Nutcracker Sweet

PAINTING PROJECT: Yesterday when I was out making rounds of craft stores, looking for yarn for our never-ending pom pom project, I came across a D-I-Y nutcracker kit for half off - 'just' $10 apiece. I went ahead and made the impulse purchase, since the kids love nutcrackers and we hadn't done a big Christmas craft project yet.

And what a project it was. Before they even opened the boxes I told them it was going to take a long time, so don't even think about being done with it in 10 minutes. Or 15. Or 30. In order to do it right, it was going to take many steps, and we'd have to allow dry time in between. They said they understood, and so off we went.

They carefully considered colors and combinations.

It was slow going, but eventually they could see the big picture.

When they finally added the hair, eyes and embellishments, they were Most Pleased with the final products.

Annabelle's is on the left, CJ's is on the right.

PONY PALOOZA:  Ponies continue to be a part of our lives in these parts. Annabelle is forever doodling My Little Pony creations. She recently came up with this Chris Hadfield one. ...

I love its "cutie mark" - the ISS and a guitar. :)

She made it red and white, with the colors of the Canadian flag in mind. And I think it's her first pony with a mustache. ;)

We have quite a stable of ponies, and their manes and tails have come to look a big bedraggled. The kids and I have tried combing out the plastic hair, but it's all matted and knotted (it's like it spontaneously does that!). Annabelle went online searching for a solution. We found a couple of sites that suggested using warm water and fabric softener to try to detangle them. I figured it couldn't hurt. ...

In the end, the 'hair' wasn't silky smooth and totally tangle free, but they were much improved.

I'd call our spa a marginal success.