Wool Headdresses

For Van and a few of his friends I put together an afternoon craft. Turned out, it was more fun for the parents.

Of course I had to make a sample headdress for myself and got a bit carried away. Attached were ribbons, beads, feathers, hand stitched edging, even made wool felt flowers, feathers and shapes.

This was easy enough and fun for all.

I folded a piece of felt in half for double thickness and glued in the ribbons that'll tie in back of your head and that'll hang in front. I laid these out overnight with a few heavy books on them to keep the glue in place.

The next day I hand stitched around the edging to secure it all. I stitched on roses and a few of my shapes that weren't secured with the glue. Fabric glue is tricky and takes time and patience to adhere your pieces together. So I broke out my sewing needles and us moms got to work. 

I've been planning this is out for awhile now and am so excited to finally execute this craft. Plus, while on a visit to the zoo this week Van found a feather in the grass, his excitement to embellish his headdress with it just adds to mine!

Even Dad got into it. Guy had inherited and added to a collection of feathers for fly making. He had bought a terrific looking fly reel and kept the knowledge he'd learned from his Grandfather, about ten years prior. So, out came this feather collection, beautiful patches of feathers (that I will soon be making headbands out of!)  that he plucked from and added on to the side ribbons which looked really great.

Once I start with projects like this, I run with it. Hope this gave you some ideas.

A way to get the kids involved could be to lay everything out and hand over the glue, I wore my headdress the entire time to hopefully encourage them to worry theirs. Turns out the kids weren't as impressed as the adults! 

Children's Book of the Week!

I think most kids will love an interactive book. Especially when it involves singing loud, jumping around and well, acting like a rockstar. This was cute and not your average read aloud book. As much as we love 'If you're happy and you know it' and books that have you sing along, this was a fun little change.

Another good book that I was excited to get from the library was 'Levi Strauss gets a bright idea' by Tony Johnston. Van wears mostly Levi 511's (which are adorable on his tiny legs) so now he knows all about how Levi, himself came about his business!

Double Chocolate Biscotti

With a little research and recipe trials I made a delicious batch of these!

Ingredients..

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt

6 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 large eggs (I used jumbo)

3/4 cup of chopped chocolate or chips
3/4 cup of chopped walnuts, baked on parchment paper at 350 for 6 minutes and cooled

Sift together your first 4 ingredients and set aside.

Whip together butter & sugar and add eggs individually until combined.

Mix in your dry ingredients and then fold in your walnuts and chocolate.

Spread onto the same parchment paper used for the walnuts into a thick, even rectangle. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top of your biscotti is hard.

Let this cool for 15 minutes then cut into even biscotti size pieces. Serve yourself a few warm pieces before sharing!

Enjoy!!

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk Chalk Recipe

3/4 Cup of warm water mixed with

1 1/2 Cups of Plaster of Paris and

as much powered tempera paint as your heart desired, within reason of course. Start with tablespoons worth.

For the mold of the chalk I used a water bottle ice cube tray. But when I had my kid's group I used soap molds and made all different shapes. Just let them set over night and (depending on the size mold you used) they'll be ready to write with the next day!

Sidewalk Paint Recipe

1 cup of water mixed with powdered tempera paint. We used about 3 tablespoons of green. Then mix in

1 cup of cornstarch.

That's it! Easy Peasy sidewalk fun!

Children's Book of the Week!

I don't know about anyone else, but sometimes I like a book for the opportunities I have to use silly voices.. This book had about twenty voices!

But, besides that it was really cute. A little boy walks around MoMa looking for his friend Art and instead gets introduced to a whole museum of "art" instead. The end of the book tells of each artist shown in the book.

Short read, but cute!

Another real cute book is 'Whoever you are' by Mem Fox. We read that twice in a row because the message was sweet and clear.

Camping Children's Books!

While out gathering up our camping supplies we researched some books in store as well. Some we saw were..

'Campfire Songs' with lyrics and chords, 'Maisy goes camping' by Lucy Cousins, 'Stella & Roy go Camping' by Asheley Wolff, 'When you are camping' by Anne Lee, 'Looking for a moose' by Phyllis Root and 'Where in the wild'. As well as a ton of kids guides to camping out, exploring and nature.

Once your kid could read and write in handy books, journals and logging books those will be even more fun.

We picked Van up a camping activity book with puzzles, coloring pages and fun facts!

I almost forgot to mention my dopiness from our latest camping trip..

We unpacked our bags into the car at the bottom of our trail and filled them with only what we'll need for the night. Knowing that there were no lakes to swim in, or picnic tables to sit around; I packed Vans stack of library books in my bag while Guy carried everything else in his! It sounds a bit uneven except that Van had about FOURTEEN books.

We then walked uphill for a mile on a rocky trail before reaching a beautiful little clearing to set up camp in.. So two thoughts for the future, ditch these vibrams five fingers that I've been so loyal to for years and years, and never bring books on a hike! I suppose unless you are replacing the weights around your ankles or waist.. Then in that case, books are much more fun!

As for the vibrams, they just do not protect your tootsies against the rough and rocky grounds that a hike entails.

Children's Book of the Week!

This book is ADORABLE!

So cute and interactive. Tickle breaks every other page!

We missed out on the box set that came with the tickle mittens- so if you're looking to buy this book I'd suggest checking online first for that.

Picnic Season!

Ask anyone that knows me- I have a picnic obsession.

We live walking distance from a great park with a perfect space we've claimed as our "picnic spot".

Packed in our basket is always enough for a crowd. Frisbees, football, baseball and gloves, bubbles, sometimes even horseshoes or lawn darts. Keep a blanket in there too, and pack your favorite snacks! But don't forget snacks for your furry park friends..

I always pack fresh produce but it's also nice to have refreshing drinks like strawberry lemonade and a baked treat.

Blueberry Square Recipe

Preheat your oven to 350 and line an 8" cookie sheet with tin foil.

In a large bowl mix together..

1 1/2 cups of uncooked oats

1/2 cup of flour

1/2 cup of packed brown sugar

1/4 Teaspoon of baking soda

1/8 Teaspoon of salt

Mix in 6 tablespoons of melted, unsalted butter until mixture is crumbly.

Reserve 1/2 cup of this mixture for the topping.

Press your mixture into your ungreased, tinfoil lined cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

In the meantime, in a saucepan over medium heat..

Mix together 1 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries,

3 Tablspoons of sugar

2 Teaspoons of cornstarch

1 Teaspoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice

for about 2 minutes, stirring often until all of your dry ingredients are clear in your blueberries.

Spoon that onto your warm oatmeal and sprinkle the spare oatmeal mix on top.

Bake for 30 minutes, cute into squares and share!

Another cute idea are fruit-kabobs! Especially with Starfruit being in season!

Recycled Wall Paneling, Part 1

Guys been busy.

We recently moved and have a big, unfinished basement. Straight away he started building a shop; equipped with all sorts of machines and messes. So, naturally before he organized and finished that project, he began another!

With a quick trip up to our local hardware store, he came back with a free roof load of pallets. The hardest part was breaking them apart. Using everything from hammers, mallets, drills to pipes, he used it all to break this wood apart.

Soon as he had a decent pile of wood panels piled up he began his solo project. Hammering to the beams already in place, a wall was built!

..to be continued