Monday, December 31, 2012

PF 2013 - office/home calendar :)

h a v e   a   n i c e   r i d e   i n   2 0 1 3 !



download - en
download - cz

p.s. made for paper size A5, but you can use any size you like.
looks best on a little bit grainy cardstock(klasická čtvrtka).
hope you like it :)!

Sunday, December 30, 2012

little hedgehogs

.....it's still christmas ;)
 
traditional christmas cookies that my family has been making for generations!
they have always been my favorite and they are my boys' favorite too :)
 
 

Friday, December 28, 2012

christmas fish :)

the traditional christmas fish...
 
  
...cut out of paper, colored, sprinkled with glitter, made by Ji :)
 
(we were inspired by the fish Ji and his classmates made at his preschool :)

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Friday, December 21, 2012

stick and bead tree mobile

cut sticks to desired lengths,
drilled a hole in the center,
and Ji stringed them
(altering with xl wooden beads)
 
 ...and St got to play
 
 zorro ? :)

Monday, December 17, 2012

stamped wrapping paper

we did some stamping with the boys :)...
 
 
...just some ordinary erasers, ink/paint and paper

i cut the tree out of an ordinary white eraser with my exacto knife, used a pencil eraser for the dots and stamped onto ordinary brown packaging paper

tip: make sure you have suitable ink/paint and paper - test it out first...so that the ink/paint soaks into the paper and doesn't smear. usually really smooth or glossy paper doesn't work well...
p.s. ikea has this really cheap brown paper, but i haven't made it to the store yet, so i can't tell you how well it works.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

card gift wrap

a simple way to wrap a print/photo/children's drawing gift into a card...
 
 
cut out a simple deisgn,  then fold paper,
wrap gift in colored tissue paper and insert :)
 

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Our anual St. Nicholas Day ride :)

 
 
...when we got to the station, the sun was just rising and it was so magical!
inside we sat next to a coal burning stove and there we 2 devils(St. Nicholas' "accomplices") with
guitars sitting behind us and the whole ride we sang carols and folk songs - it was so much fun!

Thursday, December 6, 2012

willow and birch branch advent wreath


h a p p y   a d v e n t !


...same technique as the advent mobile, only after
i weaved in some birch branches and decorated :) 

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

willow branch advent mobile


just some willow branches intertwined into a circle,
wrapped in jute ribbon and red twine
attached straw ornaments

 
 
tip: when weaving the circle, you need to tie
the intertwining branches in at least 3 places
to keep the unruly branches in place :)! after tied, 
you can form it a little more - to make a nicer circle ;)

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

sparkling morning frost

after a couple of really gloomy fall days, this morning we
got to see this! on our front lawn while eating breakfast....
 
 
 it only lasted for a couple of minutes but the sparkling colors were so magical!

Friday, November 9, 2012

some fabric...

 
why do i always come home with more fabric, than i intended on buying? ;)

Monday, October 15, 2012

papier-mache hot air balloon decoration

we used this pinata tutorial, only ours is a decorative and healthier version.....no candy ;)

 
p.s. this tutorial uses the flour-water "glue" - great for smaller kids!
 

a craft for both of the boys :)..... i love it when they work together!

Friday, October 12, 2012

a play-hole in our coffee table

you can't see them on the photos, but there are A LOT of holes/dents in our wooden coffee table!...we bought it 4 yrs ago, and it's basically it's the boys' play table, so a lot of damage has been done(...luckily it was really cheap)!
so i decided to contribute with a hole also, but this one is not from play but FOR play! and it's not going to be just for marbles!


i used a forstner drill bit so i could cover it up with a faux wood knot

 
...St just loves to just drop the marbles into the hole
(we put a bowl underneath the hole to catch the marbles)
 
 
p.s. i plan on making some interchangable wood knots
for other activities...and maybe some more holes ;)
 

Saturday, October 6, 2012

twine fish

 just twine and glue :
 

i dipped my fingers in glue and applied it to the twine until it was soaked with glue,
then layed it flat onto non-stick baking paper and formed it into a fish shape :)
 
tips:
- if yor twine is really thin, braid it first.
- if you use alot of twine, it will be heavy and the shape
could deform after being hung for a while.....but you
could glue it onto paper and have it as a picture instead :)
- it's fun to play with the shadows!


Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Monday, October 1, 2012

zlaté návrší - golden hilltops

from home, drove half an hour to the bus stop, 15 mins up with the bus.....
 
 
and here we are!...it was such a beautiful autumn afternoon!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Monday, September 24, 2012

simple bias tape holder


i love the new pretty "stripes" of color on my sewing-corner of my desk :)...instead of being in a stacking container on a shelf!


need:
- piece of wood
(mine was a piece of scrap wood i had lying around :)
- wooden dowels
- drill + bit(dowel size)
- empty paper spools
or
- make little paper rolls

tips:
- i cut the paper spools using a saw
- when you run out of spools like i did :), you can make little paper rolls - cut strips of paper and twirl around a dowel (or something that has a little larger circumference than your dowel holders), applying glue to the outside "beginning" end(before twirling) and the inside "end" end



 
....and if you don't have one yet, make a holder for your spools of thread too :)!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

bottoms-up-cup!

turn your cup upside down and draw on the bottom!
 
 
i used:
- dishware-safe and dishwasher-safe PEBEO markers (these require "baking" )
- and these really(!!!) cheap IKEA cups
important!: you need to make sure that your cup/dishware has a raised rim, otherwise when in use, you will end up scraping off the drawing. the ikea cups have a raised ring, but warning! - they also have their labeling on it, but it didn't bother me and i worked around it :)
 
 
it's fun to drink out of and completely food/liquid safe, since the paint is on the outside.
 
tips:
- if you are using these markers for the first time, it's good to try it out on what i call a "doodle jar" (which is now my paint water jar)
- this is not much of a craft for small children (like my Ji) - it requires some patience, especially if you are also drawing on the circumference of the cup
- if you mess up, don't worry!...if it's still wet, wipe it off, if dry scrape it off - i use my glass-stove-top-scraper.
 
p.s. this is a general decorating tip/trick - i used dots here because i love dots, but they can also be helpful when it's hard to draw a straight line/outines. i came up with this trick when i was decorating christmas cookies....i was having a hard time to draw straight lines with the unruly frosting. so i came up with "dotting" - it made nice, unmessy outlines and looked cute too! 
 

Friday, September 7, 2012

t-shirt stenciling by the boys :)

 
using freezer paper, Ji and his friend drew a drawing, i cut it out with
my exacto, ironed it on the shirts and the boys did the painting.....
 
 
 supplies: non-toxic textile paints, sponge brushes, newspaper spread and
a plastic bag inside the shirt so the paint wouldn't soak through 
 
 
 we used a dabb-and-brush technique and started with the edges,
then filled in the center
 
 
let it dry, and peel the freezer paper off! yay!!!
 
 


Thursday, September 6, 2012

sock sorting

the other day i bought 2 packs of assorted color socks for Ji and St. both packs had the same colors, just 2 different (but close) sizes, so to make it easier to sort in the laundry i took my fabric pens and "marked" St's socks.....with a couple of monsters and some polkadots :)
 

:)


Monday, August 27, 2012

babovka / marble cake / poop balls ;)

don't worry, this recipe has nothing to do with poop - the name "poop balls" was made up by 2 silly 14 yr old girls.....who accidentally added too much cocoa, which made the batter too thick, so they decided to make balls out of it. and guess what it resembled? they ended up eating the "poop"/cocoa balls raw and never got to any baking. but i definately recommend baking it, it's delicious!

this is the first recipe i learned from my wonderful mom(...her plate on the photo :) and i am dedicating it to my old childhood friend Erica :)...dobrou chut!



ingredients:
300 g medium-ground flour (polohruba)
150 g sugar
1 vanilla sugar (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
250 ml whipping cream
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tbsp dutch cocoa

directions:
- excluding the cocoa, mix everything together until the batter is smooth
- put about 1/ 4 of the batter into a separate bowl and mix in the cocoa
- then pour the batter into a greased and floured form - first vanilla, then cocoa, then the rest of the vanilla (you can play around with the proportions ;)
- bake for approx 45min at 150° C (i always test with a toothpick). i also add a small oven-safe pot of water on the oven rack to keep the cake moist. tip: sometimes when the top of the cake is starting to brown but the inside is still raw, i turn down the temp and let it bake slower
- when finished, take out of the oven, cover with a tea towel and let it cool down. then put plate on top, flip, sprinkle some powdered sugar and serve :)!

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

colored pencil on wood

 
Ji drew a pine tree and a mushroom on a
wooden "cup" for Sl for his name day today

... when it comes to small art, i like using colored pencils
more than paint - nicer detail and a lot less messy :)!!!
after, give it a coat of translucent paint so it won't smear.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

black current syrup

i'm not that fond of black currents to eat fresh off the bush, but this is THE BEST berry syrup i have ever had and i finally had enough black currents to make make it this year :)


the recipe is form a different friend than the aronia syrup recipe, so it's a little different :

- 4 kg of black currents
- 2 liters water
- 50 g of citric acid
- sugar - for every 1 liters of current juice 1 1/2 kg of sugar

- MUSH the berries by hand (try to mush all of them), ADD citric acid, cover and let stand for 2 days to ferment
- STRAIN the juice from the berries and try to squeeze out all of the remaining juice from berries (do it over the strainer).
- in a pot combine juice with SUGAR and bring to a BOIL and remove from burner.
- GATHER and discard the foam from the top (so it doesn't go moldy).
- FILL bottles and cap. (my friend also recommended before putting the top on, dipping it in the citric acid to help preserve).

p.s. my friend uses this recipe for all kinds of berries.
p.p.s. you can recycle and use empty glass bottles with twist-off tops.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

sandwich napkin-bags


made some cloth sandwich napkin bags for my nephew, who is starting kindergarten in a couple of days :)
(inspired by ikea pillow cases, only with the flap on the outside!)

really easy...
- cut desired size (plus flap)
- with the fabric heighth-wise, sew a top and bottom seam,
- fold over with what is going to be the outside facing in with the flap folded in and pin sides,
- sew the right and left sides together + zigzag edge stitch,
- turn inside out (you will have the flap open), put sandwich inside and flip flap closed! yay!
- after you finish eating, you can use it as a napkin ;)





p.p.s. when washing make sure you rince well and don't use fabric softener so it doesn't get into your food!


Sunday, July 1, 2012

snail pouch

.....Ji loves snails :)

....btw, this is an awesome! stitch library that i came across and plan on visiting often!