musical instrument extravaganza

No matter how many real instruments we have in our house, my oldest is always begging to "make" an instrument. Its usually rubber bands around a stacking block, but I decided to get involved and make a whole day out of it. Least complicated was the whole wax paper on the toilet paper tube kazoo, secured with a rubber band, then the dried beans or rice in paper plates stapled together (the plates we used were particularly noisy so my husband put the kibosh on those pretty quick). We got a little more complicated when we took the rubber band guitar a step further and made the floppy guitar with macaroni boxes and said rubber bands. This was the most popular for the longest amount of time. We then made a colorful glass xylophone and Jonas was really able to make some songs after I tuned it a bit. Most complicated was this flute. So complicated it took me a few days to want to get out the drill and figure it out. We had to take a trip to Home Depot for the pvc pipe, then get the energy to make the whole dern thing. Sadly, the thing that took the most effort worked the least well. The boys still have fun pretending that it makes amazing sounds. There is some tutorial on how to play it, and someone with more fluting experience might have better luck than I did, but its not about me, now is it.

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I hate planning birthday parties

Blah for June. I love my kids, but thinking of planning pin the tail on the donkey games or buying balloons makes me crazy. I don't know why it bugs me so much, but I can just guarantee that I'll get a headache that day. So I thought I'd share my cake with you. Jonas just had to have a Spongebob party this year (thanks Party City commercial). He even picked out some gross grocery store cake with popping toys on top that I actually agreed to purchasing. When it came time to order it, but I'll admit, I was dragging my feet, they didn't have the stuff for the cake and it would take too long to order. So to the internet I went. I found a site here with all kinds of crazy cakes, but one that looked simple, and you know me-I'm all about simple, and Jonas approved. So we got some yellow cake mix (because SB is yellow inside), mixed up some frosting with the standard box of colors, and got some black tubes too, put it in piping bags, and followed some pictures we printed out from the internet. The best part? I got my husband to do it. I did the hard parts- making the frosting, washing out the piping bags and whatnot, but the artistic part (which I would have done terribly) I got dear husband to do.

Is this starting to be a blog about how to get out of being crafty? I've got to get my sewing machine out and get busy...

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A mess solution

I include my husband in my brood of boys, as you might, and along with my particular man, comes with a lot of gadgets and their requisite cords and other nerdy mise en place (see x-box ear bud). Our desk drawers were brimming with stuff and if I needed to charge a camera or download photos I had to dig for 15 minutes to find the cord. I wish I could say I came up with this idea, but I didn't. We took an over the door shoe hanger and put it in our front closet. With sticky labels and a sharpie we labeled the pockets where we would put our cords and chargers. Its here on apartment therapy but I for sure had it way before this was posted, so I don't know where it came from. What I do know, is that whoever comes over to my house and sees it always wishes they had it at their house. And now you do too. My husband has taken over the front closet for his own guitar thingies. My vacuum lives in the back of the house. Poor, sad vacuum- all alone. He loves the over the door shoe hanger for all of his guitar cords and instruction booklets. Now our desk drawers are for pencils and tape, like normal people.

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Homemade "lava lamp"

So is today more of a science day or more of a hippie day? Good news, you are in luck. You can do both. Plus, there is the added bonus of downing your favorite soda in the name of science. "Sorry, mommy needs Dr. Pepper today so you can have fun with the bottle later dear."

Materials for the "lava lamp"
-plastic bottle
-vegetable oil
-water
-liquid food coloring
-funnel
-plastic cup

Directions:
Fill the plastic cup with water, add food coloring and mix.
Pour vegetable oil into the empty bottle until it is 1/2 to 3/4 full. (use the funnel)
Add the colored water to the bottle.
Put the cap on the bottle tight- don't stir or shake it (not yet any ways- do that later for fun)

(Something else we've done to "recycle")

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Applique the Awesome way

Moms with girls get to do cute applique crafts all the live long day. I won't sit back and let them have all of the fun. Jonas was playing a game on Boowa and Kwala (which I highly recommend for the pre-reading set) and found Mike riding a bike with Spike. Mike had a green shirt on it with an "M" on it. Jonas said he HAD to have a blue one with a J on it. Sadly, most of the best ideas we come up with around here really come from the kids. I'd like to take credit for being a super active and creative mom, but I don't. If it were up to me, I'd be on the couch right now watching DVR'd Gossip Girl. So this is how we figured out how to make a super cool initial shirt.


Materials: From my local fabric store I purchased a t-shirt, solid colored fabric, which I washed, matching thread, Wonder-Under transfer web by Pellon, and Stitch and Tear (ask at the cutting counter for these items, they can help you find it).

1. I made my letters in Adobe Illustrator. You can make yours in Microsoft Word, choose your favorite font, size 500 or more. Print out 2 in greyscale or another light font, use a marker and straight edge to get the double "stroke". Cut the letters out.

2. Put rough side of Wonder-Under against the wrong side of your fabric squares about the size of your letters. Press with a dry, hot iron for 5-10 seconds. Pin the letters to the fabric. Cut around the letters carefully.


3. Gently peel off the paper backing from the letters, being careful not to fray the fabric of the letters themselves. One layer at a time, center your letter on the t-shirt, web side down, cover with a damp towel or press cloth and iron firmly for 15 seconds or so. Repeat on all sections until all fabric is fused. Repeat with second layer. Remove towel and iron again to remove moisture.

4. When you applique on knits, like a t-shirt, you need a stabilizer, like Stitch and Tear. Cut your Stitch and Tear in a square larger than your letter, pin it to the inside of your t-shirt, where you will be sewing. This will keep your shirt from moving around too much or bunching up in your sewing machine.

5. Using a satin stitch or a close together and short zigzag stitch on your sewing machine, sew around your letters using a careful and straight stitch. (Mine aren't perfect either) Clip your strings carefully.

6. Turn the shirt inside out, clip your strings, tear away your Stitch and Tear, inside and outside your seams (it doesn't wash well).


7. Try to have kid as cute as mine.

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