Salty Paint

As part of our science project 2017 I decided to have a look at a series of activities that investigate what happens when you add salt to watery paint. It makes some lovely textures as the salt dissolves in the water and subsequently leaves residue behind as the water evapourates and it dries.

Image from Usbourne

Pickle and Penguin had a great time painting and sprinkling. Unfortunately I don't think I made the paint watery enough as there was little evidence of dissolving, just gaps in the paint where the salt crystals had stuck. No pretty starry patterns for us so no pictures today I am afraid.

I will definitely try this one again but I will test it first!

This week we tried making sugar crystals on a lolly stick. I am not sure if this one is going to work yet. It is pretty cold here right now and there don't seem to be any sugar crystals on the stick....I will give it a few more days. Even if it doesn't work we used a lot of great science words like 'solution'. Pickle really enjoyed mixing the 'solute' and 'solvent' together so all is not lost! I can always tip the solution into a saucer to make loose crystals if the sticks don't work. Watch this space for an update!

Rainbow Mice

Pickle started pre school at the start of January. As I am a SAHM he has never really been left, just a few times with my Mum and a few times at a church group. I must say he has been a champ. No tears, loads of happy faces. Immense relief.

One day, on the way home, he said he had been sad because he missed me. I suggested I could make him something small for his picket so if he missed me he could hold it and know I loved him and was thinking of him too. His little face lit up and he began to chatter excitedly.

I suggested a little crochet heart thinking I could whip up one nice a quickly before I went to bed, maybe in a few colours so he could choose....Pickle claimed that would be too big, it should be small like a mouse. Yes it must be a mouse. So a mouse it was. A little purple mouse.

On day two of the little purple mouse the pre school leader asked about the mice, if I had in fact made it and if she could pay me to make some for her. I whipped up 5 as a gift for the pre school, and a rather cute collection they are too. Pickles teacher was very pleased and I got to test a new pattern! Watch this space for the little mouse pattern and tutorial!

They are just the perfect size for little hands and little pockets.

I used Patons 100% cotton as found here. The colours are Delta, Candy, Apple and Jade. The Yellow one is the same type of yarn but doesn't seem to be in the current range. I have sadly lost the ball band as it has been in my stash for a while. It is a very pretty yellow, I am sad to see it is no longer on the stock list at Wool Warehouse.

I loved working in this yarn, it is so smooth and has a beautiful sheen to it. I love that it is cotton too. Will certainly be using this type of yarn again. It looks like it may be similar to the Scheepjes Catona which has a lot more colour options! Wow, Scheepjes you are winning me over from sight only. I am absolutely going to need some of this yarn in my life....on my next order for sure.

Have you seen....?

Oh My, have you seen the Scheepjes CAL? It starts in February and it is so beautiful. There are 3 original colourways, Jewel, Rainbow and Pastel. Rainbow is my personal preference, I love how the colours pop on the dark smokey background.



Mmmmmmmmm sooooo pretty!!! I am going to follow too keep an eye on the goings on. I am in awe of the beauty! I will definitely have to follow a CAL with my blog one day. Maybe I will even be able to run one sometime in the future, who knows! I will certainly have a look at the Scheepjes yarn next time I am looking to order, it looks so very pretty!

It is fair to say the crochet world is alive with CALs right now with Attic 24 midway through the moorland CAL. A blanket would have been my preference but I just love the techniques int he shawl. I wish I could justify the outlay to buy the kit! I would love to try the Scheepjes yarn. At the moment I mostly work in Stylecraft special dk because we don't have a local yarn shop and I like to know that the yarn I am buying is going to be a lovely texture as well as affordable!

I love the idea of a CAL and I hope that it encourages more people to pick up a hook and give it a go!

A Life in Black and White

I love crochet. I am going to drop that bomb one more time. I love crochet. I love the snuggly yarn and the beautiful colours, I love the different patterns, the versatility and I love to feel productive. I like seeing my proects grow, I love the inspiration from wonderful creatives online....I could go on.

Did you see that I love colour? I am not Monochrome. I am blue and green, I am purple and pink and all the colours in between. I wear green jeggings and I love teal and turquoise. Yellow bean is monochrome. Don't get me wrong, he likes colour, he wears normal clothing and has some very colourful t shirts. But he loves black and white. He loves Ska music and all things two tone.

My latest F.O. was a little challenging. Not only was I trying to complete it without Yellow bean spotting it but it was all black and white. A two tone lap blanket for my ska boy. He loves a snuggle under a blanket and always seems to be cold, particularly when he is working. So I made a narrow lap blanket as a Christmas present (it was late). It is big enough to cover his lap and small enough to be manageable when he is sat in a chair at the table working. It is long and thin, just like my man.

Water Resistance and Penguin Feet

This past week we have been playing with water resistance using our fantastic Usbourne 365 Science activities book. Pickle and Penguin have been engaged in the activities and Pickle has been asking questions too. 

The first activity we took part in was drawing with crayons and then painting over with watery paint. We used white crayon on white paper so you could really see where the paint didn't stick to the crayon marks. We had fun playing with the materials and Pickle is pretty eager to do some more things from his science book.

Today we did a second activity which was an extension of the first. The small ones did some finger painting with margarine and then painted over it with watery paint. This was far more exciting for P & P. Using familiar materials in different contexts really got them excited and the results were a lot more obvious! You could really see where they had put the margarine. We had fun and it was a nice short activity.

This past weekend we finally got around to one of our seasonal family traditions. Since becoming a family of four every season we have created a foot or hand print picture. So far we have had snowmen, butterflies, bees and leaves. This time around we made our feet into penguins. 

Looking at them in this photo they look a bit like surprised penguins but in the 'flesh' as it were they are a lot more friendly looking...

We also painted Pickle and Penguins' feet to look like penguins on their own to make our Christmas thank you cards. These ones have googly eyes on them which gives a little more character.

I hope that this is a tradition we can continue with as the small people grow, I am already scouring Pintrest for  inspiration for future print portraits....see you in a few hours....

S xx

A New Start

Hi, how are you? My name is Sam and I am a stay at home Mum of two. I have a 3 year old boy, Pickle, and a Penguin loving 1 year old girl. I love crafting, in particular crochet, and spending time with my husband, Yellow bean, and children.

In a past life I was a secondary science teacher, something I both loved and hated simultaneously. For the new year I wanted to get back to my science roots.

Between Christmas and New Year we took the sprogs to the science museum in London. They were too young. Almost everything was out of their sight line and little was interactive. It is a fantastic museum but not so good for toddlers. We all had a great time - don't get me wrong, they peered at things for a split second and ran around.

The Garden in the basement was great but a faff to find and over crowded. The staff were great and numbers were limited. We had a to wait to get in and they bought round giant slinky toys for the kids to play with. I really can't fault the staff or facilities and I am sure it is great for older kids just not toddlers, we were not their target market.

The bubble show promised to be perfect for our bubble loving two but it was a bit of a slow start and Pickle got scared right at the start and the bubbles didn't flow fast enough to distract him so we had to leave.

We had a great day but it wasn't the most appropriate trip for my kids and it wasn't the hands on introduction to 'big science' I wanted it to be.

So....I bought this book.....


Image taken from amazon.co.uk

And this year we are going to choose one topic a week and get experimenting! The book arrived today, Pickle chose his first topic - Water Resistance - so tomorrow we are going to get started! It looks pretty accessible for Penguin too - lots of crayons and paints so I think she will be able to join in.

From a first look I think it will be great. Simple, quick activities that I can pick from at the start of the week to make sure I have the right stuff around. I hope that it will spark some interest and give us some fun activities to do when Pickle is not at preschool! (He starts monday afternoon, Ahhhhh my baby, and also Yay! Penguin naps!)

Until next time... x