Isn't it great when you go out and find some fresh inspiration! Last weekend we went to the Northey Street Market for the first time. I am surprised when I talk to Brisbane locals who haven't tried this market, it is so good. In addition to the organic food market they have a gorgeous garden and children's natural play area. The boys loved this artwork on the fence above. They really wanted to try it at home.

Both children have recent experience with hammering, and we thought we would have some suitable wood off cuts to use. Unfortunately, our wood off cuts weren't big enough, and we were considering a visit to Reverse Garbage to find some more. Then I noticed some of these wooden boards from Ikea in our cupboard that we weren't using. They are a good size, and I think they look good.

We drew our designs on the board with pencil and hammered nails into the right places. For both children, I needed to do most of the hammering and start the nails off. There was a lot of hammering in this work, and we split one board. We used an eraser to remove most of the pencil marker. Then we tied our coloured embroidery thread around one nail and wrapped it around subsequent nails, tying it at the end. Fantastic for our fine motor skills.

These would be a great child-made Mother's Day gift!!