Pepper Paints

Cosplay Anyone?

I am in awe of my kid! She has abilities that seem to come to her so easily that I can’t hardly wrap my head around. This is her latest sewing creation.

It is a cosplay costume for an anime convention. She based her costume off of this Elizabeth ( Lizzie )Middleford  $400.00 costume.

Only she spent a mere  $5.00 on 2 sheets from the thrift store. Amazingly thrifty yes but the really amazing part of all of this is not only did she make this costume entirely by herself with no help from anyone but that she didn’t even use a stinkin’ pattern! She just looked at the picture and 2 bed sheets and created this amazing costume! Did I mention I am in awe??? Well let me say it again…I am in awe of this kid!

She and her friends have been waiting for months for this convention. They planned which characters from Black Butler they would be cosplaying so long ago. Everyone looked great!

I bet they are already planning for the next one!

Cast Iron Handles Too Hot? Felted Handle Covers Are Easy to Make!!

I can’t believe it took me years of handling hot, hot handles before discovering I could easily make a little cover for the handles of my cast iron pans!

I have tons of felted, thrift store sweaters..(I started a blanket years ago that plagues me in my sleep!! I really want to finish it!!) I cut a small piece off the sweater.   I cut from the waistband but I am sure any area would work. I wrapped it around my handle to see if I needed to trim it down.

Next I felted a little picture/design on to the center of my felt.

Again I wrapped it around the handle using  straight pins to make a  tight sleeve. I sewed it up with some colorful embroidery thread–but I won’t show you that part-it is embarrassing how poorly I sew!  And slipped it on to my handle. I tried to make them really tight so they didn’t slip around..and I hear you need to be super careful if you have a gas stove!!

I absolutely love these–they make me happy every time I look at them!!

Modge Podge Leaf Candle Holders With Melt and Pour Candles

Let me start by saying, I LOVE Modge Podge!  I can totally see this in my future!!!

And….. that we  should have done this project a few weeks ago when the leaves were less crispy around here. They would have laid a bit flatter on the glasses.

I ordered some wax from Swan Creek Candles. These are lead free and really easy–melt and pour wax refill kits.

We went to the thrift store and bought several glass jars and containers suitable for holding candle wax. Collected some leaves and got out the modge podge and some brushes.

We “painted” the glasses with modge podge and laid our leaves down and then painted over the tops of the leaves also.

You can see how our dry leaves didn’t exactly cooperate and lay flat. But they still look great after they dry.

Next we glued our wicks into the bottoms of the jars with a hot glue gun.

We melted the wax in the microwave

We poured the hot wax into our prepared jars. Let the wax harden a bit and pull wicks to the center. When dry trim wicks down.

Then light them and ooh and ahh at the pretty candles and leaf candle holders you made!

Our Mud Pie Kitchen

While clicking around in the  Summer edition of Rhythm of the Home, I came across this awesome idea!! As soon as I saw the photos  my heart skipped a beat and I started making a thrift store list for our own mud pie kitchen!!

It didn’t take us long to find just what we needed!!

First, I picked a nice shady spot in our yard. Not too far from the hose and close to lots of dirt and sand, sticks and leaves. All the essentials for good, messy fun. Something my kids love!

Next,  we headed to the thrift store to stock our kitchen—think little and cheap. Pots, pans, muffin tins, cups, bowls, silverware…..

These make the perfect little molds and were only 30 to 50 cents a piece! Besides the fact they are pretty and shiny!!

More pretty, shiny, cheap staples that every kitchen must have… a beautiful bright yellow tea pot and pitcher.

The appliances were a little more tricky to find. It took a second trip to the store–but we totally lucked out and found the black shelf marked $5.00 and the little book shelf marked $2.96 and both were half off.

Let me tell you– this has been a bustling kitchen… breakfasts, coffee, lunch and dinner and don’t forget dessert–lots and lots of desserts!!

Oh …and lots of soup

All served on a table the girls made out of some scraps of wood they found above the garage— and then painted with glitter paint. Yes, they are my girls!!

And when the meal is over….you must wash the dishes!

If you need any recipe suggestions, Ginger highly recommends this cook book

What’s cookin’ in your mud pie kitchen?

Unschooling On Good Morning America And In The Mainstream

Where to start?! The media is, well the media. They are a business.  They feature stories that will boost ratings.  They use shock value  to stir up attention and in turn receive more viewers.

So why we are surprised by  both the Good Morning America and the  Discovery Health reports on Unschooling?  They are typical examples of  biased reporting.  Both were short segments filled more with shock value than facts and true glimpses into real unschooling.

Mainstream America just doesn’t get Unschooling. They aren’t going to.  For heavens sake only about 25% of American adults have a face book account. I thought everybody was on face book! So imagine how the majority of the world could possibly understand Unschooling?  Especially with the shows that Discovery Health and Good Morning America put out. Yet, it is so easy for me to forget that we are radical. It is so easy for me to forget that my family is so different than almost everybody else.

Partly because I don’t reflect the mainstream and haven’t for so long.  I have my own  fairly large community that I identify with. I belong to a food co-op and rarely shop at Kroger and I love my public radio station where they don’t play anything you have ever heard of. —–That’s weird…… Yeah, I guess.  I recycle, compost, use cloth napkins, shop at the thrift store and line dry my clothes—-Oh, your one of those hippies!….. OK.  My kids don’t go school—-Oh, you homeschool? Will you always do that? Do they socialize with other kids? ……No,we Unschool—— Huh?????? Like those crazy people on TV? Did you see that, they let their kids eat donuts for breakfast—– That is main steam media for you!

I don’t sit round and think about how different we are. We just live. We aren’t purposeful in every move we make. We aren’t living for “the unschooling movement.” We don’t look different. We don’t walk or talk differently. (well maybe a little differently   ) Our daily life is pretty uneventful to the outside world. We get up and go about our day just like everyone else. Only we have learned a little secret that seems so unfathomable to the rest of the world.    Choice

We all have them. Really we do have  choices in everything we do. Yes, some choices make life harder than others but  we have choices in life. And as Unschoolers we have made many, many unpopular choices.

Kids don’t have to go to school–gasp! They don’t have to get up at a certain time of day to be productive—gasp! They don’t even have to be told to learn!  No, really, it’s just automatic. Adults may think they have control over what kids are leaning but kids and adults everywhere are learning ALL THE TIME!

I googled learning and Wikipedia gave me this: (from a very mainstream source even!)

Learning is a process you do, not a process that is done to you. Traditional education focuses on teaching, not learning. It incorrectly assumes that for every ounce of teaching there is an ounce of learning by those who are taught. However, most of what we learn before, during, and after attending schools is learned without it being taught to us. A child learns such fundamental things as how to walk, talk, eat, dress, and so on without being taught these things. Adults learn most of what they use at work or at leisure while at work or leisure. Most of what is taught in classroom settings is forgotten, and much or what is remembered is irrelevant

1. ^ Russell L. Ackoff and Daniel Greenberg (2008), Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track (pdf) HTML. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
2. ^ Greenberg, H. (1987), “The Art of Doing Nothing,” The Sudbury Valley School Experience. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
3. ^ Mitra, S. (2007) Sugata Mitra shows how kids teach themselves (video – 20:59). Minimally Invasive Education, Retrieved February 18, 2010.

These choices we have made are hard. And Unschooling is a journey of sorts. The vast majority of unschoolers did not wake up one day and decide to make all of these radical choices in one day. But it is easy to forget that.

Beginning with following your heart and letting go of what other people think. It’s your life –who care’s what other people think.  Really–let that go and be the real you. We only have one this one life to live. Live it the way you want to.

Then giving up  the ” should do’s”  and the  “have to’s”.   Really question why you are doing things. Do you really want to? Or are you just doing them because you should do them? What will really happen if you don’t do them? Can you live with that result? Can you make a different choice to get the end result you want?  Then make your decision based on that. It  is a process.  These choices we have made seem so normal and automatic to us now that sometimes we forget how the other 99% of the world is living.  There really are so few have to’s in our lives but we assume that we must do way too many of them. Don’t follow blindly. I want to make my life just what I want it to be. And fill it with what I want. You can to. You have a choice.

So to the outside world our life may seem uneventful but really it’s just the opposite. Really we are choosing to exercise our choices. We aren’t living lives full of have to’s. We are living fully everyday. Not just on the weekends or when we go on vacation. Not just when we have time. And you can too. You have a choice–to put your kids in school or homeschool or really trust yourself and  live your one life freely and Unschool.

Fairy Gardens

I would love to say I thought up this beautifully bright activity but I saw it here. I love this blog-I could spend hours looking through all the bright, sunny, beautiful photos.

Start with a shallow bowl or container (check the thrift store if you don’t have one).Cover the bottom with charcoal (pet store), then a layer of sphagnum moss (garden or craft store) top with potting soil.

Next plant (sprinkle) easy seeds of your choice-grass, clover, chia, sprouts etc…  We used clover and Kentucky Blue Grass-of course we would choose this over Shade Turf-how boring! You can plant in a design or all over-you decide.

We picked out a few little plants at the nursery but with the weather changing I bet you could dig a little something up in your back yard.

Now on to the best part…..The decorating……colorful gravel, glitter, feathers, colored craft sticks, marbles, pretty rocks, anything that glitters

After planting spray with water frequently-keep moist-and wait for your garden to grow!  We can’t wait to see what our garden will look like when our grass and clover sprout.

On a final note-after I took these photos Ginger tripped and dumped my garden and part of Molly’s. But we tossed everything back in the pot and sprinkled a few more seeds on the top and another handful of gravel-all while breathing heavily. ugh accidents happen!

Reusable Grocery Bags Made From Pillow Cases

A few weeks ago we stocked up on pretty pillow cases at our thrift store on 50% off everything day. Today we finally got around to re -purposing them into grocery bags.

We used 2 pillow cases per grocery bag.

First off use a seam ripper and take top of pillow case off or just cut it off.

Take this top piece you cut off and cut it in half. These will be your straps.

Pick out some pretty colored thread for your project!!

Fold strap pieces in half (with pattern on the in inside) and sew the ends together.

Now take the two pillow cases and turn the one you will be using for the lining inside out. Stuff that one inside the outer one.

Now either sew the two pillow cases together at the top or just fold it down as far as you like to show the liner on the outside of the bag and sew. Don’t forget to sew on your straps!

Presto–really big  and sturdy grocery bags!!

So easy-I even managed to make the blue one all by myself!!