Cardboard Playhouse: Day 2

I added some fun details to the playhouse today. I decided against making curtains because I want to make sure enough light gets inside, but I did use some tulle to make a screen on one window. I was going to screen the openings at the top, but it just didn't look nice (so we will have to just deal with the bugs). I will, more than likely, make a little mail box over the weekend to put next to the front door. So, here's the playhouse at 99% finished (and the cutest residents EVER).

The lovely red door for good luck!

My fairly crappy version of some cherry blossoms on a tree. It's not that I can't make cherry blossoms, but I had an impatient toddler helping out. So they just became random blossoms on a naked tree.

I wanted to add something fun to one side of the house. It is a little minimalist without the bakery and post office. I personally enjoy a little minimalism but...

...look how cute it is when there's a little postal employee hanging out the window!

And how could anyone pass up the sweetest thing I've ever seen in any bakery EVER!?

Cardboard Playhouse

I feel like I haven't made anything for a long time. Maybe I just needed a break from the constant mess that seems to follow me when I make things. Whatever the reason, I felt the need to make something today. It just felt like a project kind of day. We started the morning with the girls bedazzling a couple of pairs of jeans. When I was a kid, I used to LOVE to cut daisies from fabric and sew them to my jeans. So, it was like life came full circle today watching my girls embellish their first pair of jeans. After they were sufficiently fancified, they headed out to transfer some of their plant into real pots and I sat down to design a little playhouse for Zion.


(I still haven't made the fabric playhouse for the big girls, but I feel like my sewing machine and I have such an on again, off again relationship that we are not ready to take on a large task together. Maybe we should consider counseling.) I make a lot of different things for the older girls, but haven't really had the chance to make anything special for Zion. My plan was to make a small playhouse for her that was just big enough for her (to keep her older sisters from taking over). Thanks to our local Sears appliance store, I acquired 5 very large, very sturdy pieces of cardboard. They were about an inch thick had a honeycomb type core, which makes them VERY sturdy.


I like the way it turned out and Zion LOVES it. It is definitely bigger than I originally anticipated, so technically, the bigger girls can play in it (but I think I will make it three years old and under area). The plan is to be able to move it from the garage, to the backyard or front yard depending on where the rest of us are. It weighs almost nothing, so it's very easy to move. I will keep a blanket to spread beneath it in the grass (to prevent the backyard itchies). I will add some details to the outside of the house, attach the front door and probably make some curtains.




I made just some simple line drawings on the inside for the different rooms of the house. I may do something a little more detailed later on, but this works for now.

The Golden Compass

My big girls are in love with all things related to The Golden Compass. We've listened to the entire Dark Materials trilogy and they've just discovered that there's a movie. Thanks to Netflix, we've watched the movie several times over the past few days. I have to say, without some very pertinent information that you get in the book, the movie was rather confusing. So much so, that I didn't even remember that I saw the movie when it first came out on DVD a couple of years ago. I didn't get it at all then. It's a much better movie once you've read the book and can fill in the gaps.
Jena was devastated to find out that there isn't a movie for the Subtle Knife or the Amber Spy Glass. She's decided that she wants to make those movies. I wonder where she plans to find armored bears in Mississippi...

We took a little Golden Compass quiz (which the girls were very excited about). They did a good job. I will have to come up with a quiz for the other two books. These kids love taking quizzes (I'm not sure where they got that gene from).

Raw Diet: A Premature End...

So, I've officially ended my raw food diet and no, it hasn't been thirty days. I am officially a quitter. BUT, in my defense, I a:) still had to cook three meals a day everyday for the other five people in the house who weren't going raw. I know that's probably a cop out, but it is what it is. b:) I am still nursing the baby which meant that I was either eating all day long or my energy was just zapped (which made me snappy at everyone else). c:) Well, I went to New Orleans on Monday and honestly, who can go to New Orleans just eat raw food. Really? I'd say I made it two and a half weeks, which isn't really bad considering that I haven't even attempted a raw diet since before I had children (about 10 years ago). I'll try again soon, I'm sure.

Wordless Wednesday...Fun in NOLA

Spring Cleaning: School/Dining/Craft Room

I know after my last burst of spring cleaning, I said I would work on my living room. I did actually get my living room/office space in order, but I figured since I don't have any before pictures of the room, and after picture would be rather anticlimactic. So instead, I am sharing our school room (which is also our dining room and my craft space). I posted pictures a few months ago when we started 2nd and 3rd grade. This is what it looked like before. That blue furniture served its purpose, but I was SO sick of looking at every time I walked through the dining room. It has found a new home in the garage.



This is what the room looks like now. It's so much more open and the kids have been getting to a point where they do not work well sitting together. Instead of working, they are either playing or writing notes to each other. (Really, you guys? You're passing notes in a homeschool class?) This way they have their own work space to do independent lessons and we can still come together at the dining room table for group activities. I save jars and other glass containers because I love them for storage. I decided to keep small items that we have lots of (i.e. crayons, erasers, paper clips and chalk) in them. I feel so much better about the space now.







My craft space is still a work in progress. I have a massive amount of craft supplies to try and organize in this shared space. This is my progress as of this weekend.

I got this book at the Salvation Army a few weeks ago. I'd say it's from the 60's. I thought the cover was hilarious, but it does have some pretty cute projects in it.

Who knows where the spring cleaning will take me next, but I'm leaving for a child free, over night trip to New Orleans in the morning, so no more cleaning until at least Wednesday!

Ballet Drawings

So I was asked to do some ballet inspired drawings to have at the girls' ballet performance. Ballet art is not really my thing, so I scoured the internet for some ballet inspiration and did a few drawings. Here they are (I did take them out of the sketchbook to display).