bike :)

Ji test-riding St's new bike....inside :)

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 :)!

fun at the fair :)

Jičín město pohádek

 

crabapples

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! 

 

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!!!

 

 

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 :)

 

:)

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 :)!

echinacea