Have a little fun and visit a petting zoo this weekend.
This beautiful pair of chickens lives at the Creamy Acres Farm.
Category: Phun
Phun – Paper Airplanes
Instead of coming back with what sounds like profound wisdom after my recent hiatus, I’m sharing a way to enchant children, and even a few adults.
Nothing can alleviate a child’s boredom quicker than a terrific paper airplane. When my youngest grandson asked for an airplane, Daddy and Papa were both busy doing other things; the task was up to me. I tried to fold a rendition of what I thought a paper airplane should be…it looked good…but flew like a piece of lead. Hmmm…what to do? Search Youtube of course!
I found this sensational five-minute video, followed along, pausing when I was behind, and OH MY, created a paper airplane that really FLEW and SOARED. I impressed everyone, including myself, with this small paper aircraft. We tried it in various weights of paper, all did well. Give it a try! I guarantee not only will children be impressed, but so will adults. Happy Flying!
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Phun – Throwback Thursday/Marbles
My grandsons had a sleepover date with us last weekend. The oldest is nine, the middle grandson seven, and the littlest is three and a half. I enjoy planning special activities and crafts when we have time together, and decided the uninviting weather outdoors was the perfect opportunity to introduce them to the classic game of marbles.
Marbles can be played indoors or out. When I was in elementary school we played the game on the playground in a circle drawn in dirt. For our indoor play, we created a circle with a piece of embroidery floss. The classic rules of marbles are abundant in web searches, but we played by our own rules: one shot, no need to shoot with your thumb, a good hard roll with the shooter marble was all the skill that was needed.
What is a shooter marble? It’s the largest of all the marbles, a bit like the cue ball in a game of pool. The shooter is used for knocking other marbles out of the circle. When you knock a marble out…it is yours to keep. We were shocked at how well the three year old played. He came close to winning most of the marbles, but came in second place to his dad.
Marbles come in many colors and designs. In a canister you might find cat’s-eye marbles, clear, with a swirl of color in them. Fancier opaque varieties that resemble planets in the solar system are also in the canister, but in lesser quantities. These mango-tango cat’s eye, a perfect choice for today’s Color Your World – 120 Days of Crayola challenge, were purchased in a local craft store. I bought our big canister for under three dollars with a 40% off coupon.
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Phun – Solving Mysteries/The Scent of Violets
I come from a long-line of women who love to read. The china hutch was my grandmothers. Granny was an avid reader; I think she would understand why I am using her hutch as a library, rather than keeping my mismatched china pieces inside.
When I read the blogs of other readers, I am interested by what they loved as children. Although I still read daily, I’ve never quite found the magic in books that I did as a child.
Recently, while reading the blog of Joeyfully Stated, I came across a mystery:
“My grandmother must have bought them used, because they were well-worn paperbacks. I have absolutely no idea what they were, or who wrote them. Yes, I have Googled, thank you. My memory describes them to me as Southern turn of the century historical fiction. Each book focused on a young woman in a specific family whose surname I do not recall. Each book included a mystery and clean romance in the plot lines. The ghost matriarch of this family (Augusta? Agatha?) haunted each girl with the smell of violets. You can read the entire post and comments at: Joeyfully Stated’s Blog Post – A Ghost So Old I Can’t Remember Her Name.
If anyone has a twinge of memory as to what these books might be titled, and where they can be found, please comment here or on the Joeyfully Stated Blog. Thanks!
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Pets & Phun – Too Cute!
Too Cute! I was glad I had my camera on hand when I found my cat Rusty snuggled up with two stuffed animals. He is a Maine Coon Cat, and his fur is a blend of many colors including burnt sienna, the color for today’s Color Your World – 120 Days of Crayola.
Speaking of too cute…if you are the parent of young children, or have grandchildren over for sleepovers, look for the show Too Cute! on Animal Planet. The adorable baby animals and soothing narration elicits many “ahhhhs and ohhhhs,” at my house.
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Photograph, Phun and Place – July in January/Wharton State Forest
Nothing is quite like a rope swing for defying, and then succumbing, to GRAVITY. When you are flying through the air life seems weightless.
“Show us the effects of gravity in your photo this week.” ~ WordPress Photo Challenge
“Wharton State Forest is the largest state forest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the largest single tract of land in the state park system of New Jersey, encompassing approximately 115,000 acres of the Pinelands northeast of Hammonton. ~ Wikipedia
In these dreary and chill days of January I enjoy paging through photographs of summer scenes. Winter has its own merits: warm fires, hot cocoa, ice-skating, etc., but if I had to choose I’d live in the summer’s heat year-round.
Here’s to a bit of weightless fun, an homage to defying gravity.
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Projects & Phun – Children’s Christmas Tree
It’s always good to prepare a few projects to have on hand if young ones are going to be your guests over the holiday season. Younger children, 2 1/2 – 6 years, will find this project easy and satisfying. The materials are easy to gather, cut into strips, and store until needed. The creation of the tree is pretty much self-explanatory. All you need to do is follow the lead of the photographs.
MATERIALS:
* Strips of colorful papers, cut into 1/2 inch strips. (2 inch, 2.5 inch, 3 inch, 3.5 inch, 4 inch, 4.5 inch, and one brown strip 8.5 inches in length.)
* A background piece of paper at least 8.5 x 11 inches.
* Glue stick
* Small colorful foam stickers with sticky backing.
Follow along:
Colorful magazine strips can also be used. Light items that are bright, shiny or glittery, can be glued down and will work as ornaments. (Buttons, beads, glitter) Have Fun!
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Phun – Silent Saturday – Jack O’ Lantern
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Projects & Phun – Zentangles
Coloring books for adults, I see them everywhere I go: craft stores, magazine stores, book stores, grocery store check-out lines, and online too. The art form, promoted as a way to relax and unwind, has created a booming new industry. If you have tried this old/new activity, perhaps you are ready to go one step further and create your own lines for coloring in. In that case, you might like Zentangles. Take a look at this amazing and informative video. I love the classical music soundtrack, and find watching the artist completely mesmerizing.
Give Zentangle/doodling a try and have some fun!
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Phavorites & Phun – Throwback Thursday – Birthday Song
I had a good time visiting Birthday Jams. You enter in your birthday, and they tell you what song was #1 on the charts that week in the US. The drop down menu also allows you to check out what was #1 in the UK, Top Dance Tracks, and Alternative Hits. Number one on the US charts when I was born, way back in 1957, was Elvis Presley singing “Jailhouse Rock.” Give this fun site a try…I would love to hear in the comments section what was number one when you were born. Number One Song the Week You Were Born.
“Diana” sung by Paul Anka, was number one in the UK.
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Phun – Just For Laughs…
Sometimes you have to do something just for fun. This nubbly tomato presented the perfect possiblity, and so…with a pair of googly eyes, and a felt heart for a mouth, we created a tomato lady with a lot of personality.
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Pheathers & Phun – Birdy, Birdy In the Tree
Sometimes I am in the exact right place, at the exact right time, with camera in hand. This is the second brood of sparrow nestlings raised in our birdhouse this year. I have enjoyed watching the parents flit back and forth feeding the voracious young ones.
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Phun – Dandelion Curlicues
I love dandelions and enjoy behaving like a child again when I blow the fuzzy seeds into the wind while “wishing.” Dandelions can also amuse and entertain children by magically morphing into curlicues. Strip the top off of a dandelion stem, split the stem into several pieces, drop into a basin of shallow water, and you will witness an odd occurrence; the dandelions will twist and curl into the most interesting shapes.
Try this with a child, or shhhhhh….I won’t tell if you try it on your own when no one is looking. 😀
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Phun – Saturday Silliness
Some days you just need a good laugh!
”A merry heart doeth good like a medicine…” ~ Proverbs 17:22
I’d be “Whoopin’ and A-hollerin'” and running after the perpetrator with my purse too! So funny!
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Phlowers & Phun – Tweaking The Tulips
The focus of yesterday’s post was a stand-alone photograph of yellow tulips. The flowers are beautiful on their own, but today I’m in a “tweaking” mood. I’m going to go to LunaPic and tweak the photograph a bit.
Tweaking – to change (something) slightly in order to improve it : to make small adjustments to (something) ~ Merriam-Webster Dictionary
To start: Upload your photograph to LunaPic. I have found if the upload in the center of the page does not work, it’s best to go to the “File” drop down box, click on “Upload Multiple Images,” and get your photo loaded with that command.
Here are a few samples of LunaPics Free Effects. Remember to “SAVE” your tweaked photograph before you exit the site. Anything not saved will be lost.
Yikes! The animated effects can make me a little dizzy. There are so many effects and combinations to have “phun” with on the LunaPic Site. I’ve only shown a few. Give LunaPic a try…Happy Tweaking!
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Phun – Doodling
It’s a fact, there are many stresses in life. At this point in time it seems there are more than usual. I began to list a few and stopped myself, we all know what they are, in fact many of us are victims of the times we are living in. So, here’s a quick, easy and inexpensive escape—DOODLE a Bit.
A night or two ago I sat down with a blank journal. I chose to start small and gathered felt-tipped pens and colored pencils. I had some photographs of my grandchildren from Valentine’s Day weekend, and decided to make our celebration my first theme.
“A doodle is a drawing made while a person’s attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be abstract shapes.
Stereotypical examples of doodling are found in school notebooks, often in the margins, drawn by students daydreaming or losing interest during class.Other common examples of doodling are produced during long telephone conversations if a pen and paper are available.” Wikipedia
My first attempt is not fine art, but it was FINE RELAXATION. I had forgotten how completely relaxing it is to do simple, easy artwork. My advice: if you are stressed, grab a piece of paper, a pencil or pen—and DOODLE away.
I found a cute blog on Doodling: Doodle Addicted
Here are two of the blog author’s doodling videos. Watching the videos is almost as soothing as doodling yourself. Enjoy!
This amazing little video shows you how to create fillers for your doodles—so much fun!
🙂 Thanks for Doodling on By! 🙂
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Phun – Two on Tuesday/A Little Magic
What fun!
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Projects & Phun – “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!”
Snow is pretty, but when you are two years old it often keeps you housebound. Tiny hands and feet, button noses, can’t tolerate the frigid air for long. What’s a babe to do?
Our area was caught up in the recent 2000 mile swathe of snow. We only received a light coating, but it was enough to keep the younger grandchildren and me indoors. I wanted to try snow painting: food coloring in squeeze bottles for creating pictures in the snow, but knew the little ones were too young. I decided the next course of action was to bring the snow indoors.
I gathered some watercolor paper and put a roll of painter’s tape on the back to secure it in a shallow storage lid. I placed the trays outdoors hoping the clouds would open up and — ‘Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let it Snow!’
While the tray was collecting the snow, I mixed up some Wilton brand food coloring: red, blue and yellow. Store these in the fridge. This will keep the food coloring solution cold and let the fun last longer.
The babes napped as the snow flurried down, in a few hours the trays had accumulated enough to begin painting! I brought them inside and put bibs on the babes; the food coloring is concentrated and can stain clothing. Let’s Paint!
The babes quickly picked up how to hold the squeeze bottles upside down. They had a great time and became really exuberant with their dipping and swirling of the paint bottles.
When we were finished I whisked the finished snow paintings into the garage to allow the snow to slowly melt and deposit the food coloring on the watercolor paper underneath.
A few hours later I scooped off the colorful snow, let the excess water run-off into the sink, and left the paintings in the trays to dry overnight.
The paintings turned out great! I can’t wait to show them to the babes tomorrow. Happy Snow Painting!
Cross posted in Whatja’ Doing?
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Phavorites & Phun – Holiday Happiness/The Gospel Quartet
I came across this little bit of “phun” and wanted to share it. The video is sweet, funny, and captures the essence of Christmas Joy and Merriment.
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Phun – Jacks & Jills
I searched my own archives yesterday for some Halloween ideas. I found three interesting posts full of ideas for Jacks and Jills. Enjoy!
These sweet Jack-O-Lantern ornaments are created from common oyster shells picked up from local beaches.
Today, my grandson decorated our “Holiday Tree” with these “Jacks & Jills.” Oyster Jacks Part I and Oyster Jacks Part II contain detailed directions with step-by-step photos.
If you are blessed with pumpkins galore and enjoy carving, you can create a replica of this set of bleachers loaded down with a crowd of grinning Jacks & Jills.
Last in our trio of ideas for “Jacks & Jills” is this baby-eating Jack. Spooky! My Jack’s eyebrows might be a little large and wonky…they appear to be extra eyes to me…but even now, just looking at the photo makes me smile. 🙂 The source of this idea can be found on Pinterest.
