fo·ne·tic·lee speaking

{this moment} 10.14.11

2011-10-14T15:25:00.000-04:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
inspired by ~SouleMama

This week I am grateful for...

inspired by ~ WaldorfMama

:: a birthday celebration among kind and generous hearts

:: working on new skills and having success - my sweater has arm holes! Also nice to have warm wolly yarn in my hands while the weather cools into fall.

:: a library bag full of new cook books to pour over

:: a rainy type grounded weekend to enjoy both of the above.

2011-08-26T15:07:00.000-04:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
inspired by ~SouleMama

This week I am grateful for...

inspired by ~ WaldorfMama

:: a calm walk in the woods with good friends

:: the wonders and colors of nature this time of year

:: enjoying the small bounty from this years garden

:: soaking up the last bits of care free summer days before school starts back

:: seeing cooler weather meals return to the menu at home

{this moment}

2011-05-13T12:49:00.006-04:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember." ~SouleMama

inspired by and shared with the community on SouleMama ~ come join in!

Happy Birthday LittleA

2011-04-12T22:29:00.000-04:00

LittleA, six years ago today you made her way into this world and our lives have been all the better for it. Your energy and optimism are contagious. Your smile brightens my day. You have a style that is all your own. Happy 6th birthday to my favorite little cave kid!

Turning Six Is So Easy...Even A Cave Kid Can Do It!

We were eating dinner, most of us using our silverware...LittleA using her fingers. I inquired if she was a caveman. She laughed and said "what a fun birthday party that would be - we could all eat with our fingers" and that is how this years birthday theme was selected. Turning six is so easy even a cave kid can do it was an easy spin-off of the Geico caveman commercials.

We created a cave out of old cardboard boxes. We used duct tape and hot glue to create an igloo of sorts. We then covered the whole thing with black and brown fabrics to create a camouflage exterior.

Inside were bins of crayons and chalk. The party guests were invited to create cave paintings inside on the walls. The head from our old Chinese New Year birthday dragon was re-purposed as a dino for this party. LittleA created the Lincoln Log and play silk fire pit in the middle.

Guests created their own grilled cheese sandwiches at the caveman cafe. The dining table was covered in craft paper and crayons were on the table so the cave kiddos could color while waiting for their custom lunches to be grilled up.

All our cave girl guests took home a homemade animal print hair bow and a bag of rocks (jelly beans).

Our LittleA spent the day in her cave kid tunic and bone necklace that we created together. We had a great time creating with this theme. Friends made air dry clay fossils and played dinosaur egg races in the yard. And of course friends and family got in on the fun with gifts that were perfect for our little cave gal!

2011-04-08T10:11:00.000-04:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember." ~SouleMama

LittleA's Little Pickles are done...in time for cool morning bus stop waits.

inspired by and shared with the community on SouleMama ~ come join in!

April Fools Day Lunch

2011-04-01T09:32:00.000-04:00

This is the April Fool's Day lunch I prepared for LittleA this morning. I opened up each of these food wrappers - very carefully along the seams. I slid out all the food and the refilled the packages. The ramen noodles were replaced with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The m&m tube was packed with cherry tomatoes and the ring pop now contains a few slices of cheese and peperoni.

I put a little note inside saying to enjoy her April Fool's Day lunch...I am hoping she decided to open the packages before freaking out or crying about this "junky lunch"

Happy April Fool's Day!

Wooden Wheels

2011-03-29T08:30:00.002-04:00

Do you love being able to create something with your own hands? Handing someone a gift you had a part in making is such a great feeling. That being said there are some creations that are outside my realm of possibility at this time. Woodworking projects are one of those area. After spying an amazing wooden vehicle in a photo on one of my favorite blogs - I knew I had to find one for LittleA. I searched all over the internet to no avail. I was not ready to give up though. I went directly over to etsy and posted a request on alchemy. I had a few people intersted and after discussing my concept I choose a furniture maker who did an amazing - bang up job. He brought my vision to life...the best part is he shared photos with me as the wood took new life. That way I could show littleA just how her toy was made...just for her.

I wanted a design that was slightly vague in shape...I wanted the vehicle that could, with imagination, morph from car, to truck, to camping RV, to horse trailer. The finished design does just that. The plain colored wood matches LittleA's doll house to a tee and leaves for her imagination to fill in the details.

Little did I know that when these arms gripped the package that I would see a taco food truck roll through the living room taking orders...or that our house was home to the first ever little critters mobile dental unit. I wish I had photos to share with you.

I urge you to create a one of a kind gift with some of the amazing craftsman over on etsy. Bring your idea to life even if you cannot create it with your own hands.

Snow Spring

2011-03-28T22:02:00.001-04:00

How did this happen last week? Spring is struggling to arrive here. There is a slow thaw going on...dirt making a presence...buds greening...bulbs emerging from the ground. But around here you have to always wonder...have we really arrived in the next season just yet? Here is to appreciating every ray of sun that touches down and gives hope for warmer weather and time to sink our hands and feet into the earth.

My Own Ipod

2011-03-28T20:25:00.000-04:00

me: "What are you making"
littleA: "My own ipod"

Featured Apps:

Brick Breaker
Princess
Alien Blaster
Memory Game
Typing Test

She created the ipod, glued on app buttons and played fake games in our bay window for at least an hour. Ah tech deprivation - the mother of all creativity?!

2011-03-25T16:35:00.001-04:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember." ~SouleMama

inspired by and shared with the community on SouleMama ~ come join in!

french bread

2011-03-24T10:57:00.000-04:00

The supper club I am a part of decided to tackle Julia Child recipes. One rule – follow the recipe to the letter of the law – no substitutions. My task was Julia Child’s French Bread. The result was amazing.

Sculpting the bread into desirable shapes I could use some more practice in. But the taste and texture of this was really wonderful. The pieces pictured above did not make the cut for supper club - but was well loved at home.

Learning how to turn my home stove into a mock bread baking oven was something I will use again in the future (creating a steamy environment is key for French bread). The bread was topped with European butter, dipped into Julia’s Beef Bourguignon, and then for breakfast – spread with Nutella...All delicious!

Visiting the Daring Baker’s past French bread challenge was extremely helpful in breaking down the steps and finding more valuable resources on the web. My favorite was Andrea's recipes.

Pickles for LittleA

2011-03-23T17:59:00.000-04:00

I have kept my word and this is the next pair of Pickles Little Girl Leg Warmers - made just for my littleA. I am working my way through some more stash yarn and the stripe yarn she picked out at the Hobby Lobby. You can see more about the yarn or my process on my ravelry project page. Amazing how much quicker they knit up when you make them the actual pattern size.

Was so excited to be the first at my library to borrow More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I am head over heels in love with the sweet gnome hat on the cover. Wondering if I can squeeze it in before starting my first ever sweater?!

Missing Florida

2011-03-07T09:35:00.000-05:00

Our family took a real deal whole week family vacation two weeks ago. Our first as a family. This weekend it snowed....missing Florida!

A Fancy Frind

2011-02-17T11:39:00.000-05:00

day.by.dayna:: 365:2:2

Went into LittleA's toy room after friends had visited and found this space. She had setup a whole "get fancy" area for a very fancy friend of hers. So proud of her for knowing what would make a good friend feel welcome and special.

Valentines

2011-02-16T22:27:00.000-05:00

...or How I Nearly Burned The Kitchen While Showing My Love In 7 Easy Sessions

I am a huge fan of homemade valentines and have been collecting ideas since LittleA was probably one. There is a file on my computer that I have added photo inspiration to for the past few years - waiting for this years Kindergarten Valentine Exchange. With the amount of crayons floating around our house - I knew when I saw the amazing heart crayons on goodknits that we would have to give them a try. Who knew it would be about seven tries...?

In short the project involves finding crayons - removing their wrappers - breaking them into smaller pieces - melting them in a heart shaped mold in a warm oven - let cool - enjoy beautifully colored tye-dye looking heart shape crayons. See simple enough! The best part was that I found the two pack of heart shaped silicone ice-cube trays at Target in the seasonal $1 bin.

We had lots of oil pastels around...so we gave that a go first....no good! Oil pastels were cheap and melted super quick into a muddled oily mess. Attempt two had us hunting through the house for crayons. We gathered them together. I used a knife to score the wrapper and LittleA pealed off the papers.

All lined up and ready to go. We were hoping to match up coordinating colors so that we did not end up with muddled colors again.

We tried both a knife and a meat tenderizer to break the crayons into bake-able bits. The knife made nice sized slices but hurt the hand after a bit. the meat tenderize did a great job making smaller bits when pounding on the crayons in a plastic bag. In the end though...we used the knife to create more uniform sized pieces that would melt a little slower.

We did a trial run...placed the silicone mold on my favorite old pan (great for crafting) for just in case spill over. Then I screwed up...turned the oven to 350. WAY TO HOT. This melted the crayon too quickly and also started to bake the mold. The kitchen smelled of nasty fumes. Windows and doors were flung open and the oven hood fan turned to high. Pan and mold were thrown out the back door into the snow to cool.

You can see the mold damage at the top of the mold shown on the left. So then I resorted to melting crayons in paper cups in the microwave. Once melted I would pour them into the mold to harden. This was really slow and at one point one of my paper cups turned brown and nearly started on fire.

After all that I had three whopping crayons...only 7 more hours of work to have enough for LittleA's 17 classmates. UGH!

So how about filling the molds - and then putting the mold in the microwave instead of the oven. Ahhh seemed a good idea...but no! The crayons along the edges heated faster then the middles so I had super hot wax in all four corners and no action in the middle. Eventually the one heart cavity gave out and a pool of wax oozed out a hole and covered the glass lazy susan in the microwave. Honest to goodness this was supposed to be an EASY project! On to my last ditch effort.

I was reluctant to use my good mini-muffin pan...but what is a desperate mom to do? I sprayed the heck out of the pan with pam in hopes that the crayons would pop right out when done. Into the oven they went...this time baked at 150 - 175 and I watched them closely so we could stop them when the colors were blended to our liking.

and what do you know...we finally found success. we gave up on the hearts but ended up with these nice little round crayon coins.

Here were some of the heart ones that did turn out...but the crayons solidified in weird stratified flaky layers they do not seem as nice or as shiny as the rounds. I give praise to the metal mold - it made all the difference.

Then we had to package them for class. I took inspiration from Chef Messy's monster valentines. I loved that her son took the time to write a thoughtful note about each of his classmates. I created a heart theme paper backer printed on cardstock. LittleA wrote each classmates name and signed her own name with a little heart.

We used double sided stick tape to adhere the crayons to the valentines. We had to use two pieces to get the right grip.

LittleA then took markers and made each crayon look like a little person. I added the thought bubbles complete with her own nice words about each classmate.

Some of my favorites read:

"you are elegant"

"you make me laugh when you jump in fake volcanos"

"you are a sporty girl"

"you are a good friend"

I was lucky enough to be able to volunteer for the class party. Each classmate was so happy to try out the crayon. But the best was when some of the students told LittleA how very much they liked what she wrote about them. 7 hours of work and a near microwave fire - all worth it!

Little Pickles Leg Warmers

2011-02-10T07:58:00.003-05:00

day.by.dayna 365:2:1

This post can start my Christmas holiday wrap up... better late then never - especially because there was some really cool hand made goodness in our house this year.

I consider myself more a sewing kind of gal versus knitting but two years ago I took a How To Make A Mitten class and found some enjoyment in the knitting and have kept coming back to it. The struggle that I have with it is in the being patient for a whole and complete project to materialize. I realized this when I read this post over on SouleMama and decided to take a moment and remind myself that there is also supposed to be joy in the activity and in the creating. The process is a part of the enjoyment as well.

I thought a small project for my LittleA would be just the thing...something I could enjoy but that would also come together quicker then a project for me. Using my experience from my limited past projects I thought a pair of legwarmers could easily be whipped up in the here and there moments and wrapped just in time to place under the tree. A brief internet search led me to the Little Pickles Leg Warmers pattern over on Knitzi.

I dug through the stash left by my grandmother - plans to link her and my daughter with each pass of the needles. And that is where I made the wrong turn. I have decided that I am a sewer and a cook - these two places allow for freedom and experimentation and substitution...in my mind knitting and baking are the other half of my brain - where I don't quite know all the rules and I need to follow directions exactly. No choosing different sized needles or substituting yarn type or increasing the size. I picked what I thought was the prefect yarn (100% cotton for color and a mohair for feel) but it turns out the cotton was too thick - a tad to bulky to be sock yarn. Figured this out about 1 inch into my project when the sweet little leg warmers made to fit a 5 year old easily slid onto my leg and looked pretty good there. I did not have the heart to rip out my just taking shape legwarmer so I continued on and made them for me instead. Finished just in time for a snowshoe trip with a verbal promise that LittleA gets the next pair.

Did I mention how fun these are to wear? They a girly and fun and super warm! Are you on ravelry? Come find me dms02. I would love to see what you are working on.

Snowflake Bently

2011-02-09T10:32:00.000-05:00

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A really great picture book biography for children. Illustration done in a wood cut style that was folksy and nice. The story was pleasant and the historical side bar info was good for answering questions and adding more detail. Especially fun to read in the thick of the winter. After seeing much snow it is always fun to think about no two snowflakes ever being the same!

View all my reviews

Final January Pics

2011-02-09T10:13:00.000-05:00

My final photos for January are for a WIP so I was not ready to give a complete post just yet. Stay tuned to see the nine photos that make the above collage. This was one of those "easy" projects gone wrong and then come back round again.

Playing Catch Up

2011-01-27T09:03:00.001-05:00

365:19 - The most amazing slow falling snowflakes pile up by the barn

365:20 - Studio Stash categorized on ravelry

365:21 - Roasted Garlic Potato Soup from LOVE SOUP

Double Duty

2011-01-26T21:00:00.001-05:00


day.by.dayna 365:18

Is loving when the radiators do double duty. There is nothing better in the winter then a guaranteed warm spot. A place to sit a moment to warm up to the core, a place for a cat to nap, warming winter mittens, toasty bath towels when you get out of the shower, and finishing the job that the washer was too tired to do on its own.

House of Sound

2011-01-26T08:52:00.004-05:00

day.by.dayna 365:17

This is a house of sound. Make a house. Put a word ending sound in the roof and then fill the house with all sorts of word possibilities. LittleA decided to try some of these with window crayons in our dining bay window. Not sure why "big" is crossed off but "frig" remains...oh dear!

Let's Bowl

2011-01-25T09:15:00.002-05:00

day.by.dayna 365:17

Canned

2011-01-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

day.by.dayna 365:16

Summer goodness stored away for these hibernating type months.

Herman

2011-01-25T07:00:00.002-05:00

day.by.dayn 365:15

Sourdough starter made with whole grain flour and water. LittleA made up our tracking log (Flour, Container, Saran Wrap).

UPDATE:

first attempt molded due to lack of our supervision. Take two on the horizon.

Spring Bob

2011-01-24T20:40:00.003-05:00

day.by.dayna 365:14

We had a potato that got a little unruly. So we did a Smith Science Friday and decided to watch this little spud grow until the spring. We hope to plant it and see what happens.

LittleA presents "Spring Bob" does he look happy or what?

Lunch Love

2011-01-24T11:53:00.000-05:00

day.by.dayna - 365:13

LittleA takes her lunch in one of the Laptop lunch systems. I am a huge fan of this thing. It makes lunch packing easy and organized. The container is a good size for LittleA and it fits right inside her backpack. I have added a new sideshow on the right hand side of the blog to feature some of our packed lunches. Check out the laptop lunch box websites for all sorts of great packed lunch ideas.

One of our favorites are dubbed "dippers". We have pasta dippers (cooked noodles with a side of sauce to dip in) but our favorite is pancake dippers (cut up pancakes with a small side of syrup). So what do you like to pack? Any good clever ideas we can add?

Lunch Box Notes:

Looking through catalogs was something I liked to do as a kid and even now...like window shopping from the couch. My mom used to get the Current catalog all the time and I was in love with the little Suzy Zoo characters. One time she order a whole set of little lunch box notes. I must have been in the second grade at the time and I LOVED looking around my spam sandwich, past the snack cake and my juice box for a little card stock note with love from home. I knew when LittleA was school bound that I wanted to carry on the tradition. And here is a collection of awesome lunch box love.

Found@: AlphaMom Creative Genius Originated@: Skip To My Lou

(also features cute template for customizing your own notes)

Super cute full colored notes with room for personal notes!

fresh picked whimsy: Love notes

plus check out the illustrators blog posts with lunch love.

Lunch box jokes

lovey-dovey lunch jokes.pdf - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

knock knock lunch notes.pdf - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

So, the thing is...blog: Lunch Box Notes

School themed lunch box love from Twig & Thistle

Visit Tangarang for Robot themed lunch notes.

and not to be missed Paper & Pomegranates super cute sweet lunch notes.

WIP - Knitting

2011-01-24T11:17:00.000-05:00


day.by.dayna 365:12 - this was one of my grandmothers knitting project keepers. Now resides in my bedroom.

With a deadline looming (a snowshoe adventure) I am trying my best to complete these Knitzi - Pickles Leg Warmers. If you check out the pattern you will see that these are supposed to be for a 4 year old. I started knitting and mussed up the gauge and next thing I knew...I was the new owner of a half finished pair of leg warmers instead of LittleA. She gets the next pair! The pattern is quite simple although I did struggle with the suggested flexible bind off. I popped into the local yarn shop for some very helpful advice and the first leg warmer is done!

This is yarn from my grandmother's stash that I love(d). I thought a cowl neck would be great to wear with a black turtleneck that I have. I started to knit this one - even bought a couple ceramic buttons to try with it. Then my husband commented that it sort of reminded him of cat puke....yeah not sure this one will get finished. I can see his point.

Star Words

2011-01-12T11:18:00.000-05:00

day.by.dayna :: 1.11

LittleA began Kindergarten this fall and one of her regular assignments is to practice and learn her vocabulary words - star words. We are always on the look out for ways to make this activity new, fun, and challenging.

I bought the game Bananagrams thinking it would be a great way for a new reader to have fun with language. We have yet to play by the actual "rules" of the game - but from the way they sound I think an early reader and beyond would be able to all play together with some help or modified rules. Last night we spilled out all the letter tiles. I then picked out all the letters needed to form two of her star words and jumbled them up. LittleA then had to rearrange the letters until she formed her two star words. It was fun as a parent to watch her concentrate and play with the letters to coax them into recognizable formations.

So what are your vocabulary games? Do you have any special ways to use letter tiles?

day.by.dayna :: 1.10

2011-01-12T10:25:00.000-05:00

day.by.dayna :: 1.10

Oh Christmas detritus I am not sad to pack you up and see you go!

Sour Cream Drop Biscuits

2011-01-12T09:53:00.001-05:00

day.by.dayna :: 1:8

I owned a biscuit cutter but had never attempted to make some. Then the other night I made soup and thought it might be a good time to give it a try. I had clipped a recipe a while back from CookingLight that seemed like it would compliment the soup. The biscuits whipped up quick and easily and they were delicious hot with melted butter spread inside.

****

Sour Cream, Cheddar , and Green Onion Drop Biscuits - CookingLight
for full details and nutritional info click the above link

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese (I used a mix of cheese that I had in my fridge...one of which was sharp provolone)
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions (substituted garlic because it was what I had on hand)
1 cup fat-free buttermilk (I keep powdered buttermilk in my fridge and just mix it with water as needed)
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add cheese and onions; toss well. Add buttermilk and sour cream; stir just until moist.
Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. (I rolled out the dough and cut out biscuit rounds and baked them on a silpat lined baking sheet) Bake at 450° for 15 minutes or until edges are brown. Remove biscuits from pan; cool on wire racks.

Window Love

2011-01-12T09:22:00.002-05:00

day.by.dayna :: 1:9

Nothing like window crayons to bring joy and light to the blank canvas of our winter wonderland!

I look at this and wonder if LittleA has somewhere seen the Robert Indiana iconic LOVE sculpture...or if she ran up against the window pane divider and coincidentally had to go to the second line for the VE?!

day.bydayna :: 1.7.11

2011-01-11T10:03:00.002-05:00

Frances England - Mind of My Own

2011-01-11T10:02:00.000-05:00

I was lucky enough to win a the Creative Family Challenge #1 contest on the Frances England website (check her "Diary" page). Do head on over and check out how clever and creative her site is.

The challenge was to find out something you didn’t know about your grandparents. Here is our submission: “My daughter brought home a classroom book that detailed how each child was given their name. My husband thought it would be fun for her to guess how he and I got our names. She took a guess and then we had her call each set of grandparents to find out the story of how they named us. Imagine my husbands surprise when his mom announced over speaker phone that he was named after her third grade crush!! All this time my husband had no idea. Thanks for this fun challenge!”

Much to my delight and surprise my entry was drawn at random from a hat and we were sent this most excellent CD. My daughter LOVES LOVES LOVES it and we have already had a few living room dance parties to the songs. These are easily enjoyed by parents as well. The music is folksy and fun. Not overly sugar coated.

day.by.dayna :: 1.6.11

2011-01-11T09:33:00.002-05:00

Homemade egg rolls frying in cast iron

day.by.dayna :: 1.5.11

2011-01-05T11:41:00.000-05:00

day.by.dayna :: 1.4.11

2011-01-05T11:40:00.000-05:00

::getting back on track in the new year::

2010 saw this family run together in two 5K's (my first ever). Looking forward to see where things go in 2011. Do you have any good running songs to recommend?

day.by.dayna :: 1.3.11

2011-01-05T11:30:00.000-05:00

::drawing::

day.by.dayna :: 1.2.11

2011-01-05T11:29:00.000-05:00

day.by.dayna :: 1.1.11

2011-01-05T11:21:00.000-05:00

Did you too see the FamilyFun Magazine New Year's Cheese Ball Drop? Well if you didn't pretend it looked just like this. This was our plan to get the kiddos to bed before midnight. The great Sputnik like cheese ball paraded into the living room near 8:30. It made its decent from over my head onto the coffee table where it was enjoyed by all. An interesting snack before the random dance party broke out. In case you are a DIY'er and want to give this a try...that is a head of lettuce on a can of chicken - wrapped in foil - covered with skewered cheeses.

Hello 2011.

So here it is...a new year filled with new plans and fresh beginnings. A new camera with lots to learn...A plan for a photo a day to document this years trip 'round the sun.

I hope to most days have more then just the photo. However on days when that is all I can muster it will be guilt free. A daily creative expression.

{this moment}

2010-11-05T11:15:00.000-04:00

"{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember." ~SouleMama

inspired by and shared with the community on SouleMama ~ come join in.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T16:20:00.000-04:00

The house was in disarray, the decorations were in shambles, the costume was changing daily, there was nary a pumpkin in sight. Seriously! Loving the schedule that school has brought but we are still adjusting. Trying to find the best times to slip off to the library, stitch something up, swish and swipe a sink or two, and all that daily hoopla that makes this the life we love. Working daily to give up on the perfect notions that exist only in my head.

So we pulled out the decorations this year and looked at the mish-mosh we had collected in past living spaces and realized that I was not in love with most of it. It had been purchased for a someday space that did not exist at the time and now it is not a fit. While browsing blogs I fell in love over at All Sorts...just look at this awesome mantle!! This was her bedroom mantle last year.

Halloween Bedroom Mantle - Source: Jenny @ ALL SORTS

Feeling inspired LittleA and I headed out to the local craft stores to see what we could put together. Here is what we created.

The crows and headstones are what I was really hoping to recreate.The headstones were at Joann fabrics and had all sorts of colorful glitter - made them less creepy for LittleA. We bought one back of webbing to stretch across the mantle and some light fixtures. The crows were tough to locate - but ended up being with the fake flowers at the craft store. I propped to one up on an upside down vase covered in web to add some height. The banner was from AC Moore last season. It is part of the vintage Martha Stewart line and I bought it post holiday...and was lucky enough to remember where I stored it.

I spotted the walls of bats all over the blogosphere and feel terrible I cannot recall where I first saw it. I bought black card stock from the scrap book section. Then I did a google search for a bat silhouette that I liked. I printed one out and cut it exactly in half. I folded my card stock in half and traced my half a bat on the fold. The fold gives the wings some dimension. I adhered them to the wall with a tiny pieces of sticky tack. I made about 35 and that was good to make a colony of them that flew from our dining room over the mantle and up our stairs.

okay - so now I need some Thanksgiving and Christmas mantle inspiration...any ideas?

The costume this year went from Madeline to the Paper Bag Princess to.....finally.....
PICKLE

a fancy pickle of course...with ruby slippers!

{this moment}

2010-10-29T14:16:00.000-04:00

"{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember." ~SouleMama

inspired by and shared with the community on SouleMama ~ come join in.

{this moment}

2010-10-22T07:30:00.009-04:00

"{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember." ~SouleMama

inspired by and shared with the community on SouleMama ~ come join in.

Scavengers

2010-10-21T08:51:00.004-04:00

On a camping trip years ago my mother and Aunt and Uncle created a scavenger hunt. It was a hunt that had the group of us cousins walking in circles for an hour to be rewarded with some jelly fruit slices. The joy was in the adventure more then in the reward.

We have done one such adventure hunt in our own yard this year. We had a group of kids at the house this summer for a weekend camp out. All the moms contributed some "goodies" for a treasure box that we hid in the yard. We then made clues all around the yard that the children had to work together to solve. Here were some of the styles of clues that we created:

::Rhyming Clues
Create a rhyming sentence or poem and then leave a blank that the children can fill in for their clue.

::Secret Code
Spell out a clue with numbers and leave a key that shows what letter each number represents.

::Photo Clues
Take a close up photo of something distinctive near where the next clue is hidden. As a spin on this we selected a leaf from one of our trees and asked the kids to search near the tree from where the leaf had come.

::Puzzle Clues
Write or draw out a clue and then cut it into puzzle shapes and let the kids assemble the puzzle for their clue.

At the end the hidden treasure was up in our apple tree and the kids had a good time rooting around in the loot together!

The other fun adventure hunt we recently tried out is Letterboxing. Have you tried this yet? If you liked treasure hunts as a kid you will enjoy this. It is a fun activity that requires little prep work, the whole family can enjoy, and typically you get out in nature for a while.

We thought this stump was a great place for our letterbox to be hiding but we found something else hiding there instead!

::What you will need::
- Printed directions to locate your hidden letterbox
- Pen or pencil
- Rubber stamp (homemade or store bought)
- Ink Pad
- Small Notebook

There are letterboxes hidden all over the country. All you have to do is see if there is one near to you...we even check the list before we travel. This is a fun and inexpensive activity to add to a road trip or other getaway. So before you head out - head to the Letterboxing North America website and search to see if there are any boxes in your area.

See the corner of the plastic box - under that rock?

As for the boxes, most seem to be a plastic food storage container. When you find it - open it up! Inside you will find a rubber stamp (homemade or store bought) and a small notebook. Flip through the pages of the book and see all the people that have found this treasure before you. Then leave your stamp and name (feel free to use a code name) on a blank page. With the stamp you find in the box...ink it up and stamp it into your small letterboxing notebook. We also indicate the date, who we were with, and where we found the box. Feel free to leave room in your page for photos or other mementos.

This page is a seriously fun resource for all you could want to know on rubber stamping. Geninne's Art Blog is a super colorful and whimsical place to check out - when I go there I want to make something. She even has included video of her stamp carving.

Need more inspiration for scavenger hunt clues? For more great clue ideas check out this page.

Not sure you want to make your own stamp - but want to support someone who does? Check out Sugarskull7's Hand carved Stamp shop on etsy. Seriously a bacon strip stamper...need I say more? Ok - I will - they take custom requests.


image from Sugarskull7"s etsy listing - see links above

As for journals - we just bought a small hard cover artist sketch book. If you were feeling crafty you can make a journal book yourself. Check out these book making tutorials on Making Books With Children.

A New Adventure

2010-09-01T09:26:00.023-04:00

Tomorrow my LittleA heads off into the world to forge the foundation of her school based learning.

Tomorrow is a day that will "go down on her permanent record".

LittleA will take the giant step up onto a school bus and head a short ways down the road to participate in her first day of Kindergarten. I will stand in the driveway with my head buried in my husbands arm pit as the bus shrinks out of sight.

My little girl is apprehensive at this big big world she will venture into. Worried about missing me all day. Worried that she wont make friends. Such huge concerns for someone so small.

She will be fine. But she is not so sure of that just yet.

I am apprehensive about letting her set sail into the great big world. A little sad about not being the center of her world. A little stingy about sharing her with others.

I will be fine too - but I am just not so sure of that yet either.

Like I often do, she has taken to romanticizing moments. She tells me that I will be there as she descends the steps, that I will scoop her up and spin her round and round as her hair blows behind her. And this may just be the one time where our notions and our reality will collide into one truth. I will scoop her up and nuzzle into her little neck and inhale deeply and try so very hard to make a permanent place for that memory in my head.

Good luck my love - be a good friend - and know that the world is so much sweeter with you in it.

What We Did On Our Summer Vacation

2010-08-23T11:16:00.001-04:00

It has been an amazing summer. We had our handy Summer Dreaming list posted on the fridge and we have made some good progress. This was a guilt free list to remind us of some things that we would enjoy - time permitting. Back in the cold of March LittleA and I did a water color together and once it dried we took to it with marker to list all the ideas we had for the warm and long days of summer.

The list contained family and individual goals.We have checked off some boxes and thought about adding some of them into fall/winter plans. It is really amazing how having something written down can really be a major step towards accomplishment.

We have sewn new clothes and crafty goodness
camped a LOT,
checked out the Laura Ingells Wilder days at a local museum,
had our second annual Smith family Campout and Jamboree.
Attracted butterflies and grown tons of our own food,
Tested out some new garden strategies
Visited a planetarium

Currently we are working on...

Learning to tie shoes
Getting ready to use our passports
Sewing more clothes for the start of school
Canning and freezing
Working on sight words

On the horizon

Posts about the summery goodness listed above
Prepping for LittleA's first day of Kindergarten
Running in a road race
Trying Henna

Looking forward to the new routines ahead of us. Looking forward to a return to this space.

Yogurt

2010-05-21T09:27:00.000-04:00

Seriously did you have any idea how easy it is to make homemade yogurt? I saw the wonderfully photographed explanation over at JCase Handmade.

I remember my grandmother had a yogurt machine at her house...and she made everything from scratch so I guess I just figured you needed a machine of some sort. Well if you have a pan and a bowl with a lid - you are ready to go!

The photo above is my bowl of yogurt...needing some more of the water drained off. Trust me though JCasa's photos are drool worthy. I am going to turn two cups of this into frozen yogurt (good looking recipe over at 101 cookbooks) later today. Simple ingredients 1/2 gallon of milk and 6oz of yogurt. I love that you need yogurt to make yogurt...so don't eat all your goodness, save some for the next batch.

I did use kitchen towels to soak up the excess fluids. I could not bring myself to go through the amount of paper towels or napkins this would have required. I have so far used three kitchen towels and they were all soaking wet. I am not thrilled with the fact that there is detergent in my towels...but it is "natural" detergent (not that I would want to eat it)l. And who is to say what is in bleached paper products? I am thinking cheese cloth and a sieve would be a much better option.

Now I need to root around in the freezer for some of last summers left over fruit. Any mix in suggestions?

Amy Krouse Rosenthal

2010-05-11T17:19:00.001-04:00

Are you a fan of Little Pea? How about Little Hoot, Little Oink, Spoon, Duck! Rabbit!??? These are all wonderful kids books by the equally wonderful Amy Krouse Rosenthal - a self proclaimed "person who likes to make things". Perhaps you tend to Ms. Rosenthal's "grown-up" selection. Well did you know she has a great website and a really super great Mission Blog. Brought to you by the makers of This American Life. Each week Amy presents a new challenge - something to make or do - or to be. The blog is a little tricky to find...but if you go to her website you can sign up for the emailed version.

Check out Amy's recent blog post video on Kindness....there needs to be more goodness in the world such as this.

Calling All Sewers - Join My Sewing Circle!

2010-05-11T11:30:00.000-04:00

Are you a person who loves to sew? Have you visited ravelry and wondered why there was not a sewers version? Heck, I even tried to get into knitting (and I do enjoy and dabble a little) just to be a part of the community. Certainly I have checked out the SewMama forums but still I was wanting more.....

AND THEN today I read the great news over at Uncommon Grace, that there is a new space for sewers...and its like ravelry....WOOO HOOO. So go and join and lets be friends at MY SEWING CIRCLE.You can search for me under people I'm dms02.

Eco Lunches

2010-05-11T10:26:00.001-04:00

LittleA heads off to school this year and I have spent an inordinate amount of time searching around for good lunch container solutions. Currently we use a lot of Pyrex glass containers - but I have a feeling that will not be cafeteria friendly.

We love sandwich and snack wrappers. So this past weekend I tried my hand at making one. There are lots of variations out there on the web...but I am not thrilled with the vinyl and other plastics that are being used as lining material. In a mothering.com forum someone mentioned using the lining from organic cereal. Organic specifically because non-organic cereal bags are sprayed with BHT. So I saved a bag and it turned out well. It has more of a crinkly noise then the original Wrap-N-Mats but it is not too bad. We will see how long it holds up.

The shape is just a nice size sqaure with the four corners cut off. I cut three pieces. Two of the cotton fabric and one of the liner. I sandwiched the pieces together (cotton pieces right sides out and liner on top). I placed the Velcro pieces and then stitched all around and left a hole for turning the entire thing inside out. Then I finished the opening with some top stitching.

Place your sandwich bread or snack in the middle, fold in the two sides, then the bottom, and seal with the Velcro tab. I think this will be a great way to use up some fabric scraps I have. I also plan to make some velcro top pouches as well. Something that will hold a cookie or two or some carrot sticks.

I was considering the Lunch Bot. Have you used one? Are they worth the $13 ticket price?

I am also looking to make a lunch chart of a variety of the packable lunch options for my daughter. Would love to hear about some non-traditional lunch box lunch items. I am hoping the chart will coincide with my grocery meal planner (which I do intend to post about some day soon). Something that at a quick glance will give good ideas in the protein (main dish), side veggie, fruit, snack categories.

Also what are you using to keep a beverage cold till lunch?

For The Love of Bread

2010-05-05T11:47:00.002-04:00

When my husband and I married it was at the height of the bread machine craze. Scanner in hand at the local big box register for your wedding here store, visions of fresh bread danced in my head. My husband looked at me in all seriousness and said "Do you know what will happen if we register for a bread machine?" [insert my puzzled looking face here] "My grandmother will hear about it and she will write out a recipe and give you a loaf pan". It is funny the things I thought we needed when we registered....as though I had any clue on how to run a home. I am not implying that some 7 years later I am all knowing on the subject...but I do have clearer ideas on what I like and a machine that makes me bread would definitely be taking up space in the basement right about now. Certainly it would have been great for those early attempts at edible bread...but with each non-rising, under kneaded ball of gluten I inched one step closer to understanding some bread making basics. I do have g-ma's handwritten recipe and two loaf pans - both which are within easy reach in my kitchen.

I am probably tempting fate by saying this...but Bread, I think I have finally figured you out! At least the beginning steps of success. I am not running around crafting artisan breads or selling loafs here...but I have successfully served danish braid, challah, molasses breads, focaccia, quick breads, and bagels. And now I am ready to further test the waters...or at least my perseverance.

In the car on the way to the grocery store I heard an interview with author William Alexander. I read his first book $64 Dollar Tomato, and really enjoyed it. Mostly because it seemed to ring so true in our own family garden. A tomato seed may cost next to nothing, but the money we invested in fencing and compost, and garden markers, and on and on and on surely adds up. You must garden for the love of it...not so much the "cost benefit". Although if you stick with it it tends to get cheaper in time. So.. Mr Alexander has written a new book. It is in the format of a one year challenge (I really am a sucker for these types of books). Over the course of the year he hoped to perfect one single bread recipe in a quest to the perfect loaf. He details it in his book 52 Loaves: One Man's Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust.

So now I am standing in the bread aisle and I am thinking. I am inspired by the thought of 52 loaves book and by SouleMama's past bread love posts...and I think "yeah, I can do that". And I do (well I mean I started). So this is my plan I will try my best to wean myself away from my dependence on grocery store breads. I will try a wide variety of styles and types. I will make no rules about it. I wont ask people to join me (but feel free to if you like). Lets see if I can keep it up for a year (or a while or a month or whatever). My freestyle bread making not quite a challenge - challenge.

I decided to come home and create a bread that would be good for sandwiches and the likes for the next week or so. I created two loaves of Anadama bread for an old recipe book from my grandmother. The recipe contains molasses and cornmeal. It has two rises and makes two loaves. I used a blend of bread flour, white flour, and whole wheat flour. It smells delicious while baking and tastes great too. Photo to follow...

UPDATE: 5.11.10

Here is a photo of the Anadama bread that I made. The recipe completed two loaves. We ate the first one fresh..stored on the counter in a tea towel. We are on the second loaf now which was stored in a bag int he fridge.

This recipe from All Recipes - seems close to the one I used. For the three cups of flour I split the cups as follows 1 Cup each of bread flour, white flour, whole wheat flour. The mixture worked just fine.

Groundhog Days of Winter

2010-02-25T10:20:00.001-05:00

Groundhog Days of Winter

Just yesterday listening to the radio I heard a local guy read a piece on how he is surviving the "groundhog days of winter". I had to laugh...this is exactly how I feel - as though groundhog day sets me into a total winter tailspin of funk. I looked it up and it appears that groundhogs day is the exact mid-point between the winter solstice and the spring solstice.

Ok, so I am working up some ideas to rejoice at the coming spring and enjoy the last weeks of the wintery season. Time to post some of the things we have been doing but had no energy to post about.

What to do with the leftover Holiday Monk's Bread? The small chunks of fruit in this loaf made it fairly undesirable in our house. As an aside - I have to say that as a family we love many of the other flavors made by the Trappist Monks some hours down the state thruway. So back to the project at hand...inspired by a friend and fellow blogger who just started a space online (based on the great book I Love Dirt) for her outdoor adventures with her kids, we created some snacks for our woodland friends. This time of year can be really difficult for outdoor creatures to locate food sources - so we created for them a small snack.

We cut up some slices of the Monk's bread and then took some leftover cranberries and got to stringing them on some cotton thread.

LittleA and I worked together - we took turns threading the pieces and sliding them down our garland base.

Our big family bowl gets filled up.

LittleA carrying the bowl to the tree that we can watch from our dining room table.

We draped the garland over the tree limbs and waited....

the next morning our garland had been dragged away and all that was left for us to see were snow prints.

We also created an ice wreath but it did not fair as well. Tim found it in the freezer - wondered what it was and tossed it out onto the lawn...we are not sure the rhyme or reason to his actions - but there was much laughing when I asked where it was. I guess it made it to the animals in one way or another. Although I think I would have preferred to see it hanging on our lamp post - ahh maybe next time!

Damn Dark February

2010-02-18T11:17:00.000-05:00

Damn Dark February

Oh that blasted groundhog...he always brings forth mixed emotions for me. When I see Feb. 2 on the calendar my heart races at the thought that we are nearly through the dark winter months...but as soon as the prediction is uttered the days begin to run like molasses in January. And despite that fact that the sun is sticking around a little longer each day...Feb still is to me the shortest longest month.

So things are a tad slow around here but I am working on some good posts and by that I mean working on some good living that I can post about later. Perhaps when in a cheerier mood. I have lists to make and planning to do so as to get the most from 2010. Working on some scheduling and some projects to shake us out of our winter cocoons.

Unlikely Friendships

2010-01-21T11:36:00.001-05:00

Unlikely Friendships

I have often commented to friends and family how motherhood brings an onslaught of friendships you never imagined you would have. People all the sudden insist on setting you up as playmates with mom friends they know you should meet. Essentially one becomes pigeon holed into the mom club - even though individuality reigns in the job of motherhood. And although this arrangement has some random pairings and occasional downsides, it is also really unique and wonderful to find that the club of motherhood is sometimes all you need to form a friendship with someone whom you otherwise may have never crossed paths with.

It is my hope to take this experience and relate it to LittleA in a way that works for her. That she may not spend her school career completely keeping to one "group", that she may understand that friendship can grow from a small commonality. It was a week or so ago that this thought came to me as we watched Unlikely Animal Friends on the NatGeo channel. That like being in the motherhood group...sometimes just being in the animal kingdom is enough to spur a friendship. Here is the write up from the shows website:

NGC takes a fun-filled look at the stunning bonds animals form with other species, and even prey. A baby hippo is washed ashore after a devastating tsunami and latches onto a surrogate mother a 130-year-old giant tortoise. A lioness plays mom to a series of baby oryx calves, grooming and even fending off outside predators. These unexpected friends defy the laws of nature and demonstrate an evolution in the animal kingdom that would astound Darwin himself.

The show, Unlikely Animal Friends, featured the very viral video of the men John and Ace who purchased Christian the lion from Harrods in 1968. A cub at the time Christian lived with the two in their furniture store until he grew to a size too big. The two men decided to reintegrate Christian into the wild on a national reserve in Africa. The amazing part of the video is when the two men decided to pay Christian a visit one year later. The video shows the reaction way better then I could ever write in words.

I tear up every time I watch this video. You can read more about this unique friendship in this wikipedia article.

The show also depicts a crow and kitten friendship as well as an orangutan and a hound dog who do not like to be apart from one another. LittleA really enjoyed the segment about the elephant and the dog (Tarra and Bella) who became friends and the tortoise and hippo (Owen and Mzee) - both pairs which have become famous by books. Yesterday, while we were at the library, we came across both books. I look forward to reading through them with her and then chatting about the sometimes unpredictable nature of friendship.

Owen and Mzee:

The two books we checked out:

Owen & Mzee The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship
(click above to see the Goodreads.com page for the book)

Owen & Mzee The Language of Friendship

(click above to see the Goodreads.com page for the book)

And here is a link to the Owen and Mzee website.

Tarra and Bella -

Tarra and Bella The Elephant & Dog Who Became Best Friends

Feel free to leave recommendations for other great examples of unlikely friendships or must read children books that explore and depict great examples of friendship.

Handmade Holiday

2010-01-11T11:14:00.000-05:00

Some of my favorite parts of the holiday are when I can make something for those I love. This year I scaled back the to-do list so as not to be overwhelmed. It worked! I had time to create a couple pieces I really loved - stress free! In addition I fell into jewelry creating - so much fun!

I had trouble wrapping this one...I think I may have to make a "one for me" version!

This was my most favorite piece - this one was created for my mom. LittleA calls her Mimi. I purchased some tool and die stamps and hand stamped "mimi" onto the metal charm. I am going to be doing more of these stamps - so fun!

This one I made for my sister. I heavily "borrowed" the layout from an etsy seller and added the birthstone crystal to make it more custom to her.

Some orchestra bling for my sister-in-law who has to hold martini's and mingle- often!

This was a fun gag gift for another one of my sisters. She just got her first car this year and she keeps all of her directions on 3x5 index cards...so I made her a "GPS unit" out of a recipe box to keep her directions safe.

I hand crafted two presents for LittleA this year. I made her a guitar strap (which I neglected to photograph...will have to go do that now) and then this blanket for her baby dolls. The fabrics are all left over pieces from other family projects. I love to look at it and see all the handmade project bits in there...Halloween costume scraps, a magic cape, a bed spread, a tote bag, a birthday pennant, and some pj's all nestled together. It is fun to see Fern tucked in every night.

So another year begun...exciting to think about what will fill these pages over the next months that will all string together to be a memory of 2010.

Happy New Year.

Advent Calendars

2009-12-04T10:33:00.000-05:00

Advent Calendars

Nothing starts the holiday season off more in my mind then when the advent calendar comes out. We have tried a variety of different styles over the past few years. Little A is always excited to see what we have come up with.

This year as each door is opened on her advent tree she not only finds her magnetic ornament but she has also found a family dinner question. I searched around the internet for family friendly dinner questions and put together a document with some holiday clip art. Each night we ask the question at hand and record each family members answers on the back of the tag. Each slip will be put away in our Christmas memory book with our annual holiday photo cards. That way we can look back on them later as LittleA grows. I have uploaded the questions to scribd so feel free to download a copy for your family. The little tags can easily be folded and slipped into most advent calendars with doors...or just number th ebacks and put them in a jar or in envelopes that can be opened each night.

Advent Dinner Questions

Additionally if you would like the santa beard cotton ball count down that I mentioned last year - I now have that up on scribd too.
Santa Advent Copy

Do you have a fun advent calendar tradition? Please share it - I am always looking for new ideas!

Prepping

2009-11-08T19:23:00.000-05:00

Lists and I are good buddies. We had one on our fridge all summer long with all the fun family things we hoped to accomplish. We got to nearly all of them and just this last week completed the last "Build A Nest". On a nice autumn day LittleA and I headed outside and with arms outstretched we flew around our yard and collected enough leaves to create a nest for the two of us to sit in and reflect upon on our summer and snuggle up for the fall.

I like to have a plan and know in advance what I need and want to do with my time. The ironic thing is that I am also a procrastinator. At the holiday times this can lead to me making wish lists in my head and feeling disappointed in the flurry of the holidays when I can not make things happen.
Enter my new favorite free download....

Giver's Log is a great blog which posts a great variety of gift ideas. Currently the site is reviewing good co-worker ideas. While I was there I found a post about a Holiday Checklist. The check list begins 12 weeks before Christmas. Perhaps next year I will be ready to start Christmas planning 12 weeks out...but for this year I am going to be just thrilled that I have a plan and a very pretty list to look at! You can download a copy over at scribd - list filled in with tasks or blank version to fill in yourself. I printed off both versions. I went through the filled in version and used it to help me create my own filled in list from the blank template. Now the whole things hangs nicely on my fridge.

Week One (for me):
- scout out this years photo holiday cards
- make or order cards
- steam clean the carpets
- create gift budget
- create gift list
- pack away Halloween decoration

- decorate for Thanksgiving
- create a holiday gift receipt envelope
- prepare craft/studio space for homemade gift creating and wrapping
- collect clothing donations from around the house
- create invites and have friends over for a soup swap

- decorate dining room window (with leaf turkeys)- leave space for THANKFUL 4's (seen in Family Fun magazine)

The items in bold are what I still have yet to do here on Sunday at 7:20. I guess over scheduling will remain a problem for me. But as I type this I am also ordering my photo cards on snapfish. I also skipped ahead a little bit as I came up with a fun advent calendar idea. More on advent calendars coming up next!

Summer Wrapped Up

2009-11-01T10:41:00.000-05:00

Summer Wrapped Up

The weather we had this summer left us with a scarce garden and few beach days. In spite of the cool summer weather we have eased into the fall and are awaiting the seasons to change yet again.

~ garlic is dried ~

~ pickles are packed ~

~ potatoes are dug ~

~ herbs are trimmed and ready ~

~ acorns await fall decorating and crafting ~

~ we are ready ~

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T06:21:00.001-04:00

Welcome to our version of the Great Pumpkin Patch and Happy Halloween to you!

Oh how we love the crayola window markers and the Lyra wax-o-glas crayons - seriously go order a set right now...they are a super fun stocking stuffer!

Not all pumpkins...some of those are super huge squash that took over our garden - and the best part is we never even planted them!

BOO

May your day be full of wonderful Tricks and Treats!

The Kissing Hand

2009-10-30T07:10:00.001-04:00

The Kissing Hand

Here is a little project we made to go along with the book The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. After reading the book we talked about nocturnal animals and all the wee critters that would be attending the school with Chester the raccoon. We had an empty oatmeal container heading to recycling and thought we may be able to re purpose it. We decided to make the school in the tree and the make little cards for each student animal that we found in the book.

We started by covering the entire container with construction paper that would serve as our sky.

Next LittleA worked on her scissors skills as I showed her how to make tiny close cuts to create grass. She is a hug fan of the glue stick!

While she created the grass I worked on the tree trunk and leaves. Once the grass was glued on we fluffed it up a bit to give it some dimension.

We got out some of my favorite free craft supplies - paint chip cards. We selected a few to use as cards for our animal students.

We did not have stickers that coordinated with every one of the animals that appear in the book - but we found a good amount of them. I labeled each card with the animal name so that LittleA could work on her letters or reading if she wants to.

There are certainly a number of activities that you can do when the project is complete. We enjoyed putting each animal through the slot in the lid and sending them off to school. We also picked animals from the group to read up on and look for in other books.

Hamburger Hot dog Day

2009-10-29T10:05:00.000-04:00

Hamburger Hot dog Day

A few weeks ago LittleA and I stumbled onto a game of our own creating. It is called Hamburger Hot dog Day. It all started with one of those jumbo teacher sticker packs - you know the ones that advertise 1000 stickers inside...

LittleA found a page that was full of small grillables. She placed a hamburger sticker on both her and my left hand and then a hot dog on the opposite. She planned on wearing them all day. Here is how the game goes... You take turns asking each other yes and no questions. Instead of answering Yes and NO you determine that one of the stickers will equal no and the other will equal yes. Instead of a verbal response you hold up the hand that coresponds.

LittleA do you want to play outside?
Hamburger hand shoots into the air

LittleA do you want to take a nap?
Hot dog hand shoots in the air (honestly I was thinking of throwing Hamburger on that one).

Easy peasy funny game that leads to many goofy questions and lots of hand raising. The best part is all the possibility for hand art. When the super cool Oliebollen Kinderheros tatoos showed up in the mail LittleA had a great idea. "Let's play Sunny Rainy Day"

Goodies For Readers

2009-09-24T15:06:00.000-04:00

Have you checkd out SCRIBD yet? This is a great new service that will let you share PDF files and more with your readers - for free.

Here is the good news...I know can share some of my tutorials and templates with you. Check the right hand side bar for free goodies!

There you will find the link to my Tree Leaf Cards from a past Unplugged Challenge.
Tree Leaf Card Game

You can also see instructions and a template on creating Story Dice.
Fo.ne.tic.lee Speaking - Story Dice

What I Did On My Summer Vacation - Hula Hooping Edition

2009-09-24T10:53:00.000-04:00

Did I ever tell you how much fun we had in July? I don't think I did and its about time we sat down in the lingering warmth of summer and reminisce.

LittleA had a friend birthday to attend this July and we thought about what would make a fun gift for a special friend who was turning 6. The little girls mama tipped me off that her daughter had recently been checking out some hula-hoops. Well that was all the encouragement I needed. I had seen some online tutorials and knew this would be the perfect time to try it out.

How To Make A Hula-Hoop

Now know that I had in my mind to create the hula-hoop as a mother daughter project. Side note I am a fairly crafty mama with a 4 1/2 year old who loves crafting. I checked out the instructions and this seemed a project we could handle together. What makes these instructions all the more fun is that on the day that we were setting out to make the hula-hoops my husband came home early from work and he wanted to participate too. GREAT! Except he was not keen on my girly instructions and he devised a MAN PLAN for making hula-hoops. You lucky readers can choose between the two steps for the project that works best for you!

Equipment To Gather:

Irrigation Tube - Poly Tube

I only found this in a giant 100 foot roll. There are usually a few sizes. I bought 100 PSI 3/4 inch - which makes for a lighter hoop - good for making them for kids.I think the whole rolls cost $25 at Lowes. It was enough for 8-10 hoops - depending how big you make them.

Hair Dryer (mom directions) or Burnz-O-Matic (dad directions)
Ratcheting PVC Cutter (mom directions) or Hack Saw (dad directions)

I will say for the record that if you are doing this as a one time project and you own a hacksaw...then purchasing ratcheting PVC cutters is probably highly unnecessary...the money would be better spent in the later steps on some really snazzy electrical tape. The cut with the hacksaw is not as smooth as it would have been with the ratcheting cutters - but you need to decide if that is worth the price of the cutters ($12 and up).

Insert Connectors

You just need to buy these to coordinate with the diameter of piping that you bought. I grabbed 8 of the 3/4" inserts. These need to fit inside your tube very snugly. This is what holds both end of the hoop together. You will need one per hula-hoop.

Tape

You can use electrical tape, colored duct tapes (saw fun colors at Target), gaffers tape, or the likes. I suppose you could even paint the tube if you prefer. I bought the multi-pack electrical tape from Lowes. I believe that it was about $13. This was the most costly portion of the project. Certainly if you were making these just for home fun - you could cut the cost of decorating them. There are a variety of hoopers online who have shopped at Identi-Tape with good success. There is lots of variety there. They even have a section specifically for hooping tapes that also includes other great hooping links on the web.

Time To Start Making Hoops
Supplies in hand you are now ready to go!

1. First thing first you need to decide how big to make your hoop.I read somewhere that the hoop should fall somewhere between your hips and your shoulders. So grab a piece of tubing and measure up. I prefer a larger hoop and find it easier to keep it moving.

2. Once measured indicate on the tubing where you want to make your cut. Now here is where mom vs dad instructions begin.

MOM INSTRUCTIONS:

Using ratcheting PVC cutters simply snip the desired piece of tube from your total coil.

DAD INSTRUCTIONS:

Take hacksaw and cut through the pipe. This tends to leave a bit of a ragged edge from the serration on the saw. At this stage you can either sand the tube end slightly. OR do what my husband preferred to do...melt the end slightly with the Burnz-O-Matic torch. Additionally you can just cover this small unsightly bit with some of your fancy tape.

3. Now we need to prep the pipe for the insert connectors. The connectors are made to create a very snug fit for the two ends of the tube. So snug that we found it near impossible to insert the connector and just push the two ends of the tube together to form our hoop. The tube needs to be heated up so that it becomes more pliable for the connector to be easily inserted.

MOM INSTRUCTIONS:

Using your hair dryer heat both ends of the tube and then insert the connector piece and push the two tube ends together until they meet. NOTE: If you wanted to make a hoop with sound...you need to insert your sound material before sealing up your hoop. So pop in some beans or corn or bells - whatever you choose.

DAD INSTRUCTIONS:

Using your Burnz-O-Matic torch both ends of the tube until they are softened. Notice the safety gloves.

Then insert the connector piece and push the two tube ends together until they meet. NOTE: If you wanted to make a hoop with sound...you need to insert your sound material before sealing up your hoop. So pop in some beans or corn or bells - whatever you choose.

4. You have made it...now you just need to snazz it up. Decorating is fun and everyone can help with this step.

Our first step was to cover the small seam where the two tube ends joined with some tape. After that it was a taping free for all. The tape I bought was not nearly enough to decorate all 9 hoops we made. It also didn't allow for us to get real creative either - as we had 4 hoops we had to decorate. Next time around I would definitely spend some more time working on this part.

Here is a great video from Identi-tape on how to tape a hoop

5. Give it a go. Now that your hoop is created it is time to give it a whirl. Or wrap it up and give it as a gift. we gave our birthday girl a hoop plus the book Hoop-La: The Ultimate Book of Hoop Tricks by Kari James.

Happy Hooping!

Home For Preschool

2009-09-15T11:47:00.000-04:00

Home For Preschool -

Tim and I decided that we would not be sending LittleA to pre-k this year. We opted to keep her home until next September when she will head off to Kindergarten. The reasons for this are numerous - but that is not what this post is about. This post is about the exciting "smith school" (as dubbed by LittleA) we are working on at home. No we are not handing out worksheets and homework. This plan is driven by the things that LittleA wants to know about. It is heavily created around books and exploring the world without necessarily leaving our house.

We hope to travel the globe through stories and "unknowingly" learn all kinds of good things as we go along. This idea was based upon the map reading mentioned by Jim Trealease's The Read-Aloud Handbook We did the ground work a week ago when we purchased a world map in the poster section of our local craft store. Their was a poster sale going on and I got the map for under $2.

I trimmed off some of the sides so that it would fit when mounted to an old cork board we had laying around. I just used my rotary cutter and quilting ruler to cut nice even lines.

LittleA helped me to put the push pins in to secure the corners and edges. There is even a nice space left where we can tack up pictures and other fun things we find in our travels. We added our first pin into our home town and will take a look at where we are in comparison to the other pins we add. We hope to log each pin into a book so we can track our travels through the year. Hopefully we can find great books with ties to all corners of the planet. Any suggestions?

Last week to get things started we read Laurie Keller's (we LOVE her books - especially Arnie the Doughnut) Scrambled States of America - Talent Show. We got out our USA puzzle map (scrambled all the pieces) and tried to follow along with the states as they were introduced in the book.

First two states making the map.

To make it easier for LittleA to find the states as we came across them in the book we sorted them by puzzle piece color. That way I would show her the shape of the state in the book and if she had trouble locating the piece I would give her a clue "it is in the green pile"

the map beginning to fill in.

This was our favorite page. There were a few states who got together and impersonated other states - so we took the pieces and put them together and compared them to the original state. Quite clever of Ms. Keller to even notice this!

Even without a USA puzzle you could still do this same activity. Perhaps you have a felt set or even just a USA map printout.

Do you have any other books about the states that you love? Let me know we are always on the look out!

September Welcome

2009-09-03T14:20:00.000-04:00

Oh how I love September. It is a month that is much like January to me. It is a time of new beginings and resolutions. It is the month of fresh school supplies and embarking on new learning.

September lures me back to schedule and routine, which I long for after a free flow summer. A summer wrap up post is in the works.

Today I am really excited to share with all my readers my latest project. A dear friend and I who are both passionate about passing on the love of reading to our kiddos (and any other kiddos who will listen) have created a new blog project. The blog is called the KidLit Book Hook. The purpose is to create an online space for a read along. A sort of book club for parents and kids to partake in not just the reading of great books - but also the expansion of those books.

Our plan is to announce a new book every two weeks (the first book is already posted). To play along - read the book to a child (or heck even to yourself if you want to play along). Then come up with a project or activity that expands upon that books theme or message. Then come back to the site and leave us a link. We hope to create a resource for parents and educators to use. With the overall purpose to foster life long readers who LOVE to read and find enjoyment in all that books can bring.

You can also follow us on our goodreads group site. Come and share with other parents, librarians, and educators. Be part of community that can discuss KidLit favorites, the best literacy links, and more!

We would love to have you join us - and feel free to spread the word to someone who you know might enjoy it. This is all in the begining stages and we imagine that the project will grow and change based on those interested in playing along. Drop us a line - let us know what you think!

Hope to see you there :)

Happy Dragon

2009-07-06T15:42:00.000-04:00

Our Chinese New Year dragon was able to make another appearance. This weekend the kiddos suited up and wound their way through the crowd at the Great Blue Heron music fest. Three days of music and merriment and ...oh yeah...lots of MUD!

Summer Time

2009-06-29T13:55:00.000-04:00

We are filling our days with the lazy and crazy...each day is a new surprise! We have peaceful moments of hammock swinging and the break neck pace of party hoping and "drawing it all in". I think this summer will allow me a here and there photo post and the newsier posts will be back in the fall. Hope you are enjoying your season....

here is what we have been up to in June...

celebrated at a princess party for a special friend.

gotten down in the dirt exploring nature during a few camping trips with good friends and family.

enjoyed homemade pizza with fresh in season toppings.

we canceled cable

we have eaten berries and melon by the bunch.

celebrated with some amazing graduates (and more to come)

do get the instructions for these easy-peasy graduation goodies over at Bakerella.

we have jumped in both puddles and bounce-houses.

we have made some new clothes...

we have helped a bride-to-be prep for her wedding.

we took an inaugural fishing trip
we dug for fossils in an ancient sea

we have had piggy back rides

enjoyed ice cream treats

visited our teams stadium and ran and ran and ran...

we tried something new

we watched the end of an era

we laughed,
we slept,
we look forward to July!

Nature Bedroom - Bird Mobile

2009-06-08T22:43:00.000-04:00

Although I was an only child for a few years of my life (7 to be exact) I do have four amazing siblings! One of whom in particular is growing up to be quite the crafty lady! My sister Jenna called me up before LittleA's birthday and said she wanted to make her something instead of buy something. This of course made my heart sing! She wanted to know if there was anything that LittleA would like. I gave her a few ideas and was blown away by what she created.

We have plans of redoing LittleA's bedroom this summer. When we moved in three years ago there was 80's style tulip wallpaper - needless to say...it is still there. LittleA has grown semi-attached to it and it is taking much convincing to redo it. We have settled on a nature theme. I have sourced some ideas through blogs, catalogs, etsy and such. I sent some of my inspiration photos over to my sister they included

This bedroom set from Pottery Barn:

The most lovely birds and wall branch piece created by Meg at Sew Liberated - Check out her amazing nursery for her new wee one. It is beyond lovely!

These Woodland Nature Creatures: Etsy Shop JOHNWGOLDEN

And this is the what my sister created. Mind you the girl had never sewn before in her life! She used the pattern for the birds found at Spool. The branch had fallen from a tree in our yard.

She added some butterflies, a nest with eggs, cherries and some leaves that are adorned with some glass beads.

All the pieces are velcroved on and can be repositioned wherever LittleA desires.

Needless to say we are beyond thrilled with the outcome and cannot wait to hang this in the new nature room! Forgot to mention she also made three canvases for the walls that are all tree themed - I neglected to photograph these yet...sorry!

In The Gutter

2009-06-08T22:28:00.001-04:00

A week or so ago my husband was up on our roof cleaning out the gutters. Among all the gunk and such he also found...

a robin nest with one egg
a birch tree sapling - now potted
wait for it.....A FROG!

So dear readers...how does a frog end up in the gutters? Any ideas?

Good news on the laundry line challenge I ave done three more loads in the past week...all 90% line dried!

Updating

2009-05-19T09:57:00.001-04:00

Just some updating and some cool linkage....

Gift of Green's Laundry Line Challenge -
Still time to join in on the fun. Sign up and pledge to hand a certain amount of your summer wash out on the line. Do something good for the environment and let the sun do some of your housework. There are even fun prizes to be had!

So far I rate myself a big ole' F. I went out to hang my laundry the other day and my old line was dry rotted....it snapped in half as I tried to put it up. Mind you I am a shorty and putting up a new line will deffinitly be a task for the hubby. So for now...the washer has been a churning. Not to mention that is has been to cold and windy to hang anythign around these parts. You can watch my progress over in the right hand side bar.

Sew Mama Sew - May Giveaway Day -

Are you looking for some blog traffic? Some new readers? Want to explore for some other amazing talented bloggers? Want to win free homemade goodies (craftiness, materials, or food)? Then check out the Sew Mama Sew May Giveaway Day - MAY 27th. So what is May Giveaway Day you ask? Well, it is a coordinated one day effort where anyone with a shop or blog can host a giveaway. Each giveaway will be linked on the Sew Mama Sew blog thus generating lots-o-traffic to your page. Plus you can explore all the other giveaways, meet new e-friends, and enter for amazing prizes! Pop over to this post and read the guidelines and think about signing up for the fun.I am considering entering this time around. I have never had a giveaway before. What do you think? I was considering making and giving away some of my homemade felt bow-tie pasta and raviolis. or I could do a set of story dice...which do you think would be better?

Other Cool New Finds -
So here are just a few things I have seen on other blogs or through my own internet travels that I thought were fun and worth posting.

Asteria Hanover (another Buffalo Gal) posted recently about a hilarious site called Awkward Family Photos. This is some seriously funny stuff. If you are a fan of Cake Wrecks then you must check out this amazing collection of frequently updated awkward family moments captured on film...most of which look like professionaly done sittings. I was crying at my desk yesterday reading through these. As of yesterday the gallery was 11 pages long...all which hold some real treasures.

Craft Hope -

Crafting for those in need. Currently making baby dolls for children in Nicaragua who currently live in the Casa Bernabe Orphanage. Past project was pillowcase dresses. Site includes links to patterns.

The Knead For Bread - has posted a super cool recipe for making bread shaped cones...that you can stuff with sandwich goodness. Imagine chicken salad, egg salad, and the likes all inside a pretty cone of bread. I think these would be cool for Thanksgiving too!

Let There Be Songs To Fill The Air

2009-05-13T11:54:00.000-04:00

May your days also be filled with music and song and the sweet ways of little ones!

Wondering

2009-05-12T11:12:00.000-04:00

From the mouth of my babe this weekend...

LittleA: Why does Craig have a list anyway?

Unplugged Challenge - Magic

2009-05-11T10:26:00.002-04:00

Magic was a fun theme for this weeks Unplugged Challenge. I thought for sure when I mentioned it to LittleA she would have run to the toy room to grab the new magic kit she received for her birthday. Instead she ran to our barn yelling "I have a great idea." "I can make my soccer ball disappear."

I sat on the picnic table and watched as she showed me this magic trick she "invented". Then we had the idea to make a book of all her magic tricks. So far we have just this one. But LittleA is busy testing new tricks out. My favorite being how to make carrots disappear (hint: you eat them!).

My first thought was to have her narrate the steps to me as I wrote them down. Then when we went in the house she could draw the illustrations. Then we went one step farther and thought how fun it could be for her to star in her own book of magic.

I grabbed the digital camera and she reenacted each of her steps while I photographed them. I later merged both the steps and pics into a digital format so that we can print and bind it. We are thinking of making copies for friends.

How To Make A Soccer Ball Disappear - by LittleA

Step One:
Put the soccer ball near your feet.

Step Two:
Say "abracadabra" and wave your arms over the ball.

Step three:
Say "I am going to make this soccer ball disappear"

Step Four:
While no one is looking....or while they close their eyes

Step Five:
Kick the ball behind you with your heel.

Step Six:
Say "ta-da"

Step Seven:
Take a bow.

Learn more about the Unplugged Challenges and see what other families did for the theme Magic.

Happy Chinese New Year Birthday - PART II

2009-05-10T12:06:00.002-04:00

here it is - part two of Chinese New Year Birthday

without further delay the dragon. This was the mandatory part of the party by LittleA's standards. She and I made the body and Tim made the head. A real family project. LittleA had plans for all the children to crawl beneath it and dance around the party "scaring the pants off all the parents"

The turquoise portion is 1/2 of a bed sheet. Then the rest of the fabrics were stash pieces I had laying around that fit the bills of sparkly and or flowy .

We got the whole thing going by adding a sort of spine mid-line and then created a make-shift scale pattern with the gauzy sparkle fabric. The long yellow pieces were to add some more flair.

We layered the scales on in an overlaping pattern - sort of how I think you would do roofing tiles. This left some spaces once we got up to the spine area - so we filled those in with felt flowers. The entire thing was help together with all purpose glue.

Here you an see Tim modeling the dragon head he cut from some cardboard. He made two identical pieces and sandwiched them together with a strip of cardboard and some painters tape.

Perhaps you can get a better idea of it from this bad blurry picture of me wearing the two pieces. We were inspired from this costume.

After the form was constructed, little squares of construction paper were glued to the head to make a scaly appearance. The teeth were coated with aluminum foil and the scales were covered in red paper. Last up - the eyes were added on. Again all done with glue.

And here were the two pieces joined together - we used heavy duty tape. I think staples or some stitches would be better next time.

It decorated our banister while we waited for our guests to arrive and then...

The kids were off and running - scaring all the parents! All the kids colorful clothes really added to the dragon.

These were some of the goodie bag items. I made fortune cookies using the directions that you can download from Craft: LillyBean (Hilary Seabolt's felt food marketplace) . The lollipop kimono ladies were inspired byZakka - who did a clever valentine post back in Feb. I must have purchased a differnt size origami paper so I had to alter the directions a little bit. I had to use two pieces of paper and fold then together. Don't skip the belt piece though - It really tied the two pieces together nice.

Here are the goodies all waiting to go home with friends. I inserted a thank you fortune in each cookie. We also added a colorful pair of chopsticks for each kid and some Chinese snacks that we found at the grocery store.

My friend Audrey sent me a link on making the tulle blossom branches (beetlegirl desings - not feeling crafty you can buy some in her etsy shop) that are in the vase. We found all sorts of fun paper goods at the party store.

And of course we had to have some paper lanterns too!

I made some candy sushi - which didn't photograph well. But it was inspired by these really good photos over at Not Martha. I used a half of a marshmallow topped with a juju fish and wrapped with some fruit by the foot.

And here is the cherry blossom cake with the dragon topper I found at Pier1 (also where the Chinese New Year plate was found - seen in fortune cookie goodie bag photo above). The cake was a Martha Stewart recipe. The side vases are filled with real fortune cookies.

A huge thank you to all the friends and family who attended. Especially those who "dressed" the part. The gifts were so thoughtful and so LittleA - so very many of them were even on theme. We are blessed with such an amazing group of people to share our lives with!

Happy Chinese New Year Birthday

2009-05-06T21:30:00.001-04:00

Months ago - like, maybe December time...LittleA thought that a Chinese New Year party would make a great birthday theme. Tim and I agreed that could be fun and we started saving ideas away in computer folders. LittleA's main request was that there would be a dragon that the kids could all get under and dance with. Her hopes was that the dragon dance done by her and her friends would "Scare The Pants Off The Adults". Well that was all the motivation we needed!

To start things off we needed some lanterns for decorating the house. We saved glass jars from the recycling bin and dolled them up with red and pink tissue paper and mod-podge.

After this was completed I went to the drawing board in my "studio" and came up with some blue-prints for a kimono and dragon. Now please let me make it clear that we are well aware that much of this is not authentic for Chinese New Year...nor is some of it even Chinese - I think some of our plans leaned more towards Japanese. Please forgive our lack of authenticity - we were in it for fun!

I stumbled across a 60% off fabric sale at the local fabric shop and picked up some dragon and peacock brocade fabric - this was back in Dec and this was my jumping off point. I created my own pattern based on some shirts and dresses LittleA has as well as grabbing some inspiration from looking at photos on etsy and google image search. Here were some of the inspiring pieces (Peripheral Visions and Patch Work Kids). The one trouble was that LittleA wanted the dress to also be "spinny" - you know twirl out at the bottom when spinning. I think we ended up comprimising but we were both happy with the results.

I started with a standard pattern layout from a denim jumper she had. I used a little piece of metal with a hole in it to go around my entire drawing and add a 1/4" seam allowence.

Once the top was drawn I did much erasing and redrawing to add in the wrap portion for the top. Once this phase was complete I cut out the pieces and then traced it onto a bed sheet I purchased at the thrift shop. For $2 I had a bed sheet which I cut in half. Once piece was used for the pattern pieces for this dress and the other half I got to use to make the dragon! $2 for all that fabric - a great alternative to the muslin fabric at the fabric store. The best part is that I still have the pillowcase - so I can make a pillowcase dress later this summer.

I created an entire dress from the turquoise bed sheet and made sure while it was all basted and pinned together that it fit LittleA ok. After making some adjustments I went and placed the template bed sheet pieces onto the wrong side of the fabric and traced around it with disapearing fabric marker.

After this I added in the lining fabric pieces. This gave the inside a nice finished look and feel.

Then it was all startng to come together. Here it is without the arms...I almost debated ending it here and letting LittleA wear it with a long sleeve shirt underneath and a little pair of stretch pants.

This is the best picture I have that I can post of LittleA wearting the dress. Yes, I know her shoes are on the wrong feet - she likes it that way better she tells me.

In an attempt to wrap this post up before it gets much longer - here are the invitations...

I looked around and considered a variety of options but spotted these (from Plum Party) and these and knew I had to try to recreate them and make something similar. I designed them in Illustrator and used some vector clip art from the microsoft website. The Chinese lettering (Happy Birthday) was from here (not sure the accuracy) you can also see your name in Chinese on this site. Had the kids that attended the party been a little older we may have done a "write your name in Chinese" craft station.

I found the red tea length envelopes at a local Hobby Lobby. The wire is just some floral wire I had on hand. I made the take out box pocketd so that the chopstick invite piece slid right into it.

I found a new kind of glossy paper at the office supply store. It was a glossy brochure paper (as oppsoed to the expensive glossy photo papers). The whole pack was about $14 and I think it had 300-500 sheets. So I am sure you will see more of this paper in upcoming projects. It was a pain to load sheet by sheet into the printed - but the end results were better then just plain copy paper.

Here they are all done and ready to be tucked into the mail.

Join me for Part II of this post where I post about the dragon, the goodie-bags, cake / dessert, and decorations.

And She is 4

2009-05-04T10:53:00.002-04:00

And She is 4

My LittleA turned 4 on Easter day this year. We had some cake and singing along with our families Easter celebration. LittleA wore a spring "spinny dress" and looked like such a little lady. She blew out the candles on her peep sunflower cake. This is one of the years where her birthday falls on Easter day. I believe it happens again some time in her 30's.

It is hard to imagine that four years has come and gone so fast!

Coming up....

All the details from her Chinese New Year themed Birthday party!

Sick

2009-04-28T11:39:00.000-04:00

Sick -

To icky to post a birthday party recap. The party was fun though - and I have lots of great pics to share.

Be back soon!

Family Theater

2009-04-22T09:11:00.000-04:00

Family Theater

This spring cleaning has at the very least cleared up all my homemade Christmas posts. Nothing like catching up from 5 months ago. It has actually taken me that long to return back to my craft space as well. Sometimes when I get into overload craft mode I need a break. I usually head to the comfy side of the couch with a good book.

Here is the last of the holiday crafting. A puppet theater was in need around here and I decided to give it a go. I looked at lots of designs on-line and most of them made me wonder the same thing...how will that little fabric window hold its shape when being played with. I imagined inserting wooden dowels and the like...but in the end decided that a simpler style would work better for me.

If you can make a square curtain you can make this theater. All I needed that I didn't have at home was three tension rods. I had yards and yards of the purple fabric from an old closet curtain project (lucky me I had already finished the edges).

Please pardon the cruddy pictures - next time it is up I will try to get a new pic - and maybe one without the vacuum cleaner in the window!

Once you have the tension rods all you need to do is create the three "curtains"

1 - BOTTOM CURTAIN: This is just a flat panel of fabric with the edges finished. You can fold over and do hems or you could use double sided bias tape.

2 - TOP CURTAINS: This is essentially the same as the bottom curtain - except that you would cut it in half lengthwise and make two smaller curtains. This way the puppeteer can slide the curtains in opposite directions. this is especially good as you can now accommodate just about any size puppet - you will have no window hole to puppet size ratio problems.

3 - FINISHING CURTAIN - This is actually another curtain I had hanging around from an old apartment. In those days storage was limited so I had a lot of things tucked away on an old bookshelf...since I didn't want it all visible I made curtains on tension rods to hide some of the "stuff" behind.

I just took the white curtain (which you can make as plain or fancy as you want) and had it embroidered with our theater name. Since I work in the promotional field as a day job I took this piece to our embroidery department at work (which is lucky for me run by my mother - who never refuses a project for LittleA). You could do the same at a mall embroidery booth, or with applique letters or just puff paint and fabric markers. If you are really skilled you could probably just do the embroidery work yourself.

NOTES:

* Remember that each curtain piece needs to have a rod pocket so that you can install the tension rod when done.

* Feel free to add trims and sparkles as you wish. I used the purple pom-pom ric-rac to add some color to the plain white curtain piece.

* Another idea I have is to attacha piece of white fabric sheet with either Velcro or another tension rod. This way we could shine a light from behind and use the same piece to do shadow puppet theater.

LittleA received some really fun puppets for Christmas from family members who knew she was getting the theater. She has a big hairy monster, a ballerina, and a wolf. She also has some finger puppets that have been around for awhile. But she has even used just her regular stuffed animals to put on shows. I just love hearing her change her voice for all the players.

If you make a theater - be ready to get in on the action. As much as LittleA likes to put on plays - she always requests to see one as well!

You Tell Me A Story...Dice

2009-04-21T14:03:00.002-04:00

You Tell Me A Story...Dice

UPDATE: 9.22.09 - The story dice in this post were mentioned on Angry Chicken's post "chillin' with some dice and tunes" After that I received a request or two to create a printable version of the pieces I used to create my dice. Good news - I finally got that done! Here you go.
Fo.ne.tic.lee Speaking - Story Dice

Over the past 4 years I don't believe that a night has gone by where LittleA didn't get at least one good night story. Most times from a book or other times "from my mouth". Just before the Christmas holiday we would see her sitting with a book telling the story based on pictures or memory. I decided that perhaps it was time to further encourage her in this way.

My thought was a story book station with some components to assist her with her tales. There was much out their in the way of internet inspiration. Just type in blank books or book making over at Soule Mama and you will see a variety of inspiring posts. Take a peek at the Making Books blog for clever ways to create treasured story books with your kids. Another way to jump start the process is to purchase blank books from the Bare Books store.

I decided to make a writing station that could be relocated around the house as needed. Finding the perfect container for the said station was a little bit tougher. I wanted to avoid buying something new - but near the holidays was running low on re purposing cleverness. I had hoped to find an old wooden box at an antique shop - but refused to pay top dollar for an old name brand ammunition box...not quite what I was looking for. Although a words not wars theme could have been interesting! Anyway...I was strolling through the closeout section at Joannes and came across an unfinished wooden box that would sit on a desk to sort bills and such. I thought it would work perfect. It was marked $9 and I had a coupon so for $4 it seemed just right - funny how a good price can be such an influence! I also picked up some glittery scrap book cover stock - which was used to make the blank books. I created a variety of sizes. The paper is just copier paper that I stitched into the book using my sewing machine.

Santa was kind enough to include some shiny new colored pencils in the stocking to stock this little desk. The little drawer slides up and out and can be used to hold treasures.

Additionally I made LittleA some story dice to encourage her. I had some plain wood cubes at the house left from the bulk wood order from Casey's Wood (ya know the place I mention all the time). I know I have also seen these at the local craft shop too. I have to pop back into Casey's for some game piece blanks...thought it would be a fun project to create our own game board and pieces.

I went around the internet looking for clipart of things I know LittleA might like to make stories out of. Each side of the die represents a different part of a story - one is a location, an object, a food, an activity etc. I scaled them all down to the size I need in Adobe Illustrator. Then I printed out the sheet on our home printer. Each piece was cut out and I used Mod-Podge to adhere them to the cubes.

Here are some of the pieces all done. I gave each side multiple coatings of Mod-Podge so that they would be nice and smooth and sealed.

Once they were all dried I created a little Velcro closure, fabric pouch for them to be stored in. The goal of the game is to roll as many dice as you would like. Then create a tall tale or poem or silly story using as many of the clues that you roll.

We have had stories about bicycle riding hamburgers that meet fairy princess in the woods. Many giggles to go around. If you are not feeling particuallarly crafty - feel free to check out the super etsy shop called Mamaroots she has all kinds of goodies (one of which is a story dice cube).

Another idea is to roll the dice and create a piece of art that incorporates all the ideas....imagine a bicycle riding hamburger collage!

If you are looking for other clever ways to get children into creative story telling check out the great ideas at The Story Connection in their storytelling games section.

I won I won...I'm doin' a little dance

2009-04-16T13:14:00.001-04:00

I won I won...I'm doin' a little dance

Cool news...I entered a blog giveaway over at Blue Yonder. Have you been to Blue Yonder? Amazing things going on over there. See all kinds of clever simple ways to be in and enjoying every moment with your kiddos. Also check out the Blue Yonder Ranch - which is the new home to her clever monthly e-zine called Book of Days.

On April 9th there was a sponsor giveaway for Up Up Creative. An etsy shop featuring fun cards and such. The cool thing about this shop is that you don't have to just purchase printed and done cards - you can also purchase a pdf download and then print as many cards as your heart desires. I won a pdf downloadable stationary set. I opted for this little beauty.

Check out her shop and tell me that you think the Crazy Love cards are as funny as I think they are.

And I know my mama would get a kick out of this card for Mother's Day.

So yeah - head on over and see the cool etsy digs of the Up Up Creative store. By the way - read her profile her shop name has a cute origin. Like her work and want to see more - also check out the blog home of Up Up Creative.

I am a total Etsy junky...do you have a favorite store I must check out? Let me know about it in the comments.

Fun Food

2009-04-16T12:07:00.000-04:00

Fun Food

As you can imagine - the building of the play kitchen led to the creation of some fun food. Making play felt food was more fun then I expected. There are so many amazing patterns and tutorials online. There are also many talented people selling crafty felt foods over on etsy. I was really excited to convert all our play food from plastic and cardboard over to wood and felt.

We already had a wooden set of magnetic sandwich pieces and drinks. We also had a couple tea sets and metal utensils and pots and pans and plates (from Ikea). So we really just needed a few pieces of food to add to the fun.

I loved the tutorial over at Day to Day for making eggs and orange slices. I used her pics and instructions as a jumping place. If you look in her right hand column, scroll to ttutorials and you can see her other felt foods too.

So here is what I created for LittleA.

Pita, lettuce, cheese, and tomato

which all tucks together for a pita sandwich

two eggs

ravioli with sauce

bow ties with some more sauce

and here is a pic of all of it together.

The best part is that they all fit in this container that came with my fridge. I never had a use for it - but didn't want to toss it either. It has a lid and all the felt food has a home.

As a tradition of sorts LittleA has always gotten something homemade in her Easter Basket each year. This year was no different. I had seen these amazingly clever tea-bags over in Pickle Things etsy shop and gave them a go myself. I tell you - I should have just bought them! Mine turned out ok - but a bit large. I tried a variety of fabrics before landing at tulle - but even then...my results were eh?! LittleA enjoys them well enough though and that is all that matters.

Feeling creative? Then head to One Crafty Place and check out their felt food tutorial round-up. Have you made any felt food or see something out on the web I just have to check out? Drop me a comment and let me know. I am on the lookout for some more ideas!

Holiday Kitchen

2009-04-14T23:07:00.000-04:00

Holiday Kitchen

Way back when the snow was a flyin' I was inside creating a kitchen for LittleA for Christmas. A Waldorf style all natural kitchen was in my dreams but not my budget. After spotting some inspiration online I decided we could re purpose our old television stand into a kitchen station. In case you too are looking for home made play kitchen inspiration here are some of the links I found useful:

Before I realized we had an old tv stand heading near to freecycle - I was going to buy these plans on etsy from FortyTwoRoads and make LittleA a play kitchen out of carboard. This is one genius parent. You can now also get plans for a cardboard washer/dryer too.

Here is a whole slew of play kitchen "hacks" over at One Crafty Place the one at the bottom on Craftster was a lightbulb moment for me.

More coarboard styled play kitchens can be seen here.

and although this was not on my radar back in December how cool is this dollar store tote turned kitchen set and storage? This would be great to pack for traveling etc.

Other images that inspired me can be seen here,uhh the rest I stored on my hard drive and somehow forgot to note where I found them,,,drats - sorry. But do a google serach for home made play kitchen and lots of goodness appears.

Here is the stand in its previous life. Ths photo was taken last year when we were gearing up to paint our living room.

The doors were never great on this thing - can't say we were sad to be getting rid of it...then I never thought I would be so excited to keep it. The first order of business was hunting down a metal bowl at the thrift shop. I thought from some of my inspiration pics - it would make a great sink. I found one for the bargain price of $0.25. Then I started thinking of some ways to cleverly create burners and knobs. I had seen some made with old container lids. That was going to be my approach until I came across the bits and bobbles of wood scrap pieces LittleA plays with ( I bought a mixed bag of pieces from here Casey's Wood Products is a great shop with wooden eggs, acorns, and wooden peg people, game board pawns, and more) - order a bag and see the fun treasures you can imagine with. I found some pieces that would make for a great layout. I tested the layout ideas out on my studio table and this was the configuration I settled on.

here is the faucet up close

Tim and I were excited the be able to cut a perfect circle for the sink basin (stainless bowl) using his dremel and an attachment (that I think has the sole purpose of circular cutting). I am not exactly sure what other means we could have used to accomplish this without the dremel. I imagine maybe a drill and a hand saw and some chisel pieces. I think this is the first dremel project where we stayed in the lines so to speak. I have a spot in my bathroom and on my old kitchen counter where Tim got, as he says, "overzealous with the dremel". Ah...live and learn!

I do have a better close up pic of the dremel and attachment in action - but I am a little afraid to post it. I fear you will all have to get your loved ones this very special kitchen making outfit. In all honestly though - I feel this combo (camo hoodie and flanel moose print pj bottoms) may have been the last one on the shelves...sorry ladies!! And yes, I still have my grade school compass laying around for just such occasions.

With the hole created we tested out the bowl. It was a perfect fit. I sealed it in place with some Gorilla Glue (have you tried this stuff? It is amazing). Here you can see the unit from the back. Tim created a board from some scrap wood and used it to stablize the whole thing and create a true back to the piece.

I did use Gorilla Glue to adhere the wooden "burners" to the surface. The faucet and knobs were put in place with screws so they would be able to be turned with play. Canned goods held the glued pieces in place for drying. You can also now see the back board Tim added in this photo. Sorry for the wacky pics.

Using some fabric scrap that I had from another project, I created a curtain to add some color and another imaginative space on the kitchen. It is held in place by a tension rod. I figured it could be lifted and the space used as storage or as an oven etc. I imagined the food could all be stored behind closed doors and when taken out to play the doors could sub for oven or fridge doors. I wanted to leave it as open to her own imagination and creative thought as possible.

We found a new life for all the winter citrus boxes accumulating in our house. They are perfect kitchen set storage.

LittleA spends tons of time taking our orders and creating a variety of "rester-naut" (sounds like a diner for astronauts) scenarios. She sometimes sets up her felt board with felt letters that reflect her menu of the day. And for some reason whatever I seem to order...she has just given the last one to the "guy over there"

Have you repurosed something old to become a treasure for your kids? Let me know about it - I am always on the look-out for new projects. Check out How Can I Recycle This? for some more clever ideas on ways to repurpose.

Spring Cleaning

2009-04-13T10:13:00.000-04:00

Spring Cleaning

Hello All....

I feel like a tiny leaf unfurling towards the sun. Things have been good and busy here. Still feeling like I am trying to shake the snow off my shoulders and move into spring. So to encourage the warmth to head our way I am going to do some blog spring cleaning. Things at the house are busy-busy with preparations under way for LittleA's very exciting 4th birthday party (my wee one turned 4 yesterday on Easter). We will be celebrating her birthday on the 24th...so up until then I will be posting spring cleaning posts over here. We will enter full into spring with a post all about LittleA's birthday on Monday the 27th. Her chosen theme this year being Chinese New Year - oh what fun this has been :)

So in the space you will see me "tossing" out posts that should have been posted as far back as Christmas - and some that are less delayed in their appearance here.

Homemade presents - sure you saw Fern. But there was also felt food, story dice, a home puppet theater, and a kitchen crafted from our old television stand that I never got around to posting about.
Unplugged Challenges & Science Fun - We did a few challenges that we never posted about...not to mention we had some NPR inspired "science friday's" I should have posted - including all the fun that can be had with dry ice.
Cooking Projects - Admittedly I passed on a couple Daring Baker challenges (but do go check out their new amazing home and super hero themed logo, and consider becoming a Daring Baker or the all new Daring Cook). There was still kitchen goodness to be had though - so expect a post or two about amazing easy dinner rolls, a failed attempt at some home made animal crackers, tye-dye cupcakes - in honor of Bob Marley's birthday, my latest and greatest two week meal planning strategy, and a meal made entirely by LittleA.
Signs of Spring - yes, I do joke that it is still cold up here in hardiness zone 5 (some areas do have some very patchy spots of snow still) but in all seriousness there are signs of spring all over our yard and even some indoor sowing going on. I will dish about fast sprouting onions, 15 new trees, and plans to consider getting some bees to share some honey with. Not to forget Amy from Gift of Green is back at it with this years Clothesline Challenge. If that is not a sign of warmer weather I don't know what is. Have you signed up to give it a go? Check it out here.

Hope you had an amazing and peacful Easter. I was blessed with a kid that agreed to cozy up in bed for 30 mintues before dashing around the house for eggs and baskets. Here are some condensed mental notes of our day.

LittleA was thrilled to turn 4. It meant she could have a whole vitamin instead of a half.

When told she could have ANYTHING she wanted for her Birthday/Easter breakfast LittleA responded with "scrambled eggs and bacon please"

The official opening of the swing set occurs every year on LittleA's actual birthday. This year after baskets and eggs were found I went to make breakfast and Tim went out to set it all up for the year. He also added a bonus birthday present this year - a homemade balance beam!!

Easter Basket Goodies: Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (awesome book, the Easter Bunny must have heard my friend Rachel recommend this one), sweet necklaces from Giggles and Glam. If you have a small girl in your life - go check out these adorable charms. Honey Sticks (always a fun treat in our house - easy to find at farmers markets and tea/coffee shops). Book Light (encouraging late night reading).

Be well all - be back soon to clean up around here!

Choco-Lot Taste Test

2009-03-09T09:44:00.001-04:00

Choco-Lot Taste Test

Over the last few months I have fallen in love with tucking these dark chocolate goodies into the grocery cart, without my family being the wiser. After dinner or on a day when I am in a mood, I can head to the fridge for a tasty bite that elevates my mood or satiates my sweet tooth.

The fun thing about the Chocolove bars is that their is poetry on the inside wrapper. Orange peel in dark chocolate is my favorite but this raspberry one got me thinking. Perhaps I could make my own.

On my last trip to the grocery store I purchased everything I needed and was excited to be able to purchase twice the amount of chocolate for the same cost.

I picked up a chocolate bar that had a high cocoa content hoping to match the taste of the Chocolove bar. In the end I think 60% was too much...next time I will look for 55% as I think that has a better taste for me. Into the chocolate I added freeze dried raspberries and some orange peel (from Penzey's spices).

I melted the chocolate pieces in a double boiler setup and then added in the extras. I poured the whole thing into a parchment lined cookie sheet (sized for the toaster oven). Then I let the whole thing cool and then broke it into smaller parts so that I could sneak small bits from the fridge.

You can see the raspberries inside this profile view. You can also see that I need to work on getting an even thickness. The overall verdict is - o.k. Not as good as the original but a decent filler...with some room to experiment.

This Family Loves Fleas

2009-03-05T11:08:00.000-05:00

This Family Loves Fleas

Remember just about a year ago my LittleA decided on her flea themed birthday party? One of the gifts her clever Aunt Jenny presented her with was a board game called Flea Circus. Who even knew such a game existed. I also note that Aunt Jenny gave us Feed the Kitty which I talked about in my family game post. Ah yes, aunt jenny thanks for the many hours of family fun you have gifted us!!

After dinner we played Flea Circus. This is the first time it was played per the instructions. Up till now LittleA was a tad to young to grasp all the concepts of the game. It is rated for 6 and up...LittleA is going to be 4 in April - so we let her play with all her cards showing on the table to get the concept flowing. Let me just say how much fun this game is.

In the past LittleA would just take the game off the shelf and play with all the plastic dogs and cats that come with the set. The game reminded me a bit of Mille Bornes (very fun card game where you are the driver of a car by playing mileage cards) if you have ever played that.

Each person gets 5 cards. The cards for the most part reflect different acts at the flea circus and are each worth a different number of spectators (the dogs and cats). The object is to at the end of the game be the person with the most spectators. Of course the deck also has cards that change the pace and direction of play like clown cards, a dog catcher, and some acrobatic fleas.

*Now let me make a disclaimer - if your child has a paranoia about "scary" cards be warned that the dog catcher is quite villainous. LittleA drew the dog catcher card and we almost had to stop the game.

Yes my kiddo despises mascots and villain cards. Thankfully we were already privy to this fear from a game my mom keeps at her house called Cookin Cookies (lots of fun games at their website). Which by the way is another quick paced family fun game.

You see each person gets a cookie recipe card and a spoon with a suction cup on the end. The object is to slap the ingredient cards with your spoon and be the first to assemble all the ingredients for your specific receipe. You do have to watch out though....a rotten egg or two lurks in the deck. LittleA actually quivered with fear when she first saw it. The egg is green and dripping yellow goo and has fangs (you can sort of see him...attached to the red spoon down there).

And that my friends is how a villain card phobia was born. Never did I suspect that I would have to calm my kiddos fear of playing cards.

Food Face

2009-03-04T22:02:00.000-05:00

Food Face

How much fun is this plate?

Takes me back to the olden days where the only entertainment you had while riding in the car was thinking, reading or playing with Wooly Willy (that sounds suspect).

I digress....you can get the plate at Perpetual Kid. I think LittleA would get such a kick out of this. But it wont be available in time for her birthday...might have to make my way to the local pottery shop and see if I can whip up a version of my own.

man people are clever!

Unplugged Challnege - Bottle

2009-03-04T20:41:00.001-05:00

Unplugged Challenge - Bottle

LittleA let her creativity run with this past weeks theme. She thought we should take an egg - crack it opne - scramble it (so she can see if she likes to eat it) - then put in some sunflower seeds and cotton - water it and then trim the greenery like hair - and then let it sit on a bottle.

There were many issues with plan A - one of which involves me not being able to cook or eat or smell cooking eggs. Plan B here we come! A few weeks ago I made a basket in our living room that contains all of our activity type books in one place. It is right near a cozy rocking chair. I introduced LittleA to the basket and invited her to curl up near the basket and flip through for some projects any time she would like. We have turned to the basket a couple times already.

One of the books in the basket is the Usborne Big Book of Science Things to Make and Do.

I bought our copy from an Usborne home party so I got to flip through and check it out before purchasing. We have made a couple of the experiments. Most of them are easy and require minimal supplies - or at least things we typically have on hand. The photos are really nice and keep LittleA's attention. She loves to flip through knowing the "theme of the week" and picking a project she feels coordinates. Currently there are a few copies for sale on half.com. The book also includes a long list of online resources and links to more science fun.

Ok so book love aside....LittleA choose an experiment - Bubbling Wizard's Brew - that used glass jars (bottles) to hold vinegar, dish soap, food coloring and sparkles...the grand finale was to add the baking soda. I tell ya this still entertains me - so much fun to watch and of course watching LittleA discover a reaction was very fun indeed. I can see why people home school. There is something very powerful in observing someone in the learning process - watching them fall in love with the questions and wonderment that come from it all.

On to our photos and such....

We setup all of our supplies:

Book on a book stand. This is really great for experimenting and cooking with LittleA. She can see her instructions or recipes clearly and then they stay out of the splash zone.
Glass Jars: We have a bunch of these that I have saved from recycling. I love using them for storage of craft supplies. Later this spring we will be using them as red lanterns as LittleA is having a Chinese New Year themed birthday party.
Food Coloring: For this project I just used the inexpensive set of four you can get in the spice aisle.
Dish Soap: any old brand you have on hand.
White Vinegar
Baking Soda

Step One:
Fill the jars half way with the white vinegar. I did not have enough to go all the way to the half point so we just made do.

Step Two:
Add your food coloring. LittleA and I used this as a lesson in color mixing. There are some color recipes on the back of the coloring that show how to make a range of colors by using various drops of each color. This step reminded us of the book Mouse Paint.

Step Three:
Add a generous squeeze of dish soap

Step Four:
Add decorations that you would like to see erupt out the top of the "brew" later. We used silver and blue glitter and some star confetti. I highly recommend the confetti. The pieces were large enough to be seen but still light enough to float on out of the jars on a wave of bubbles.

At this point place your jars onto a cookie sheet or tray if they are not already. This will help with cleanup later.

Step Four:
Add a heaping spoonful of baking soda and watch as foaming glittery colored brew comes spewing over the tops of your jars.

Was glad we put a cookie sheet under our glasses...what a mess that would have made off the counter onto the floor. It was neat to see the swirls of foam colors on the tray when it was all done.

Then to top it all off LittleA had a ball rewashing all the jars and having some water time in the sink.

Even though I am late posting this...head on over to Unplug Your Kids and see how the other families participated this week. And join us next week for the theme HAPPY.

Daring Bakers - February 09 - Flourless Chocolate Cake & Ice Cream

2009-02-28T14:47:00.000-05:00

Daring Bakers - February 09 - Flourless Chocolate Cake & Ice Cream
Finally I can post about the dessert we enjoyed on Valentine's Day. I couldn't share as it was a Daring Baker challenge and had to wait till today's posting date. Here is obligatory verbiage so I can be counted as participating for the month...

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

So yes, a flourless chocolate cake with homemade ice-cream. Pretty perfect for a quite Valentines night in with my two loves. LittleA and Tim were both happy to once again serve as my royal taste testers.

The cake is comprised of only three ingredients - so it does you well to choose them wisely. Chocolate, butter, and eggs mixed together....This is a picture of the chocolate that I melted in a double boiler. Now I just used store brand bag-o-chocolate chips and the results were fine...I can see how they would have only been better with better chocolate. The yellow liquid is my blended eggs (from a local farmer I just found - I am told "natural" local eggs are more yellow...hmmm seems true).

To this we added egg whites. I am just not that great at folding things into batters. I get bored quickly with it and always end up just stirring - gently though - but stirring non the less.

Then it all bakes and that is it for the cake. I did end up not having the ideal sized pan to bake this in - so I think my middle never baked all the way and then the outer edge seemed to be getting close to too done. No problems though - we ate it anyway - kind of like underdone brownies.

I was dreading making the ice-cream. I have heard you cannot make it well without an ice-cream maker. I am not a huge fan of accumulated appliances - and I don't like ice cream enough to consider the maker a necessity...so we have always just store bought. Then I remembered making some ice-cream in coffee cans back in my scouting days...I was ready to go that route when I read a little further in our instructions. It said you could make the ice-cream mixture, freeze it, and then occasionally use a hand blender to break up the ice crystals and make it creamy. I gave it a go and it was amazing. The hand blender worked really well and I loved having control over the ingredients and flavor.

In the initial step you bring the milk and a vanilla pod to a boil and let the flavors infuse. Instead of a vanilla pod I decided on two honey chai tea bags and a couple tablespoons of honey (a secret stash from a dear friend who is a beekeaper). The scent in the kitchen was amazing. This tea is one thats flavor only benefits from the adding of some fat and sweet.

Eggs sugar and cornstarch get whisked and then added to the milk mixture (tea bags removed). The entire thing gets heated until it is thick and rich. Then fold in the custard.

The whole thing gets frozen for 6 hours. In that 6 hour time span you open up the freezer twice and use the hand blender to mix it all up.

Here are both components served up together. My poor family always having to wait to take a first bite so that I can snap a blog photo. Their patience was rewarded well with this one. The tastes were great together. This may be my new favorite ice-cream. I am thinking about next time scooping it between two chocolate chip cookies for homemdae ice-cream snadwhiches.

Once again looking forward to next months challenge. Come see what other bakers have made this month and consider joining in on the fun.

Valentines Day

2009-02-18T18:00:00.001-05:00

Valentines Day

I realized while looking through photos that I am woefully behind on updating this space. We have been up to lots of good things....but I have not taken a moment to post about it. So let us get this updating started with Valentines Day and we can work backwards from there.

For the month of February the book club choose to read a book about food and then head to a local shop to create food during our meeting. We ended up picking Angry housewives Eating Bon-Bons. This was my least favorite book club pick in the year that we have been reading together. The good news is that the title led us to a local chocolate shop to make our own bon-bons! We were given cocoa that was dyed different colors and allowed to paint molds which were then filled with milk chocolate. We snacked on chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate waffers all while we girl talked and discussed the book (a little bit) we also drank some amazing chocolate based wine.

Here they are all boxed up and ready to present.

They all turned out so shiny! I was not thrilled with my design but what can be better the edible art and girl talk?

LittleA had a Valentines day party to attend and we had to bring a red snack. Thankfully one mom brought a huge platter of red fruits. I saw Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies over on Bakerella and couldn't help but try it - especially since I already had a box of Red Velevet cake mix.

The color is so lovely in the bowl....so "natural" looking - ah well....file these under an every once in a blue moon snack. I'll be honest I had one bite and my teeth were zinging...but they sure fit the bill for red and sweet!

The party had 6 kiddos in attendance so we needed to bring some valentines too. I am huge fan of homemade valentines and knew I had found the perfect idea over at Zakka Life - boy there are some clever ideas brewing over there! She had started by making a candy maze filled with conversation hearts. I knew I had some heart doileys laying around. I ended up going with the simpler version of just stictching around the heart and some plastic to sandwich the conversation hearts in place.

Our doilies did not have a real large solid surface area...so I laid card stock down, then the doily, then the hearts (20 pieces) and topped it all off with plastic. I have eliminated plastic bags in our house so I was stumped for a bit on what I could use. Lucky enough I had a box of large turkey roasting bags in the cupboard....so Wah-La - I chopped them up and layed them on top of the whole thing. I used red thread and did a zig-zag stitch all the way around the piece in a heart shape.

After all the stitchin gwas done I trimed thread and then the plastic and carstock all down to size. Then LittleA signed the back of each one.

We tucked them all into a basket and off to the party we went. LittleA really enjoyed going person to person to hand them out.

When we came home I whipped up this month top secret Daring Baker dessert for our romantic family night in valentine dinner. Unfortunatly I can't revel this part of the weekend with you till posting day...stay tuned because this months baking project was a huge tasty success and I can't wait to share it with you all. As a little tradition we avoid going out on Valentines day and instead pull up a small table for three in our living room in front of the fireplace.

As a valentines treat I made LittleA a small heart shaped muff to keep her hands toasty till the end of winter. I used some of the wool roving I have left from stuffing her Waldorf doll...so it should keep her hands really warm - and still accessible.

And for my love...I told him he was sweeter then honey and asked if he woul "bee" my valentine. I then presented him with a book on bee keeping and we discussed plans to keep some bees on our porperty this year!

and the final heart for the holiday....I finished my second mitten. I didn't have to buy one in the end. Now in all honesty they are ridiculously too tall - as in so tall I close them in the back door when leaving the house. Lesson learned - follow the instructions...someone might have known what they were talking about when the wrote it.

Hope you had a good time with those you love!