Summer Fun Passports

I cannot believe it has been over a year since I have posted!

I've finally ironed out scheduling it seems, only to still be working on the changes to the Realm. We'll get there one day, I promise.

Until then, I wanted to share with you these super fun Summer Passports I made my kiddo's for the summer.

If you've been following me over on instagram, then you have seen most of these before. This is part 1 so I don't overwhelm you with photos on the first posting back.

You'll see this image repeated a little farther down, but I wanted to show the cover and since it has already been sent to my kiddo's in Florida; I can't really take another picture of it. I used a passport stamp from Stamp Out Online (which has fantastic custom made stamps by the way) and a pigment ink by Tsukineko (Dew Drop) in Pearlescent Olive. The color looked gold to me against the blue, so I added gold embossing powder before the ink dried and then heated to emboss. Give it a more "official" feel.

This is page one of the girls passport. I suppose I should give a little background information on why I created this for my kiddos. I was supposed to go with my college to Italy for the summer, so we made arrangements for my husbands parents to watch the kids this summer in Florida. I wanted them to still feel close to me though seas apart, so decided to create these fun passports after seeing a similar post on Pinterest here. Long story short, my summer plans for Italy fell through, but we still wanted the kids to enjoy the summer with the Grandparents, and in a couple of weeks, we'll be joining them as well.

Also, the adventurer oath I borrowed and adapted to fit our family from here. The Tickle Wolf is a whole 'nother story hailing from our time in Germany. (But That's a post for a different day.)

Please excuse the over saturation and/or the under saturation of the images. I thought scanning these in would be better than photographs, but I have a fairly horrible scanner, so it didn't go quite as planned. I'll make sure I photograph all other images after part 2. 

 

In short, these are fairly self explanatory. The squares or blank spaces at the bottom are where the kiddo's can stamp and write the date for when they have completed the activity.  I did order a custom monogram stamper with the Letter C on it as a surprise for them. It says Chism Travels on it, and has Been There, Done That in a circular format. (Again, hindsight being 20/20) I didn't think to snap a photo of it before I shipped it off with them.

 

So I hope you have enjoyed part 1. All of the images are my own design, and I colored them with watercolor pencils in a Moleskin 3.5 X 5.5 blank page journal. I'm considering offering something like this in my Etsy shop for next summer, so if you like these, please let me know. They will all be custom and hand drawn if I offer them. Please feel free to leave me feedback and comments.

Unicorn Sneezes and Goblin Bogies

So with school and the holiday schedule I have fallen a bit behind in posting. I apologize, one day I will be consistent with this, I promise...just probably not any time soon as an overwhelming load of college will be crashing down on me next week again. :(

But not to be discouraged, as I will be trying desperately to keep you updated on how to keep yourself young with that childlike happiness, and magic.

So to start out April, why don't you do something you haven't done in a while, or at the very least, try something new. Which is what the family and I did a few days ago. We made some wonderful homemade squishy Slime.

 

Isn't it absolutely fabulous? The girls had great fun with how slimy it was, and the fact that if they squished a lid down over it the most wonderful "fart" noises came out. I've pinned instructions for it up under my Pinterest board Successful Kiddo Projects. 

 

Now while playing with this stuff I had an epiphany that goes with the items that I will be placing in my Etsy shop (hopefully before Christmas). What would be better than wonderful Unicorn sneezes and Goblin Bogies? And of course their is the re-moistening agent of Troll Drool! Delightful if I do say so myself. Okay, perhaps I am a bit odd you are thinking to yourself, but this is what I am talking about this is the kid in me. The things that as a child I would have loved playing pretend with. (Okay well perhaps I wouldn't have pretended to play with Goblin Bogies, but I bet there is a little boy out their somewhere chasing little girls with something gooey on the end of a stick yelling "run princess or the goblin will snot on you!")

 

But as I was saying. These will be up in my shop as soon as I do field testing on them to see how long they are good for. I mean we wouldn't want moldy Unicorn sneezes now would we?

 

I have quite a few ideas that I will be working on as I take another leave of absence from you my wonderful followers. But I will give you a bit of a sneak at what will be coming up:

 

Dragon, Griffon, and Wyvern Eggs, fairy food and semi-live stories on YouTube! Keep your eyes peeled for the next few months, because I plan to be super busy, and I hope you will be involved with my escapades. So until next time...

 

Remember to keep the magic alive and become a child again.

Reflection and Resolution

I sit and reflect on the year past. Though only the outdoor lights and wreath upon the door are left to remind that Christmas has just passed. My children and I still work on a few of there Christmas vacation to-do lists, such as long lasting mini gingerbread houses, and lounging in our PJ's.

 I am reminded how blessed I am with three adorable angels that I have, and how (though I have to constantly complain about listening, doing what they are told, and cleaning up their room) I have wonderful children. Not to brag, but these are children that I do not have to worry about when they are staying at a friends house because I know without doubt they are well mannered and behave. These are also the children that when Mommy is sick, tuck the blanket back under her feet as she tries to watch them and is falling asleep on the couch from medication. I am blessed with the most wonderful husband who is quite simply a genius in the kitchen. He could more than likely make a PB and J fit for royalty in a matter of seconds.

Some days it can be very hard to remember all of these blessings, and the many more I have been given which leads me to Resolutions for the New Year.

For myself it will be becoming a more organized in attempts to better multitask as well as getting back in shape. People often think how nice it must be to be an artist and writer...Well in way's it is, we get to do the things we love, but if we aren't careful, we end up with fat pudgy waistlines that won't let us fit in our favorite jeans. (lol) So I browsed through my spirituality and well being Pinterest board and decided I would use a couple of neat finds to attempt my own version of weight watchers as well as share with you in case you also have get in shape bulleted on your own Resolution list.

So a quick breakdown for New Years resolutions:

• Become organized
• There are a multitude of places that have helpful advice on becoming organized. One I particularly love is A Bowl Full of Lemons which is over all home organization.
• Simple Dimples has a neat binder organization system that I love and think would be fab.
• The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking also has a great weekly planners for general as well as food planning available for free download.

• Get fit
• As I said before I will be trying to get into some sort of fitness routine, starting with changing how I eat. I spoke with my husband and he said he had had good weight loss on weight watchers before, but in these times, who can afford to pay to loose weight? Perhaps I'm being a cheapskate, but my favorite word as of late is FREE!
• So I found a great tracker/log over at Freckleberryfinds both a weekly meal tracker and a fitness tracker. This will help with monitoring food intake and daily point balance.
• Calculators: Points calculator , Activity calculator
• I have also located a really neat site called Fatsecret which allows you to find the nutritional values of the foods you eat if it is not available on the package.
• No one program is right for everyone, so find your own if this doesn't work for you.But please feel free to use any and all of the enclosed links. And let them know who sent you. ;)

• Become accountable
• If your a stay at home mommy like me accountability can be a difficult task. I am accountable for my own actions, but this proves tricky as I tend to let myself slack.
• Since I know without deadlines I dally, I will be making myself accountable through the use of a weekly binder system with check-offs, such as the above fitness and food log, but also creating one to ensure that I allow myself time to do the things I love such as scheduling in play time with the children, and personal craft time for myself.
• I already belong to a writing group Blooming Late which meets bi-weekly in my area, and have to tell my writing progress which helps ensure I am actually writing, but I will also be joining one on Google+ which is a specific accountability group for writers in order to accomplish my writing goals for this year.

• Complete a journal and write
• Personal journal as well as a spiritual journal
• This is for posterity's sake. I want my children to know what I was like as well as what they were like. So my intent is to write at least once a week, and jot funny happenings or sayings down as they occur to compile in a hardbound printed book for each child at the beginning of the next year.
• A spiritual journal is one for personal use. It is a way for me to become more enlightened though scriptural study as well as personal reflection.
• Write on my novels at least once a week and have one finished before the end of the year.

• Be Magical
• Remember to do fun just because activities that make me smile.
• Encorage others to remember that kid-like happiness and innocence
• Blowing bubbles outside on a sunny day
• Blowing bubbles with Strawberry Bazooka Bubblegum if its raining outside
• Watching dandelion seedpods blow in the breeze and looking for fairies dancing between them
• Wish upon falling stars and talk to the man in the moon

I apologize for the rather lengthy post. I'll try to have a shorter one next time. :D Please feel free to use the above links, and ideas for your own journey into 2013. Don't forget to be kid-like at least once a week and let the magic flow.

Tuesday Tutorial - A Pinspired Project

So I promised a tutorial on how to make your own little Christmas Dragon, or an anytime dragon for that matter. As the title says this is a Pinspired Project, so my inspiration comes from Pintrest and some simple yet cute gator/crocodile clothes pins. I saw them and instantly thought of dragons so this is my take on them and I hope the tutorial is fairly simple to follow. As you can see above, my daughters (8 and 9) made a fleet or army of dragons if you will in about 2 hours.

Step 1: Gather your supplies

~ wooden clothes pins
~ acrylic paint your choice of colors we used plain and metallic (The metallic turns out very dragon-esque without adding scales)
~Googly eyes (I used the smallest I could find)
~Craft foam
~Newspaper
~Thin point permanent pen
~Glue
~*extra materials for your decorating pleasure*
        ribbons, beads, ultra fine glitter, fabric paint, stamps, 
        feathers, etc.






Step 2: Prepare work area

~ lay down newspaper to protect surfaces

Step 3: Paint clothes pins with acrylic paint

~This will take a couple of coats 2-3 depending on how much paint you use on each coat






Step 4: Dragon wings and Tails

~ Cut out and trace the dragon wing

template, or design your own wings

Step 5: Affix Dragon wings and googly

eyes with your choice of fixative

Step 6: Decorate your dragons wings with

wing marks ( I used glue and ultra fine

glitter), or feathers. Draw scales, or add

beads. Allow your dragon to speak to

you on how he/she should be bedazzled.

Step 7: Allow to dry then enjoy. Use your dragon as an ornament, or added to a package in place of a bow and as a double duty gift, or add a ribbon and have him/her be the Guardian of the Cards.