It’s almost the Memorial Day holiday.  And, school is almost out.  These are perfect opportunities to let your hair down, get a little wild, get creative, have fun! And do all of that with rocks.   Painting rocks– what a creative way to spend quality time strengthening your relationship with your grandchildren.

(Rocks? you say.  I thought you hated rocks? I answer in the affirmative. I detest rocks.  Rocks in my yard — bad, bad, bad.  But, painting rocks — good, good, good.  If you need any, I’d be  more than happy to mail you some.  Out of my flowerbed to your craft table!)

Aren’t these rock paintings adorable?

Ernestina Gallina, an Italian painter, has come up with these delightful creations.  You can get free directions on painting these (and other adorable things) on her site.

You can come up with lots of your own designs that you can paint: pirates with an eye patch, sheep, cupcakes, rainbows, faces (try doing your portrait on a rock!), Shrek, Micky Mouse, hearts, lollipops, a zigzag pattern, a VW bug.  You can glue on googly eyes, chenille hair, pipe cleaner feelers.

Gather lots of materials and watch as your grandchildren unleash their imagination and have lots of fun doing it.

Grandma Shelley recently had a Rock Stars Grandma Camp for her grandchildren.  After reading all about it on her website, her idea zoomed to the top o’ the list of things I’ve gotta do when my grandchildren get a wee bit older.

(Do you hear my toe tap, tap, tappin’?  C’mon, Kaylissa!!! And Simon, and Natalie and Spencer.  You gotta grow!  Kaylissa,  I know you’re only a week old.  But sheesh!  How long before we can play Rockband together is all I wanna know . . .)

Grandma Shelley found cardboard guitars on sale at Michael’s Art and Craft store.  She gave them to her grandchildren to color when they came to Grandma Camp.  I fell in love with the guitar you see here. (Grandma Shelley so graciously let me use her photo for this post.)

You can read all about her guitar craft project here.

Grandma Shelley’s said that months ago she purchased these cardboard guitars on clearance from Michael’s .  Which means if I went right down to the store this very moment, I probably won’t find any.  Rats!  I guess when the time comes, I can trace around my Beatles Rock Band guitar for a pattern and copy it on large pieces of cardboard.

However, I did find some foam guitars on Michael’s website. I don’t know how big they are or how durable.  But, if you’re in a pinch, maybe something like this would work for you.

Grandma Shelley’s grandchildren also made buddy burners.

And Rock Star wrist bands.

It looks like they had a fabulous Grandma Camp.  Her grandchildren are so lucky to have her as their grandmother!  Thanks, Grandma Shelley, for letting me share your fabulous ideas!

Cute, cute, cute!  A pig.  A frog.  A monster.  The most adorable handmade bath puppets that you ever did see!

Now let me ask you: what grandchild could refuse taking a bath if she could have one of these puppets as a bath mate in her bubble bath?  Certainly not me!

A very heart-felt thank you goes out to Cathie Filian for allowing me to use her picture of her puppets — and for coming up with such a fun idea.  She is an amazing person.  She has created, produced and co-hosted more than 100 episodes of the HGTV & DIY lifestyle show Creative Juice.  She’s a handcraft designer extraordinaire — and I will not be intimidated by her crafty-ness skill.  I will not.  I will not.  I will not.  (Who am I kidding?  Her little toe probably has more crafting ability than I’d ever see in ten lifetimes . . . . I’m definitely NOT going to tell her about my cake pop flops . . .)

Now.  On to the washcloth puppets.

It doesn’t take much to make these puppet pals.  All you need is a hand towel, a sewing machine, felt scraps, and some embroidery thread.  I think this is something I could do.  It’s not really a craft.  It’s more sewing.  Not a craft.  Not at all.  (If I keep repeating that, maybe I’ll believe it and maybe my bath puppet will turn out . . .  Maybe.)

You simply lay your hand on a towel, trace around it, cut out two pieces from a towel, sew them together, and add details with felt.  You can read the detailed instructions here on how to make these darling puppets.

You can make some of these bath puppets to keep on hand at your home when your visiting grandchildren need to take a bath.  (Or, when you stick them in the tub to keep them busily occupied . . . )  You could also make a couple of puppets to send to your grandchildren who live far away.  If your grandchildren are old enough, you can spend a Saturday afternoon together whipping up a gaggle of these puppets.

There’s more than these puppets on Cathie’s site that you’ve just got to see.  Check out her darling headband.  Maybe when my granddaughters grow up a wee bit I can make them one or two.  (Kaylissa who is only two days old just might not be ready just yet to wear a headband even though she has lots of hair!)

Also, take a peek at Cathie’s fabric printing with dishwasher gel. I’d MUCH rather make designs on a t-shirt with my grandchildren using the dishwasher gel than spend time cleaning dishes!

After you are finished making your puppets, whip up a batch of Cathie’s S’mores on a Stick for a little treat.  (You know, you could send a package with the puppet materials and the ingredients for these s’mores to your grandchildren who live faraway.  They would be so thrilled to get that package!)

Our new little granddaughter, Kaylissa, was born yesterday. What a beautiful, sweet baby!!!  I love her little round face, her perky nose, her rosebud lips.

And her arrival was so much nicer than that of her big brother (where our daughter-in-law had to be life flighted to a bigger hospital to have an emergency c-section 5 weeks before her due date).

I felt bad for Grandpa.  He was coming down with a cold so he just looked at Kaylissa through the nursery window.  He didn’t get to hold her.  (Heh, heh, heh, that meant I got her all to myself!!!!)

We are tending Spencer, her big brother, for a week and already are having lots of fun.  Except Spencer, has been wandering around the house this morning calling out, “Grandpa?  Grandpa?”

“Grandpa is at work.”

“Grandpa?  Grandpa?

Mmmm . . .

I’ll have to brainwash teach Spencer into realizing that Grandma is the one he really wants . . .