From SouleMama:

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. Happy Friday, friends!

I found a full package of art tissue paper when we went to Arts and Scraps and played with it today. We have tried using streamer in the past, but this worked much better.

The best way we have found to use it is to wet your paper slighty (one spray from a spray bottle) and place the paper where you want. If some parts don't soak through, you can use a paintbrush to wet it. Getting the paper a little wet before hand helps keep the pieces where you want them.

Erika liked playing with the colors and layering things, but when I started making a house beside her, she was immediately drawn to that and liked the idea of making a picture with the pieces. It's hard for me to stay out of the way when she's creating. I'm working on that.

She wanted to send the one that she did all by herself to her art pen-pal. Her pen-pal lives in West Virginia and we have been sending artwork back and forth for a few months. The Artful Parent matched families together last November- what a great idea, huh?

I love a good deal. 100 pictures printed for $1.99 if you sign up for a free Kodak Gallery account and use the code 50FREE. Only good through March 11, 2010, so hurry! Found on Money Saving Mama.

Now I can stop feeling so guilty about Audrey's album and start filling it up! Going through a year and half of pictures really put into perspective how much she has grown....

If you (I mean, your kids) haven't played with Oobleck yet, you should grab the cornstarch and get to it. I have to confess that we haven't read the Dr. Seuss book that this awesome substance is supposedly named after, but it is on my list for the next trip to the library. I also have to confess that the science of how and why this does what it does is beyond me, but Wiki seems to have it figured out.

Two parts cornstarch and one part water equals a concoction that is sometimes liquid, sometimes solid, and always fun.

I am never buying store bought waffles again. As always, I consulted Allrecipes before making a move, and ended up using this recipe.

2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil (butter was even better)
1 tablespoon white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
(I added some cinnamon, too)

1. Preheat waffle iron. Beat eggs in large bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in flour, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla, just until smooth.
2. Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. Serve hot.

The first time I made them, I stored the extra batter in the fridge and it was great the next day. The next time I made them I made all the waffles, let the extras cool, wrapped them in wax paper and froze them in a ziplock bag (An idea I got from Sacra-mom-ato- she has a waffle recipe over there too). These were equally yummy after a quick pop in the toaster oven. Go make waffles!

I love these. Maybe because they remind me of my childhood and what a special treat it was when my Mom opened a box. They are so thin, and gone so quickly. I learned how to savor each little bite; always biting that little tiny bit of chocolate at the end off before eating the rest. Like Nutella, it's one of those things that I love, but hardly ever buy because I just don't have the self control necessary to keep these kinds of things in the house all the time.

Today we all had some with warm chai.

Erika found a few things from this book that she wanted to make today and what started out as one project turned into three. The first is a very loose interpretation of Huichol Yarn Art. The Huichols of Northwest Mexico make yarn bowls that tell stories by pressing yarn into warmed beeswax. The book suggested gluing yarn on the inside and outside of a paper bowl. We didn't have a paper bowl, so we used a cardboard coffee canister that we cut to the size we wanted. It was too hard for Erika to get the yard to twirl around in the outside, so we only did the outside. It was a mess while we worked on it, but the glue dried totally invisible. I'm on the lookout for some beeswax though....



Next we made a worry doll from Central America. Erika was really interested in the idea behind these dolls: You tell your worry to the doll and put her under your pillow. The worry doll takes your worries away. I'm curious what worries the doll heard tonight. We used a clothes pin and some of the fabric that we got from Art and Scraps last week. Erika chose the fabric, helped cut it, applied glue, and drew the face. This would have been hard for her to do on her own, but she loved the result.





The final project was a pouch, which she desperately wanted, but I had to do most of the work. This is a good project to prepare ahead of time. We cut and folded some felt and I poked holes in it with a screwdriver (know of a better way?) Erika sewed it with me guiding the way. She chose the beads and sewed them on, but I had to tie everything off. She kept her worry doll in this all day and wore it around her neck. The inspiration was a Lakota-Sioux medicine bag, which are made of animal skin.



The great thing about these projects was learning and talking about the people and cultures that inspired our work.