Wood and Paint!

This year I've been liking more wood for my projects... So from teacher gifts to friends birthday gifts wood has been the option... Luckily I have lots of scraps of woods, from pine to plywood and who-knows-what kind... I just go to the patio and look for the piece that has a size I can use... (which give you a hint of how pretty and uncluttered  a mean, organized is my back patio :D...

Well here are some of the projects...

This one was a Crayola Crayon for the teacher of one of my girls... 

So I first cut my piece of wood in 18' x 4', taking a couple of corners out so I can resemble the tip of the crayon... In the back I took just a bit so it was round and nice... Once sanded looks already pencil-like :)

                      

                      

 With a pencil a draw the design (that I already had done on paper, of course)...

               

 And I start to apply the paint... Is better if you already know the favorites color of the person, so you can make a most personalized gift.

               

               

               

So here is my personalized  wood Crayon, nice right?

As you can see is just a matter of paint here, once you have the shape and you do the design of your preference you can change the look easily...

Now in the back I put these little triangles so it could stand up on the desk... I put the pictures of how-to in the next "pencil".

             

Here is another one very similar, but look how just changing the colors changes everything... I started with the same shape...            

      

       

                             

 I use a very fine brush to do the letters (one of the girls wanted to participate and I let her write on pencil the name of the teacher and then I retrace it on black paint) and on the eraser area I distress it with a fine sand paper a little as it was a real eraser...

Now for the back support I used the same triangle corners that I took from the beginning to shape the tip of the pencil... and use the same two on each piece... I measure first that they were at the same distance from the borders and some wood glue and a nail in each and that was it...  

           

           

                        

At the end I use a dark brown shadow/pastel around all the borders of colors to give them a little depth and a coat or two of polyurethane to protect the paint. In the back I paint it with a white wash so the wood wouldn't look so bare, kind of like in the white on the tip of the pencil.

Then from these I got to this other project... 

I always think of the person I'm doing the piece , what he/she likes, his/her favorite things, colors etc. and on paper I draw until I'm satisfy with the result...

As you can see in this one Lucas likes marine motives and he is into painting and art even though he's just turning 7 years old...

Camila is turning one and always dress sooo cute and pink that I just came with this design...

Daniela was turning 12, her bedroom was just paint with this exact colors and this was a most for her!

Juan is into super heroes, so for his bedroom I thought of a clock, so this one required the kind of material that is used for background in a piece of furniture... very thin wood-like material and a clock mechanism...

This one was different too... I decided that the name was too short to look good on a big piece of wood, so I came up with the hangers idea... because I had just 3 letters I used 3 hangers and once in the position I thought of this seashells colors shape and gave a little texture on the background color...

Will see what next birthday will bring... :)

Well this is the latest of the painted boards... In this one I found the wooden pegs and because is intended to hold weight, I try something new... I did holes for the screws and then cover it with this caps that I found for kitchen cabinets... And it looks pretty good I think... The caps are very camouflage with the design.

Clay ... Camera... Action!

Today the kids wanted to make some homemade clay, the one you bake and can be used for a longer time (recipe later)... And end up making these cute "minions". 

These figures inspired us to start telling a story and my 4 years old started with the first scene..."Some minions were walking in the woods "... and the 6 years old said "and find a suspicious minion!"... and from that we went on, I explain to them that we had to work making "scene 1" bla bla bla, scene 2, bla bla bla... and so we did this story outside... We had fun and later enjoyed with my 8 years old putting it together on the computer... Sorry for the "sound" image, we don't know how it got there at the end :)

Here you'll see how they put this story, we all had a job to do (as you'll see in the last scene)... I filmed (director), my 8 years old read the scenes (script), my 6 years old help to arrange the scenes, moving the minions, getting plants out of the way of the camera, etc. (photography) and my 4 years old help getting rocks or leaves (stage assistant )... 

So it goes like this... 

                              Minios... Adventure in the woods

So this is the story of our afternoon today...

And as promised the recipe of the clay as follows...

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 cup salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Water...

Well once you get all together, start adding water, this is for me the tricky part because never get it right the first time... so I have to star adding water little by little, but no more than 1 cup... Until you have a very smooth and nice dough in you hands and can be very malleable... Today I put a little bit more of water than I should so I end up adding more flour and the result was some cracks (that never happened before, but that didn't stop us to continue our project)... After you have work your figures, you pop them in the oven at 325F for about 20 minutes or so, all depends on the size of your figures and thickness; in our case was around 24 minutes when they were a little brown-ish...You have to watch this part of the process...

Happy to share it, hope you enjoy it!

Eating Healthier

I know that this is old news for all of you... but for me are new, Pinterest have open a world for me, every time a pin something and take me to a blog I realize that I'm not crazy or lazy or who knows what... I'm normal! ... Hahaha...

But returning to the subject... all this new information takes me to know about the Clean 15, the No to GMO's, Aldi supermarkets, local Farmers Markets, etc. ... And the other day I heard of a book and luckily they had it at the library (one trip that the kids and I love to do almost once a week!)... It's Super Immunity by  Dr. Joel Fuhrman ...(See the book here)

He can assures that "we all have the ability to live healthier, stronger and longer"... just watching what we eat!!!... And it's not a diet or a shake or anything, he simple explains how certain foods have certain nutrients and how each nutrient affects our immune system and all the illnesses that are related to that misuse of food (mostly process food)... There is a lot of information there for you to think and decide and even recipes!, and I say "decide" because a lot of the change implies a more vegan or semi-vegan diet and we ( I ) are not ready to that jump yet, so I'll do the best I can... 

A little pick (with a couple of comments) below... and this is after he has explains how each food affects your immune system... you have to read it...

"At first  simply make sure that both lunch and dinner include either a salad or a cooked green vegetable (this we do everyday!) and add mushroom and onions to that vegetable most days." (trying to... )

"Within two weeks you could accomplish these basics:

A salad every day, a bowl of veggie-bean soup with mushrooms and onions most days and cooked greens everyday."

"You can simply enjoy fruits and nuts for breakfast, a big salad with beans and a healthly dressing for lunch and then a nice bowl of soup with dinner. Soups can lasts up to five days on the fridge, salad dressing will last 3 days...A small amount of animal products can be added to any vegetable or bean dish if desires." ... again the book is here

I've just starting to apply it in my house, the kids already had a diet very close to what it should be, so I'm trying is to disappear slowly but steadily the processed food and add more nuts and seeds (as my budget permitted it) and mushrooms and beans!... Oh those beans, only the little one has always liked them... so I've discover a way to introduce them in my daily meals without them notice them!... I almost laugh when I saw how they ate them and compliment the food "Mmmm Mommy, delicious!" Ha ha!!!... Triumph :)

So now my red sauce and my meatballs have kidney beans in it!!!... 

Meatballs / Red Sauce with Kidney Beans...

I just saute a couple of garlic, some chopped red onions and pour half can of kidney beans... I think if I put the hole can they will notice something different in the flavor... 

After a few minutes I put it in the blender until I have this smooth cream and this I add it to a tomato sauce on the pan... (the tomato sauce being from a can or plain tomatoes, I know that I have to let go my cans too little by little) or for the meatballs I add this smooth sauce to the ground meat with some salt and pepper and an egg to the meatballs... if you need, add some ground bread or almond flour or whatever you use to give a harder consistency to the meatballs and just do them your regular way ... 

And just make your meatballs your regular way... I serve them with quinoa and a salad with spinach, peppers and sunflower seeds in the above picture...My kids love them and I'm glad they don't read this! :)

I've also heard of white beans added to cakes or cupcakes and you might frown at the idea but apparently they taste perfectly NORMAL!... if you are not told you'd never suspect it!... I've found a couple of recipes at Chocolate-Covered Katie and Pin them... they substitute the white or all purpose flour with white beans and oats or ground almonds, I don't have any idea how much can cost ground almonds, sounds expensive for my budget, but look forward to try it someday... here and then here are the recipes  ... But here is a pick...

Black Bean brownies!!!... 

Yes, instead of flour she uses bean and oats :)...

1 (15oz) can Black beans drained and rinsed, 

2 tbsp cocoa powder, 

1/2 cup quick oats, 

1/4 tsp salt, 

1/3 cup agave or maple syrup, 

2 tbsp sugar or stevia, 

1/4 cup coconut or vegetable oil, 

2 tsp vanilla extract, 

1/2 tsp baking powder, 

2/3 chocolate chips...

Genius Chocolate-Chip Blondies

This one has white beans and oats!

1 1/2 cups chickpeas or white beans (1 can, drained and rinsed) (250g after draining)

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda level 

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar 

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup ground flax or quick oats (20g)

1/4 cup peanut butter (or other fat source) 

optional: 1/2 cup chocolate chips .

But getting on the subject... I think If you try to follow the rules of nutrition for a super immune system, plus cut the processed foods, drink plenty of water during the day and exercise at least a bit 3 times a week, I think we should be doing fine! (Happy face).

Feel free to leave a comment!

From Messy Laundry to Decent Laundry!

 The Catastrophe!

Well posting this pictures is not easy!... The disaster has no name here... but being five getting clothes dirty or clean plus the little things that one can  find and the "I better hide this here!"... the space became overcrowded and in need organization ASAP!!!...

Let me begin saying that I used to have a shelf were I put A LOT of thing for  years! on the left wall... that shelf had a rod-like so I hanged the clothes in there (so they last more than a couple of times)... and the laundry was managing Ok, not that good but Ok... 

Until one of those days when you are doing like 5 load of laundry ... washing... drying... hanging... folding... I was upstairs taking one of the baskets when I heard I BIG crash!... I ran to the laundry to find that my shelf had come off from the wall (tap-con and all) and the pile of things even block the entry to the little room...  I couldn't even access the wet clothes on the washing machine!, plus wet clothes  underneath the pile of things that were on the shelf... a total disaster!... So I did what I could and put on plastic bins the things (on these picture the laundry is "clean up" he he he he, believed or not! ) and use the space as you can see in the pictures below ...

In this pictures I already got out from the laundry a lot of stuff and have it in these clear plastic bins... as well as the cupboard on the wall usually if full of products inside and on top with things that I don't use too frequently...  

 And all the bags, I had to hang them like this in the mean time...

The other thing is that my four-section-hamper never fit inside the laundry  (I label them Color - Whites - Towels - Other ) so I had to have it  outside and if someone came to the house I'd throw a blanket on top or something like that...Suppously the clothes that are on top are clean and waiting to be folded :P... And of course that folded door there has been open a couple of times only in the last 7 years, because is always block with the hampers!

The Result

So my hubby and mom gave me money as christmas present, specifically for my laundry!... So I grab pencil and paper and the tape measure and came with an idea where everything could have a place...

I saw at a friends house that they had the same model of washing/dryer as us mounted, I thought those were made like that, but with a bracket (and invention of your own too) you can do it!... So starting from there, I already gain a big space in my little room... I decided to put on the left some shelf, meant it for all those things I had on only on one big shelf plus the cupboard products and the things on top of the machines...  Also all those bags, I found them a home on those Ikea hangers (super useful!)... and now I had space to put in my laundry baskets too!!!...WOW!!! ... Oh my hubby found in the garage a light fixture that we used to have years ago on an apartment so he installed it here and Ta-Daaa!!!... See for yourself...

The awful black stain on the washing machine is an anticorrosive that we sprayed there... I repainted with appliance paint later...

I decide to hand made a hanging line by myself and searching in home depot I came up with this, very cheap, but perfect for the job... The laundry has no windows as you can see so that's a disadvantage here... I try for some time hanging a line outside in between the little palm trees on the side yard, but the sun also doesn't get there for the shadow of the houses, plus I couldn't let them overnight there just for the thought of a squirrel, possum or what knows who could get curious with the line or clothes... So inside is the main hanging :)...

Ok, so here it is... my Laundry transformation... I know is not the things I've seen out there online on beautiful pictures!... but I"m proud of it!... it's functional, organized, clean and neat :)... I hope this can help someone out there to regain their laundry like we did!