The blogging continues...

I haven't been able to blog since this school term started and now we're on the countdown with only two and a half weeks left! Eek!! And these are crazy holidays coming up as usual, with my birthday on the first day of 'the break', which will be spent like the past five years, decorating a birthday cake for Caelan's birthday the day after!
I'm not complaining, I enjoy the chance to be creative on my birthday and of course I love cake :)
This year, he has asked for an Octopod cake which is being designed in the back of my mind at the moment. I'll do some sketches and start making up fondant icing by the end of next week (I hope!)
Mum always did great cakes for us growing up. There were a few favourites from the Woman's Weekly cook book- The train, the ghost with the light, fluffy marshmallowy icing and half empty egg shells as eyes, the swimming pool or lake with jelly water,  and the chocolate upright piano come to mind. My all time favourite though was a big Snoopy cake mum made when I was maybe 7 or 8- I'll have to check the photos & count the candles!
This is one of the ways my mum really inspires me. She is amazing in the kitchen and truly puts her heart and soul into nurturing those she cares about through delicious meals and treats. You cannot leave mum and dad's house after a meal and not feel completely satisfied!
I'm not that kind of whiz in the kitchen yet but definitely hope to get there one day, and not surprising to anyone who knows me, I have found the best place to start following in mum's little footsteps is through baking!
Since having the boys I have really got into making fun cakes for their birthdays.

Caelan's First Birthday July 06

it was massive... 3  big cakes at least, from memory... Just a simple butter cake with butter cream icing covered in crushed up peppermint crisps

The following year, I gave myself a bit of a break and did a very chocolatey cake, simply decorated with dump trucks, violet crumble and maltesers....

Then I got creative again for Caelan's 3rd birthday and his Mickey Mouse party... 

I bought a Mickey Mouse silicon cake 'tin' for the main cake and did a few dozen cupcakes with ears. I also bought a mini bread loaf in the shape of a Mickey head for the fairy bread on the right, it's only about 15cm long so I had to make about 10 of these mini loaves!! It would've been more logical to use the cookie cutters   I had  also purchased (left of pic) to just cut regular bread to fairy-fy  but the bread I made WAS yummy and I might use the tin again one day!

Then of course came Aedan's first birthday in August '09...

A simplified version of Caelan's name cake done with butter cream and smarties! We didn't need as big a cake this time round so it was nice to keep the tradition but without the enormousness of before!

Then came Caelan's 4th birthday in July 2010...

As Toy Story 3 was released only a few days before his big day, that was the theme for the year. (And it's still going!!)

First came cupcakes to take to kinder to share with his friends....

Then, the Big Kahuna! We took a bunch of friends and family to see the movie on Caelan's birthday then celebrated in a party room at the cinema with this:

This was the most work I'd put into a cake yet! Also the first time using fondant & it was awesome!! It was like working with perfectly soft fimo!  (You know, that modelling clay that you bake in the oven?) I bought the toys on ebay & some cool space-themed candles from the cake shop and everything else I made by hand. The bed heads were cookies and the bed and floor were a very rich chocolate mud cake. It was probably the sweetest cake I ever ate! The hardest bit about this cake was Caelan crying when we cut it, but he did enjoy eating it for weeks as we froze left overs while we went on holiday 2 days after his birthday!

Next was Aedan's 2nd birthday in August.

Wags and Dorothy for my little Wigglet.

Again, I chose to simplify my efforts from the previous month's effort and did a simple fondant design for him. It was still a bit fiddly, especially trying to do the colour swirls for the base, but again, it was so much fun to do and I just loved seeing the excitement in his face each time Aedan saw his cake!

And this one, I did for Brodie,  my friend's son who was put onto Lazy Town and Sportacus by Caelan! (Caelan lived in his Sportacus costume for over a year!!)

So there we have it, my creative cakes to date. It's another fun little hobby of mine and after writing this blog I'm all inspired for the upcoming Octonauts cake challenges over the next couple of weeks :)

The paper macheing has grown here too, I've actually started a little business. I've got business cards on the way, email address, web domain and business registration all sorted for " A Plethora of Pinatas" .... I'm very excited! I will blog more about it next, but now I must sleep :)

Caelan's Kinder Homework...

Even as a teacher, I wasn't quite expecting to be dealing with 'homework' yet....from preschool!! Don't get me wrong, I totally support the kinder program and value that they are promoting family involvement, it just seems strange to say out loud that my 4 year old has homework to do! I am of course though, more than happy to help him get creative & do as he's been asked, so when instructed to make up a page about his family, here's what we did....

Here's what he wrote to go with his photos:

"Daddy likes to play Toy Story games with me."


"Mummy likes to make Octonauts things with me."


"I like playing with balls with Aedan. So does Dad."


"I like doing jump splits like Sportcacus."


"My family likes to play music together and play outside."





It was great to do something like this that we were all a part of and was so much fun for a sunny afternoon :)

Of track a little, I want to say thankyou to all the other facebook Octonauts fans who have taken the time to check out my blog and gup project. It's amazing all the creative things other parents and grandparents are doing for their own Octonauts fans, the website is full of home-made Octonauts creations, it's worth checking out! There's a real bonus to there being no merchandise available yet, it's been inspiring people worldwide to step out of the consumer-driven path we sometimes find ourselves on, and create a bit of magic for our kids. I hope it continues :)

The Gup Fleet is Complete!

We've had a productive last week of school holidays with the Gup-E being whipped up in just a couple of days.

Drying time was the biggest factor as it was made with just tissue paper on a plastic soap bottle. The tissue paper is nice to work with as it's so soft, but it's also of course very delicate so a bit fiddly. The Gup-E is Peso Penguin's Guppy-shaped rescue vehicle. It has a 'creature tank' in the back for injured sea dwellers and a device on top that can be a camera or a flashing orange light . For this, I noticed when I removed the pump nozzle thingy from the soap bottle I found that regular soft drink lids fitted the screw top perfectly. I checked bottle tops while shopping recently to find an orange lid but to be honest, I couldn't bring myself to buy a bottle of fanta to use! Horrid stuff!! So, I covered one lid in orange tissue paper and the other, I nailed a hole in the middle which I poked a pipe cleaner through then covered it in green tissue for the camera piece. Now the boys can have the appropriate device attached for the story they're role-playing!

I put a big wad of blu-tak inside the bottle and attached Peso to a piece of icypole stick and stuck it in there, squishing the blu-tak to the stick with skewers. I wanted to put a wall in to separate the two 'rooms' of the interior but it was too hard to work out the size & shape, not to mention how to attach it securely.

So there we have it, the last of the Gups :) Pretty much as soon as it was completed, Caelan was hassling for me to get back to work on the Octopod !! He has been very appreciative of the work I've done though and so genuinely excited to welcome each vehicle to his collection as it's been finished. But, Easter things have had to take over this weekend and I've enjoyed a nice break from having gluey fingers!

Each year for Easter, I get the boys some new jammies for the days are getting shorter and the nights colder as winter creeps on in. So, this year I bought Caelan some plain stripey pjs & a plain blue long sleeved t-shirt which I made some iron-on octonauts transfers for. (Aedan got Thomas jammies as he's not quite as obsessive as his brother yet though I will be making him some transfer t's too now that I have the stuff...) 

He was of course quick to mention that 'Barnacles doesn't have the logos on his arms like that'... but he was 'just so happy mum to have octonauts jammies!' 

I also like to give the boys each a book for Easter and fortunately, one of my ebay orders arrived in time for Caelan

His very first Octonauts book :) We've read it several times each day so far, it's a lovely story and the artwork is just beautiful. So many colours & so much detail, the four of us snuggled on the couch tonight & enjoyed it together, it was lovely! I can't wait for the others I've ordered to arrive...

We've also made Caelan the Creature Chart and Cards from the octonauts website. As he plays different games, he earns different creatures which I've saved  and printed and laminated some for him. He get's one as a reward each day and it's working as a great incentive for him while being eductaional as well!! Did you know that belugas are the only whale that can swim backwards?!!

I've been having ideas of making an Octonauts board game but should shift my focus a bit now that kinder is starting back this week and do something creative that will appeal to Aedan while the game idea brews away in my brain for a while... mind you we have kinder 'homework' that we will do tomorrow for Caelan.... I can't forget!! eek! Four year-olds getting homework?!! What is the world coming to? Gasp!! The horror!!!

Don't worry, I've had it planned in my head since the end of last term and we should all have fun helping with that one tomorrow.... I will post details as we create them :)

We gave Aedan the new Wiggles DVD for Easter called 'Ukulele Baby' so I think I'll have to pull out my uke, tune it up and have a jam with the little fella, hopefully he won't realise that I'm not very good! ;)


Ok so it seems I'm not necessarily doing any of these projects for 'myself' as such, (as I'd originally hoped when venturing into this creativity spree) but I'm loving getting to share my boys' interests and have these special things between us, it's much more satisfying than being all artsy-fartsy in my book!

Gup C complete, only one more to go...

This has been the fiddliest creation in this project so far! The main hull was done on about 2/3 of a water bomb, topped with card board, newspaper, a plastic cup & a  cardboard tube for all the bits on the 'deck'. Cups broke, paint peeled and glue didn't stick but I got there in the end!! The hot glue gun was a big help for this one tho it's not as strong as the ones made purely with paper mache.
I was quite proud of managing the shapes & proportions well on this as I did it all just by eye & the feel of it.  I also remembered I could sand down the bumpy surfaces of dried layers which helped get a nice smooth finish for painting, I wish I'd done that with the others! I did the lines & name with a pen this time which was much easier than painting but I could've done with a thicker nib.... The things to remember for next time!
Next time?!! Once I've finished the Gup-E it will be time for a break from this and maybe start on some sewing, I'll have to see what inspires me next :)

Introducing Tweak Bunny and the Gup-D

Tweak Bunny in Caelan's favourite Gup

I finished this one last weekend but haven't had a chance to share it here since acquiring a tooth abscess and head cold to start this first week of school holidays- typical eh?!!  At least it gave me time to finish the gup-d and start on the 'c'!! We noticed watching the Octonauts show this week that each gup has it's name printed on the back near the tail so I amended the 1st two I'd made and included it on the 3rd one too.

Kwazii Cat in the orange one needed replacing after Aedan managed to pull off the dome & rip out the cat! I've had to tape down the dome so he doesn't do it again...

The Octofleet so far...

Caelan impersonating the Gup-C

I've ordered some Octonauts books for him that will hopefully arrive this week in time for Easter, he's just obsessed! Tho today he was dressed up and playing as Captain Barnacles one moment and then Sportacus, then Buzz Lightyear the next! I love listening in to the little stories he makes up, the role playing, the language and expression in his voice, he's growing up so fast!!

Both of my boys are now such 'little boys', past the baby stage and doing so much more together. Aedan just adores his big brother and everything that Caelan's into, he's taking a fancy to as well, including the Octonauts! They both made underwater collages this week with cutouts of the characters stuck around rocks and seaweed we made with some of those funky scissors kids like! I made them some basic fish and jellyfish too, (actually it was parrotfish Caelan requested !),  and they loved sticking their pictures together.Aedan named every character as he covered them in glue & sat there singing the theme song with his brother, it was lovely :)  They're now hanging proudly in the rooms, I'll try to remember to take some photos tomorrow...

I'm looking forward to my next project being something for Aedan, I haven't decided what yet, but I might be due for a change from the paper mache for a bit, I want my kitchen bench back!!

I'll get the Gup-C finished this week, it's been a fiddly one but I've loved the challenge of getting the shapes and proportions right. The colours aren't as accurate as I'd like but to be honest, I couldn't be bothered mixing colours perfectly, my head's just been too stuffy! After that, there's just 1 more Gup in the fleet which should be quick as it won't need as much painting/drying time as the others.
I might get it done before Easter, it's a busy week ahead but hopefully I'll get the time... 

The Gup-A has been launched!

I finally finished the Gup-A over the weekend much to Caelan's delight!

This is your standard paper mache onto a balloon, actually a water bomb! A local paper, a pepsi lid, a couple of icypole sticks and a gold pipe cleaner from christmas wrapping left overs was all it took. Oh, and a rubber band attached to the propeller so you can wind it up and it spins! It doesn't always work right but my engineering skills are improving!!
I also collected a heap of images online and printed out a couple of pages full of Octonauts characters and logos which I use to 'embellish' the gups. I'd originally printed the octo-alert logo on clear printer labels but they didn't stick well and apparently didn't taste too good either! Thanks Aedan!
The paper cut-outs glued on perfectly and look much better than the stickers. We'll use them for some other crafty projects for the boys too as they both love cutting and pasting!
We actually used some of these cutouts to make basic 'puppets' stuck onto icypole sticks and I was treated to a brief puppet show this evening!

I also began work over the weekend on Caelan's Easter bonnet for a parade at kinder on Friday.Of course it's not remotely bonnety, that was never gonna happen! We've made rabbit ears, but more specifically, Tweak Bunny ears ! (You may recall my earlier post when I mentioned this is the Octonauts character Caelan has cast me as!!)  They're not the typical fluffy ears I'd usually do for the easter bunny, they're slender and green but they'll get Caelan more excited about joining in with the parade this way!!!  I'll add a pic here tomorrow of the kinder parade to show the hat- I need to stick some easter eggs on it for Caelan tonight... If I'd done that earlier the eggs would be gone by now!
Edited to add:

( I was very proud of his enthusiasm to participate and his ears stood out amongst the sea of cotton wool and straw that adorned most other hats! Actually his ears had a nice sort of rubbery bounce to them as he walked and the eggs sparkled in the sunshine! )

I used the same blue foam that their octonauts hats are made with. It's about 5mm thick, is quite dense but soft and has a plasticky layer on one side. My husband gets off-cuts of this stuff from work he does installing gyms.I've also used it in the past for kangaroo and platypus costumes i made for a musical I directed! It glues together well with a hot-glue gun. The joins go quite hard but it sets quickly and won't fall apart so I haven't actually bothered trying other glues. The Octonauts hats though are just taped together with a heavy-duty packing tape with a string weave through it. Plain clear tape just didn't stick as well and I thought we can remove the tape and add elastic to the back if the boys grow out of them but still want them to fit, tape will make that easier.
I've spray painted and brushed paint onto this foam in the past. The acrylic paints crack a bit after a few days of songs and dances on stage. But I had a better colour range to use compared to my enamel spray paints and was on a tight budget then too...
Anyway, For the Easter bunn, errrm I mean Tweak ears, I used some polyester wadding to make a 'bunny' tail which Caelan then used as a 'sponge' to paint the ears with a mix of acrylic and poster paints. The paint will crack & come off unfortunately, especially when the easter eggs get pulled off, but we'll be able to salvage the ears to still be a Tweak hat once Easter is over and maybe repaint with some new spray paint. Spray enamels are really the best choice for this foam I think, but I wanted to stick to using stuff I had already, rather than forking out for spray paint. I'm really trying to recycle as much as possible and keep any purchases I need to make for these projects to a minimum.

Today I've started on the Gup-D. A manta ray that can turn into a crab. I've used a laughing cow cheese box,   some of the pointy bits from inside an egg carton and some bits of plastic packaging from drink bottles to make the armature and have covered it in a few layers of the Sunday paper. I'm hoping to do some touchups on those layers tomorrow then paint it on the weekend.

I will continue to post photos upon completion :)
off to stick eggs on a hat now......

watching paint dry...

It's more exciting than it sounds!!
I'm using some lovely smooth gouache paints on the Gup-A today and am really noticing the difference from the student's acrylics and crappy poster paints I use with the boys. Some of the paint was passed onto me by our lovely neighbour. It used to belong to his his mum so is at least 10 or 15 years old but is still as smooth as silk and it dries really quite fast... lovin it!

Nearly everything I'm using for this Octonauts stuff is recycled, though have bought a few things more for the shape of the packaging than for the contents!

The Gup B was a tartare sauce squeezy bottle. The bottom of the Octopod is a protein-shake tin.

I've started at looking at product packaging very differently!