Ice Art

It doesn't feel much like winter now but last month we had a brief spell of ice and snow and the kids and I took advantage of the cold weather to make some ice art. It's such an easy, pretty project and the girls really enjoyed it. To make your own you will need:

*A small plastic container (we used the plastic containers that Chinese take out soup comes in)
*Water
*Natural materials such as berries, leaves and pine needles
*Glitter
*String
*A freezer or freezing temps outside

Have your kids collect natural items from outside and make a pile, then pour about half an inch of water in to your container. Arrange your natural materials in the water and add glitter. Loop your string so the end are submerged in water and freeze overnight. The next morning, hang your ice art in the sun. The girls also really enjoyed watching these melt and seeing the glittery puddles they left behind!

Arm Knit Infinity Scarf

Knitting is something I've always wanted to get in to but every time I try to learn it ends in frustration. I have a really hard time having the patience to finish a project. That's why the idea of arm knitting appealed so much to me. From everything I had read it is knitting for people who don't have the patience for regular knitting. Since you use a big chunky yarn and use your arms like giant knitting needles the project works up really quickly so you can make a scarf in about 30 minutes. Perfect for me! Plus I love the look of those chunky yarns.

So when I saw this beautiful thick white yarn on sale at Michaels for $1.50 I figured it was a sign that I should give it a go. There are a ton of tutorials out there for arm knitting and I tried a bunch of them but since knitting doesn't seem to come easily to me I needed something really simple. After trying and failing with a few other tutorials I finally was able to follow this one. Once I got going it was really easy and fun!

If you are knitting challenged like me I suggest you try it! I am also learning to crochet from a friend so maybe I can post about that soon. Now I just have to wait for it to be cold enough to wear my new knitted creation.

Beeswax Candles

With the colder weather we've been having I've been getting in to making beeswax candles at home. This is such a great, easy project and it conjures up all kinds of good childhood memories since this is something I did a lot of as a kid. I absolutely love candles and I usually have at least 2 burning in the house on any given day. There were easy and inexpensive to make and the beeswax gives off a lovely, sweet smell.

I purchased my beeswax from the honey people at my local farmers market (much cheaper and better quality than buying it from a craft store) and I ordered the wick from amazon. The glass containers for the candles I picked up at a yard sale, paying $2 for 8 glasses. I melted the beeswax in a double broiler and hung the wicks above the glasses by tying them to a bamboo chopstick which I rested on the top edge of each glass. Then all I had to do was carefully fill each glass with melted wax and allow to cool before trimming the wick. So easy and lovely! This will be a great project to do with Echo when she gets a little older too and I'm thinking these would make wonderful homemade gifts :-)