Tie-Dyed Easter Eggs - Uova di Pasqua al Tie-Dye

Sera and I decided o share our Easter crafting project with you; Tie-Dyed easter eggs.

1) hard boil your eggs so that they are not so fragile and can be eaten later.
2) Put 2 layers of cling film and one paper towel in a plastic bowl
3)Drip food colouring onto the paper towels
4) spray the coloured paper towels with water until evenly wet and he colours have blended.

-

Voglio condividere il crafting di Pasqua che abbiamo fatto ieri; Uova di Pasqua tie-dyed. 

1) far cuocere le uova in modo che essi non sono così fragili e possono essere mangiati più tardi. 

2) mettere due strati di pellicola trasparente e un tovagliolo di carta in una ciotola di plastica 

3) coprire la carta con qualche gocciola di colorante alimentare

4) spruzzare i tovaglioli di carta colorati con acqua fino uniformemente bagnato e lui colori sono mescolati.

5)Carefully wrap rubber bands around your eggs and place them in the bowl
6) take the sheets of cling film and paper and wrap them tightly around the egg, being careful not to stain your hands
7)wrap more elastic bands around the package
8) Let the egg sit in the package for 2-3 hours
9)Unwrap the egg, rinse and enjoy your beautiful new colours!

-

5) avvolgere con attenzione qualche elastici intorno le uova e metterli nella ciotola 
6) prendere i fogli di pellicola trasparente e carta e avvolgere strettamente intorno all'uovo, facendo attenzione a non macchiare le mani 
7) avvolgere più elastiche sul di tutto il pacchetto 
8) Lasciare l'uovonel pacchetto per 2-3 ore 
9) Svolgere l'uovo, sciacquare e godetevi i vostri bellissimi nuovi colori!

I'm  taking a few days away from the blog so I'm wishing you all a -

 Sto faccendo una pausa dal blog per un paio di gironi allora:

HAPPY EASTER AND PASSOVER - BUONA PASQUA E PESACH A TUTTI!

♥ Jess

---

Liking buonaserababy?  I'd love to hear from you! Now you can follow in so many ways!

twitter ♥ bloglovin' ♥ pinterest ♥ facebook ♥ google ♥ email ♥ instagram

Teaching Toddlers Crafts - Insegnando Mestieri ai Bimbi

Inspired by this post  on the lovely blog Charlaanne which I follow regularly, I decided it was time to start Sera crafting.

Today I put some leftover plastic window screen in an embroidery hoop and drew a heart on it with a Sharpie. Then I let Sera draw a bit more before threading an embroidery needle (the kind without too sharp a point) and showing her how to sew. I'm pretty amazed at what she got accomplished before her attention was turned to other things, but she was definitely interested and had some fun with it... and she even followed the heart! What a proud mommy I am!

I really believe that teaching kids crafts is so so valuable. A few generations back people had the opportunity to learn these types of skills at home and in a school environment but now there seems to be very little focus spent on teaching manual skills. Sewing in particular is a skill that is not only creative in nature but also very practical.  How many adults do you know who can't sew on a button to a shirt or jacket when the time comes?  I'm glad I'm not one of them.

Here are some more resources on line on how to teach your children to sew... C'mon mums! I want to hear if you try this out for yourselves!
TINKERLAB  Filthwizardry childhood101

-

Ispirato da questo post sul bel Charlaanne blog che seguo regolarmente, ho deciso che era il momento di iniziare a insegnare un po di cucito a Sera. 

Oggi ho messo un po di zanzariera in plastica avanzato in un telaio da ricamo e ho disegnato un cuore con un pennarello. Poi Sera ha disegnato un po 'di più e abbiamo infilarto un ago da ricamo (quelli senza un punto appuntito). Ho mostrato a Sera come cucire. 

Sono abbastanza stupito di quello che lei si compie!  Poi le sue attenzioni erano rivolti ad altre cose. Era sicuramente interessato e aveva un certo divertimento con esso ... e ha anche seguito il cuore! Sono una mamma super-orgogliosa!

Credo che insegnare ai bambini l'artigianato è così prezioso. Un paio di generazioni fa gente hanno avuto l'opportunità di imparare questi abilità sia a casa che in un ambiente scolastico.  Ora sembra che c'è poca attenzione o tempo per insegnare le abilità manuali. Cucire in particolare, è una competenza che non è solo di natura creativa, ma anche molto pratico. Quanti adulti conosci che non possono ricucire un bottone di una camicia o una giacca quando sarà il momento? Sono contento di non essere uno di loro. 

Ecco alcune risorse online su come insegnare ai vostri figli a cucire ... Mamme avanti! Voglio sentire da chi tenta questo gioco! 

TINKERLAB Filthwizardry childhood101

♥ Jess

Have you entered my Etsy Gift Card Giveaway yet?

Hai ricordato di registrati per il carta regalo etsy?

---

Liking buonaserababy?  I'd love to hear from you! Now you can follow in so many ways!

twitter ♥ bloglovin' ♥ pinterest ♥ facebook ♥ google ♥ email ♥ instagram

Christmas Eve gift wrapping

We're getting very close to the big day and today I spent two hours wrapping presents and still don't have everything ready.  As you can see no ribbons have been tied yet and I still have a bag full of gifts unwrapped and no where near ready to go. I have scotch tape blisters.

Luckily we're in Taranto and I have had tones of help with Sera. In fact I haven't actually seen her for more than ten minutes at a time since we've arrived but then I suppose what's nice about the holidays is also that she gets to spend time with family that she doesn't see too often. And I get a break!

Here in Taranto Babbo Natale, or Santa, arrives tonight, on Christmas Eve after a quick dinner of panzerotti and other fried foods. It's quite fun to see the kids staring out the windows of the apartments trying to catch a glimpse of his sled with their sleepy, excited eyes.

There's still a lot to do before Babbo Natale makes his debut so I'm back to the gift wrap. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve with family and friends and loved ones!

Dressing the Tree 2013

To keep with our travel plans this year we had to set up the tree quite early.  Sera has a lot of memories from last year but I think this is the first year she's really excited about Christmas.  This is the first time she helped to dress the tree and my control freak nature had to take a backseat. I think it came out quite nice in the end... with just a few tweaks!

We've had our synthetic tree for nine years now and it's not showing its age at all. I have only ever once had a real tree and felt horrible as my flatmates and I finally threw it out of our second story window, dry and dishevelled in the middle of March 2003.  

Every year I make a few new ornaments and maybe buy one or two that keep in style with the traditional red, green and white theme.

Hannukah Toy Felt Board Craft

This year Hannukah is sneaking up on us early, November 27th to be precise!  That's only a few days away! I don't want to miss out on this important holiday with everything else we have going on at the moment; trying to sell our house, pack for our big trip to Canada on the 30th and get everything ready for that other big winter holiday, Christmas.

Since we will be in Canada for 6 of the 8 days of Hannukah I also have to take into account the fact that my heavy pewter Menorah doesn't really travel well and that it's not possible to light the 3rd candle on an intercontinental flight.

Last year Sera and I made a paper Menorah but that won't really pack well either what with all the crumpling.  It barely survived the 8 days of sitting side by side with the regular one. Little toddler hands...

Last year's Hannuka celebrations. You can see our paper  Menorah to the right of the pewter one.

What's the solution? A felt Menorah of course, complete with removable candles... and what better way to create it that with Sera herself on a rainy afternoon in November?

First we cut out the shape of a Menorah in the blue felt. We made certain parts "3D" by gluing extra felt on top. Then we made 9 little rectangles as the candles and glued yellow flames to the tops.  Since the background is felt and the menorah is felt and the candles are felt we didn't even need to attach anything to the backs to make them stick. Felt is fun because felt always sticks to felt.

I finished off the project by making a little box out of brown felt to store the candles in when they're not in use. Not only is this project quite fun to do together, but it will teach Sera about an important tradition in Judaism, and about numbers as well, as each night you add another candle.

I'm quite pleased with the results! Look how hard she is concentrating on putting the candles into their holders!

If crafting isn't your thing I have also spotted a fantastic wooden menorah for little kids to play with.

Please leave me a comment if you decide to try your hand at making your own felt Menorah!
Happy Hannukah!!