Little Miss Muffet, Tuffets and fun Spiders!

Hey y'all!

Little Miss Muffet detail of painting

by Scott Gustafson

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet

Sat on a tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey.

Along came a spider,

Who sat down beside her,

And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Poor little Miss Muffet!

Let's make some cute spiders,

so next time she won't be so frightened!

     

Spider Pretzels 

These arachnid treats are easy to make and they look positively lifelike
crawling across your child's snack plate.

For each:
2 round crackers (like Ritz)
2 teaspoons smooth peanut butter
8 small pretzel sticks
2 raisins

With the peanut butter, make a cracker sandwich.

Insert eight pretzel "legs" into the filling.

Place them 4 on one side, and 4 on the opposite side.

With a dab of peanut butter, set two raisin "eyes" on top, front.

Makes 1.

I do have a photo, but I can't figure out how to get it to the blog. Sorry.

Use your imagination, and I'm sure they will be cute!

So just what is a "tuffet"?

Well, it can be a little stool to sit on,

or it can be a patch of grass, like a tuft of grass.

In most of the pictures/illustrations/paintings that I have found,

Miss Muffet is sitting on a low stool.

A vintage Jessie Wilcox Smith postcard

Here is a great Spider Iris Folding pattern, courtesy of Chona:

If you can't quite remember how to do Iris Folding,

type into my search box "iris folding" and a nice tutorial should pop up,

along with several more patterns. These will be in different blogs.

1889 vintage illustration

There is a charming coloring page on Mary Engelbreit's web site:

http://www.maryengelbreit.com/

She has several super coloring pages!

I have a simple scherensnitte (papercutting) pattern for you next.

The pattern page has Little Miss Muffet on the top,

and Little Jack Horner on the bottom.

2 for 1!

vintage illustration, courtesy of http://www.mamalisa.com/

 

 

So what are curds and whey?

Sounds icky....

 

Whey is the watery part of milk that separates from the curds

when making cheese.

I kind of think of it as watery cottage cheese!

Miss Muffet embroidery pattern from TurkeyFeathers

 

Here is another fun 'Spider' to make!

 

Spider Pops

You will need:

black pipe cleaners (chenille stems)

Tootsie Pops (lollipops)

googly eyes

glue

1. Hold four pipe cleaners, center them at the base of the pop and

         wrap them around the stick once so there are 4 legs on each

         side of the round pop.

2. Bend the pipe cleaner ends of each leg to form eight feet. Just

         about 1/2" or so.

3. Glue on googly eyes to the bulb of the pop, in front.

4. Spiders can crawl around anywhere you want them to, on their 

          pipe cleaner legs!

Wouldn't these make cute Halloween party favors or hand-outs?

Note Miss Muffet's MUSHROOM tuffet!

note the slightly different verse on this one.

courtesy of http://www.andrewfinnie.blogspot.com/

He creates interesting digital photography art.

 

I have had fun with Little Miss Muffet today.

This is the blog that I had done in July,

only to have blogspot eat it.

Grrr....

But I'm not mad today, so we had some tuffet-fun!

 

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

 

 

Late Summer Picnics

Howdy!

(American slang, South Western USA)

'Dorothy' from the Wizard of Oz, Barbie, 2007

The kids are probably back in school,

but the days are still wonderfully hot,

beckoning all to come outside and enjoy the last days of summer.

Let's plan a weekend picnic, while we can!

Yogi Bear and friends on a picnic, Hanna-Barbera

First, we need -

  

SUNSHINE!!!

(all the bottlecap magnets are recycled or upcycled,

and have an Art Nouveau Alphabet that has been sized,

tweaked and generally messed with,

and then hand colored by inkspired.

These are not decals, or rub-ons.)

c.1910

The second most important thing about a picnic is

THE FOOD!!!

This can include some serious planning,

some make-ahead food items,

or

you can grab McDonald's on the way!

Either way, you MUST have a picnic blanket.

That's just part of the deal.

Picnic = Blanket and Food

Some things in life we just don't have a choice on, do we?

Now this picnic is a little short on the food.

Here's another idea: 



ah....this one's nice...

WAIT!

That's not food....that's felt!

c.1904

ahhhhh... that's better!

Now, what do we carry all that food and plates and spoons and forks and napkins and bug spray, and don't forget the blanket!?

Silly, a picnic basket!

they come in all shapes and sizes -

by Sutherland Baskets

Your picnic can be casual -

http://www.holdthemeat.com/

elegant....

http://www.electricblanketsss.com/

a little more elegant, using a table

(must be portable for a true picnic however)

Personally, I think all picnics should have chandeliers....

well,

at least fancy ones I'm sure!

http://www.porcelainpolyester.etsy.com/

I'm sure Mrs. Bucket (That's pronounced 'bouquet' of course)

would approve the above accouterments.

By the way, if you have never seen the BBC comedy

'Keeping up Appearances'

you have to go find some episodes and watch them immediately!!!

Incredibly funny.

You can have a casual picnic with family and friends -

Betsy McCall with a friend

The Bear Family

Or,

you can have a more intimate picnic -

c.1905

c.1912

Okay, let's see:

*picnic blanket

*picnic food

*picnic basket

*picnic go-ers

*sunshine

...now what have I forgotten?

Oh yes!!!

picnic fun!!!

Sometimes good food and a nap are perfect,

but sometimes the picnic go-ers want a little entertainment.

Kate Greenaway

skipping ropes....

c.1854

a little picnic dancing...

flying a kite...

catch up with a little beading...

You could gather a few wildflowers

being respectful of the environment of course,

a recycled lightbulb flower 'terrarium'

or fairy house?

Don't forget to bring your flower press,

or a large heavy book with paper towels

to press leaves and flowers:

http://www.desertdangles.etsy.com/

Soaps, homemade or purchased, with pressed/dried flora and fauna.

This is a simple craft; all you need is a bit of clear melted wax.

Using a light glue, tap down your dried flora onto the soap surface.

Using an old brush, brush on a thin coat of clear melted wax to seal.

You can brush on a couple more coats if you desire, making sure wax is dry before adding another coat.  Tie a pretty ribbon and fix to soap with a small straight pin, and you have a lovely, personal gift

and a remembrance of a special picnic!

Bring some mazes, puzzles and paper dolls for the kids to play with in the car, on the way to the picnic, and on the way home

(if you haven't tired them out and they are all sleeping!)

Bring some old magazines that the kids can cut up and make more outfits for the paper dolls. Throw in a glue stick, pair of scissors and you are ready for them!

Career paper dolls. I am sorry, I don't know where I found these, so please just use them for personal use.  :0)



Use those same magazines to cut strips from colorful pages,

and you can easily do some iris folding

with a tape dispenser and scissors:

Iris Folding Pattern - kite

Well, that should give you a ton of picnic party plans,

inspirations

and ideas of grandeur!

And just think, you have all week to gather supplies

and be ready to go the first thing Saturday morning!

:0)

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com