Homemade Playdough

I can't believe that it has taken me this long after having kids to make my own play dough! I think it's like a requirement for crafty stay at home moms ;-)

The cold winter months are perfect for this kind of activity and now that Echo is old enough to help cook things on the stove it seemed like the right time.

I got our recipe from the Artful Parent (awesome book that we use almost daily and a great blog as well). Here is the recipe (copied from the Artful Parent blog and pasted here for your convenience).

MATERIALS

5 cups water

2 1/2 cups salt

2 Tablespoons cream of tartar

8 Tablespoons vegetable oil

Food coloring or liquid watercolors

5 cups flour

Glitter and/or essential oils (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix the water, salt, cream of tartar, and food coloring in a large pot.

2. Cook the mixture on medium-low heat, stirring regularly until it is hot.

3. Add the oil and mix.

4. Stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing between each addition with a wooden or other strong spoon.

5. Continue to mix until the playdough pulls away from the pan and is no longer sticky. Pinch it between your fingers to test it (but be careful because it’s hot!).

6. Place the dough on the counter, let it cool a bit, and then knead.

Note :: This is the time to add glitter or essential oils, if desired. Simply place the additions in a well in the center of the playdough, then knead the dough thoroughly to mix.

7. Store the dough in an airtight bag or other container at room temperature. It will keep for months.

I added glitter, blue liquid watercolors and peppermint essential oils just to make it really fancy. The kids really loved making and using the play dough and it made a huge batch! I especially enjoy how good it smells with the essential oils, it's very relaxing to mush in your hands :-)

I have been storing it in a large ziplock bad in a drawer with our other play dough it so far it's holding up really well. We are going on three weeks now and it's good as new.

Art Spaces

Just a quick update on the kids artwork and working spaces. Clover is really starting to come in to her own artistically. Above you can see some of her current work. She has been experimenting a lot with stickers, watercolors, pastels and markers.

Meanwhile Echo is starting to get more representational. Above is a picture she did of Clover. This was the first time she clearly drew a face and as anyone who has studied childhood development knows this is a huge milestone! I was very proud of this work. She has since done a lot more face drawings and also loves drawing and painting apple trees.

Echo has had her current art setup for a while now and her desk is working really well for her, it's great that she has a place to go when she wants to make something that is all her own.

Clover has her own desk now too which is a recent development! It's been wonderful to see her gaining independence through having her own work space. She often gets her own paper out of the paper drawer, takes it to her desk and starts working on a drawing.

I also try to leave a blank sheet of paper out on Clover's desk at all times so that she can feel inspired to go create :-) It's so fun to see what the girls work on when they are left to their own devices.

January Photos

 Phew! It is getting harder and harder to find time to post as the kids are getting older and busier! We have our preschool coop on Wednesdays that we love and Echo has recently started a dance class on fridays. Plus we have a ton of outings with our home school group so we are hopping all week long. Here is some of what we have been up to this month.

We took a weekend trip to Knoxville to visit Eric's parents and we got to visit a science museum and the arboretum.

Eric's mom got us a membership to the Chattahoochee Nature Center for Christmas and we have been going a lot already! Some of our friends have memberships too so it's a great place to meet for a play date. The girls especially love playing in the water.

I am still hosting art classes at our house for our home school group. It's a lot of fun and very chaotic! it's awesome to be able to create together though, even the moms like getting in on the fun!

We got just a teeny bit of snow but the kids were over the moon about it. I'm hoping we will get a little more before the winter is out.

DIY Felt Crowns

I'm very late in sharing these but I made some really easy home made felt crowns for the girls this Christmas and they actually turned out pretty impressive looking so I thought I would post them here. I always aim to make at least one home made present for the kids and this year I went with the crowns because it was super simple.

I cut two sheets of felt in half in different colors that I thought would compliment each other and cut the tops in a zig zag line. After that I hand sewed some cute little felt flowers on the front piece and then machine sewed the two pieces together with a band of elastic at the back.

Clover doesn't care for hers but Echo actually loves them both and wears them regularly. It's such a nice feeling to have her enjoy something that I made so much and I also get to feel proud that they look great and were super inexpensive to make :-D

Sourdough Baguette

Ever since I got in to bread making I have been on a mission to make the perfect baguette. It has to be nice and crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside with lots air bubbles. Well I have been using a new sourdough baguette recipe that is pretty amazing and I wanted to share it here.

Ingredients:
2 cups sourdough starter
2 cups bread flour or all purpose flour
1/3 cup water
2 tsps salt

Mix all your ingredients together to form a shaggy, wet dough the night before you want to bake. The next morning, divide the dough in half and shape each half in to a long rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Roll each rectangle up to form a long roll and place in a well oiled baguette pan (the baguette pan makes all the difference in my opinion but if you can also try it just on a baking stone. You won't get the same rounded shape though.)

Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes. In the mean time, preheat your oven to 500 degrees and place a baking sheet on the bottom rack. Just before baking, slice a long, shallow slit along the top of your loaves with a very sharp knife. Place the baguettes in the hot oven and quickly dump one cup of ice cubes in to the baking sheet. Close the oven door immediately so as not to let the steam escape, the steam is what gives you a nice, crisp crust. Bake for 20 minutes and allow to cool before slicing.

December Photos

We had such a lovely month full of holiday activity! Here are some of the highlights.

 We went to see the Christmas lights at the botanical gardens as we do every year, they put on an amazing show!

We also enjoyed an unseasonably warm Reindeer day at the Chattahoochee Nature Center.

We danced in puddles and read stories in the days leading up to Christmas.

We also got in another visit to the botanical gardens. Echo and Clover loved having time to play with Uncle Logan.

Christmas day was a blur and I hardly got any pictures but here are a few of the girls with their presents, I think Clover got pretty overwhelmed but Echo had a blast.

 After Christmas we headed up to Cloudland Canyon in North Georgia for a few days. It was really nice to spend some time in nature after the holiday bustle.

Happy New Year and heres to more adventures in 2016!