Wordless Wednesday

Coffee Filter Flowers

Here's a little craft I did with the girls this weekend.  We made flowers out of coffee filters!

If you are going to do this with kids, it's a good idea to get some prep work done ahead of time.

The night before, I colored the filters and let them dry.

You need water soluble paint.  I used the craft paint that comes in little bottles at Michaels or Hobby Lobby.  You need one color for the center of your flower, and then another that you use is different strengths for the outer layers. We used yellow for the center, and then did pink and aqua blue for the flower.

Put one cup of water in a disposable container.  Stir in paint, you don't need too much but just to get some good color.  Do the same in another container, but with less paint so the final color is much lighter.

Press your coffee filters into the paint/water mix.  For each flower you need one filter for the center, 2 in the darker color and 3 in the lighter shade.

Let the filters sit for 15-20 minutes.

Take the filters out of the paint water and lay them on towels (use old towels so if paint gets on them, it won't matter).  If the filters stick together, let them dry for a little bit and they will separate easier.  Let dry completely,

Here's all the finished filters, ready to go!

Now each color needs to be trimmed.  Fold 3 filters at a time into quarters. Cut the center color with sharp edges, cut the darker color with more rounded edges and cut the lightest color with slight curves.  The two colors that are not the center, needs to have the tip cut off so you are left with a small hole in the center.

Now take one filter that is for the center, fold it in quarters and then roll it, and tape in onto a green pipe cleaner.

Then take your two darker colors and put the pip cleaner through the center hole. scrunch the filters around the center piece and then tape around the pipe cleaner.

Take the remaining 3 light colored filters and repeat the process of putting the pip cleaner through the center and scrunching the filter,  Tape when all three are on.

Here's Alaina's flowers.

Here's Ruby's flowers.

A fun, economical project!

A Day in my Life - it's August!

Here's another account of a day in my life.  There are lots of photos, because it was a fun and busy day!

It was Saturday and I wasn't working or on call!  So, I slept in!  I got up around 8, had a couple of boiled eggs for breakfast and some quiet time before I got going,  Then I knew I had a lot coming up so I got going.

I started off dying some coffee filters.  They had to get done and dry for a later project.

I made brownies, and also got some Sloppy Joes made for Sunday.

I started the laundry; had a few loads to do.

I vacuumed, swept, dusted and got the house looking good.

Then I had to go to the store.  They are doing construction in several places around us.  It means that we need to take gravel roads to get almost anywhere.  Our cars look a mess!

But, other than the dirty cars, I do like back roads.  The corn is doing so well this year!

At the store - I needed several things.

More back roads going home.  These are soy beans.  I love the open spaces that aren't filled with developments and businesses.

You might see tractors,

Wild flowers,,,

And even horses!

I got back home around 1pm and there were people waiting for me.  Andrew and Heather had taken Alaina and Ruby to the zoo.  Then they brought them to our house to spend the night.

We had to go outside and play for a little while.  Alaina loves to hang off this bar.  I can't believe she can do this without holding on using her hands.

Typical Ruby - not content to just play on the swings, she had to climb up on the top bars of the fort.

This is what we did with those coffee filters, we made flowers!  I'll show you how tomorrow.

We took another walk outside and checked out the flowers.  I love this one - it's a chive.  It looks like something from Dr Seuss.

Here's another fun one.  It's a thistle.  See the bee?

Grandpa came home and we had pizza for supper.

They hauled out Andy's old Legos and had a great time building things.  How do you like Alaina's building position here?

Here she is showing me how flexible she is...    :)

Then we went out for ice cream.  It was the first time doing this all summer!

Alaina got hers in a bowl.

Ruby wanted a cone.

After that they walked out with Bob to get something from his shop and wandered in the back yard a bit.

Then came running to the house together.

They played a game with Grandpa on his computer and before we knew it, it was bed time.

It was a fun, first day of the month.