Animals at the Sisterhood

Good afternoon everyone, it's time for another fun challenge over at the Sisterhood of Crafters. For this challenge it is all about ANIMALS.  We are asking you to make a project with an Animal theme.  

I take my girls to the YWCA for a class called Dinosaur School.  The kids go to school downstairs and the parents go to school upstairs.  The idea is to teach the kids how to deal with their feelings, attitudes etc. and the parents go to school upstairs and get lessons on how to deal with their kids and their issues.  One of my twins is very STRONG WILLED to say it nicely.  So in effort to be the best parents we could and to offer them the best chance at life we decided to sign them up.  It is like a 16-20 week course, I lost track of the time.  My girls love it and they even give you dinner!! The course is free and I would definitely recommend it if they have one in your area.

In the course they teach them all about their feelings and how to deal with them.  They even made a calm down thermometer when they get angry.  It teaches them how to calm down.  One of the things they teach is to "Smell the flowers, and blow out the candles" which in turn means breath in and blow it out.  This is to help you calm down when you feel yourself getting mad.  My girls have really been talking about their feelings ever since they started this course.  Keep in mind they are four so when you hear one of them say "Mommy I am feeling very frustrated" it just makes you laugh.  They also play "Detective" to help them look for solutions to their problems.  Overall it is really a neat course.  Sad to say next week is our last week.

One of their recent lessons is to go into your "Turtle Shell" to protect yourself from hurt, anger and just to calm down.  Now the turtle shell is imaginary and a figure of speech of course.  You can either crawl into a turtle shell shape on the floor or go to your imaginary turtle shell to protect you. Sadly there are many kids subject to abuse, bullying etc so this tool is to help them cope.  My kids thank goodness haven't dealt with that yet but my one has lots of meltdowns and I think it is from not being able to communicate. 

So when they were telling me about this lesson I decided to create a Turtle box for them.  Something where they can keep pictures of things that make them feel happy, safe or calm.  I created this 3D turtle from a file I found by SnapDragon Snippets in the Silhouette Store. I enlarged it to 130% to make it the biggest I can. My idea behind this was for them to keep things inside whether it be pictures, little notes or items that they treasure. That way when they are upset or sad they can go into their Turtle Shell and find their happy place. 

I am happy to report that my daughter has made a complete 180.  Her temper tantrums have decreased by 90%, she is talking more about what makes her happy and sad instead of just freaking out.  Hopefully this tool I made with help her continue down that path.

I took the shape from the part that covers up the foot and made cut it into different sizes to make some decoration on the shell. I inked it up with some Tim Holtz Vintage Photo and used an eye from Peachy Keen Stamps teddy bear assortment set.  I have it stamped on both sides so it can look great either way.  My girls got a bit crazy with the spots but they love it!

                            

I hope you play along with our Animal challenge over at the Sisterhood of Crafters.