nov, 4th - halloween pumpkins....

day 1363 / 462:

i will still finish off our adventures in Portugal on the blog but just wanted to drop some Halloween posts in between. we had such a great time this year....Halloween is fast becoming my new favourite celebration.....

Limi helped me with the pumpkins again this year. she scooped out the pumpkin flesh (well, i did most of the hard labour and she did the easy scooping) and then i asked whether she wanted to draw the faces on.....to be honest, i had a moment of thinking that the faces would be a disaster and did i Really want her to do the drawing but i had to completely 'eat my thoughts' or, whatever the equivalent is to 'eating your words'....as her faces were better than anything that i would have thought up and she loved being part of the process. it was such a good lesson for me.

i found that the easiest way to do it, was to lie the pumpkins on their sides and let her draw on them with a thinnish black marker pen......the first set of eyes were a little too close for carving so we rubbed them out with a wet wipe and she drew them again.....by the second pumpkin she had it down pat.

i absolutely loved the end results, especially the off centre growl on the second pumpkin.

Limi (and Claya when she's able to) will definitely be our pumpkin face creators from now on.......and i'll happily stick to the menial tasks of carving and heavy duty scooping......

Happy Halloween!

jun, 16th - father's day....

day 1214 / 313:

i was trying to think of something that the girls could make for A. for Father's Day  (well mainly Limi as Claya is more of a destroyer than a creator at the moment). 

we already give each other the best gift of all on these days which is of course, a lie-in.....generally followed by breakfast in bed....but i was trying to think of something that he could keep. 

i came up with a portrait that Limi (and Claya) could do of A. every year....that we could assemble in a book. this is the the first one , signed by Limi (that squiggle next to the L is a 3)......i'm interested to see how these drawings will change over the years.

happy Father's Day all....a few days late.....but hey, i still got there in the same week/ month...result!

oct, 9th - graffiti artiste....

day 969 / 68:

there has been serious drawing-mania in our house since Limi started school......the blackboard doors in the Shoebox are covered in family portraits.

in some, i have a thunderhooves (depicted by a spaghetti of squiggles) in my tummy {see day 785} and in others (like the one above) i'm more svelte and thunderhooves is out. when i asked her where Claya was in one of these images, Limi told me that she was in a different room.

i could honestly watch her draw for hours...i find her head-people with legs completely fascinating.

jul, 24th - tweet....

[bird 1, holland park by Limi (2)]

day 896:

if i could freeze a development stage, it would probably be this stage of Limi's drawing. i am love with her spontaneous style.....her people that are generally just faces with arms and legs and the freeform squiggles and circles that depict whales, buses, 'thunderhooves', boats, caterpillar {see day 813}......

it seems a shame that this has to 'develop' into a more prescribed way of drawing....especially when we spent so much time at art school trying to 'let go' in our drawing.

[bird 2, holland park by Limi (2)]

i found this article on the six stages of a child's drawing style which is worth a read. these two drawings of birds, done in Holland Park, are probably stage three as described by Nicole Avery: moments of a specific subject followed by squiggles and circles afterwards....i love them. especially the beak in the first one and those tail feathers in the second but then again, i love her squiggles and circles as well {see day 827}.

may, 14th - bringing drawings to life....

day 827:

Limi's recent drawings....always lots of circles.

we've painted two doors in the Shoebox with blackboard paint which means that she can grab her chalk tin anytime. it's not surprising that i love to watch her draw.

a friend reminded me of this great company today. they create soft toys out of a child's drawing. such a brilliant concept.

apr, 1st - crayons....

day 419:

i often think that whatever you get exposed to as a child is largely dependent on what your family are interested in.....so, it's a bit luck-of-the-draw.......who knows, i could have been a talented fencer (the bee-keeping-mask and sword type)....but it wasn't a big sport in our small town in South Africa.....

anyway, if you love books or swimming or baking...then i think that your children will probably develop a similar love or at least an appreciation of the same things......so, i've been waiting for Limi to get old enough to start drawing......

sadly, our first sit-down-and draw together was more about me drawing and Limi....eating the crayons?.....no, in fact she didn't even try and eat the yellow...she spent the entire time packing and unpacking the crayons from their container......with intense focus.....

good thing i haven't invested in these yet.......she could lose whole days with her packing and unpacking obsession.

ps. we're off to visit the lovely gen and james in the countryside this weekend. 

hope that yours is also filled with fresh air and new blossoms. x

oct, 14th - seasonal tree....

Top Baby Blogs has reset their votes...pretty please throw a vote my way by clicking on the below. It just takes two clicks....you can vote once a day....it doesn't win me prizes or badges to wear but it does mean that i might meet more people and hey, who doesn't like an audience. 

day 245:

i've been dreaming of this wall sticker tree, from Rockett St George, to put on Limi's wall and turn into her 'seasonal tree'. a bit like a year-round Christmas Tree that we can have fun decorating according to the seasons....

it's not quite the perfect dimensions though......

so, i think that i may attempt my own version.....watch this space!

.............

other wall stickers that i love......

found here, and

found here

oct, 5th - 500 coloured pencils....

day 235:

i was a big sharer when i was young (with two elder siblings, it wasn't really a choice thing)...except when it came to my crayons and pencils.....i hated it when someone smashed my crayons into the paper.

so there'd be no hope of me sharing these! 500 Coloured Pencils is a subscription service where you receive a pack of 25 (perfect, no smashing) coloured pencils each month, for 20 months. Genius.

not only would i be able to hoard 500 pencils but i could also satisfy any obsessive compulsive tendencies by arranging the colours and keeping each pencil equally sharp (now there's an exciting hobby.)

the Genius doesn't stop there. you can also buy various installation display options to turn your pencils into a work of art! 

and with brilliant names for each colour to memorise...you never have to leave the house again. perfect for Winter!

and sadly, more perfect for Limi than for me....hopefully, she didn't inherit my non-crayon-sharing gene....

Via Elle Decoration

Pics by Felissimo