Wednesday, October 31, 2012

5 Crafts You Can Do Using Broken Crayons



Young children often love to color, but since they are still developing their hand-eye coordination they sometimes end up pressing down too hard on their crayons, accidentally breaking them.  Most parents hate to throw the broken pieces away, and instead end up tossing them into a bucket so the kids can still use them.  However, after a while it may seem like your collection of broken crayons is a little bit too big.  When that’s the case, check out these crafts you can do with them.
  1. Marbled crayon shapes- Purchase a silicon ice cube tray at the dollar store or other discount center.  These silicon trays come in a range of shapes, so allow the kids to pick their favorite one.  Once the silicon trays are used for this project you should not use them for ice cubes again.  Have the kids tear off the paper from all of the broken crayons.  The crayons should be broken into 1 inch pieces.  Place the silicon ice cube tray onto a foil lined cookie sheet.  Place the broken bits of crayons into the ice cube tray.  Try not to mix more than 3 colors together in each cube space or the result could end up being a muddy brown mess.  When the tray is full put it into the oven at 300 degrees F for 10 minutes.  If the crayons are not completely melted after 10 minutes, put them back in and check on them every couple of minutes until they’ve melted entirely.  Once melted, remove the sheet from the oven and allow the crayons to cool and harden completely before removing from the ice cube tray.
  2. Fall leaves or flowers- Create crayon shavings using a basic pencil sharpener.  Keep the shavings in cupcake papers to avoid mixing up the colors and creating a mess.  You will need a lot of shavings for this project.  Tear off a sheet of waxed paper about 36 inches long.  Fold it in half.  Open it back up and have the kids put piles of crayon shavings all over the waxed paper.  Keeping the piles the same color will allow them to show through in the final project and not mix together.  Fold the waxed paper back over the shavings.  Top the waxed paper with foil and then iron with a warm iron.  Keep checking until the crayons are completely melted.  Allow the waxed paper to cook for a few minutes and then let the kids cut out leaves and flower shapes to use as window art.
  3. Dressed up pillar candles- Unwrap all of the broken crayons and put them into a clean, tall, thin metal can – eggnog cans work well for this.  Bring a pot full of water to a boil.  Once boiling, remove the pot from the heat and add the can full of crayons to the water to melt them.  Be patient and do not stir as the colors will blend and turn to a muddy color.  In the meantime, lay out some newspaper.  Next, hold onto the wick of a white pillar candle and dip it into the melted crayons.  When you remove it the pillar will be very colorful.  Hold the pillar over the can to allow any excess to drip off, then set it aside on the newspaper until the wax sets while you dip other candles.
  4. Sandy pics- Pick up some sheets of sand paper at the dollar store or use some you have around the house.  Have the kids color pictures on the sandpaper using the broken crayons and tell them to push hard.  Place the finished sandpaper artwork onto foil-lined cookie sheets and place them in the oven at 225 degrees F, allowing the wax to melt into the crevices of the sand paper.  It should only take about 5 minutes so keep an eye on it.
  5. Melted crayon artwork- You will need a blank canvas of any size, some broken crayons still in their papers, some hot glue and an embossing gun.  Hot glue good-sized crayon pieces still in their paper to the canvas.  To get the longest area to melt it’s best to glue them to the top quarter of the canvas.  Once the crayons are hot glued on you can turn on an embossing gun and start melting the crayons.  Stand the canvas up and lean it slightly back so that the melted wax stays on the canvas.  As you work you will figure out how best to hold the gun and how to manipulate the melting wax.  The embossing gun doesn’t get hot enough to melt the hot glue so the crayons do not fall off, they just melt and the colors run down the canvas.  Bright colors work best for this, but any colors you like will work.
The next time your child breaks a crayon, don’t sweat it.  Just toss it in the bucket until you have enough crayons to make a crayon craft.

Thank you Paul for sharing :) 

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Chance to Win a 50$ Handmade Jewelry Set


To participate in this contest: 

  • You have to be a member on our Facebook page 
  • You have to enter the contest form the link posted on our timeline
  • Write your answers clearly in the comment box
  • Leave your full name under your comment and your e-mail address. 
  • Learn that one of the participants will be lucky to win this piece of jewelry.


Contest Questions:


1- What are the cons of a late potty training?

2- Choose one of our 5 to 7 months old homemade baby food recipes and post it.

3-Name the 3 main ingredients of my famous chicken soup.

4- Name one of our seven tips given to new-mothers to sleep well.



Thursday, October 18, 2012

Teach Colors to Your Child

colors
What is more amazing than colors? Can you imagine a world without them? A rainbow is fascinating because it represents the wonder of color creation. Our world wouldn't be the same if it was in black and white, and the first thing that captures our baby's attention is bright colors. So since day one, our loved one is ready to learn more about what he's interested in, so don't neglect his thirst for knowledge. Never say that he is too young or that you don't have enough time to teach him. Believe me that it won't take any more than the usual daily chit chats you have with him.

Babies: 

Babies are small intelligent creatures, their brain is like a sponge ready to absorb every small information but they can't tell you they are learning cause they don't have the ability to express themselves yet. 
A great way to start is to decorate the nursery in bright colors, this will help the development of his brain. Another easy way is to name the color of the toy he is playing with, per example: "would you like to play with your red truck?", "Look at this beautiful blue balloon". When you take him for a walk, help him translate his observation: "This is a big green tree", "Do you want to smell this beautiful red rose?". Even though at that age, your baby might seam totally passive but believe me he is learning a lot.

Toddlers: 

Reading, daily, illustrated books while naming the colors of the pictures will help your child learn his colors.
Place a number of paint tubes in front of him and let him go pick his favorite one. You will notice, later on, that the color he always picks is, truly, his favorite color. Then, name him all the colors of the paint, and with his finger tip let him draw a line with this color. This will amaze your child and help him memorize the colors easily.
Get a colored toy, and let him point the colors to you.


Doing so children will be able to recognize colors and point them to you as early as 15 months old. But even when they grow up, keep discovering colors together by teaching them how to mix primary colors to obtain different tones and grades. Allow them to decorate few things around the house to learn some color coordination.

So as you see it is, really, not so hard to teach our kids about colors and it doesn't recommend a lot of time, we just have to keep on doing what we do everyday with a small additional effort. Good luck super moms!


How To Be Super Mom

 

Monday, October 08, 2012

Best Chicken Soup Ever




It’s been called nature’s penicillin and is at the top of the list for its curative powers. Hot chicken soup helps clear clogged airways, and the nourishing broth will give you more energy. And when following Maria's recipe, you will guarantee a quick recovery.

In this recipe, I use, mainly, garlic, onion and ginger. Before cooking, you should know why I chose these 3 ingredients to create my delicious chicken soup.

Garlic ranks as one of the most potent remedies of all time. The most important compound that derives from garlic, is Allicin that provides the greatest reputed health benefits.
As well as having antibiotic properties, allicin is an excellent anti-fungal and garlic preparations have been used in folk medicine to treat skin infections such as athlete's foot.
Onions contain a large amount of sulfur and are especially good for the liver.
Sulfur-containing amino acids are found in onions as well and are called methionine and cystine and, among other things, they are very good at detoxifying your body from heavy metals. In fact, they are able to latch on to mercury, cadmium and lead and escort them out of the body.
Vitamin C, also contained in onions, is excellent at detoxifying the body and is effective in removing lead, arsenic and cadmium. So increasing consumption of onions can help the body to get rid of these harmful metals.
Onion is very good for your heart, it will help:
• Boost beneficial HDL cholesterol
• Thin the blood
• Retard blood clotting
• Lower total blood cholesterol
• Lower triglycerides
• Lower blood pressure
Studies reveal that antioxidants in onions can protect you against cancer is by reducing the DNA damage in cells caused by free radicals.
Ginger  have many medicinal properties such as : anti-emetic/anti-nausea, anti-clotting agent, antispasmodic, anti-fungal, anti inflammatory, antiseptic, antibacterial, antiviral, analgesic, circulatory stimulant, expectorant, hypo-tensive, increases blood flow, promotes sweating and relaxes peripheral blood vessels.
Ginger is good for your health and has been said by some to be a plant directly from the Garden of Eden. It is also said that consuming Ginger before taking a plane flight can prevent motion sickness. It can make good tea, or you can use it as a spicy addition to almost any recipe.


Ingredients

500g skinless, boneless chicken breast marinated and chopped into cubes.
1 head garlic, sliced
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
20 g fresh ginger, chopped
3 small carrots, roundly sliced
750 ml hot water
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp Olive Oil
Vegetables of your choice*

Directions

Heat a pot, pour olive oil, add garlic, onions, ginger and carrots.
Stir for few minutes, around 5 mns, or until onions are golden.
Add the chicken, keep stirring for 5 minutes until cooked from the outside.
Add the boiled water, salt and pepper.
Cook, on Low heat, for 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through.
* You can add any vegetable you like since the power of this soup is in its three magic ingredients.
Meanwhile, prepare boiling water that you will add to your

This is my recipe for chicken soup, my kids love it, they even like to drink it in a cup with a straw, can you believe it? It makes wonders during flu time!
Bon Appétit! Keep warm and healthy, and don't forget to Like my Facebook page.

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