Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time
I’m happy to have a day with absolutely nothing on the calendar. While I’m catching up around here, I’m going to let the kids loose with this Spin Art project from Liz at Momtastic. All you need is a salad spinner, some washable paint, and paper. Easy peasy.
Have you heard of Japanese washi tape? It’s popped up on my radar a few times, but I didn’t focus on it until today when I read a tutorial by Sweet Paul on how to use washi tape to decorate a vase. I thought Hey, that’s really cool. My kids would love to get their hands on some washi tape. It seems similar to masking tape and can be used for gift-wrapping embellishments and an amazingly wide range of arts and crafts projects. Check out Tiny Prints to see some of the ways you can use washi tape. My favorite is the bunting.
Now the question is where can we find washi tape? The most popular online sources seem to be Washimatta on Etsy and Happy Tape. Have you seen any in real life? We end up at Michaels fairly often so I’ll check for some next time we’re there. I’ll let you know if I find (or order) some and how it works out!
So on to the weekend. My family is thankful that Grandpa Tony made it through a medical scare this week and will be moving out of the ICU. And then home soon, we hope. This afternoon we get to see Lexie and her fellow drama campers perform a play they wrote to cap their week of activities. The rest of the weekend is boot camp, a cocktail party just for grown-ups that will count as our first date in ages, and tackling the bunny. I have to learn how to knit on TWO sets of circular needles to make the little bugger. What have I gotten myself into?
Have a great weekend. See you back on Monday!
{Photo by Alexandra Grablewski}
It was my turn to drive the drama camp carpool to Hudson so, with three hours to spend until pick-up time, the younger two and I headed up to Stillwater. Stillwater is a beautiful little town nestled on the St. Croix River about an hour north of Prescott (where we live). Main Street is lined with brick-fronted buildings full of adorable shops selling everything from high-end kitchenware to children’s toys. My mission was to visit Darn. Knit. {Anyway}, a shop I’ve ordered yarn from but have never visited in person. The kids’ mission was to visit Teddy Bear Park.
After lunch on the patio at a malt shop, we made our way down to the street toward the yarn shop. Along the way, we admired the trolleys.
And some chickens.
We spent some time at Darn. Knit. {Anyway} where I bought some gorgeous alpaca yarn to make the bunny from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. Attempt to make the bunny, I should say. The store was filled with cute projects and it took all my self-control not to buy yarn and patterns for all of them. My reward for completing the bunny will be to go back and buy yarn for one of the cutest children’s hats I’ve ever seen.
Finally, we headed up the hill to Teddy Bear Park for some rock-climbing and great views of the town and river.
We made ice cream in a bag for the first time and it was a huge hit. Be sure to shake the bags outside because sometimes the outer bags spring a little leak. It’s really simple to make, so grab the few ingredients you need and have fun!
Ice Cream in a Bag
For each bag of ice cream you’ll need:
1 cup half-and-half
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup coarse salt or “ice cream” salt (you can use table salt)
Pour the first three ingredients into a pint-size ziplock bag and seal it tightly. Pour the salt into a gallon-size bag and then fill the bag halfway with ice cubes. Put the sealed smaller bag inside the gallon-size bag and seal it well. Shake the bags until the ice cream mixture hardens, about 5 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when the ice cream gets firm and a little crystally. Remove the smaller bag, grab a spoon, and eat right out of the bag.