Odd Dotty Dollymaker

My Life is a Carnival

As I said in the last post, this past year has been crazy for us. A lot has happened that I can't share here for various reasons. The year isn't over yet and isn't showing any signs of slowing down either. Today, thanks to my kids, I discovered that my life is a carnival. Just when it feels as though things may be calming down, the crazy calliope starts its music again and the curtain rises to reveal the next ride or attraction. Usually my initial reaction is to feel as though I am in the middle of the first twenty minutes of Moulin Rouge. You know that part that feels like complete sensory overload? And you feel all oppressed, crazed and hopeless? All you can do is sit there, holding on, hoping that it'll fade away. But it doesn't. It just changes.

It changes into something that at first seems overwhelmingly broken. And it is. It is broken. But one thing I've learned this year is to find the beauty in the broken. Because it's there. Sometimes it's buried pretty deep, but it's there. I haven't found the beauty in everything that's happened just yet. But I know I will. And before I get any more vague, there is a point to this post! This morning, as the curtain was rising again to reveal another show, my kids were playing quietly together in the living room. I came in to find that they had built an entire carnival out of Legos!

There was a Ferris Wheel; notice the map next to it. That's the directory.

 

A Goldfish game. Apparantly you throw the disk to hit the target and win a goldfish.

 

A Rollercoaster.

 

The Balloon Salesman.

 

Face Painting.

 

Dunk Tank.

 

A brick wall to break to win the huge diamond.

 

There was even a Cotton Candy booth.

 

And a Food booth!

 

I loved everything about it! I loved that my children worked together to create it. I loved all the creativity that went into it. The attention to details. I loved all the colors and how fun it looked. And so even though right now my life is a crazy carnival? At least it's colorful!

Art Attack!

Whoa, look at the time! Did I really just let a week and some days slip by without a post? Sorry about that. As I believe I briefly mentioned in the previous post...or maybe I just eluded to it?...either way, I have been really busy as of late. Our homeschooling group has decided to branch out and start a drama club and we are currently in rehearsal for our first production. Charlotte's Web! And I am the director! Me! Yikes! Actually I am having a ton of fun with it. It has brought theatre back into my life in a way I never thought it would. I never ever ever wanted to be on this side of the stage for a play. But, oh my goodness, why did no one tell me how much fun it is?! Okay, maybe what I should really say is...But, oh my goodness, why didn't I believe people when they said I should think about directing?! It's a lot more work, that's for sure, at least it's a lot more left brained work, which is why I think I avoided it for so long. However, I find that amongst all my grumbling and complaining about how difficult it is to put together a rehearsal schedule knowing that certain actors can only be there on certain days, I secretly enjoyed stretching that side of my gray matter! One thing I forgot, not having done any theatre in oh...say...12 years? It takes up a LOT of your time. A LOT!!

So, while I have not been able to get as much sewing done as I would like for the grand opening of Le Shoppe, the family and I have been surrounded by art. And I love that! The boy and the girl have been crazy little art makers! This is my current most favorite piece by the girl.

Isn't she sweet? I especially enjoy the little monkey friend she has.

And then there is this. This the masterpiece by the boy.

Let me 'splain about this one. That right there? That is a clown. You know what he is doing? He is crying. Why? For what reason would a clown have to cry? Because, and this is straight out of the babe's mouth,: "...he is looking at something so beautiful that it is making him have tears in his eyes." And that ball of red right in the middle of his forehead? Why that is his brain, of course! The boy. He draws the brains in for all his people! I nearly exploded from the cuteness when he handed this so lovingly to me and explained the meaning of it!

We learned about the Roman's using mosaics for their floors and walls during school this week. So, the kids tried their hands at it, only instead of using tiny stones and grout we used plasticine tiles and instant paper mache:

It was a ton of fun, and that Celluclay was amazing! Has anyone ever worked with this stuff before? I am totally intrigued by it now, and am thinking I may want to buy some more just to play around with it to see what can be made.

Today, for art class we further explored the joys of plasticine...or clay. I just like saying plasticine because it sounds fancier, and it's more fun to say. Plasticine...plasticine...plaaaastiiiiciiiiiine. Try it, you'll like it.

The girl created this fantastic alien from the Planet Z. Her name is Ro-Z and her little pet is Zizzers.

I am thinking she may have some mad sculpting skills! I may need to supply her with more clay...excuse me, plasticine. You can't really see the details in the photo, but they are pretty darn cool. She even created a symbol for the dress of Ro-Z that I have never seen before. Crazy creative, that one. Or, as Ro-Z would say: "Cra-Z creative!"

The boy? He pretty much just pretended his clay was Mighty Putty, and told us of its many uses...and how you just "cut, activate and apply!" "It even works with water, mommy!" Ummm...I'm thinking too much T.V.? Bad mommy. Bad mommy.

That is just a small sampling of what has come out of the past week, there is a constant stream of papers, markers, crayons, scissors, plasticine *giggle*, fabric and yarn being strewn about the house. In every room. On every surface. It can get a little maddening, but I love it when gems like these are produced. After all, I know how messy creativity can be. I won't even scare you with pictures of my crafting area. It's scary. Very scary.

In other news, I have laced Bernice into her corset!

Poor Bernice. She has waited so patiently since being promised a little air time on this here blog. But I was thinking...I know, I know...nothing good ever come from thinking, right? Now this is just a thought, mind you...a radical thought, but just a thought nonetheless. I was thinking I may actually use Bernice for the purpose for which she was intended!! You know, actually use her as a dress form instead of as an interesting little, or not so little, oddity of a decoration. Did I tell you? Things are going crazy round these parts. Watch out! Next thing you know, I will be posting pictures of crafts on this crafting blog.

But maybe that's taking it a little too far?

So, for now...here is what the dog has been up to.

For crayon out loud

Here's how to have fun on a cold afternoon and get Valentine's made at the same time.*

Step 1: Peel and break used up crayons, and put into heart shaped molds.

Step 2: Place pan into pre-heated 250 degree oven, and patiently wait with baited breath for approximately 15 minutes.

Step 3: Get a little crazy.

Step 4: Hand camera to the boy and let him take a couple of pictures.

Step 5: Try not to notice how shiny you are and how white the walls are. Instead focus on having fun with the kids.

Step 6: After crayons have been removed from oven and have thoroughly cooled, or at least cooled enough for the kids to handle, remove them from molds.

Step 7: Marvel at all the cool colors.

Step 8: Attach heart crayons to a piece of card stock or foam and write a witty Valentine's message on them, such as "Happy Valentine's Day for crayon out loud!" But don't post a picture of it because by that time the lighting was terrible and all the pictures came out blurry and dull.

*idea for this craft goes to Family Fun.

Cookie Factory

Yesterday the girl and I were a regular cookie factory. We whipped up some felt fortune cookies for our homeschool Valentine's Day party. It was a super easy and super fun craft to do with her. We had some pretty good laughs together, and suddenly our table was covered with these:

Now all we need to do is ask our Chinese food restaurant if we can buy some little take-out containers and fill them with these and some other Valentine's goodies. That, and I need to figure out what the boy is going to give as Valentine's. Any ideas? Does anyone out there have any good boy Valentine's crafts? Leave me a comment if you do!

Looking back

I hope you all forgive me as I take some time and reflect on the past month. I finally feel as if I can breathe again, and I want to write down my thoughts and experiences now so I don't forget. Ok. So.

Wow.

That's the word that firsts comes to mind when I reflect back on December of 2007.  Second word? CRAZY! Third? Wow. But this time with a much different intonation. One that brings to mind awe and gratitude and humility. As maddening as some of the days were, I never lost the sense that we are extremely blessed and have been given so much more than we deserve. Needless to say, 2007 ended on a high note and I am ridiculously excited for 2008!

Moving into a new house the month of Christmas is not something I would recommend or would ever really want to do again, but I am so glad we did. We were able to spend the Holiday in our new home, and despite all of the chaos surrounding us, we were able to get some crafty things done. The girl finished up her gifts she was making from this post. She sewed all the bags herself with only a little help from me when her machine would jam up...stinkin' Singer! They were filled with little cookies that she and the boy helped make and delivered with somewhat success. Some of the recipients weren't home and so the cookies were subject to some icky weather...yum.

The girl, the boy and I sat down one evening and made little creations out of super soft air-drying clay. The boy's creations were mainly many colored balls which were then taken apart and put back together repeatedly and so did not survive. But, he added to mine, and I found that they made for a nice little sill decorations for Christmas as we didn't have time to put out all the decor this year.

This next one is my favorite. The girl made a little elf.

I also made some favors of fabric cones for a Christmas party, but I forgot to take a picture of them and I didn't take one home. D'oh! *sigh*

And then, I received this loverly little pillow crafted by the talented Ms. Deborah as a gifty. I LOVE it!! Thank you!

Suddenly, amidst all the unpacking and partying and pageanting and exchanging of gifts with friends it was Christmas!

Around 4 in the morning on Christmas both the boy and the husband awoke with ailing stomaches and proceeded to empty them. We think it may have been some sort of food related illness. Fortunately, it didn't really affect their moods all day, it just forced us to stay home in our jammies instead of heading out to my sister's for dinner. So, a quiet and relatively peaceful Christmas it was. In our new home. Praise the LORD!

More unpacking and settling in and putting pictures on the walls followed. We were trying to get the house somewhat ready for a New Year's Eve gathering. But! Then! The 29th of December had different ideas for us. More specifically the husband, who was feeling not quite himself all day after inhaling a generous amount of natural gas. That night turned into one of those nights you never ever ever EVER want to repeat. Without all the details, he ended up in the hospital until close to 7 the next morning. Apparently, it wasn't the gas that was making him feel all weird, it was the flu. And the flu mixed with his Meniere's Disease does not a happy couple make. So, no New Year's Eve partying for us. Instead, we watched Spiderman 3, the end of a countdown show and kissed each other...well, I kissed the girl. The boy and the dad were in bed. I made the husband kiss my sleeved arm. He is feeling much better now and we are both excited to see what the Lord has in store for us in 2008!

Personally? I hope it has a lot of crafting!!

P.S. This pretty much sums up how I am feeling right about now. *wink* Thank you, Ms. Anne!

Ho Ho Ho!

Oh my goodness, I had forgotten how much I LOVE to craft! The kids and I are having so much fun making Christmas crafts while listening to Christmas music and/or watching Christmas movies. Today the girl and I worked on the gifts she is making for her friends. She came up with the idea to make little Santa hats as the gift tags for them. They will be tied to a Santa sack full of goodies, and afterwords her friends have an ornament to keep.

She will write the name of the recipient in glitter glue on the hat before sending them out.

It turns out the test hat just so happened to fit her Webkinz, Bananas.

Now even he is in the Christmas spirit.

And here is the boy's Amazing Flying Glue Stick that he invented today as part of the Holiday crafting. He demanded that I take a picture of it, too.

Oh. And it looks like we will be packing not decorating! We finally found someone to rent out our house, which means that we will be able to move into the new one as early as next week!! Praise the LORD!!

Of course, this doesn't mean that I am going to stop the crafting. Ohhhh no. In fact, it means I can craft to my little hearts content because I don't have to worry about making sure the crafting area is super clean all the time just in case someone wants to come see the house. I am even hoping to have something for a give-away very very soon, so keep checking in!

Holly Jolly

This is just a quick post to say that it's beginning to look like Christmas around here. At least in my home. Every year, I let the season pass by me too quickly. So I am really trying to savor it this year. You know, actually doing Christmasy things instead of just thinking about doing them. I am determined to grab the Holiday season by the reins and make every minute count! Which is already proving tricky as we don't know where we will be for Christmas, which means we don't know if we will be decorating or packing. Instead of worrying about that though, I decided the kids and I should just start crafting already. I found this idea in Family Fun and LOVED it!

So!

This is what the we whipped out this afternoon before having to frantically clean up the house for a showing. Using a gingerbread man cookie cutter and a brown paper grocery bag and listening to a Charlie Brown Christmas, a new Christmas tradition was born I think.

The pictures aren't that great, but I think you get the idea.

That one is a better idea of the colors. I was trying to take the picture so the flash would stop blowing them out. The boy and I did the top row, and the girl did the bottom row of gingerbread men. It was a bit of a struggle for me at first to not try and control how the boy decorated his men, but I am glad I did because I love the way they turned out. He designed them all, I just cut the ribbon to the size he wanted.

I also love the girl's. Especially this one, she made it the singing one.

Here they are in their decorative places.

Tomorrow, we may make some more and hang them as a garland. But for now? I must clean!

Weeee! I love Christmas!