Voting is Open! Join Us in the EtsyMom Team Spring 2013 Color Palette Challenge

Several of our talented EtsyMom team members have joined in on a little team fun and have created new items based off the Berry Brights color palette. I think these colors are just so bright and cheer myself that it just makes me naturally smile when I see them, and of course makes my mouth water when I see the strawberries.

One of these lucky moms will win a prize basket based on the number of votes/likes they receive. So join in on the fun and help them out by "liking" your favorite or favorites on the EtsyMom Facebook page, if you have more than one.

Voting will end at midnight on Saturday May 4.

In addition, if you would like to see other color palette ideas be sure to click on the Berry Brights photograph (to your left) and it will take to you a world of additional color palettes that truly set the mood like "Citrus Color", "Ladybug Brights", etc. It has opened my eyes in terms of mixing colors together.

This summer, my daughter is participating in 4H for the first time, and will be entering a project in the Home Environment program where she is to create an interior design layout for a bedroom. She has enjoyed going to the home supply stores and looking at paint colors and carpet selections. When she saw the various color palette selections a world of ideas began to unfold in terms of mixing colors together for her project. I think it will do the same for you as well.

We would love for you to share with us on Hi Mamma what is your favorite color palette after looking at the selections!

Kids Cooking Club: Banana Bread

One oldie but goodie recipe is banana bread. It seems like you just can not go wrong in what you add to the recipe to give it a little more ump. Of course the ultimate favorite part of the recipe is smashing the bananas, but no matter, this is the ultimate quick bread the girls really enjoy.

In terms of nuts we rotate based upon what we have in the freezer. The girls really enjoy the almonds where my husband likes the walnuts. As you can see below, we have raisins added as an ingredient but in all honesty, sometimes we just double up the nuts and not place raisins in the batter, and add some crushed flax seed into the mixing bowl.

Banana Bread
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup sugar (you can add any of the different sugars that you like, just remember to change the amount based upon the desired sweetness)
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans)
1 cup raisins
1 cup = roughly 3 mashed bananas

Grease you bread pan so that it does not stick to the pan when removing the bread after baking.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, oil and eggs together into the mixing bowl. Add the mashed bananas. Lastly fold into the batter the nuts and raisins (if desired).

Bake at 350 F for 1 hour. After baking let the bread rest for 10 minutes before removing from pan and serving (if you like it warm).

Classic Movie Night

It is classic movie night tonight...we are going to be kicking it off with Mary Poppins! Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and A Spoonful of Sugar will be in my mind all weekend long. Do you think when I start humming A Spoonful of Sugar and snap my fingers...that it will help me clean my house...oh how I wish. But none-the-less it will be a wonderful movie night.

Over the past week, we have been thinking of films that are considered classics and really it is ongoing list. We have our list of books/novels but not really in terms of films.

We would love for you to share your favorites. Below are some that we thought of. Granted a few are newer than others but in terms of classics, they could be there.

• Wizard of Oz (1939)
• It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
• Singin’ In the Rain (1952)
• Sound of Music (1965)
• Alice in Wonderland (1951)
• The Princess Bride (1987)
• Bright Eyes (1934)
• A Christmas Story (1983)
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
• Mary Poppins (1964)
• The Sound of Music (1965)
• Star Wars (1977)
• The Black Stallion (1979)
• The Muppet Movie (1979)
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• The Absent-Minded Professor
• The Great Race
• Modern Times
• Time Bandits
• Forrest Gump
• Lawrence of Arabia
• Singin' in the Rain
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
• Back to the Future
• Oliver Twist
• It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
• Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
• James and the Giant Peach (1996)
• The Shaggy D.A. (1976)
• Lassie
• King Kong (1933)
• Little Women (1933)
• Anne of Green Gables (1934)
• Heidi (1937)
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
• The Little Princess (1939)
• Casablanca (1942)
• The Secret Garden (1949)
• Peter Pan (1953)
• Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
• My Fair Lady (1964)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
• Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
• Charlotte's Web (1973)
• The Three Musketeers (1974)
• The Adventures of the Wilderness Family (1975) and sequel (1978)
• The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) and sequel (1979)
• Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) and sequel (1978)
• The Four Musketeers (1975)
• The Bad News Bears (1976) and sequels (1977, 1978)
• Annie (1982)

Fun and Wacky Themed Days

Celebrating and having special themed days has become a fun monthly family tradition. Each day of the month we have a theme that can be a really wacky idea, a funny joke, a new craft and/or learn about a bit of history! We just mix it up a little.

Some of our ideas have come from a book that you can find at the library called Chase Calendar of Events. I learned of this book when I was planning local store events for McDonald's restaurants/owners. It is great source that shares ideas that you can build upon, as well as provide facts. Another source that I have enjoyed is via family education's calendar links. This website has all 12 months of the year laid out, in terms of special days that you can print off at home.

We do a combination of the two calendars, as well as our own "wacky fun" days. There are times that we know ahead, in terms of planning, that we can place that event on the calendar for the day. For example, we attended the play "Anne of Green Gables" that was performed by a local group of teenagers who participate in Wisdom Builders. It was a true example of a group of teenagers coming together to perform, where many, many hours of practice and rehearsals took place (what theater is all about). Our oldest daughter absolutely loved it...in fact, she sat at end of her seat the entire time. But before we went to the play, we learned about classic ahead of time. We studied the characters, read parts of the book (with the book being read in school in two years) and just the all around history of the time period.

Now in terms of planning, I print out personalized calendars. I have created a Pinterest board for you that you can click on and see some favorite layouts. I would love for you to follow...new pins will be added. All the calendars can be downloaded and printed at home. You just need to handwrite the planning of the activities. One thing that we also do is rotate the design of the calendars, so that we have a different look/design each month.  

EtsyKids Spring Sale

Yeah...it is officially it is spring and I have spring fever. I am ready to see the daffodils bloom, the tulips take shape and make fresh flower bouquets. Funny to think that this weekend in Central Indiana we are projected to receive 6-10 inches of snow. Will it happen? But besides the snow coming (maybe) I know in my mind it is spring.

The EtsyKids Team is holding a special Spring Sale! Fifty (50) shops have come together to share their shops with us ,as well as, offer special discounts, free items, shipping and other goodies to help launch spring. Be sure to stop by and help support the love of handmade.

Hi Mamma is participating in the spring sale and we are offering free shipping with the code SPRINGSALE.

Kids Cooking Club: Pimiento Cheese Spread

Growing up there were three staples that my grandparents served when we visited them on the farm Sunday afternoon/evenings for dinner. Now in terms of spreads, I do not mean lots of food that is spread out along a serving unit but spread on bread, crackers, dipped with celery/carrots. The three staples of my grandma's were ham, cheese and egg spread.

Almost every Sunday the ladies would gather in the kitchen while the men watched football and/or baseball in the family room. When it was time for dinner, out came the meat grinder for the ham spread, sauce pans to boil the eggs, and a grater for the cheese. Coming from a large family all of us would work together in making our favorite spread, it was quite a teamwork event. 

My daughters today have continued in the love of making pimiento cheese spread. The girls have enjoyed making this recipe. The one thing that I do for them is finely chopping the onions, other than that, they are very careful when it comes to making the spread. We do not use a mixer but hand mix in a large bowl.

Pimiento Cheese Spread

Ingredients
1 lb. grated, mild cheddar cheese (we recommend to hand grate the cheddar cheese because pregrated cheese does not absorb the flavors of the ingredients as well, and the texture is a little different).
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 T. chopped pimientos (drained)
2 T. grated/finely chopped white onion
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Mix all of the ingredients listed above together in a bowl and refrigerate for about one (1) hour.

Our family tends not to like spreads with a lot of mayo, it makes it a little soggy, and causes a texture issue for the girls. So based upon your tastes you might want to add more mayo or even mustard.

There are several different ways that you can serve the cheese spread, below are some of our favorite ways. If you try this recipe, and combine it with something different, we would love to know because we will try it too!

• Dip the cheese spread with crackers.
• Place the cheese spread on cucumber slices.
• Dip carrots and celery into the cheese spread (a veggie plate).
• Make grilled cheese sandwiches and spread the pimiento cheese on your bread (in place of sliced cheese), along with several slices of tomatoes on top of the cheese spread, then place your bread and griddle on your stove top.
• Dip pretzels in cheese spread.
• Dip pretzels with tortilla chips.

EtsyMom Ready for 2013 Blog Hop

The EtsyMom team is having a blog hop to celebrate the new year! Participating team members are blogging about business tips, ideas, recipes, organizational ideas...really anything that will help moms and their family. What is better that learning and sharing with other moms? Be sure to hop on over to the other EtsyMom blogs that are participating, just by click the links below and help support the Handmade Community.

Handmade Whimzy

Hi Mamma (me)

Lavender Avenue

Loud Waterfall Photo

PetiteTuques

Polka Dotted Bliss

Kids Cooking Club

We are proud to launch a new section of Hi Mamma called "The Kids Cooking Club" over the next year, each week we will be sharing different cooking tips, recipes and printables that you can do with your children, grandchildren, nieces/nephews and cousins! The girls and I are very excited to start sharing with you some of our favorite recipes in our kitchen, as well as new ones too.

When the girls cousins come over for a week, or spend a long weekend with us, there seems to be one common thing that we alway do and this that we end up in the kitchen... and we are cooking and baking. Together we love to make homemade pizza, learn tips from an older cousin who loves to cook bacon on the stove top, make chocolate dipped pretzels and homemade cookies. The best part about this get together is that we are having fun, working together and preserving such fun memories. Really, what could be better!
The Kids Cooking Club launches at a no better time than the beginning of an Etsy Mom Team Event. Please join us in leaving a comment below of the things that you like to cook or, would like to cook with your children. We would love to hear from you.

We encourage you to join our blog following by signing up for our enewsletter or joining us on Facebook. Either way, we are glad to have you join us and together we can learn and share.

Great Big Birthday Bash Giveaway

This month WriteShop is celebrating their 12th year of providing quality writing materials to families. Our family loves the WriteShop materials and used them in 2012.

A number of WriteShops friends have partnered together to help celebrate their 12th birthday. What could be better than a GREAT BIG Birthday Bash giveaway package worth hundreds of dollars!

Hi Mamma will be making a custom order birthday banner for the winner! The giveaway will be running from January 1-13, 2013.

Ready to Ship

Quickly wanted to share our handmade ornaments for the 3rd Annual Handmade Ornament Exchange. These ornaments were truly a family project. Each one of the girls and I have helped in some fashion.

Happy Holidays!

Handmade Ornament Exchange Match Ups Complete

Wanted to share with everyone who is participating in the 3rd Annual Handmade Ornament Exchange, that the match ups and addresses for the exchanges have been emailed to all participants. If you did not receive an email from me, let me know and I will send you the contact information.

If for some reason you are not able to participate in the exchange, please let me know ASAP so that arrangements can be made for an updated match up.

Below are a three ornaments that we have received in past ornament exchanges. I think it is just so much fun to see all the creative ideas that families have in the exchange with one another.

Happy ornament making and enjoying time together.

Handmade Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Hi Mamma | Petunia and Marigold are participating in the EtsyKids Team Black Friday + Cyber Monday Celebration. A total of 102 Etsy Kids Team Members are participating. The deals range from percentage discounts...free shipping...free items. We wanted to share with you the various promotions that are taking place in the handmade community.

Our two shops are offering free shipping. When you check out, be sure to use discount code ETSYKIDSBLACKFRIDAY in either shop.

Winter 2012 Issue of Modern Handmade Child

Wanted to share with everyone the Winter Issue of Modern Handmade Child. If you have not seen it before, it is a publication where moms come together, share tips, tricks, tutorials, gift guide ideas, recipes and really a lot more. I encourage you to take a gander if you have not already.

In future issues of MHC and on the blog, I will be sharing creative ideas that you can do with your children to encourage in the love of learning. As many of you know, I am a big supporter of education and the arts. It does not matter where you are, you can always learn and have fun at the same time.

For the winter issue, my group of young artists and I discuss more about working with colors via a downloadable color wheel that is available for you. Young artists will learn about primary and secondary colors, as well as what is a tertiary color and how it fits on a color wheel. To compliment the color wheel project, we also have an art project that once dried, additional discussion can be viewed about color mixing.

I would love to hear from you if you have done any color wheel projects and what they were. I think the more we share, the more we know, the better our children can learn!

Third Annual Handmade Christmas Ornament Exchange

Do you love to create handmade ornaments for family and friends? Hi Mamma would like to announce the third annual Handmade Christmas Ornament Exchange. The idea is that families make Christmas ornaments for other families, and exchange them during the holiday season..

Your immediate family would be signing up as one family where you would make one ornament and exchange with another family assigned to you. If you wanted to exchange with two families total, you would make two ornaments and then receive two ornaments in the mail.

We ask that since we are creating handmade ornaments from the heart, that we refrain from any commercial look-a-likes, so let your creativity flow. If you RSVP to signing up that you honor the commitment in making and mailing the ornaments.

Ornaments would need to be mailed on, or before December 7, 2012 to make sure they arrive in time to your assigned family and for enjoyment of the season.

If you are interested in participating, please RSVP by midnight, November 27, 2012.

To sign up, please email michelle@himamma.com with the following information:

• Your first and last name.
• Your shipping/mailing address.
• The number of ornaments that you will be exchanging.
• Please share with me if you would be interested shipping internationally.

Families would receive their handmade Christmas ornament swap partner addresses by email between no later than December 1-2, 2012.

If you know of anyone that might be interesting in participating in the Christmas ornament exchange please share with them the details.

AND if you have are not already following Hi Mamma, please do so for additional updates about the exchange and idea sharing.

The Red Scarf Project

For the past few nights, I have been working on a special project while watching one of my favorite tv shows on Netflix...past episodes of 30Rock. I have a confession to make, I can not sit "idle" while watching tv or even a movie at home. I have to be doing something with my hands, it can be browsing through a cookbook, cross-stitching, felting, drawing...you name it.

The special project has been knitting and participating in the Red Scarf Project, which is going on from September 1 - December 15.

Wanted to share with you a glimpse of one of the red scarves that I have been working, but also to encourage you to knit and join me in a knitting a red scarf. You do not need to knit four scarves but one in helping to make a difference.

From the photograph on the left, I am using the Provo Craft loom. It is a loom that has 18 pegs. For the scarves I am working on, I have "halfed" the number of pegs to be used just due to the width of the loom. I encourage you to visit the Red Scarf Project and knit scarves for foster care.

The Littlest Outdoor Library

This weekend we were attending my hometowns Fall Festival Parade. As we were walking down Main Street to find a place to sit...we discovered the littlest outdoor library. Oh my goodness it was the cutest thing that I just had to take a photograph and share with you.

Refrigerator Pickles

It is not unusual to find a variety of pickles in our refrigerator and pantry. This summer has been a season of making refrigerator pickles from the cucumbers in our garden. It seems once we pick a basketful, a few days later we have more. Really I can not complain. We are just happy that our garden is doing so well despite the dry weather, that we have had in the Midwest.

Past summers, I have used my great aunts recipe that she used on the farm. It is a very simple recipe that took a course of several weeks to "age" to perfection. It is a good recipe.

This season we created the following refrigerator pickle recipe. It takes a week to rest in the refrigerator but the reward is wonderful.

One important task that you need to remember to do is sterilize the jars you will be using. You can do this one of two ways, first by washing with hot water in the dishwasher, or second by boiling on the stove top in boiling water for 10-15 minutes. Have the jars dry and ready before starting to prepare the pickles.

Ingredients

2 lbs cucumbers (sliced)
2 cups white vinegar
4 cups water
1 T. coarse sea salt
5 garlic cloves (crushed)
2 tsp. yellow mustard seed
Roughly 5T fresh dill spears (this is optional if you do not like dill) My husband does not like dill so we have made the recipes with dill and the other half minus the dill.

Wash the cucumbers and peel the skin (if you do not like the skin). Slice the cucumbers in the "thickness" desired. Crush the garlic cloves and set aside.

Bring the vinegar, water and salt to a boil on the stove top. Add the crushed garlic and mustard seed to the vinegar/water/salt mixture and boil for 5 minutes. Then turn the heat off and set aside.

At the bottom of the sterilized jars, place sprigs of fresh dill inside the bottom of the jar(s) and begin arranging the cucumbers on top of the dill. It is important to add layers of cucumbers and dill, then pour in some of the vinegar mixture as you go. Once you have filled your containers be sure to let the cucumbers/dill/vinegar mixture cool down to room temperature.

Place the filled jars in the refrigerator for one week before eating. This recipe allows for the pickles to stay in the refrigerator for up to one month, but I guarantee you will have them eaten before then.

* the photograph above is refrigerator pickles minus the dill.

Olympic Love

Opening ceremonies for the Olympics start on July 27 and we are super pumped! It does not matter whether it is the summer or winter Olympics...our family is there rooting on the athletes, the countries and just the all around spirit of the Olympics.

Growing up my family would gather in the evenings and watch the Olympics together. We popped popcorn, sat on our giant pillows and watched opening ceremonies, the events and closing ceremonies. It was a tradition.

Back in the 1980s, I was fortunate to visit the home of the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany (granted I know that there were terrible things that happened that year but it was an education in itself). We also were able to visit the home of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Several years ago, while on a business trip to Georgia, my husband and I stopped by the location of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA. Can you tell I love the Olympics?

In addition to celebrating this event, my husband and I have been sharing with our daughters the location of the countries that are participating, being able to read maps/globes so that the girls can find the location of the athletes home countries, as well as cooking and enjoying various ethnic meals.

To celebrate the love of handmade, below please find an Olympic Treasury of various patriotic themed items that fellow artisans have created.

Top Row

Have A Gander UK

My Little Grouse House

Pics & Paper

Bumble Basset

Second Row

Cakes and Kids Too

Pine Tree Art
Haus of Ariella

Bohemian Findings

Third Row

becky button

Macaroon Notebook

Jewelry By Aimee

twizzle leads

Fourth Row

cheeky leopard

linzes
kitties closet

Monikah Gallery

What are your favorite sports to cheer on?

On a Mission

Petunia and Marigold delivered their first box of donated items to Riley Hospital for Children! They were truly two sisters on a mission to deliver the "surprises" to the Child Life Nurses that we have been talking with over the past several months.

In order to purchase the "surprises" which included art supplies, coloring books, note pads, crayons, Mad Libs...the girls decided that they wanted to make handmade items and then sell them, with all the proceeds going towards the purchase of supplies for the kids at the hospital. The girls raised $60 and each time that they sold something the money was placed inside of a special jar that we decorated.

The Monday before we delivered the supplies, the girls counted their money to decide if they had enough to go shopping. And of course the answer was yes! Being a mom who is so proud of her daughters and the kind hearts that they have become, we made it a day. We kicked off our morning by having lunch out and then going shopping, with Alex keeping track of our budget so that we did not over and were not too far under as well. There was so much excitement in selecting notebooks/supplies, sharing with others in the store of what they were doing...why they were gathering supplies (and for what ages of kids), how they raised the money...and in all honesty brought tears to my eyes, especially when we were checking out. The girls had made wonderful selections that would fit all ages of children from babies to teenagers.

As we share with you an update on our family project, tonight after dinner we created a new item to sell in our store. Be on the lookout because these handmade treasures are well worth the wait. We hope to have a couple of them placed in our storefront this week! 

Summertime Smoothie: Peach Mango

Indiana has been in the record 100+degees this week. It has not been this hot in decades. Each day on my Blackberry it says that there is a 20%, 50% and even 70% chance of rain, but then the rain does not come, the breeze lessens, and the grass gets a little bit more brittle, unfortunately.

When the heat wave began...the smoothies broke out (a different one each day) for a snack. Over the course of the past few days, our all-time favorite has been the peach mango. We wanted to share it with you.

Peach Mango Smoothie
(Made in your blender)

1 medium peach (pit removed and cut into pieces)
1 mango
1 Tablespoon of honey
1 cup (240 ml) of ice cubes
1/2 cup (120 ml) water

Place all the ingredients into your blender and secure the lid. Mix/blend/grind to the desired consistency that you would like your smoothie. We like ours very smoothe where it can be poured into a mug, or in a popsicle container for freezing. It is a great treat when frozen due to the flavors being so strong and all natural...with no preservatives, artifical colors or flavors...which we are all about.

Typewriters

Typewriters have changed in appearance since 1714 when they were created but the art image is a classic that will last forever. It doesn't matter if they started as gold, blue, gray, black and yes...retro.

Here are few classic images and "parts" that have been incorporated into the handmade projects from all around the world.

{first row}

AliciaBock

Sweet Harvey

Octopurse

Old Dog New Tricks

{second row}

Mystic Moose Crafts

My Tabby Boutique

Arthur’s Plaid Pants bRainbow Shop

{third row}

Quirkyn Berkeley Cards

Crawl Space Studios Old Nouveau

Beluga Home Studio

{fourth row}

Madison Cherie

Lizzy Bleu

The Antikey Chop

FruitonLA

All Veggie "Pasta" Salad

We have been revising our breakfast, lunch and dinner meals for the past month or so. My youngest daughter has developed what we think are possible seasonal allergies, so we have been experimenting with different foods, in addition to taking dhist jr, fish oils and multi-vitamins.

The one major food that we have removed this past month has been dairy. Which is really hard because we all love milk, cheese and yogurt. In all honesty, we have noticed a difference in our daughter. So instead of drinking milk, we have been enjoying coconut and almond milk, as well as eating vegetables that are high in calcium. We absolutely have no problem with eating vegetables because we eat quasi vegetarian. Each morning I have really enjoyed pouring coconut milk in with my coffee (instead of milk), my husband enjoying it with his cereal, and our daughters in their morning "milk" glasses.

One salad that we have been enjoying...we wanted to share with you. It is actually a pasta salad just minus the pasta. But it really is good with the pasta too, especially when you add crumbled feta on top.

 

All Veggie "Pasta" Salad

1 can chick peas - drained

1 cup grated zucchini

1/2 cup of shredded carrots
Cherry tomatoes slided in half
1/2 cup of shredded onion (optional)
Green or black olives (optional)

Dressing
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Mix the dressing together and pour over the vegetables in a bowl. Toss together.

Tutorial: Wet Felting

To kick off our summer vacation we learned the art of wet felting. A few months ago, while traveling along the Blue Ridge Parkway we came across some cute hair accessories that I thought the girls would be able to make. The art was to make wet felted balls.

Wet felting is the process of taking layers of wool roving and combining them into one piece of felt (ball). We purchased pre-dyed packages of 100% wool roving at our local craft store. The wool roving comes in a variety of colors that you could select.

To start the felting process, we filled a container that was large enough for all of us to use of hot/warm water, and added about one tablespoon of dish soap to create a sudsy mixture.

We then cut pieces of the wool roving into pre-measured sections, so that our felt balls would hopefully be somewhat uniform in size.

For each ball, we started by pulling apart the roving to create a large “poofy” ball that we then shaped into a "loose" ball shape. If you are interested in having multiple colors of wool roving in your wool balls, this is the time that you would want to have your second or even third color ready. You would gently wrap the color around the primary colored wool roving ball. It does not need to be tight, just wrapped around the wool roving. Once you get the wool wet, it will begin to blend together.

Next, dip the wool roving (that has been formed into a ball) into the hot/warm, soapy water and begin to shape it carefully into a round ball… using the palms of our hands. Similar to how you would roll playdough when you want to make a ball.

You want to be careful that you do not press and roll too hard. Keep rolling and dipping the wool roving/ball into the hot and soapy water. You will begin to feel the wool becoming denser and denser as you roll. You will also want to make sure that it is keeping in the shape of a ball.

After you are done wet felting, you will want to rinse the balls carefully so that the some of the soap is removed from the wool. It is important to have the water hot/warm when you are wet felting. The wool does so much better when you are forming the balls.

It takes roughly 24 hours for the wool to try. We just placed them on a plate and laid them on the counter top. When they are completely dry you can make necklaces, bracelets and hair accessories.

A Favorite Curly-Edged Leafy Green...Kale

Kale is a superfood and that belongs to the same plant vegetable family as broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and collard greens.This curly-edged leafy green is protecting your health and providing a rich source of vitamins and minerals. It ranks high in terms of its large amount of antioxidant vitamins of K, A, and C, as well as, provides calcium, copper and potassium.

Kale can be stored in the refrigerator (unwashed) for up to five-days. If you wash it before you use it a couple days ahead, it will spoil much sooner. If you have not cooked with it, it is easy to clean. You want to make sure that you remove the rib from the leaves (the center stem). Then you can wash and cut/chop as per the way you would like to serve it.

Over the past several months we have been eating kale in a variety of ways. One of our family favorites is Sausage, Kale and White Bean Soup. The link will take you directly to my other love...cooking.

I started a blog called Our Table of 4. It is a collection of recipes that we enjoy cooking in our home...all four of us. I started Our Table of 4 because I love the food blog...Foodbuzz. Once I saw all the recipes, I wanted to share with other cooks and the rest is history. The beauty of this group of cooks is that you can search any type of item and a series of recipes will appear. For example, if you want to search for kale...sweet potatoes...you will find it and then will be exposed to a variety of cooks who are sharing because of their love of food as well. It is addicting.

We have tried so many great recipes from cooks all over the world and have learned new techniques. In all honesty, if you check out my food blog, I have not updated it in a while, which I know I am long over due...but I looked at the date of my last entry and it was shortly before my oldest daughter became very sick...and then life took over. But you know what...it has not stopped me from taking photographs of the different recipes that we have been making. I will start updating it and hopefully you will enjoy "experimenting" and trying our family recipes.  

Science Experiment: Dyed Flowers

Science…we love it. Many times when we have gone past the flower area at the grocery store we smell the sweet scent of fresh roses and dainty daisies...the girls have been fascinated with the flowers that are in an array of colors that are dyed but yet they know that they are not naturally that color…and have wondered “how do they do that?”

Well, we made it our science experiment last week! So now they have a much better understanding and can visualize how the flower petals changed colors.

Steve Spangler Science shares a great tutorial on dying flowers, in addition to other experiments he has done…but most importantly the details and why they work make sense on his website that kids understand. 

Our science experiment was over a course of several days. We started out using some older daisies that we had purchased later the week before. We recut the bottom of the flower stems and placed them in the colored water glasses. The older flowers did not dye as well as we had hoped, but we knew that might be the case going into the experiment. A few days later we purchased new flowers and this time they did much better and the color was obvious.
One question the girls had asked was how soon do you think we will see the color in the petals? Within two hours, it was amazing to see the colors showing in the white petals. By dinner time, the flowers were fully dyed and in a brilliant shades of yellow, blue, red and green.

We even wondered if certain colors would dye the petals quicker than others. It seemed to us that the blue and the green food coloring dyed the white petals the quickest. I know in the printing world, that when you print with blue ink, it takes longer to dry than any other color just due to the pigment. I know it doesn't relate to the experiment but it is an interesting fact that makes you wonder about inks in general.

Do you have a favorite science experiment book/curriculum that you use? Please feel free to comment below or send us an email. We are always enjoying and reading science books and would like to share with other families in the journey of learning.

In addition to the Steve's website we also enjoy the following:

• The Magic School Bus  series. We will reserve DVDs and library books from our library and/or watch the various topics that we are studying via YouTube. Last year, I purchased The Magic School Bus Science Experiment books that take each of the episodes and relate it to an experiment/participate in an observation. On the MSB website they also have a Parent/Teacher section that is very helpful. Ms Frizzle and the gang are always a hit with the girls. I must admit...I love the series too.
• I recently have exchanged emails with a mom I met through a workboxes group. Via our email workboxes group, Colleen shared that she has written several books, with one particularly focused towards science. Colleen has a blog called Raising Lifelong Learners as well as her writing website called Colleen Kessler. I strongly suggest you visit her blogs to learn more.

As we prepped for our experiment we talked about how flowers/plants drink water to survive, how the flowers use their roots, and the water travels up through tubes in the  stem. By coloring the water, we will then see the water move up the stem and into the flower petals over a course of a couple of hours. Steve Spangler Science shares a great tutorial on dying flowers, in addition to other experiments he has done…but most importantly the details and why they work really make sense on his website that kids understand.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Love

Every Friday we celebrate in some fashion. Whether it is an accomplishment of 100% on our spelling test, knowing our Latin vocabulary words, being able recognize certain words for a beginning reader, helping around the house during the week, and my very favorite...just being you.

The girls look forward to each Friday because we make it a point to let them know how proud we are of them, not that we don’t do it during the rest of the week, but it is also a time of reflection.

Many times it is where we will bake afterschool; take a snack to our neighborhood park and then the girls can play. It is usually just something a little different than normal. Maybe that is what makes it so much fun… because it is something different each week and the girls are surprised.

One of our favorite baking treats for the celebrations are making chocolate chip cookies. Over the years, I have tried so many different chocolate cookie recipes. I would have not thought that there could be so many different ones that sometimes they bake perfect, and other times they do not. But wanted to share with you our “tweaked” recipe for you to enjoy. In all honesty, every time I have baked these, they turn out…maybe it is just luck. But it is a good recipe; also, I have our favorite whole wheat cookie recipe a well...and a tip on how you can make it into a bar cookie.


Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 ¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
½ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar (make sure it is packed)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
1 (12 oz.) package of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, the sugars until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and eggs. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt and gradually blend into the creamed mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Another good recipe is using whole wheat flour. The texture is a little different than typical straight unbleached flour, but these are still keepers in our eyes.


Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 cup butter
1 cup white sugar (you can substitute your sweeter that you prefer)
1 cup light brown sugar (you can substitute your sweeter that you prefer)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups sifted whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously grease cookie sheets.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, the sugars until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and eggs. Combine the two different flours together, baking soda and salt, gradually blend into the creamed mixture. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts if desired. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

*If you are interested in making these into bar cookies, press the dough into a 10x15 inch jelly roll pan and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

On the Handmade Side
As many of you may know, I love to share handmade treasuries that fellow artisans create. This week, I wanted to share with you one dedicated to chocolate chip cookies.