Moments: Little boys

Recognizing the moments that make my life beautiful.
 

"When I grow up I want to be a little boy."

--Joseph Heller, Something Happened, 1974

 

 

Picture W eating a fudgcicle.

 

It's all over his face and he couldn't be happier.

 

Grandpa smiles and says to him, "The world is full of many wonders, W."

May we always see the wonder of the world.

Moments: A Rainy Day

 

Recognizing the moments that make my life beautiful!

 

"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

It's been super hot and humid here for the past few days here.  Hot is normal for the middle of summer in Idaho.  Humid and muggy is not so common. 

 

I was feeling heavy and hot...maybe a little cranky. 

I was more aware of the stress of my every day life and feeling it more in this sticky heat.

 

And then it rained.

 

A lot.

 

The kind of downpour that washes the heat away and turns crankiness into playfulness and child-like wonder.

 

 

We watched the raindrops fall when I happily remembered that my children have never had the experience of playing in the rain! 

 

So, I opened the door and let them loose!

 

There was very little hesitation.  They knew what to do with the water falling from the sky!

 

They danced and laughed and sang and played...

 

...I joined them and thoroughly enjoyed the moment of freedom and peace.

 

Was I feeling stress a few minutes ago? 

 

Once we discovered the river in the gutter, we dove right in. 

 

No worries about the mud.  No worries about getting our clothes wet.

 

No worries.

 

 

Etched Glass

Have you ever etched glass?  No!  Have you ever wanted to learn how?! Oh, yes!!!!!!

 

It is so easy.  You will be wondering why you didn't join the etched glass bandwagon sooner!

 

Start with a piece of glass.

Any form will do.

 

Except for one with sharp edges.  That could get dangerous.

 

And probably you should make sure it is clean.

 

Pick a design...or some words...maybe a pretty little picture...and create a stencil.

I used my Silhouette and some contact paper.

 

The shape of my little vase made it a little tricky with the curve of the glass and all, but I managed.

 

Stick your stencil to the glass (this is where it helps to have an actually sticky stencil and not something you would have to hold in place).  Make sure it is good and stuck and that the edges are smooth with no bubbles or possible points of etching cream leakage.

 

Once it is etched, it is etched for good! 

 

Place the cream.  I used an old paintbrush to dab it on and I tried to be pretty generous.

 

It's pretty cool to watch actually.  The little glass munchers in that cream will seem to pull themselves away from the stencil and onto the glass.

 

munch, munch, munch

 

You really don't have to wait for long.  Everything I read said it only takes a couple minutes.  I waited about 20...just to be safe.

 

And because I was playing.

 

 

Then take your glass over to the sink and run it under the water.

 

Simple as that!

You can even rub it off with your fingers.  In fact, you kind of have to.

 

Try not to freak out (like I did) because it might kind of look like the glass hasn't been etched...

 

But it has!

Woohoo!

 

Have fun!

 

P.S. Be aware, however, that if your glass is Pyrex, it probably won't work.  That stuff is tough!

Snowflake Art Unpinned: The Kids' Version

I found this idea here at Ten kids and a Dog. Head on over there for her tutorial and stay awhile at her cute blog.  It's got some great ideas!

We love to paint here in this house.  This is basically a tape resist on canvas.  

I couldn't find my masking tape, so I used some clear tape that I found floating around.  I don't know what it is designed for, but tape is tape, right?  

We'll see...

So, I got some cheap little canvasses.  I have a ton of them, because I love them.  You never know when the mood to paint something will strike. 

I taped off the shape of some snowflakes.

Can you see it?  Instead of one big one, I gave the girls a bunch of little ones.

Then I told them to paint away.

And they did!

L didn't want me to take pictures of hers, but she got a really nice blend of yellow and white (she chose the colors...yeah, it was basically just light yellow).

O chose blue and red.

It took her a while to understand that we were going to be taking the tape off.  She initially just painted where the tape was and I had to explain a few times that she needed to paint the whole thing because the tape we were putting on the tape was going to be taken off.  She got it in the end, though.

After our paint had dried overnight, we took the tape off.

Then we decided to add glitter.

Everything is better with glitter.

And chocolate.

Anyway...

I gave them a little plastic cup filled with Elmer's glue and they each got their own bowl of glitter.  They were instructed to paint the glue on the snowflakes and then sprinkle the glitter over the glue.

O was very careful about the whole process.

She sprinkled the glitter very carefully and very precisely...but she still managed to get it over the entire painting.  I'm not sure if she did that on purpose or not.

L, on the other hand, was not so dainty.  She globbed the glue on and then dropped the glitter on top in fistfuls.  And look how seriously she took her work.

Here is O's finished project.  

(L didn't want me to take a picture of hers, but it was lovely too, trust me.)

I like it.  I think it turned out very pretty.

Oh, and fair warning...glitter is messy.

Have a vacuum standing by.

-Sarah