Thank You Cards and Button Cleaning

We made and sent our Thank you cards a couple of days ago, I used my new toy, the rubber stamp cutter. I got Ebi-kun to draw a picture, he drew a Thank You Robot (of course!) and I made it into a stamp. Melissa asked me how I did this so I will do a tutorial at some stage this week. I had already carved one with Thanks, so it was quite a quick job. I got Ebi-kun to do the actual stamping and a fine job he did too...
We send postcards because it is so much cheaper than sending cards overseas, especially if you are sending a big pile.

On a completely different note, yesterday I got a jar of vintage buttons out that a friend gave me for my birthday. They wiff a bit so I can up with a Montessori type of activity for Ebi-kun.

I gave him a tray of buttons and 3 bowls (well it is one dish but the same as three bowls), the first had warm soapy water, the second, clean cold water and the third was empty. I also gave him a toothbrush and two towels.

Take a button from the tray, dunk it in the soapy water and scrub with the toothbrush, repeat until happy that the button is clean. Rinse the button in the clean water, dry with the 2nd towel the place in the final bowl.
This kept him busy for getting on a hour, he was totally immersed in his work. Part way through, he discovered that some buttons floated and some sank, so that became part of the process, finding out which ones would float. Once he had cleaned them all we cleared away the water bowls and wiped up then he sat for another hour just playing with the buttons, sorting them and making up stories. Who needs expensive toys? A box of buttons works just fine!

Thank you for everyone who has signed up for the swap, there is still plenty of time left if you haven't signed up yet. To those who have emailed me, sorry I haven't replied yet, I will be sending out your partners once all the names are in!

Ebi-kun has his 3 years medical check today and I am hoping to sneak off to Nippori afterwards to stock up on fabric for the shop....