Hump Day Helper #11: Fall Down Tree Colouring In Pages

Hiya Friends!

I've been on the hunt for more prints for MTandW lately and have been revisiting some old favourites such as Sarah Jane and Adam Record of Fall Down Tree fame.

Adam's recently launched his website www.falldowntree.com and it is being populated by a few little goodies for passers by. Like wall paper for your desktop, ipod or iphone and a few colouring in pages from his original artwork.

The colouring in pages are lovely and simple, super easy for twiddlies of any age to create a masterpiece from it.

Visit the Play category on Adam's website to download and print your colouring in pages :)

Where the Wild Things Are

I adore kids books. It's the illustrations, it's the simple language and it's the imagination. If you asked me for my top 10 books of all time, they are mostly all children's books. They remind me of the simple joys of childhood and how I used to get lost in my imagination and games made up from the books I read.

Up there in the top 10 is Where the Wild Things Are from the legend Maurice Sendak. Did you know that it was first published in 1963 and that Maurice Sendak, who has just turned 81 has written and illustrated more than 90 books!!


Now I do remember reading this story as a young one at school, during reading time at the library. But I've become a fan from reading it to my own children. We probably borrow this book about every 2nd trip to the library to restock on new stories, despite the fact that we have our own copy too! At least this way they can both read along with me :)

It always happens eventually, that someone makes a movie from a popular children's story. I blogged earlier about Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. I think its often thin line on whether a movie does a book justice or not. I always like to read a book before I see a movie based on it. Just that my imagination suits me better than anyone else's does. But sometimes it helps you understand something if you see it from someone else's imagination perspective too.

I wonder how I will feel about the Spike Jonze's take on Where the Wild Things Are when it's released in October? The trailer looks promising, let's hope the best bits aren't in the ads ;) But just between you me and the wall... I think I'm going to like it!



Here's another great site to check out too! It's called Terrible Yellow Eyes and it's artwork from Maurice Sendak fans who are captivated as so many of us are by the magic of the Wild Things.

Image by Joel Furtado

Hump Day Helper #10: Robin Hood Hats

My husband is one of those people who kids flock to cause he isn't too "grown up" to play with them on their level and is always full of imaginative games to play. I reckon he should be Mr Mum and I should bring home the bacon, but that's not the way the cards have been dealt :)

Abby is absolutely obsessed with the Disney version of Robin Hood. And Dad and Abby have come up with a Robin Hood game which they play at any and every opportunity, regardless of whether your trying to do grocery shopping or not. Abby is always Robin, Welllie is always Little John and Dad is always the Sheriff.

They are so into it now that they even have costumes. Here's Abs in her Robin Hood best, over PJ's of course!


Dad made this Robin Hood ensemble himself, but here's a quick and easy way to make a cool hat from paper (I like this version much better cause i wouldn't of had to go on a wild goose chase to find green felt!!!!!!)


How to Make a Paper Robin Hood Hat -- powered by eHow.com

Here's another for a Maid Marion Hat!


How to Make a Paper Maid Marian Hat -- powered by eHow.com

There are heaps of other great hats made by Ginny Larson here!

Fairy Door Magic

The fabulous Carol from Pixel by Pixel has been busy creating some magical images of our fairy doors. I am so over the top exciting and chuffed at just how well she captured these I just had to share them with the world.

Alice in Wonderland

There have been some very cool images floating around about the new Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland which is due out next year. It stars all the usual Tim Burton fav's Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter etc. And from the images released, looks as though it may be a little truer to the original masterpiece than the more popular Disney versions have been in the past, as well loved as they may be. It's due out in March 2010, better book a babysitter now ;)

Tell me if its just me, but I think Mr Depp is looking a little Beetlejuice here, what do you think?

Anyway, I've been noticing quite an Alice trend happening amongst crafty types around the net. There is much love of the original illustrations and these are reproduced on T-shirts, tote bags etc. But I quite like the stuff that is based on the idea, and a new piece of work is created from the Alice theme.

This is the Whimsical Alice In Wonderland Mad Hatter Tea Party Chandelier from whimsicalcollections.etsy.com. At $425US it's a little pricey, but it's pretty cool don't you think?

I really like this Story Book Cotton Tape. Don't know what I'd use it for, but I want it all the same. lillalotta.etsy.com

Alice in Wonderland Paper Playset from Fantastictoys.etsy.com. I've commented on Tim's extraordinary work before, and this divine playset is based on a miniature scale model he made based on the original illustrations. WOW!


Oh Oh Oh. I didn't look to hard before, or maybe not hard enough, but I've just found a trailer for the new Alice in Wonderland movie...

Hump day helper #9: Jumping Handkerchief Mouse

When I was a little girl, my Dad used to make a Christmas cracker out of a hankie and hide a coin in it to keep me entertained when I was bored. I don't know why but sometimes I can remember how to do this and other times, usually when under pressure to entertain the twiddlies, I can't for the life of me remember.

But I found a link on the Monkey See Monkey Do blog for a jumping handkerchief mouse which goes one step further. It becomes a cracker before its a mouse, and now I have a further trick in my repertoire. Look out Vegas!

What do you need
A large mans hankie or square of cloth

How to do it

1. Fold hankie in half diagonally
2. Fold corner points into meet in the centre
3. *Hide your prize here if your going to make a cracker!* Roll hankie from bottom to top leaving the top corner unrolled.
4. Fold the point down and hold firmly
5. Fold the two sides in so they overlap in the centre6. Using your thumbs, roll the folded ends into the centre until the tails pop out the ends.
Voila you have a cracker - if you pull the ends now, it pops open and unravels to reveal the prize.

To make this into the jumping mouse...

7. Gently pull out one of the tails of the cracker and fold back upon itself to make a triangle.
8. Tie the two corners gently together to create the mouse's head and ears.
Put the mouse on your hand facing up towards your arm and cup your fingers under the mouse's bottom. Use you fingers to flick the mouse around and make it appear to move on its own as if it's running up and down your arm. Giggles abound ;)

If my instructions are about as clear as mud, try the ones on the Monkey See Monkey Do blog where I found these fab images and the instructions. There is also a cool tea towel chook I must try!

Choo Choo Print Winner

Congratulations Candice, your the winner!!!! Your entry made me laugh and my daughter Abby has been wearing her bike helmet all day since I read it to her, just in case the cat need an emergency rescue!

I've sent you an email, but just in case, can you please email me your contact details and I'll get the print off to you ASAP (vicki@monkeytailandwellington.com.au).

Last chance for Choo Choo Print

Last chance today to win the Choo Choo Print from Fall Down Tree. I'll draw the winner tomorrow. Don't forget you can reply here, on Facebook or email me at vicki@monkeytailandwellington.com.au. Good Luck!!

Win a framed FallDownTree Print...

As promised as part of our birthday celebrations I have a few goodies to give away :)

I've just posted on Facebook a fun little question prompted by my daughers revelation this week that when she grows up she wants to be Wolverine! I have other thoughts about Wolverine, but considering she only knows the cartoon version, I'm guessing she wants one of those hot yellow suits!

I used to want to be Mikhail Baryshnikov. I thought that the boy ballet dancer were better than the girls cause they could jump higher and didn't have to wear tutu's! My husband had recurring Superman/Greatest American Hero/ET fantasies (probably still does).

So my question to all our facebook BFF's is .... What did you want to be when you grew up? Or are you still holding onto your fantasies Peter Pan style in the hope that you can still reach your dream?

This fab framed FallDownTree print is yours to the fan with the comment that makes us all wish to be young again! You can leave a comment here if you like if your not on Facebook

Kids Movies....

This is hardly a hump day suggestion, as most of us probably do this everyday anyway, but I was feeling a little rant like about the movies on at the cinemas lately, this seemed like the next best thing.

I really wanted to take the girls to a movie and have been hanging for the school holidays in the hope that something suitable would make it to the cinemas. But everything these days seems to be too violent, or has "scary themes" (whatever that's supposed to mean) or is a story about how two best friends/parents and children/you fill in the gap, get separated and are very sad and upset and have to go on a quest to find each other during which there is much danger..... blah, blah, blah! does that sound familiar to you or it is just me?

My girls are still too young for these kinds of movies and the ones we've attempted to watch in the past that appeared suitable on the posters and in reviews and have a G rating, left us with endless questions on why the characters where so distraught and why did their friends leave... it goes on and on and on.

So as we don't have a home theatre, we are making a makeshift one for ourselves today. I'm all stocked up on popcorn, have some special cups with straws just like at the movies and I've thrown a couple of sheets up over the glass doors to block out as much light as possible. We've dragged out loads of comfy cushions and a rug or two and we're all set for the show to begin.

Today's screening is Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses. Just between you and me, if I have to watch this again, I'm going to poke myself in the eye. But Abby's really into the whole evil stepmother figure at the moment (the lesser of the evils according to her) and after the intermission we will be screening a Care Bears anthology to keep all members of the audience appeased.

At least there's coffee on tap at this theatre and they probably won't notice if I go downstairs and hang out the washing either!

Knitted dissection...

This was on the Etsy homepage this afternoon...

Its a knitted biology frog from The Crafty Hedgehog and I think it's pretty cool. I also love her knitted fetal pig, which I can think of a few people for whom this would be an appropriate gift (I do move in some unusual circles ;-)

Made me smile anyway!

Hump Day Helper #7: Happy Birthday Wheel

Yay!!! Monkeytail & Wellington is 1 today! Just 12 short months ago my hair brained scheme became reality and I can't believe how fast the time has flown! My children still think that Mummy's "Shop" is a figment of my imagination (and sometimes I wonder that myself), but I'm fairly sure I'm not hallucinating, just extremely sleep deprived!

Now that the financial year is over and there is just the counting left to do, I can start looking for some delicious new things to bring to the store! I've already got my eye on some very lovely tid bits I can't wait to show everyone, but for now, I'm off to eat a birthday cupcake (or 3 cause no ones watching) and a much needed cup of coffee!


I think that today's hump day helper is a stellar idea. I am terrible for remembering birthday's! I like to ignore my own, but other than my immediate family I have a huge problem remembering. even if I write it down in my diary, you can put money on it that I will forget to look... must be a subconscious metal block... I've got no other explanation.

But today I'm going to have a crack at making myself a Birthday Wheel! This idea is courtesy of Enchanted Learning.

What do you need?

Cardboard or stiff paper
A compass or something to help you draw a circle
Scissors
A brass paper fastener
A pencil to mark the circle
Crayons etc to decorate

How to do it

Cut out two circles of equal size. Divide one circle into 12 equal segments, then draw a series of concentric circles.On the second circle, cut out a shape equal to 1/12th of the circle
Write the name of each month around the edge of the first circle in each segment.
Place the second circle over the first and secure with the paper fastener. Then write the birthdays of your family and friends on the wheel and decorate! No more forgetfulness!!