Tissue Paper Pumpkins

In March, our playgroup decorated shamrock outlines with tissue paper. It was such a fun and easy project, I decided to try it again yesterday with Dylan and my niece, Lily.

Supplies - clear contact paper, pumpkin outline, bits of colored tissue paper

I hand sketched pumpkins onto red-orange paper. Then used my x-acto to cut them out. I stuck the pumpkin outlines to clear contact paper and put one in front of each child along with a small pile of colored tissue paper bits.

Dylan (2 years) started on his and then got distracted. Lily (12.5 months) wasn't quite sure what to do so I held up a few pieces and let them drop to her pumpkin and encouraged her to press them down. This turned it into a game and got her involved as well as regained Dylan's interest in the project - dropping tissue paper bits is fun!

Lily also enjoyed dropping tissue paper on the floor while Dylan worked on his pumpkin.

Once they both bored of the project, I took away their pumpkins, sealed them with another sheet of clear contact paper and trimmed around the edges. We hung the pumpkins on the sliding glass door to enjoy.

Completed pumpkins - Dylan's on left and Lily's on right.

They look so pretty hanging up with the light shining through!

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forward facing

Dylan taking in the view in August 2010 when he was finally big enough to face forward:

Supplies: DHD Fall Blog Hop kit; Deena Rutter's Happier Frames; Sara Schmutz's ABC, Back to Basics, & Nursery Rhymes kits; Michelle Underwood's Best Days of Our Life extras; Pink Trike Design's Dated Monthly Worn Journaling Tags & Hip Holiday alpha; Just the Way You Are font. Inspired by Two Peas Weekly Challenge Sketch.

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Shoot & Edit: Orange edit

One of the things I disliked about my SOOC shot was how dark it was. I was able to fix it with a very quick & simple edit. I started with Ashey's Nice & Easy action then followed steps from Sarah at Naptime Momtog for the HDR action. Mouseover to see the difference.

Join in the fun with Jill Samter Photography and Ramblings and Photos:

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Halloween Night 2010

Last Halloween we took Dylan trick or treating for the first time. Literally only went to 3 of our immediate neighbors. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. He did love getting candy handed to him and clinched it tightly in his fist (we had a few melted chocolate bars to say the least!). The photo below is one of my favorite from the night. We bumped into our neighbor's 2-1/2 year old son who "explained" to Dylan what was going on. Dylan meanwhile just eyed Luke's lollipop. ;)

Supplies: Miss Mint's Pimp My Page Template #40 and Kooky Spooky papers & elements; Jen Allyson's Spooked elements; Just the Way You Are font.

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First Pediatrician Appointment

Dylan was only 3 days old when we took him to his first pediatrician's appointment. Love how peaceful he looks napping in his seat and clutching his Soothie (he still loves that!) as we waited to be called back.

My inspiration for the page came from last month's Color Swatch Challenge at Design House Digital. I've had this photo pulled for sometime to scrap. The challenge colors were perfect & just the kick I needed to get the page completed. :)

Supplies: Karla Dudley's Breezy paper collection; Carina Gardner's Baby Mine kit; Jen Allyson's Halloween Freebie; Karen Funk's Genuinely You & Butterfly Kisses elements; Janda Everyday Casual font.

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Shoot and Edit: Orange

Trent, Dylan and I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon at a nearby farm doing all sorts of fun fall things (hayride, pumpkin picking, etc). Our final 'big' activity was the corn maze. When we started off, Dylan was insistent upon carrying the flag all by himself. I positioned myself a bit ahead of him on the path to get a few shots. Perhaps not the best overall photo, but I love this shot regardless - the excitement of waving the flag in front of him. A good reminder of enjoying the little pleasures in life. :)

ISO 100, ss 1/200, f7.1

Join in the fun with Jill Samter Photography and Ramblings and Photos:

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Dinosaur Footprints

On a cool weather afternoon, I decided to try a new craft with Dylan that I found online - dinosaur fossils by Our Crafts ~N~ Things. We had fun using his dinosaur toys to make "fossils" of their footprints in clay.

Supplies: Simply Tiffany Studios 52 Thursday Templates Template No 28; Jen Martakis's Roar kit; Another Typewriter font.

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Wordless Wednesday: Pumpkin Decorating

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Salt Art

I found the idea for Salt Art in a similarly named post at Smilemonsters blog. It looked like a fun thing for Dylan & me to try. I prepped the salt a few days in advance, placing 1/2 cup of salt in each of three bags. I added 6 drops of food coloring to the bags and then shook & squeezed until all the salt was colored.

Since using salt as an art medium would clearly get messy with a 2 year old, we headed outside to the picnic table to create.

Supplies: colored salt, paper plates, foam brush and glue.

In a small bowl I mixed Elmer's glue with water to create a brushable paste for Dylan to use. I handed the brush to Dylan and a paper plate explaining he needed to "paint" on the glue first. Since painting is his current favorite art activity, he immediately jumped into this part.

"Painting" on glue.

Then I showed him how he could pinch a bit of the salt and drop it onto the plate.

Salt drop!

He continued to paint glue and add salt to his plate. Sometimes painting over the salt already there. He did add a bit of the yellow & red pink salts but so little it barely shows in the photos.

Adding more glue over the salt just because. :)

I confess, I got in on the fun too and created my own masterpiece. I was thinking of our beach trip, more specifically the ocean and sunrise, as I added my glue and salts.

Our masterpieces.

After it was done, I realized mine looked more like an Easter egg! ha! Oh well, it was fun to create regardless and we still have a good bit of sand left to play with another day.

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cheese!

Dylan loves getting his hands on my cameras. The DSLR, of course, is off limits. But I will let him play with my iPhone camera and our point & shoot. I actually had advice from one photographer to skip all kids digital cameras and give a child your older camera to play with instead. The quality of the kids cameras being not very good. That said, I don't have an older camera to give to Dylan (our last point & shoot died) so when I found a kids camera at a consignment sale for $4, I snatched it up immediately without even knowing if it worked! When I got home and put fresh batteries in it, I was excited to see it did work (and the previous owner left photos on it - that was amusing).

When I gave the camera to Dylan he was quite excited. Finally, he could push the buttons and have fun without mom close at hand ready to intervene if he got too wild. This camera is nice and chunky & durable (plus only $4) so I haven't flinched once when I've seen it hit the ground. After showing him where to look and what button to push, he was snapping away. I turned to look at something else and overheard him giggling and saying, "cheese!" When I looked back, he had the camera facing himself and was taking self portraits! It was so funny to watch.

The photos in the strip on the page above are some of the first self portraits he took. Definitely not high quality, but I love the happiness he captured and that he's enjoying his new gadget.

Supplies: Sara Schmutz's Recollect & Nursery Rhymes kits; Pink Trike Design's Kraft Funday elements; Jen Allyson's Design 365 January kit; Janda Everyday Casual & Another Typewriter fonts.

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