Today we are happy to introduce Jzin Teng from Castle of Costa Mesa. She is guest blogging with a wonderful tutorial on how to use your washing machine to make this adorable toadstool cottage. I have not worked on any felting projects this large before and can’t wait to give this technique a try. Enjoy! Jzin’s …
Drawing Lesson 7: Advanced Level Cubes
As the weather has gotten nicer we are finding it harder and harder to squeeze in our drawing lessons. Most of our free time, not taken up by the end of the year activities, such as field trips, recitals, first communions, etc, has been spent out in the garden. We are also winding down our school year, finishing …
Painter’s Palette Coloring Page
One of my earliest school memories involves me at the painter’s easel back when I was in kindergarten. I absolutely loved it when it was my turn at the easel. All those beautiful juice cans filled with paint and the lovely cream colored paper waiting for my brush. I can remember what I painted that …
Spools of Thread Coloring Page
I have many crafting supplies that give me pleasure just looking at them. I love my spools of thread. There are so many beautiful colors and they remind me of being a little girl. I use to love to sort my mom’s thread by color or stack them up and make towers out of them. …
Learn-to-Knit Afghan Block Two
This series covers several different knitting stitches using the Learn-to-Knit Afghan book by Barbara Walker. Whether you are a true beginner or an intermediate knitter, you can take your knitting to the next level working through the blocks in this book. About once a week I will be adding one new block to the blog with …
How To Cut T-Shirts To Make Yarn
In the very near future I plan to make a new gnome house… a very small gnome house… but I plan to decorate it shabby chic. Hey, even gnomes have different tastes, right? Anyway, I do want to crochet a couple rugs for the floors and wanted to use t-shirt yarn for the project. So …
Spools of Thread Applique
I can remember on one of my grandmother’s visits to our house my mother gave Bushia her sewing basket to organize. As is usually the case with unattended spools of thread, as soon as the lid was closed to the basket, they would party, and the next time you opened the lid, all of the spools …
Crayons Coloring Page
BOX OF CRAYONS by Kimara Wise If I could name the crayons Oh what fun it’d be, The names would be extraordinary, Just like you and me! Red would be “Ketchup” Orange “Marmalade” Brown would be “Squishy Mud” And, Purple, “Monster Shade”. Yellow would be “Dandelion” Green “Dragon Scales” Blue would be “Berry Ooze” And, …
10 DIY Play/Real Workbenches for Children
Sources for these projects plus many more can be found HERE. While raising my children, I did not distinguish between “boy” and “girl” activities. My sons learning to sew and cook along with their sister and my daughter learning to build and rewire switches along with her brothers. Over time they gravitated towards the activities that they …
Learn-to-Knit Afghan Block One
This series covers several different knitting stitches using the Learn-to-Knit Afghan book by Barbara Walker. Whether you are a true beginner or an intermediate knitter, you can take your knitting to the next level working through the blocks in this book. About once a week I will be adding one new block to the blog with …
Crayons Applique
As a child few things thrilled me more than a new box of crayons. Oh the possibilities, oh the beauty, oh the smell… is there anyone out there that can’t conjure up the smell of a new box of crayons? To this day, when I buy a new box of crayons, I love to open …
How Does Your Garden Grow :: Planning April 2015
Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow? With silver bells, and cockle shells, And pretty maids all in a row. Growing up with Kimara as a mother, you would think I had a natural green thumb and that I loved getting dirt under my finger nails while digging through softly turned soil. …