crooked house

Before the Birthday Party

Luke turned seven on Good Friday and we had his party on Saturday in the church hall just up the street from our house. Last year I gave myself barely half an hour to set up so this year we went two hours early. That was a bit too early.

Sylvie insisted on wearing a pair of plastic high heels throughout the entire event. They had clumps of marabou-like fluff on the tops with  purple jewels nested in the middles. For some reason the purple jewels offended her sensibilities so she tore them off, leaving only shreds of fake marabou. Inappropriate summer sun dress also chosen by Vivi herself.

I should've had the sense to take aftermath photos but I was too exhausted at that point. I am afraid the Easter bunny was rather lame this year.

It's Never a Mistake to Be Friends Valentines

I found these little Valentine erasers at our local Superstore -- they were six for a buck, or something like that.  The little heart-shaped notebook pictured was also from a package of six for a buck. They came from our local dollar store. I used my label-maker to print out the text, only because I'd run out of ink for the printer. But the fact that it printed in the form of adhesive tape was actually a bonus.

Of course, after I'd made them Luke decided he preferred to use his store-bought Spiderman ones. Oh well. I had fun anyway. It may not be a mistake to be friends but it is certainly a mistake to assume your child will be enthusiastic about your ideas. Maybe I'll send them to the next twenty people who "friend" me on facebook.

Our Lego Hearts Bracelets

I got the pieces I needed in time to make these Lego heart bracelets for the kids for Valentine's Day -- I thought bracelets might be a little safer than necklaces for them at this point. The lovely woman at the local bead shop made the rather complicated slip knots for me, which means they are adjustable.

Although there's one for David and I as well as for each of the kids, David is getting this edition of Shakespeare's Love Sonnets, too, which is probably more of a present for me than for him, judging from its prettiness:

Lego Interlocking Heart Pendants

Hoping to make a version of these lego interlocking heart pendants for the kids for Valentine's Day. I wasn't able to find the curved end plates in the Pick-a-Brick section on the Lego site and they won't send these cute Valentine boxes to Canada but I think I found a seller on Amazon. I think I might make bracelets instead of necklaces, though.

Christmas Presents from Luke

This is the angel Luke made at school as a Christmas present for me.

And here is the battle scene he drew at home as a Christmas present for me. Both were wrapped up and tucked under the tree on Christmas morning. I particularly like the detail on the left -- the man who loses his glasses as he falls out of the sky and uh, smashes his head into the ground. Happy holidays everyone!

100 Year Old Letter to Santa

This letter to Santa, written in 1911 by seven-year-old Alfred and ten-year-old Hannah Howard, was found tucked inside a chimney in Dublin. Via A. N. Devers on facebook.

The Crooked House Paper Village

Here's a shot of the paper village we always put up around this time of year. Some of the houses -- the three-dimensional ones with pastel roofs -- I made a year or two ago using a Martha Stewart winter village kit. At some point, I used Country Home's plans to make the plain white buildings, which are flat. And this year's addition is the one in the middle  -- it's made from a photograph of our own crooked house, printed on vellum and taped to a square glass vase. I got the idea from Hutch Studio. They made similar ones of their shop. (Via the lovely new blog A History of Home.)

I've taken photographs of other houses in our neighbourhood, and ones of the houses of some relatives and friends -- you know, the people who don't actually live in our neighbourhood but we wish did. (Gramma, when you read this, please email us a photo of your house and Den's.) And, time permitting, I'm going to add those houses to our paper village, too. So that even if the real world isn't perfect, our paper one will be.

Or maybe not. If you look closely, you can see where the roof of our porch is starting to fall down, right above the steps. And unfortunately, there's another slight problem. I suggested to Luke that we might like to put little cut-out photographs/paper dolls of him and Vivi on the felt, next to that snowman say, and he thought that was a great idea. "We should look sad, though," he said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because the house is on fire," he said. And unfortunately, it does look a little like that. Luke thinks the glossiness of the map behind the roof of the house even looks like smoke.

We could just go with that, I suppose. Add a toy fire truck and all.

 

All you need to make your own is a photograph of your house printed on a sheet of vellum, a battery-operated tea light or two (whatever you do, don't use real ones), and some tape. The glass vase or candle-holder is optional. If you don't want to use one, just fold the photo of your house in a kind of tube around a tea-light and fasten it with the tape.

Mrry Chrstms!

Bill Lobley and family's Chrstms crd.

The Five Best Toys of All Time

Image found here.

If you're in the middle of Christmas shopping, here's something you* really need to keep in mind: the five best toys of all time. Trust me, you* don't want to miss that list.

*And by "you" I mean "me."

Oxfam Christmas Giving Campaign

I love, love, love this new Oxfam Christmas giving campain -- love the design, love the copy, love the gifts. Click here to give one of the gifts mentioned above or a dozen chicks or a goat or a vegetable patch or books or art supplies for kids or a school lunch or or or... what to choose? Via How About Orange.