Clay Making

My new favorite thing to do with Ruby is work with clay.  This is a picture of the nativity Ruby made last Christmas (when she was 3.5)  I am in love with it. 

She loves to work with clay.  From left to right they are the shepherd, sheep, cow, Joseph, baby Jesus and manger, Mary, donkey, horse, wise man, and on top the angel and a star.    I love the eyes.  She loves large eyes- and if I had a close up of baby Jesus you would see that he has one large eye and one small eye.  I love to see her create things with her hands- she loves it too.

This year I made nativities to give away for Christmas.  I made 14 of them in total.

My little army of Josephs and Marys.

The finished product.  This is of course the small version but I have made the 'extended' version in the past.  I like giving these to people I love.  They are inexpensive but take lots of time so they are full of heart- and super cute if I do say so myself.  

Stay tuned for the clay cake toppers I made for my sisters wedding!

Burnt To A Crisp...

We have been sick in our house lately.
Too sick to go outside, too sick to visit anyone, too sick to blog, and too sick to do anything inside.  It is terrible.
Justin even had a few days off and really we have had nothing to show for it.
Just a lot of sleeping, and pj lounging.
Oh- I suppose we do have one thing to show for it.
This beauty.

Isn't she a gem?
Ruby was getting antsy and really wanted to be doing something so we took out the clay and sculpted our favorite princess- you guessed it- Ariel.
I know you could tell from the picture- there was no reason to spell it out for you.
In fact she reminded me a little of this Ariel.
The large eyes and nose are courtesy of Ruby- she really has a nack for eyes.
After sculpting, it was time for bed so we said goodnight to Ariel and told her we would cook her in the morning when we had more time.

So the next morning Justin let little sick ol' me sleep in while he fed and entertained the kids.
And that is when Ariel met her fate.
He thought for sure that he had seen me cook clay enough times that that knowledge had surely rubbed off on him.
He was sure that it needed to be cooked at 400F for 30 mins....
And once he put Ariel in the oven there was no looking back- and definitely no checking in on her no matter what smell was coming from that oven- until the timer buzzed.
Burned to a crisp Ariel is the result of that.
I was pretty forgiving and honestly burnt Ariel grew on me- Ruby on the other hand does not hand out her forgiveness so freely.  There were some definite tears and some 'I don't like burned to a crisp Ariel' statements.
So Justin did what any father would do in that situation.
He apologized (had a laugh or two) and re-sculpted Ariel- for his little princess, Ruby.
So this is now the Ariel Masterpiece.  He stayed true to the large eyes and nose as per Ruby's request.

What a great dad.......

Clay Is My Medium of Choice

I have never claimed to be an artist...
But I just can't deny it anymore.
I am an Artistic genius.
There I said it...
My artistic geniusness is especially evident after Ruby and I made this...

It's Ariel.
I know- no explanation required- since it is such a true likeness of the Little Mermaid.
Ruby and I spent Noni's nap 'clay making' if you will.  (He did wake up half way through but we pressed on.)
She told me what she wanted  me to make- and I did just that.
I had no idea I had such skills...
Ruby tried her hand at some 'claymaking' herself and she did a great job.
Perhaps she acquired some of my skills.
She made Sebastian, a shark, Flounder and a crocodile.
I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of those before she decided she had had enough of clay making and she put it all in dishwasher.
Yes, this really happened.
Her and Noni were collaborating- She was putting it in the dishwasher and he was right there beside her cheering her on.
He seemed to disappear however when she had to clean it up....
But a little part of me can't help but smile when they get together to do something mischievous.

I can see many days of clay making in our future... even with the dishwasher incident.
Ariel is still floating around this house somewhere- a little worse for wear but around nonetheless...
Perhaps the other disney princesses will join her soon enough.
This clay making is fun.

On a side note- I recently found out that David Archuleta lives in our very own Murray, Utah.  In fact he attended Murray High.  So our place of residence (and by association, us) is pretty much famous.  And awesome.
I also recently received tickets to a  concert that he is putting on with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir around Christmas!!  We are pretty much destined to be his best friends don't you think?