KISS crafts

Keep It Simple Sweetie
J-cakes found a book in the pile I was sorting to sell or give away. She wanted to keep it. My first thought was, no way! we have so many craft books that we never use- and I suddenly stopped short hearing my own internal dialogue...

So I said sure. To make sure my end goal was accomplished (the ongoing quest to simplify our cluttered lives) I asked her to choose a book or toy from her room to trade for it. Win-win.

She sat flipping through it while her big sister read the dust cover of a Jean Auel book that looked interesting, (now that she has finished Hunger Games, she is in the market- suggestions?) and little brother tried to master the buckle on his old car seat. With M-cube asleep, I thought I might actually get those boxes of homeschooling resources sorted and priced.

Alas, J-cakes found a craft she wanted to do, and I decided we could quickly do a simpler, more sustainable version of it. The original project involved wallpaper scraps & poster board. Ours uses a felt board and shapes I cut quickly- as J-cakes looked at the book and told me what to cut- she wanted exactly the same items.

Even my big girl got involved: G-pie was the first to arrange it (precisely like the picture in the book).

I cut an extra banana, blueberries & a "cutie" for C-dough to play with (he pretended to peel & eat them over & over).

A sweet time shared by simply keeping it short and capturing the moment. G-pie has started on another project from the book...

No Sew T- Shirt Bags

Last night we did another handcraft from our always growing Pinterest projects board. This one was easy- a no sew tote or market bag made from an old T-shirt. G-pie & I both chose sparkly purple T's and it took less than half an hour. More detailed instructions can be found here... http://www.leethal.net/zine/?p=1344



This has me thinking about adding another workshop to the Learning Barefoot fall schedule- a projects, handcrafts and reduce, reuse, recycle series for girls (and their moms?)- there are so many options. There are so many creative and crafty homeschoolers out there. What fun to share the fun of making things that are useful and unusual.

Science Kits

My 10 year old is very into figuring things out (and telling us all about how it works, or how it is made). With the last of our charter school funds for the year I ordered her a couple of kits. She seems to enjoy either a small-group, multi-age, hands-on learning activity (which is ultimately WHY we started www.learningbarefoot.com) or doing it totally on her own. Although this option includes showing her little sister how she is doing it and guiding her through other experiments, crafts or projects, more and more often these days. (Check out their web-show tomorrow morning at 10am)

Today the interest is in "Snap Circuits, Jr" and the "Magnetism Kit"- we ordered both from http://www.homeschoolscience.com/, a company I have been totally happy with for several years now. The kits are perfect for small group or individual family use and you can just keep the main components and order replacement parts for future barefoot learners- or Sugar Daddys who love science, too...

Now webcasting live at a computer near you...

We are having so much fun with this little family project.

G-pie & J-cakes have been "doing preschool" and wanting to do even more crafts and science experiments and I have been looking into Ustream for other projects involved with www.learningbarefoot.com and we have hit upon a great way to enjoy both our hobbies.

Our new channel "Learning Barefoot" has 1 regular series- "Preschool Fun with Grace & Joy", which is going to be webcast live on Wednesdays at 10am. We will also be featuring special guests, friends and other interesting segments- as well as new weekly shows (that we hope, will be) of interest to the homeschool world.

You are invited to join in the discussion by logging in to either twitter or facebook and commenting during the live show- or leaving a comment on this blogs's Learning Barefoot Channel Page.

Preschool Opp

The littles and I explored some colors, sorting, fine motor skill building while the big girl slept in.

This free slideshow customized with Smilebox

Doing Pinterest

Yesterday we made the DIY Bracelets that we had discovered on Pinterest. G-pie had noticed we had a lot of projects pinned and none done. So after doing the menu board, I created my "completed projects" board and have been inspired to do more (so I can fill that board on Pinterest, LOL!)... so many creative and crafty ideas.

G-pie made the bottom one for her Grandma's 60th birthday gift, while J-cakes and I made the top one, also for Grandma. Then we decided to make this tasty Kiss Gloss as a party favor for the fun celebration we shared with the family.

We made cinnamon flavor. It has a bit of a zing. But the candy melts and paraffin wax give it a nice consistency- it is super easy to make...


We used red candy melts, household paraffin wax, petroleum jelly and cinnamon candy flavoring. Along with the coconut oil, a baggie, a bowl of hot water and 9 sterilized bead containers from the craft store. We doubled the recipe given on Brooke's blog, http://www.cheekykitchen.com/, and next time I would probably cut down the cinnamon flavor. We have plenty left to try out the cherry and peppermint flavors that came with the set of oil based candy flavorings. I would love to try and make this a more natural gloss- replace the paraffin & vaseline with cocoa butter perhaps, and the artificial flavors with natural essential oils.

For this project I did finally get around to opening the new coconut oil that Tropical Traditions sent- and I also used it to make eggs yesterday morning (and to to rub down the potatoes and yams for baking for last night's dinner party). I am only comparing it to the other one I have tried, which we ordered from www.azurestandard.com, from Wilderness Family Naturals.

Both are certified organic- I really need to do some research on the differences in extraction methods- the Tropical Traditions sounds better

"...the pure coconut water from inside the coconut is used to extract the coconut milk using traditional methods. Small scale family businesses [in the Phillipines] produce this oil in small batches, taking great care and pride in their work."

The Wilderness Family Naturals on the other hand is "mechanically expressed without the use of solvents or chemicals and 'super cleaned' using hot water and steam."

For dinner we grilled Tri-tip, fully loaded the baked potatoes, which turned out perfect- the skins were softer than when I have baked potatoes rubbed with other types of oil or fat. The coconut oil worked splendidly. It was also a good choice for the yams- which were terrific with a tiny bit of butter. We also had sour dough bread and a Spring Berry Herb & Feta Salad with TJ's Rosemary Pecans and TJ's Champagne Vinaigrette- wish I had taken a picture of it.

The family enjoyed the evening and my MIL seemed to appreciate the celebration. and look at the dessert my equally creative SIL brought... Sprinkles Cupcakes and cake pops, brownie bites, chocolate dipped marshmallows, Champagne- oh and ice cream from a place in Santa Barbara where the boys and their mom used to stop on road trips.

An abundance of delight and decadence!

Family Menu Planning

Finally made our own version of the menu planning board I discovered on Pinterest. Ours isn't quite as pretty, but I think we will add to it. Our push pins are color coded by who is in charge of making dinner that night- me, Sugar Daddy & G-pie each have 2 nights and then Saturdays are take out, or special occasions like parties and dates and such, usually- or leftovers! The top box stores menus we have the ingredients for currently and the box on the bottom will be for menus we want to save to repeat for sure- AND suggestions, cravings and grocery list requests!!