Chocolate Biscuit Dispensers and other Machines

When I was a little girl, my imagination transformed a panel of the garishly patterned 70s wallpaper that adorned my bedroom walls into a Chocolate Biscuit Dispenser, from which I was able to keep my collection of teddies, gonks and dolls lavishly bestowed with sweet treats. I remember it so well.

This is not the exact design of my wallpaper but it had a similar colour palette, a floral theme and  a repeating circles pattern. My parents must have thought it quite attractive! To a child's eyes (this child's eyes at least) it was a control panel and dispensing hole for imaginary biscuits.

I was reminded of this yesterday when my 4 year old (nearly 5 actually - where does the time go?) daughter called me into the conservatory to see a 'machine' she had made. Various household items and toys had been carefully arranged to create a rather interesting construction. Nothing was randomly placed. Everything had a function and she proceeded to explain in detail what it was all about.

I love her creativity. I love her imagination. I love that she has taken my "Chocolate Biscuit Dispenser" to a whole new level. I didn't love so much that I was instructed not to dismantle the machine. The strange collection of objects now dominates my conservatory.

If it was summer, this would be more of a problem but as the conservatory does not get used very much during the cold weather, I am happy for the machine to remain. Perhaps there is something to be said for those 70s wallpaper designs though. My plain walls painted with emulsion clearly do not fire any sparks of imagination.

Fun with Googly Eyes

I have such a backlog of posts I have meant to write but not found the time to. At least, I suppose, that is an indication that my life is too busy to be boring!

One such post which I am trying to squeeze in now in between dinner for the kids and catching up on the household chores I neglected today because I was shopping, is another video for the Izziwizzi Kids Playfest.

I was intrigued by the idea of a play activity involving sticking googly eyes on magazine pictures and volunteered to make a short video to demonstrate it. My exceptionally disdainful 23 year old daughter told me in no uncertain terms that it is something that only people with no money and no friends would do but I think she is wrong. We had such a lot of fun with our freaky googly eye pictures.

I think because the pictures we used were all of babies it created a slightly unnerving effect - maybe even  reminiscent of the evil Chucky doll from the horror film Child's Play. Next time we get out the PVA glue and googly eyes, I will make sure I have a better variety of old magazines - I'd love a googly eyed Johnny Depp or maybe even a googly eyed version of my disdainful daughter to get even with her for her comment! - but for now, this is our video: