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Round-up at the Kelp Rodeo
No, I didn’t actually wrangle any dolphins with my kelp lasso. That would be cool though, wouldn’t it? I was actually just at the beach with Jennui, (a blogger friend from way back). She is visiting from Canada and when she and her husband made some squeamish faces to each other when I stepped on a few kelp pods I couldn’t resist. What’s gross about stepping on kelp? It’s not gross! It’s cool. It pops like bubble wrap and it’s fun to play with.
Kelp is amazing. You can play jump rope with it and swing it around your head like an idiot. I love kelp. It doesn’t seem smelly or slimey to me. It smells and feels like the ocean, like a fresh wave of ocean water. Don’t even roll your eyes at me. They sell hair products with less alluring descriptions.
Anyway, I also wanted to use these images as sort of a “round-up” of what is going on with me these days. I really need to get back to blogging every day because now I feel incredibly behind and if I post anything it’s going to take paragraphs and paragraphs of explaining because there’s so much back story! And I have no time for backstorying!
So whatever. Onwards and upwards.
The biggest news these days is that I’m teaching a water color class for Craft Cabinet on April 12th. I’m terrified. I’m not a teacher. There is a reason I don’t homeschool. But teaching is what I’m going to be doing and to make matters worse they’ve written me a grand-sounding introduction that intimidates even me. I am not an expert at water-coloring!
Eeek!
My plan is to rely heavily on my “perfection is not important” mantra and really show the class how to make some water color messes. Then we’ll let it dry (while I push glasses of wine on any critics) and add some pen and ink on top. We’ll pretty-it-up and call it art. I hope I can do it. I’d say rush over and buy some tickets so that you can cheer me on or make fun of me but I’ve heard they are nearly sold out. Can you believe it?!! So much for my plan to pack the house with my friends. So pray for me! Pray that I am the best water color teacher ever and that I can manage to keep the shakiness out of my voice.
Other news!
Last week Bug and I went to Bethany’s. We had a “Messy Art Day” sponsored by The Honest Company so I could write this post. It was such a blast. We played Twister with paint and then did face-painting. We tested out some crazy ideas for an art party that Annalie might be having for her ninth birthday party coming up next month. I can’t wait!!
Then we did some crafts for theshiksa.com for Passover. One of the crafts won’t make it on the blog this year but it will probably show its face next year. So check out our painted sedar plate and finger puppets if you are celebrating passover…or you happpen to be a sunday school teacher/homeschooler/crafty parent and you are going over the ten plagues. (Though the Jewish translation says the 4th plague is wild animals. I did illustrate swarms of flies if anyone would prefer some puppets with that translation.)
And that’s it, I think.
Three cheers for kelp!
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Floss Bombing
The other day we didn’t have any particular project we had to do and we hadn’t done a craft in a while so I dug out my extensive supply of embroidery floss and let the kids “floss bomb” some sticks from Bug’s massive collection on our patio.
Bug has a thing about sticks. She always finds them on our long walks home from school and falls in love with them. They have personality and are usually named Sticky. Sticky often has brothers and sisters and cousins who have to come home with him too or else they will feel abandoned and cry rivers of tears. Poor poor Sticky and his poor poor family…etc etc…
The first few sticks were cute but it’s become kind of a thing and now my patio looks like a giant bird is building it’s nest there. So I toss as many as I can when she is not looking and try to convince her to give the rest to the fairies. I’ve managed to whittle the collection down to about ten or so. It’s a constant work in progress: Me against the sticks. I have a feeling Bug is going to become a hoarder when she grows up because we constantly clash over what is clutter and what is not.
Whatever though, right? It’s awesome that she has a thing for sticks and not Hello Kitty figurines. Wait. She does have a thing for Hello Kitty figurines. Never mind.
Back to our sticks.
Don’t the sticks look awesome covered in embroidery floss? They are so pretty and bright. I’m torn between admiring them and feeling like I’ve wasted valuable floss. It did keep the kids occupied for quite a while though and the end result was quite pretty.
But then what to do with them? If my house was minimalist and empty, these sticks could be quite the artistic statement sitting alone somewhere but among all my other bits and bobs they were kind of lost. So I let them sit around on the bookshelf for a day or two and then stashed them back into my craft box to be unwound someday for another project.
