ART IS YOU 2014 Recap #1: Tins Charming with Liesel Lund

This years was my FOURTH Art is You Mixed Media Retreat!  I feel so blessed and lucky to have this event in my own backyard!  Each year, I try to take classes that will teach me new skills and push me out of my comfort zone. I also keep coming back for this reason:

Sallianne and Ellen do an amazing job and they do it with humor, grace, and style!

Ellen always makes these wonderful (and collectible!) nametags that I look forward to getting every year. I'm getting quite a collection!

The first class I chose this year was "Tins Charming" with  Liesel Lund. Liesel deconstructs tin containers to upcycle them into the most amazing jewelry and mobiles!

  

It took most of the day just to deconstruct the tin and learn the techniques so I didn't quite finish.  I brought a few old cookie tins to the class.  I was surprised at all the tools we needed for the project!

 

 The gloves were especially important.  The raw edges of the tin could be quite sharp!  Liesel showed us how to deconstruct the tin.

Some of the ladies brought amazing vintage tin with great patterns. Mine were all pretty boring.  It wasn't until I took the class that I had good idea of what to look for.  The bright red tin drove my vision. It immediately brought to mind poinsettias.  I decided to make a holiday necklace for my mother.

This is as far as I got:

The leaves are made out of a Trader Joe's Peppermint Hot Chocolate tin. I thought that was very apropos.  The base of the necklace is now done but it needs A LOT of embellishment. As you can see from the above photo of the front of the class instruction booklet, Liesel does an amazing job of embellishing with beads and charms and other doodads.  I hope to fill in space with beads and possibly thread some gold wire through the center of the poinsettias and add some yellow beading.  We learned how to twist wire to make bead drops in the class so I know what to do! A trip to the local bead store is definitely in order!  After this class, I will be on the lookout for interesting tin to use in the future!

Kidstir Review: September 2014 Box

Noodlebug absolutely LOVED "Master Chef Jr." when it was on last year.  More recently, he got into the "Rachael v. Guy Kids Cook Off."  I think it is fun for him to see fairly young kids cooking some pretty amazing food!  We love subscription boxes in our family so I started investigating what cooking-themed subscription boxes are out there.  There are actually a couple of them!  I decided to try out Kidstir to see if it would encourage Noodle to start cooking.

Kidstir boxes are packaged in a similar fashion to other boxes like Kiwi Crate.  In the initial box, you get a cookbook binder that the child can personalize with his/her name.  Each box also comes with three tool or food items and several recipes linked by a theme.

The theme of our first box was "Bake Me Happy."  It came with the binder:

It also came with three recipes. One on banana bread, one on apple crisp, and one on popovers!

It also included a small whisk, a dog-shaped silicone pot holder, and a small tub of chocolate spread. (for use with the banana bread)

The instructions were pretty simple. I tried to let Noodle do as much of it on his own as possible.  (You can see the whisk in the photo below)  I acted as his sous chef by gathering ingredients and tools for him.

There was a moment of panic when Daddy opened the oven without thinking and the popovers started to deflate.  They seemed to rally, though!

Everyone thought they were delicious and Noodle was really proud of his creation!  We are looking forward to trying the other two recipes soon.

I think this box offers a nice introduction to cooking for children. The recipes aren't too difficult and I like that they include useful tools in each box. We are already looking forward to the next one!

I hope they do something fun for the holidays!!!

(I did not receive compensation in any form for this review and all opinions are my own.)

Why I Let My 5-Yr-Old Watch "The Goonies"

(image source)

I'm pretty strict about what I let Noodlebug watch. We stick to "G' and "PG" movies and he has yet to see any of the "Star Wars" films.  Our family usually has a Family Movie Night each Friday. My husband makes homemade pizza and we watch a family-friendly film.  We have an impressive collection of animated movies and I love them. Sometimes, I want to watch something different.  One evening, I ran across "The Goonies" On Demand and decided we needed to watch it. I had loved it as a child.  However, I was a bit older than Noodlebug when I saw it. I knew we needed some preparation prior to watching it.

Questionable Things to Watch For:

1. Cursing--My son hears curse words in his day-to-day life.  My husband still hasn't managed to curb that habit. We have discussed with Noodle that these are grown-up words and that he does not have permission to say them. So far, we haven't had a problem. I told him that this movie would have some grown-up words.  He understood.  There is also a little potty humor that went over his head.

2. Villains--The Fratellis are not nice people.  They use guns. They kill people. They torture one of their own. They threaten children. I warned him in advance about this.

3. Dead Bodies--There is a dead body in this movie. It falls out of a freezer onto one of the boys. It could have been scary. I explained it beforehand.  He knew what to expect. It didn't scare him.

4. Sloth--Sloth looks like a monster. His character is introduced in a way that creates a lot of scary suspense. I waited until just before Sloth was revealed and paused the movie. I told Noodle that we would be seeing a man who looks really different. I said that just because he looked different didn't mean that he was bad. We discussed how just because people look different does not mean that they aren't worthy of love, respect, and dignity.  I started the movie again. He wasn't scared at all. But he WAS upset at how badly Sloth was treated.

5. Skeletons--One of Noodle's first movies was NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS so he isn't bothered by skeletons.

6. Suspense--There are some nail-biting moments in the movie that might be scary for some children. I knew my child wouldn't be bothered by that.

These are the reasons WHY I let him watch the movie:

1. The kids go on this adventure to save their homes.  They band together to help their parents and save their community.

2. It requires teamwork for the kids to succeed. They can't do it alone.

3. The kids are loyal to each other. They don't leave anyone behind.

4. EMPATHY!  The kids accept Sloth and end up protecting him.

5. Developing right from wrong---The kids fight the Fratellis and turn them over to the police.

6. They don't give up!!! Goonies never say die!  Persistance, grit, and determination! All hallmarks of successful people.

Bottom line: He loved it.  He always asks to watch it again. And he will be going as Data for Halloween this year.

Would I recommend this movie for every 5/6 yr old child?  No.  We had to do some preparation but I knew he would be able to handle it. I was right. He loved it and so do I.