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What kid (or adult for that matter) doesn't love the story of David & Goliath?  Triumph of the little guy over the menacing giant? Good conquering evil?  Bravery, faith, loyalty? Heady stuff!  So what would be more fun than re-enacting the epic battle?  I started out researching the kinds of slings that a shepherd would have used.  I didn't want a wrist-rocket style of slingshot, but something a little more authentic, while still being manageable by kids who haven't been actually trained in sling warfare.

The first thing I found out in the function of the sling, is that it must have a loop at the end of one of the strings, while the other does not have a loop.  When using the sling, the operator slips the loop over the middle finger of his or her dominant hand, holding onto the other string.  The sling is swung over the head, then aimed at the target and the loose string is released.  The loop stays put; releasing the other string opens the pouch, and the projectile goes flying. (hopefully in the general direction of the target - most often, not!)

The body of the sling is simply made of felt.  I wanted to use leather for authenticity, but the felt looked really great in the end.  My older kids wanted to make their own and chose wild colors from my supplies, so theirs looked less biblical and more crazy, but whatever!  

I experimented a LOT to get the right shape.  It's basically an oval with the tips cut off flat (final measurements 3 1/2" x 2 1/2").  

Snip in about half an inch at the halfway point, fold over and stitch to create depth.  I sewed it on my machine and it was a piece of cake.  

It's not obvious from the picture, but there are also tiny slits cut on each of the 4 corners - not right on the corner, but in from the edge a little bit.  These are the holes through which you can thread your leather string. 

After the flat body section is sewn, thread leather (or whatever string you want to use) through both slits in one end and knot it tightly.  It will pull in the felt at the ends, which is exactly what you want.  This creates a deep pouch for the marshmallow.  Repeat with the opposite side.

The longer the strings, the more difficult it is to aim, but the more power and distance you can achieve.  So, for the older kids, my strings were around 12 inches, while for my younger ones they were closer to 8 inches long.   Experiment to your liking. 

I should also note that I use the large marshmallows.  The small marshmallows were my original intention, but they are too light-weight and refuse to come out of the pouch. 

 So now that our Davids have slings, they need a Goliath to aim at.  I have seen some very amazing drawings, and some very amusing drawings, that people have done on butcher paper, to represent to kids how big Goliath really was.  I know that this itself is an issue of scholarly debate, but I did a bunch of research and went with the most general consensus for my Goliath's height of 9 3/4 feet.  (He turned out only to be about 9 feet tall, so I made sure he was off the floor a bit to get his eye-level closer.) So anyway, you don't have to go as crazy as I did, a drawn figure on butcher paper for a lesson to use the slings with works great!

I opted to crop & use this amazing image of David & Goliath from lds.org, and thanks to a fantastic friend of mine who is an architect and therefore has one of those huge printers, was able to get my life-sized, super menacing Goliath!  (It was split in half, due to the paper size, so I had to glue/tape the whole thing straight up the middle - scary trying to get it all perfectly lined up!!) (TIP: Since my initial posting, I've heard that Staples will print large architectural size pictures as well for fairly cheap)

My kids had a blast trying to hit Goliath ANYWHERE with their marshmallow slings.  Mostly they hit objects behind them (me - the photographer - being the prime marshmallow pummeled victim). I think more mallows were eaten than fired, when it came to the little ones.  

Watch out Goliath! 

After the fun, we talked about the symbolism of and lessons to be learned from the story.  It was a ton of fun and I've used it in Primary and a couple of FHEs since then.  It's a favorite, which is why I FINALLY got around to sharing!  Hope you have fun with it too!






Here are some other great David & Goliath resources for teaching the story. The video is older, but is still effective.

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What is sweeter than a classic, old fashioned paper heart Valentine?  I know I'm a sucker for them.  So, this year, I ran across this tutorial for making paper flowers, I was dying to try some roses and make some classic Valentine hearts.

They're obviously very simple: base heart of pink or red cardstock, paper lace heart doily, scrapbook paper decorative center heart, then accent each in a unique way.  I did roses, smaller hearts, and one daisy-style flower with a gem center.

I know they're not the most groundbreaking craft ever, but they look ever-so-slightly victorian and they were fun to make.  However, they didn't end up being Valentines, as intended.  Why?

Well....

I don't have any Valentine decor.  I know, I know, it's pretty pathetic! I probably haven't prioritized decorating because my Valentine's traditions are already pretty overwhelming, what with the sugar cookie making, the multiple valentine mailboxes for kids to take to their class parties, the supplies to gather to send to said class parties, and the valentines to prepare for friends and family children.  It's not that crafting isn't around - obviously it is out in spades - decor just takes a back seat. So, this year, when I'd finished playing at different varieties of paper hearts, I thought they were too cute to just sit on my desk.  Throw some sticky hanging putty stuff on the backs and arrange in a circle and Voila!  A pretty, lacy Valentine wall wreath!  A kind of lame one, since it's just temporary but still it's actually quite sweet on my wall - my first Valentine decor.  And a great trial for figuring out paper roses.

Spontaneous Valentine Wall Wreath out of paper Valentines

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  I find garden gnomes hilarious, so when I saw this tutorial from Family Fun, for DIY valentines based on a gnome, I was instantly in love!  So cute!  My gnomes were adapted, however, for two reasons.  First, gnomes have big feet - it's part of who they are!  Second, it gives the valentine just a little more candy to give than just the one candy kiss, which made it more of a gift for the kids to give their friends.

So here's my quick tutorial for making these fun little characters with your kiddos! Trust me, by the time you get finished, you'll be so in love with them you'll be posing them around and taking pics of them in crazy places too!  It's kind of irresistible!

Choose felt colors for hats - we went with pink, red purple & blue

Cut 4 inch felt circles for hats - whatever colors tickle your fancy

Divide circles into quarters

Glue along one edge & roll around finger to create hat

Supplies needed for body - kisses & hearts

Supplies needed for face - googlie eyes & tiny pom poms

I don't know about you, but I get a little uptight about multiple supplies & multiple kids - things just get crazy and then I get crazy, and then chaos ensues!  So I pre-planned by providing each kid with the right number of "feet" (hearts), "bodies" (kisses), large glue dots to attach the bodies to the feet, and a strip of googlie eyes already stuck on small glue dots.  Then I could sit back and watch them be creative without losing it because the whole bag of googlie eyes just got glued to the floor!

assembled body

I have been dying to get this written up and posted!  It is a, long post - because there is whole lot of FUN!! Chloe delighted me by choosing a fairy theme for her birthday party.  As a life-long fairy obsessed aficionado, my mind was bursting with ideas - only a fraction of which actually came to life.  But what did come together tickled me pink!

The invitations were pretty simple.  I adore Cicely Mary Barker (my collection of her books is on the 'don't touch without permission shelf', although my girls have duplicate well worn versions on their own bookcase), so one of her delightful fairies had to make an appearance.  This pixie, who reminds me of Chloe, is the Candy Tuft Fairy.

Guests arrived through a fairy bower of tulle and flowers.  Tulle is a fantastic decorating option because it gives a lot of bang for the buck, especially when it goes on sale.  Draping it, tying it in bows, gathering it over windows, so many possibilities for frilly-girly sweet decor!  (Pic doesn't do it justice, it was so sweet)

The hanging light over the table became a floral chandelier with giant flowers, curling ribbon, and dragonflies.  It was my favorite, and I left it up for at least a week after the party!  Oddly enough, it was all made of on-hand supplies.  The giant gerber daisies I had bought to go with flower-fairy costumes a couple halloweens ago, the giant tulips are actually hats that my girls got with their cotton-candy at the Tinkerbell Disney on Ice last year.  And the dragonflies were garden decorations that once-upon-a-time were attached to stakes, but I had removed those and had mounted them to my boys' jungle themed bedroom ceiling when they were little.

Toadstools are just as essential as flowers for a fairy party, so we set to work making a bunch to place around.   See my post for how to paper mache some toadstools of your very own!  

 

Without wings, a fairy just isn't a fairy!  But without the budget to purchase wings for all the guests, (and of course, the dollar stores never cooperate by having them when I want them, but a mere few weeks later have a whole display of wings in an assortment of colors!) I had to get creative.  I love nothing better than to get creative!!  I'll whine about it, I'll complain that stores should anticipate my needs, but in truth, I love trying to figure out how to do something unique.  I already knew that I did not want to do the tights-on-a-coat-hanger method of wings.  It is a lot more work than the tutorials make it sound like it is, and I've never been happy with them.   So I created these fancy little gossamer wings that look very realistically pixie-like.  For the tutorial, click here.



Finally, after playing flying games, and changing seasons games and other fairy games, the fairy guests did the last obvious necessity - they made fairy wands.  The simplest of the simple crafts - a funfoam wand that they decorate with glitter, jewels and stickers.  Lovely.

Then as they were leaving, they received a sweet little party favor that had strawberry candies, bubbles (I painted the lids with glitter paint to make them more pixie-dusty), and a butterfly barrette.

Happy Flying!!

For the fairy party decor for Chloe's birthday, toadstools were top on my must-have list.  There is something magical about the red polka-dot 'shrooms that makes you know for sure that gnomes and pixies are nearby!

My kids hadn't done paper mache before, and it is a huge part of my own childhood, so I decided to declare a paper mache day. I constructed the bases out of pringles cans and large paper bowls, and paper towel rolls with smaller paper bowls to get a variety of sizes.  I overestimated the amount we'd be able to do, and had a bunch of naked bases left over, but a girl can only do so much.

Now this is the point where I look like a fantastic mom doing crafts with my kids and being all creative and 'with it.' I should totally leave it at that.  You're all so impressed with me, right?

   But oh dear, paper mache got SO out of hand!  It got in hair and on clothes, the kids kept shaking their hands off and flipping it far and wide.  They kept going in and out of the house and getting it all over the doorknobs and on every surface indoors and out.  And every one of them left a partially finished project when they decided it was lunchtime and I had to finish them all myself in an extremely cranky mood.  

I'm pretty sure at one point in our fabulous bonding craft time, our entire neighborhood could hear my sweet mommy tones as I discovered paper mache cement had set up in so many places!  I do think that the kids had fun though - for most of the time.  And we did end up with fabulous toadstools!

  

For those who have never done paper mache - here it is, simply.  Paper strips (I like newspaper).  Mix water & flour (sometimes I add some school glue if I want it really tough).  Not as thick as pancake batter - much more watery.  Dip the strips. Cover your surface. Wait to dry. Repeat for another layer.  Wait to dry.  With each layer you can shape and add detail. Wait till completely dry.  Spraypaint for the base.  Red on top, cream stem, black and grey under the toadstool crown.   Kids painted polkadots.    Voila!

mache'd toadstools - already they have character

Being painted - looks like a toadstool garden sprouted in my yard!

Painting spots

Tinkerbell movie looks right at home!

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Without wings, a fairy just isn't a fairy!  And I've never had great luck with the tights-on-a-coat-hanger style of handmade wings.  So I wanted to create a unique and airy looking gossamer wing for little pixies to wear for dress-up, and my criteria were: inexpensive, pretty, fairly easy to mass produce for birthday party guests.

closeup detail of the iridescent pattern

In my brainstorming, my mind came back to my all time favorite blog, filthwizardry.com, and her post about using plastic bags as iron-ons.  (http://www.filthwizardry.com/2010/03/iron-on-decals-from-plastic-shopping.html)  She said that she got her inspiration from hearing that people iron plastic bags together to create fabric.  What if I were to iron clear cellophane plastic together to make it thick enough to make a membrane-like wing?  

I happened to have some red cellophane in my craft stuff, so I tried it.  If you care to know how excited the result made me, ask my husband, who had to witness the giddiness.  The layers of cellophane, placed between two pieces of paper, bond to each other and become thick, but they also shrink (how much depends on how long the heat is applied and how hot the iron is - it's kind of trial and error.  As they shrink, the layers form these beautiful veins that look just like a dragonfly wing!  I had only wanted the plastic layers to adhere to each other to gain strength - but the way that they formed patterns of veins that look so organic and insect-like was a delightful discovery!!  

The next day I was at the dollar store and picked up a roll of clear and two packages of iridescent cellophane tissue squares.  I am not sure what the difference is - I don't think there is any at all between the 'tissue squares' and cellophane rolls, but in the packaging that called itself cellophane tissue, it was colored, and that's what I wanted.  

I cut out one layer of clear and one layer of color for each wing.  NOTE: I found out the hard way that my colored cellophane had a right side and a wrong side - this was significant both for cutting and for ironing.  Cutting all the same direction, just like cutting sleeves out of fabric, means you end up with all left wings, for example, and no rights.  Also, the iridescent side had to face the clear cellophane or it would stick to the paper when the iron touched it.

cellophane wing before being ironed

cellophane wing after being ironed

I cut my wings to the very edges of an 8 1/2" x 14" sheet of paper, because that's what I had on hand to put the cellophane between the sheets of paper for ironing.  The wing shrunk about 1" all around.  I did burn a couple wings figuring out how long and how hot to iron them - too hot and they melt completely; too cool, they bond without as many distinct veins.  I'd like to try more layers to see how tough I could get them.  

I'd also like to try to figure out a support system because as much as I loved how they fluttered in the breeze when the girls wore them, it would be fun to have them more controllable and stable. They are fun for dress up, but they'd also be great at medieval festivals and renaissance fairs :-)  I just think they're beautiful!  I feel bad because I just did not get pictures that do them any justice at all :(

Each separate wing was then glued between two squares of craft foam, with loops of cute elastic trim also placed there for shoulder bands.  After they dried overnight, I sewed around on my machine to reinforce (I'm uptight like that) and glued on the flower and jewel.  Done!  Wings!

Today I'm attempting to cover Thanksgiving this weekend before it morphs completely into Christmas.  I adore fall at my house because I am a total earth-tone chick and as soon as stores start putting out autumn decor, I salivate.  I don't decorate for ever holiday, but I cannot get enough fall leaves, gourds and pumpkins!  Just so beautiful!

This fall I've had a bit of a turkey thing going on.  First off, I've had a new church calling.  I now am the primary chorister - so I created my friend Tom the turkey.  Oh, I did NOT sew this adorable turkey!! I bought him at Hobby Lobby.  But then I created a disguise for him.  For each song the kids learned and/or sang well, they earned Tom a new piece of his disguise, with the goal being to get him unrecognizable by Thanksgiving so Farmer Brown wouldn't be able to find him.  Disguise pieces?  A wig (I made this of craft doll hair),  glasses (courtesy of our Ms. Potato Head + googlie eyes for silliness factor), tutu (just sewn on an elastic band - super easy), boots (using a doll clothes pattern), a necktie (felt, I didn't feel like interfacing a turkey tie), and a sombrero (doll straw hat + rickrack with beads hand-sewn to each peak).  So much fun!  I giggled the whole time I was sewing the stupid tutu just thinking about how ridiculous the concept of a turkey tutu is!