Dollhouse shoeboxes

I recently saw this very cute craft at Be A Fun Mum: shoebox dollhouse. This is very easy and pretty fast to do, and the end result is freaking adorable!

Some people are very clever at coming up with great stuff that is also very simple.  I am not one of those people, but I know a good idea when I see it, and I had four shoeboxes on hand from back-to-school purchases and a printer full of ink, so I gave this a go.

Here are the finished boxes: each kid got a bedroom and a Paris street scene (totally copied from Be A Fun Mum - go here to see how to make them).

You can save on printer ink by using coloured paper and wrapping paper for carpet and bedclothes and wallpaper, but I didn't do that this time round. I printed pictures of cobblestones and 'wallpaper' designs for wallpaper, and I printed out pictures of blankets to use as blankets for the little beds. TOTES CUTE but very expensive on the printer ink, as you can imagine. I was feeling rich and reckless I guess.

I have to say, without irony, that the kids' reactions when I gave them these boxes were totally worth every penny. They LOVED them, and they have played with them a lot.

A couple of weeks later and armed with fresh shoeboxes from a couple of long overdue shoe purchases for myself, I was itching to make some more rooms.  I rescued another box from the garage and one from my mother, and rifled through my wrapping paper and craft paper stores for 'wallpaper' and 'carpet'.  I cut out pictures from magazines for furniture and French doors.  That part actually took the longest. It's quite hard to get enough good pictures, and windows are especially hard to find. Sometimes they're on a foreshortened angle, or they cross a double-page spread, or they're overlaid with text. But you only want a couple of things in the room anyway, so the kids can add their own dollhouse furniture and the rooms are flexible (bedroom / loungeroom / one-room apartment).

I also made each kid a double-garage, using narrower shoe-boxes, as these were too small for rooms.

To make these, I turned the boxes upside down so they made a box with no 'floor', then I covered the top (bottom of the upside down box) and front with white paper, and drew garage doors with black ink. The last step was to cut the sides of the two doors so they open upwards like an old-fashioned garage door.

I also made a little door at the back, so they would look a bit like our garage at home.

So last week I made these second rooms and the garages, and gave them to the kids. They loved them!

So Be a Fun Mum, thank you - this was an excellent, easy, enjoyable craft that even I had success with, and that doesn't happen very often!

Inappropriate Toys

If you have a child between the ages of 5 and 20 you are probably familiar with the Rainbow Loom, and you have probably been dealing with one or all of these scenarios:

1. Your child has made you a rubber band bracelet and you are wearing it to work

2. The floors of your house are covered with tiny rubber bands

3. You are unable to procure any loom items at all as shops have sold out

Having already been through 1 and 2, we recently arrived at 3. 

M. got a Rainbow Loom kit for Christmas and little did I know we rode the crest of the "most popular toy in the world right now" wave as they have been sold out at toy and craft stores in Melbourne (and I'm guessing elsewhere) for the last few months.  I know this because M. needed more rubber bands and I assumed it would be easy to get more. Not so - all the toy stores I checked online had sold out, and even Spotlight had sold out of all Rainbow Loom items except single bags of blue bands and C-clips, so we bought one of those. 

Then yesterday we took a trip to the Caribbean Gardens market to stock up on cheap DVDs and scribbling paper and a new phone charger, and what did we see?

So we were able to replenish M's supply of bands and even get the RIGHT kind of clips ("S-clips, Mum, not C-clips").  

A. has no interest in Rainbow Loom and is a bit grumpy that all her school friends have been hijacked by this craze, but she was allowed to choose something from the market for the equivalent value we'd spent on M, which was five dollars. 

Which brings us to the actual topic of this post: the dangerous, weird and inappropriate toys on sale in markets and "two-dollar shops".

A. chose this, and I have to say it's been fantastic:

Unlike the regulated toys sold in toy stores, this one could easily put out an eye, as the arrows fly very fast and even with the kids just waving them around they are a bit of a menace. But it's lots of fun. Surprisingly, it hasn't broken yet, one full day later. The kids and I have had good times doing archery competitions down the hallway. A. loves her toy even though she was given it with a bunch of caveats like "never aim it at anyone", "don't throw the arrows", don't pull back the bow right next to your face", "don't shoot at a wall you're facing close to" and "it probably won't last very long".

The Caribbean Gardens whetted my enthusiasm for cheap stuff so today we did the rounds of two dollar shops looking for a couple of other things I needed that I no longer felt like paying $10 for at the supermarket or Kmart.  And in the course of doing that, probably with toy arrows and guns and counterfeit Rainbow Loom bands still in my mind from the market yesterday, I noticed these things in the toy aisles:

"Beatnick" Cigarette Holder - with toy cigarettes:

Cap gun:

Oh, how I wish I'd taken a photo of the table of toy AK47s and assault rifles at the Caribbean Gardens. 

Handcuffs:

Actually, these ones are kind of cool: foam puzzles of brain and body innards:

"System Muscle"

"The Encephalon"  

(I'm guessing this was an attempt to translate to "The Brain"):

If you're not sure about those toys, there's always the classic:

Or how about this sweet little bib for your darling baby?:

Moving away from human toys now, but this is weird:

Chew toy for a dog in shape of a purse.

At least I assume it's a chew toy, and not an actual purse?

Truly, we live in a consumer's paradise.

Seen any weird and unregulated consumer goods lately?

The Ribbon

Children love the most unexpected things. One day on a whim I popped into a haberdashery store and bought two metre lengths of wide ribbon, one for each of my kids.

"Here you go," I said, and gave them the ribbons which I unrolled with a flourish.

"What for?" they asked.

"Anything," I said. You can use them for playing, or you can decorate something, or you can cut them up and use them for a craft. Whatever you want."

They loved them. They initially used them as gymnasts' twirling ribbons, then various other things, and after awhile A cut hers into smaller strips and made flags with straws and sticky tape, and that was her ribbon all used up.

M still has hers, and she still plays with it a lot. It is a rope, a scarf, a swing, a tightrope, a bell rope, a hair ribbon, a belt, a weapon, a blindfold. Today she got me to wrap it in a bow around a rolled up piece of paper to make a scroll.

Sunday Fun Day: Paper Pizza

A few weeks ago, trying to get one of my daughters out of her doldrums, I started a thing called Sunday Fun Days. Every week the kids agree to get their homework done and completed (without tears or tantrums) by Saturday, and I get all my tasks out of the way by then too. Sunday is then completely free for a FUN DAY.

The first week was A's turn to choose an activity, and she was excited and specific. First, we would go and see a movie. Then we would come home and make people out of construction paper. Then I would sit in my rocking chair and they would sit on the floor and I would read them two stories.

Well, okay then.

On Saturday night before the big day, A very carefully chose and laid out her favourite clothes to wear the next day, and went to bed smiling and happy. It broke my heart! My poor unhappy child, were things this bad for her? (Have I mentioned I have a pessimistic streak?)

On Sunday morning, A, who normally sleeps in on weekends and has to be coaxed out of bed (and out of a foul temper) most mornings, was the first one up. She dressed herself, brushed her teeth and brushed her hair, then came and woke me up, eyes shining with happiness.

She enjoyed her day immensely.  We saw Ice Age 4, made our paper people, and generally had a fun and relaxed day. I even enjoyed it myself.

The next week was M's choice. She chose to go to her favourite play centre, and then make a fairy garden at home (leaves, sticks, plastic container).

Last week was their friend's birthday party. So that was our Sunday Fun Day taken care of quite nicely.

Today was A's choice again, and she chose swimming, followed by more paper craft - this time making paper pizzas.


I so did not feel like going swimming. But the kids just love it, and it wears them out and makes me feel good that we all get some exercise. Also, because the girls are doing dancing classes and Greek school every week, I cancelled their swimming lessons this term so they wouldn't be completely over-scheduled, and they miss the swimming lessons. (You can't win. Well, I could if I cancelled Greek school but that's not really an option, sorry kids!)

Swimming was actually quite nice. The pool was heated to a lovely warm temperature and because it's not summer it wasn't all sauna-like inside. My lovely mother came along so we also got a lift. (Following the surgery to pin my broken arm two weeks ago, I still can't drive for another 6-8 weeks)

So we did that, and then it was home for paper pizzas.

After the pizzas, the girls decided to make a giant paper girl.  I drew the outlines for the t-shirt and skirt, the zigzags for the sneakers and the ball, but the rest is their own work.

She started off a basketball player, then a cheerleader and finally a soccer player - hence the weird uniform.

I like to think these Sunday Fun Days are having an impact on my kids. A does seem happier, and we do all have fun.  On the first week, inspired by this post, I also promised I would not look at my phone or laptop one single time, ALL DAY. I admit I didn't do this today as such, but I didn't use my phone much, and next Sunday I'll go back to not using it at all.

How do you spend "quality time" with your kids? 

How do you manage special times in your busy life?

Last Week In Photos

Nothing much happened, but one can find joy in the minutiae of the everyday, n'est-ce pas? So here are some snaps from my week last week.

Monday 30 April
Our egg carton had a couple of eggs with little fluffy feathers still attached - ouch! poor hens :( . This was very exciting for the kids because they are city kids deprived of proper contact with nature. They have "collected" one feather each to add to their "collection" of seagull and magpie feathers. These are to be used in the future in some unspecified but no doubt demanding and unrealistic craft project.





As winter weather set in (a bit EARLY thank you Melbourne), I made egg and lemon soup from leftover roast chicken. The bones with a carrot, an onion and some salt and pepper made the stock, then you add arborio rice, and gradually stir in a mix of beaten eggs and fresh lemon juice, and the chicken is shredded and tossed in towards the end. Mmmmm.
Kids wouldn't eat it, but my husband and I love it
: )




Tuesday 1 May
While kids were at Greek school in the late afternoon, I donned my walking shoes and did three laps of the (small) oval at the high school where they go to class. Saw these gorgeous galahs hanging around a discarded football on the field. Tried to think of a funny or profound meaning for this but could not.

Wednesday 3 May
Apart from the RBA slashing interest rates 0.5%, the only thing I have from this day is this hilarious thing on Twitter:

Sam Blackledge@samblackledge

If this doesn't make you laugh you're probably dead insidetwitpic.com/9gaj36

Twitter link

Thursday 4 May
Rain! Lots and lots of rain!

The kids had a school excursion to the Melbourne Aquarium and came back with tales of Emperor Penguins, starfish, jellyfish, sharks, stingrays and assorted other goodies. It makes me want to go. Lucky their school trip came with a free pass each for a future visit - because going there ain't cheap.


Finishing work at dusk, I returned to my car on the rooftop of an unfamiliar carpark to find these beautiful views of the city skyline:

Friday 5 May
Germaine Greer caused quite a kerfuffle on Q and A in March when she had a (yes, catty - OK?) dig at the Prime Minister's clothing. It got her quite a few laughs on TV so she rolled on, starting with "those bloody jackets!" and ending with "You've got a big arse, Julia!"
Absolutely unedifying, and she has been pretty well lambasted since.
So this morning I snorted when I opened the paper to find her new weekly column:

This read like a face-saver to me. Caught out in an anti-feminist rant, she tried to save face by putting a feminist spin on her outburst and dressing it up as something that. it. just. was. not.
Nice try Greer!



Saturday 6 May
At 11am the girls have dancing classes, and for that hour and a half I have started a little routine where I spend 30 minutes walking and the rest of the time sitting with coffee and the morning papers. Two weeks ago my mother met me and we went for coffee at a little Swiss bakery in the local shopping strip, where we had the most perfect lemon cake ever invented.

This Saturday, I got my weeks mixed up and thought Mother's Day was the next day. My mum has always been very insistent that Mother's Day gifts should be "a token". It comes from childhood you see - the gift must come from the child, so should be something small - a homemade picture, some flowers, something hideous from the Mothers Day stall at school. So on Saturday I walked to the little Swiss bakery and bought my mum a delicious lemon tea cake. I was so chuffed with myself. I had nailed it - the perfect Mothers Day gift!

And it was except it was a week early.


Later that day I went supermarket shopping and saw THIS has sprung up at my local shopping centre. Was this really necessary?

Sunday 7 May
The girls and I finished up the week with a craft project, courtesy of Mister Maker on TV.
We (I) collected twigs from the garden, then the girls painted them, and when the paint was dry they stuck them in a blob of play-doh, painted on some glue and covered the whole thing with glitter.

Easy, and takes a gratifyingly long time. (You need that in a craft project, for the kids to enjoy it and for you not to waste time dealing with paint, glue and glitter for a five-minute thrill).

I won't ask what you did last week, as it's so long ago now.
How is your current week going?

Crafty Owls

Currently our 6 year olds are somewhat "over-scheduled". As well as school Monday to Friday, they go to Greek school on Friday nights, and swimming lessons on Saturdays.

This is not a state of affairs I aim for - it's temporary. But I will save you the drawn-out justifications for this situation, and move on to my point, which is that I am trying to keep Sundays very free and low-key. We do one "physical" activity such as walk or ride bikes or go to a park, and other than that the kids do whatever they want for the day. If that includes sitting around and watching TV most of the afternoon I have no problem with that.

However, one thing about kids, even if they are tired and need to hang around and do nothing much, they can still get bored. So the "no plans Sunday" can be a bit hard to pull off week after week.

On some such days, you sometimes have to bite the bullet and do a craft.

I actually don't mind craft activities too much. They take up lots of lovely time *, make less mess than the kids playing freestyle with their own toys, and you create beautiful things to keep! (ha ha)

Some time ago I came across this beautiful craft "Owl Family Play Set" at Inner Child Fun.
It looked easy, and I already had a box of googly eyes and assorted scraps of paper and fabric in my craft box. I started collecting toilet paper rolls sometime last year and told the kids we would be making owls with them. We all kept collecting the rolls and forgetting to do the actual craft, until last Sunday, needing a stay-home activity, we pulled out the toilet rolls, paints and craft box, and got stuck in.

In case you're wondering, I am pretty sure toilet rolls don't retain "germs" for the approximately 4 months they had been sitting in a paper bag on top of our washing machine.

I am pleased to report that this activity was easy peasy lemon squeezy, and they came up great.
You just paint them, let them dry, then press down the tops to make the "ears" (very easy no glue needed for that bit), and stick on yellow triangles for beaks, googly eyes (or draw eyes with a black marker), and bits of fabric or coloured paper for wings.

The only problem was I had been collecting the rolls for so long I ended up with heaps, and the kids wanted to do them all, so we ended up with a definite surfeit of owls in the house.

Whoo-hoo's found a cute and easy craft then...

* hence, on the flip side, January is a bit teeth-gritting as you work your way through all the Christmas gift craft sets.