No Mattel Needed ...I got the Blues

I am sad, blue over the discovery that CSPC loves Mattel! Support Homemade!

Tea Time

Tea Times offer you and your children a break from the fast-paced demands of parenting, homeschooling, and household chores. Everyone sighs as they settle into their chairs, tea cups or mugs in hand. Stopping to enjoy cup of tea ( hot chocolate or apple juice or even water from a tea pot is nice) creates the perfect time to share a poem or a story. Tea sandwiches and a few cookie treats (known as biscuits in England) make it a special snack and break to your midday. When you share poetry with tea, your children create a connection between sharing and rest, while creating memories. We really have the kids with us for such a short time.

Once everyone has his or her tea and food, reading or storytelling can begin. Use this time to read a favorite series of books. Kids of any age will want to stop in their day and share this time with you. It is a great way to teach manners and proper etiquette. Tea time can be fun and educational. 

This Month for tea time try....

Sun Strawberry Jam 

When strawberries go on sale, it's time to make sun jam, a delightful taste of summer made with solar energy to enjoy any time of year. A very GREEN thing to do. Although it requires patience to prepare sun jam, it captures the fresh flavor of the strawberries. This is a great recipe to do with kids. 

Instructions 
Things You’ll Need:
1 1/2 pounds ripe fruit
1 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
Stainless steel saucepan
cheese cloth
Sterile glass jar (with lid)
string

How To:
Wash the fruit.
Cut it into thin slices.
Mix all of the ingredients together in a stainless steel saucepan.
Cover and let it sit at room temperature for one hour.
Place the pan on the stove and bring to a boil.
Boil for five minutes without stirring.
Remove the pan from the heat and allow it to cool for 30 minutes.
Pour the cooled fruit mixture into a glass jar.
Cover with chesse cloth and tie with string to allow the moisture to evaporate.
Set the jar outside in full sunshine or in a very sunny window for three to eight hours.
The jam is ready when it has thickened.
Last seal it tightly. Store the jam in the fridge.

Santa's Little Helper or The Etsy Elf

This year I made a pledge to myself to buy handmade gifts and to work towards an all homemade Christmas. No easy task with 3 boys who love their electronics and being plugged in! Well my first thought was to make things but mothering and homeschooling leaves me little free time without the kids. So I turned to one of my favorite places, www.etsy.com .Not only am I a shop owner but I love to shop here as well. Here are a few things under our tree this year.

A wooden dagger and handmade sheath by two young brother. You can find them at http://www.dragonsandmermaids.etsy.com/

A pokemon tent and sleeping bag set. Just the thing every little 4 year old trainer needs. See http://www.munzies.etsy.com/ for all your toy tent needs.

Marble toy set, unfinished pine Mini marble run without marbles and Marble archboard in unfinished hard maple. By www.krtwood.etsy.com

Doll carrier blanket and pillow fits 17 inch doll. By www.Mimas.etsy.com

What the CPSIA means for me

I completely believe in attachment parenting and so that leaves very little of my life for me with 4 kids. My art/craft is my outlet. I have always painted but making toys has given me great joy. I am often giggling in my art room over the little faces and what new thing I created by gluing two wood pieces together. I don't get that much sleep these days with our little one teething, so I find that a little joy in my day is a BIG DEAL. The day I found out about the law felt like the walls were coming in on me. I didn't even realize how sad I was until I started feeling better because of the good news that has been coming lately in the news. I was joyful again, I even wanted to redo Christmas! As a parent this scares me. I want to be able to get creative things for my kids from other crafters. This year in our house 50 percent of the items under the tree were from etsy sellers. Santa even felt my kids were good enough that they got toys made by the ETSY Elves this year. Last week I shopped for my daughter's first birthday, everything was homemade from Etsy shops. It was exhilarating, no crazy packaging, no plastic, and toys she will treasure forever. I think there are some simple steps they can take. Like in the NEVER ENDING STORY, the princess only needed a name for the nothing to go away. If they give us a specific, descriptive name instead of calling us MANUFACTURES they could easily fix this for us. In recent reports, they have been referring to each of us as an "independent craftsperson". Also, American-made products that already are tested and certified non-toxic should be exempt. There is a great many things that do not contain lead, and I am working on compiling a list. I want to make sure I list things I use and plan to use in the future. Simple steps can be made to change this law, they just need to "walk" that way to change them.