This past week was our first week back into the homeschool routine after having a fun and memorable Christmas break.   With the hustle and bustle of the Advent and Christmas season, I didn't get a chance to post some homemade gifts our family made for loved ones for Christmas.  

I had some great fun making a few gifts with felt. (Thank you to my friend, T.D., who let me borrow her bag of felt material over the holidays!)  I thought I would share the 2 gifts I made in hopes that it will maybe inspire you to use felt in fun and festive ways!

For my parents (a.k.a "Grandpa and Nana"), I took a 4x6 photo album that I had for a few years. I used my hot glue gun to make a snowman cover by gluing black felt with glitter  to the cover and back of the album.  With scissors and patience, I snow scene was made.

On the inside, the first page of the album was covered with black and white cardstock paper and my family and I dipped our fingertips in white paint to make a family of snowmen because "We love Grandpa and Nana "snow" much!"  Each of us signed our names under our snowman and I cut out a green felt tree.  The snow was made by dipping a Q-tip into white paint and making dots.
Then for my sweet niece up north, I took a large (clean) green bean aluminum can and made a "P" is for Piper "can"-tainer.  I used my hot glue gun to glue a pattern of felt around the can and then took foam shapes to finish off the decorations.  I had so much fun making this "can"-tainer for Piper.  I put in a few art supplies into her felt can in hopes she will use these items to create art projects, which she enjoys doing.   

Besides making homemade gifts with love, I enjoy finding homemade recipes that are easy, healthy, and yummy for my family.  I wanted to share a healthy homemade pancake mix that I found that my family has enjoyed eating.


I found a Healthy Homemade Pancake Mix recipe HERE at Today's Mama.

For the oat flour in the ingredient list, I just take a cup of oatmeal and grind it up in my Vitamix blender until it's a flour consistency.

I wrap any extra uneaten pancakes in saran wrap in groups of 3 or 4 and put them in the freezer.  Then during the school week the kids can reheat the pancakes in the microwave for a quick and easy breakfast.    

For the past 3 months or so my children have been inspired by the author and illustrator, Steve Jenkins. (pictured on right)  We first discovered Jenkins' books a few years ago and my son instantly took an interest to them since they are about nature and God's creatures.  My son and daughters love nature and animals so they love looking at Jenkins' great illustrations and reading all the fascinating facts in his books.




Here are my children with some of Jenkins' books that we checked out of the library, but we checked out several others too!  My son wanted to check out ALL the Jenkins' books that were in our local library and then he asked if we could buy them all!  Maybe one day we'll have our own Jenkins' library.   This past summer, my cupcakes, especially my son, age 10,  wanted to make paper art like Jenkins.  So in front of them is the collection of art pieces they worked HOURS on over many weeks. 

 

Here is some of their art work beside the illustration in the book.   Can you tell which tang fish my son made using various colors of cardstock?  :) 

My 12 year old daughter loved making this gorilla hand like the one on the cover of Actual Size.  My son helped her make the lemur that rests on the thumb. 

Here's the collection my children made using Jenkins' books as their guide and inspiration.
Land Animals....  

Sea Creatures....

Our family agreed that these beautiful art pieces were made with great care and creativity as I watched scrap paper scatter on our tables and floors and scissors were vigorously cutting out tiny pieces to make 6 layers for one eye, thin tails and fins, beaks, feet, claws and scales for land and sea animals.

So with 2 large canvases and 3 small canvases and these supplies below (Mod Podge, sponge brushes and colored tissue paper) my cupcakes and I were on a mission this afternoon to display these creatures and complete this art project that began this past summer. 

Working with Mod Podge is easy as we brushed on a layer on the canvas, then placed tissue paper on top of the wet canvas.  Then we brushed more Mod Podge on top of the tissue paper.  We used 2 colors of tissue paper to make the background multi-colored.  After placing each art piece on top of the tissue paper, more Mod Podge was brushed on top of the piece.  Then we let it dry.
 
Working hard to decide how to display each animal on the canvas....

 Sneak peek....

They were so proud of their finished product after working all afternoon today to complete it..
Close-up of ocean creatures....

It's that time again to link up some artwork to Kimberly's Friday Art Showcase Link Up.  This week I am linking up pencil drawings that my three older cupcakes did and I got in on the fun and drew something too!

We recently purchased the Mark Kistler Online Art Classes at a really good price through Homeschool Buyers Co-Op ! You can get 3 years of online lessons for $39.60 through Homeschool Buyer's Co-Op! The offer expires on June 30, 2011!

So I plan on having art lessons through these fun and great art videos that shows you step by step how to draw all kinds of drawings.  Our family especially likes the "Stop" button on the videos so we can always pause the lesson to take a longer time to sketch each part of the drawing.  So this week we did the following:

Mark's online classes are great and it was so fun to sit down with my children to draw with them.  I hope I can continue to draw with them as I plan to do these art lessons each week with my children.

There is lots going on over at No Ordinary Blog Hop (NOBH) with new and old friends, more great co-hosts, and categories to link your posts.  Click button below to join in on the fun!

This week my children made the following LEGO creations:

 "This is a garden with a yellow entrance and a green gate around the entrance.  There is a red path that divides the garden into 3 sections. The far left section has swamp plants, the right section has bushes and flowers and the other section has just flowers on the ground.”  made by my 11 year old cupcake

 “This is a garden with a building, 2 bird feeders on the far left, a cactus sitting on a blue brick, a flower pot beside the cactus, and a security camera on top of the building to look out for invaders because there is hidden gold in the garden building. There is also a white sprinkler that is watering the garden right now.” made by my 9 year old cupcake



I'm linking up the Garden LEGO creations to...
Kimberly's Art Showcase Fridays












My Blessings from Above: Lego Creation Thursday


Speaking of gardens, it is time to do an update post on the garden my children are keeping with my in-laws that I first posted about HERE.
To join in the HSV Garden Challenge go HERE to link up and read posts of other gardens. 
   
Here are the vegetables growing really well and my father-in-law added an electric fence to keep out hungry deer:

My children helped pull up onions and radishes:




They pulled so many that I gave some away to friends and neighbors and used the rest in our salads.
We look forward to seeing how the garden continues to grow!