Autumn Walk

I hope that you are enjoying autumn as much as my family and I are. Enjoying the changing colours of the season is one of our favourite things to do. The temperatures are perfect for long walks and there are so many colours everywhere. You never know what you will discover along your walk.

Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor)

When my family and I go for a walk we love keeping our eyes open to see what new mushrooms we will find, and over the years we have found some very interesting looking mushrooms.

Thanks for joining us on our little walk! What do you like best about autumn?

I-Spy Bag Toy

I was browsing Pinterest with my three year old son on my lap and an I-Spy Bag was on the screen. He was so excited and asked what it was, so I decided to make one for him. I used fabric from two shirts that my eldest son has grown out of, and I backed it with an end of medium weight denim. The clear vinyl is from some packaging, and I reinforced it with topstitching.

I filled the bag with four cups of rice, which filled it about half way. The difficult task was finding trinkets to fill the bag, but I was able to find twenty pieces that work really well. The finished bag measures 9 x 10.5 inches with a 4 x 5 inch vinyl window. The large window will make it easy for my son to find the trinkets, while the use of rice makes a bit challenging to see all the pieces.

If you are thinking of making one with light or medium weight fabric, I suggest using fusible interfacing or double up on your fabric (which I did). Using a medium weight fabric at the back of the bag is great for wear and tear. I think that the new toy is going to make car travel a little more fun for my little guy.

I also think that it will be fun to create bags that are based on themes. Do you have any ideas on making fun I-Spy Bags?

Family Art Night

Last year my husband Don and I were looking for a way to engage the kids. Our boys have a bit of an age gap, so we wanted to do something that would be fun for both a 9 year old and a 19 month old. We have a family game night, but most family games are designed for older children not toddlers, and it is usually a challenge playing games when Miles starts running with game pieces or putting them in his month. We therefore came up with our "Family Art Night," which has been great for all of us. Miles can get in on the fun with crayons, while it gets my eldest Matthew away from playing too much video game.

We gather our art and/or craft supplies and let our imagination and hands go wild. Sometimes we create around a theme or concept, but most times the idea is to just create what comes to mind. For our first family art night of the year, my son Matthew wanted to do a comic strip style drawing. We all had to create three frames and include a thought or speech bubble.

I wanted to share with you images of our drawings, with the hope that it will give you ideas about your own art night.

Here are our drawings!

My drawing was done with colour pencils and Sharpie.

My son Matthew used pencil.

My husband Don and son Miles decided to do a pastel drawing with cutout speech bubbles.

As you can see there are no classic masterpieces in the works, but a fun way to spend some time with the kids. The idea is to find something fun and creative to do. If you are looking for something to do with your family, perhaps this is something you can try. Have fun!

Wishing you a Happy New Year 2012!

May your year be filled with good health, joy and lots of creative energy.