Craft show on Saturday

Gee, I don't know why I didn't post about this earlier. If you are local, there is a carnival/craft fair at Coyotee Hills Elementary School tomorrow from 12:00 to 4:00. Rebecca and I are going to have a few things there. From what she has told me, it is VERY small.

It's Time To Get Your Sham-rocks On!

Can you believe how cute these little guys are? They are just what they say, grow your own shamrocks kits. I bought them for my kids to make. I'm sure you could get something similar in many places. I found these at Joann's for only $1.00 each! The directions didn't say how long they took to grow. I figure it would be best to start now, if I want shamrocks by St Patrick's Day!
They come with a bag of seeds, instructions, and a soil pellet. The seed packets had WAY too many seeds for this container. The instructions suggested 10 seeds per pot (and yet had about 100 seeds!). You add water to the soil and that too, became more than the little pots could handle. So this little project turned into one for my preschool kids as well! YAY!
I let my kids decorate their own pots. In the VERY beginning of doing crafts with my kids, I had an idea of how their stuff should turn out. Thankfully I quickly realized it's about their vision for their craft! My kids drew (with a sharpie) whatever their little hearts desired (or in this case-wherever, as he's drawing on the bottom of the pot where no one will see it...or else I will have dirt on my floor!).
We planted these just 2 days ago and already they are growing like weeds! You can tell here that we obviously went way over the suggested 10 seeds per pot. I generally do that.
I love new plants! They are so much fun to watch. On projects like these I let my kids take care of them completely. It's a great learning tool for them! I think we get our love of growing things from our parents (I know that's a shocker). Growing up we had those long raised beds. My favorites were eating the pea pods straight off the vine, oh and don't forget the rows of carrots! Yum-me! I loved those raised beds. For a few years I had a large area to garden in. I am back to a postage sized yard to fit my gardens in. Something about gardening is so inspiring and satisfying to me. It keeps me grounded. I try to do growing projects with my children as often as I can. One of my daughter's has a bonzai tree. That's been a fun experiment for her to try. Back to the growing of the green, here...
Here are the other ones that I came up with for the preschool kids. This was from the leftover soil and seeds! Would you believe that we only used one of the three seed packets, for all 7 pots (and that was having way more than 20-30 seeds in each cup, too!)!? The other 2 packets of shamrock seeds got sent on their way to family and friends to grow their own shamrocks! I was so excited when I thought up using these sample cups for growing these in. I love for kids to get to see the roots growing. We already have roots that have reached the bottom of these cups! How fun! There's still time for all of you to run out and start your own shamrock garden's! I love that these were a craft for today, a science experiment for the next month, and a decoration for St Patrick's Day! When you do get yours going, we'd love for you to add pictures of them to our flikr group! Hope you have fun with this craft!
Rebecca

Craft Show Here We Come!

Anjeanette and I are going to do a craft show at a school nearby. I thought it would be fun to do up some signs for our booth. I think I like this Vinyl one on Acrylic. That way we can change it out and put different fabrics behind it. I'm thinking one of Anjeanette's quilts would be beautiful!

Rebecca

Tuesdays with Dorie Carmel Crunch Bars

Oh can you hear the chorus of angels singing? I said today's recipe is CARMEL Crunch Bars. Glory be thy name!! Of course there is chocolate in it. Lots and lots of chocolate. What's Left on the Table chose the recipe. I am going to have to be her new best friend;) After reading how she chose this recipe, I guess I have to be her kids' new best friend. That is a little strange. So I'll keep my love and admiration to my own little blog;) Oh check out her blog for the recipe. Because I'm telling you, YOU WANT TO MAKE THIS!

When I butter pans, I always think of baking with my mom. Actually baking in general takes me back to baking with Mom. It makes me feel all warm and cozy.

I have to give some love to my sweet husband. Years ago, before we had kids, he bought me this awesome mixer. I love her. I just need some of those decals to decorate her like this. Well not like that. Maybe with pink polka dots or something cutesy. Maybe not cutesy. She is a workhorse. She needs something sophisticated. Anyway...

I read several people had a hard time getting the chocolate on top to melt. So I pulled out my handy chopper and voila...chocolate powder pretty much. It spread so smoothly and melted right away.

I have ice cream for it. I got some Samoas ice cream and some vanilla bean. But there is no need to mess this up with ice cream. This is pure decadence.

Now please go and make these. You will be glad you did;)
Anjeanette

This is Rebecca butting in here. The picture of the butter totally reminds me of Mom, too. Were we the only ones that thought licking the butter wrapper was a treat? Because I totally remember being so excited when it was my turn (we didn't lick the same wrapper, one after the other, one would get chosen this time and then it was someone else's turn the next time). I always think of that when I have my butter wrapper. As an adult I find the thought of doing that repulsive. This memory truly pops up with me each time I have a butter wrapper...so this year I did it. I licked the wrapper! I had to find out if I was just being a fuddy duddy adult in my repulsion to this once beloved treat. Let me spare you this one....DON'T do it! It is repulsive! It about made me gag even. I don't think it was something Mom ever did or even told us to. I don't remember all the details to this one. Help, Anjeanette?

No I don't suggest licking the butter wrapper either. Can't say I remember liking licking the wrapper though. But licking the beaters was a treat! I did that when I made these and didn't feel bad at all. There are no eggs in this recipe;) I almost took a picture of me licking the beater, but my hands were a mess so I didn't;)

(Anjeanette)

St Patrick's Day Banner/Bulletin Board

My Best Friend was visiting for my Son's party. She had a cute idea for a bulletin board she is in charge of for March. While she was here we were able to make it for her. I love how it turned out and thought everyone else would like a glimpse at it.
The pot of gold had the coolest gold paper for the coins! It really was perfect for gold coins, and the buckle on the Leprechaun Hat. My friend's idea is to have the banner across the top of the bulletin board. Then, the pot of gold will be in the bottom right corner. She will make a rainbow going into the coin (you know, so the pot is at the end of the rainbow). But the totally cute thing is she will be making the rainbow out of the kids' handprints. She will have a row of red handprints, then a row of orange, etc. How neat is that idea? I could see doing this on a small scale on personal pieces of paper and using just a thumb/finger print for the rows of colors in the rainbow! She will send me pictures as soon as it's up at her school (it's for the March bulletin board so it's still a bit away).
Rebecca

Holy Party, Batman!!

Welcome to the party! It was my Sons Birthday party over the weekend. I thought I'd share some of the fun stuff with you all (surprisingly this is not all the details). My Son is in a Batman phase (we've already been through Superman and Spiderman phases!) I had so much fun going with black and yellow for the colors as they are not your usual Birthday colors! The other thing throughout the party was my cute bat shape. I got this from Anjeanette. I made this banner myself. I really love how it turned out! We also were fortunate to have so many of us receive batman shirts and capes from Anjeanette as gifts for Christmas (she didn't even know that was going to be my Son's theme for his party!). So perfect. I asked everyone to wear their batman stuff. We had even many adults with Anjeanette's awesome stenciled batman shirts. It made it all the more fun (and the pictures so cool with all the batman attire).
This was the walkway to my party. I say you always have to have stuff outside, to make sure everyone can easily tell where the party is!
These were the gift bags we gave out. I made the bags myself, as well. I cut out batman shapes on one side and then the #4 on the other side. I also made bat name tags for each bag so the kids could tell their bags apart. We also have kids of all ages in our family so it helps in making gift bags be appropriate for each kid. You can also see my felt bats in this picture. I used Anjeanette's fantastic idea on sewing shapes using felt! It worked brilliantly! I used that technique to make bat shaped bean bags as well as bat shapes that I just stuffed with soft batting (these I gave to the younger kids in place of items they couldn't have).
Also in the gift bags were bat shaped cookies that I made. They aren't chocolate, just colored black! I put them in those cute cellophane bags. These were placed behind the cut out bat shapes on the bags, so that you could see the cookies peeking through the bags.
On the back side of the cookies I closed the bags off with cute bat stickers that I made. I love how this turned out.
Here is how my table was set. So many details and really there were other "tablescapes" set up around the house. Other set ups included pudding in sampler cups that were black and yellow. These were set up on a cupcake stand that had 4 or 5 layers. We also had the gift area and another area with my Sons Batman toys set up.
I made bat shaped rolls. I put them next to a pizza sauce to dip the rolls into. They were a surprising hit.
More fun foods were the oreos that come with yellow filling, and some were taken one step further by being dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with yellow sprinkles (thank you to my best friend for surprising me with those for the party!). We also always have fresh salsa (though I believe it's really more of a pico de gallo then a true salsa) and guacamole. This is a staple at our family parties. The best tasting are the ones that all ingredients except the garlic, are from my own garden! Something is so yummy about homegrown veggies! Though I do get my lemons or limes for it, from my Mom's citrus trees! So fun. My kids will just sit and munch at the bowl full of salsa!
My latest find are these awesome cupcake wrappers. I loved making these for this parties and can't wait to use them in all different fun papers!! Also I prefer cupcakes instead of cakes, so I have had fun over the years with different themed cupcake toppers. These matched so well.

The centerpiece was really fun to have. It is also made from paper and the design was made up by Dad himself (not my Dad, my kids Dad!!)! That batmobile was so cool and my Son really loved it! Look for it in the picture further above-of the whole table. Love it!
I always dangle something from my chandelier above my table. These I actually cut out of fun foam. I was trying to use different textures for the party. I dangled these lower than usual so that they were more on my Son's level.
A fun tip for parties is to have stickers on hand with each guest's names on them, to put on their drinks to keep them straight! Love this idea (came from my best friend, again!). These were extras that I had made up for the cupcake toppers.
Now let's talk games! My family really prefers parties at home. We also prefer old fashioned Birthday games. You know the ones, The Clothes Pin Drop, Duck Duck Goose, etc. When we were little my parents had made a cu-ute bean bag toss game out of a cardboard box. I loved that game! I can still picture it in my mind. These bats were my version of a bean bag game. Growing up our parties were always the ones to go to because my parents always did such fun stuff. I guess that's why we continue doing our parties the same way they did. We always had THE best Treasure Hunts. My Dad would do these. His clues were so well made to our age level. He would split us into 2 teams and they would have names based on what we were into at that time. I remember having My Little Pony named teams one year! You could tell when you were getting older as the clues would allow us to search further and further away from the house, to the point of even driving around town in our cars (obviously after we hit 16!). Those ones he even had us looking for clues at the local mall. So you can see why most of our parties have to also have the Treasure Hunts. Oh, and the prize has to be a large bag of Milky Ways so that there is enough for everyone to end up with some! Maybe this is where my love of Milky Ways comes from?...hmmm... We have added a few new fun things like a small bounce house that we own (nothing like tiring the kids out), a jacuzzi for cooling off in, geo tracks and other train tracks set up for kids who would prefer it to the organized games, etc. I find it's always a good idea to have toys set up in other rooms of the house (my kids bedroom and their playroom) to help ease the overcrowding of the house into one room. It also gives kids rooms to escape to if they are feeling overwhelmed. Other more modern things that we have added to our parties (though not this one) is Wii challenges, dancing to music with a disco light going on (somehow the light makes young teenage boys ok with dancing to music, I guess it's kind of like a mosh pit...). We have many more fun themed games that the all the family are adding to their fun parties. You'll have to wait for posts of these other parties, to find out about those but they include making your own fossils, hunting Dinosaur Eggs, superhero obstacle challenges, etc.
Ok, more games. We love The Package game! It's where you find a cute (small) prize and wrap it with newspaper. Keep wrapping it until it's HUGE! The last layer is wrapped in cartoons so you can tell when you are down to the last layer (it's up to you if you want to cheat and pick who gets the prize...we always do!). It's basically a version of musical chairs. You have all the kids sit in a large circle. Sit adults between the kids if the kids are young and need help. The package gets passed around the circle while the music plays. When the music stops, that child unwraps a layer. Then, the music starts back up and the package continues being passed. When you wrap it you put smaller gifts, stickers, candy, gum in each layer. That way everyone ends up with a lap full of goodies. One tip is to keep a trash bag on hand to scoop up the thrown away paper layers as you go! Once I found out the truth about how every child ended up getting a turn (or 2 or 3-evenly) at unwrapping a layer. I was surprised because the parent that worked the music control had their back to us so that they couldn't cheat. That's when I learned the magic of mirrors. See, we are telling you that our parents are genius'! Or you could go the route of my best friend who puts good gifts in each layer that is specific to each child and has a list of who the present will land on, for each layer! She is far more organized then I will ever be, but it's fun to be a part of her twist on our Package Game!

I know that everyone had a fantastic time. We had way too much food, too many people, too much time...wait a minute, no. There is no "too much" on parties! It was so much fun. I can't believe my Son is getting so old. I love seeing the new things he can do and new experiences that are coming into his life. But I will forever miss the little boy he was! Thank you to everyone who celebrated my little boy with us, for all help that was given to me, and for all readers who have made it this far through this LOOONG post! =)
Rebecca

And of course, don't forget about our give-away for the party banner! Just leave a comment by tomorrow!

Are you ready to get your Bat on?! ~Bat Cape Tutorial

I love when my boys dress up and pretend to be something they are not. It isn't about saving the world. It is about pretend. Who doesn't like pretend? My nephew is having a Batman party today. For Christmas I made bat capes for all the younger nephews. I also made freezer paper stencil bat shirts. For Halloween my little family of 4 all had bat capes and bat shirts. Today's party we are all going to get our bat on! I had intended to make a cape and shirt for my girlfriend's son for Christmas. But I ran out of time...sigh. So I made one yesterday. Just in time for today's party!

In an effort to keep my kids pictures off this blog, I'll have to see if I can get an action shot at the party today sans faces. For now, these will have to do.

Gather your supplies. I used a yard of black material, pinking shears, a plate about 4 inches across, and some sort of marking utinsil. I choose a fabric with polyester blend. A good super hero needs to look nice at all times. Irons are not something they carry to save the world.


I left the fabric folded just as it comes off the bolt. I folded it in half the other way. In the corner where both folds meet, I lined up the plate and drew about 1/4 of a circle for the neck opening.


Now I backed up and drew the basic shape. This is my guide for the scallops. Just a big quarter circle usning most of the length and width of the material.



Sorry about this one being out of focus. I had a little helper with me the whole time. With your plate and the quarter circle guide, draw scallops to make the bat wing shape.



Using your pinking shears, cut the neck and scallops. **If you sew close to the pinked edges you will not need to clip your curves. There are lots of curves in this and I was happy I used my pinking shears;)


This is the shape still folded in half and laying on it's side apparently;)



With some scrap fabric, trace a half circle using your plate. This still needs to be two layers of fabric.


You are making the neck piece. From the half circle, draw another half circle about 2 inches out from that. And then draw a line right in the center of that to seperate this into two sides. See the picture for details.


Cut that out with pinking shears.


Sew the neck pieces on three sides leaving the bottom selvege edge open for turning.


Clip the corners


Turn both neck pieces. I LOVE my handy dandy turning tool. Saves so much time!!


Topstitch the same three sides of both neck pieces.


Go to your bat shape. Open it up. Cut along the top fold. **You could have cut it out with this as the selvege edge, but I like to cut those off, and this way it held the pieces together for me for a little while. Less pieces to loose.


Sew the neck curve


Lay the neck pieces down below the newly sewn curve. This is for placement. ** I measured the neck at this point and adjusted the length of the neck piece accordingly. If I wanted a bigger neck opening, I would have tucked the neck piece further in the sandwich. If I wanted it shorter, I would have put less length in the sandwich.



Lift up the top layer and put the neck piece right along the curve seam.


Put the top layer back over the sandwiched neck piece. I highlighted where the piece is inside the two layers just for reference.


Sew just the neck piece in at the shoulder seam. Don't sew anything further. Sew both neck pieces the same way.


We are going to sew around the entire cape now. Leave an opening for turning. I like to use a straight edge for openings for turnings. It is easier to finish it off nicely with just a straight stitch. I left an opening on one of the shoulders.

I should have done this one step back...cut off the excess neck piece. You don't have to do this, but it will have a bit of a lump inside the cape if you don't.


Sew around the cape leaving the opening mentioned above.


Turn the cape right side out through the opening you left.


Using your turning tool or knitting needles or some other not too sharp tool, make sure the points of your scallops are nicely pointy. Topstitch around perimeter of cape. Make sure you sew closed the opening you left for turning.


To keep the neck on my kids, I like to use sew in Velcro. I don't find the iron on Velcro stays over repeated wear. And I don't like a snap or anything else. This thing is around my kids neck. I want it to come apart if it is pulled on. Sew in the Velcro on both ends of the strap.


Pair it up with a freezer paper stenciled bat shirt and you are good to go!


Don't forget, if you make this, please take a picture and put it up on our flickr group. Leave us a comment that you liked this tutorial. If I don't get feedback, I have no idea if you found this useful.

Also, don't forget to leave a comment for our little give away. As a way to thank you for your comment love, people that have previously left us comments get extra entries. Just remember that for future give aways;)
~~Anjeanette

Ok this is Rebecca here. I just thought I'd add a few pictures of a few of the kids in their batman capes, from the party. Hard to get pictures of little ones actually holding still! Aren't the shirts Anjeanette made super cute, too!?