We used our favorite hole reinforcement stickers this past week for some fun Easter egg decorating and dyeing. It was a simple, toddler-friendly project and equally as rewarding for grown-up me.
It was also a complete experiment—I hadn't done this before and wasn't sure how well it would work. Wasn't sure how well the stickers would stick to the eggs and wasn't sure how well they would stay on in the dye bath.
There were a lot of yeses for my cherry pie recipe, so here it is!
Cherry pie is my all-time favorite dessert. Chocolate is up there but doesn't surpass a good homemade cherry pie in my mind. I used to request cherry pie instead of cake for my birthdays when I was growing up and still make it whenever I get the craving for the sweet-tart fruity goodness. Mmm...
I've fiddled with various recipes over the years and have finally settled on a version that is adapted from a combination of others—primarily from the recipes in The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum and The Best Recipe by the Cook's Illustrated folks.
I finally placed a long overdue order to Discount School Supply to restock some of our key art supplies. I told myself I was going to keep it to the basics (always hard for me) but couldn't help noticing some fun new printed craft tape—DSS's answer to Japanese washi tape apparently.
I've been wanting to try washi tape forever and so couldn't stop myself from adding this set to my cart.
I'm so glad I did, because it's been inspiring all sorts of fun tape art!
If you had to choose one baby item for the mother of a new baby, what would it be?
Just one.
My answer?
A sling.
Slings allow mamas to keep their babies close, anticipate and meet their needs, comfort them, keep them safe and happy. And it allows them to do all this while keeping their hands free to do the other things they needs to do on a daily basis—dishes, talk on the phone, prepare lunch, and push older siblings on the swing.
Last week was a doozy. One family member after another sick. Fevers, ear infections, doctor visits, the works. We're still recovering.
But during a midweek lull, we celebrated Harry's birthday and I made him this cherry pie by request. Isn't it pretty? I had a lot of fun with the crust.
I am sick. Probably the sickest I've been since I had a stomach bug at Christmas a few years ago. I've been trying to tell myself all weekend that I'm not sick, because the beautiful spring weather has been calling me. So while I should have been in bed, I puttered in the garden, weeding and transplanting, walking around as slow as a zombie, and lying down on the lawn when I got too dizzy. And then I crashed. I've rarely had a fever as an adult and I don't think I've ever noticed my lymph nodes before now. All to say, no fun artsy posts or giveaways (what I had planned) today. I'm going back to bed.
Maia had a day off from school earlier this week and we used the time for several artful activities, including experimenting with glue printing and then adding glitter. It started out as a not so successful fruit printing with glue plus glitter (it worked better in my mind than it did in real life), segued over to lace printing, and then, finally, to printing with the rim of a cup.
Here are some photos showing the progression of our art experiment:
Maia has full access to the art studio and most of the materials within and she takes advantage of it regularly. Many days, she'll head back there at some point to draw, paint, collage, or, as in this case to create art with scrap wood.
She made this artwork one evening last week out of a couple pieces of wood that she glued together and generously covered with a pattern of kisses and hugs. On the smaller wood piece she wrote "I love you family" in a mix of glitter glue, extra glitter, and a sharpie.
