Donuts and Dough

The other week I tried out my mini-donut pan for the first time!  The are baked, not fried and very yummy.  I will be trying some pumpkin spice ones soon, but you can check out the regular recipe I used here.  I used a simple cinnamon and sugar mix for the coating - yum!

 Today we made Cloud Dough - to play in, not eat.  We used about 8 cups of flour and 1 1/4 cup vegetable oil.  You can use baby oil as I have done in the past but with Nikkels I thought the veggie oil would be better.

 It was such a lovely day we decided to do this outside on the driveway so we wouldn't have to be worried about making a mess.

 And that's a good thing since my tarp I put down under the kids turned out to be pointless, the navy blue shorts Nikkels was wearing eventually looked gray....

 And this is what the dog looks like after licking/snorting loads of flour - I think he's in the middle of a sneeze here.

They had loads of fun...they made tire tracks, snow mounds, hand/foot prints.  We got out the little toy kitchen and they had fun pretending to make food at their restaurant...the possibilities are endless.  If you aren't afraid of a little mess...this is a must with little people.

Black and White

See that front door?  Pretty white and blah, don't you think?

 There, that's better....a nice, dark midnight black.  Love it!

Here's what it looks like from the inside.  We also changed out the door hardware...we kind of got the impression that our sellers had given out a house key or two to friends and family over the years.  But, I suppose we didn't really need to since we have this ferocious watch dog....uh-huh...right.  Change the locks.

 Yesterday when we were painting the garage cabinets we brought up my old art table from college to paint also.  It's a great table made from 2x4's and the top is made from a solid wood door.  I wish I had taken a "before" picture...but it was all plain old lumber, so I'm sure you can imagine.  Somehow it made it's way to my in-laws basement years ago and I had no idea it was there until this summer.  Fast forward to moving in and we realized it would fit PERFECTLY in the nook for my art area. 

 I mean REALLY!  Is that perfect, or what?  It's like it was made for that table!

 I'm so happy with how my art area turned out.  For years I've had my stuff jammed into closets and bins and stashed throughout the house.  Now, it's finally all in one space.  The shelves are the Expedit shelves from Ikea.  They aren't organized the way I want them yet, and I have some other ideas for finishing the space, but you get the idea.

 And here are some of my favorites....this is a picture (that needs a much better frame) of my Great Grandmother knitting.  I love this picture.  And if you look at the picture above, that's my Grandpa's easel. It's very old and covered in paint splashes.  I put one of his paintings that is waiting for a new frame on it.  Just makes me happy and inspired.

 And if you are wondering..... that's a shower curtain behind the shelves!  It was an extra fabric one we didn't need anymore and it turns out it fits perfectly....we just duct taped it to the top and didn't need to trim anything. It's not exactly the pattern I had in mind, but it will do the trick until I find my dream fabric...or shower curtain.  ;-)

Garage cabinets

These three lovely cabinets were in the garage when we moved in.

 However, they originally were up there on the wall above the pegboard...forgot to take the "before" picture. They are great cabinets, but they were horribly placed as they were WAY too high.

 So, we asked around for some help and this little guy volunteered to help prep the wall.

Once we got them up on the other side of the garage we threw on some primer and paint and now we have a stack of cabinets that are MUCH easier to reach.  Since we don't have a ton of closet space coming in off the garage, we are thinking this will be a good way to have a cubbie system...good for storing hats, mittens, extra winter wear, etc.  Room below for boots and such.  VERY exciting!

And just because....

Baby Shower Invites

So I have to share these baby shower invites I made for my very dearest friend.  They were so fun to make!  The little flaps tuck under the slot for the ribbon so you just open flaps and info for the party is printed and glued to the inside.  I found those little sticker safety pins and added the ribbon.  I also used double sided paper so there were different designs from front to back.  I loved how different each one was!  If you want the template to make your own you can find the link here.

Chalk Paint

Dot lives for Chalk Paint.  I don't think a day goes by that we don't create some kind of art on our driveway with Sidewalk Chalk.  With a scribble of chalk and some water, you rub your hands and feet in it and make some really cool "paw prints"

 Or you can make "stamps" with cut up pieces of a swim noodle.  Isn't this perfect?  

Rub in wet chalk paint....

 make a few stamps...paint doesn't show up until it dries a little....

 Add the details!

 But really....why stop there???

We go thru a lot of sidewalk chalk....

 Or, you can give them chalk, a bowl of water and some giant, old paint brushes.... 

And you can paint yourself  a friend!  The possibilities are endless!

When Nikkels isn't helping Dot paint, you can find him playing with the water bucket....

or IN the water bucket.

Spring Flowers

 Last week the girls and I did a little finger painting and made these cute spring flowers.  They loved getting their fingers in the paint and using their thumbs to make the flower petals.  I had to chuckle at how differently each girl approached the flowers. 

Dot was very precise in making her petals....working hard to keep them round, with white centers with a splash of color on top of the white.

 L was a little more free with her flower making and seemed to like hers larger and didn't mind if the petals weren't touching each other.

 They both liked finger painting the stems in.  

Isn't that beautiful?!  Put that in a frame and WOW!  Great job, L!

 So serious!

 Dot decided to make her stems shorter and a few with leaves.  

Love it!

And yesterday was a beautiful day so we spent a ton of time outside.  Dot really likes mermaids lately so we took her Ariel bathtub doll, some ponies and some pretend lizards (hey, why not?) outside to play in a bucket of warm water.  We put some landscape rocks in there too to make it more ocean-like.  They played here forever and it was such fun to listen to their little conversations.

Bunny Hand Prints

 I typically plan craft time during nap time for Nikkels, but today I thought he may be old enough to participate without taking away too much of this creative time for Dot.  He did GREAT!  The trick is to have enough activities to entertain him at the table during the down times and he loved it all.  For starters...this kid loves shapes and containers....put them in, dump them out, and repeat.

So, the hand prints.  I had seen something similar about the bunny hand print but I didn't like how the ears looked, so this is what I did....

Use a paintbrush and paint hand, skip the thumb.

 Then print on paper.....I didn't photo the next step as I had to help the kids create the "vulcan" or "Mork" symbol...kind of tough thing for a 1 and 4 year old.  When the print was dry, they made a pink thumb print for the nose, glued on googly-eyes and with a marker drew on the whiskers and mouth.  Done!

 Well....being the little artist that she is, Dot felt her bunny needed a body.  So she took some of the left over paint and finger painted the body on and glued on a cotton ball for a tail.  Then we bubble cut each bunny......NOW.....it's done!

For a side activity I got out the watercolor paints and let the kids paint on coffee filters.  You wouldn't believe the amazing things you can make with painted coffee filters.  More on that another day.  Nikkels really enjoyed painting.  He did need a few reminders not to eat the brush, but he did really well!

The paint dobbers are a huge hit too!

And check out this cute little picture Dot drew the other week.  Isn't it just adorable?  I'm kind of blown away by the puppy....I mean, she just turned 4 years old!  So fun!