Do You Wanna Build A Scarecrow?

 

 

So.... what to do on a sunny but cold day of the school holidays?

 

Build a scarecrow of course!

 

A few posts back I told you all how my hubby had done a massive wardrobe clear out, leaving me with heaps of clothes to find uses for. (Read that post here - Up-cycling Daddies Old Work Shirts)

 

Well this was another project for some of the clothes!

 

For this project I used:

 

Plastic Bags

Pipe cleaners

Newspaper

Old clothes

Needle and thread

Big metal spike thing that I had in the garden ( you could use a wooden stake/ rake / broom etc)

 

 

I chose all these items because they were what I already had around the house. You know - Up- cycling, re-cycling and re-using things!

 

For the face I cut out 2 black circles for eyes from the clothes. I roughly stitched these on to a white shirt.

 

I stitched a pipe cleaner for the mouth

 

 

I gave the kids the job of stuffing the body. We stuffed newspaper into the plastic bags first, then into the shirt. This helps keep the scarecrow water proof and not get so soggy through winter.

 

We didn't get chance to make the legs, but I think we may just keep him this way. We also need to find him a hat! 

 

The kids have named him John after my hubby!

 

Oh and here's a pic of a snail we found in the veggie patch! The kids played with it longer than it took us to build the scarecrow!

Weekend Project- Chilli Garland

So a little while back I told you all how overrun with chillis we are in our house! Yes we have millions of chillis. I have been handing them out to family, friends, neighbours - anyone that will take them really!

 

I used a whole batch for some awesome Sweet Chilli Sauce, and now as the chilli seasom is finishing up, I thought I would make a Chilli Garland with the last lot from the trees - yes Trees, my plants are HUGE.

 

So this will be my first post in my new Weekend Projects series. Here's how I did it!

 

First I filled my bowl with an assortment of the chillis. Red- green - and orange, and all the shades inbetween.

 

 Then I used some embroidery thread and needle to string them all together

 

I like to thread randomly. The colours are amazing. They are so autumn-y!

 

And finally I have strung it up in the garden. It looks great as it spins in the wind! I know technically a garland is usually draped, or a circular shape - but I'm still going to call this a Garland as that sounds better than "Hanging Thing"!! 

**** BIG hint..... Don't touch your face whilst threading the chillies!!! And be sure to wash your hands well after! 

Here's some others I made as well. These ones are with some herbs from the garden. These smell so devine! 

  

 

So this weekend why not make your own garland? Maybe a herb or flower one?

 

Have Fun!

Nature play

I have always been a big believer that a fantastic childhood is made up of imagination, make believe, getting outside and getting dirty. Thinking back to my childhood the things I remember doing and having fun with was playing outside - talking to our ducks and chickens, riding my bike, playing Barbie Dolls and creating clothes for them with scrap material.

I doubt many people would remember back and only think of that time they sat in front of the telly.... or playing that computer game..... I mean, sure we have some of those memories, but the best ones are the ones that we created ourselves.

Now dont get me wrong - we have a TV and we watch it. But over the school holidays with the tempation of TV, Ipad and Mobile phones (we don't own gaming consoles) I want to make a real effort for us to be involved in Nature Play.

At the beging of the holidays we wrote a list together of all the low cost activities we would like to do. These included - visiting friends, the beach, the park, sleep overs, movie days, cooking......

Then whilst visiting a friend she told me about this cool little "passport". It has been produced by the Department of Sport and Recreation. ( You can find more details here: www.natureplaywa.org.au )

 

The whole idea of this passport is to get your kids out and about in nature, to start exploring, use science and create things.

So far my kids have LOVED it. I have printed out each "mission" and we are working our way through it. Even a visit to Grandma and Pop-pops house helped to complete a mission. Together they went for a scavenger hunt on the foreshore. These are some of the treasures they found

And this morning before it started to heat up too much we went for a walk to the park. We did a bit of bird spotting and duck feeding!

We also have flowers from our garden in our "flower press" ( made of telephone books). This brought back memories for me as I use to do that all the time, and we have some grass heads growing on the window sill.

So much fun with nature!! What shall we do next?

Potatoes!!!

I have potato plants!!!

 

And I am very excited that I have these growing! WHY? Because I love (and I mean LOVE!!!) potatoes! Potato salad, potato bake, mashed, stuffed, roasted.... I love them all. In fact when we go to Sizzler for "all you can eat". I fill my plate with all the potato dishes! I did that last time without even realising that is what I've done!

So the fact that I will soon have my very own home-grown potatoes excites me more than you can imagine!! 

Spring!!!!

Yay! What a lovely spring day!
I spent quite a bit of time outside today, pity it was hanging washing! But I must admit it probably took me twice as long as I kept wandering off to look at the garden!
The flowers are out in full bloom, and although it's all a bit overgrown, it's looking nice and green and colorful!

A Peaceful City

Cherry Blossoms, Veggie Patches, Jazz music, and a giant frog pond......Where am I?

Right smack bam in the centre of Perth!!!

I was told about this great new Urban Veggie Patch created by the Perth Cultural Centre. But I didnt expect it to be so peaceful and inviting.

We had our afternoon tea sitting on the veggie patch wall listening to the buskers. Afterwards the kids explored the large frog swamp, and the music making garden.

I was pleasantly surprised by this visit into Perth. It has left me inspired to get into my veggie patch.

It was a great family day out!

Winter wooly weather

Brrrrrrr. It's been so cold!!
Just had to share a picture of the little visitor we had in our garden during the week. It was just after the storm and I think he was finding shelter in the yard. Unfortunately for him I disturbed both him and the rather large cockroach sitting right near him!! Sorry mister froggy, I hope you found another juicy bug for dinner :)