weekend crafting

Once it became apparent that the weather was going to kill our weekend plans, Paulie, Elizabeth and I decided to take a trip to the fabric store to see if we could find any cheap but interesting remnants to put to good use. First up on Paulie's list...some khaki fabric to make a "businessman". Paul recently switched jobs and now works in a less formal environment, and Paulie has made it clear that he misses seeing his dad in a dress shirt, khakis and tie everyday, or chump clothes, as they're known in our home. This is actually quite amusing because anyone who knows Paul very well is shocked at the sight of him in anything but jeans and a t-shirt. :)

We recently started stocking a basket over the art shelf with some wooden supplies, including peg people (thanks, Ginny!), clothespins, eggs and rings.

Once Paulie started the trend, we had a whole windowsill full of businessmen and other happy fellows.

Paulie bravely even designed a dress for one of the women peg people.

I'm sure the women still in the basket are jealous.

I got into the act a bit by making these little root children, based on the adorable ones I saw here.

Finn took his own path by trying to learn embroidery on a piece of burlap. We're still working on his piece, but I'll show you when he's finished. He really enjoys watching it come together.

Elizabeth was inspired by the walnut hat on one of my root children and immediately set to work on a "secret project" with a walnut shell of her own.

And a walnut baby was born.

I also made a few more felted eggs with this post in mind. Two little egg monsters now live in our trees. The kids are having the best time with them, making the poor little monsters eat everything in sight.

Paulie decided to make his own version of the egg monsters.

And came up with this crazy-haired little dude.

Elizabeth's secret project continued and suddenly, she had rigged a very elaborate series of strings, a wooden egg, a wooden ring, a felted sweater and some modeling wax into a pulley system to keep her walnut baby out of reach.

The weight of the egg perfectly matched the walnut baby's carrier, making the perfect pulley system.

There was also some garden variety wax modeling resulting a few boats, including a glass bottom one with a piece of packing tape providing the "glass bottom". I love the imaginations of these amazing kids. It's so fun to see where their creativity will take them.

Those were just the projects we finished this rainy weekend. Several more were begun and hopefully I'll share them with you upon completion. What a productive, yet relaxing, weekend!