"Come on, step out of your cage. There's a whole twisted world out there."

 There is something incredibly relaxing about sitting with my headphones in, sewing of an evening. Which is why I'm all over Opeie's new interest in puppetry. I'm looking forward to making some random characters next but this weekend was spent making an Alice Angel puppet from Bendy and the Ink machine. The puppet was fairly easy to make until I got to the hair, if I'd have had any myself I'd have probably pulled it out. 

After I'd finished it Opeie made a pretty cool video for the channel. Check it out Here!

"As children, we all live in a world of imagination, of fantasy, and for some of us that world of make-believe continues into adulthood."

 

It has been so long since the last time I wrote, for so many reasons. But it feels like the right time to give myself a push to get going again. Like many of us it seems, I have been struggling for motivation with many parts of my life recently, waking up each morning and feeling like we are just repeating the previous day... and many before it. One thing that hasn't been lacking motivation though has been my creative side and I put a lot of that down to that amazing boy of mine and his constant need to be making something new. 

A few weeks back he came to me with his latest idea and I was over the moon as it was something I had tried to get him interested in years ago (with no joy). As with many things with kids though, they initially don't share your motivation for an activity until they see a YouTube video (with completed product) and its all the motivation they need. So Opeie started playing me some vides by a very talented chap called Adam Kreutinger and I was hooked from the get go. I went on a bit of a binge for a week after that watching design videos and learning various creative techniques every evening before buying various supplies to get us creating. 

 Once things started to arrive, I tried not to over think the process and just throw ourselves into it and learn from our mistakes etc, that way of creating has always worked out well for me. There's something really magical about learning new creative skills and it always puts me in a happy place.

The plan was to build puppets of ourselves and we were both very excited. We wanted to create something really playful and not too serious. Making the Foam bodies was super easy and I think contact adhesive is my new favourite thing. Once those were made it was on with the sewing and thankfully we had a few good days of weather in a row so we threw the beanbags outside and sat in the sun chatting while we stitched. It was so much fun watching them come together and really great seeing Opeie so focused on what he was doing. As expected we made a a few mistakes along the way, like cutting the fleece the wrong way round and losing the stretch but that's the great thing about learning this way, that will never happen again.

One of the things that I love about attempting these new projects is realising that actually, craft wise, I can put my hands to most things and come out with something I'm pretty chuffed with. But more importantly, the confidence that it gives Opeie in his ability to create is incredible to watch. I love a creative project but that is massively magnified when the two of us are creating something together.

Making the outfits for the puppets was really satisfying. I made myself some dungarees using the leg of an old pair of Opeie's shorts and although the thought of it seemed quite daunting I managed to pin, cut and restitch an old shirt of Opeie's to fit his puppet nicely. I love being able to use things from around the house, sadly my washing rail is looking a little worse for wear now though as I've pulled lots of the rails of of it to make the army rods, oops!

And now it's time for the real fun to happen. Opeie wants to learn how to make videos about all the things we get up to which I think is going to be lots of fun. So we're setting up a Youtube channel to document that and hopefully have a ton of fun along the way. Check it out HERE.

"The art of photography is all about directing the attention of the viewer."

Day 91 and 92:

Opeie has really been getting into his LEGO photography for his latest comic idea. He's been in the garden with all sorts of kits and bricks creating scenes for each picture and its been so lovely to watch. As I really wasn't in the mood to write yesterday I decided to use two of his photos for today. I can't wait to see the finished piece, its starting to look really interesting.

"...and of course he wanted his crayons to be happy. And that gave him an idea."

I can't ever see LEGO not being a part of our lives, over the years its been an amazing bonding experience for the boys and I and we have built so many fun things together during this time. I love putting our own spin on the Sets that LEGO releases but for me the real magic comes in those completely original and creative ideas. I love hearing Opeie's weird and wonderful ideas and then sitting down together and working out how we are going to make these things work is something pretty special.

Im not sure where the idea for this build came from, it could have been influenced by the Oliver Jeffers book The day the crayons quit, which was always a favourite of ours. Or maybe just one of those mad ideas that pops into our heads at times. Either way our mission was to create a box of crayons with a colourful story to back it up. Opeie has a thing for miniature play sets that he can carry around with him so the box had to have some form of scene in there too.

Anything Opeie creates has to have some form of backstory, sometimes the stories are deep and other times they are complete madness. This one was about an angry purple crayon, fed up with the restraints of being imprisoned in a box and having minimal outdoor time to let his creative juices run wild. He eventually reaches breaking point after being mocked by his peers for wanting more from life and goes on a rampage, melting his colourful housemates (poor light green crayon 😭).

For me these are the kind of LEGO builds that really get me motivated, giggling to ourselves as we talk about the story while creating is the best kind of bonding there is. I can't wait to get stuck in to the next crazy idea.

"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick."

As much as I adore LEGO, I wasn't 100% sold on the Brickheadz range when they first came out. They seemed too static and lack playability which really put me off. That was though until a couple of days back when Opeie decided that he wanted to spend some of his birthday money on the new Brickheadz Go brick me kit. He got home tore open the box, had a quick flick through the instructions and built himself and his doting dad. The instruction book is awesome, giving you all sorts of plans for various facial features and accessories. I was blown away with the characters that he built and I think he really did us both justice.

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/steve_jobs_416858?src=t_brickres and accessories. I was absolutely blown away by what he built and I think he really did us both justice.

Opeie's creations have completely changed my view on these fun builds and I'm now hooked. we've ordered the parts we need to build lots more so watch this space.

“If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!”

It seems that the macabre stories of Mary Shelley have made a lasting impression on that boy of mine. So much so that while writing about her in his history book that we have been creating, he decided to immortalise her in LEGO. His creation gave me the chance to show him how to take the colour out of the image and highlight the heart that he had added, giving his photo a little more character.

"A smile is a curve that sets everything straight."

Just a very quick post today. Mrs M has been feeling a little down the last few days so myself and my little assistant set about our 'make mommy smile morning'. Whenever Mrs M is having a bad day we make her a card, there is a big box in the house of 'I love you' cards that we have made and today we were adding to our collection. Firstly i looked to my partner in crime for some inspiration. "What shall we make Mommy today Opeie?"... "A Princess". Good clear instructions from a two year old, that's what i love.

I stood behind Opeie and helped him cut out the pieces for the face and then he did all of the gluing including googly eyes and gems for the crown, as always it was a real team effort. Opeie kept saying "Mommy's going to be so happy" which i thought was adorable. He's always so proud of himself when we give Mrs M something we have made together.

The head was complete so i asked Opeie what we were going to do about the body, to which he replied "Cat in the Hat dress". Good job i had been collecting all of those Dr. Seuss books for my future craft idea.

A few pages from The Cat in the Hat and we started to make our dress...

Opeie did say 'Princess' so he needed to stick lots more sparkly gems on for the full effect. I helped Opeie write a short message inside and then talked him through writing his name himself, which for 2 years old i think he did an amazing job of (he just needed a little help on the tails of the E's).

As expected Opeie was eager to get the card to Mommy and as he showed her he looked very chuffed with himself. The card did exactly what we intended it to do and put a huge smile on mommies face. A little bit of effort goes a long way and its important for me and the boys to show Mrs M just how much we love her, she does after all put everything she has in to looking after us.

"i can do it myself daddy"

Seth has started his next big craft idea which so far is looking great (even though its only had about 30 minutes work on it). I will write about it when it's finished which could be some time away. As part of his new creation he needed some old fashioned wooden clothes pegs. I thought they were going to be a nightmare to find but luckily I found them in the forth shop I went in to, good old Asda living.

He needed white paint too and before I knew it I had a basket full of craft bits and bobs. It wasn't a great day weather wise so a craft session for me and Opeie was just what we needed. As soon as we got home we set the table up and began creating. Because Mrs M works all week we try and make plenty of cards to say thank you for taking care of us.

Using foam letters and getting them straight with a 2 year old is difficult but we managed it and it looked great. Opeie told me that he wanted to make one for nanny and grandad too so we quickly got to it.

After all the tag team precision foam letter placing, Opeie grabbed himself a new piece of paper and freestyled himself his own creation, which definitely had more character than the ones we created together, proving once more that "i can do it on my own daddy" (his new favourite saying).