Bereft of any Judy Garland knowledge, all subtle references to The Wizard of Oz were lost on this group of suburban dads.
Nonetheless, Halloween is a great excuse to dress up, get together with friends and hit up the neighbours for treats.
Hello Cavities!
Growing up in Australia in the 90’s
Astro Boy,
Garbage bags slip n slide,
Hypercolour,
Pebble mix lined swimming pools,
Running through the sprinkler,
Pavlova, Queen Adelaide in a cask, Tang,
Swinging on the Hills Hoist,
Swinging the cat in a bucket from the hills hoist.
It’s a bit of a lemon when it comes to rhythm and rhyme. Nonetheless, it sums up the mundane little everyday things remembered from my childhood. Of all of the above, what remains ever present in my adult life is the Hills Hoist. Rusting quietly in the backyard, home to a plethora of sun bleached pegs, half a dozen spiders and the occasional kookaburra. Once in a while it blooms in colour for a short while before returning to it’s former functional self.
The men putting cookies up on the hoist for daughters Alice in Wonderland party…
Two years later, jungle party…
And now this…
Web weaving at dusk. Unfinished and hopefully kitted out in time for Halloween!
In the dead of the night
Can you hear the little children cry?
Cryin’ “Mama, mama.” Watchout!
Arghh! Zombie’s a terrible fright
Songs to spook to: C.W.Stoneking… The Zombie!
Made from sequined foam, this one’s for the front door.
For the letterbox drop. A heads up for the neighbours!
C.W.Stoneking is an Australian blues singer-songwriter, guitar and banjo player.
We’re off to see the Wizard…
In a rush to make Halloween costumes.
Gemstone template & making paper emeralds.
I’ll be going as the Emerald city.
How to keep it hidden from daughter, bling makes her giddy!
DIY Witch Softie made from interior mattress foam, fabric, stockings, paint and wool.
Must be the season of the witch…
For more of my Halloween crafts –
https://speckledsydney.wordpress.com/category/halloween/
Turn on, tune in and drop out. The average American child spends 44 hours a week watching TV, whilst Australian kids spend twice as much time watching TV than they do reading a book. It’s a way of life now, it’s on in the background, it’s on during bath time and as you’re juggling the kids and making dinner. Children are spending less time outdoors and more time looking at a screen. In 1995, Richard Louv coined the term ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’ to describe this disengagement of children from nature.
If children spend less time in nature early in life, they’re less likely to care for nature as adults. In this increasingly digital age, how looks the future for nature?
Wendy Goldstein and Sue Lennox (from Macquarie University & Oz Green) have partnered to launch a project called The Re Generation Project, that is asking what can be done to reconnect young people with nature. They’re calling for young people to share their ideas on https://www.facebook.com/theregeneration.inspirenature
Nature’s not a destination, it’s as close as your own backyard!
So out we went, into the backyard to play and pick our small stash of plants for our pressed plant terrariums.
DIY PRESSED PLANT TERRARIUM
Draw out your terrarium onto thick sheets of white paper, painting in a little dirt. Glue plants onto your terrarium and layer over with clear contact. Press down over the contact with your hands then cut out.
The kids making their pressed plant terrariums
Other nature craft ideas… with leaves
Sticks & Twigs
Rocks
Curiosity killed the cat… some of the time.
Back in 1935, there was a widely accepted theory amongst physicists when it came to teeny, tiny things not visible to the eye. They agreed that since you can’t see them, it’s possible they could be in state x or state y, so let’s say they’re both, in two states at the one time (the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum mechanics).
An Austrian physicist called Erwin Schrodinger thought this to be reductio ad absurdum (absolutely whack). He put the theory to life size terms to illustrate his point, this became known as Schrodinger’s cat. The thought experiment goes; What happens when you put a cat in a box with a vial of poison and a trigger. How does kitty fare?
According to the accepted thought at the time, since you can’t see the cat, either possibility is valid, cat is both dead AND alive. When you open the lid reality collapses to one possibility or the other. Until that moment, it’s undead kitty.
This led to all sorts of other theories about parallel possible realities… but that’s another story altogether!
DIY UNDEAD CATS
Zombie Cat Straw Toppers
For more of my Halloween crafts –
The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. Nat King Cole crooned this pearl of wisdom back in 1948 and it still rings true. For those of us who have the daily joy of parenting, there are moments where you don’t feel the love in return…
My crime…turn off Frozen and get ready for bed NOW! This lovely piece is blu tac’d to daughters bedroom door. Time to go tantrum art!
DIY PHOTO TRANSFER
Pick a photo of your beloved. Photocopy and enlarge in B & W.
Lightly tape your photocopy (picture facing down) onto your canvas board. Wear disposable gloves and head outdoors. Dip your blender pen into turps and rub pen tip in small wax on, wax off circles on the back of the paper on the parts where you’d like the image to transfer. It starts to look translucent.
The image transferred over a little faint. Xylene makes for a stronger image transfer, but is a more hazardous solvent to work with. Citra-Sol is apparently a safer alternative.
Colour in with oil pastels then thin out with mineral turps for a watercolour effect. You could use linseed oil instead if you desire a less flammable work of art (or work with oil/ acrylic paints.)
Felt for letters…
Blu tac to door and feel the love!
Yesterday my daughter took her shoes off in class, and kept them off. all. day. long. She could have chosen to sit with a friend for the day, or at the teachers desk! alas shoes off it was, her chosen reward for being good. When I was growing up it was all about gold stars, but back in the 5th Century Italian kids were given pretzels for good behaviour! A kitchen bound monk shaped them from dough to resemble hands crossed over the chest in prayer. They called them Pretiola, Latin for “little reward.”
Latin might be dead but the twisted pretzel lives on, from food vans to the freekum…
Germans quickly cottoned on to the pretzels doughy goodness and adopted them as a national food staple and beer besty. They also represent good luck and so are worn as a necklace on New Years Day. Austrians adorn their Christmas trees with them, while the Swiss play break the pretzel at weddings. The phrase “tying the knot” comes from pretzels too!
DIY CLAY PRETZELS
Warm up the modelling clay by rolling in your hands for a minute or so. Work on a non porous surface. Shape your pretzel. The bigger the pretzel, the more knots.
Rest pretzels on baking paper & leave to dry 24 hours.
Water down acrylic paint to the consistency of pancake mix…
dunk…
Leave to dry 24hours and ponder the uses of your dipped pretzels.
This is how I’ll be using mine.
When I’m feeling a little fancy or have a gal pal over for a cuppa!
Make your own Tiger stencil using Acetate & Sharpie pen.
Carefully wield stencil knife
Sponge and acrylic paint
Dab, dab, dab…
Done!
My very own wee tiger!
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