Creating Kris

KITK: Trying Heart tarts

I’ve been trying to do baking with the kids as a new “just for us” special activity these days. It fills the void somewhat since there are so many things that I can no longer do with them due to my severe chronic pain, and fills the time as well! It suits our schedule and my limitations very well: we can spend a half hour in the kitchen then have a rest while our creation is baking. The results are enjoyable but also practical; they can often be popped into the kids’ lunch bags for a special snack at school.

As we continue to bake together, I’ll share our results and recipes sources here. I’ve started a new category for these posts: “Kids in the Kitchen”, and I’ll also go back and add the category tag to a couple previous posts about baking with kids, like when we experimented with the Strawberry Roll Cake recipe! Looks like I’ll also have to go back and fix some picture links as well…

So one recipe we tried recently (around Valentine’s Day) was the raspberry-pear heart tarts in the February edition of Martha Stewart Living magazine. They turned out much messier than pictured, but were still very delicious…

before going in the oven

the kids enjoy their treat creations

My overall rating of the recipe was that it was pretty yummy but kind of difficult. Which I kind of expected given the source, but even though they were as hard to make as expected, they weren’t as “deliciously worth it” as expected.

Stay tuned for the results of our next baking adventure… I only wish that I could somehow pass along free samples! Keep an eye out for the category tag Kids in the Kitchen and please pass along any good recipes you recommend!

Happy Valentine’s Day cards

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope everyone is enjoying a “love”ly day with their loved ones this weekend… I’ve continued to be very busy with lots of cute projects, which I’ll share with you over the rest of February.

So I’ve already shown you the little Valentine treat folders for DS’s kindergarten class. Once those were complete, I started to turn those same stamps and punches towards other uses: making Valentine’s Day cards for my immediate family.

I created a few smaller ones with some of stamping done on vellum paper and then a couple larger ones.

All cards were made using different combinations of the following materials: white cardstock, black cardstock (CM), vellum (SU), Riding Hood Red cardstock (SU), and Pink Pirouette cardstock (SU), Basic Black ink (SU), Riding Hood Red ink (SU), stamps from the Happy Heart Day set (SU), a stamp from the All Through the Year set (SU), roller-stamped hearts in Real Red ink (SU), punched circles (1″ and 1&3/4″), punched scallops, a scalloped-edge rectangle, punched tags (large and small).

For the three small cards, I placed them in a regular-card-sized clear envelope and then added some little Valentine candies at the bottom. The cards were made a little at a time… just whenever I had the chance to get to my craft table and pick up where I left off.

Have I mentioned yet how much I absolutely love that our dinning room is currently set up as a huge craft area for the whole family? Since we moved from a small house with only one eating area, we had no extra furniture for the dinning room. And since we have not really been able to remedy that in our time here (we didn’t even have the money to be able to buy an air conditioning unit as planned!), the temporary set-up just became more long term. And I’ve resolved to just enjoy that while it lasts!

Our set-up is great; we’ve got a few IKEA shelves along the wall, with plastic drawer units on the bottom to organize all the craft items. There’s our fold-out craft table with 4 folding chairs (of dubious comfort levels, which is why I usually roll over the chair from the kids’ computer). I have my scrapbooking bags stashed under one shelving unit and bins on the shelves that hold all my punches, ribbons, templates, etc. It’s nothing compared to some of the beautiful craft room designs I’ve seen, but it suits us just fine!

All in all, I’m very glad I have a handy place where I can work on my creative projects and not have to tidy it all away in between! I can usually carve out enough space to make cards as long as I can contain the kids’ projects to “their” (unofficial) side of the table. Today I was back and forth between card-making, baking some yummy Vday treats (stay tuned to see those!), and crashing on the couch with my ice packs! I hope everyone else enjoyed their day/weekend.

DIY: cute Valentines for kids

This year I wanted to do something special for my son’s new friends in his kindergarten class. With the collection of scrapbooking and stamping supplies I’ve amassed over the years, it wasn’t hard to come up with a new type of “Valentine” that he could give out…

With a few trims and stamps, I was able to come up with a little folder-style Valentine that would hold a couple of treats inside. I used two colours of cardstock; you can pick any colours or patterns that are Valentine-themed but make sure your base cardstock is thick enough to hold itself up.

Here are the instructions for where to cut and score:

• Cut your cardstock to 2.5″ wide by 7.5″ high
• Score the cardstock along the width at 1″, then again at 3.5″, then at 4.5″
• You should now have 4 sections: a 1″ lip, a 2.5″ square, a 1″ base, and another 2.5″ square
• Scallop-punch the 1″ wide lip on the far end (optional)

I decorated the folder with stamped images and did a bit of layering with circle-punched pieces of cardstock in different colours. From there, I made three hole punches on either side at the top – lining up the top flap with the top of each 2.5″ square. You could also skip this step and plan to staple the top (either with or without a ribbon). Have your child sign the Valentine before the final assembly…

To finish up: adhere two candies on the 1″ base of the folder (you can use a gluedot, sticky strip or photo split); fold up the folder and be sure the top lip is folded on the outside; slip the ribbon through the holes on either side and tie a knot; trim the edges of the ribbon on an angle (optional).

the finished Valentines, ready to go!

My son has had fun this week decorating and signing his Valentines (with 22 little buddies in the class we spread it out a bit!), so I hope his friends have fun opening them up and enjoying the candies when they get home.

And I also hope readers have enjoyed this tutorial! Please feel free to share it with others by linking back to it at: www.krismom.com/2010/02/diy-cute-valentines-for-kids/ (permanent link). Stay tuned for another blog post in the next couple days when I’ll share some more Vday creations…

a few funnies…

My son is such a little sunshine in my life, he has the funniest little expressions. His way of seeing the world is so unique and special, especially since he is SO incredibly smart! I have no doubt he’s picked up on the “gifted” genes from both his parents.

Here are a few favourite Avery quotes from the past little while…

Avery: “I’m so smart I don’t need any other people”.

Avery (after being told to go back to bed as the TV in our room is turned off): “You’re just doing a trick on me – when I go back to bed you will just turn that TV back on again.”

Avery: “I saw the muffin bag on the counter Mom!”
Me: “Oh you did eh…?”
Avery: “So what’s for breakfast?”
Me: “Guess!”
Avery: “I don’t know!”
Me: “Muffins!”
Avery is genuinely surprised and delighted to find this out! LOL

Me: “Well how did they watch that back then? There were no TVs!”
Avery: “WHAT?”
Me: “In the olden days, TV hadn’t been invented yet.”
Avery: “That is just. not. possible.”

Avery asks his dad: “Was it awesome?”

Avery tells me (as I leave the couch): “But Mom, the game was just so awesome that it *made* me kick the couch. It’s done being awesome.”

And another few that I’d scribbled down (on a note paper that got lost again and found again about a million times!):

“I need you to just do this by yourself.”
“See, I told you it was gross.”
“That so freaked me out!”
“I always share with everyone the candy that I get at Halloween.”
“I obey you to play Xbox!”