Bird and Little Bird

Season's Round.

I put together these little felt trees as part of my package for the current Season's Round exchange.  The idea originally arrived via this post from Wise Craft, which features absolutely beautiful trees made from felted sweaters.  I didn't have any sweaters handy for felting and was pretty much housebound with my somewhat sniffly kiddo all weekend and into this week, so I opted for using some of my favorite wool felt.  Oh, and my printer wanted very much to print out the Wise Craft template in weird sizes and orientations, so I gave up on using it and just went free-hand.  This worked relatively well although I still very much admire how fat the original trees are.  Lovely.  

I also wanted to use only natural materials in making these, so I skipped out on the foam cones for the inside.  Instead, I made paper cones out of card stock and taped them together.  Not super fancy or attractive, but once they're inserted into the trees, they make them stand up pretty nicely just the same.  Our own nature table has not at all been transitioned into winter just yet.  In fact, it mostly consists of piles of acorns and a couple of little squash and gourds at the moment.  Not that great.  I'm very much looking forward to receiving our own exchange package so that we can remedy the situation. 

Among the Best of Things.

Ever since we moved to Vermont, and away from the stunning array of restaurant options in the Bay Area, we cook more than ever.  And that is saying a lot.  Keeping the momentum going on the feed-our-family project has required at least a few go-to dishes that I can put together quickly when we've had a busier than usual day.  One side dish that has been a consistent (and easy) favorite for chilly fall evenings is roasted cauliflower.  So very, very good and unbelievably minimal in terms of prep work.  A winning combination in my book.

It goes something like this: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Wash one (or more) heads of cauliflower and chop it into smallish pieces.  Toss with a good amount of olive oil and some sea salt.  Throw it on a baking sheet and pop it in the oven.  Check on it every ten minutes or so, using a spatula to toss the cauliflower on the baking sheet so that it browns evenly.  Remove from the oven when the cauliflower is nicely browned and is soft when you poke it with a fork. 

Yum!

Bookmaking with Children: Accordion Books with Pockets.

Time at (long) last for another bookmaking tutorial!  This is another variation on the simple accordion fold books I've shared in the past, but it is an extra fun one because there are pockets involved and everything is better with pockets, no?  The instructions for the back and forth folding to make the accordian are slightly abbreviated here, but if you find that you need additional pictures for clarity, this post is a bit more in depth.

What to Use:

- a sheet of paper that is longer than it is high (I used a sheet about five inches by seventeen inches)

- card stock or heavy weight paper for the book covers (optional)

- tape

- a glue stick

- bone folder, popsicle stick or other folding tool for making sharp creases

- something fun to put in the pockets of your book!

What to do:

Lay your sheet of paper out flat on a hard surface.

 

Fold the bottom edge of the paper upwards, making a sharp crease along the bottom of the fold.  The portion of the paper that is folded upward will become your pockets so feel free to make it whatever size you want, but make sure it's deep enough to accommodate whatever you might want to put inside.

Fold the paper in half, using your folding tool to make a sharp crease at the fold. 

Open the paper back up, and then fold each half in half again by bringing the ends to meet the crease made by the fold in the middle.  The pocket is still along the bottom.  

 

Continue folding each section of the paper in half again, alternating your folds towards the front and the back so that you have an accordion.  Keep the pocket along the inside of the accordion.  

 

It should look like this now.  Pop a bit of tape on the the outside edge of the pocket on each end so that your pocket will be closed off. 

 

Cut two pieces of card stock or heavy weight paper to the same size or slightly larger than your front and back book covers.  Paste the card stock onto the front and back covers to make them a bit sturdier.  

 Put stuff in the pockets!  We are using this most recent book as a place to store paper dolls (originally from The Small Object, download blank ones here) for taking with us when we go out.  A good companion for the tiny colored pencils when combating waiting room or restaurant boredom.  

I've also been using books like this with the kids at school a lot lately.  We use the pockets for storing index cards with sight words, math facts, ideas for writing prompts... you name it, we're dropping it into a pocket.   All sorts of good academic tidbits are being made more entertaining by the fact of exciting storage.  

Sunshine Yellow.

Sincere apologies for the big time fox action around these parts lately.  I sincerely hope that I'm not boring any of you folks that are polite enough to read this page on a regular basis. I am consistently surprised by just how many of you are out there.  (Thanks for that, by the way.)  I do try to avoid the fox-post-followed-by-book-post pattern, however, my schedule has shifted at work and I'm still trying to get a good handle on my crafting time.  And the laundry pile. 

Anyway, I have also decided that winter is bound to be long and for the most part, dark.  So, when I made this particular Mr. Fox I decided I should take advantage of the brighter colors in my stash.  An antidote to the winter days ahead, if you will. 

Library Monday: The Paper Bag Princess

I was first given a copy of The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch during my freshman year of college by a cousin of mine who felt strongly that all young women should probably be aware of the wisdom of saving one's self from the dragon rather than waiting around for the prince to show up and do the job.  Many years later, I rediscovered this book during a trip to the library, and to my delight, Mariam thought it was just as clever and funny as I did when I first read it.

The Paper Bag Princess is a humorous twist on the classic fairy tale.  The basics are all there; the prince, the princess, a nasty dragon.  However, this particular prince turns out to be less than an ideal catch and it is our princess who turns heroine and rescues the pathetic and mostly clueless prince from the dragon, who turns out to be surprisingly vulnerable to a smart and persistant princess.  

The Paper Bag Princess is an enjoyable read on many levels.  It is funny, creative and has a fast moving story with great illustrations.  But it also has a lot to offer in terms of character and even, dare I say, moral.  This is a book about self-reliance and the importance of strength of character, and even if this isn't necessarily apparent to the average five year old when they are having it read aloud to them, the positive message is nonetheless present.  And, it's all reinforced with a fairly hilarious ending, and that is always a good thing.

Approach with Caution.

I'm back from the depths of slack!  I didn't necessarily plan on taking a break from all things blog, craft and computer related for the last few days but I did, and it was good.  I just can't believe how quickly my days off from work are passing me by!  We are only a couple of days away from a return to early mornings, packing lunches and being busy.  Sigh.

I've been meaning to share this recipe for banana bread for at least the last year but I have never before managed to get a photo because it gets so rapidly devoured by my family.  Mariam and I were up early this morning so I was able to make it, take a few pictures (and eat a bit too) before it was too late.  It is an easy recipe that uses ingredients that are usually just hanging around in the cupboards waiting to be put to good use.  Be cautious however- it is really, really good and you will definitely eat it all and probably within a very short period of time. 

Library Monday: Owl Moon

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen has graced this page in the past, but I realized recently that I hadn't ever actually given it much of a review; I had only mentioned that we really liked it.  Well, we really, really like it.  In fact, this book is among my favorite picture books ever written and I thought that it certainly deserved a second go round here.  Owl Moon is a beautifully written story, with graceful illustrations (by John Schoenherr) to match and it is one of the few books that I consistently leave laying out around the house so that we never forget to read it again and again. 

Owl Moon is the story of a girl, the youngest child in a family of boys, all of whom have already had their chance at midnight owl watching with their father.  Now it is the little girl's turn, and she and her father head out into the snowy night, under a full moon, in hopes of finding a great horned owl among the trees. 

Owl moon is a sweet story in so many ways, not least of all because of the hopeful anticipation of the little girl as she quietly follows her father through the snow and dark.  The reader can feel her excitement, the closeness that she feels with her father, and in the moment of the owl's discovery, her joy.  This book is a wonderful reminder not only of the ways in which the world holds so much mystery and excitement for the young, but also of the fact that the natural world is constantly displaying its wonders if we just remember to look for them. 

Nice Couple.

I finished up a pair of animals for a custom order for the shop this weekend.  A Ms. Rabbit and Mr. Fox for eight year old twin girls.  A very fun project!

I got both inspired and a bit brave and decided to cut into the Heather Ross fabric that I've been admiring but not touching for the last few months.  Once I heard that they aren't going to do a second print run of this stuff, it kind of took on a whole new status in my fabric stash. Thankfully, I have now realized that this is ridiculous and am getting on with things...

I decided that when given Ms. Rabbit as a traveling companion, Mr. Fox didn't look quite as fancy as maybe I wanted him to.  My little sisters are twins and I am acutely aware of the whole twin-related problem of giving gifts that are unique but also seemingly equal in every way.  If you are in some way related to twins, this will make sense to you.  The point is this: Mr. Fox got a cute little pocket.  

What would Mr. Fox keep in his pocket, you might ask?  

  A letter from a friend. 

The New Obsession.

For reasons I cannot adequately explain, our family has suddenly and completely fallen in love with brussels sprouts.  I am aware that this most maligned of vegetables is a perhaps unusual choice for nightly consumption but we are just so into them.  The other night Dan was on his way out the door to the anatomy lab to study all evening and I was making dinner for Mariam and myself.  He paused in the doorway, one foot outside the house and said "What is that?  Are those the brussels sprouts?"  I'm pretty sure that if I had said that they were, he would have immediately come back in and taken his shoes off. 

We've been using a variation on a Mark Bittman recipe to prepare them.  It goes something like this:

Wash the sprouts and cut them in half.  Parboil them until they are bright green and then drain them and rinse in cold water.  Heat a couple of tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat and then add the sprouts.  Let them hang out for awhile, until they start to brown slightly and then add a few tablespoons of bread crumbs.  When they are all nice and crusty and brown, add salt to taste and serve them with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.  So. Very. Good. 

On a Wire.

In an attempt to combat the problem of collecting more artwork than I possibly have wall space to display, I have hung a picture wire on our bedroom wall.  This is dual purpose, actually.  I'm also generally switching up the bedroom decor.  It's not so much that I don't like it the way that it is, it has more to do with the fact that there is a very long winter ahead and I imagine that bright, cozy indoor spaces can provide nothing but happy when March is busy coming in like a lion.  There will be more about all that later. 

I stretched picture hanging wire along the length of wall that I wanted to cover and then wrapped each end around a small nail.  I hammered the nails in enough to compress the wrapped wire ends into the wall, making the line secure.  I have been hoarding this tiny tin full of miniature clothespins for approximately forever and decided that they were perfectly suited to this purpose.  I'm not sure where they originally came from, but I'm pretty sure that these are the same thing. 

So, I finally managed a space for hanging some of my 3191 prints, which is nice.  Dan is still objecting to the principle of having anything hanging above his head while he's asleep but I maintain that he would never have even noticed if I hadn't pointed it out.  Medical school isn't exactly conducive to spending much time sleeping, so he is really only likely to be in the bedroom between the hours of about three and six a.m. during which time he would never be able to see what is one the walls anyway.

 

I also recently got this print from Sarah, after admiring it on her blog and emailing her to ask if she would please list it in her Etsy shop for me and me only.  Luckily, she is very nice about dealing with semi-crazy blog stalkers like myself and was quick to oblige.