How to Sparkle Shoes

Gwen has finally outgrown all of her old shoes and when we got a new pair it was a great opportunity to sparkle them. These are her old shoes, purple crocs that I originally sparkled with red glitter and sequins, then refreshed with gold glitter. She adores them and I'm often asked by other mums where I obtained her designer crocs.

So this time we got a pair of sandals with a big glitzy flower on them and another pair of pink crocs. The store next to the shoe shop was an art supply and it was a great opportunity to ask her to choose which glitter she'd like on her shoes. Initially she chose lime green, but quickly changed her mind as soon as she noticed the purple right beside it. While she had her afternoon nap I set about sparkling them for her.

You'll need:
Foam Glue (some glues will eat away at the foam rubber, especially PVA)
Sparkles
Paint Brush
A3 paper

 

Fold the A3 in half so that there is a crease in the middle. unfold and put it on top of your work area.

Liberally cover the shoes with the foam glue. If it starts to bead and pull away from the shoe surface wait a few moments until the glue starts to stiffen and brush it out again.

Sprinkle the glitter over the glue then tap the shoe gently to help remove lose glitter. Repeat for the other shoe. Don't forget to do the back and strap as well.

Let the shoes dry outside in the sun.

Fold the paper in half, pushing the glitter into the fold and gently shake it back into the jar.

 De-sparkle your hands and/or house.

A Visitor to our Garden

Mixing Colours

A neighbor was throwing away this amazing piece of packaging styrofoam. They seemed a bit mystified as to what we might want to do wth it but where happy to part with it before the garbage truck arrived. We got it home and I filled it with food coloring and water then provided Gwen with a big bowl of water and a cup then left her two it, watching from a distance.

A lot of these sorts of activities are hit and miss, I'm still not sure what she'll enjoy and what can be dropped in a moment in favor of something wildly more facinating. This one was a hit, she spent a good hour mixing colours, adding water and swirling things around. And she kept coming back to it all day. By the next day the play was more about breaking it up, standing in it and watching little specs of styrofoam float around, by the third day she was over it, but it was fabulous while it lasted.

The Not So Boring Walls

The problem with renting is that you can't have interesting walls. Unless you look at it a little differently. Sure you can't nail things into the wall, or paint it without having to factor in repainting them once you move out, but with a few adhesive sticker hooks and some blu-tak you can make the white space so much more interesting.

I've been collecting feathers, seedpods, bark, paper wasp nests, and some of my texture photos to hang from the string lines for awhile now. I change them around when the mood suits. The bird images below are from an old calendar I snaffled at the Lifeline Bookfest. Similar pictures of Australian wildlife fill Gwen's walls and our bedroom as well.

 

 There is also a string line for Gwen's artwork and pretty pictures we find along the way...

 

...but not all artwork is quite so portable.

My Precious

The little one has been fascinated by watches, so yesterday I bought her a beautiful wooden wrist watch featuring lots of brightly coloured beads and movable hands. I gave it to her as we waited for an overdue bus and didn't realize just how much of an impact it would make on her. It has become her Precious.

She is in love with it so much that just spent 10 mins before bed being conflicted over where to put it for safe keeping and wanting it while she was in bed, then having to find another safe spot for it, the needing to hold it again. Ah the things with do with our precious!

The best place to hide

is in plain sight.

A Hano Inspired Toy

Earlier this year I stumbled across this beautiful gorilla toy by David Weeks. I had just started a woodworking course and our first project was to create a small wooden toy.

I adored Hano and wanted to create my own, friendlier version. I've always loved orangutans so I decided to try my hand at designing one. Here's the final result:


Little did I know at the start how difficult it would be as part of the brief was to only use hand tools. I certainly learned a lot from the project, particularly how to sculpt on the small scale and some very interesting ways of creating an elastic joint that can be positioned any which way.

It was a wonderful first project and I'm looking forward to getting back into the workshop next year. In the mean time I'm slowly building up my tool collection.

Homemade Stamps

I love experimenting with texture and rich patterns. These lino cut stamps are easy and cheap, if time consuming, and can be used with all sorts of paints and inks. These two have found their way onto clothes, letters, recipe swaps and bags.

Paint Chip Stickers

Everytime we go to the hardware store we grab a few paint chip samples, and I've been wondering what to do with them as they float through the house. So last night I chopped them all up into smaller squares and laid out some sticky tape, sticky side up. My hope was that the Little One would be immersed in it for a little while and enjoy sticking them down in different ways.

Of course I had temporarily forgotten her capacity to think about these sorts of things creatively. After a few moments of placing and sticking she discovered that her dress and hair also stuck and made a very satisfying gently pulling feeling when she removed them....so she spent almost 20 mins laying down on the tape, face first, then peeling herself off it, then laying down again.

It looked like lots of fun! Soon after we had a little friend visit for awhile and they both delighted in the game. I've very temped to cover a wall in sticky side up tape just to see what she would do with it.

"Chickens, look at my Umbrella!"

and they did indeed look impressed.