U is for Umbrella

Six months ago, I added a page to my blog called Children's Crafts from A-Z.  When I made it, I was missing 8 letters.  Since then, I've added a Jellyfish, a Koala, a Nest, a Quail, a Volcano, and an X-Ray, leaving only two missing letters.  Today I'm checking the letter U off the list.

I started by brainstorming U-words that make great crafts for young children.  Ukelele is ok, but many preschoolers and kindergarteners would guess that it was the more-familiar guitar, thus defeating the whole point of the alphabet craft.  Unicorn is ok, but not excellent.  Urchin? Hmm. There's a reason there are a LOT of umbrella crafts out there.

My absolute favorite umbrella craft is this one by Mama Jenn.  It is so cute and uses such a fun technique.  After gluing an umbrella shape to construction paper, she had the kids put dots of white glue all over it, then hung it up to dry.  Gravity made the glue run down, giving the look of rain.  Fun, right?!

I love everything about it except that the glue dries clear.  I thought the wet version looked just a bit cuter than the dried version.  White glue dries clear... what would dry an opaque white?  A-ha!  Enamel Accents!  

 

I cut out an umbrella from a pink floral patterned paper, added a brown umbrella handle, and glued both to grey construction paper.  I love the blue background of Mama Jenn's, but I thought the grey skies seemed more appropriate for an umbrella project.  I added drops of Enamel Accents everywhere except under the open umbrella.  I hung the paper vertically to dry.  I ended up with this:

I go back and forth about whether I prefer her blue sky or my grey, or her clear raindrops versus my white raindrops.  Overall, I think I like her project better... and it would certainly be more practical (and cheaper) to use white glue instead of Enamel Accents.  But I had a lot of fun experimenting and making my own version.  And I can finally scratch the letter U off the list! 

Pantone's Spring 2014 Color Report

Pantone released their Spring 2014 Color Report last week.  As I've mentioned many times, I don't follow fashion AT ALL (other than being a huge Project Runway fan), but I do pay attention to Pantone's reports.  The same colors that trend in the fashion industry trend in the craft industry.  Expect to see these colors dominating the paper lines and other scrapbook and craft products that debut at the Craft and Hobby Association winter trade show.  

Overall, I like the palette.  I love the addition of Paloma and Sand as neutrals.  As for the rest of the colors, it's not all that different from 2013's.... with one major exception.  While Grayed Jade, Dusk Blue and African Violet will give way to the very similar Hemlock, Placid Blue, and Radiant Orchid, there is no corresponding shade for Emerald, the 2013 Color of the Year.

We're going to have to wait awhile to find out what 2014's Color of the Year is, as the Color of the Year is typically announced in December.  You can see the previous 14 winners at Pantone.com.  It's pretty interesting.

So what do you think of the 2014 colors?

Chef for a Day

Last week, Trevor's Cub Scout homework was to do the meal planning, preparation and clean-up for a day.  Of course, when you assign a 7-year old a job like that, you are assigning the parents an even bigger job - supervising it all.  

As soon as he woke up, Trevor gathered up all his cookbooks and started his planning.  I sat back with the camera.

He selected his entrees and sides, put them all on his homework sheet, and then made a grocery list.  

Did you notice Trouble in the background?  I just missed getting an adorable 
picture of Trouble sitting next to Trevor, "reading" what he was writing. 

On his menu for breakfast: Cheerios with milk, and Orange Juice Mocktails.

Orange Juice Mocktail is our family's special occasion drink.  To make it, fill a glass 2/3 full of orange juice.  Then pour in 7-Up until the glass is almost full.  

Add about a tablespoon of grenadine.

Ta-da!

Next, we headed to the grocery store.  I didn't think to take pictures, which I regret.  It was cute seeing Trevor selecting items, checking prices, and trying to make good choices.

For lunch, Trevor prepared peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, and two kinds of fruit. Trevor has very little knife experience.  He struggled spreading peanut butter and jelly, which was an eye-opener for me.  I hadn't really realized that I always do it for him.  (That will be changing.)  He'd never used a sharp knife to cut wiggly, juicy fruit and was very nervous to try.  I was nervous about stepping back and taking pictures, but he did the job perfectly.   

For dinner, Trevor chose to make Crispy Chicken Strips, steamed broccoli, and two fruits (different than the two for lunch!).  Trevor has a fair amount of cooking experience, but he had never worked with raw chicken, so we spent quite a bit of time talking about how to avoid cross-contamination.  Here he is, ready to get started.

 

He did an excellent job getting the chicken strips ready, but was too scared to put the pan in the oven himself.  So I did that part.  He was also very nervous about turning on the gas stove to steam the broccoli, but he did eventually conquer his fear and turn it on.  

Here's the chef with the dinner he made:

 

Wolf Achievement #8 b, c, and d complete!

Mini Ball Pan Attempt #1: Caterpillar Cake

Time to share our first adventures with the present I bought myself a few weeks ago! We FINALLY finished eating our zucchini cookies and zucchini cobbler, so I could justify making another dessert. I washed my new pan, greased it, made my batter, and consulted the directions that came with the pan to see how much batter to put in each cavity. The directions said to "put 2/3 cup batter into each cavity (about 2/3 full)." As I got out a 2/3 c. measuring cup, Steve commented that he couldn't believe I was actually going to measure. I almost never measure anything, so it was indeed worth noting. I filled the 2/3 cup with batter and started to pour it in the pan. It was immediately apparent that something was hideously wrong. There was no way 2/3 c. of batter was going to fit. Even 1/3 c. was too much. I double-, triple-, and quadruple-checked the instructions. I didn't read it wrong - it definitely said 2/3 cup. I checked the Wilton directions online and they said 2/3 c. too. I filled each with about 1/4 cup and popped them in the oven. This is what came out:

Clearly, 1/4 c. of batter was too much. OK, good to know for next time.  

We used a serrated knife to level off the bottoms, then arranged the cupcakes on plates. Trevor had requested that we make caterpillars, so that's exactly what we did. We used a star tip to apply green frosting, then added candy eyeballs, pretzel antennae, a red licorice smile, and grape licorice feet (affiliate links). 

By the way, we actually researched caterpillars to learn how many legs they have. We learned that they have 6 true legs (which they keep in adulthood as butterflies or moths) and up to five pairs of prolegs. These false legs help them move and cling to plants. Never let anyone tell you that cake decorating isn't educational.

Here's Trevor's caterpillar:  

 

Here's mine. Trevor took the picture and he kept telling me to get lower and lower until I was laying on the table like this.  

 

Here's a close-up of Trevor's caterpillar. "Hello!"

I made WAY too much green frosting, so expect a different green cupcake project from us in the near future.

Hundred Grand

Are you familiar with Accelerated Reader (AR)?  If not, read about it here.  I first learned about AR when I started teaching.  I joined the rest of the upper grade teachers for a training in San Francisco on how to use it properly and was instantly a fan.  I only wish it had been around when I was a student!

When Trevor started kindergarten, I was happy to learn that his school used Accelerated Reader. They run it a bit differently than the way I was trained to do.  (Of course, that was about 15 years ago!)  One difference is that they measure and reward the number of words read vs. the number of points earned.  When kids at Trevor's school reach 100,000 words, they become members of the Hundred Grand Club and are recognized in a school-wide assembly and given a special t-shirt.

 

Trevor fell just short of 1,000,000 words during first grade, so that's his goal for second grade. Hopefully this time next year, I can share a layout with pictures from the Million Word Club assembly!