Fantastic Homemade Play Dough!

Homemade play dough, a photo by FrankenberrysKiss on Flickr.

I was teaching a small group of students in September and my program was primarily sensory based therefore play dough play was a daily event in our space. A few of the kids couldn't stop themselves from eating the yummy looking materials and although Playdoh is considered non-toxic I have read that there is petroleum in it which is just nasty and it is definitely not for those with gluten allergies so I went on the hunt for Gluten Free Play Dough recipes.

Google turns up a million possible recipes but I also read a load of posts from people complaining about gritty, stinky, sticky results so I spent a good deal of time reading reviews before settling on the first recipe I'm going to share with you. Super easy to make and the finished product is comparable to 'real' Play doh without the nasty smell.

Gluten Free Playdough
Recipe snagged from THIS site

WHAT YOU NEED
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup hot water
1 tsp. cooking oil
food coloring

WHAT YOU DO
1. Mix all ingredients together in a pot, cook on low heat, stirring occasionally for at least 5 minutes or until it forms a ball.

2. Remove from heat, let cool for 10 minutes.

3. Scoop into a large bowl, add at least 1/2 cup more rice flour, and 1/2 cup more corn starch, knead until well mixed and no longer sticky. Store in airtight container.

Rice flour is a little pricey and I'm cheap so I hunted further for recipe that wasn't gluten free. I found a blog called Robin's Song and the author shares an awesome recipe there. I made a batch of her dough for the Rockstar yesterday and it turned out really well - not at all sticky or stinky. My only word of advice would be to split the batch up once you've mixed all the ingredients together so that you can make various colours. I was a bonehead and added the colour to the whole batch which left me with an insane amount of blue play dough. Whoops! Looks like the Rockstar will be arriving at daycare with the gift of a big ass ball of blue dough tomorrow.

Homemade Playdough

Recipe snagged from THIS site

WHAT YOU NEED
3 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups Salt
3 cups Water
2 TB vegetable oil
1 TB Cream of Tartar
Food coloring or unsweetened Kool-Aid pkg for color.

WHAT YOU DO
1. In a large saucepan mix all ingredients together

2. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan and gets too thick to stir (about 10-15 minutes).

4. Remove from heat and let cool until it can be handled.

5. Place on counter or wax paper and knead several times until smooth. Store in an air-tight container.

I will never purchase Play doh for my child now that I know how easy it is to make non-toxic, non-stinky dough myself.
AWESOME! Love this recipe and will use it again and again.

A Reason to Celebrate the Number ONE

Alright so it was almost 4 months ago now but our Rockstar turned ONE on June 24th!! What a strange feeling to look at him asleep in his crib that morning and think that a year earlier we were in the hospital staring at this little man for the first time.


We had cupcakes for breakfast. Yum!

He really wasn't a huge fan of the chocolate cupcake but he did try a little (his first taste of chocolate) and made a minor mess. Mike took the day off work and we spent the day playing, the Rockstar's grandparents all popped over to with him a happy day and of course he ate his favourite foods and watched an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba.

We went to African Lion's Safari the following day; it was the first time for both the Rockstar and his Daddy and we had a great time!!

Daddy's first time carrying The Rockstar in the carrier
I think they were both pretty comfortable with this arrangement. :)

We threw a first birthday party for the wee man in July. Immediate family and a few close friends made up the guest list; the kids played in the kiddie pool and had a blast on The Rockstar's roller coaster while the adults roasted in the afternoon heat. Despite the crazy heat I think everyone had a good time; I know the Birthday Boy and his parents did! I'll share more details around the party in another post.

The Rockstar's 12th month (June) was really an awesome month. We took our first solo trip to visit my girlfriend Cara and her family - just the Rockstar and I on a 5 hour flight - I was a bit nervous but he was a stellar traveler. We had an amazing time out West, we spent loads of quality time with Cara and Rosie which is rarely possible due to the distance obviously but also the many obligations Cara and Herwig have when they come home to visit. I wish I could afford to travel to Van every year for a few days to catch up...maybe one day!

Mike was happy we were able to get away but obviously disappointed he wasn't able to join us; we missed him!! I purposely did not encourage the Rockstar to work on standing skills while we were away, I didn't let his hand go AT ALL when he was standing in open spaces for fear of him standing on his own and Mike missing it. Clearly my tactic worked!! When we returned home following our trip he showed off immediately by standing independently for about 20 seconds!! A few stumbling steps happened in June as well, and of course that was super exciting!

I still can't believe we have celebrated our son's first birthday. He is now going to experience all of the special holidays a second time which is crazy to me. It blows me away to think of how much he has changed in the last year and I cannot even begin to imagine what changes will take place this year. Of course I'm not going to worry too much about it, I'll just continue to do what has been working well so far: live in the moment and enjoy every second of our time together as a family

Happy Belated First Birthday, Baby Boy!! Mommy & Daddy love you to the moon and back, times infinity. xoxoxo

A late 11 month update!

May was the great sleepover month!! The Rockstar had his first sleep over at Granny and Grandad's and another at Grams and Papa's house; of course he slept through the night. Tooth number five arrived this month! Lots of gross motor development: sitting up for the first time with no help, standing without support for about seven seconds, standing up in his crib using the rails for support!! So awesome!

This month The Rockstar started signing "finished" and "bath" independently!! After dinner he would sign "finished" followed by "bath" and then point upstairs. "Cute" doesn't cut it, this kid is ridiculously adorable and of course brilliant!

I love the baby signing, it gives little peanuts some control over their world. I think so much of infant/toddler frustration comes from the inability to clearly communicate (both receptively and expressively) and signing takes some of this frustration away. Our Rockstar is big on pointing and it is super helpful, he still points a lot at almost 16 months but he started early and it has saved us many moments of stress.

Month 11 meant the introduction of one of the Rockstar's favourite foods: strawberries! He still can't get enough of his berries.

It's funny, my crazy monkey is almost 16 months old now, he's such a big boy now I can barely remember May - it's hard to picture him at a point when he was unable to get himself to a sitting position or stand all by himself. You've read it a trillion times and will read it a trillion more: time flies when you have kids. I thought it moved quickly before but had no idea how fast it could really fly by.

Happy Belated 11 months, Sweet Boy!!

Still kickin'

I keep popping over here thinking about how I really should get back to blogging, and then one of 8 million other tasks pop into my head and I don't post anything. I miss leisurely reading my favourite blogs and I miss posting bits too so here's my umpteenth attempt at returning to it.

I have to apologize to my little Rockstar for missing his 11 and 12 month posts. He's almost 16 months old now and I had hoped to at least keep up with my monthly updates for his first year!! I'll to post a quick run down of months 11 and 12 now so that they have been taken care of. Thankfully I was still writing updates on the calendar then... I've bombed on that job recently as well. Whoops!

Here goes...

Vote: Rockstar for President!

I'm not going to begin with an apology because I'm pretty sure I said I would stop commenting on how long it has been since my last post but wow has it been a long time since I last posted. I hope to return to regular posts soon - it's time I updated you on my world assuming "you" are out there (anyone? Anyone?!) That being said I'm suddenly busier than ever so 'regular' certainly won't be daily. I can't sort out how the mamas out there with a pile of kids, jobs (whether out of the home or in) and no nanny/cleaning lady/butler/man slave, manage to blog regularly. *sigh* Maybe I'll sort it out eventually.

In the meantime do me a huge favor please and vote for my sweet little man!! A local photographer is running a contest and the baby with the most votes wins a family photo shoot. She's an amazing photographer and I would LOVE some family portraits taken this fall, a free shoot would be amazing, don't you think??

I entered the photo above (without the text) and obviously he's the cutest baby ever (and no I'm not biased) but unfortunately it's a popularity contest so the most votes wins. Basically the person with the most friends or friends who are willing to vote daily will take the main prize but we're trying anyway. My husband had a great idea and if you ever decide to run a contest I think you should take his idea and run with it: run a popularity vote to determine the top ten or even five entries and then have a panel judge for the final winner. Geesh, where was Mike when the contest was being organized?! ;)

If you have a moment please click HERE and vote for the Rockstar on Nova Photography's facebook page.

Little People Prezzies

I admired a ton (or is it tonne?) of alphabet prints when I was preggers. The plan was to purchase a print for the Rockstar once he arrived but we never got around to it. The more I thought of it the more I disliked the idea of spending money on something that I knew would be easy to make on my own. Now I'm picturing Mike shaking his head and saying something about me being frugal followed by "I'd rather you were frugal than shopping for Gucci".

Anyway, since my favourite photo editing site Picnik can be used for so much more than photos I figured I would try to make some printables over there. If you've never used Picnik you MUST try it out: it's perfect for invites and cards (I'll be showing you the Rockstar's first birthday invite soon), creating freezer paper stencils and transfers (I haven't used it for either but I have plans to do so), and of course creating hangable art. I used the free bits for at least a year and just purchased a premium account a few months ago - the extra features with the premium account are great and I received a free book through Snapfish when I signed up which actually cost more than the year subscription.

Back to the point of this post! I finally took some time a few nights ago to play around and I made up an 8 x 10 alphabet print.

Once I had created one version it was easy to go back and change the background and font colours and of course change the names.

The first letters on the lines the four letter names are on don't sit in the right place according to my eyes but I figure these will be framed and the letter will be cut off anyway. We'll see... I have to pick up a frame and print one to see how it looks.

I did create one for The Rockstar but I'm not sure whether I'm going to print it on paper to hang or on iron-on transfer paper for him to wear. Decisions, decisions!

I think these would make great new baby presents and I also thinking they would be cute transferred on to little tote bags for kids to use as library book bags. Maybe that's what I'll do with the Rockstar's.

Tiny Tasties

photo credit: Bakers Royale

I'm super proud of both of my parents. They have been working hard for the past few months to lose weight and both of them look fabulous!! More important than how they look is how they feel and they are both feeling fantastic!

It certainly isn't easy to lose weight and anyone who has tried knows how important it is to indulge every now and then in order to avoid an all out binge on a really crappy day. Someone (and for the life of me I can't remember who) linked to these super sweet treats which led to the recipe for the cute and delicious looking Banana Split Bites pictured above and a new-to-me awesomely yummy blog Bakers Royale.

I haven't taken the time to figure out how many points each would be (my parents are using the Weight Watchers point system) but I think that it would be minimal and even less if I substitute frozen yogurt for the ice cream. I remember my mom ordering banana splits from Dairy Queen when I was little and although I haven't seen her eat one in years I have a feeling she would share a couple of these with me if I made them. I'm looking forward to giving this sweet little treat a test run once the weather warms up again.

There are a pile of recipes that make me go "YUM!" over at Bakers Royale but of course the most yum inducing for me involves a chocolate peanut butter combo.

image source: Bakers Royale

Frozen Reese Peanut Butter Pie: I am holding back tears of joy while thinking about the yum factor. Oreo cookie crumb crust?! Seriously. Genius. Naomi mentions that you can make four mini cakes or one large one. Of course the mini cakes would mean less waste. Hahahahahaaha! Who am I kidding?? Waste? I could scarf back this cake all on my lonesome and I'm sure I could find a few people to share it with if I decide to skip the terrible greedy girl bellyache.

Check out Bakers Royale and leave a comment linking to your favourite find if you feel the urge to share!

Boing

Spring finally sprung around these parts; we've had loads of rain and a fair amount of sunshine. The Rockstar was showing off his chunky little legs in a pair of shorts on Friday while I donned a tank top and now it's chilly again and he's sleeping in a fleece sleep sac with his window shut tight. At least we have had a taste of warmth and know that it really isn't too far out of reach now.

Once again I forgot to post my entry for the Iron Craft challenge. The theme was Spring and with Mother's Day falling during the challenge week it was a perfect excuse (not that I need one) to make a little something for one of my very best friends: my unbelievably amazing mom.

My mom loves birds and my parents backyard is a little oasis for them so I thought a birdhouse would be the perfect gift. I learned my frugal ways from my parents so she was pleased to hear I scored the unfinished bird house from the dollar store.

I was ready to hit Michael's to purchase some decals but found some that were just perfect for this project in the same shop I found the house in.

I used three coats of tung oil (left over from the deck project last year) to finish the houses and then applied the decals. I finished the houses off with a couple of coats of spray-on clear finish meant for outdoor projects. There is one step I didn't think of but thankfully my dad did so I've taken the house back for a few days in order to get this done: drilling holes in the bottom of the house to let any water/waste escape.

I have two more houses waiting for me to tackle them. I bought some funky shape decals to use on the one that will hang in our backyard: here's hoping it will attract some pretty birdies for the Rockstar to admire.

Speaking of moms I didn't get around to posting on Mother's Day! I hope all of you fabulous Mamas out there had a lovely day! A special Happy Mama's Day to my superfantabulous mom Lois and my amazingly awesome mom-by-marriage Bridie.

I was spoiled with sleeping in, a yummy brunch, coffee on the deck, an afternoon walk, swings, chocolate peanut butter, a beautiful photo FAMILY photo frame and a delicious bbq dinner: an absolutely wonderful first Mother's Day. Two cards, one from my baby boy and one from my big boy made me sniffle. Love and hugs and smooches to my two boys for making my day perfect.

Sunny Resort Blouse Take 1

I finally got around to snapping a few pics of the shirt I made for myself using the freebie pattern from Adey of The Sew Convert found over at Grosgrain. I would certainly use this pattern again but I would choose a more flowy fabric like she suggested. I went with a quilting cotton for my first attempt because I didn't want to spend a pile of money on fabric to find out that the style didn't suit me.

I learned a few things while making this puppy:

1) Use double sided bias tape for the edging. The nasty woman I dealt with at the fabric store looked at me like I was an idiot when I asked whether she recommended single or double sided so I (stupidly) took her snapped advice of single sided. I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo but I used the single sided to edge the neck and it's wrinkled. I spent ages online trying to find a tutorial for using single sided bias tape after the neck difficulties and found nothing. In the end I found a few packages of double sided bias tape in my stash and used that for the rest of the shirt and five minutes later it was finished: easy peasy! I should have ripped out the neck and edged it with the double sided tape but oh well.

2) Remember to consider shrinkage when deciding how much fabric to purchase. Duh - this seems like an obvious thing to do but I didn't think of it. Thankfully I had a bit of cute purple fabric in my stash that worked out perfectly for adding some length to the shirt (actually I'm happy the oops led to this addition, I think it adds something to the finished product)

3) Don't make the belt and belt holes. I debated whether or not to add the belt and in the end I made one and added the holes to the shirt and I shouldn't have bothered. The belt looks super cute on Adey but it does nothing for my shape -- should have followed my gut on this one. Thankfully the pattern on my shirt hides the button hole belt loops pretty well so I can still wear it without the belt.

I would highly recommend this pattern to beginners. Super easy to follow instructions and a relatively quick start to finish project.

It's About Time

I can't believe I FINALLY did it!! I sewed a piece of clothing for myself and not only does it fit: it looks cute! I have one final thing to do before sharing the details with you. I intend to finish up tomorrow and will have Mike snap some pics of my creation on Saturday so I can post. I can't believe I didn't take the plunge sooner: this little project has given me the itch to make more and the itch is going to be scratched with today's free pattern over at Grosgrain. The knot shorts by Elsie Marley are adorable!! My only issue is the length... I think the knot might look odd on a long pair of shorts but I don't want to go Daisy Duke short either. What to do, what to do...