I Survived Summer Camp

That's how I felt Friday evening, July 22.  I had just finished hosting a week-long summer camp for my kids plus 5 others, aged 5-8.  "What were you thinking?", and "Are you crazy?!" were the most heard of comments from their parents, as they happily dropped them off for the entire day.
I was thinking that I could do a better summer camp than the town could, for a better price.  I was thinking it was always something I wanted to do, and I did it.  Am I crazy?  Who knows.  Will I do it again?  Maybe.  I learned a lot, and that was good.  The kids had a good time and that was great.
Every day we did crafts, had water play fun, and visited a park or the local ravine.  We did a lot of stuff! I was too busy to take pictures of all the kids creations, but here are C. and M.'s projects:

                                                            Parrot paintings and felt nature bags

String Art

Pinwheel wreaths; paper plate sunflowers; mosaic votive holders

Hanging paper decorations

Personalized concrete stepping stones

We also had a few baking days, where we made easy tiramisu; banana muffins and crazy daisy cookies.  We did a lot!  We also had a birthday party, but more on that tomorrow...

Spring Check-in

One of the things I am loving about restricting our "screen-time" is the fact that we have things to show for our time.  The kids and I have been doing more crafts together, which is always nice, and the pile in my project in-box is starting to get a little smaller.

We had time to make some decorations for St. Patrick's Day:

We made some spring bouquets to brighten our house:

 Tissue Paper Cherry Blossoms

Handprint Lilies

I completed a Halloween project I have had in my mind for months now:

I finished a big WIP that I started last year!

I call it my "Butterfly Meadow" quilt.  It's not bed sized, but I made it to use while snuggling on the couch.  The colors were really a treat to work with as winter seems to be lingering on and on.

I took some previously finished cross stitch and turned one into a small pillow, and for the other I tried a cube finish.  I know there are no-sew cube finishes, but for some reason I felt I needed to stitch mine together.  Next time I will do the no-sew version!

I have always wanted some kind of "tree" to hang my cross stitch ornaments on.  Once the snow melted I raided the yard for broken branches and spray painted them white.  I finished off some more previously stitched egg designs into quickie ornaments by backing them with felt, and they are now hanging on my tree with two Ellen Maurer- Stroh spring ornaments I have stitched this month

And finally, back in February I went crazy making elephants from the book Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.  If you grew up in the 70's you may recognize some of these fabrics!  I raided my stash of colorful pillowcases and sheets to make this passel of pachyderms:

Meet Happy, Rosie, Peanut, Star, Mel and Violet.

And that, my friends, is what we have accomplished so far!  I have to say, I am lovin' our Lenten decision!

Take care!