Saturday fun

Despite our chilly rainy weather, the girls both enjoyed freshly painted toenails and wearing their flip flops around the house this morning. They both got new flip flops to take on our upcoming mystery trip. Josie's feet have grown nearly 3 1/2 sizes since last summer.



We took Josie to her first play Saturday afternoon sponsored by the Youth Theatre Grand Rapids' Junior Company. Emma has gotten to know Anna B. (who had the lead as Mulan) from our church. Josie didn't quite understand why she couldn't yell out Anna's name during the performance, but she was thrilled to be able to clap several times during the show. Anna did a fantastic job.



I've been busy working on a few special craft projects for an upcoming shower for a dear friend who is adopting a 3 1/2 year old from China. I don't want to give away secrets, but they've turned out really cute and Emma has been begging me to make extra for herself and Josie. I promise to post pictures after the shower on 3/21.

Speaking of craft projects, Emma and I managed to sneak in a craft project while Josie was napping. Emma's been enjoying decorating the area around the top part of her bunk bed. Do you remember melting crayon shavings between wax paper? Or, maybe I was the only one that did this craft growing up in the 1970s (hee hee). We turned our craft into a mobile that she could hang near her sleeping area, but this craft could be turned into many different things.



Supplies needed:

unwrapped crayons
pencil sharpener or grater
waxed paper
white paper
iron
drinking glasses for tracing
pencil
scissors
hole punch
floss or string
embroidery ring

Step 1. Unwrap crayons and set aside.




Step 2. Using a pencil sharpener or grater, shred crayons one a time onto piece of waxed paper.



Step 3. Spread the shavings on the waxed paper, mixing colors.



Step 4. Repeat with additional colors and set aside.



Step 5. Place another sheet of waxed paper over top of the crayon shavings.



Step 6. Place a piece of paper on top of the waxed paper. Set your iron on low heat and carefully iron the waxed paper "sandwich", melting the crayon shavings.



Step 7. Set aside to cool and harden. Repeat with as many crayons as you like.



Step 8. Once you have a few waxed paper colors, trace around household objects such as glasses to create circles on the paper with a pencil. Cut the circles out with scissors.



Step 9. Using a small hole punch (I used a thumb tack), make a hole on the circle and string floss or string through it.

Step 10. Tie the strings to the embroidery ring, varying the lengths, and knot in place.

Step 11. Cut three pieces of string or twine. Tie each piece of twine on the embroidery ring a few inches apart. Gather twine at the top and knot all the ends together to hang.



Step 12. Remember to clean your iron when you are finished. Turn your iron up to high and iron over a piece of clean white paper. Any wax deposits will melt off the iron onto the paper. It works. I had to iron a shirt later to wear to a play and I didn't have any wax on my shirt.



As we were making this craft, I was thinking that this could be a fun activity for Easter. Instead of tracing circles, you could trace oval shapes and make them into Easter eggs to hang from a window.

Have a good week, everyone. I have a very busy, but short work week. We're leaving on our mystery trip Friday afternoon. I'm only working 4 days this week! Woo hoo!!