Comments (18)

By Mom Unplugged, March 23, 2008 6:26 pm

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate Easter, and Happy Spring (or Fall, if you are in the Southern Hemisphere) to those of you who don’t.

I have spent my Easter Sunday dozing in bed feeling horrible with some sort of nasty stomach thingy. The last thing I felt like doing was a project with my kids. Plus the theme…eggs, well, isn’t that kind of like…food? Impossible!

I have optimistically added a “Part 1″ to this title so that when I am feeling more alive again, perhaps we will do the egg Unplugged Project and post about it. We had been going to try dying eggs using fruits, vegetables, and plants. I have never tried making natural dyes for eggs, so I was looking forward to it. Oh well. Hopefully we’ll get to it later. No promises though.

I’ll put up Mr. Linky for those of you healthy people who were able to do the project this week. Please also leave a comment so we can still find you if Mr. Linky malfunctions and I have to take him down.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Next week’s project theme is:

Rocks

Enjoy!

Comments (12)

By Mom Unplugged, March 16, 2008 9:12 pm

This week’s Unplugged Project theme was wood. Our project began with a snowy trek through the trees on our property in search of twigs and small branches. The winter winds had knocked down many pine branches, so they were easy to find. We gathered a few pine cones too. The plan: Fairy Houses!!

We’ve done this before in the summer when more materials were available (leaves, moss, petals, etc.) which made for quite luxurious accommodations. But since there was snow today, these will have to be rather austere, winter fairy houses.

As you can see from the photos, the dogs did a wood project too…romping through the wood-s.

Here are our gathered materials:

Plus some cardboard bases, some string, and a hot glue gun.

My husband was happy to operate the glue gun and glued whatever needed to be glued. I was the string expert and helped tie string.

Here is the process and result:

My daughter then placed the fairy houses in the garden for the fairies to enjoy.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What did you do for wood? If you joined us, please put your link in Mr. Linky (and a comment in case I have to take him off - so we can still find you to visit). If you didn’t join us but are simply lurking, why not “delurk” and put your link in, either this week or next? If you don’t have a blog, you can still join in…read about the non-blog options at my Unplugged Project page.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Next week’s project:

Eggs (for Easter, or spring/birth if you don’t celebrate Easter)

Please join us with your ideas for eggs!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Comments (15)

By Mom Unplugged, March 9, 2008 5:52 pm

Here’s the theme for this Monday’s Unplugged Project:

The theme for next week’s Unplugged Project goes along with the Bubblegum Books annual contest for TV Turn-Off Week. This year’s contest is themed: “Show Your Shiny Side”, so the theme for next week is:

What makes you (your child) shine?

(Draw or write something to submit for the contest (if you want to). Deadline is March 14th and submission info is here. Open to preschool and elementary-aged children who are either traditionally-schooled or homeschooled.)

Or, if you prefer, the theme could be simply:
shiny

We decided to do a shiny project. The only shiny material we could think of that we had at home, was aluminum foil. So here is the project we came up with: Shiny Raised Pictures.

First we folded sheets of heavy duty foil into fourths (shiny-side out) so that it would be thin enough to emboss, but not so thin as to tear easily. Heavy duty foil works best - my son first tried with ordinary foil and it tore.

Next we placed our foil rectangle on top of a piece of cardboard. We then drew a picture on one side using a ballpoint pen. The trick is to press firmly enough to get through all four layers without tearing. It’s really not hard to find just the right touch.

Then we flipped our pictures over so the raised side was up. We colored in the pictures with markers which created a very pretty translucent, almost stained glass effect. Some markers were easy to smear with a finger so as to fill in with color without creating dents in the foil.

Finally, I dug out my fancy scissors and we made colorful frames.

My 2 year-old was more interested in trying out her new big girl undies and running back and forth to the potty, but eventually she “drew” some pictures on paper with the markers, and then had fun playing with the leftover foil bits.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The final products:

A pirate ship on the ocean (5 year-old son):

Flowers - she made it into an envelope by adding another foil art-piece to the back and stapling together (7 year-old daughter):

Free-form design (me):

If you participated in this week’s project, please leave your name and link in Mr. Linky (and a comment too, so we can find you if Mr. Linky malfunctions and I have to take him off).

I had fun this week. I felt like a Very Crafty Mom, although I am not!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The theme for next Monday’s Unplugged Project is:

Wood

Remember, the theme is very loose. Use your imaginations. If you want to make a collage of the letters “W-O-O-D” then great, that “counts!”

Also, anyone can join in. If you don’t have a blog to link to, then either email me your photos and I will post them here, or just upload them to a free photo hosting service and link to that album. Have fun!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Comments (15)

By Mom Unplugged, February 17, 2008 7:33 pm

This week’s Unplugged Project theme was fabric. I must admit to having had a hard time with this one, so I finally decided to quit worrying about it and leave it up to the kids. I asked them what they thought they could do with fabric and my oldest daughter immediately began talking about a picture of a tiger that would be filled in with scraps of fabric instead of being colored-in with markers. I thought this sounded like a fine idea, but then I made the mistake of mentioning the word “sewing.”

Both faces lit up. The fabric collage was forgotten and out came the sewing machine. They have both used it before and can manage, even my 5 year-old, with some assistance.

I found some pretty fabric pieces in a laundry room cupboard. I also hauled out a big tub of fabric remnants that has moved with me, unopened, from garage to garage for the last 8 years or so. At least I thought it was unopened. Upon removing the lid, this is what we found:

A mouse pantry! At least I guess it was a mouse, although I saw no droppings. Whatever it was had stocked up quite a larder full of sunflower seeds! How embarrassing. When you have rodents living comfortably in your fabric storage container, you really can’t claim to be very “crafty,”can you?

Once we got over the laugh about the mouse nest, we settled down to business with the laundry room fabric (I’ll wash the other, just in case).

My 7 year-old daughter decided to make a small pillow for herself. I remembered that I had some very nice potpourri stashed away in the linen closet and suggested that she put some of that in there too, to make it smell good. Unfortunately even WordPress can’t create a scratch-and-sniff blog post yet, but it really does smell lovely!

This was the process:

After the success of the pillow the kids really went to town and began making little flags by cutting triangles and sewing a small open hem through which they pushed a drinking straw. This was all their own idea. They then thundered around the house holding “races” until dinner time (the flags were the “prizes”):

And here is the baby’s fabric project (simple, but fun for a 2 year-old…and all her idea!):

All in all, we had a surprisingly fun time! (And the kids were amused for HOURS!!!)

So what did you do with fabric? Or did I scare you all away by choosing such a potentially intimidating theme! I hope not. If you did do the project, please leave your name in Mr. Linky (if he decides to work this week). Please also be sure to leave a comment if you participated, that way if Mr. Linky fails and I have to remove him, we’ll still have a link to your project.

By the way, for those of you Unplugged Project “old-timers,” please check out this link, I gave you all a little something (at least any of you who collect blog awards). I think everyone missed it!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Next week’s Unplugged Project will be:

Letters (Alphabet)

Hopefully it will be less intimidating than fabric, and it offers a wide variety of activity options.

Please feel free to join in and remember to have fun!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Comments (12)

By Mom Unplugged, February 10, 2008 9:57 pm

Anything related to magazines usually sends me straight into collage-mode, but this week I decided to be adventurous and try some decoupage instead. OK, I know, decoupage is really just kind of like 3-D collage, but we had a lot of fun.

I dug out some very old decoupage glue that I had stashed away. I think I bought it before my oldest (now 7) was even born and one jar of it did look ominously congealed. This shows you all just how often I do crafts!

NOTE: Here is a recipe for homemade decoupage glue and glaze (Modge Podge) - Modge Podge is the classic decoupage glue and glaze that you can buy in craft stores. For simple fun-with-kids decoupage, I personally would simply dilute some white Elmer’s-type glue with a bit of water until the consistency is workable but not too runny.

I also found a few items to decoupage: an ugly picture frame, one of many plastic restaurant cups (the kind with the plastic lid and straw that seem to collect in every cupboard), a useful-looking can that I had been saving simply because I am a pack rat, and a partially squashed little cardboard box (another pack rat item).

For those who have never tried decoupage, here are the basics of how to do it:
Cut out images from magazines, old Christmas cards, anything (you can even use stickers). Glue them in place on the item to be covered - like a collage! When everything is glued on, brush the whole object with glue (make sure you use decoupage glue or watered down white glue). It will go on white and cloudy but will dry clear. Repeat with at least one or two more coats. This will create a hard clear glaze over the object that will smooth out the cracks between the glued on paper and make a shiny finish. Allow to dry. You can use any object really, you can even do this on furniture with beautiful results.

We had a pile of kids’ nature magazines that had been read and were sitting around, plus a few catalogs. This is what we did:

The supplies:

My 5 year-old son chose the cup, my 7 year-old daughter chose the can, and I took the box. My son had no plan. My daughter decided to do all animals. And I chose to do blues plus neutral textures and patterns to match my bathroom (to make a little catch-all kind of box).

Gluing:

Painting on the glue to seal:

The finished products:

By the way, my whole box was done using the Chiasso catalog. So there really is a use for all those unwanted catalogs, while waiting for them to disappear after “declining” them at Catalogchoice.org.

What did you do? Please put your link in Mr. Linky if you did something with magazines this week.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Next week’s Unplugged Project:

Fabric

Don’t panic, it doesn’t have to involve sewing. How about making a collage of fabric scraps? Creating a dress-up costume out of old clothes or fabric remnants? Tear an old piece of clothing into strips and teach your child how to braid? Sort fabric scraps by color, or texture? Also, don’t forget that fabric glue exists if you want to sew something simple but can’t, or don’t have time.

What can you come up with to do next week with fabric?

NOTE: Mr. Linky appears to be down at the moment…so please just leave a comment and we’ll visit from that!