A Sweet Adventure

Not to brag, but I may have the most adorable Valentine! I’ve been itching to get on the road and to go on a sweet adventure with kiddo, plus we have a new snowsuit that I have been dying to see her in. For Valentines Day, we hit to road to Snoqualmie Pass and had ourselves a snowy adventure!

Kiddo, looking like a well-dressed Oompa Loompa, made her way through the snow banks pretty well  getting stuck briefly here and there. She and her little best friend slid down hills, threw snowballs and had an overall great time.

The adults also had fun rolling around the snow, having snowball fights,  and then locating beer at Dru Bru Brewery, and ordering a massive “Wookie” pizza at Pie For the People. I’m not sure who had more fun-the kids, or the adults (it may have been me, I won’t lie).

Next year, I’ll definitely be heading for a road trip. This, dear reader, may be THE best way to spend Valentines Day. This also wraps up our last day of Valentines Day post, celebrating all things happiness and love, and I really can’t think of a better way to end this series than with some adorable pictures of our family and friends!

Izzy in the snow with Daddy-A sweet adventureSnowball fight! -A sweet adventureA cute snow toddler -A sweet adventure Snow giggles -A sweet adventure Lauren sledding -A sweet adventure Stuck in snow Princess Leia Snowy toddler Eating snow

How did you spend YOUR Valentines Day?

Yours in snowy fun and a sweet adventure,

Raina

Catching the sun

I love craft time with Izzy. Its busy, it’s messy, it’s silly and she enjoys it so much! It’s a great way to spend a rainy day indoors and we have some pretty sweet art on the fridge, although, I do love things that aren’t glitter glue and paint pictures!  Recently, after stepping on yet another broken crayon, I thought about what we could do with all those pieces, and it occurred to me, we needed to work on catching the sun to balance out the rain (and use up some of those darn crayons). See? Snazzy! Please ignore my neighbors truck!

final suncatcher

This craft is simple, isn’t too messy, and uses up things we all have in the house. To make your sun catcher, you’ll need:
Wax paper
Crayons
Crayon or pencil sharpener
String
Scissors
An iron*
A heat proof surface-I used an old cutting board
Thick paper to protect your iron**

First off, take those rogue crayons and start sharpening! You want a fair amount of shavings, so 2-3 crayons worth of shavings should be more than enough. A note: this takes a long, long time. I ended up watching TV while doing it to pass the time. It’s also a good task for your kiddo, if they have the coordination to use a pencil sharpener.

crayon shavings

Once you’ve sharpened all of your crayons, preheat your iron, out of the way of your kiddo.

Next, decide how big you’d like your suncatcher to be. It can be helpful to sketch out all of the pieces on your wax paper, so you have an idea of how big you want your shapes.  Once you’ve got the size, double that in wax paper! You’ll fold the wax paper over itself once you’ve added the crayon shavings.

Lay the wax paper on your heat safe surface and sprinkle those crayon shavings on your wax paper, so you have a light covering of the shavings, leaving about a 1/2 inch around all sides. The goal is not to dump those shavings in a pile-you’ll get thick blobs, versus a transluscent suncatcher. Lay your thick paper down on top of the wax paper, and run your iron slowly over the wax paper until the crayons are melted (**this happens pretty quick, so keep your iron low, and your eye watchful). Pro Tip*: Don’t start ironing until you’ve actually laid thick paper down – you’ll coat your iron in colorful wax, even with the wax paper folks. Not that I would know. Ahem.

suncatcher materials

Set your fused and ever-so colorful wax paper to the side to cool. Once it’s fully cooled, cut to your desired shape, clip a hole in the top, and run your thread through to hang. Put up in a sunny window, and watch the sun shimmer through the crayons!

suncatcher partsholes in suncatcher

final suncatcher

What ideas do you have for color and shape combinations?!

Yours in colorful craftiness!
Raina