Shadow Puppet Theater

Well friends, the famous Phil did NOT see his shadow this week and although I would typically say hooray to an early spring, that sort of thing is frowned upon when you live in a resort town in the mountains so this year we are chanting, "long live winter!" (This is solely due to peer pressure on my part and I actually cross my fingers while shouting this despicable phrase—because besides being a symbol for good luck, finger crossing is also the internationl action sign which allows one to lie with impunity.)

 Because we say BAH to no shadows (*crosses fingers*) the boys and I assembled a few movable shadow puppets and put on a show or two...or three or four or five.

The puppets we used were designed by Meredith Wolff and downloaded from Martha's website. We thought these particular animals were perfect for the winter season but obviously the possibilities are endless when it comes to shadow puppet construction.

We have a rectangular cut-out in one of our walls that the kids use as a window to their playhouse (which is little nook under the stairs). As it turns out, the window makes for a lovely little puppet show stage as well.

To make a screen for shadow viewing, I cut a long strip of paper from a roll of tracing paper and taped the corners to the window from the backside. Next I hung a shop lamp overhead to backlight the screen. Then it was on with the show.

The kids spent a the better part of our Groundhog's Day participating in this activity which was great since it was way to cold to go outside. A must-do, indoor play activity.  

Okay, I’m off to start prepping supplies for the valentine making we will be doing this weekend (which might involve homemade heart shaped-crayons again). We might even whip up a batch pf last year's conversation hearts or some heart shaped soft-pretzels. I’ll be back next week to share a few projects we have been up to in tribute to this month of love. See you then!

Valentine Love Mitts

Hey there friends! I just shared a valentine tutorial with the readers over at FaveCrafts.com. You can read all about how to make your own I-Love-You-This-Much Love Mitts right HERE.

Oh yeah, and I am also sharing my current 5 favorite blogs on the Fave Crafts blog right HERE.

Snow Globing!

For our last group make project we made snow globes.

Here’s how we did it (notice ingredients in bold text):

First we wanted to attach our miniatures to the lid of the baby jar. (Miniature trees and snowmen came from the craft store). Rather than gluing the objects directly to the lid, we glued them to a stack of 4 poker chips which I had pre-glued to the lid beforehand (after I had lightly sanded the lid). Our baby jars had a pattern in the glass on one end of the jar which would have distorted our winter scene so having the poker chips as leverage solved that problem.

We used hot glue to attach our objects to the poker chips but I think I would recommend using a waterproof sealant if you want to keep the globe as a real keepsake. The only downside to using glue like this is you might have to wait an hour or two before the next step whereas hot glue dries in seconds.

We set our lid aside while we added distilled water to our baby jar. We filled the jars as much as possible while still allowing the objects to fit inside with no water spilling over. Just before attaching our lid—objects affixed—we added a few pinches of chunky glitter and a drop or two of glycerin. The chunky glitter is easier to see than fine glitter and it is heavy enough to fall to the bottom. The glycerin slows down the speed of the falling glitter (I found this in the supermarket pharmacy by the way). We were careful not to add too much glycerin to avoid clumping up the glitter.

Lastly, we ran a ring of hot glue around the inside of our pre-assembled lid and then screwed it on tightly.

A great project for a last group make if you ask me. Thank you again to all my lovely make supporters! *tear* You guys are the best! I’d love it if you come back to visit the blog periodically as we share our at-home making adventures.

Happy making.

p.s. please excuss my lack of photo documentation!

Stay at Home Make

We will not be having a make for the month of December so instead I thought I would share a recipe for an easy stay-at-home-make; SNOW ICE CREAM!

This might gross out some of you because it involves eating real fallen snow. If you're like me, however, as long as it's not yellow, I don't do much to stop my kids from a chomping on few flaky handfuls. I learned this recipe from my mom who made it for me a many snowy days when I was a kid.

You will need:

• fresh, clean snow
• milk
• sugar
• vanilla

I did no measuring but if you want to be precise the internet is full of recipes. I added milk to the snow until it became the consistency of soft seve ice cream then I added sugar and a bit of vanilla...time for a taste test...you might need a little more sugar, milk or vanilla...it's up to you. Enjoy!

P.S. Paula Deen's recipe contains sweetened condensed milk in place of milk and sugar! I haven't tried it yet but I am pretty much game for any recipes involving condensed milk.

Activity Advent

We decided to count down the days until Christmas with an activity-advent calendar to go along with our chocolate one.

I inserted a to-do item in each miniature box (found at a paper warehouse for 40 cents each). Then I wrapped each box with tissue, ribbon and feathers.

Each day Hendrix will find the number of the day and unwrap to revel the activity.

Today we will string popcorn for a little extra Christmas tree decor. Here's what is to come:

1. Set up Christmas tree and arrange Christmas decorations
2. String popcorn for the tree
3. Learn a Christmas song
4. Nativity puppet songs and stories
5. Reindeer Hats Craft
6. Take pictures in a homemade photo booth
7. Write a letter to Santa Clause
8. Homemade Marshmallows
9. Create Christmas cards and mail them
10. Look through toys and find something to donate
11. Make "snowball" soap
12. Bake and decorate gingerbread people
13. Take a Christmas surprise to the neighbors
14. Make ice ornaments for the great outdoors
15. Play a holiday game
16. Paint snowflakes on the window with window paint
17. Get on an airplane to visit family
18. Disneyland
19. Disneyland
20. Watch Christmas claymation movie
21. Make holiday play dough
22. Make snow ice cream
23. Neighborhood Christmas lights tour
24. Open Christmas eve gift (ornament)
25. Hooray! It's Christmas!

Bird Feeders and Old Ovens

We had a great time at our first official make creating bird feeder biscuits. I was a little frightened that the whole project would be a bust when I saw the million year old oven we had to use to bake our biscuits in. As it turned out though, I was just being oven-ageist, the ovens worked just fine—they just needed a while to warm up...(like an hour).

Anyway, if you were able to attend, thanks for coming. If not, we'll see you next time! Check out the following pics from the event.

One more thing, to those of you who had to take off before the biscuits were done baking, you can pick up the feeder in the church kitchen. Sadly, some of the creations crumbled after sitting over night. If your child's feeder was among the causalities I can give you some birdseed to create a new one at home.

If you were unable to attend but think you might like to create your own, see recipe, (snatched from the February Family Fun Magazine), below.

You will Need: 3/4 Cup birdseed, I Tablespoon Flour, 2 Tablespoons Water, cookie cutters, cooking spray, foil, cookie sheet, straw, and yarn or ribbon for hanging.

Mix ingredients together until pasty. Spray cookie cutter with cooking spray and set on a foiled cookie sheet. Spoon mixture into cookie cutter, insert a cut straw to create a hole for hanging after baked. Bake in oven at 170 degrees for about an hour. After cooling you can string up the biscuit and then hang in a tree for the birdies to enjoy!