Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Preparing for the baby

Lately I've been trying to get ready for the new baby. 

My other babies...









We have two cars, but the one that would fit all of us in it does not have air conditioning. This is simply not acceptable or safe here in Texas (with kids). So we will be at home a lot. After three kids, I don't really need anything for the baby, but I did want to buy some arts and crafts supplies for the siblings. We are pretty much out of paint, we have an extremely limited amount of crayons, and I would like to try some activities with clay, beeswax, and wool roving (all I have now is some wool roving). As far as paint and crayons go, I cannot remember a time when I bought them. They have always been given to us. So now I find myself wanting to purchase something a little more eco friendly and of higher quality. The first thing I think of is the Waldorf Stockmar stuff, but that would have to be shipped to me after having been shipped to whoever is shipping them to me (not exactly eco friendly). Not sure what to do....Buying crayons and paint shouldn't be this hard. I have an Amazon credit card that I use and immediately pay off so that I can get the rewards. Therefore, I have some (35$ lol) to spend there. Any ideas? Oh yeah, we have no paper...

Here is a list of craft ideas for when we are homebodies (to be continually edited and added to).

For me:
Soapmaking - bought the supplies a while back
Cheesemaking - bought the supplies a while back
Felting  - thinking of starting with something flat like a landscape or maybe felting tiny things inside bottle caps and making necklaces

For the kids:
Watercolors
Candlemaking or beeswax modeling
Clay beads
Making bookmarks
Sheet fort - Simply a sheet we have over our craft table that the kids use as a fort. I wanted us to decorate it, make windows, etc.
Various weaving activities
Rainbow Collage 
Tie Dye with markers 
Bookmaking  
Watercolor Mosaic 
Stained Glass using tissue paper  
Needle felt a rainbow (Eaden)

Looking for other craft ideas if you would like to suggest something! I will probably not be able to afford all of these supplies I mention I need so something simple or with recycled materials is best.

I have also been decluttering. There is actually not much to do. The upstairs where the kids have all of their stuff is already simplified (and has been kept clean for about a month I might add!). I did a few kitchen cabinets that needed work today, and I am going to do my closet tomorrow. That should be it. I will probably go to the thrift store to find some onesies for the baby. We gave all of our old clothes to a friend thinking we were probably done having the little rascals. Other than that, I think we're set. I just want to do a few things with the girls and Taven around town like going to see the new dinosaur exhibits at the museum and zoo and going to Sheldon Lake State Park (very close). I should take them swimming again as well. Speaking of swimming, we need some sort of little pool for our backyard. Our old blue plastic one has holes in it and was used to raise the chicks. Here is what we're using currently.


Due date, by the way, is June 19th. Last two came 7 and 10 days early...

10 comments:

  1. How exciting! And you sure do make cute babes!
    We have a store by us called SCRAP where people can drop off used or unwanted art supplies or other creative materials and they sell them for super cheap. Crayons are 25 cents per big handful and there are lots of things to inspire creative ideas. Maybe you have something similar near you?

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  2. That would be so awesome if we had something like that, but there is nothing that I know of. I'll double check. There are a lot of kids thrift stores but they dont usually have craft supplies. You know you are very lucky to live in the northwest! yall have all kinds of great resources like that.

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  3. I'm looking into stubby pencil studio. they seem to have eco friendly supplies at a much cheaper cost and some of it is made in the usa.

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  4. Well after you have the baby, Aidan and I will come to your house and bring craft supplies with us. Or before. We have lots to share.

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  5. thanks krista! look what i found (thanks mama gone green for inspiring me to look harder)! It's a place called Texas Art Asylum. I'm going to check it out today....in traffic :-(

    http://www.texasartasylum.com/index.html

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  6. Your kids are beautiful! Congrats on the new baby! :)

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  7. Well there's always collages from old magazines. My grandma used to make beads with us by rolling a glossy piece of magazine paper, then shellac ing it. We made necklaces out of them.

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    1. Oh your grandma is brilliant-awesome idea!

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  8. I love how you are prepping for the new one. Your littles are gorgeous. Does Amazon ship stockmar stuff? There is also the Discount School Supply stuff. It's hard getting around the shipping stuff. I absolutely love felting and your kiddies will too I bet. My middle one is all about the clay modeling-again it's a kid hit! I love PKJ's idea about modge podging magazine paper-brilliant! Your local art store may carry some of the stuff you want, plus Stubby Pencil Studio is great. The owner has twin girls and is super sweet.
    Good luck!
    xo

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  9. wishing you a blessed last few days of pregnancy! i highly recommend needle felting- i just took a class on friday and am so hooked! and i love that it's small and portable enough that i can carry it around to wherever the kiddos are playing at the moment- and easily tuck it away when needed.

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