Happy 4th of July

35 Month Old Artist

During the month of June, M's coloring ability has become amazing. When she showed me her monkey page I just busted out in tears because I thought it was so beautiful. As dramatic as that may sound, it's the truth. A dream of mine had always been for M to have her daddy's ability to draw/illustrate. I whole heatedly believe that she is going down that path. She adores to sit down and "CREATE". She asks me almost daily to do a craft or paint or color. Of course I am all over that. :)

Here is a sampling of my 35 month old's art.

Shaving Cream Fun

Since it has been a million degrees here lately, I wanted M to do a fun indoor messy project that would not have me cleaning it all the rest of the afternoon.

Well how about shaving cream?

She was pretty hesitant at first and wanted to wipe her fingers. When I told her it was soap and not to worry about the mess she started having some fun.

This is a great sensory activity.

Story Stones

Remember this post? I finally finished it up. I got the idea here and modified it a bit to use paper instead of material. These are the 1st set of M's story stones. I think they are adorable and M was very interested in them as soon as I showed her. I told her to lay out some stones and tell me a story about them. She caught on very quickly and we would trade off making silly stories.

Basically I cut out shapes and modge podged (3 coats) them to some stones I had at home. EASY!

This was M's 1st row of stones and her sentence:
This little girl smelled the flower and she saw a bird and said tweet tweet. The cloud flied and the girl went by the tree.

Here is a little video to see how it works

Freezer Paper Stencil T-shirt Tutorial

Warning.. this is very addictive.

I have been wanting to do this for quite a while. I got the idea off the box of freezer paper I have. I thought it was tons more complicated than what it was. It was fast and easy. I can't wait to make more and more and more. The possibilities are endless.

Supplies needed: Freezer Paper, Fabric paint, Paint brush,
Cutting mat, X-acto knife, Stencil & Iron

Trace desired stencil on freezer paper

Cut out stencil with x-acto knife.

Iron the stencil to the shirt (shiny side down). Make sure to just press down and not move it around. You don't want the edges to not adhere straight.

Dot with paint. A perfect job for your toddler.

Let it dry per fabric paint directions

Peel off stencil once it it completely dry.

Finished product. Awesome!

Plum Jam

I made some plum jam yesterday and it came out amazing. It reminds me of the jam my Zia (aunt in Italian) AnnaMaria makes in Italy. Every time I go, one of the 1st things I would eat would be freshly baked bread slathered with butter and plum jam. It's soooooooooooo amazing. Imagine eating that while looking at this. My mom is from a very small town right outside Rome called Vicovaro. If you have ever seen Under the Tuscan Sun those little towns are exactly what this town looks like. I miss it. We lived there for a while when I was younger and loved it. They live a completely different life than we do. They do have all the modern conveniences like us but life just seems simpler, stress free and happy. I long for the day to take M and John to see my family. I know they will love it as much as I do.

Anyways..

While I was finishing up the jam

M was making a mess and doing this

Check out the acrobatic cabbage patch doll in the back. :)

A new activity in the works

This new activity I am working on for M is adorable. I love the way they are looking. I am Hoping to share the finished product soon.