Baby, it’s cold outside! Normally that is something you just hear in the northern states, but today it seems to be cold all over the country! Going with that old adage… If life gives you lemons, make lemonade… if Mother Nature gives us cold, make snowflakes! Although playing outside is not an option today with …
As a kid, my Nana always had these hand crocheted lace snowflakes on her tree. Her mother-in-law (my great-grandmother) had made them. They were delicately made and starched until they were firm. There was definitely something about them that said ‘old lady’ but in a traditional, comforting sort of way. Both my little yarn tree …
THE SNOWFLAKE by Kimara Wise You flit, you fly, your float around, Before you settle on the ground. Unique you are from all the rest, You take your place on nature’s breast. Although you disappear from sight, One of millions in the night. It makes me happy just to know, You still are you among …
There was no white Christmas this year. Those of us that live in the Northern United States, like Michigan, tend to feel cheated when our Christmases aren’t white. It’s what we’ve come to expect after all. It’s what “they” sing songs about, center movies around, and it is the quintessential scene on the vast majority …
It is bone chilling cold out there today! Our schedule has been cleared, all activities for the day have been canceled due to extreme wind chill. What to do on a snow day that is too cold to play outside… crafts of course. Here is a fun and useful project that we made a couple …
Note: I DO NOT share my watercolors because I think they are perfect. Quite the contrary. I am self-teaching and learning, and I hope I can encourage other would be painters to join me in the journey 🙂 Remember… I’m not seeking perfection, I’m seeking JOY. As my love affair with watercolors continues, not only …
“In the meadow we can build a snowman”. Oh, how I love our “Winter Wonderland”! There can be the slightest sprinkling of snow and wee ones will be outside, carefully scooping up what precious little snow there is, hoping to build a towering snowman. But, when the weather’s right, and the snow blankets the ground, you …
“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, Brighton copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.” When Drew Drew Buns (the inexplicable name I called/call my youngest) was 4 years old, he came in from the season’s first snowfall in tears and told me his “wrists were broke”. The coat and mittens he wore left a band of young, tender …
(Our new snowflakes) A few years ago I shared a tutorial for making snowflakes out of dollies. You can find that tutorial HERE. Originally, I had made them to hang in my preschool, so I had laminated them. Here it is, some 20 years later, and they look as fresh as the day I made …
Here are the directions for turning those freezer paper stenciled blocks into a toasty warm blankie. Of course, you are welcome to make up your own quilt pattern, too. Just a head’s up, this isn’t a step-by-step tutorial on how to quilt (I didn’t take photos along the way and actually… this is a pretty old project, completed …
Have you ever been to Art Projects for Kids? If not, run there, right now, but be prepared to stay for a long, long time. Kathy Barbro is an experienced and gifted art teacher, and she shares over 600 projects on her blog. Whenever I need inspiration for kid crafts, she’s one of the first places I turn. She shared a wonderful watercolor project for Winter Birch Trees. I’m …
This is definitely a "quickie" book review, but I wanted to get something up before people considered buying this book. The other day I mentioned that I ordered the book A Bird in Winter: A Picture Book Inspired by Pieter Bruegel The Elder, by Helene Kerillis and Stephane Girel, I'm sad to say, this isn't a book I'd recommend. Although I think children would enjoy the the rather simplistic …
