The girls had an unexpected day off today, so I decided to use the time to do some crafts together. In a way, I was grateful for a day in the house because there has been so much running around lately. It’s easy to forget to make time for the things at home that put you in a positive mood.
We made some creations from the girls’ art box. They had to make a nana – I didn’t know what that was, but apparently it’s a sculpture made out of Mod Roc. We used it once before and the girls loved how messy it was. I decided to join in too 🙂 There were templates provided or you could draw your own outline to work within on a piece of card. I made a flower, but it ended up looking more like a starfish once it was covered 🙂 It suggested layering bubble wrap or scrunched up newspaper on top of the outline to create a 3D shape to cover. We didn’t have any, so we used tissue paper instead, which worked just as well. We had to use washi tape to attach it to the card and fill in the shape. Then we got a bowl of water and dipped the strips of Mod Roc in it so it would stick to the sculptures. It’s like working with papier mâché. It might be one of the girls’ favourite activities because the kitchen looks like a building site by the time they’re done 🙂 I enjoyed it too though, so it made the clean up worthwhile. The sculptures have to dry overnight before we decorate them, so I’ll share the results in a future post 🙂
The girls got out their rice tray and filled lolly moulds with dry rice and pretended to have an ice-cream shop. I’m always amazed by how long it keeps them amused for. It looked like there had been a rice explosion in the kitchen afterwards, but I decided it was a day for making mess. Trying to keep the place clean with kids off school is like trying to rein in a wild animal anyway 🙂
I was in the mood to bake and I had pumpkin spice cookies in my mind after trying one the other day 🙂 I decided to make some gingerbread men, since I had no pumpkin and they use similar spices. It’s usually a Christmas tradition of ours but they always cheer everybody up 🙂 They ended up being a wiggly, homemade shape and looked like they were dancing, but I guess that adds something unique to them 🙂 I made the cookie dough with help from the girls and they licked the whisks. After the cookies were baked, we set up a decoration station at the table with icing, sprinkles and edible glitter, and the girls went mad with it. I decorated one of my own too. It was really soothing and I didn’t get told off for pinching one since it was just the leftover cookie dough and not a gingerbread man 🙂
We had some of our cookie creations and I made some coffee and read a magazine I never seem to have time to read lately. It arrived in the post today with “if you’re too busy to read this, it means you should” typed on the envelope. It felt like a sign I needed to make time for quiet pursuits 🙂 Apart from that, I’ve been doing a final draft of my book which I plan to publish in the next couple of days 🙂
The Funky Thrifter 