While She Naps

Happy Hanukkah

We made latkes on Sunday afternoon. I like small, crispy latkes. If you've ever made them you know that your house smells like latkes for days and days afterwards, and making latkes makes a huge mess. So I make them once, and I make a lot. Then I freeze them in dinner-sized portions in ziplock bags. We made five dinner's worth. And a huge pot of homemade applesauce.

The older girls can sing the blessings now, and know the words to Ma'oz Tzur in both Hebrew and English. It's adorable to hear their little voices singing so proudly each night.

And there's been lots of driedel playing with M&Ms and lots of chocolate gelt eating. And presents. We spread it out so they get something from a different relative or friend each night.

We made a little garland of origami driedels using plain white paper that we cut down into squares and then dot painted. 

As the menorahs get new candles each night it gets prettier and prettier. We have five menorahs this year, and we put them near the window so they are visible from outside.

Wishing you a very Happy Hanukkah and a happy holiday season!

Paper Mache

Stella has been begging to do some paper mache. In fact, last week she was crying on the way to school, saying that she didn't want to leave me. I got her calmed down with the promise of beginning our paper mache project that afternoon. Crafting is a pretty powerful bribe, huh.

She decided to make a rocketship and Roxanne, in her mature 7-year-old way, wanted to make a plain white bowl with a pink heart in the center. I didn't have a plan for mine, except that I figured I should make one in case one of the kid's projects didn't turn out right.  That way they could swap with me and still have something to show.

We mixed up a paste of flour and water and cut the day's Boston Globe into strips. I blew up balloons for me and Stella, and covered the outside of a glass mixing bowl with plastic wrap for Roxanne. Then we got started dipping strips and covering our forms.

There is something wonderful for kids and adults alike about plunging your hands into gooey paste. We were rather messy, but it's just flour and water after all. Completely washable and totally safe.

We left our forms to dry, balanced on paper cups to increase air circulation. 

In the morning Stella was disappointed that the strips on her balloon weren't flat and smooth the way mine were. So we switched balloons and then cut and taped on some cardboard fins and a nose cone for the rocketship.

That afternoon we tore up some paper towels and mixed new flour and water paste to make a second layer. In the end, the bumpy balloon was made flat again by the paper towel layer.

It took several days for the paper towel layer to dry and I was beginning to worry it might never fully dry.  We decided to pop the balloons, take the bowl off the plastic wrapped mixing bowl, and put the forms in the cooling oven one evening after dinner. That did the trick! 

We painted them with washable tempera paints.  Stella and I mixed a special bright green and a nice, cool gray for the rocket.  And Roxanne mixed a pinky purple for her heart. She couldn't resist making a few dots, too. I decided to make mine into a squash. I painted it orange.

Finally, we covered them in glossy Mod Podge  Stella tore some yellow tissue paper and glued it in the hole left by the balloon to look like fire coming from the bottom of the rocket. And I made a felt stem and leaves for the squash.

Stella is taking the rocketship to school tomorrow to show her classmates. And Roxanne's bowl is on her bureau, full of treasures.

I think one of the reasons my kids like projects like this one is the feeling that they are making something real. It's the same feeling they get when they sew something, or do woodworking, or make something from kiln fired clay. It's not just playdough or glued together construction paper (even though those things play a big role in their daily creativity around our house). This is a real toy, or bowl, that they can use and play with. It's the definition of "craft" - useful and artfully made. I couldn't agree more. 

the Sukkah

Sunday was the day after Yom Kippur and we spent the morning putting up the Sukkah.  It took just under an hour to construct the whole thing. We are loving our new Sukkah with pipes and fittings that snap together (our old one was wooden and required a lot of very frustrating time with an electric drill).

Because it didn't take too long we still had lots of energy for decorating. Besides my new felt leaf garland I also made a hand-stitched felt banner for the entryway. The banner says, "Bruchim Haba'im" which is Hebrew for welcome. 

The kids and I made construction paper loop garlands and paper lanterns. Sukkot starts on Wednesday evening at sunset and we hope to eat as many meals in our Sukkah as we can during the seven days of Sukkot.

a hairclip and a pincushion

Josephine's hair is starting to grow in and it's strawberry blond.  So pretty. Last night I made her a hair clip from this tutorial on the Purl Bee.  I got to dig out the yo-yo maker for this, plus some pink Kona and wool felt scraps.

She hasn't figured out that she's wearing yet it so it's still there.

I rescued this little milk glass footed bowl from the dump this morning and made it into a pincushion with some brown linen and vintage cheater's patchwork.  I stuffed it with steel wool wrapped with wool batting to keep the pins sharp.  It's in the shop now. And I'm offering a 20% discount in the shop during the month of July. Just enter JULY2011 at checkout!

coloring flowers and a lovey

Inspired by Jean's post the other day, I asked the kids if they wanted to do a science experiment yesterday when they came home from camp. "Yes!" was the resounding answer, although Stella suddenly got worried and asked me if we were going to need to hurt any animals to do the experiment.  Um, no. Instead, we each picked a daisy from the garden and then put each daisy in a separate glass. I put red food coloring in mine, Stella used blue and Roxanne used yellow. 

I asked the kids to make some predictions first about what might happen once the daisies went into the colored water. Here they are. Stella seems to be worrying about things dying.

They were so surprised and incredibly excited when instead of nothingness or wilted death, the daisies turned colors!  Check out the yellow one! Beautiful.

Our CSA is in full force now and this week we picked our share of flowers for the first time this summer. We got 15 stems total so I let each of the older girls choose 7 and Josephine and I picked one. Notice the short vase (a creamer I found at the dump a few years ago). Why do kids always cut the stems so short!

And I spent some time today making a "lovey." 

I actually hate that word, but there you go. Josephine has become attached to a purple lovey - basically a head with a small blanket as a body. We've named hers "Mr. Purples" now before she has any say in the matter, "Purps" for short. There will be a little sidebar in the book about making these. 

 

Summertime Craft: Make a Felt Strawberry

Summer is here and so is strawberry season in New England.  We will be picking strawberries this afternoon when we visit Land's Sake Farm in Weston to pick up our weekly CSA share. 

I'm looking forward to strawberry shortcake, strawberries with whipped cream and a bowl of juicy, tart strawberries at breakfast.

I made some felt strawberries this morning, embellished with some sparkly seed beads, and I thought you might like to make them, too! 

You'll need:

-paper and pencil (I like to use freezer paper for patterns)

-scraps of felt in red and green

-about two dozen seed beads

-craft glue

-extra-strong thread and regular sewing thread

-small wad of stuffing

Instructions:

To make a pattern for the strawberry, draw a half circle with a 4" diameter on a piece of paper and cut it out. Draw a free-form strawberry leaf on paper and cut that out too.

Pin the half-circle to a scrap of red felt and the leaf to a scrap of green felt (or iron if you are using freezer paper).  Cut out the felt. 

Fold the half-circle in half and stitch along the straight side.

Turn right side out and stuff.

Using the extra-strong thread, make a running stitch along the top edge and pull the stitches to gather. Push a bit more stuffing inside, then tie off the thread to hold the gathers in place.

Now it is time to attach the beads.

Thread a needle with a small eye with regular sewing thread.  Insert it through the top of the strawberry, coming out on the side. Thread a seed bead onto the needle, then insert it back down into the strawberry right next to where it came out. 

Continue adding seed beads, one at a time, coming out about an 1/8" away from the last bead, until the entire strawberry is covered.  Tie off the thread hiding the knot near the top of the strawberry.

Squeeze a ring of craft glue along the top of the strawberry.

Place the leaf on top of the glue. Use pins to hold the leaf in place until the glue dries.

Admire your strawberry!

 

 

Make Your Own Bubble Wand

Stella came home on Tuesday telling me all about the bubble wands they had made in preschool.  After having a quick snack, she went off to gather some supplies so that we could make our own at home. And they really work! I had to share these with you! Quick, nearly free and really fun. A perfect summertime craft!

You'll need:

a straw

a length of string, about 12"

bubble solution (or make your own)

 

Instructions:

1. Cut two approximately 2" length from your straw.  Stella did this part by herself with a pair of kid's scissors.  

2. Thread the string through both lengths of staw.  I helped her a bit with the threading.

3. Tie the ends of the string together to form a knot.

4. Pour some bubble solution into a shallow dish.  Hold one straw piece in each hand using the straw pieces like handles.  Dip the string and straws into bubble solution and then blow bubbles.  

I was surprised how well this works.  Stella has gotten rather frustrated blowing bubble from our really big plastic bubble wand, but had no problem blowing big bubbles from this homemade one.

**Stella showed me another neat bubble trick, too.  If you dip your finger into bubble solution you can stick your finger through a bubble and the bubble won't pop.  Cool!**

a new bird in time for spring

I made a springtime bird last night. It is now up in my shop. I am most likely going to be teaching a fabric bird-making workshop at The Button Box quilt shop here in Wellesley on Saturday, April 30, from 10am-4pm. These are the birds that we will make.  If you live nearby I hope you'll join us!  You can call the shop now and reserve a spot.

The birthday party was lovely. Roxanne will officially be a seven-year-old tomorrow.  This year she read a 1,330 page graphic novel, joined the Daisy Girl Scouts, began piano lessons, wrote a research paper, acted in three plays, and became a big sister once again.  It's been a big year. 

a lion just for fun

It had been a while since I made something that wasn't for a show or a workshop or a book, something just for fun.  I wanted to try the stalking leopard pattern as a lion. I shrunk the pattern down 85% and made it in wool felt. And added the mane, of course. 

He is in my shop now.

Roxanne's 7th birthday party is tomorrow. I made her an ice cream cake this morning as requested. Orange sherbet, crushed oreos, whipped cream frosting and nonpareils.  This is the third year that she has requested the same cake.

 
Have a great weekend, everyone!

family video

I made a little video with some family photos, including some pictures of our new little one. I only shed about a million tears doing this.  I hope you like it!