Printable Flashcards--Entomology Style!

I was sorting through some of my old files and I came across these flashcards I made when Bookworm was about three.  They aren't really anything fancy, but I figured I'd post them in case anyone else thought they were useful.   I majored in Entomology (the study of insects) in college, so of course, the counting flashcards are made with various insects.

You can use the bottom row on this set for your own personal favorites.  You could use scrapbook stickers to add pictures of your favorite animals or treats--just about anything!

Download the printable Insect Counting Flashcards here.  Print them double sided with the paper flipped on the short end.  Or, print each sheet, cut them out and glue the two sides together.  You could even paste both pieces onto an index card.

The second set is colors and shapes.  Older preschoolers/kindergarteners can also use them to learn to read and spell the colors.

Download the printable Colors and Shapes Flashcards here.



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Be sure to check out our clearance section at www.lilyandoak.com for some great deals on Scent Melts and warmers.

"Old Label" Scent Melts $1.75 per 3oz clamshell

Punched Tin Warmer $10.95

Assorted Warmers $9.50

My Favorite Christmas Present

Last spring, Rose wanted to play with my polymer clays, but I didn't want to let her because they are hard to work and are somewhat toxic.  That was when I discovered Pluffy.

It is made by Sculpey and is designed for kids.  It is soft right out of the package--unlike regular Sculpey clay--and is very easy for kids to shape.  It never dries out and once the kids have created a masterpiece, it can be baked to harden.  It's non-toxic and made for ages four and up.  It's light weight and will even float once it's been cooked.  So, Rose got a bunch of it for her birthday and has been making all sorts of creations with it for the past year. 

Rose and Bookworm were being very secretive in the basement with their clay creations in November.  I was under strict instructions not to come down unannounced and not to open any boxes in their crafting area.  On Christmas, I finally found out what they had been up to.  This was my present.

The brown and green turtle is a red eared slider--just like our two babies we've been raising for almost a year now.  The other is a sea turtle.  We'll overlook the fact that red eared sliders are not marine, but freshwater. :)

I liked the little fish hiding in the cave and the colorful dots of the reef.

And I think my most favorite part is the clown fish (most likely modeled after Nemo, of course) in the anemone.

Rose has made all sorts of fun things with her clay (including game boards complete with playing pieces and dice), but this was the most elaborate.  I thought it was pretty neat.


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Owl Pendant $4.95

Handpoured Scent Melts $3.95

Mod Flower Pendant $4.95

Basement Update

Well, I had intended to post a little more frequently, but I'd take pictures and then before I could get to writing a post, the pictures were outdated.  So, here we are finally.  We finished the framing aside from some soffits that will go in this week.

This is the back half with Rose's room, my craft room and the cold storage and furnace areas.  Oh, and our media center where all the DVDs, players, modems, etc will be hidden away out of sight.

Bookworm's room with the computer area to the left.  We'll basically have a multi-station computer center that is completely out in the open to help promote online safety and our family values in respect to computer use.

Guest room and bathroom.  See that tub/shower all-in-one big thing?  It was an adventure to get it where it is now.

We had to fit the tub down here.   I don't have a before picture, but there use to be a wall at the bottom of the stairs and a 36" door to the right that went into the basement.  We were already planning to remove the door and widen the opening, but after knocking out the end wall to get the tub down the stairs, we decided we liked the door for that closet best right there.  :)

The finished newly widened opening.  My brother helped us with the tub and the opening while his family was staying with us for a few days before Christmas.

He also helped us install our 100amp sub panel, which I was very happy about because the huge copper wire was a pain in the neck to get to our main box and I was just a little bit nervous about playing with the 200 amp/240 volt main panel.  :)

Right after the New Year, we also had our new chimney pipe installed.  We'll eventually have a wood burning stove, so we needed a heavy duty chimney pipe that could safely exhaust that sort of heat.  Here's the box in the basement ceiling where the stove will eventually hook in.  That bright light in the middle--it's daylight.  We had a big wind/snow storm on Saturday and we could look up it and watch snow flying horizontally through the cap.

Here's how it gets to the roof--through a corner of our bedroom.  We will frame it in and make a little shelf off to the left side.  I thought the little bit of lost space was well worth the ability to have a wood burning stove. 

So, there's the basement update.  We have the duct work in for the heating and cooling.  We need to install the bathroom fan and a ventilation fan for my craft room and then we'll move on to the plumbing and electrical.  Those should be fun too.


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Be sure to check out our clearance section at www.lilyandoak.com for some great deals on Scent Melts and warmers.

"Old Label" Scent Melts $1.75 per 3oz clamshell

Punched Tin Warmer $10.95

Assorted Warmers $9.50

My next big craft: A Basement!

Since moving into our new house in August, we've been excited to start the basement, but we wanted to do a few things outside first--like our fence--before it got too cold. We put grass in the backyard, complete with automatic sprinklers, over Labor Day weekend. October and most of November was taken up with installing vinyl fencing, building a small retaining wall and moving 12 cubic yards of dirt. That project is now as done as it needs to be for the winter and we are moving inside. We finished the last fence bit just before our big snow storm last week. Whew!

I have been designing the basement since we first made an offer on the home. My husband and I drew up several different floor plans until we came up with one we liked. My brother gave me his old floor plan drawing software that he didn't need anymore, so I was in business. Thanks to stacks of books from the library and a very helpful building department at the city, I came up with plans--complete with electrical diagrams--that were good enough to get our building permit approved. I've done minor home repair ever since I moved out to go to college, so I'm familiar with the basics of most systems in the home, but this is the first time I've done anything this major. It's been a lot of fun to learn more about the process to finish/remodel a basement. In just the framing I've learned all sorts of new building terms like blocking, backing, cripples, trimmers and king studs.  At least I can talk the right language when I go to the building supply stores while my husband is at work.  :)

We are starting our framing this weekend. I had all the wood delivered earlier this week and we've moved about a third of it into the basement. The rest is in the garage still. The kids didn't take long to set back up a GeoTrax train track after we cleaned up to bring the wood in.

Even my top and bottom plates I had laid out and marked for our first wall didn't escape the trains. I suspect it was Little Bug who thought they would make the perfect track.

And this is where our first wall will go.  It is one side of Rose's room.  She is very excited that her room is getting framed first. 

And to finish off this post, here's my current work room for making my Scent Melts (complete with the kids' Pluffy clay creations in the oven). :)  It's not far from where my craft room will be once the basement is done.  Rose and I are both super excited about that room!  I'll be breaking out the supplies today to do some big restocking.  On the pour list--more Christmas scents!  And for more great news, the entire holiday category of Scent Melts at www.lilyandoak.com are on sale 40% off until the 20th.  No coupon needed.  Order fast though, because once the oils are gone, that's it for this year.  Oh, and to top it off, any order of $20 or more qualifies for free shipping--again, no coupon needed. 

Have a great weekend!

Canning Your Own Meat

This past weekend, I found chicken on sale at my local grocery store for $1.35 per pound.  I bought a whole 40 pound case.  Last year, I learned how to can my own meat using a pressure canner and it has changed the way I use and shop for meat.  Since I did three batches over the weekend, I decided to share a few photos of the process in case anyone else is interested in giving it a try.

First off, a good source for directions for all your canning needs is the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning.  You can download the PDF sections for free by following that link.  The guides will give all the proper times and pressures to ensure that the food you can is safe for your family.  Be sure to follow the altitude adjustments if you are higher than 1,000 feet above sea level.

I use a Presto 23-Quart Aluminum Pressure Canner.  It will fit 16 wide mouth pint jars and I think 18 regular pints.  I have never done quarts yet, but I may try them sometime if I decide to can some stews or soups.



Basic supplies you'll need are:

• Clean Jars, Rings and Lids
• Pressure Canner
• Canning Salt (optional)
• Meat Scissors
• Cuts of Meat (chicken, beef, pork, etc)
• Jar Lifter (you can buy a set of canning tools for under $10 at many stores that make life much easier--especially when handling super hot jars.)

I like to use my meat scissors from my knife block to cut up the chicken.  It is much faster and easier than trying to do it with a knife.  I also bought some London Broil beef on sale too.  The scissors were perfect for cutting off the thick strip of fat on the side and then quickly cutting the meat into large chunks to put in the jars.  I love cooking with my canned beef--it is much more lean than the leanest hamburger if you pick less fatty cuts and if you watch for sales, you can get it for quite a bit less than lean hamburger.  Plus, you know exactly what is going into your jars.  Fill each jar to the proper headspace as specified in the canning guidelines.  You don't add any liquid to the meat when packing it raw.  Add salt if you want, wipe the rims with a wet cloth (very important!) and put a clean lid on.  You want to tighten them and then turn the ring back about a quarter turn.  They need to vent some while heating or they won't seal.

Once the jars are all loaded into the canner, follow the directions in the canner book for venting steam and raising the pressure.  Follow the USDA guidelines for how long to process the meat at the specified pressure.  When it's done, turn off the heat and allow the pressure to drop to 0.  Again, follow the directions for your canner.  When the canner is ready to open, carefully remove the jars to finish cooling on the counter.  Be careful--everything is still really hot.  You'll notice the liquid in the jars is still boiling too.  After the jars are cooled, remove the rings and wash the jars and rings in cool, soapy water.  Replace the rings and set them in a cool, dark place for storage.

I love cooking with my canned meat because it is just so fast and easy.  Not only do I have a great food storage item, but I have a very cost effective way to make my day to day meal preparations that much less stressful.  So, to finish off this post, here's a picture of my finished chicken--just note that it doesn't exactly look that appetizing, but it is delicious!

Gift in a Jar Ideas

I was thinking about making some Gift in a Jar presents for the kids' teachers and all the other random people that you need little gifts for at Christmas time. I came across ideas for quite a few yummy sounding and very pretty jars. Here's my top ten in case anyone else has been thinking about doing this as well. Enjoy!

Peppermint Stick Cocoa	Confetti Bean Soup	Toffee Blondies	Cranberry Hootycreeks	Cranberry Walnut Scones
M&M Oatmeal Cookies	Classic Cocoa	Chocolate Lovers Cookies	Minestrone Soup	S'mores In a Jar

InLinkz.com

Camo Tie-Dye Birthday Party

I've been promising to post about Bookworm's camo tie-dye party since it happened last spring, but our move sort of got in the way.  So, better late than never, here's our camo birthday party complete with hand sewn tie-dye pillowcases.

For party favors, I gave out notebooks covered in camo paper--like the ones I did for Rose's party--but with in-progress photos this time.  I also ordered a bunch of $1 books from the Scholastic book order and threw in a camo colored pencil.

For the books, I started with these mini composition books from Walmart (I forgot to take a picture of the plain books, so this is the first step as well).  I opened up one cover and laid it flush on the edge of the counter.

Next, I smeared a glue stick all over the cover and then stuck my first piece of cardstock right up against the black binding.

Repeat for the other side.  My camo paper was regular scrapbook paper and not cardstock, so any kind will work fine.

 Cut the excess paper off.  I found it easiest to cut right against the edge of the cover if I cut  with the inside up.

 Finished book.

For cake, I made camo cupcakes--super easy to decorate.  I mixed a few camo colors of frosting and filled disposable piping bags.  I didn't bother with tips.  I just snipped the end off of each.  

I piped random arrangements of the colors on each cupcake.  They're nothing fancy, but the kids liked them--and they were quick and easy.  That's my criteria for a good decorating idea.

Now, on to the party fun--tie-dyeing pillowcases.  I had intended to buy white pillowcases at Walmart since you can get a two pack for $5.  Unfortunately, they were sold out of them for several weeks leading up to the party--grrr!  So, we ended up getting fabric at the fabric store and Bookworm helped me sew them. I thought I had a picture of him sewing pillowcases, but I didn't, so this is him learning to sew a year earlier.

For the tie-dye, I used the Tulip kit. These are super easy and can be done fairly cleanly--depending on how many 8 year old boys you have spraying dye around.  Under close supervision, you could help even small children do a project in your kitchen.  It's not required, but I did purchase some soda ash to soak the pillowcases in to set the colors even better.  Just follow the directions on the soda ash.

We set up two tables outside and covered them with plastic tablecloths from the dollar store with paper on top of that to absorb some of the excess dye.  I also had plastic gloves for all the kids and warned all the parents not to send them in good clothes.  My good friend also came to help supervise since I new my husband would be tied up keeping Little Bug out of the mess.  It was a bit crazy, but no lasting damage was done to anything that mattered.

Since it was camo, some of the boys did traditional elastic based patterns, but most of them just scrunched up their pillowcases and put on splotches of color.

My kids' finished products--on top is Miss Sunshine's and Rose's, on bottom is Bookworm's.

I made this one for Little Bug using elastics and normal tie-dye patterns.  I would have used less black, but by the time the boys were done, black was about all that was left.

I loved how different everyone's pillowcases turned out.  Overall, I think the boys had a lot of fun.  And what did they do after all the party activities were done?  Legos and trains--of course!  Some toys are never outgrown.