Live Granades » Scary Kids’ Toys

It’s not all Science all the time around here.

Misty — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:20:10 +0000

Eli and Liza got straw glasses for Christmas. They have been nearly endless entertainment for everyone involved.

Liza poses like a rock star with an octopus I just finished crocheting for charity.

This week in photos

Misty — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:16:49 +0000

I always love my Tuesday nights with the crafty gals. This week was no exception. We has some serious crafting!

Eli created Super Mario characters to do battle on our kitchen table. Stephen caught the whole drama.

The end of the battle:

Liza showed her super remote skills:

Lastly, my finished crochet stash. It seems to grow larger by the day.

Photos for a Rainy Monday

Misty — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:39:17 +0000

Here’s Liza eating her birthday cake at the giant locals kid birthday party we had a few weekends ago.

Here’s Eli pretending to be a robot in the box of one of Liza’s birthday presents. A pirate, my little pony robot.

And lastly, here are the two monsters I finished last night. They are going to my nephews when they visit in a couple of weeks.

My crochet habit and my Doctor Who habit collide

Misty — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:24:08 +0000

This is without a doubt my favorite thing I’ve crocheted so far. I worked on him while in the UK, so I think he is sufficiently British. Blessed even.

The cuddly Doctor is going to Alana over the Fourth of July weekend and I will be so sad to see him go. I think I’ll start another one for myself…while I’m watching Doctor Who.

Many thanks go to Nyss at Pixelated Mushroom for the lovely free pattern and lots of coaching while I was completing the coat!

Still crocheting small things

Misty — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:31:16 +0000

The three cacti I crocheted for Kat and Sean. If only I could crochet little sombreros for them they would be perfect.

Excuse me a sec, while I go look for a pattern…

Eli and Liza demonstrating how sharp the needles on a cactus can be.

This critter doesn’t have an owner yet but that’s only because Eli hasn’t gotten home from school and seen him.

I didn’t crochet the dog but Liza sure wishes I would make one for her.

Two weeks of crochet

Misty — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:56:12 +0000

With Stephen gone the past two weeks, I had a lot of time to practice my new hobby.

The hat took way longer than it should have but I learned a ton in the process. Like you have to count the stitches. Not just guess. It’s the difference between a rug and something you can actually wear on your head.

Or rather, something Liza can wear on her head. I used the wrong yarn so the finished product is too small for me and too big for Liza but it’s so cute with the unintentional chevron pattern about 3/4 of the way down. I love it though because it’s my first finished project.

From the hat, I decided to move on to kid’s toys. Because my kids don’t have enough toys!

I’m loving the Lion Brand yarn website as they have a TON of fun patterns that beginners can do. The yarn they recommend is economical and sturdy for toys.

Surprisingly, the alien is Liza’s and the ladybug is Eli’s.

I don’t have an in progress photo of the ladybug. I was working against the Eli bedtime clock last night. He kept coming out to check on my progress until I finally had it done. I learned a ton with the ladybug as well. She’s got some flaws, so I actually might try the pattern again now that I kinda know what I’m doing. Or maybe, I’ll just take what I’ve learned and apply it to my next project of the Adipose Fat Baby from Dr. Who. Because my husband doesn’t have enough toys either!

I’ve gotten a ton of amigurumi patterns from the internet. Enough patterns to keep me busy for ages. I love working on them because they are fast, I learn a ton from the different ways the patterns are written and at the end they are so cute! Still no good robot patterns though — gonna have to buy the book.

I thought I might be getting good but then I attempted to start a purse pattern and couldn’t get past the second row of stitches. Jess, guess what you’ll be doing on Tuesday night!

Lastly, the obligatory cute kid photo:

Ribby the Frog

Stephen — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:16:58 +0000

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted about any scary kids’ toys. I don’t know if that’s because Eli and Liza’s toys have gotten less scary or because I’ve grown desensitized to them. If it’s the latter, then I’ve finally found a toy to shock me out of my complacency.

Meet Ribby the frog.

Ribby doesn’t look too bad. He’s a cute purple color, with a sweet smile and –

Aaah! Make it stop!

The Robi-Robots Story

Misty — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:10:35 +0000

by Eli

Once upon a time, there was a green-headed robot. He was lonely and very sad. But…he had no friends. But then one day, he met a purple-headed robot, Joe.

“How do you do, Joe?” said Sparky. (Mom, the purple-headed one is Sparky.)

“Good!” said Joe.

“Good!” said Sparky.

“But we don’t have any more friends!”

“You’re right!” said Sparky.

“We better go to the enchanted grove to get one.”

“Let’s go!” They said. And off they went.

When they got there, they found two other robots. The yellow-headed robot was Speedy. The blue-headed robot was Eddie. So they became best friends. Really best friends.

The End

Thanks to Kat for the cool make-your-own robots. (Boy do you know this kid or what?)

In Space, No One Can Hear Me Scream About Science

Stephen — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:11:44 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about scary kids’ toys. Good thing Eli got a new batch for his birthday!

Meet Black Hole.

He’s the enemy from Planet Heroes, Fisher-Price’s new line of planet-themed action figures with tie-in DVDs and comics. You can tell he’s a villain because he speaks with a British accent.

Eli’s fascinated with the figure, and doubly fascinated by the comic that came with it. He read through it several times and then asked me to read it to him. What kind of dastardly things is Black Hole, aka “Professor Darkness”, up to?

“Once Red Giant traps those Planet Weirdos, I’ll release the ravenous Space Quarks. They can devour an entire solar system in a single light year!”

You know, Fisher-Price has all of Issue 2 available online. You should read how the Planet Heroes (plus the guy from the Sun and another from a shooting star and also Earth’s Moon and oh yeah they’re still including Pluto) defeat Black Hole. Hint: it involves a space cow.

Birthday Thaumatropes

Misty — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:26:22 +0000

What are thaumatropes you ask? Thaumatropes are Victorian spinner toys. In this case they are also Eli’s birthday party invitations. I got the idea from my new favorite author Ester K. Smith. The thaumatropes are from a book called Magic Books & Paper Toys. You hold the strings, twist and see the robot open and close his eyes and mouth. Eli is obsessed with them. While I was working on them, he claimed all of my prototypes and goofs.

You can also see the buttons I made as party favors in the foreground. Eli can’t decide which robot he wants to keep for himself. I have this sneaking suspicion that I’m going to be making four or five more buttons for him to keep for his very own.

I have gotten a ton of crafting tools (the button maker! and a Bind-it-all!) and books at Christmas and since then. There’s going to be many, many craft/making things posts in the days to come.