Fun with… FLUBBER!

July 5, 2015July 5, 2015 | Allison

If you haven’t yet made flubber, you absolutely MUST! It is an ooey-gooey-but-not-sticky goop that is tons of fun for kids and adults. If you babysit, this is the thing to bring! (Note: Flubber isn’t sticky, but it can get stuck on soft things like cloth or hair if it sets on them. If it gets on clothing, try rubbing the spot with a paper towel dampened with vinegar.) Now that I’ve scared you with all the warnings, let’s make some flubber! Flubber is made of glue, water, borax (a inexpensive cleaning agent), and food coloring (optional). Click here for the recipe. Now for some proof of the fun!

As you can see from the last three pictures, you can also blow bubbles with flubber. Just make a pocket for a straw, make sure it’s airtight, and blow!

Pastel yellow is a really fun color for flubber because it looks like so many different things: pancake batter, pizza dough, noodles, cake/cookie/cupcake batter, bread… It’s also fun to have a couple of things from the kitchen to use, like spatulas, forks, and cookie cutters.

I’d love to hear about it if you give it a go!

***Allison

ATC Inspiration

June 30, 2015November 12, 2018 | Allison

(Note: if you have no idea what ATCs are, or would like to know more about them, you can visit this site: flourishingbyrestfulfalls.wordpress.com)

My sisters and I, and some of our friends, enjoy making and trading ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). I thought I would share some of the fun ideas we have thought of, and some of my favorite cards that I created. (Another note: one of the rules of ATC making is that you can’t copy the exact thing on the card, but you can definitely be inspired by something, and make your own twist on it.) And 3…2…2 1/2…1… Here we go!

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I made this by drawing a design with glue. I let the glue dry (mostly), taped on some tinfoil, and carefully pressed it around the designs. Then I just outlined the bumps with Sharpie.

This one took me practically forever to make, but it turned out pretty well. The idea here is that you can put a game on a card. It doesn’t have to be a maze – it could a word search, a hidden-picture, a crossword, whatever! I also laminated this with packing tape so the pencil wouldn’t smudge, and no one would be tempted to draw directly on the card. It’s probably a good idea to tell the person you’re trading it with that they should just use their eyes and fingers to play the game instead of a pencil.

How to Draw a Cute Kitty by yours truly. Idea: drawing-lessons on a card.

(These last two cards I did not make.) Idea: You don’t have to just draw! You can add ribbon, dried flowers, or even googly eyes!

This last one was made by my friend who had the clever idea of putting a favorite recipe on the card. Just make sure to include some art – after all, it is an ARTIST trading card!

Below are some of my favorite cards that I made.

What are some of your favorite ideas for drawing or making ATCs?

***Allison***

Would You Rather #2

June 19, 2015June 19, 2015 | Allison

If you could only eat one food group for just a day, which one would you choose?

***Allison***

Mystery Revealed!

June 16, 2015 | Allison

Here we go! The top pictures are the close-ups, and the bottom ones are the, um, far-aways? And below that is who commented with a correct guess.

Solution: cooked green peas

Solution: black raspberry

clarascraftcorner.wordpress.com guessed #1 correctly as “a green pea,” and #2 correctly as “a raspberry.”

happyhouseofag.wordpress.com also guessed both #1 and #2 correctly as “a pea” and “a raspberry.”

asnapaday2015.wordpress.com guessed just #2 correctly as “raspberry.”

Click on the link to go to their respective blogs. Thanks for guessing!

***Allison***

Mystery Pictures Post #2

June 13, 2015 | Allison

Hmm… mysterious super-close-up pictures. If you think you know what they are, you can comment and tell me. In the next post I will reveal the mystery, and tell you which people guessed correctly. (You can see the first mystery picture post here.)

***Allison***

Draw a Transforming Face

June 9, 2015June 9, 2015 | Allison

One day recently when I was bored I drew this face on my finger. If you bend your finger down, the face looks young and happy, but if you straighten it out, it looks wrinkled and, well, strange.

The key to making the face transform is to draw it in the wrinkly part of your knuckle. (Wow, that sounds really weird.) You have to figure out which wrinkles will be the eyebrows, eyes, and mouth. You pretty much draw slightly curved or straight lines for everything while you bend your finger,and then straighten it out and voila! it transforms. You can make a little nose too if you want. For some reason, it is really fun to bend your finger back and forth and watch the face change, which makes it a really fun boredom buster.

Thank you for reading this random and slightly odd post! ☺☺☺☺☺ Have fun transforming faces, and let me know if it worked!

***Allison***

Would You Rather…

May 22, 2015May 23, 2015 | Allison

Here’s a fun little poll post:

These polls were really fun to make, and I hope they were fun to do!

***Allison***

Who Am I? A Spring Poem

March 14, 2015March 14, 2015 | Allison

This is a mystery poem I made up yesterday. After each stanza, take a guess at what the poem is about, and see how your first guesses compare to your last guess.

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A roundish package, lily-white

Lies buried in the darkest night.

Above, a glowing warmth sends rays

Of light that dance and skip and play.

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A grayness gathers in the blue.

It bursts and pierces the air through

With drops of glass and noisy wind.

And then the gray is blue again.

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The silent package starts to shift,

It cracks it splits, it moves a bit.

From one end grows one tiny thread,

Then many race to stretch ahead.

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A new, green dagger thrusts itself

Above the dark, and looks about.

It sees, around it, other spears

That it must conquer, far or near.

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The dagger wages war for food

For light, for water, and land too.

It wins the battle, takes the floor

And earns what it was fighting for.

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And now, more daggers, soft and green

Poke up their heads around their queen.

The daggers grow as straight as boards

And lengthen out to narrow swords.

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A slender, green and stately pole

Emerges from a darkened hole.

The pole starts swelling at its tip,

And yellows as it grows a bit.

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The swelling end begins to split

And sunshine shows from deep within.

The sunshine spreads and spreads until

Sweet golden trumpets fill the hills.

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They trumpet loud their welcome song:

“Spring’s here at last! Cold Winter’s gone!

Warmth and light, new life is stirring,

Come one and all, come sing of Spring!”

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Did you figure out what the poem is about? I’ll give you a hint: it’s a certain kind of flower. Wait for it…. Yep! A daffodil! I hope to see some daffodils soon! Do you have any daffodils or other flowers blooming at your house?

***Allison***

Chopped!

February 17, 2015February 17, 2015 | Allison

I made up a contest based on a TV show we saw maybe 2 times called “Chopped”. “Chopped” is a cooking contest where the four contestants get mystery ingredients that they have to make into a dish in 30 minutes. Our version of “Chopped” isn’t quite the same, but us kids and our cousins had lots of fun playing it! Here are the rules:

1. Anyone who doesn’t want to cook, or who isn’t able to can be a judge. It works best if there are 3 or 4 other people who cook.

2. Depending on how many people are playing, there are a certain number of rounds. There must be one less round than the number of cooks (like musical chairs). Here are some ideas for the different rounds: Drink, Dessert, Side, Snack. (You can’t really have a main dish because one of the rules is that you can’t use meat or eggs or anything that might be harmful if it’s undercooked.)

3. The judge chooses two ingredients that the cooks must use. Make the ingredients relevant to the round (Don’t use tomatoes and corn for the dessert round ☺).

4. The cooks have 7 minutes to make a dish containing the ingredients the judge chose, plus up to four more ingredients of their choice. You may make the time shorter or longer as you wish. The minimum of ingredients is 4 and the maximum is 6.

5. When the time is up, the cooks have stop what they’re doing and bring their dish to the judge. They have to have used at least 4 ingredients, not more than 6 ingredients, and the ingredients the judge chose; if they haven’t, they’re out.

6. The cooks explain their food to the judges, then leave the room.

7. The judge(s) decides which dish they think is the worst, and put the dish under a big bowl so that it’s hidden. The judge calls in the cooks.

8. The judge takes off the bowl hiding the dish, and announces who is “Chopped” (out of the game). The player that got chopped gets to help judge the next round(s), and the other cooks get to keep cooking!

9. When it’s the last round and there are only two cooks left, whoever wins the round wins the game!

I hope you have as much fun playing this as we did!

***Allison***