The Aliens Have Landed

What can I say about this picture? I don't know.

More Fridge Work; Vegetarian Dinosaurs

Hana: “These dinosaurs share food. They eat leaves. This dinosaur (pointing to the blue one) is a vegetarian dinosaur, and this one (pointing down) is a … (a slight hesitation, as this one obviously looks like a meat-eating dinosaur, but then why is he eating leaves, and not the other dinosaur?) … also a vegetarian dinosaur. They are friends.”

Hana Makes Perfume

Hana wants to know how perfume is made.

I tell her it is made from the petals of flowers.

How do they get the smell out of the petals? she asks.

They distill the petals.

What does that mean?

They boil them, I tell her.
And so Hana has an idea. She is going to make her own perfume.

First she gathers the petals of a bunch of pink roses that are done flowering. Of course she must wear surgical gloves for this horrendously dirty work.

She gathers the rose petals in a bowl.
She shifts through them, taking all the brown pieces out.
She then puts them in a large pan and puts it on the fire. It is then left to boil for about an hour, spreading a rather unpleasant smell throughout the house.
Everyone who comes in asks: “What’s that smell?”, and Hana answers: “That’s for my perfume. I’m making perfume.”

Well, what is left over, after sifting out the boiled leaves, is a rather brown looking, yucky smelling liquid. The smell is not pleasing, (look at her noise, all turned up), and so she adds some apple shampoo to the perfume, to make it smell better. So now the ‘rose perfume’ is smelling of apple shampoo. Much better.
She adds several teaspoons of this foul smelling liquid to a concoction of several soaps and shampoos she has been collecting in a little bottle. This is her ‘special’ soap.’
And it’s standing in the bathroom now, waiting for use. By who? Not me.

Some Drawings I Found on the Fridge

Hana: “It’s about one mama horse that is teaching its baby how to be a riding horse. How to gallop, and run and stand up high with his feet and stuff. That’s all.”

I like how the horse on the right has these 'movement' lines around its body. And what about the thinking bubble of the baby horse? Hana: “It’s about a dinosaur that lives in a dinosaur land and he’s just about to become ‘instinct’ (meaning extinct), because the volcano is going to erupt. And it’s a mommy. “

Pimp Your Bag

Hana got a wonderful present this week: a handbag. Not just any kind of handbag, but a ‘Pimp Your Own Bag’ Handbag. It is a carton do-it-yourself handbag, which you are then supposed to decorate as you wish. (pimped versions can be seen here).

It is a Dutch design (what else!), works great with recycled materials and it activates your imagination & creativity.

The bag starts out like this, and then changes into this. And now it is time for some art. Nothing could be more appropriate. And there she went.

Poking holes to stick the flowers right

Assembling flowers The flowers Half the bag done

The Eyes

Glueing Eyes on the sides

This is the 'eye sight' Hana's Art Supplies The Bag LadyThe pimped version; a flower bag.
With many thanks to Gieneke (the Bag) and Dimphy & Mieke (the colored paper).

Hana Celebrating the Dutch Queen's Birthday

Hana Celebrating the Dutch Queen's Birthday, in orange, as one should, and practicing, for the day when she will marry a prince.