Valentine's Hand Sewing

I worked with the older girls (ages 10 and 12) and one of their friends, this weekend, on a simple Valentine's sewing project from Holiday Crafts and Creations. The site offers a free printable template for felt heart bookmarks like those above (I thought it was a little big, and eyeballed the pattern instead).

To keep things simple, I cut out the felt pieces ahead of time...


...a laid them out with needles, embroidery floss, and paper clips for each girl.


Then, we sat down with the computer in front of us, to show the girls what we were making, and so we could follow the step-by-step instructions together.


It's an excellent tutorial with instructions for the backstitch, running stitch, and French knot (it was the first time I've been able to master that one). The length of the project is perfect for the 10-12 year old crowd...


...and as a bonus, the bookmarks are beautiful, and just the right size for slipping into a Valentine's Day card, or mailing off to cross-country friends.


It's great to be a homeschooler.

Cereal Box Valentine Chair Backers

While listening to our audio books this weekend (I might have reviews ready by next weekend), we had plenty of time to get a jump on February crafting.

The first project we tackled was to recycle cereal boxes into chair backers, to hold the Valentine's I hope the children will make for each other over the next couple of weeks.

First, we cut all except for four inches of the front and sides of the boxes away.


The part that remained intact formed the base of the box, while the long flap was folded and trimmed to become the lid. We found the easiest way to fold the lid was to flatten the box...


...and fold the flap down over it...


...then to set the box back up over the folded flap, to mark for the second fold...


...which we folded over a ruler. Then, we could trim the long part down to make a nice sized flap for the front of the box.


We unfolded the box completely (I've marked in the picture where we folded and trimmed the flap, for clarity), and traced it out on paper...


...to cut and glue onto the cardboard. We reverse folded all the folds before we glued the paper on, so the paper went on over what had been the inside of the box, to keep the printing from showing through.


I punched two holes on either side of the top of the back of each box with a hole punch.


Then we glued and taped, the sides and bottom of the boxes back together. Depending on each child's preference, the lid of their box either tucked in the top...


...or we added stick on Velcro to the front of the box, and the inside of the flap, so it could open and close like a purse.


Finally, all that was left was to lace yarn through the holes, for tying the boxes to the backs of the chairs, and adding stickers for decorations.


I gave the children label type dot stickers, thinking polka dot boxes would look cute in the dining room.


The children had other plans though, and pulled out all of our sticker stash to choose from, as well as crayons and markers - individualizing their boxes. T chose to leave his box undecorated. At 14, he's willing to receive Valentine's from his brother and sisters, especially if they happen to be chocolate, but not to have any part in decorating a frilly-dilly box.




It's great to be homeschooler.

Pizza (and a Craft) for Everyone!

Do you ever feel like you're loosing your mind? Yesterday, I came across a fabulous idea for making homemade Easy Bake Oven pizza, using refrigerator biscuit crust. Today, I can't find the link again to save my life. It wouldn't be so bad, except the site also mentioned making Easy Bake Oven monkey bread, and I really wanted to check that out.

The pizzas turned out terrific, though. And, true to their name, they are very easy to make.

Just pat down the biscuit dough (half a biscuit if you are using "grands") into a greased, Easy Bake cake pan...


...spread on a spoonful of sauce (we used pizza, spaghetti, or whatever)...


...sprinkle on cheese (we used shredded string cheese)...


...and add a single topping. I splurged and picked up some mini pepperonis, but almost any flat topping would do. You just don't want it to get too bulky, or it won't fit in the Easy Bake.


Place it into the preheated oven for the amount of time listed on the biscuit packaging (15 minutes in our case)...


...for a perfect little pizza.


My intention was to have the younger girls make a couple, for before lunch appetizers (also known as a mid-morning snack)...

...but all of the children decided they wanted to make one, so we switched over to a cookie sheet, and the big oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (another idea from the website I can no longer locate).


While we waited for our pizzas to bake, I read the children Pizza for the Queen by Nancy Castaldo. It's a fun retelling of the history of Pizza Margherita, the basil, cheese and tomato pizza made in honor of the Italian queen in 1889.

In fact, there's even a recipe for Pizza Margherita at the back of the book, as well as some fun pizza facts. Did you know, for instance, that Americans eat 350 slices of pizza per second?

We already had our pizza for the day, so instead of trying out the recipe, we followed up the book with a cardboard, and paper pizza craft from babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, oh my! via Watcha Making Wednesday at The Ramblings and Adventures of a S.A.H.M....


...that called for cardboard crusts, paper toppings, and red paint (we opted for red colored glue) for sauce. The girls helped cut, and scrunch (for the sausage) the toppings.


Then, they happily put together pizzas, that might not have the Italian color scheme of Pizza Margherita...


...but our certainly fit for a queen.


It's great to be a homeschooler.

Linked with stART(story + ART) at A Mommy's Adventures, and the History and Geography link-up at All Things Beautiful.

Watcha Making Wednesday - Baking With Bruno

For Watcha Making Wednesday (a weekly link-up hosted by The Ramblings and Adventures of a S.A.H.M.) I checked out Lars Klinting's Bruno the Baker...


...more recently published as Harvey the Baker, part of the "Handy Harvey" series, in which the one time Bruno, turned Harvey, teaches children how to make a tool box, sew an apron, plant beans, paint a cupboard, and in this case - bake a cake.


I really couldn't be more pleased. The illustrations are adorable, the story is sweet, and the recipe, for a simple yellow cake is child friendly.


The girls enjoyed following along with Bruno, cracking eggs...


...using the electric mixer...


...stirring in ingredients...


...spooning the batter into a cake pan...



...and their favorite part - cleaning up the kitchen, while their cake baked (don't you love that age?).


They were having so much fun, I even let them frost the cake with our favorite chocolate peanut butter frosting, rather than simply sprinkling it with powdered sugar as suggested in the recipe.


Our thanks to the author for an enjoyable story, a delightful afternoon, and a delicious dessert!


It's great to be a homeschooler.