy ornaments that didn’t sell last year, and glass ball ornaments.  One of the other fun things is that they can buy from others but this also creates the issue that they wanted to spend the money as soon as someone bought something so I had to really guard the money to ensure they had some left when we were finished.

Another Christmas present

If you are reading this is on any site other than Growing For Christ you are reading stolen material.

I think by now my readers are probably realizing how much I’ve come to enjoy sewing – especially presents for others.  I have a friend who is going to be getting a Kindle on December 25th and I wanted to give her a beautiful cover for her Kindle so I’m excited to get together with this dear friend and her children – you can see their gifts here about Crayon Rolls.

The button is a cute little gold colored Victorian woman’s shoe.

**This content is copyrighted 2010 by Sarah @ Growing For Christ