It Looked So Much Better on Paper

Somehow I got suckered back into a subscription of Family Fun, and I feel it necessary to use at least ONE of the many wonderful crafty ideas that they provide in their magazine. For the month of October that would be the "Leaf Creatures" or some other creative title like that - that's just what we've been calling them 'round these parts.

Of course in not following the actual directions could be where we veered severely off course. Because I'm guessing there is a HUGE difference between tacky glue and Elmer's glue.

Especially when one's children are prone to using large quantities in an attempt to nail down anything that doesn't move. And the drying time on Elmer's glue can be days people - trust me.

Should you actually want to follow the directions, they are pretty simple: gather as much "nature" material from the great outdoors - leaves, sticks, rocks, bark, etc....and let your kids glue them together with tacky glue to make bizarre looking beautiful leaf creatures. Being able to find the googly eyes that you have somewhere in your house would also be most helpful. Because leaving your children alone with a bottle of glue while you run off on a wild search for them is really not such a good idea.

Not that I speak from experience or anything.

The kids had great fun climbing the fence to pick mini pine cones, dead-heading my flowers - it was a regular free-for-all in our backyard. They hunted and picked the best possible materials for their people.

From Drop Box

The glue came out and they all squeezed out at least half a bottle of glue...

From Collages

And then we set the odd little creatures on the counter to dry. And dry. And dry.

From Collages

Since Mommy couldn't find the eyes, we had to make due, but the kids were very excited with how they turned out - even if they weren't "magazine-worthy" they were excited they were going to be on Mommy's blog.
And really, that's all that's important, right?