Making a gingerbread house is a tradition in our house for the holidays. But every year I cringe at the candy ingested while going about the project, and the frosting that turns to cement, and the gingerbread pieces that never actually get consumed. We have used the kits and I have baked a house from […]
Archives for December 2011
Letting the ribbon ends tie themselves
Lately I’ve made lots of mental lists (and a few real ones) of all the holiday projects I want to complete, to make, to tell you about, to do with the girls and so on. Us moms get a picture in our mind of the way we want to create holiday memories for our children, […]
My new red hair gives my violinist a boost of bravery
My middle child has been taking violin for about two months. As a very new student, she was nervous about playing in her winter recital. On Wednsday, among ignoring all the Christmas things on my list to make, to do, to bake, to wrap, to get ready for entertaining family …. the list goes on […]
Green teacher gifts I’ve created over the years
For us procrastinators, time is running out to figure out what to give teachers on the last day of school before the holiday break. Hopefully these ideas, of things I’ve created throughout the years, will help get you inspired. I love making teacher gifts for my girls’ teachers. I appreciate all the caring, compassion, and […]
Yes we can bake that. It’s Christmastime!
I’ve told you before how I love to bake, that I always have since I was a kid, and about the time I ran away from home with my Easy Bake oven. Well, come Christmastime my want to bake explodes into long list of ingredients and recipes as my tastebuds water and my creative noggin […]
Snapshots of a homemade birthday, as she turned 5
They awoke by finding the birthday girl’s special birthday books on the table, and they were all eager to look at the pages, the photos and the stories that tell the tale of this little girl who was turning five. The books were started because of a tradition at their Montessori school where the child […]
Simple photo ornament made from tree trunk wood
I knew I wanted to do this craft, making photo ornaments using cut off pieces from our Christmas tree trunk. So when we went to cut down our Christmas tree I asked the nice, old, 82-year-old man running the chainsaw if he would be so kind to cut off a few extra pieces from the […]
Sewing a felt tree garland or banner for Christmas
To get started on this project, for children draw simple triangle trees onto a sheet of felt and have them start cutting. My five-year-old cut about three sheets worth of trees before she gat tired of the craft. Out of all the crafts we did last week. I think was her favorite. She loves to […]
Making upcycled burlap balls for our homemade tree
I saw this fabric ball idea on Pinterest and immediately thought it would be a great use for some of the torn burlap that I recently acquired for free. I found an awesome source for authentic coffee bean sacks, with printings on them from Columbia and beyond. But they were reused to package concrete structures […]
How to finger knit garland for your Christmas tree
My seven-year-old learned to finger knit one day in aftercare at her Montessori school. Many Waldorf based education philosophies teach this too, using stories that go along with the craft that has been passed down from generation to generation. My daughter also enjoys teaching this skill to others, including me. So last weekend, my oldest […]