Crafts for Kiddos

Since I'm kind of a glutton for punishment, I decided to lead a craft club for my school's after-school program. It was only 5 weeks, and I kept the crafts simple and fun. It turned out to be a total blast, and a great way to get to know a few students (16, in fact) better outside of class.



(As an aide, I get to move all around the school and thus know about half of our ~500 students by name, but I don't know many of them very well, so this was a golden opportunity.)



After scouring Pinterest, as well as getting some input from my 2nd-grade babysittee, I came up with five awesome, age appropriate crafts for 5-8 year olds.



Since we started in January, I wanted something seasonal and cute. I also wanted to make pretty much all of my crafts things that would actually functional or decorative, rather than just fun to make. This was our first shot:

Source

Then we made hang-able monograms, simply by cutting foam sheets into letters and decorating them. I failed to take pictures of that, but they were super simple and cute. My babysittee has hers hanging on the basement door of her home. Heh.



Next, we tackled exotic birds, made out of terra cotta pots. Add pom-pom heads, googly eyes, and feathers, and you've got...

My mom made something like this at a craft class when she worked at Michaels.

My little flock!

I love seeing their unique ideas and creativity!

Our last week together (one week got snowed out) we made a Valentine-y sort of craft. Add together some wax paper, tissue paper, and Modge Podge for some adorable little lovey-dovey stained "glass."

The hardest part for my kindergarten students? Cutting out those hearts. I tried to keep it simple
by folding black paper in half and having them cut out two question-mark shapes, one inside the
other. Even with very careful, slow instructions I had to help a couple of them.

Cute.

Best part? For 16 students, and four weeks of crafts, I came in just under $50. That was my prescribed budget, so I had a little help from my own craft stash (some feathers, paintbrushes, glue) and some really old supplies that my supervising teacher donated (paint, and she let us use her scissors). I was pretty pleased overall.

Challenge Accepted! (Part 2)

Since I've already written this once, I'll keep it brief.



Pinterest Challenge, as hosted by Sherry and Katie:

Earlier today I wrote about my pin-tastic lunch, complete with homemade tomato soup and bacon-guacamole grilled cheese. 

Yum! 

The second part of my Pinterest Challenge for myself was to actually craft. I like crafting, but I'm better equipped in my kitchen, and so I channel most of my creativity and experimentation into that arena. I wanted to make myself actually do something I pinned, which really, is the whole point of the Pinterest Challenge!

Ahem. 

After checking the weather and realizing that the Greater Philadelphia area was/is in for a slew of rainy days, I decided any project that required sanding, painting, curing, etc (all of which would need to take place outdoors), would best be saved for drier weather. 

Also, I was busy. 

So I picked an easy craft. 

This was my inspiration. 

Here's the link to the website. 

Here's the link to the pin. 

And here's my take on this project: 

First I grabbed an empty frame (I have this tendency to buy frames with no particular purpose in mind, so I have a few). I liked the idea of a dramatic print on a shiny frame. 

I laid the glass over the image I chose. Dan vetoed the calla lily print I liked, but he liked this poppy print. Unfortunately, I snagged this image a long time ago and I don't have the link to the image I used. 

(It's not mine. I borrowed it, and I'm not making any money from it.) 

Anyway, I took my white paint pen, 

and started dotting away. 

My friend did a number of projects over Christmas breaks by making dot designs on coffee mugs, platters, etc, so I liked the idea. 

Once all my dots were in place, I let it dry for a couple hours and then, voila! 

Oh, please note: I flipped the glass over so the paint is on the inside. I tried flipping the image on my computer because I printed the picture, but I decided I liked it better that way. My paint pens don't stand up to Windex or scrubbing, so this way my picture is safely inside the frame and I can dust/Windex to my heart's content without damaging my work. 

We picked a red background from my scrapbook box, which pleased me because a) poppies are red and b) our living room is red, black-brown, and sand so it ties in well with our existing decor. 

It's hard to see because it's dark and this is a bad picture, but there is a string of little red stars strung around our window, and the two look really nice together. Plus it's exactly opposite our deep red accent wall, so it's some nice symmetry going on. 

Huzzah for small victories! 

So, that's my Pinterest project. Thanks, Sherry, for kicking my butt into gear and getting me crafting! 

Challenge Accepted! (Part 1)

On Friday I linked you up to the Pinterest Challenge, as hosted by Sherry and Katie.

Happy Pinning!

I rose to the challenge, and I had a totally pin-tastic Sunday. 

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you'll know that I love to cook. Mostly I like to cook things are deceptively simple, things that taste like a million bucks but aren't really all that complicated. Things like my crockpot roasted chicken, garlic lemon chicken, pesto salmon, henrich-style alfredo, etc. 

But every once in a while, it's fun to do something that requires a little more effort. 

Enter these beauties: 

Bacon Guacamole Grilled Cheese

And some of this goodness:

Creamy Tomato Soup

I've been craving grilled cheese and tomato soup all week, so I was really excited about this meal and got started right away when we got home from church. It was actually nice--usually we go to the in-laws for Sunday lunch/dinner, and as much as I love that tradition, every once in a while it's good to have a break and have a Sunday of rest at home. 

Anyway, I made both of these in about 40 minutes! I was super busy the whole time, and I could have taken my time and been more relaxed (or if I wasn't as confident of my skills, I would have taken more time), but we're always starving after church. 

You can find the original recipes linked above, below each picture, but since the Pinterest Challenge is about putting your own spin on things, I wanted to give you a quick recap of what I did. 

First thing was to chop up my onion, celery, and basil (I used fresh, since it's growing on my windowsill anyway). 

The recipe called for diced tomatoes in puree, but since neither Giant nor Trader Joe's carried such a thing, I just made sure I had a can of tomato paste on hand for thickening and adding an extra kick of tomatoey goodness. 

Saute those veggies in butter, then toss in the tomatoes. 

I was puzzled as to why the recipe called for flour on top of the veggies, because you need straight up butter to make a true roux, but add the vegetable broth and baking soda and hold tight...

I let it simmer away while I worked on prepping ingredients for bacon guac grilled cheeses. 

I always cook my bacon in the oven...super easy, the splatters don't cause a ton of smoke, and all the pieces achieve the same consistency. Plus cleanup is a breeze.

And please be insane like me and make sure all your sandwich ingredients are neatly lined up for easy assembly: 

I used jalepeno jack cheese, and mild cheddar. 

Normally I'm a sharp cheddar girl, but I thought the mild creaminess would be nice against the spicy jack. 

Back to the tomato soup. Again, this is just my experience talking, but I figured once the soup was complete it could just hang out on the back of my stove and stay warm, while the grilled cheeses cooked. That way both things would be done and hot at the same time. 

Anyways, I tossed about 3/4 of the soup into my blender because I'm a nut about texture and I don't like baby-food-puree. Then I added 1/2 cup of half-and-half, and 1/2 cup of milk, because calories don't exist this weekend. Lastly, I mixed in a heaping tablespoon of tomato paste and stirred until smooth. 

Can you hear the angels singing? 

This was beyond heavenly. I didn't always like tomato soup, and I still don't really like it out of a can (or even those fancy boxes). But between the fresh basil, fire-roasted tomatoes, and the incredible creaminess, this was just amazing. So.much.flavor and texture. 

As stated above, I stuck this dude on the back burner (as low as my hot-burning gas stove would go) and attended to those bad boy sandwiches. 

This is my little trick for getting the cheese to melt before the bottom of the sandwich burns. Hold your biggest pot lid over it to catch some of the heat. 

More angels. 

In its plated gloriousness. 

Now...here's the thing. 

Both of these food items were totally awesome. Tons of flavor, and suuuuper rich and filling. But honestly, the two together was a little much! Dan ate all of his sandwich, but I only ate half, and neither of us could finish the soup. I absolutely loved both of them, but there will a little too much going on in one meal. I think the soup with a plain old-fashioned grilled cheese would probably be a little less overwhelming, and I really think these sandwiches can stand alone. Plus, all the cheese-and-guac-and-cream was pretty rich. 

Still totally worth it. 

Part 2: Craft Edition coming soon!