One Year of Projects

The slide show below documents a year's worth of projects I've created for this blog. It's been a blast. Looking forward to another year. Enjoy.

Guest Post: The Magic of Music

Today Marie from Make and Takes will be guest posting on my site and I will be sharing a post on her site. Make and Takes is a site dedicated to " Ideas and crafty tidbits for home, family and fun". You'll find all kinds of ideas from craft projects to book reviews on her site. Please check it out.

The Magic of Music

We love listening to music any time of the day. With the TV off and the computer games put away, we turn on the music for something different to do. My kids can dance their little hearts out to some good tunes. Even I get in on the dancing fun, it can be quite a workout!

Here are some of the Children's Music CDs we've been listening to:

Dr. Jean: I used her all the time when I taught Kindergarten. She has fun with children's music. She is able to teach many pre-school concepts in her songs, as well as silly songs too.

Raffi: He has this great inviting and playful voice. He sings lots of old goodies, but also brings in some of his own too. I love "Down on Grandpa's Farm" and "Tingalayo".

Disney's Greatest: This is a great collection of songs from Disney Movies. We are able to sing along to all the songs from our favorite movies. My daughter likes to dress up in her princess dress, dancing to "Someday My Prince Will Come".


iTunes: I love to put together songs from itunes and make my own mix for the kids. I have been meaning to do a mix of all the T.V. kids show tunes, like Dora, Blues Clues, Wiggles. All in a little mix CD. (iTunes gift cards are the best gift to give!)

Classical: We even turn on our radio to the Classical Music channel and listen to Beethoven and Mozart. The Flight of the Bubble Bees is a great song to get your heart pumping. Dancing can be great exercise.

What favorite songs have your feet been dancing to?

Contest Winner

Congratulations to Alexis who won the Japanese craft book! I used a random number generator to pick the winner. If you're curious what a random number generator is, click here.

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest! I enjoyed reading all of your comments.

How To Make Microwave Mochi

After making the felt sweets I decided to make some real ones. Mochi is one of my favorite things to have with a cup of green tea. You will find this recipe to be very simple. It makes a nice project to do with a child. Directions below.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup Mochiko (picture on left)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup water
Katakuriko (potato starch)
Pam vegetable oil spray








Directions

1. Mix mochiko, sugar, and water in a bowl until smooth.
2. *Optional add a drop of food coloring for color. For flavor you can add vanilla extract or any other flavoring you wish like lemon extract, etc.
3. Spray a pan that can go in the microwave with Pam vegetable oil spray. Pour mixture in pan.
4. Cover and microwave for about 7 minutes on high. You might have to cook the mochi longer depending on the microwave. The mochi should be firm all the way to the center.
* this will be the hardest part to determine if you've never had mochi before. keep in mind it will still be very pliable and sticky
5. Cut mochi into desired pieces, either square or circle shape

picture of mochi out of the microwave

You can roll the mochi into either potato starch, kinako(picture to left), roasted sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, coconut, or anything else you like.

The mochi recipe is really a base to make any flavor you want with it. Some people add fruit, chocolate, peanut butter or azuki beans.

To make the mochi above I used roasted sesame seeds, kinako(soy bean flour), and black sesame seeds.

*Check out the contest below, ends August 1, 2008.

Japanese Craft Book Giveaway

Photos from "My Favorite Felt Sweet @2008 Japan Publications Trading Co., Ltd and Joie, Inc."

I'm loving "My Favorite Felt Sweets", which I just received from Kodansha America. The first thing I noticed about the book is it's written in English. Thank you! Usually Japanese craft books are written in Japanese, go figure. It has 106 patterns that are life size (no trips to the copy store). I found the projects to be easy and inexpensive to make, which is pretty much my craft mantra.
I hand sewed this Steamed Peach Bun using one of the patterns in the book. Wouldn't this make a cute Christmas ornament or gift topper?

Photos from "My Favorite Felt Sweet @2008 Japan Publications Trading Co., Ltd and Joie, Inc."

Photos from "My Favorite Felt Sweet @2008 Japan Publications Trading Co., Ltd and Joie, Inc."

Here's how to win your own copy

Leave a comment at the bottom of this post no later than Friday, August 1st, 2008. Please leave a way for me to get back to you if you win(enter your email address in the comment form). The email address is only used to notify the winner, I do not save the addresses. I'll choose one winner and post their name Saturday. Good Luck!

*This contest is open to US and Canada residents only.

Contest now closed