Friday 10 August 2012

Holiday Hobbies..

...we've loved and lost. Kind of. Oh, you know you've done it too. When you were on school holiday, or when you were in charge of those on school holiday - thinking up smart things to do and then abandoning them when they don't work out. Go on - bet you can think of one or two.

We have
- put together a wooden skeleton kit. Worked pretty well, but does tend to fall apart if you look at it

- baked our own pizza. Off to have the leftovers in a minute..

- followed the instructions in last month's Mollie Makes and sort of ended up with friendship bracelets. It takes a lot longer than you'd think though, doesn't it?



- talked about finishing the felt circus we started over a year ago

- tried dyeing our hair by dipping the ends in Kool Aid. Actually that was The (Not So) Small One, not me. And it didn't work! Even following the you tube video didn't help! I said I'd ask all of you - anyone ever been inventive (or holiday-bored) enough to try this?

- made some soap. It's nice, but you can make quite a lot in a very short time. We have a soap mountain..

...and we still have a couple of weeks to go. Next year? I'm thinking holiday jobs all round..


For this page I used a mix of October Afternoon 9 to 5, some Dear Lizzy, some new Echo Park Everyday Eclectic..and the little glassine bag holds prompts with our suggested activities on.

So, tell me, what holiday hobbies have you tried?




32 comments:

Elizabeth said...

I like your layout, and it got me thinking. I can think of a dozen things I've started and abandoned when things didn't go right. Then there are the projects that just seem to be so right for me and I continue doing them--like digital scrapping.

Melissa said...

I'm laughing at the picture of y'all trying to dye hair in Kool-Aid - I have to admit that it has never even occured to me to try that! You can probably guess that when there's not much going on around here, I have a tendency to remodel a room or re-organize something.

We actually abandoned a puzzle recently, which I think is a first for us. It wasn't that it was difficult, but the pieces were not cut well so it was hard to put together. We often have a puzzle going on one table or another & truly enjoy it.

Cheri said...

Nothing this summer - it has been far too chaotic and busy! But I do remember the summer I got into fabric dyeing... only once I died a piece, I didn't want to cut it up to use it for anything!

Jennifer Hope Longenecker said...

Just stopping by to say "hi." We're in the Trend Spotting class together. Great LO.

Nathalie said...

Your Holidays activities ended up making for a fun page! Mine sounds pretty boring next to yours!!!

Jimjams said...

I'm too lazy to do inventive things with the kids these days - they've knocked me back too many times! They have independently done some baking, played a LOT of computer games, helped me occasionally with DHW ... there might have been more if the weather had been kinder .. here's hoping for a better end to the holidays!

Jimjams said...

Sorry forgot to admire your lovely page - lots of eclectic bits and pieces - fun!

Fiona@staring at the sea said...

Lovely page and not something I've thought to document....yet!
We tried a few things from my Friday 'picks' last year, but seem to have been rather too obsessed with the Olympics to do much else this year!

Kirsty.A said...

Just catching up while I have access to Wi Fi. I love your last layouts - love how you make something really worthwhile from something as small as clothing labels. I am looking at the last year of primary school for R and it's scaring the life out of me already. Will definitely have to be good at scrapping all those last primary moments this year

Mel said...

We've done plane spotting, getting rid of mould in the bedroom spraying and now we're into the hobby where we throw all of our belongings away. 'Spring' cleaning I think you'll hear it called.

scrappyjacky said...

A lovely page,Sian....and not something I'd thought of documenting.
I know it's not a holiday hobby at all....but the first thing that came to mind was DS going to a holiday play club....and running away from it....I obviously should have tried to be more inventive at home!!

Anonymous said...

Lovely page Sian. Gracia sewed a felt banner with her name and various butterflies, flowers and ladybugs on. I have just done some cutting and sticking but have some clothes to alter on my machine so that is my next craft job.

alexa said...

I really like these colours together, and especially the cluster bottom left - not to mention the story, of course! Holiday hobbies? Going back a few/lotof years, there was the go-kart making and racing lark that ended in a lake, the "secret gang" club that took over the garage ...

Alana said...

Great page Sian.....could you glue the skeleton together? I know that to dip dye styles with leper dye you need it bleached....quick! Go and hide it now:))) I baked today and had a proper tea party with a friend, cycled, walked, pub lunched, visited London for cycle race and the Tate Britain, made smoothies, some of which I have done with the boys.

Alana said...

Leper dye...ewwww! Ment to say proper dye lol

Alana said...

Btw, I didn't do it ALL in one day!

Lou said...

a beautifully packed layout Sian.

I'm not sure about holiday hobbies, so far we've all brought new books to read, had endless picnics, drawn and cut out Captain America and Iron Man, made three robot's...today we've been to the safari park xx

Sandie said...

I love the papers and colours you used, Sian. As I home educated every day was like a holiday and we always had fun projects and crafts on the go. Wind the clock foreward and more recently with my granddaughters we had a photo scavenger hunt that was great fun.

Ifversen said...

Sounds like fun projects you've been up to! I am jealous, since I haven't had time this summer for funny projects. It has only amounted to a couple of scrapprojects...
Love the layout - it's great fun!
Have a great weekend!

Alison said...

I've had a very lazy summer(hobby-wise)..have hardly got any scrapping done never mind much else...and fortunately Kirsty is well past the age of me having to come up with things for HER to do..well, most of the time!!
Alison xx

Amy said...

Ahem ... yes. We have a whole list of things we do. Most of our holidys are spent with three teachers, and despite their protests that they need a break, when it comes to entertaining their grandchildren, and nieces and nephews, nothing is held back.

I am interested in your soap recipe, that is one we have tried and I didn't like it - they were glycerin based. However, I have see a great tutorial for soy candles and I like that idea - http://planningwithkids.com/2012/07/31/how-to-make-your-own-candles/ so that might be our major project in the next term break.

I have a few more years left before the holiday part-time jobs start .... the skeleton would be a winner here!

Unknown said...

Our summers were always very busy, and now I have to work them so the only thing we squeeze in is baking ... and no one wants to abandon cakes :-)

I haven't died my hair with Kool-aid but my son would jump at the chance ... I can see him trying it next summer with a precious packet from the cupboard. As his hair is very blonde it would probably work well. I know that my cousin dies wool with Kool-aid as it gives really vibrant colours. (Really makes you wonder how much crap is in one of those little sachets??????)

Maria Ontiveros said...

Clara and her cousin tried the Kool-Aid dying this summer, too. Epic fail.
I think our favorite holiday hobby was geocaching. I was more into it than the kids, but we gave it the old college try (at least for a while).
Rinda

Irene said...

This story so resonates with me; lots of beginnings and not enough ends!
My failings are signing up for things and not seeing them through, that rainy day just never seems to happen... On the plus side, it is usually because I am doing something else with the family. We are busy making invitations and streamers at the minute for granddaughter's upcoming birthday. She loves anything arty. Such a bonus!

Wanda said...

I would have a small fortune if I could recover the time and money I've spent over the years on hobbies that didn't stick. Oh well.

I enjoyed counted cross stitch for years until the combination of declining eyesight (nothing serious, just one of those things) and my preference for 28-count or smaller fabric and fine thread became irreconcilable.

Digital scrapbooking and blogging are my current faves--I appreciate that neither of them present much in the way of clutter and blogging at least is a relatively inexpensive diversion.

Carmen said...

Where to begin... We've made plasticene models, the girls have all done mail art and posted them off - except for Ruby - hers is HERS! We've painted, we've drawn, we've walked up mountains (OK the field that's on a hill at the back of us but it FELT like a mountain!) We've been to numerous bootfairs, picnics, had a day at a conservation park (where we saw the ravens being fed! Yay!) We've lost the window to go away for a few days due to a water leak that still isn't fixed after a week (landlord and insurance co arguing over stuff!) I'm sure we've visited every park in the area! We've been to a sandpit, had a McDonalds, been to cricket, the youngest two have come by some roller skates at previously mentioned bootfairs and are threatening to send me into early labour as I watch them wobble round the close...

For the coming weeks we have planned a couple of days at Craigs Mums where there will be more parks, a picnic, a BBQ and a trip round the shops, Then a day in Rye to visit the antiques shops, charity shops and yes another park and picnic... then we have a day planned at The Strand - ANOTHER park near us that has a huge paddling pool, mini steam train etc... and another picnic... oh and I have to squeeze in a couple of midwife appointments/scans at the end of August and haven't bought the uniforms for school yet! Oops.

I'm flipping knackered!

But I do love your page - espesh the skelly ;)

Unknown said...

I love the layers and the details :)

Anonymous said...

That's a really neat looking layout Sian. I remember when we were kids making plaster of paris models and pAinting them - that lasted all of 1 year and then there was the year of gimp bracelets

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

I love the layout, Sian. I had to chuckle reading that your girl tried the koolaid hair dye. I'm pretty sure Carrie tried that at some point - and I've heard that this works best on lighter colored (blonde) hair. And I know exactly what you mean about those friendship bracelets being very time consuming!

Ifa said...

Gorgeous layout, Sian. I can't help with holiday activities as we don't do any...my boys sort themselves out but they do cook from time to time.

Jennifer Grace said...

Great page, I love the glassline bag with strips of writing inside. We've not attempted any big projects, just done baking and colouring, and we've been working on little miss's letter recognition in preparation for her to start school! I imagine as the kids grow up we'll be trying more and more holiday projects!

Missus Wookie said...

Making friendship bracelets made me smile - tis a very Quakerly thing to do. I've sat in a Meeting for Worship full of teenagers all making bracelets. Princess does very complicated ones - adding in beads etc. and can whip 'em out very quickly.

Soap and candles are the same - don't take long to make but take ages to use up. Well, from kits at least suspect pioneer ladies would object to that idea.

We're into 'playing each of the games on our games shelves' to check we want to keep them. Some were still in wrappings - one went yesterday as it expected pop culture knowledge. But we always come up with lists of things to do over the summer and sometimes manage them too.

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