thursday things - fun with postcards

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recently thehobbit read about a fun activity - how to walk through a postcard! i believe it was in one of his murderous maths books. when he told me what he'd read, i knew how it would be done, but didn't let on that i did. instead i let him astound & amaze me. on occasion i can be a good mama. on occasion.

i don't see instructions on the mm website, but here are some, courtesy of a google search. the above photo shows thehobbit nearly finished with cutting the postcard. if your child is on the younger side, please help with the cutting. i am not concerned with safety (i assume you know how to keep a wee one safe with scissors), i am merely warning that if the cuts go too far, the postcard will be ruined, & crying could ensue.

even though he believed what the book told him, he still was amazed to be able to walk through his postcard. excuse the fuzzy photo - it was cropped to omit his face. the goofy look of utter joyful amazement on his face; though you & i would find it adorable; offended his teen-aged sensibilities. i was surprised that he allowed these photos at all, seeing as he was wearing his jams at the time. most likely he didn't notice that, as horrified as he'd been by the look on his face. ;)

i highly recommend this activity for kids of all ages (yes, even your age). if you post photos of this on your blog, leave a link in my comments section, so we can all see!

more fun with postcards:

* make fabric postcards this link shares a list of many tutorials from which to choose!

* collect postcards here you'll find quite a lot about collecting, including a brief history. i have collected postcards for over half my life now. beyond buying cards from places i've visited (even on road trip toilet breaks), i have had friends & relatives mail them to me from their travels. this is a great activity for homeschoolers, by the way - think: mapping them as they come in!

* make postcards from cereal boxes this crafter shows a tutorial for simple cards. fun, but i would add artwork or fancy paper to the image side. i'm thinking glorified atc, like i chatted about way back when.

* i imagine one could turn a photo into a postcard as well. i don't mean the ubiquitous photo-cards people send at the end of the year. what i'm imagining are cards done as the fabric ones, or the atc ones are done. in case you are unfamiliar with atc, that is short for artist trading cards.

have some postcardish (real word) fun this summer! & if you are a certain tinker (you know who you are), headed for fabulous places this summer, well, you have my address.

~peace.

the calling of the stones

one of the eleventy billion things i love about going the beach is treasure hunting. for thehobbit & me, the most coveted treasures are smooth stones. i don't know what it is that gets us so swoony over them, but there you have it. we even have a few large apothecary jars filled with stones brought back from our family vacations over the years. if you write the date & place on the stones, in permanent marker, you'll never forget which was gotten where.

thehobbit & i differ in our hunting styles. his stones are the result of stumbling upon them in the middle of some adventure or another - oh. hey. look, a stone. i take the hunt more seriously; walking, head down, intently searching for the stones.

my most favorites are the flat ones, excellent for stacking.

& those which have holes in them.

we limit what we take home, & never take from state beaches. a hobbity heart has been broken more than once over the latter, but i could not give in. i knew that once i allowed him to break the rule, he would never take it seriously again. (in california, you are not allowed to take things from state beaches.)

i am flabbergasted that it is beach season already. how did it ever become june so quickly? i wonder what new stones will call to us this year...

~peace.

in which there are many santas

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earlier this year, i was gifted with my mother-in-law's many bins of christmas decorations. i had already vowed to purge my own holiday bins when christmas rolled around, so only kept the things that made my heart go pitter-pat. the rest i donated (with her permission) to a thrift shop.

so what pitter-patted my heart? why her wonderful collection of santas, that's what! i had long admired the many santas, & wanted to have a collection of my own. i made it to a grand total of two santas before quitting. you see, a certain hobbity boy was born & from then, on, all my christmases focused solely on him.

i figured i'd begin again once he was a teenager. having elfling thwarted that plan - i'm already blind to everything else, watching him as he discovers all the wonders of the holiday season.

that's ok however, because i no longer need to collect santas. thanks to my m.i.l. i've plenty of my own. plenty enough to split in two, when the boys begin their own families, even. don't you think that would be a lovely thing? they can grow up with the tradition of putting out the santas each december, then continue the tradition with their own children - with the same santas!

although...

there is room for more.

~peace.