 Welcome to Liz S., our latest Cape Cod Mom who has joined our blogging team! Read more below her blog for her bio! By: Liz S *My 9 year old daughter and I made this together. Kids of most ages could participate in some or all of the steps I.E. unwrapping crayons, gluing them on the pumpkin, holding blow dryer etc Supplies needed- pumpkin, craft glue or hot glue gun, crayons, hair dryer, newspaper to put down under the pumpkin. We were outside to avoid a splatter catastrophe :) 1. Take the wrappers off of the crayons 2. Break crayons in half depending on size of pumpkin 3. Glue pumpkins around the top stem of your pumpkin 4. Once crayons are secured, use hair dryer on high. 5. Blow the hot air directly on the crayons one at a time, moving around a bit once you get a feel for it. Some crayons splatter, some pool along the stem- just play with it to get the look you want. This takes some patience! About 30 min of blow drying. Once they melt, the crayon wax hardens and you can instantly move the pumpkin around.  Liz Smith is a wife and mother living in Harwich. After growing up in Scituate, MA she lived in Boston and Salem before meeting her husband and moving to Cape Cod in 2000. She is a licensed preschool teacher working as a nanny. She attends Bridgewater State University as a full time student studying Early Childhood Education and Psychology. Liz returned to school at age 40 after being laid off when her company downsized. After 20 years as a successful retail manager, she started at Cape Cod Community College focusing on a new career and graduated with high honors
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 By: Sung Bin This time of year, we love to collect the many colors of autumn in leaves. There are so many rich reds and yellows and we love to use them to craft decorations. This week we have been reading The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger, a beautifully illustrated tale of a single autumn leaf who finds another brave companion. The book inspired us to make a window decoration with several colorful leaves and some clear packing tape. Technically, you are supposed to use clear contact paper and press the leaves between two sheets of clear contact paper for a transparent leaf decoration but we only had clear packing tape around. First, I laid out strips of the clear packing tape overlapping slightly to form a larger sheet and my little one and I arranged the leaves on the sticky side of the sheet. The fun part is picking out the leaves and pressing them flat on the sticky tape. Then we laid out another sheet made of strips on top of the leaves with the sticky side facing them to form sort of a sandwich with the leaves in between. We cut the finished sheet into the shape of a large leaf and trimmed it with some pieces of colored in paper. The finished product was a collaborative work that made for wonderful window art to usher in the Fall. We enjoyed collecting the leaves and talking about the changes in the season.  By: Sung Bin This week we have been all about Dragons. I try to find seasonal crafts for my three year old and I to work on together every week so we geared up for this one by reading some dragon stories and books. Our favorite is the Knight and the Dragon by Tomie de Paola, a story about unlikely friends, and Puff the magic dragon and Merlina and the magic spell (great book for harvest theme too), our close runner ups. Our dragon craft was a dragon puppet made out of craft or popsicle sticks, paper, paint, googley eyes and glue. First, we painted some 3" strips of paper and folded them accordion style for the body of the dragon. We cut out a dragon head and tail shape from paper and glued on eyes and decorated the tail. We used the pictures from the books to help with the head and tail cutouts. Then we glued the pieces together with the popsicle sticks glued an inch of the top of the stick to the base of the head and tail to move the dragon around. My daughter wanted one side of the dragon's face to be "fierce" and the other to be "happy" so we just drew and glued the two faces to be able to flip them. While waiting for all the glue to dry, we also baked some dragon bread by shaping bread dough into dragons embellishing them with pumpkin seeds and raisins for the scales and eyes. It was a little treat/snack after our hard work of crafting. When we were done feasting, we had a little puppet show and story time by making up stories about dragons in caves. We had a great time making and baking. Next week we are planning to make some Pompom apples and bake apple muffins. Happy September! 
 By Amy
The Cotuit Craft Fair is in the air.... for this weekend! Get ready for the 43rd Annual Cotuit Arts & Crafts Festival, Saturday & Sunday - August 17 and August 18 - from 10 to 4, Rain or Shine at the Cotuit Village Green! Below we have listed our 3 Must-Sees and our 2 Ones We Want to Check Out! Must-Sees! Lester Ruth, wooden toymaker extraordinaire will be at Booth 87. We have discussed before why Lester Ruth is Our Favorite Toymaker! But to sum it up: his wooden toys are exceptional, simple and sure to please children. The other 2 Must-Sees are two talented and crafty mama's whose designs and creativeness never cease to amaze me. Bzzyfingers will be there with her adorable dresses, onesies, bibs, blankets and more at Booth 7! Check out our Review of Bzzyfingers here. Also at Booth 7 will be A2Zbowtique who you may remember from another review we did! She has recently added cute aprons, great accessories, and a car organizer to her inventory! We recently purchased a car and crayon organizer and love it! Checking Out The two exhibitors we really are interested in checking out this year are Story Pictures by Diane Hanna in Booth 85 and the Fabric Dolls with matching child dresses by Janet Campagna in Booth 88. I check out the Story Pictures and I love the creativity of using the old pictures with the story on them. I am also excited to check out the fabric dolls with the matching dresses. Little girls love to match their "babies". It sounds like a great present for a special little girl! Check out our Top Five Exhibitors 2012 from last year as these are also worth taking a peek at if they are attending! There will also be the usual Art Tent, Tasty Food, and delightful local entertainment! It is definitely an event not to miss. Parking an be an issue but they provide a shuttle! Have a great weekend and Happy Shopping!  by: Linda Bartosik
...and living in Sandwich! If you are the mom of a child who is artistic and/or loves to write, this post is for you. Have you checked out the Splatter Art School yet? It's a hidden gem on Quaker Meeting House Road. One morning a colorful sign caught my as I was driving to Mashpee. It said Splatter Art School. Mmm...it sounded interesting. When I arrived home I checked out the website and was amazed at the art opportunities offered for grade school children. There are numerous art classes, as well as open studio times where children can come and create. Last week I stopped in to see the studio. It's adorable and completely stocked with every art material imaginable. The room is big, bright and beckoning. THIS is a place for children to explore and create. If you have a child that loves to write, come meet me on my iTeach website. Click on the Young Authors Workshops and see what kids can do. I will be holding a class here in Sandwich the week of July 22. I can take up to six students grades K-5. Email me at iTeach@lindabartosik.com for more info. The arts for children are definitely alive here in Sandwich. Every child is an artist and an author with a story to tell. Check out these two websites for creative fun for your child. Welcome summer on Cape Cod!  We are huge fans of Local Moms who are super creative! Many of you have heard us mention one of our favorite Mom Shops before and even seen her blog listed in the Cape Cod Times article as a wonderful and entertaining blog! We wanted to give you more background on the famous Bzzyfingers so you could understand why we love this shop and why we love Melissa so much! We are also featuring a FABULOUS Giveaway from Bzzyfingers, read through this post to find out more! A lifelong Cape Cod native, Melissa Oliveira is a mostly stay at home mom to three children (ages 2, 3 1/2 and 16) and lives with her husband and puggle named Belle. Mornings are spent attempting to tire the littles in hopes that nap time will afford her some quality crafting time at the kitchen table.  Also a long time multi-crafter, her interests have stemmed from jewelry making as a teen to scrapbooking and paper crafting, spending time working at a local scrapbook store and instructing classes as well as spending four years as a design team member for a major cardstock company. Her interest in sewing and crochet blossomed in her early twenties and has evolved to a small home based business. Melissa's "bzzyfingers" career began as an email address, then blog and Etsy shop, and finally a facebook fan page. Many of the products offered through her etsy shop and facebook page are inspired by her needs as a mother of little girls; pacifier clips, diaper clutches, burp cloths, diaper changing mats, bibs and hair clips as well as embellished shirts, skirts and dresses. You can find the most recent sneak peeks of her latest creations and custom orders posted regularly on www.facebook.com/bzzyfingers.  Melissa shares "I find inspiration all around me. I love browsing publications like "Artful Blogging" and "Mollie Makes", keeping up with my favorite crafting and style blogs as well as sites like Pinterest and Etsy. Walking into a fabric store makes my heart beat a little faster and pairing the perfect color and prints together gets the creative juices flowing with an unstoppable urge to cut and sew." Follow Bzzyfingers in these ways: blog: http://www.bzzyfingers.typepad.com etsy: http://www.bzzyfingers.etsy.com facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bzzyfingers  Melissa is offering a custom Super Hero Cape to TWO lucky Cape Cod Mommies readers! All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter Form below! As an added bonus, she is offering 20% off any order from her etsy shop through May 23rd, 2013 using coupon code "CCMOM20" upon check out. These Super Hero Capes have become an instant sensation already!BZZYFINGERS GIVEAWAY!!!! By: Sung Bin
With the winter solstice approaching next Friday, I thought I would come up with some activities with poems and songs to inspire our family and to usher in the start of winter. Everyone who celebrates does so differently and I wanted to create a ritual and tradition around the solar return and the shortest day of the year. It is also an opportunity to remind ourselves of the power of the natural world that surrounds us. For me, it is a peaceful respite during the holiday season to be able to think more in the dark as I reflect on how much time has passed. I think back with such awe over the last year and how much has changed but also remained the same. We plan to watch the first sunset of the solstice and pause to remember how human we really are. For my toddler, I found an easy recipe to make at home salt dough ornaments for holiday gifting and decorating as Christmas is a few days after. Salt Dough for Ornaments Ingredients: 1 Cup Salt 2 Cups Flour 3/4 Cups Water Combine salt and flour in large bowl. Make a well in the mix and add water. Knead the mix until smooth and use cookie cutters or any shape makers to make your ornaments with the dough. Don’t forget to poke a hole on the top of your dough ornaments to add the string or yarn. Bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees in the oven. Paint and decorate when the dough ornaments are cool. (I am going to use rubber stamps on mine such as alphabet stampers to form words like “peace” and “love” before baking). I’m excited to get started on these with my toddler. Another tradition we started last year is planting new paper white bulbs in recycled glass jars so we plan to give those out to family and friends to grow in the winter. Finally, we normally have our dinner by candlelight but for the solstice will add a few additional candles to symbolize the light entering the world and to revel in the stillness of the dark night. What are your traditions? We'd love to hear from you, comment below!  By Sung Bin
This month I thought it would be a good opportunity to focus on gratitude with Thanksgiving approaching. I didn't want it to be all about the feast but about the appreciation for those around us we cherish. We crafted this sort of family tree together out of craft felt. Though my toddler helped by choosing the colors I did do most of the project while she was napping since there is some basic sewing needed. You can see the finished tree has some simple sewn leaves of different shapes and then we hung them on some twigs and branches from our yard. I made a sort of little pocket in each leaf to slip in pieces of paper with the names of each family member per leaf and an extra one for a mystery non-family member. Every day we pick a leaf and read the name off the paper inside. We would do something nice for this person like write a thank you note, draw a picture, send a postcard or call them to say thank you. Something simple but to allow a small act to show how thankful we were to have this person in our lives. Since we don't have a huge immediate family it wasn't quite as daunting to sew enough leaves but I imagine you can probably put multiple name slips on each leaf to save time. Along with the leaves I made two small banners 'give thanks' but you can really put whatever you want. I hope to continue this every year and that it might be a good tool for us to take some time to be appreciative.  It's that time of year again! The famous Cotuit Craftfest is this weekend!!! I am so excited I can't stand it!!! Anyone who knows me knows why this is my favorite Crafty weekend of all......... the TOYMAN will be there!!!! I save my change all year long just for this specific weekend (Read on to find out mroe about this local legend!)
Beginning in 1970, and now celebrating their 42nd year, the Cotuit Arts and Crafts Festival will feature more than 125 outstanding artisans and craftsmen. They will gather this weekend from 104pm on both days, to offer their latest creations to those who venture to the quaint, seaside village of Cotuit knowing they will view some of the finest traditional and contemporary crafts of the entire region. Not only will there be amazing crafts, but local music will pepper the soundscape for both days! Food will be offered by the local church, kids activities will take place under the kid tent with the playground on site to entertain the famly. Below are my TOP Exhibitors who are a MUST to visit and why..... 1.) Lester Ruth The Toymaker (Booth 51) = He is the real deal folks! If you haven't read my previous tribute to this amazing craftr then read it now Tribute of Toymaker Lester Ruth This man is no joke, a modern day Santa if you will. American made wooden toys for children and adults! You can't go wrong with any purchase made here. He stands by his products 100% lifetime guarantee! And the kids LOVE LOVE LOVE his toys!!! These are toys that can be heirlooms and handed down! I cannot say enough great things about this legend, he is just AMAZING!!!! 2.) Mattapoisett Bird Works (Booth 72) = Michael McCarthy hand carves/whittles every single one of these birds. They are absolutely exquisitely done and his attention to detail is superior! I enjoy visiting his booth every year and watch in awe as he carves right in front of spectators and shoppers. I am most excited to bring Ethan to this booth because I know how excited birds make him. Plus I know how he is fascinated in watching creation processes. 3.) Lori Devlin Author of Cape Cod Critters (Booth 84) = Lori will be there signing her book Cape Cod Critters, a fabulous book for kids about the unique wildlife inhabitants of Cape Cod. A fun and playful read, kids love this book!!! 4.) Sweet Baby Georgia (Booth 85) = And when your done getting your book signed, pop in next door to see Abigail, owner of Sweet Baby Georgia who creates adorable handmade hair accessories for babies and girls. She is a fellow Cape Cod Mommy as well and I always enjoy supporting our local moms!!!! 5.) Summer House Natural Soaps (Booth 104) = Natural soaps and body care products, all handcrafted in their workshop in Barnstable Village. I am a huge fan of soaps especially naturally made ones. I love checking out this eco friendly businesses' products and sampling the fragrances! With soaps for even the most sensitive to soaps for furry friends, they cover it all. My personal faves from here are: Bath sea salts, the oatmeal milk bath for sensitive skin (works for babies/adults with excema), and the lip balm - the cranberry oil, cocoa butter and other ingredients will definitely help sooth dry lips this season! These are just some of my favorites to see this yea. There are over a 100 more crafters who will be there this weekend though! Will you be attending this year? Who are you MOST excited to see? Check out Emily's Whip It Up Wednesday blog post at Nap Time is My Time! Every week she posts her own homemade item to share. Others are invited to share their own homemade items as well! A handmade project is either homemade or made by hand – not something you’ve purchased. It includes recipes, paper crafts, sewing projects, decorating ideas, photography, furniture transformations and much, much more! It doesn't have to be a current project either, it may have been a past recipe or craft project but it can still be shared on this. While I don't always post things I have done, sometimes I do share a few of my recipes and I may in the future share some photos or crafts I take on. I know there are tons of crafty moms out there is a huge variety of industries, I would love to see you join us on the Linky party and see your ideas! Share away and be proud of your creations! This handmade linky party will be open until Monday at 3pm EST.  |
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