krisha

Tea Box Veggie Garden…

March 8, 2016 by krisha

Warning: This might be my longest post yet. This is absolutely one of my favorite art projects I’ve done with my kids. It’s a little involved, but once they get going, they find their rhythm and are well on their way to making this tea box veggie garden. My youngest, who is 5, needed more help with the actual construction of the veggies. My oldest 8 and 7, just needed a little guidance and reassurance that their veggies didn’t have to look like Mom’s. Whenever I set up art projects, I always have an example for them, that I’ve created. I remind them, that it’s only there so they can see what the end product will be. I always insist that their project be their own and it shouldn’t look like mine. However, they are kids and sometimes we have art drama. Luckily, we were able to move past it pretty quickly and they were all very pleased with their own little gardens.

First, gather your supplies:

Muslin fabric
Brown fabric
Paper towels
Acrylic paints
Glue
Scissors
Paintbrushes
Toothpick or wooden skewer
Batting
Tea boxes

To start, you can review the paper towel shapes and fabric shapes chart in the pictures above. I made these to only serve as a guide for my kids. It isn’t set in stone. Please, by all means, encourage creativity. At one point, Jacks ventured off on his own and made a little garlic guy for his garden, without any instruction from me. It might also help to have the actual vegetables there, as visual guides. Especially with younger artists. Anyway, please use the charts I made at your discretion.

After reviewing the charts, start making your paper towel shapes. We made potatoes, leeks, onions, cabbage, beets or radishes, carrots, and Jacks made a garlic. Once you have all your shapes, set them aside and begin cutting the fabric shapes. After cutting all the shapes, you can start assembling the veggies. I’m going to try and be as descriptive as possible, so you can see how we covered the paper towels in our fabric. Let’s break it down by veggie, shall we?

Carrot: Cut 2 – 3 long, thin strips for the base of the carrot. For the carrot top, first, start by cutting a rectangle. Fold the rectangle in half, lengthwise and cut fringe, careful to not cut all the way to the fold. To assemble, add glue to the carrot top, wrap the fringed fabric around, and secure with more glue. Then, begin wrapping your long strips from the bottom of the carrot, all the way to just over the base of the carrot top. Secure with glue.

Potato: Just like the carrot, cut thin long strips. I think I showed three in my chart, but it will all depend on the size of your tater! This guy is pretty easy. You just wrap him up, mummy style, until there is no paper towel showing. Secure the ends with glue.

Leek: Cut a rectangle shape. Down one long side of the rectangle, cut fringe, but not all the way down. This one is a little tricky to assemble. Place your paper towel leek at the edge on one of the short sides and start rolling. When you start rolling, grab the long side (the one without the fringe) and pull up, so the bottom of the leek is covered. As you roll, keep that long side folded in. When you reach the end, take one of the leek fringes and wrap around the neck and secure with glue.

Onion: The onion is pretty much identical to the leek. The only difference is you start with a larger rectangle.

Cabbage: Cut a circle, big enough to cover the head of your cabbage. Then cut two shapes, that loosely resemble a flower. Maybe they look more like an amoeba? Glue those together, then onto the head of cabbage.

Beet/Radish: Cut a pinwheel shape of sorts. While holding fabric, place radish in the center, standing up. Grab the leaves and gather up, to cover radish. Take one of the leaves and wrap around the neck and secure with glue.

I know some of the descriptions might be a little hard to follow. But, really you can do it however you want. I just made these up and it worked. You might discover a better way!

Now comes the fun part…painting! My only instruction for the painting is to try and cover all parts of the fabric. Also, blending colors is always fun! You’ll find that some of your fabric might start to get stringy during the painting phase. Don’t worry, it just looks like roots. If it gets too crazy, just give them a little trim. After painting, you can add eyes using the toothpick or wooden skewer. This was all my son’s idea. My original version did not have eyes. I loved it! So we added eyes and the garden came alive, so to speak.

After all your vegetables are done, you are ready to make the garden bed. Depending on your tea box, you should be able to get 2 garden beds from one box. Start by measuring an inch from the bottom and marking a guide all the way around the tea box. Next, cut off the bottom. Repeat the same steps for the top of the tea box.

Using your tea box as a guide for width, cut 3 strips of batting approximately 7 inches long. Roll each strip and secure the end with glue. Next, cut 3 rectangles from your brown fabric. Don’t cut them too small, we cut ours at 7 in L x 4 in H. Place your batting roll at the center of one of the long edges. Roll, until it’s covered and secure the end with glue. Grab one end of the brown fabric and fold in and glue. Repeat with the remaining brown fabric end. Add glue to the tea box and place brown fabric roll, seam side down, and secure to box. Repeat for remaining 2 fabric rolls.

Whew…I hope you got all that. Remember, if you didn’t, just improvise! After all the paint and glue has dried, it’s time to plant your veggies!! They can be planted over and over again. Annie, invited her T-rex’s and other meat eating dinosaurs to her garden. Turns out, they like their veggies, too!!

Start Creative Doodle Books…

March 4, 2016 by krisha

I love, LOVE products and toys that spark creativity! So, when I was offered the opportunity to have my kids try out these doodle books by Start Creative, I was all in!

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, then you know we are really into the arts over here. Drawing, painting, crafting, sewing, you name it. We have art everyday. Sometimes, it’s led by me, but mostly my kids do it on their own. I make sure to keep ample art supplies in stock and within their reach. I don’t require permission for them to create. I employ a, “help yourself” when it comes to art supplies, and they do!

These little doodle books will have a regular spot amongst our art supplies. There are three books: Lines, Scribbles, and Swirls. On each page there is a starting doodle. And that is where the fun begins. From there, you take over. It’s all up to you, to tap into your imagination and bring that doodle to life. There is no right or wrong. It’s all about how creative you can get!

Do you ever just see a product and think, “Why didn’t I think of that?” That’s how I feel about these doodle books. I think they are genius! They are small and thin, perfect for on the go! I plan on keeping some in my purse for in car entertainment, waiting rooms, baseball and soccer games, grocery store strips, and restaurants. Also, these would make great Easter basket fillers. Which is great, because Start Creative has graciously offered Jacks & Kate readers a discount code good for 10% off any doodle book, valid through 3/6/16. Just enter JAK10 at checkout!

Yarn Birds…

February 15, 2016 by krisha

I will find any excuse to make use of my yarn obsession. I can’t even knit or crochet (yet), and I have bundles of this stuff just waiting for the right project. I would love to take credit for this genius, but this was not my idea. I stumbled across a video in a homeschool group I follow, intrigued by the use of yarn, I had to check it out. I adapted it a little, so that it was something my kids could do on their own, with very little help from me. One of the best things I did years ago, was bring all of the craft supplies down to their reach. They have complete access to everything and I find this leads to wonderful art exploration or just doing projects we have done before.

For this project you’ll need:

Yarn in various colors (Black for eyes and orange for beaks)
Scissors
Craft glue
Scrap paper
Cardboard template (5 in L x 2 in W)

After you have your cardboard template cut out, start by wrapping one of the yarns around lengthwise, until you have reached 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. You don’t want it to thick, or it makes it difficult to manipulate into the bird shape. Cut the yarn at one end and set aside. Repeat this 2 more times with different color yarns.

Next, make sure the individual strands within each yarn grouping are lined up, so that they are even on the ends. Choose the color you want for the wings or side part of the bird, and tie a string that is equal or greater in length than the other strings, around the middle. Set that aside and grab your two remaining colors. Lay those, one on top of each other, so that they form a cross. Fold the yarn on bottom, over the yarn on top and tie of with a string. Once again, the string you use will need to be the same length or bigger than the other strings. If not, then when it’s time to form the bird, these strings will be exposed, instead of being tucked in with the others. Now, take the remaining yarn, fold it around, and tie off.

Then, take the two yarn sections that are connected, and lay them horizontal. Place your other yarn section on top vertically, forming a cross. Next, crumple up a small piece of scrap paper and place in the center. This will give the body more form. Finally, gather all of the yarn sections and form a bird shape. Tie off the tail with a another piece of yarn. Trim tail to your liking.

Now, form your eyes and beak. We did this by taking black yarn for the eyes and tying a single knot, then another right on top of that knot. Trim the ends and attach with glue to the bird. Do the same thing for the beak, except use orange yarn and tie 3 or 4 knots, forming a chain of sorts. Trim the ends and attach with glue. There is a little hole where the beak is attached, so we actually added glue in the hole and slightly tucked the beak in there. The last thing to do, is thread a piece of yarn through the top of the head and tie off. It’s optional, but I wanted to do this so we could attach them to gifts, cards, or hang them from whatever.

After I worked through a few of these with my kids, they ran with it. We have a bunch of these little birdies flying around. This is such a simple and fun craft, that can be done over and over again with different results. You can change the colors out, make them smaller or larger. One thing is for sure, they will have making them!

Snail Pin Valentines…

January 20, 2016 by krisha

There’s just something about a snail that makes them so endearing to my kids. Perhaps it’s because they carry their home on their backs. Or maybe it’s their never in a rush disposition, that appeals to them. Whatever it is, they sure do love them, especially Savannah and Annie. Those two bring them home, stuffed ever so carefully into their pockets. They keep them as pets for a few days. They make them snail homes, complete with a damp straw bed, rock pillow, and leaf coverlet. We have actually lost a few within our home, never to be found again. Yes they are slow, but give them 8 hours while you sleep and buddy, they can go the distance! When the snails are gone and the only thing left is their home, they collect those, too. We have a jarful and we really don’t need more, but they are fascinated with each new one, as if it were the first. “This one is so shiny!”, “This one is swirly brown”, “Oh, this is the tiniest snail shell ever!” are just a few of the reasons I hear to keep bringing them home. Since they are so loved, I thought what a great Valentine they would make.

For this project you’ll need:

Snail shells
Fabric
Batting
Floral wire
Pipe cleaners
Glue
Hot glue
Scissors
Pins (The kind you wear)
Cardstock
Masking tape (optional)

First, take your pipe cleaner and fold it in half, then in half again. Twist it together and form a smile shape. Cut thin (1/2 inch). 12 inch length strips of batting and begin wrapping around pipe cleaner. Determine which end will be the head and stop wrapping just before the tail. Secure the end piece of the batting with glue.

Cut a small square of fabric and wrap it over the head of the snail and secure it in place with a 5 inch cut of floral wire. Wrap it around a few times, so it won’t fall off. Curl the wire down, by gripping the ends with your scissors and turning. Next, begin wrapping a strip of fabric (same length and width as the batting) around the wire, moving back towards the tail. Before wrapping the tail, take another small square of fabric and cover the tail. Add a small piece of tape to hold in place, if needed, otherwise just pinch it in place, while wrapping. As you wrap, pull tightly as you go and finally, secure the end piece of fabric with glue. If you find you have some bare spots, just cut small pieces of your fabric and glue accordingly. Attach the shell and the pin with hot glue.

Cut out heart shapes from cardstock and decorate as you please. Cut two small, vertical slits in the middle of the card and attach snail pin. And there you have a snail pin valentine! As a precaution, I wouldn’t recommend giving this to young children, because of the small parts and the sharp pin. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Faux Taxidermy Ornaments…

November 6, 2015 by krisha

I’m really big on my kids making ornaments for our Christmas tree. It’s so funny, how having kids changes your perspective. Gone are the days of my perfectly decorated Christmas tree and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This year, I’m staying ahead of the game and getting all of our ornaments made in November. Well, I’m going to put forth a good effort anyway. First up, is our version of a faux taxidermy. These were so fun and so easy to make!

You’ll need just a few supplies:

Plastic shopping bags
Masking tape
Acrylic paints
Paintbrushes
Scissors
Glue
Pipecleaners (optional)
Cereal box (or any thin cardboard material)
Wood slices (I found mine at Michaels)
Yarn

Originally, I had planned to paper mache the ornaments. But, Savannah had recently made a puppet and instead of adding a layer of paper mache, she just painted right over the masking tape. I’m all for keeping things simple!

First, determine what kind of animal you are going to make. Start by forming a head shape with your plastic bag. You want to use a good bit of the bag, to give it substance. So make sure to cut off a good bit of the bag. Then, start rolling and tweaking it, until you have something that looks similar to your desired animal. Once you have your shape, wrap it in masking tape. Don’t wrap too tightly or it will decrease the size of your animal head. Keep wrapping, until the entire head is covered in tape.

Next, add the eyes and ears. You can choose just to paint the eyes on, but if you want to add some dimension, then just ball up a little piece of tape and attach with a layer of masking tape. For the ears, we used a cereal box. We drew out simple ear shapes, cut them out, then covered them in tape, and attached to the head with more tape. For the elephant trunk and ostrich neck, I formed the shape I wanted with a pipecleaner, then wrapped a piece of the plastic bag around it and secured it with masking tape. Also, because the shape has some give, you can manipulate it and add indentations for eyes, nostrils, etc.

Once you have your head completed and covered in tape, you can start painting. This is where they really start to come to life. Depending on the paint color, you might need two coats. Set aside to dry. The wood slices do not come with a hole, so you’ll need to drill them out. After the paint has dried, glue the head to the wood slice, and thread a piece of yarn through the hole.

My kids loved making these! We made a pig, a horse, a bunny, a screech owl, a chipmunk, a T-Rex, an elephant, a tiger, and an ostrich. They are still making them! I think they turned out really cute and I can’t wait to get them on our tree. I love them so much, I think we are going to work on a bigger version for the wall.

Classic Cream Puffs…

September 21, 2015 by krisha

At least once a week, I bring my kids into the kitchen to cook with me. They alternate turns, because 3 of them at once is just too crazy. Also, I find that I enjoy it more when I can I have one on one time with each of them. They love to cook and I do love teaching them. Not only do they get to sample through out the recipe, but they are practicing they’re reading and math skills. That’s a bonus for this homeschooling mom!

I’ve always wanted to make cream puffs and if I’d known just how easy it was, I would have done so a long time ago. There are two main characters in a cream puff recipe. The first is a French pastry dough called, pate a choux. Sounds like, “pot uh shoe” and fun to say a million times over. Annie must have said it, just that many times! The second, is creme chantilly. Sounds like, “whipped cream.” Okay, so I did feel a little ridiculous every time I said, “creme chantilly.” But, French is a part of our daily studies, so I kept it legit and went with, “creme chantilly.”

I chose this recipe, because the instructions were clear and the photo of the creme puff showing all that glorious creme chantilly! If I’d thought about it, I would have gotten a picture of ours showing off the cream, but I forgot in the midst of instructing and photographing. You’ll just have to trust me, that our cream puffs were all kinds of jacked up with the creme chantilly. Have I said, “creme chantilly” enough yet?

I’ll admit, when we first put the cream puffs in the oven to bake, I wasn’t sure if they were going to work. For the first few minutes, I was actually sure of it. Then out of no where, they began to puff. As a friend recently said, “they are magical!” The key to a good cream puff is the puff. It’s actually a pocket of air inside the pastry. That’s the housing for all that wonderful creme chantilly! Here I go again, dropping my creme chantilly. I think I’ve creme chantilly-ed this post to death. All hail to the creme chantilly! I wonder, if I go in the bathroom, turn off all the lights, look in the mirror while chanting, “creme chantilly”, if Julia Childs would appear? Ha! I won’t be trying that, but you should definitely try this cream puff recipe!

Handprinted Stationary Kit…

August 31, 2015 by krisha

My kids love mail! They especially love cards! My parents, have sent them cards for every birthday and every single holiday since they were born. If it were up to me, they’d be um, purged. However, they are sentimental ones and insist on keeping them. Knowing how much they love getting cards in the mail, I thought we should put together a handmade stationary kit and send off to my parents. They are already excited about receiving their cards back in the mail.

On a recent trip to the library, Savannah stumbled onto this book about handprinting animal art for kids. It provides detailed, step by step instructions on which part of your hand to paint to make the animal come to life. The beginning of the book gives you pointers on handprinting techniques, if you are not sure by just looking at the picture. Also, after each animal, there is a lesson of sorts about that animal. Unfortunately, it’s no longer in print, but I was able to pick up a used copy in great condition. I know this book will get a lot of use in our house!

After playing around making some of the animals, we got serious and started handprinting onto blank stationary cards. The book lists poster paint as the type of paint to use, but I just used acrylic. You will need to work faster if using acrylic, as it does dry quicker than poster paint. I found being slightly generous when applying the paint, helped extend the drying time. After all the cards have dried, then go back and add details with an ink pen.

We did a total of 9 cards. After they were finished, we stacked the cards and envelopes on a piece of cardboard. Then, we tied them all together with some yarn, handmade pom poms, and a “write me” tag. These stationary kits make fun gifts for grandparents, teachers, friends, or pen pals. Ours is headed to Texas, where Papa and Gigi will fill each one with words that will be treasured for many years.

DIY Confetti Blowers…

August 14, 2015 by krisha

It’s back to school season and I like to do something fun every year to celebrate it. We homeschool, but we take our summer break, too. It’s nice to have those lazy days of summer for me and for them.

I had some unused party blowers, so I thought now would be the perfect time to make some use of them. You can get them just about anywhere, I think I picked mine up from Target.

Gather your supplies:
Party blowers
Ink pens
Scissors
Glue stick
Cardstock
Confetti
Party napkins or tissue paper

First, carefully separate the paper part of the blower from the horn. Try to remove it in intact, as you will use this for your template. Next, trace an outline of the blower onto cardstock. With ink pens, have your kids draw within the template. We do a lot of ink drawings and these pens are a staple in our house. They don’t smudge and are waterproof. After they have completed their drawings, cut out the template.

Next, add a little glue down one long side of your template. Roll and press into place. You’ll need to hold this for a minute, until the glue takes. After the form is set, add a little more glue near the top, then slide the plastic horn piece into position.

Start stuffing your blower with confetti, careful not to pack it in or it will become jammed in the horn and won’t blow properly. We used some of our handmade confetti leftover from the confetti ghosts we made last year. Add a little handwritten message and tuck into the confetti. Finally, seal off your party blower. We cut some small circles from party napkins, but tissue paper would work the same.

Hand them out to friends or have fun with them yourselves. When you’re ready to get your celebration on, just punch trough the seal and blow! They had the best time blowing confetti all over each other.

Easy Broccoli and Cheese Quiche…

July 15, 2015 by krisha

When I wrote my last blog post in March, I didn’t anticipate taking such an extended break from blogging. But I did and it felt good to step away for a while. I was able to enjoy, ahem, survive the last few months of my pregnancy and didn’t worry too much if my blog would be okay. On June 5th, 4 weeks ahead of schedule, we welcomed the fourth baby and second boy in our family, Wyatt Sam. He is a complete joy and quite the little chunker! I’ll tell you more about my newest love in another post. For now, I want to share this slammin’ broccoli and cheese quiche recipe!

I have never made quiche until this recipe. I’m not exactly sure why, but baking a quiche has always sounded intimidating. Perhaps it was the thought of making a crust that kept me from making this deliciousness. Well, no more. I’ve made this quiche about a dozen times in the last few months. C’est magnifique! It’s perfect for breakfast, snack, lunch, or dinner. It’s one of the few ways, I can get Savannah to ingest more than a sliver of broccoli. It is so easy. The crust is the perfect quiche crust and it takes no time at all to make. Grab the crust recipe here and the quiche recipe here. The only ingredient I have substituted, was the cream in the quiche. Once, I didn’t have any on hand, so I used canned coconut milk. It was just as a good and a little healthier. Also, there were a few comments on the quiche recipe, that it used too much onion. Too onion-y? Is that even possible? Onion breath be damned…I say, load up! But if it’s not your thing, just sub it out.

Now that I’ve gotten my first postpartum blog post underway, all while, a sleeping Wyatt lay on my chest and Savannah shoved every Tsum Tsum in my face, I think I can declare I’ve officially returned from my blogging break!

Time with Annie…

March 8, 2015 by krisha

The other day in the car, Annie started to tell me something and she started off with, “When you get rid of me…” What? I think she thinks the new baby is replacing her or maybe it’s because I’ve threatened one too many times to ship her out of the country when she’s driving me mad. I reassured her, I was not getting rid of her, now or ever.

While I love all my babies the same amount, I have a special bond with each one, that’s unique to just them. With Annie, it’s always been, because she was the baby. Perhaps I coddled her a bit more. Or secretly enjoyed her sleeping next to me more. It doesn’t help matters that she is so miniature and petite. At 4 years old, I can still easily carry her around. Even on her worst days, in her crazy Annie moments, she has this way of mesmerizing me with her tiny self and her little cartoon voice. The way she stands in front of me with her little books that she’s authored and proudly tells me a story that makes absolutely no sense. But I don’t care, because, that voice. I love that little voice. I love the way she still uses adjectives as verbs. Instead of telling me she cut something out, she’ll say, “Mommy, I sharped it out” I kind of hope she does that for longer than she should. I’ll correct her one day, but not now. As excited as I am to meet the new baby of the family, my heart hurts a little knowing that she won’t be the baby anymore. Let’s face it, with each new addition, there is less of me to go around. A newborn requires a lot of attention. There will be times when I will have to put his needs over hers. She’ll adjust, I know she will. They all have when it was their turn. For now though, I’ll just soak up these last months of her being the baby. I will tell her, as my Mom did me, that she’ll always be my baby. Nothing can ever change that.

Just a side note. I took these pictures at construction site in our neighborhood. It was after hours and no workers were present. Even though, it might look like in some of the pictures, she’s about to be scooped up by a big excavator, she is not.

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