Days of Chalk and Chocolate

Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Washi Tape Crafts book review, project, and announcement!

I received the book, Washi Tape Crafts, in exchange for this review. All opinions are 100% mine. This post may contain affiliate links.

I'm sure you are all familiar with washi tape, right? Paper tape that comes in pretty designs which which you can decorate all sorts of stuff? As usual, I'm late to the party because wow, I love this stuff now! I wasn't sure about it though until I was asked to read/review Amy Anderson's book, Washi Tape Crafts.

Amy (of Mod Podge Rocks! fame) is a craft guru and I am not surprised that her book rocks, too! It is filled with fun, sweet projects to jazz up your home, gifts, etc. The pictures are clear and the steps are easy to follow. I love that she includes a section in the beginning where she shares some basic tips, tricks, and techniques. Perfect for a novice taper such as myself!

The paperback edition comes with some cute rolls of coordinating tapes to get you started too. Bonus! I used those washi tapes to create some cheap but pretty desk accessories for Ellie. She is always carrying around and misplacing her drawing notebooks and pencils. I used a box and an old tin can, plus washi tape and the ideas I gleaned from Washi Tape Crafts to help her organize her things.

How cute are these? She loves them too!

I found it adhered better when I overlapped each layer the slightest bit. Plus, be aware that the light colored tapes may be translucent and the material you are trying to cover may show through. I double wrapped those areas and that worked nicely!

Washi Tape Crafts would be a wonderful gift for a teen, teacher, or just anyone who is crafty. I also think it is a great addition to your own library if you have kids or enjoy crafting yourself.

Now here is my announcement! I'm so excited about it too. I, along with these other amazing bloggers, will be co-hosting a link party! Join us every Sunday night to link up your latest DIY, craft, recipe, or home project and to browse others' projects for new ideas!

See you on Sunday!

Cheers!

Jenny

Snowflake Bentley & Winter Craft

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books, kids, literature, teaching, winter

Are you familiar with Wilson Bentley? If not, I urge you to google him right away! He is the subject of one of my favorite books, Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, which to teach when i was always tucked into my teaching toolbox (which isn't an actual toolbox) when I was a second grade teacher. His story is interesting and his art is magical!

Without going into a lot of detail Wilson Bentley, The Snowflake Man, lived in the 1920s and was fascinated by snow. He developed a way to actually photograph snowflakes in that split second before they melted. What he created was image after image of the most beautiful of nature's art!

His photographs are considered part of the public domain so using them in my classroom (or here!) didn't violate any copyrights.

I would read the Caldecott Award winning book to the class and then we would spend a week on related activities such as writing snow stories, researching biographies of people from that era or other inventors, reading snowy poetry, using cameras to capture "small" objects in different ways, and we would use magnifying glasses to study snowflakes we caught on frozen black construction paper! The kids loved it!

Although I don't teach full time anymore, I still love looking at Snowflake Bentley's photographs and his story. This year, I used some extra fine platinum glitter and a wood snowflake form to create my own snowflakes. I love the sparkle they give our home!

I used a metallic craft paint to completely cover the snowflake and, while the paint was wet I sprinkled on the glitter. I think superfine glitter looks the best and most classy. Once one side was dry I repeated those steps on the other. A piece of twine made a hanging loop.

It is easy to incorporate a little snowflake into your winter decor and I urge you to share Wilson Bentley's story with your children!

This post contains affiliate links.

Personalized Children's Book Review:Blessings for Molly

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books, kids

A few months back, I wrote a review for a book called "Owl Will Always Love You" provided by Flatten Me. It was a personalized book specifically made for my little Ellie and she loved it! It became an instant hit here. So when Flatten Me contacted me about a new book, I jumped at the chance and I'm so glad I did! "Blessings for Molly" is every bit as sweet and colorful as "Owl Will Always Love You."

Quittin' TV Cold Turkey

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books, family, kids

Before I had children I knew ALL about how to raise them. Really, I was an expert. MY children wouldn't eat that much sugar. MY children will not drive us out of restaurants with poor behavior. MY children will never point to an elderly gentleman in Target and yell "LOOK AT THAT OLD DEAD GUY!" But alas, God was laughing knowing my children would do all those things and more and for some of it my role will be as co-conspirator. So here is my confession. Molly watches an insane amount of television and eats an even more insane amount of sugar laden treats. Oh, we read and do crafts together and tell stories and tickle. And we eat veggies and fruit. But in between those times Molly is zoned with sugar and TV. She loves both and begs for them constantly.

I stood back and took a look at us recently. Jim works super long hours on some days so on the other days I felt like he was entitled to spend his down time as he wanted which was usually in front of the TV after playing with the girls. Ellie thinks the words "night-night" means to watch TV in my bed with Molly which was their little ritual together. WTheck????

I blew my stack a few days ago when Molly asked for millionth time if she could have a lollipop at 7:35 in the morning. (No, my daughter hasn't ever had a lollipop for breakfast but she sure lives in hope that some day she will). I decided that we were all going on a sugar/TV fast for the entire weekend, including all day on Friday and Monday. So a total of 4 days without my family's favorite vices.

How's it going? Here's a clue.

Molly built a TV out of a box. She played with it all day. I'm not kidding. She even made me pretend to change the channel. Can we say withdrawal? And Teddy wasn't the only player. She got in that box repeatedly to give us the weather report.

We were in a store yesterday and Molly came out with this.

Molly: Mom, it doesn't matter if we don't watch TV because I can watch it in my brain by thinking.

Me: I guess that's true! Are you watching right now?

Molly: yup!

Me: What are you watching?

Molly: Commercials (said with a sigh)

Poor kid. I mean commercials in your pretend TV in your head? That is so sad to me!

I will admit to you, friends, that Jim and I do watch a bit after the girls have gone to bed. And we may have had a small ice cream cone while doing so. Besides, The Real Housewives of NJ was on the DVR so I kind of consider that grandfathered in.

But overall we have all enjoyed each other's company so much. We have done so much more laughing together and right now Jim is reading some books for work. He never reads. He watches TV. But he chose this instead. And he spent the day installing bead board in our powder room instead of watching people do it on HGTV. Super.

On Tuesday we get our vices back but I am going to make a huge effort to limit it much more than we did in the past. Wish me luck!

This is Molly during a production of one of her sad shows.

Cheers!
Jenny

The Kissing Hand

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books, literature, teaching

I spent some time teaching Kindergarten and I absolutely adored it. As a teacher, you can be so creative and do fun things in the name of learning. To teach my children how to get to the various places in the school we went went on a pirate treasure hunt with a map and hats (Just try doing that with 8th graders..nope, not gonna happen!). We did jumping jacks while reciting the vowels to get the ants out of the pants, and we made trees out of paper bags. Glorious fun for me! But there is another side to the whole K equation and that would be those little hearts beating a million miles a minute inside those nervous little sweethearts dressed in their bright white new sneakers and holding their new Hello Kitty backpacks. Those little ones that we think are so grown up because they are entering "big kid school" but in essence are still so very much babies.

It is my tradition to read the book,The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn , to my students on the first day of school. If you aren't familiar with the book, it is a sweet story about Chester, a nervous raccoon starting off on his first day of school. His mother kisses his hand and reminds him to use that kiss when he needs her, misses her, needs reassurance. So he clutches the kiss in his hand and, well, you should go to the library and read it to your wee one. Then kiss his or her hand and fold that hand up and remind him or her that you are never far away.

After we read the book we'd make hand prints and glue pretty red hearts in the middle and send it home as a keepsake for the first day of school. But the real magic happened after.

In preparation for the school year, I picked up a raccoon Webkinz at a garage sale and named him Chester. I wanted him to be a part of the class for the year as a reassuring friend to the children. But kids are so sophisticated now and I was nervous on that first day to bring him out. Would they snicker? Would they understand? But as we were lining up to leave for the day I pretended I heard something in my bookcase. I felt like a kook looking for this stuffed raccoon and I could see some of the kids were confused but I kept up the charade. I brought him out and let him whisper in my ear. "Oh Chester! I'm sorry you missed it all!" I gushed and then explained to the children that raccoons are nocturnal so Chester had slept the whole day we were in school. I asked the children to tell Chester about all the fun they'd had in K that day, all the things they learned, all the new friends they met. I was met with 15 blank stares. "UH-OH!" I thought, "They think I'm a nut with a Webkinz. They are going to go home and tell their parents that their teacher is off her rocker!" The next thing I knew, though, I was being mauled by 15 five year olds yelling "CHESTER! WE READ BOOKS! WE ATE GRAHAM CRACKERS! WE MADE SCIENCE JOURNALS!" and on and on. They loved Chester and he became a permanent fixture in our class. They talked to him about the good and the bad, the happy and sad, the excitements and the disappointments. He became a real friend.

The second half of the year they wanted to bring Chester home on the weekends to meet their families and so I made it part of our Social Studies curriculum and we used his adventures to learn about our community. Those kids who I thought would be too sophisticated to chat with a stuffed animal would tell us all about his adventures at the diner, going down the slide at the park, visiting a museum, or going to the beach. He was thoroughly washed after each adventure...no worries!

I know I'm long winded on this post but I feel like in this crazy world where children are expected to do more and be more we must remember that sometimes they just need a Chester to talk to and to laugh with, to be children and to feel reassured. And a kiss in their hands from their mommies doesn't hurt either.

Good luck and best wishes to everyone for a happy, safe, and lovely school year!

Cheers!
Jenny

Days of Chalk and Chocolate