drat dancing on my wall.

Little bit of paper and water colour fun.  I was thinking that this was a rat with a deer's antlers, but The Man says it's a rodent sized deer with a rat's tail.

Either way, I call it a drat.

Deer + Rat = Drat

Of course, the drat doesn't want to stay on the wall with my subpar double sided tape, so I stuck him to a glass picture frame and he's been doing ballet with a squid ever since.

It's been quite gloomy over the past couple of days, which is a nice change from hot like hades it was last week, but makes for less than spectacular pictures indoors.  If you are interested, I posted a few of the steps I took while making the drat on my Instagram account and girl child helped me make a little video here.

I think the drat needs a little buddy to dance with, maybe a bouse (or mear?) or a vrane (crole?).  What are the best animal mash ups?

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Little shop update: I can't be bothered trying to keep up on two separate Etsy shops because I a) have some books to read, stuff to make and kids to raise and b) Etsy keeps changing their stuff and fixing problems on both shops its a bit too much.  So I am posting my Dollyshop Theatre dolls on my first and best shop connected with this blog, Indietutes.  So if you like weird art doll things, please visit.  Also there is patterns.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Indietutes

paper trail

They say there are two types of shoppers.  The first type is very smart.  They shop around, compare, make lists of pros and cons and think very, very carefully about what is the best to buy.  The second type will shop as long as it takes to satisfy a previously determined criteria, say in colour, price or whathaveyou, and buy the first item that fits the bill.  I am the second type of shopper.  Which is good because the second type usually ends up more content with their purchase, having less doubts about whether there was a better choice or if the mental calculations were accurate.  The second type thinks, 'I got what I want and it's all good.'

Which is why I don't feel too bad about looking at a house on Monday night (only the third house viewed since we started) and making the final signatures on the purchase by Wednesday night.  We move in June 15.  Our own house.  No more moving (for a little while).

I've started packing.  Again.  I am becoming quite good at it now, have a system in place and am even developing some strategies for keeping the kids out of the packed boxes.  They love to undo what I have done.  My children are like my Sisyphusan karma.
 

(Ellowyn paper doll by Jo James.  Print your own from here.)

Strategy number one:  Paper!

With all our things packed up early, because I really hate packing at the eleventh hour, finding amusements for myself and the children become a bit more challenging.  When we have a few hours on our hands do we do puzzles?  Nope, packed up.  Legos?  No, packed.  Cars, dinosaurs, dolls, board games, trains?  Packed, packed, and packed.

So, what to do?

 (City scape from Taro Gomi's Play All Day paper punchout book.)

Temporary, easily accessible and full of novelty.  I love paper.  And when it comes to moving day, anything still surviving can be popped onto a child's lap and off we go. 

We've been exploring free printables online for the last couple of days.  It's amazing how many fantastic creations are out there, how generous artists and creatives are.  I've gotten lost more than one time exploring sites like this and this.

Except for the printer, some light cardstock, scissors, glue and rubber bands, I hope to be ready to go soon.  And then I'll have some time to spend in the paint store, driving  myself mad with too many choices.  It seems that I am a satisfiser type shopper when it comes to houses, but for wall paint I am firmly in the first catagory.   Big decisions are easy, but the little choices are fiendish. 

(Paper masks from Stars Wars.)

If you have any suggestions for paper toys and games, please feel free to share them.  The kids love the paper and, frankly, I could use some distraction for them.  I've got some packing to do.