The nerdy rainbow

Playdough's the greatest thing ever, unless you have to actually pay for it or try to get it out of the carpet. But that's part of the risk with playdough, right?

Ever make homemade playdough and have it be dry and crumbly - almost a one time use sort of thing? Me neither. I have no interest in wasting my time that way. But, I'm all for making playdough if I know it'll last. And this recipe will.

Ingredients:

1 C flour

1 C water

1/2 C salt

1 Tbsp oil

1 tsp cream of tartar

food coloring

Combine everything in a saucepan. Heat until mixture starts to clump up and pull away from the sides of the pan,stirring the whole time. When it's all doughy, remove from pan and knead until cool. Store in an airtight container.

Moose Tracks:

Liquid food coloring creates pastel colors (or runny playdough if you use enough). The vibrant colors I achieved were done so by using icing gels. Wilton sells them. They're little jars of concentrated colored gel. They're lovely.

Because Baby Moose and Toddler Moose love to help me in the kitchen, I made sure to knead the dough until it was only warm. Then I split each batch in half and let them have at it.

The cooking time ends up being a good two-ish minutes. This stuff is easy peasy.

Each ball in my ROYGBIV-like rainbo up there is the equivalent to one batch. For comparison purposes, the bags are quart size.

Jet Pack

Toddler Moose (my reluctant model here) can spend hours "flying" around the house. I asked him if he's like some assistance in flight. He lifted his shirt, pointed to his bellybutton and said, "I put the gas in here, Mommy." Then he turned around and pointed to his bum. Then he giggled "It falls out here!"

Well, if that isn't a conundrum I don't know what is. So, I developed this jet pack to help him with his leaky gas issues.

Step 1: Spray plastic bottles with plastic primer (I used Krylon Fusion). Let dry.

Step 2: Spray bottles with your favorite silver spray paint (doesn't have to be plastic specific.) Let dry.

Step 3: Adhere bottles to a piece of cardboard, approximately the width of the bottles next to each other. Let dry.

Step 4: Use ribbon to create backpack-like straps. Adhere. (I used duct tape. That shiz works for everything!)

Step 5: Cut crepe paper strips to create flames. Glue the tops of the strips to another piece of crepe paper. Let dry.

Step 6: Accordion fold the top strip of the flames. Glue to the inside of the bottle tops (which are actually the bottom of the jetpack.) Let Dry.

Step 7: Run around the house making flying sounds with your mouth (or let your kid handle this step)

Moose Tracks:

I used the 1.25 liter bottles of Coke products that can be found for about a buck at most big box stores. They have a cool shape, if you ask me. the straight cylinders of 2liter bottles work just as well.

I cut the tips of the crepe paper to make it look more like flames. Toddler Moose doesn't really appreciate that touch, but it makes me feel better about it.

Snail Mail

I recently had a friend in need of some cheering up. So, I decided to send her a card (I think Hallmark calls 'em "Encouragement" cards.) Since I was sending it via snail mail, I figured sending a snail would brighten her day, too. Who doesn't love to get something in the mail? Not me!

Directions:

cut your favorite color(s) felt into 1" strips.

Wrap the felt around itself, creating the shell of the snail.

Glue ends to hold it together.

Glue another strip to the bottom of the roll, gluing the seam of the shell down.

Customize the tail and face of the snail using scissors.

Glue on your favorite googly eyes.

Hand bend the face down.

Friend should get this cute little guy in the mail later this week. I hope it brightens her day like I expect it to.

Pirate Party Invitations

So, Toddler Moose requested a pirate party for his fourth. Fair enough.

I struggled with what to make for invites when a Twitter friend suggested a message in a bottle. Okay, I could make this work. First step: Drink 10oz of bottled water for every invite you need to make. This can take a couple of days. Fair warning.

Step 1: Distress vellum for invite and name tag

~Wrinkle vellum - try not to tear it too much

~Using an ink pad, dab the re-flattened vellum - Don't be too perfect with this

(I used two different colors of ink - a dirty linen and a coffee stain color

~Spray vellum lightly with water

~Iron flat with a warm iron (no steam)

Step 2: Prepare burlap to be printed on (see this: Printing on burlap)

Step 3: Print invites & name tags on vellum; Jolly Roger on burlap

Step 4: Cut burlap to approx the width of the water bottle label. Rip vellum to give it a "rough" edge

Step 5: Glue Burlap around bottle (10oz water bottle from Walmart). I made sure to glue the skull opposite the manufacturer's stamp. I also didn't bother to remove the label, as the label provided a nice white backdrop when looking through the bottle.

Step 6: Use your favorite ribbon to thread through the name tag and around the top of the bottle (I removed the ring leftover from the cap)

Step 7: Add sand to bottle. I used about a 1/4 cup per. I also made sure to let the sand dry a bit.

Step 8: Roll up invite and shove it in the bottle.

These invites are best hand-delievered. If they must be mailed, "cork" the bottle - either with a real cork or the plastic bottle cap.

Invite wording (in the coolest ol' English font I could find)

Ye be invited

to join Captain Moose's crew

He'd like to celebrate

his fourth birthday with you

Chart yer course for [insert address here]

On [insert date here] at half past 10

Grub and Grog will be provided for ye treasure seekers

Deserters only 555x555x1234