Salt Dough Ornaments...by (Angela) Jean

We have been enjoying preparing for Christmas and have been in full-on craft mode for several weeks now.

The kids and I have been doing all kinds of paper crafts together, but I was searching for something that we could make together, that was simple enough that they could fully participate, but that was sturdy enough to last. When my friend Jaye mentioned she was making salt dough ornaments with her son, I thought that would be perfect!

I did a little search on Pinterest (do you know about Pinterest? Oh man....check it out!) and found countless ideas. My main inspiration came from this post on Salt Dough Handprint Ornaments, on Homemade Grits' blog. I thought these would be a great way to remember Christmas 2011.

For the dough, I used the same recipe as Homemade Grits: very, very simple.

4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups water

(As an aside this dough is great for kids because unlike cookie dough, there is no butter or sugar so it's not greasy or sticky! So easy to clean up!)

Combine ingredients and kneed for 15-20 minutes until dough becomes smooth and elastic.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface and cut out shapes with cookie cutters.

some of the dough we left smooth and some we textured with the meat tenderizer

Bake in a 300 F oven for 2-4 hours or until they are good and hard. When I was doing my research, I found several suggestions for temperatures and baking times. One even suggested leaving the ornaments in a 200 degree F oven over night. My ornaments were relatively small and thin so 3 hours or so was plenty.

Unfortunately, our hand print ornaments didn't turn out. They puffed up like a big bubble in the oven and then crumpled as they cooled. I think I should have pricked them with a pin to avoid any air bubbles. I plan to try them again.

The other shapes worked out quite well. Some we left plain and glued on beads and jewels. These ones have the names of our next-door neighbours, who tend to end up as the guinea pig testers for all our crafting and baking projects...they haven't complained yet!

Mimi was concerned that they looked too much like real cookies so she made a card to tell the neighbours not to eat them.

Others we painted with glitter paint.

This Martha Stewart glitter paint comes in amazing colours, but like all glitter paint you need to do several coats to get solid coverage. I think I did about 6 coats.

This was coat #1

We made a few in the shape of gingerbread people, but I thought the googlie eyes made them look a little creepy, so I let the kids play with them until they broke. (They lasted about 30 minutes before being decapitated in automobile accidents....it was gruesome....and quite un-Christmassy)

I got so into this project that I made a second batch, and based on suggestions from other internet crafters, I added some cinnamon to the dough just to make it smell a bit nicer. In the end though, it was pointless because I ended up spraying them with Mod Podge varnish to preserve them. I sprayed them outside to avoid stinking up the house and when it dried the varnish had no smell at all.

We enjoyed our salt dough experiment and are very happy with the results. We ended up with about 3 dozen ornaments. Some we will keep and the rest will be given to friends and family as little gifts.

Gingerbread Mania....by (Angela) Jean

Nothing says 'festive' like 11 small children hopped up on candy.

I love Christmas crafts and now that I have children of my own I can throw crafty parties and people will be fooled into thinking I'm doing it 'for the kids' when really, the fun is all mine. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration...I think the kids (and I'm going out on a limb to say the adults too) have a bit of fun.

Preparation is key when doing these kind of events for kids. In general, little people are not known for their patience and they really can't hear "we're almost ready" more than a couple of times before they revolt. I also took it easy on myself and purchased the gingerbread houses. I'm sure they will not be as tasty as homebaked, but to be honest: a) this was more of a craft project than a baking project and b) does anyone really want to eat anything that small kids have had their paws all over? My friend Sarah baked the sugar cookies. They were delicious!


I tried my best to do most of the prep work the night before. I rolled up the rugs, set up the folding tables, assembled the gingerbread houses and arranged the paper craft stations.

There were three activities planned: gingerbread house decorating,

paper crafts,

and Christmas cookie decorating.

Mmmmmm.....doesn't that look delicious?

I was impressed with the level of focus the kids mustered up. At times, the house was almost silent. You would have never guessed that there were 6 boys and 5 girls all under 10 in my teeny house!

 All in all, the party was a success, and I look forward to making it an annual tradition.

Halloween Recap & Roasted Pumpkin Seed Recipe...by (Angela) Jean

It was exactly 4 years ago that we were house-hunting for the first time.

There was an MLS listing for a house that I loved, in a neighbourhood I had admired from afar, for years. What I had always loved most about these homes, was the fact that they had detached garages. I know it's a bit more of an inconvenience, not having a garage attached to your house, but the bonus of having an entire neighbourhood with no visible garages makes up for it. It somehow creates an intimate, old-world feel....and you see your neighbours more....for good or bad. But, I digress.
We drove along the street looking for the house in the ad, and were disappointed to find that it had already been sold...within one day. Bummer. As we drove away, we noticed a 'for sale by owner' sign on, in my opinion, an even cuter house. We drove directly to my inlaws' house (they lived close by), called the number and arranged a visit. We put an offer in the next day, it was accepted, and the house was ours.
Bing. Bang. Boom.
It was a very exciting time, of which I have many fond memories, but one thing I will always remember about that week, was how very seriously this street takes Halloween. I was struck with how every single house was decked out with grave yards, ghosts, witches and general spookiness. It was amazing.
Halloween night on our street is like a giant party. None of this walking-up-the-steps-to-ring-the-doorbell stuff on our street. Everyone waits on the porch for you, giant bowl of candy in hand. All the neighbours are out on the sidewalk chatting and laughing. Everyone dresses up....children and adults. Some houses play music, some have smoke machines, and everyone gets into it. And I'm not talking about a little street either, there are at least 30-40 houses. There is no other day like it all year.
It's all over for another year, but I thought I'd give you a recap of our Halloween, in photos. It was our best Halloween yet. The kids are finally of an age that they are really into it, and will actually go from house to house. The big one is still more hesitant than the little one, but I think his bravery spurs her on. It's cute.

Our beautiful pumpkins from Ferguson's Farm in St.Thomas

Very excited about carving.

Hmmm....what kind of pumpkin should I carve?

A cat! (quel grand surprise)

Otis needed to meditate about his pumpkin design

Off with their heads!!

the scooping

The final product

Otis lost interest right after this point

Daddy was left to finish

Something tells me this wasn't Otis' original idea

On Halloween morning, our town has a parade for little kids down the main street. They get all dressed up, and the merchants give out candy. It's a bit of a crazy zoo of strollers, but a cute sight none-the-less. We went with my friend Sarah and her daughter Maddie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This must be what it feels like for Kim Kardashian and Lindsay Lohan when they show up on the red carpet wearing the same dress. How embarrassing.

Lollipop.

Later that same day....

Our across the street neighbours. See what I'm talkin about?

Our next-door neighbours' house

Now for our costumes!

Mimi as Snow White

The Real Snow White

Otis as Murray Wiggle, the guitar-playing Wiggle. I made the Wiggles patch on the shirt with fabric paint. I was happy with how well it turned out.

The Real Murray Wiggle

Shawn as DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba, the coolest kids' show around. The costume was purchased, but I did make the ghetto blaster myself.

Complete with Muno, Foofa, Plex, Brobee and Toodie!

The real DJ Lance

And me? Well, I was a witch. A very scary witch.

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween from all of us! Hope you all had fun!

Oh wait....I promised you a recipe, didn't I? Right!
Ok, well that's easy. Here's what I did with our pumpkin seeds this year.

In a large bowl, stir together pumpkin seeds (most of the gunk removed but I think leaving a little adds some nice sweet pumpkin flavour), a few tablespoons of vegetable oil (I use canola, but you could use olive, or even butter if you want to), 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.

Spread mixure in a thin layer, on a baking sheet covered in foil, and bake at 350 degrees farenheit for about 30-40 minutes, or until sizzling and crispy.

Mmmmm......delicious.