Handmade Philly Book Exchange

Here's my entry for this month for the book exchange. I finally remembered to take a picture before sending it off. I think the image is appropriate for me, don't ya think? It was one those accordion type books - pretty fun to work in.

Starch Paste Tutorial for Natural Kids

It's my turn to do a kid friendly activity tutorial for the Natural Kids Blog. Since I don't have kids yet (soon as we all know) I decided to share our homemade Starch Paste recipe. It's a great recipe to have on hand for any kind of paper craft - especially paper mache.

Starch Paste! A glue for paper crafts that is Non-toxic, Biodegradable and can even be Organic.

Recipe:
1/2 cup flour
4 cups water
1/2 tsp thyme oil
1 tbsp salt



First you add the four to cold water.



Heat the water and flour -- stirring all the time!!!



Cook until the mixture starts to get translucent (you do not need to get to a boil) -- it will only get ever so slightly thicker at this point. As you can see below on the spoon.


Now, remove from heat, let the mixture cool. Once it's cool it's pretty much ready to use. You can use the paste fresh. Or put the leftovers in fridge -- it will get gelatinous (rubbery) from getting cold, and you will have to break it up with a wisk when you want to reuse it.



Above is Andrew showing you go about dipping paper for Paper Mache. We mainly use Starch Paste for paper mache but there are other uses for it such as::

• collage
• book binding
• any paper craft
• make your own paint by adding dry pigments, Bio Shield (their link is currently broken too bad 'cause they are such a great company) and crayola make non-toxic pigments.

This is why I do it.....

Here's a message from a buyer::

"Hi there,
A few moths ago you custom made a beautiful mobile for me and sent it all the way to Australia. I already left feedback but I just wanted to again express my thanks for such a beautiful product. I had my baby on the 20th of May, a little girl named Sable. She just loves her mobile. I have attached a photo if it over her cot."

Just to be a part of someone elses life in a small way. To make someone happy with what I've made. This makes me happy!

There's that Belly again...

We just keep growing. 35 weeks and counting.

A little garden montage

Why not, right? What else does one do when they are finally reunited with their long lost camera. Yup, we're back together and it feels good.

So here's what's happening in the garden. We're having a darn good season so far, I'd say.

Blooming rose, only gives a us a couple but they're are worth it :: Snap peas :: Red cover :: A Peanut Plant! :: Andrew made me a Lettuce Box so I could have a field of lettuce 'cause the individual plants just weren't working for me :: Delicious Honeysuckle
Resident "wild" cat - Meena patrolling her land :: Pea flowers :: The last of the Strawberries - we got a ton this year, at least a bowl every morning :: Avocado tree :: The Pickle Patch! I think were gonna have a lot of pickles this year - they look SO healthy and Andrew did this chicken wire situation for them this year that I think they're gonna love. Chicken Wire Rocks my friends, I couldn't recommend it enough :: Yellow and orange cosmos :: Radishes (that need to be pulled and replaced with the peppers that are dying to get into the ground) :: Tomatoes!! :: more Snap Peas.

I Grew This!

And I ate it. And it's was delicious!