Archive for February, 2009

My Mothering article is out!

February 27, 2009 at 10:58 am · Filed under Other Fun Stuff

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I just received the new March/April issue of Mothering magazine which features my article about crafty mama bloggers. Yay! I’m so excited to see it in print with photos and everything. I interviewed five super creative women for this article including Amy Karol of Angry Chicken, Amanda Soule of SouleMama, Eren San Pedro of This Vintage Chica, Stephanie Congdon Barnes (who blogs by the same name), and Sally Shim of Shim + Sons. Their gorgeous photos illustrate the article, thank goodness, because they are all talented photographers in addition to being accomplished artists and craftswomen. It was a fun article to write and it gave me the opportunity to talk with some of my favorite superstar bloggers!

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An excess of shaving cream

February 27, 2009 at 6:45 am · Filed under Art Projects

This was our project for yesterday: a reintroduction to shaving cream, very possibly Maia’s favorite art material ever.

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In the past, I’ve manned the shaving cream dispenser, squirting the stuff wherever she asked. But this time she insisted on doing it herself. It’s hard work as you can see on her face! But oh so satisfying. Good thing I bought the super cheapy stuff, because she emptied the canister.

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I set out some tempera paint and she mixed and mushed it around with the shaving cream using her hands half the time and her paint brush the other half.

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I know you’re thinking that this looks like the messiest possible art project, but it’s actually super easy to clean up because of the shaving cream. You could do this at the kitchen table (or kitchen floor) if you don’t have a dedicated art space. Or outside when it’s warmer. Or even in the bathtub (make sure you have a good nonslip mat!).

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By the way, I’ve starting working on my “project a day” list and will share it with you once I’ve finished putting it together. So far it’s heavy on the art projects (big surprise) but also includes cooking, excursions, and nature activities.

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A day of playdough and ravioli

February 26, 2009 at 10:19 am · Filed under Art Projects, Other Fun Stuff

We had a great day yesterday. It seems that on the days when I’m just trying to “get things done” Maia and I just butt heads all day long. She wants attention and does crazy things in order to receive it. I just want to finish the laundry or dishes or vacuum the floor or (horror of horrors) sit down at the computer for a little while and then I end up being short with Maia and feeling like a bad mother.

But on days when I plan at least one activity that will include Maia and be fun for her, everything goes so much more smoothly. You’re saying “of course!” and I am, too, but I just don’t always remember or take the time to plan. So here’s my goal: plan a month’s worth of fun project to do with Maia and write them on the calendar. We can still switch things around or go with the flow of the day, but at least I’ll have a reminder and something of a plan.

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Anyhoo… Yesterday Maia and I made a new batch of playdough, which is always a fun project. Maia loves the measuring, pouring, and stirring that goes along with any cooking. As always, we used MaryAnn’s recipe for play clay from First Art. I know there are a lot of playdough recipes out there, but I love this one so much I just make it again and again.

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Maia chose blue and red to make purple playdough, although as you can see below it turned out more pink than purple.

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That’s a slice of lemon ginger cake on the plate. I was feted with playdough cakes, candy, and marshmellows for the rest of the morning (you can see who has a sweet tooth).

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After nap, we started the ravioli, something I’ve wanted to try for a long time. It always sounded so complicated that I kept putting it off, but it was actually surprisingly easy. I followed a simple cheese ravioli recipe with a filling of ricotta, parmesan, egg yolks, and thyme.

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The dough was just flour and egg. It was a bit tough to roll out and I can see the appeal of having a pasta machine. Maia gave up shortly after the above photo was taken and moved back to her playdough.

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I spooned the filling onto the dough, brushed on egg white, placed a second sheet of rolled out dough on top, and pressed around the filling with my fingers to seal it.

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Then I just sliced between each ravioli with a knife to separate them. Apparently you can buy a crimper/cutter to make this part a little easier, although these worked okay as it was. I used my last jar of canned tomatoes to make a simple tomato sauce to serve over them but by this time I was so hungry that I completely forgot to take any pictures of the finished ravioli. They were yummy! The dough was a little on the chewy side and I don’t know if that’s because of the recipe or because I didn’t roll it out thin enough. I definitely want to try this again and experiment with different doughs and fillings. Anyone have a good ravioli recipe to share?

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The pleasures of running around a farm field

February 25, 2009 at 8:51 am · Filed under Nature

Sorry about the break the last few days. I’ve been alternating between not feeling so great and obsessing about the garden.

However, here are some photos from a maple syrup farm tour we took this weekend with friends. Or rather, the running around in one of their fields that happened after our post-farm-tour picnic.

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Nothing like some wide open space to run around on a mild winter day!

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Here’s Stella watching Maia and Marlise run.

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Maia’s rolling an accommodating Molly down the hill while Stella and Marlise are contemplating which corner of the field to dash off to next.

The plan for today? It’s time to make a new batch of playdough so we might do that. And maybe we’ll scrounge around for some glass jars to Mod Podge with colored tissue paper. I’ve never made ravioli (or any homemade pasta) but have been wanting to try, so we might pick up some eggs and ricotta cheese and give that a go for dinner tonight. We don’t have a pasta maker, but I’ve heard you can just use a rolling pin.

By the way (for locals), Reems Creek is having their amazing perennial sale: $1.50 for small plants (normally $4.99 each) and $3.00 for gallon sized plants (normally $9.99 – $14.99). It’s such an amazing deal! The perennials are all leftovers from last year and are mostly dormant now so don’t look so great. I went last year and many of the plants I bought were pot bound, but nothing that a few scissor snips or untangling with the fingers couldn’t help. Almost all survived and thrived. And at that price, I don’t mind if a few don’t. If you’re in the Asheville area and at all interested in gardening, you should go! I went yesterday but am not sure I can keep myself from going again.

Okay, so I’m still obsessessing about gardening. But hopefully we’ll get to at least one or two of the other possibilities on the list as well!

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My garden planning wall

February 20, 2009 at 7:28 pm · Filed under Gardening

This is completely off subject, but I love garden planning. Really, really love it. I like the gardening part too, but it’s the planning during the winter that gets me excited. I re-read my gardening books, check out stacks of new books from the library, and circle every other plant in my favorite seed catalog.

This year, I even dedicated a wall of our office to garden planning.

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I’m a visual person and, although this isn’t gorgeous, it is a better option than my usual messy stacks of papers, pictures, and notes. I printed photos of my garden from last year as a reminder of what the garden looks like in the summer and for sketching in potential shrubs, etc, and even changing the color of our house. I have my ever-expanding garden to-do list. I have a list of plants that will grow under and near black walnuts since our small yard is graced with not one but two of these juglone producing trees. And I’ve taped up a few seed packets, a list of favorite perennials from a gardening magazine, and a sketch of our yard. I’m a happy planner these days.

I’ve also started gardening even though it’s still cold out. My asian greens (kyoto mizuna and baby pakchoi) and mache are starting to come up. I wasn’t sure if they would. I’m still new to gardening and have been doing a lot of it by trial and error. My seed packets for greens and peas, etc, say to plant as soon as the soil can be worked. Well, in North Carolina, and at least in my yard, the soil seems workable all winter long and I still wasn’t sure when to plant. So this morning I called our cooperative extension master gardener hotline and found out that it IS okay to plant greens now, including spinach, kale, lettuce, asian greens, arugula, etc, as well as peas and onions.

Woo hoo!

Maia and I spent the day going to Reems Creek Nursery for some onions, seeds, and more advice, then home again to spend the afternoon planting (dressed against the cold in coat, hat, and gloves).

I’m a tired gardener now. I think it’s time to curl up with Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for my annual re-read.

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Some of our current favorite books

February 19, 2009 at 7:07 am · Filed under Books

We’re enjoying some fun books right now — mostly from the library. I thought I’d share Maia’s current favorites.

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The Biggest, Best Snowman by Margery Cuyler and illustrated by Will Hillenbrand is easily Maia’s current top choice.

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She has the entire book memorized as we found out to our surprise one bedtime when she “read” it to us rather than the other way around. Maia is fascinated by snowmen and likes all books about them, probably because we never get enough snow to actually make one. I’ll have to take her up north one of these days… I still remember the three feet of snow we got on April 1st one year in Boston.

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Maia also loves Mama Provi and the Pot of Rice by Sylvia Rosa-Casanova and illustrated by Robert Roth.

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It’s about a grandmother who makes a huge pot of arroz con pollo for her sick granddaughter and trades bowls of it for other delicious side dishes on her way up the eight flights of stairs to her granddaughter’s apartment.

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Happy Winter by Karen Gundersheimer is one of my favorites from childhood that I’m now enjoying again with Maia. I tracked this copy down used on Amazon and am so glad to have it again.

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It’s a fun sing-songy read about two sisters and what they do on a winter day — go sledding, make snow angels, bake a cake, dress up, play hide and seek inside with a friend, etc.

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I picked up Me and My Amazing Body by Joan Sweeney and illustrated by Annette Cable from the library because Maia kept asking about skeletons and body parts.

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She especially likes to look at our “veins and arteries” on our wrists and other places on the body where you can see them through the skin. This was a decent intro but I’d love to look for some other body books for her. Any recommendations?

What books are you and your kiddos reading and enjoying?

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Tissue paper staining and collage

February 18, 2009 at 10:49 am · Filed under Art Projects

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We played around with tissue paper the other day with our friends Justin and Nathan who were over for the morning. I had a box of torn pieces left over from our tissue paper suncatchers, and decided to try tissue staining from MaryAnn Kohl’s Preschool Art.

Kohl’s page on tissue stains says to place torn bits of colored tissue paper on matte board or cardboard and then using a spray bottle of water and/or a wet paintbrush to wet the tissue pieces. Afterward remove the tissue pieces to reveal a stained design.

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Maia and Justin had fun brushing water over the tissue paper pieces but soon decided they needed some glue as well. They added glue to the paper and also to their water.

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It turns out the tissue stains didn’t work for us. Not sure why. I lifted the tissue paper off (the non-glue art) when still wet and there was barely any stain. I let a couple of others dry completely before removing the tissue paper, and still there was barely any stain. Has anyone else done this project? Did I use the wrong kind of tissue paper (meant for wrapping gifts) or the wrong kind of matte board (the matte side of poster board)?

It was still a fun project and maybe we’ll try this again sometime with special art tissue paper from the art supply store. Or maybe we’ll try this tissue paper stained glass again now that Maia’s a year older.

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Artful ideas from around the web

February 16, 2009 at 3:22 pm · Filed under Children's Art

I meant to do this post last Friday, but got too wrapped up in baking cookies and cutting sponges into heart shapes and such. So here it is today. Some fun, artful ideas I found while surfing blog land…

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Here’s a great idea for recycling paper bags at good + happy day: Patricia cuts the fronts and backs off to use for art projects. And the best part? They have handles for carrying around!

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This post about field bags on Camp Creek Press makes me want to pack some art supplies, binoculars, and magnifying glasses and head out with Maia on a hike. Never mind the cold.

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And, here’s an interesting post at UNIFORM Studio on setting limits to help teach design.

Any other artful ideas to add? Feel free to post links…

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A Valentine party and art group reunion

February 14, 2009 at 4:47 pm · Filed under Holidays

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We had an art group reunion and potluck brunch this morning which was super fun. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost six months since we stopped our weekly meetings!

The kids are decorating heart-shaped cookies above. And eating them too, of course.

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Here’s Justin’s — can you see the cookie under the icing and sprinkles?

We also did some heart printing in the studio, using both sponges cut into heart shapes and potatoes cut into hearts and other shapes (thanks to Molly for the expert potato cutting). Stella and Thalia, below, are using the sponges for smearing paint as well as printing.

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Caleb, below, cranked out more paintings than anyone else, which was a far cry from when he joined the group on his first birthday and more paint went to his mouth than to the paper.

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Fun times were had by all. Well, by me at least. Almost makes me want to start up the art group again!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

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Stained glass hearts for Valentine’s Day

February 12, 2009 at 10:27 am · Filed under Crafts, Holidays

First off, I want to say that we really did get outside yesterday. We spent the morning with friends at a fun new playground. And good thing too, because now it is cold and windy!

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But after nap, Maia and I went back to the studio and made these lovelies. You’ve probably been thinking that I’m getting too Martha Stewart with all these holiday decorations. Well this one actually is from Martha Stewart. What can I say? She has some beautiful ideas. I started off planning to making heart frames for them with construction paper or just tape the hearts to the window as I’ve done with stars, but then I came across this on her site and fell in love.

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As prep, I grated some old chunky crayons and put them into three bowls — one each for pink, orange, and red. I would have grated a white crayon or two but I couldn’t find any. Also, I folded some sheets of wax paper in half.

Maia took a piece of wax paper, opened it up,  sprinkled grated crayon bits (sometimes too liberally) on one side, and folded it back up. She’s a pro at this since we’ve made crayon “stained glass” windows a few times now.

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I did the ironing part, with Maia watching and checking up on the progress. I keep the iron on low — I use the silk setting — and always sandwich the wax paper between a couple sheets of newsprint or other paper since the waxy stuff bleeds through somewhat.

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Afterward, I drew hearts on the wax paper, and we both cut them out. Maia punched a hole in each with our hole punch — her new favorite tool — and I hung them up with white thread in our living room window.

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Aren’t they beautiful? I love them. I wish my photo skills were up to par. I keep meaning to read the manual for my camera, but manuals don’t like me much, and now I can’t even find it. I’d like to be able to get it off auto focus and be able to focus on something close up and let the background be blurry. Any tips?

By the way, in case you want more fun crafty Valentine ideas, I was interviewed for a “Make Your Own Valentine Cards” article in our local Mountain Xpress. It’s online here, and in print on page 31 (Edgy Mama’s column) for those of you in the Asheville area.

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