Oh the joy of 10

Hey ya'll.

I was working on the computer when I heard this little song go on while my little girl was watching sesame street.

The joy in this man's voice is unmistakable.
It just makes me so happy.

Christmas Egg Ornament tutorial

Ever since I was little I remember my mother painting Christmas eggs.  She painted them and gave them as gifts for people who meant a lot to her.  I always loved coming home from school and seeing what she had been working on.  Each egg was different, and each year it was fun to see what she would come up with.

This year I wanted to start this tradition myself.  I've written out a few of the steps I took so that you can attempt the project yourself if you feel so inclined (wink wink).

A few of the supplies you will need:

An egg

A needle

A few beads (imagine two beads in the following picture)

One or two of the little golden flowery topper thingies (you can find them in the jewelry section at a craft store)

Paint

Thread

And a toothpick might be of help to hold the egg while you are painting it (poke it through the bottom and hold it like a popsicle)

First, find a nice large egg.  Mine is a plain white chicken egg.  Wash the egg off with soap and water.  

This is very important.  Dirty eggs are gross.

Next you will be taking a needle and very carefully poking a hole in the center of the top of the egg, and the center of the bottom.  Work the needle around a bit as you break through the shell.  You might be surprised by how strong the egg is.

Make sure the holes aren't too small, because you will be blowing into the top hole and you need the insides of the egg to be able to blow out of the bottom.

But don't make the holes too big either, you will want to be able to cover them up pretty when you are finished.

The next part is probably the hardest.

Blow all of the insides out!

I tried to keep my holes quite small and therefore I had to use a lot of cheek muscles to force my air into that egg.  It might be helpful to poke the needle (or a toothpick) up in through the bottom hole every once in a while and stir it around, this breaks up the yolk.

Just make sure you are holding it over a bowl so you can catch the yolk and egg white.  Better yet, stand right over the frying pan!

Once your egg is blown out, you can take a rest while the inside dries out.

Next you get to decorate your egg.

I penciled in a light picture (pencil can erase off of an egg, just be very gentle, and try it out on a small area before you go and smudge too much), then painted over the top.  I used regular old acrylic craft paint.

The paint I used dried very fast.  So fast.  With every layer I made the paint built up and built up.  I went ahead and used this to my advantage by creating a very textured look (notice the wings).  But you don't have to do it that way.

Once you are finished painting your beautimous egg, you can go over it with a coat of either clear fingernail polish, or some varnish.  This not only makes your egg pretty and shiny, but it adds an extra later of strength.  Make sure to test it out on a small portion to make sure that your top coating won't make the colors run.

Next you will be covering up the holes and adding the string.  I used thread.  Loop the thread and string it in through the bead, then the nice gold topper.  Knot the thread at the end.

Tuck the knot into the hole on the top of the egg.  Super glue the little gold thingy over the hole (I used a hot glue gun), making sure to center it evenly on the top of the egg.  Then glue the bead onto the little gold topper.

Glue a nice big bead onto the bottom of your egg, covering the hole.

And there.  You are finished.

Enjoying a Meaningful Christmas this year?

How bout link up?

Make Your Own Rainbow Cake

In celebration of my little one's birthday I made her a bright and colorful rainbow cake.

I'll share with you a trick or two I used on this cake, you know, just in case you decide you want one for your birthday too.

First, I had to teach her what a rainbow was.  I wanted this thing to be appreciated after all.

Second, I made myself a cake tin.  I know this is totally unconventional, but it worked exactly the way I wanted it too.  First off, who wants to go by an expensive pre-shaped cake tin?  There are only so many times you are going to make the same cake, it just doesn't make sense.

Second off, this is cheaper.  (Sort of ties in with the first point.)

Third off, I know I could have made a nice big sheet cake and then cut the rainbow out, but then I would have a plethora of crumbs.  I hate crumbs.  This technique gives you nicely baked edges.

Fourth off, this is fun.  I've made big dinosaur-shaped cakes this way.  It opens a whole world of new cake shapes.

To make the tin I used plain old tin foil.  I would suggest heavy foil if you have it, but mine was normal/medium.  I do not suggest using cheap/thin foil.   I shaped the foil in a nice big casserole dish, you can use a large rectangular cake pan if that is what you have on hand.  I knew that I would have a lot of empty space in my dish so I placed small glass jars in there to fill them in.  This encourages the tin foil to keep its shape. 

I then shaped out the rainbow with clouds on the end.  Don't stress too much, frosting covers up the details.  You can see that my shape was too wide for the sheet of foil, so I added pieces on the bottom.  I didn't tape them down or anything, just molded it out.  As I've said, I've used this technique several times, and it always seems to work out.  Cake batter isn't super runny like water, so as long as it isn't on your counter for an hour with the batter seeping through the crevices, it shouldn't be a problem.

I then sprayed the tin with non-stick spray and poured in the batter.  Don't use all of the cake batter if this is not a large cake.  I made six cupcakes with my left over batter.

Stick it straight in the oven, the edges will start to cook right away and they won't seep through.

Tada!  

Once it's cooked you can pull it out of the oven and remove the glass jars.  Let the entire cake cool off before you remove the foil.  You can lift it right out of the dish, then peel off the foil.  

Be very careful not to break the cake.  Mine actually did break because I kept it covered all night before taking off the foil and it got too moist.  But I wasn't too worried about it because it was covered in frosting anyways.

If you want you can place it upside down on the serving platter before peeling it off.  That might help it from breaking.

Now the fun part.  Buy a nice big bag of mms and separate the colors.  

Realize that red food coloring must be expensive because there is a serious lack of red mms.  

Realize that blue and orange food coloring must be easy to make.

Frost the cake with whatever kind of frosting you want.  If I were to do this again I would have bought pre-made white frosting, then given it a nice light blue color.  I made myself some cream cheese frosting because my husband loves it, but it turns out yellowy/off white, and I was afraid to color it.  

Stripe the rainbow with those mms, then you can use either white frosting or large marshmallows (cut in half) for the clouds.  I used marshmallows because as I said, my frosting wasn't white.

And last but not least, get carried away with photo-shop.

I look forward to making many fun kid's cakes with this technique.  Maybe next year my husband will relent and let me make him that dino cake.

So fun.

-Becka

raggy bowl

Hey yall!

I found another tutorial that you might find fun.  Over at Wee Folk Art you can find the instructions for making a rag bowl.  The following is the one that I made.  They are surprisingly sturdy and strong.

I happen to know that the recipient of this bowl loves the colors purple and blue, I threw the green in for good measure.  While I found the tutorial very informative, here are some tips that I think could be of help if you embark on this swirly project yourself.

When it comes to crafts I am a cheater.  I absolutely could not afford to purchase the top of the line materials for every project I feel up to making, I just like to make too much.  So I completely cheated and ran across the street to my Home Depot and bought rope there.  I say cheated because I have absolutely no idea how much upholstery cording is, but I didn't really want to go out of my way to find out if I can find something else to substitute.  I bought some that looks like this.  Yup, the fabric covered all of those bright colors right up.  I can't remember if this was the exact same kind, but it was the definitely the longest (thickest) rope that I could afford.  Remember not to get anything too thin because that means a lot of coils for a decently sized bowl.  Use any rope you feel like, just make sure the core of the rope isn't made out of rubber or something that you can't sew through easily.

My second tip is to use a curved needle.  I didn't use one but I wish that I had.  It is easy to make your own curved needle.  Hold a needle on both ends with some pliers.  Say the magic words, "Hey yo needle I need you to curve, to make a bowl easier you will serve".  Ya just kidding.

That totally wouldn't work.

Hold the needle horizontally above a candle.  Slowly bend it with both of the pliers.  As the metal gets hot it should bend without too much trouble.  When you are finished you feel like superwoman for having bent metal with your own two hands.

The purpose of bending the needle becomes clear as you try to insert it through two rows of cording without going straight into the next row.  You also use curved needles on some types of hand-made books.  And on spherical quilts.

Tip three really isn't a tip, it's a confession.  I didn't make a little securing not after every stitch, they sort of got in the way for me.  I just held the rows tight as I went.  

I also didn't form mine around a bowl, hence the sort of flatter shape.

And my last tip is that if you use needle nose pliers it is so much easier to push the needle in and pull it out without your fingers getting sore.

So yeah, those are my tips.  

I honestly loved making this bowl.  It's an easy sit-in-your-rocker-and-craft-on-your-lap project.

-Becka

P.S.  Just be sure to keep it all tight as you go.

Buttercup Bag

(Sorry for the horrid picture, I was too lazy to find a nicer background.)

I wanted to share this amazing pattern with all of you.  I'm sure some of you have already seen it, or at least seen the beautiful bags that have been made from it, but for those of you who haven't, this post is for you! 

It's called the Buttercup Bag, and you can find the pattern for free at made by Rae.  Rae is an amazingly talented crafter who is kind enough to share many of the patterns she creates.  I would rate the difficulty of this purse at a 'simple' for those of you who have basic sewing down.  If I have enough time I can make a bag like this in one day (as in if I only have a few hours to sew), and each time I finish I think, "Wow, I should make more of these, that was so simple".

I definitely encourage you all to pick some pretty fabric and try out this pattern.  If you are a little intimidated, don't be.  It's a great opportunity to expand your sewing skills!

P.S.  To make mine a little more durable I used a thicker fabric and I added a layer of interfacing (is that what that stiff stuff is called?).  It made a huge difference.

-Becka

A Bedtime Tales Map

Hey everyone!  I've been looking for good ways to motivate my kids at bedtime.  While my husband was deployed it was a struggle for me to get all three kids bathed, teeth brushed, dressed in pajamas and all in bed without some kind of struggle popping up sometime.

During deployment was when I designed this Bedtime Map:

Map

{click to enlarge and print}

and Key

{click to enlarge and print}

And let me tell you, this worked!  The map helped change our attitude at bedtime around 100%!

Nicole at The Sleepy Time Gal has been kind enough to give this print-out a try and post beautiful pictures of her kids doing each step of the map.  Why don't you check it out here?  The map is free to print out and you can share it with your kids at bedtime to find a renewed excitement at bedtime.

And if there is something on the map you want to change or adapt for your family's specific rituals at bedtime, just email me at 

madebybedtimetales@gmail.com

-CK

A Soldier's Homecoming

The kids ran to see Dad

My son was especially glad to see his Daddy.  Daddy is his new instant favorite!
("mommy, who?")

And... I can't help myself!  Here's a kissing picture:

 I hope all of you had a good Veterans day this week.  Our soldiers work very hard for our country and safety.  

Trust me, I know.  ;)

Remember this post???

Well.  He's home ;)

From Nov. 3, 2010:

A friend said I was bored, but I was actually having a lot of fun painting on my face:

My husband comes home from Afghanistan this month and I am suuuper excited!!!

So if you notice that I drop out of the blog world this month...

its probably because I am spending every waking (and sleeping) hour curled up next to my soldier on his home leave.

My kids are really excited too!

We made a poster using this technique

And I think it turned out really well ;) 

On a more serious note, 

I recently received this comment from Gloria

and I appreciate her kindness in recognizing a soldier's sacrifice for our country.  It made me think, though, that my own kids, without much say in the matter, have also given their own sacrifice.

So I just want to take a moment to say thank you to my kids.

Thank you for... 

giving me kisses in the morning, 

for drawing pictures of us with Daddy,

for running around the house and keeping it alive,

for cuddling with me when I miss Daddy,

for singing "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home," at the top of our lungs in the car,

for jumping for joy every time we see Daddy on skype,

for reminding me that I'm in Daddy's chair every time I sit in the drivers seat instead of the passengers seat,

for keeping an empty seat with Daddy's name on it at the table every meal time,

for being patient in waiting for Daddy's return every day for the last 5 1/2 months,

and for helping me make our welcome home poster!!!

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home.

-CK

Fun Family Night

I wanted to share this idea with you because we had so much fun doing it ourselves.  I found this pack of 15 glow-sticks  for a dollar at Michaels.  I think I've seen them at the dollar store as well.  In the past my family has usually used these at outdoor events like camping, or on holidays.  But this time we just decided to use them in our home.  

We waited until dark (not hard now that it gets dark at 6:00 pm), and then we turned out all of the lights. We turned on some music and then boogied with our glow in the dark wands!  

So much fun!  And very easy for the little ones to catch on.

Imitating Nature with Children

Today we are honored to have The Sleepy Time Gal join us to share one of her special treats with us!  We love her photography and creative, original ideas for children and families!  

-CK

There is so much inspiration to be had from nature's bold and beautiful fallen leaves.  I gathered my most favorite ones from a morning run one day and landed the pile right on my kitchen table.

What better inspiration to use in creating our very own gingerbread leaves?  

We had gingerbread dough chilling in the fridge and decided to copy our beautiful leaves' colors and patterns as closely as possible.  Here's what to do to create your own gingerbread leaf cookies designed by nature.

1. Make gingerbread cookie dough.  This is my favorite recipe.  

2.  Roll out your dough and use leaf cookie cutters to cut out leaves based on the real leaves you're modeling them after.  We had mostly maple leaves.  

3. Line cookie sheets and bake cookies.  

Now for the fun part!  

4. Using food coloring, make a variety of colored icing following  closely to the reds and yellows as seen in your real leaves.  I also made a brown icing since it was a color found in most of the leaves.  This was a fun opportunity for the girls to help me match the colors of the icing to the colors in the leaves.

5. Ice the cookies.  We used everything from the back of spoons, children's knives, to tooth picks.  The girls soon discovered the magic and beauty of mixing colors.  As they mixed their icing cookies became more realistic to the leaves they were copying!  Orange was discovered as they mixed red and yellow and veins were drawn on using a tooth pick to copy exactly what they saw. 

6.  When all the edible artwork is complete, sit back and observe.  Observe the resemblance of your leaf cookies to the real fall leaves.  Every leaf was different and beautiful in its own way.  This was one of our favorite fall time memories this year, especially once we dug our hands into the cookie jar!   I hope you try it with your family. 

-The Sleepy Time Gal  

A Night* with CSA

Every two weeks I pick up a huge box of subscription vegetables

from the local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)...

and I gotta figure out how to use 'em.

The kids like carrots...

and oranges.

 I like swisschard...

....in cream-sauce.

After the kids go to bed...

I get to work.  

With tomatoes:

Eggplant:

Beats:

 More tomatoes:

Pumpkin: 

Pumpkin seeds:

Pumpkin hand:

Cauliflower: 

Squash:

Greens:

kale soup: 

And I'm a tired Mom.  

But dinners and lunches are so easy...

for about two weeks...

and then we start the process all over again ;)

I subscribe to a fabulous, organic, family friendly farm near by and love the people there to death!

-CK

*note:  I like to think that I could do this all in one night but usually it takes me a several nights/days to work through all the vegetables... if I'm lucky ;)

This post has been linked up!
5 Minutes for Mom
Live and Love Out Loud
A Beautiful Mess
Harriet and Friends
The Journey Mom
Our Homeschool Reviews
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