52 Weeks Project

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52 Weeks Project

For awhile in 2012 I trolled Pinterest at least once a week. An incredibly busy fall meant way less time online in general, deleting words with friends / draw something / Facebook from my phone, blogging hardly ever (obviously!) and getting way behind on reading friends’, taking forever to reply to emails and messages, and almost completely ignoring Pinterest. Most of the time I spend on the computer now is just for editing photos and Etsy work, and I noticed something in the midst of a really busy time – I made way more stuff. Even small things, like a new recipe, and in this house a rainbow manicure and planting spring seedlings counts as “making something.” It was very satisfying, but I did miss poking around for new ideas. I decided to make a “52 weeks project” of keeping it all in check: make something every week and blog it. I think that I will be joined in this endeavor by Maggie and Erin, and by my Mama, who is horseintheyard on Instagram. I’m super excited to see what everyone creates throughout the year!

Some of my favorites from 2012 included Hazel’s Christmas handmades for her family and friends. We used this tutorial to make mugs with her drawings, and we stamped, painted, and glittered salt dough ornaments from a basic recipe whose source I can’t remember.

This kid loves to make things. A little Mama time on Pinterest makes for a very happy kiddo, most of the time. She’s an especially huge fan of the kitchen science and bath projects :) Some of the most fun things we made this year…

- We used this idea to fill with treats for her birthday party favors – I spray-painted jar lids black and Hazel picked out big glittery black spiders to glue on top. A few of them out there have been deemed Candy Corn Jars For Life.

- We made homemade gak more than once and loved it every time.

- I snagged a bunch of paint chips to make a color wheel above her desk.

- We are completely in love with borax crystals and made a batch for Christmas, her four-year-old-brain designed a “mobile of sparkly raindrops” for her dad for his birthday, and I am pondering trying to dye a batch of borax hearts pink / make them on red pipecleaners for February.

- An enabling Target pharmacist happily and sneakily handed us a handful of wee syringes (no needles of course!) when I told her why I needed medicine droppers – this kept Hazel busy for most of an afternoon!

- Shaving cream bath paint is made by stirring a few food coloring drops into shaving cream a couple of times a month.

- We ate melon hearts (and peanut butter sandwich hearts!), somewhat less patriotic dipped strawberries and frozen yogurt drops with frequency over the summer.

- I made three of these stockings using this hexagon tutorial and am immensely satisfied with their completion.

- We made hearts for Valentine’s day and string eggs for Easter.

…and of course piles of other things that did not come from Pinterest! There were some failures, too, including a total lack of avocado trees in this house. Daily attention and much anticipation are apparently not enough to sprout an avocado pit. Even multiple avocado pits. Maybe 2013 will be the year of the avocado tree.

I will be back later this week with the first of fifty-two!