Sun Catcher Valentines

We made our Valentines this year. My girls aren't in a preschool so they don't have a whole lot to make for...mostly family, a few friends and, of course, they wanted to make one for their dance teacher. Today we made these heart shaped sun catchers to share. We also hung a few in our front window. 

Wondering how we made them? It's super easy, but may involve more parent help depending on the age/capabilities of your child. We had all the materials lying around the house and you may too!

You'll need...

Tissue paper in various colors (left over tissue paper from gifts works great)

Contact paper in clear (if you don't have Contact paper, you could also use wax paper and glue)

Scissors

Hole punch

Ribbon

First you need to cut out your hearts. Sound tedious? It's not too bad. Fold your tissue paper back and forth like an accordion. Then, fold it in half length wise and cut out your hearts. I cut all these hearts in less than 5 minutes and we have several left for another project. 

Oh, and you'll have to ignore my ugly vinyl tablecloth...a must for kids' crafts. ;)

Next, cut a piece of Contact paper, about the size of a small placemat and tape it down on the table sticky side up. An alternative option...tape it to a window. Your child can then start putting on their hearts. 

Once finished, cut another piece of Contact paper about the same size and place it on top (sticky side down). Trim edges if you desire. You could stop here for a festive placemat!

Draw or trace hearts onto either side and cut out. 

You may need a little glue here and there if your child layered too many hearts on top of one another. Just add a drop or so of glue if you see Contact paper coming apart. Another option would be to make a frame out of colored paper. 

Punch a hole in the top and tie on a pretty ribbon. Use a permanent marker to write a message or name. Or, they could make a design with glue and glitter!

This project could really be adapted for any holiday or even just because!

Enjoy!

Homemade Bread

We love Dave's Killer Bread around here! It's always full of good stuff and is also organic. There are several different varieties and we pretty much love every single one. Living in Portland, we have the luxury of being able to visit the actual bakery in Milwaukie, OR to purchase our bread. We usually buy 12+ loaves at a time and stock our freezer. When you buy in this quantity, you can typically spend less than $2/loaf...an excellent price for good healthy organic bread!

My girls and husband LOVE sandwiches so we go through a fair amount of bread. I had an urge to make bread the other day so I set out to find a good sandwich bread recipe that was full of good ingredients like the Killer bread we typically buy. In my search, I came across this 100% whole wheat bread recipe from Dave himself! I was immediately excited! Esme and Ellerie were excited to help!

I used the weight measurements (grams/oz) for the flour as indicated in the parentheses and it turned out great! I highly recommend a heavy duty mixer. I have a professional series KitchenAid stand mixer and it definitely gave it a workout!

My house smelled amazing...just like walking into the bread bakery! I anxiously waited for it to finish baking so that I could try a slice...Delicious!!

It will make a great sandwich bread! It takes a bit of time to make/bake, but it makes two loaves and tastes delicious!

Recipe and a video of Dave making this bread can be found here. I used organic ingredients, but it is not necessary.

"Little Man" Onesies

My good friend, Whitney (www.babyharlacher.com), is having a baby boy due in March (although, he could arrive any time now). As part of her baby shower gift I made her little guy a set of appliqué onesies. I bought a set of 5 Carter's brand white onesies and "fancied" them up a bit. They made for a great baby shower decoration too!

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First Snowman

With all this snow we have gotten over the past several days (it's finally starting to melt today), we had to build a snowman. It wasn't the best snowman building snow (too dry), but we managed to make a very little one and my girls had fun helping. It was their first snowman and they were very excited about it. 

Snow!

It doesn't happen very often here in Portland, but we have been hit with a whole lot of snow (for us) and it is still coming down. I would guess we're easily at 6" now, but it's hard to tell because yesterday was so windy, so levels vary. I've been taking lots of pictures, but here are just a few I want to share now.