whatchabuildin

taking so long...

Why does it take so long to get back to "normal" after the holidays? It seems like the holidays linger in small ways. The tree was taken down days ago, but there are a few ornaments still hanging on doorknobs, Christmas cards in the basket, peppermints nougats still fill a candy dish, cookies "hidden" *ahem* in the cellar, and the collection of Christmas books still on the side table. It usually stays like this until the end of January. I like this, it keeps the winter season cheerful.

I did a lot of making this holiday season, and today I'll show you one craft we started last fall, and finished just before the gifts were to be given to Colin's teachers. We used the instructions from Amanda Soule's book, "Handmade Home" to make the paper mache bowls.

Sorry this is so blurry, I was in a hurry to download the photos to the computer, and didn't check them very well...grrr...

Anyway, the whole process was a lot of fun for Colin and myself. After we made the bowls, we collected leaves from the woods to imprint with paint on the sides of the bowls.

Each leaf was painted first, then very carefully, we placed them on the side of the bowls, and pressed them down with our hands.

I love the leaves when they are colored with paint - so bright! 

 

 

Once they were all painted, we used a solid bright color to paint the inside of the bowl. We used yellow, orange and red. Then to seal the painted bowl, I used Mod-Podge. Whoa, I just dated myself in a big way. Did anybody grow up in the 70s and use Mod-Podge for decoupage? Yeah, that was me. *sigh* Moving on...

Since these were gifts for teachers, we made little ornaments out air drying terra cotta clay and cookies to fill the bowls. These were equally fun to do. I have a nice collection of cookie presses and springerle molds. We picked a nice mold that would work well for an ornament, and pressed the clay onto the mold. Then I pressed in a paper clip, and let them dry. Added a black ribbon - done.

 

Handmade gift tags.

 

And simple wrapping complete the gifts.

Sweet.    

spooky treats

Today we spent the day preparing for Halloween. As usual, my little helper spearheaded each project we did.

:: Ginger cats, bats and owls. I used a regular gingerbread cookie recipe, and we cut them into scary Halloween shapes.

...Oh yeah, made a loaf of Banana Bread too! That recipe later.

:: Silly pumpkin head. This was a free download over at Angry Chicken, so much fun!

:: Yummy "gourmet" pumpkin seeds. At least I think they're gourmet, nobody else in the house likes them. But I'm OK with that, more for me! 

-wash seeds and place in bowl. Drizzle olive oil over them, about 2 TBS. 

-spread onto a baking sheet.

-sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

-Bake 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then change temp. to 300 degrees for another 15 minutes or until golden, and crunchy. So very addictive!

:: And finally at the end of the day, the pumpkin!

If you look close, you can see that Colin signs our "names" to the pumpkin. You'll notice my name is "Mom", he said that's my "other" name. Cracks me up! 

Hope your having a spooky start to your week! 

lately...

Yesterday morning we started the day by making these incredibly yummy muffins. I got the recipe over at Angry Chicken. We have been making these for quite some time now - and I believe my little guy and I have decided this is our favorite muffin recipe. There is something about the pumpkin and chocolate together that makes me want to, literally, eat the whole batch-seriously! Oh, such goodness!  But, there is one more person in this household, and they decided that the recipe is better without the chocolate, go figure! So, because it was still early, and I am still trying to stay off coffee, which means I'm a little groggier than usual, I took the picture of the non-chocolate ones instead of the incredible chocolate ones - duh.

Anyway, don't take my word for it, try these yourself! I changed it slightly by using 3 eggs instead of 2 eggs and 2 egg whites, and they turn out just fine.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2/3 cups apple sauce
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 can (15oz) pumpkin
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flours, spices, and all the other dry stuff together. In a different bowl mix the eggs, oil, applesauce and pumpkin. Add the dry stuff- to the wet,then stir in the chocolate chips. Bake 20 min. 

+ + + + +

On the crafting front, we are loving Amanda's new book! Over the weekend we made these paper mache bowls. We still have to paint and decorate them, but what a fun project! 

 

These bowls are the beginnings of a Christmas project we are working on for family and friends. I'll post later showing how we are finishing up these cute gifts!

Lastly, there is a really great giveaway over at GardenMama's blog! You can win five beautiful handcrafted toys from Down In the Meadow  and a beautiful autumn garland. Oh, I just love the mushroom, and the sweet Hedgie... and the adorable owl...Oh, I just love them all! Hop over there and check them out! 

scraps

For Valentine's Day this year we did something a little different. Instead of making cards we upcycled some scrap plywood in the cellar that was waiting to be used. So, I put the smock on the little guy, hauled out the "good" paints, brought up the box of wood scraps, and started painting Valentines! 

When Colin was done painting, and each piece had time to dry, I screwed an eye hook into the top and added a black leather cord. Done. Why I don't have a picture of the final pieces with the leather cords, I don't know. I think I was having a mama spaced out moment!

This idea could be expanded on in so many ways, and is a great craft to do with the little ones in your life. They would make great gifts for any occasion, just use different colors. We used the red, pink and white because it was Valentines Day, but any color combination would work. Use the wooden scraps, and add found objects to collage to the wood. Dried flowers and leaves. Paint pictures of your favorite objects or that special person you know.

 No matter what you do, make sure you're having fun doing it!

snow day : craft day

Today we are home from school and work because of the ice and snowstorm we had last night. So, stuck inside all day, we decided to make art. We went to the recycle bin and pulled out a few of the hundreds of magazines that arrive at our house weekly. (I swear, even though I am on that "take me off your #%@*&^@!!! list" I am still on somebody's list!) Anyway, back in the recycle bin we pull out magazines and some cardboard.

I dig out my scissors and glue and we get down to business. I do the cutting and Colin does the gluing and positioning of the shapes I cut out.

"More shapes mama more shapes pease mama so I can glue them and put them dere and you can cut more for me and I will put dem down on the brown paper."

Oh, the sweetness of my babe having fun making art and talking in run-on sentences. *sigh*

happy valentines day

Valentines from Colin to his friends at school. We took a heart-shaped template, laid it on the pre-folded card and Colin colored around the heart. Then I cut out a heart smaller than the template from red paper. After he colored on that paper as well, I glued it to the center of the heart shape on the card. I wrote the name of each child on the red heart. Oh, happy day!

thank you

Yes, well a thank you written on Colin's hand-drawn note cards. I am a thank you note writer. I knew early on that I would teach Colin the fine art of writing a thank you note for gifts he has received. As you can see, my little note "writer" is taking it seriously! When I was getting the cards ready for him to color on we had this little conversation.

"Whatcha' doin' mama?"

"Folding paper to make cards for thank you notes"

"Can I help too?"

"Oh yes, you can write thank you notes with me."

"OK, where are my colors? You gettin' my colors for me, pease? I do tankoo notes too, mama."

That babe just pulls at my heart strings. **sigh**

card making together

I make my Christmas cards.....almost every year. I start planning them out -in my head- around August. Then usually it take several months of mulling idea after idea over, throwing out most. Eventually in November or December the whole thing comes together and I am sending them out (usually) the week before Christmas. It is a real production since I send out between 60-75 cards! Every year it is always the same. I get through the second or third round of production and I am swearing saying to myself, "these stupid cards are taking sooooo long to get done, what was I thinking when I have so many other things to do!" And then each year when I am done, I am soooo excited to send them out because there is alway a great response for all my effort.

This year is no different, except I now have a design partner. He doesn't come cheap. He has been payed well, in gingerbread cookies and yogurt. He loves yogurt, favorite food in the whole world!

Colin's original finger painting artwork is gracing the front cover of our annual Christmas card this year, and I couldn't be more proud. This was our first big project together, and it was so worth the paint splattered shirt (I even had an apron on!)...splattered floors...walls...chairs...smeared faces...oh, but what fun!! The older my babe gets, the more fun we have together!

Oh yeah...dirty dishes in the sink. Hmm. Just keep looking at that cute boy and you won't even notice the dishes, apparently that's what I do!

a busy week

It has been a busy week, and today is already Sunday. Here and gone.

The second advent candle was lit tonight...

We went sledding and made more paths in the snow...

Decorated the tree...

My little helper with his snowman helping too. "He wants to help mama!"

Cookie baking, and holiday card creating, and homemade play-doh (recipe later) and.....

now I am tired, like this old girls is. Sleep tight.