30 Days of Hands on Play Challenge: Day 4 and 5

On Friday we did Day 4 of our challenge, which was: play with blocks. Ellie had a dr. appointment that afternoon that my husband brought her to, so I did this activity with the younger two. We pulled out our big tub of Legos and started building.

Addy wanted a "house" and after I finished building mine, she asked for help with hers. Will did a good job of just sticking blocks to the platform. He also likes to build towers so I helped him with that.

Addy eventually wanted a tower too and built one with just a little help from me.

We all had fun with this one and Ellie has started asking what our "activity" is for the day each morning.

Last night we did Day 5 of our challenge: play as a family. We all gathered around the table and played with Barbie dolls. Rick got to be "Ken" and things got a little crazy, but the girls loved it. I didn't take any pictures because the activity broke out spontaneously and I didn't want to stop to go get the camera. We had a lot of fun and I know the kids (the girls especially) are looking forward to the next activity.

Sketchabilities #62

I used the current sketch at Sketchabilities for this layout. I really like their sketches because they can often easily be modified to accommodate more photos, like I did with this one. I had fun with this one, playing a bit with some spray ink and my Cricut (I used it to cute the large scalloped circle and the words "A Day").

Sketch and Cricut Challenge

I made this card for my mother-in-law whose birthday is on Monday using the latest sketch from Unscripted Sketches. (By the way, they chose my card as one of their top three last week!)



My card also qualifies for the current challenge on the "Cooking with Cricut" blog which is to use something new! For this card I used the new "Cindy Loo" cartridge my husband got for me for Christmas. This cartridge has lots of different swirls and scrolls, some adorable animals, a few "lace" paper cuts and more. I used one of the paisley cuts and I think it turned out pretty cool!

Craft Day!

The day before New Year's Eve, I held a "Craft Day" at my house for some of my friends. We had a great time socializing and working on various projects. Since all of our husbands were at another friend's house watching movies, all of the kids were here too- 12 ages 5 and under!

I managed to get one layout almost completed (I completed it later that evening once everyone went home) and make a card. The layout I made was for our calendar. I decided I wanted to try something a little different this year for our calendar and make it a little more a part of my process instead of something "extra." Scrapbook and Cards Today ran a challenge the last couple of years called, "Project 12." The goal of this project was to make a layout each month recapping the previous month. Unfortunately, they have decided to discontinue this challenge, but I have decided to adopt the idea for my calendars. So, I will be making a two page 12x12 layout recapping the month from the previous year (January 2011 is the page for my January 2012 calendar) and then select one of those pages to be on display on my calendar. When the month is over, I will take down the display page and put it in a scrapbook, and at the end of the year I will have 2011 scrapbooked! I will probably do an extra layout here and there for various events, but this will be a way for me to feel less pressure to "catch up".

For January, I decided to use this sketch from "Sketch Support" because it had lots of photo spaces and I like the open area to make a little scene with embellishments.


Here is my layout. The left hand page is currently on our calendar.


I used a technique I saw on Tim Holtz's blog last year using packaging and running it through your embossing machine and used my snowflake embossing plate to make the background.


I also made a card for my sister-in-law whose birthday was Monday. I used my new "Cindy Loo" cartridge for the dear on this one- isn't it cute??


I also got a bit of a start on this layout and finished it the next day. I pulled out my stamps and did a little stamping in the corners to add some interest.

30 Days of Hands on Play Challenge: Day 2 and 3

We've had two days of playing and it has been great! I decided the best time to do our scheduled play time was after nap because that is the time of day most days that I struggle to find things to do. Here is what we did:

Day 2:
Build a Fort

I have done this a couple of times before and the kids enjoyed it. This time, with the Christmas tree up in the living room, I decided to try this using our sectional in the basement. I also had some sheets and blankets that had just been washed that I could use for the roof. Addy was the first to wake up. When she did, we built this:


I asked her what she wanted to do in the fort, and she said, "Play a game!"

When the game was finished, she was still the only one up, but I expected/hoped that Ellie would be waking up soon so I suggested we play restaurant. We played for a while and then Ellie joined us and played for a few minutes as well.


Total, we played for an hour! While it was mostly one on one time with Addy, I think it was successful because she had fun and, as the middle child, I think she needs some extra one on one time every now and then.

Day 3: Play with Play Doh

You can use already prepared stuff or make your own. The girls get plenty of the premade stuff as gifts so I haven't made any in a LONG time. Today both girls were awake at the same time so we pulled out the stuff together.

For a long time, I would only let each child play with one color at a time, then, a few months ago, we had a playdate at a friend's house and they mixed the colors (gasp!). Ever since then I give each child a couple colors and they can mix with each other if they want. I love the new colors and marbled Play Doh that has come from doing this. I also think the girls like seeing what the two (or more) colors together do.

These are some of the things I made. :) Look at how fun it is with the mixed colors!


Eventually Will woke up too. He played with the Play Doh toys mostly, he isn't a huge fan of Play Doh yet.


We played for another hour today! Both of these activities are things that I enjoy, but in the busyness of "being a mom" and "keeping the house running smoothly," I've kind of forgotten. I am so excited to see what tomorrow brings!

By the way, if you would like to do this yourself, you can follow Elizabeth's blog as (I think) she will be posting daily and I will most likely post every other to every 3 days.

Catching Up

In September I attended Scrapfest and put together several layouts sans photos. Well, when I was printing photos for the calendars, I also printed photos for those layouts. When I got the photos, I put them on the pages and slid them into albums. It was quite gratifying to get some layouts done even though I was focused on the calendars for others. If you want to see the before photos of the layouts, you can check my post here.




I also (finally!) used the layout I did as a make and take at the Prima booth last year at Scrapfest.


So, no more unfinished layouts lying around. However, I have two mini albums that need a little finishing...

30 Days of Hands on Play Challenge: Day 1

A couple of blogs teamed up in November to create this challenge. Elizabeth from Broken Treasures blogged about it the other day and it sounds like a great idea! The goal is to spend at least 15 minutes each day in focused play with your children. I would like to think that I do this, but I know I don't. When I first read about it, I knew I wanted to do it, but I didn't know if I wanted to blog about it. But, after some consideration, I have decided to blog about it because it will hold me accountable and I respond to accountability.

So for today's Challenge:

Take mental note, or jot down, a simple mission statement of how you'd like to become more hands on with your kids.

Also, take time to learn about your kids in this process.
Jot down a few ideas of what your kids are interested in.
[Maybe also include what they're not interested in, or their general behaviors.]
This will come in handy for the upcoming challenges.
Its best to use their interests to maximize their involvement.

Mission Statement:
To spend more time focusing on playing with and interacting with my children, getting to know their interests and how they see the world. I would like to make a habit out of spending time each day focused only on playing with them.

Interests:

Ellie- dolls, princesses, fairies, drawing, coloring, being artistic, letters, books, games

Addy- dolls, cooking, what her sister is doing, coloring, getting messy, books

Will- cars, trucks, animals, books, what everyone else is doing, getting messy

Tomorrow will be our first play challenge, I'm excited to see how it goes!