Design For Small

I got another package in the mail from Princeton Architectural Press.  Enclosed were two books and a hand written note letting me know they are publishing their first architecture series for children. The "Who Built That?" books look at famous examples of important houses and buildings and their famous architects, from Frank Lloyd Wright and his amazing Fallingwater to Mies Van Der Rohe with a little shout out to Bauhaus and utilitarian design, to the wacky, sculptural work of Frank Gehry. I dare say I learned a few things about some of my favorite buildings, and it seems the perfect way to kick off a little mini-series about teaching applied art/design to children. Here's a peek into the book about modern homes. 

The Farnsworth House by Van De Rhoe is a glass pavillion set amongst the trees. It is the most simple, and my favorite in the book.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater is such a powerful building, sitting atop and within a waterfall. Many of the famous structures featured in this book show how designers are inspired by, and challenged by the surrounding environment.

We pulled out my book about Case Study houses, and compared The Eames House in photos to the illustrations in the children's version.  The children's book answers the question that every child asks: Why? Why did they design it that way? Why did they use those materials? Maybe I'm a kid at heart, but I want to know why too.

Who Built That? Modern Houses: An Introduction to Modern Houses and Their Architects and
Who Built That? Skyscrapers: An Introduction to Skyscrapers and Their Architects  by Didier Cornille are out today.  Stay tuned for more on teaching kids about design.  

The Days Are Long

The dog days of summer are upon us. Gone is the magic of school letting out, the first splash in the pool, and cool bite of a popsicle; we are now firmly in boredom territory. It’s time to get creative. So for today I’m giving you a real dog day project, using not much more than a little cardboard, some Scotch® Duct Tape, and a couple of old toy cars. I promise you hours of amusement and hands on fun. And wouldn’t you know it, before we started construction on the new deck, we made a little movie!



For this project we used:

A large cardboard box, cut into 5” wide strips
Scotch® Chalkboard Tape 
Scotch® Dry Erase Tape
Scotch® Tangerine Duct Tape and Green Apple Duct Tape
Scotch® Moving and Storage Packaging Tape
Scissors/ Box Cutter 
A piece of white chalk
A dry erase pen
Some string
2 bamboo skewers (or straws)
Small toy racing cars

We built the race tracks by cutting 5” wide strips of cardboard and taping them together with a little packaging tape. You can do this using scissors, but it is easier and faster with a box cutter(adults only!).

Folding the side of the track at about 1” in on either side provided enough of a lip to keep the cars on the track. To make the black track, we used Scotch® Chalkboard Tape. We secured the tape to the end of the track and one person pulled the backing from the tape while the other smoothed it along the cardboard. It was very easy.

Then Jasper hand drew the dash lines using white chalk. The Scotch® Chalkboard Tape was easy to wipe off when he wanted to fix some of the dashes. I made a little grandstand with a score-keeper that also acted as a way to stop the cars at the end of the race. The marquees are made using Scotch® Dry Erase Tape, and we used a dry erase pen to tick off the winner of each heat. It was easy to wipe away when they wanted to start the game over. To make the grandstand I folded a 5”x 24” strip of cardboard into a rectangle and secured it with a packaging tape. I cut 5” strips of Scotch® Colors Duct Tape to create a little underlay frame for the strips of Scotch® Dry Erase Tape for the marquee. I topped the stand with some flags made from Scotch® Colored Duct Tapes secured to a piece of twine, tied to a couple of skewers and taped to the inside of the box.

The boys hadn’t played with their old cars in months, but they were out on the track all day. At one point they took the game apart and made one long track and fashioned a tunnel out of another box and invented a whole narrative about their car world. They didn’t once mention how “bored” they were. A dog day success!

Want to see what else you can make with Scotch Colors and Patterns Duct Tape? Check out their Scotch® Duct Tape Pinterest Boards , Scotch® Duct Tape Facebook , and Scotch® Duct Tape Twitter pages for more project inspiration. 

I am proud to be a 3M- sponsored blogger, and, as part of my responsibilities, I get the opportunity to evaluate products from Scotch® Duct Tape. Opinions are my own and additional product used in the project were selected by me.

Drawing On The Wall

It's amazing what a little paint can do to quickly transform a space. This week I slapped a few coats of magnetic primer and chalkboard paint onto a floating wall that divides our kitchen from the living space, a wall we will be tearing down sooner or later.

Here's what it looked like when we bought the place(so clean, and horribly dull). We will be knocking down both this wall and the refrigerator wall to completely open the house. 

Currently, the cheap flat paint on the walls is covered in hand prints and wow, the multiple floor types drive me pretty batty. While this will all go when we remodel in the spring, painting "the great divide" chalkboard black and styling this inexpensive white shelf has created additional storage for frequently used housewares and a space for the kids to draw all over the wall, especially for my preschooler, Wylie, who likes to practice his W's.

To season the chalkboard wall, I first rubbed it with the side of a piece of chalk and then erased in circles with a felt eraser. I wanted it to have that lived-in look right off the bat. For this 10x10 project I used 2 cans of magnetic primer, which is oil based and messy to apply, leaving the walls a flat black. I then gave it a single coat of chalkboard paint which ended up being one can. For under $50 we went from sloppy and dirty to a beautiful, styled mess, something I can live with for the next year. 

 

Young Makers: The Tapestry Project

I'm currently toying with the idea of offering an indie crafting class for the pre-tween set. I imagine it to be a time to work on projects like string art, sculptural/3D pieces, and paper lanterns, and naturally we would also talk out the world's problems while we craft. I had a couple of little ladies over last weekend to work on one such project that I designed to share over on Playful Learning today.  After learning how to make my own simple loom for a weaving assignment in a textiles class, I decided to try it out as a kid's project, as the materials and technique are really quite straightforward. I was joined by 4th graders Ella and Amelia for an afternoon of weaving, here's Ella's finished tapestry...

For the full tutorial please hop on over to Playful Learning! Thanks girls!

PS. If you haven't done so yet, go ahead and like the 14 Days of Love Giveaway  on Facebook. A collective group of design/craft bloggers (including me) are giving away some amazing gift cards just to show a little love for our amazing readers. Enter today, some giveaways end soon. Here's the full schedule:

Feb. 1 Oleander and Palm - $100 Land of Nod ecard

Feb. 2  Design Improvised - $100 Hayneedle ecard

Feb. 3 Sarah Hearts - $150 Wayfair giftcard

Feb. 4 Bunny and Dolly - Petunia Pickle Bottom Diaper Bag and Baby Book

Feb. 5 Poppy Haus - $100 gift certificate to Kidecals

Feb. 6 A Golden Afternoon - Tea Collection

Feb. 7 Lulu the Baker - Umba Products

Feb. 8 The Flair Exchange - $100 Tiny Prints giftcard

Feb. 9 Melissa Creates - $100 prize package from Sassy Steals

Feb. 10 Frock Files - Eat Boutique

Feb. 11 Hello Lidy - $100 West Elm giftcard

Feb. 12 Living on Love - $75 Minted giftcard

Feb. 13 Jade and Fern - $50 Home Depot Gift Card and a Handmade Valentine

Feb. 14 Squirrelly Minds - Omiyage gift box valued at $100

Don’t miss out on any of the great prizes! Like the 14 Days of Love Giveaway pages.

Be Well

Leading up to every major family gathering, someone in our immediate family gets wicked sick. It's a fact. There was the great summer flu of 2010, where we wiped out the entire family while on vacation in Pajaro Dunes. We had already established ourselves as Typhoid Mary the Thanksgiving prior when my nephew Luke was born, and we promptly dismantled the family including the new baby with a preschool acquired tummy bug.  Last year when we hosted Christmas, my husband and I passed a doozy of a stomach flu onto the family, sidelining my sister-in-law Stacey from New Years festivities.  For a family that rarely gets sick, we sure choose to do so at the worst times.  So this last week we were not all that surprised when Wylie spiked a fever and evacuated from every orifice the day before Thanksgiving, the dinner we were to be hosting. The whole family decided to come anyway, and we're still waiting to find out who we've knocked down. Jasper came down with it on Saturday, and is just now feeling better. 

I think it's time to cleanse. Wylie and I worked on a magic potion together today and we think it's just what's needed to make us well. We named it Christmas Juice after it's pretty holiday ingredients. It's made with cranberries, astringent and excellent for cleansing the kidneys and liver, sweet ripe pears rich in fiber and Vitamin C, Antioxidant powerhouse kale and tummy-soothing ginger. The juice was delicious, our little Typhoid Mary drank his entire 4oz serving in a matter of seconds.  He even tried a few raw cranberries on their own (so tart!) and liked them. Here's to our health!

Christmas Juice
3-4 4oz servings

1 cup cranberries
2 ripe pears
2 tbsp fresh ginger
1/2 bunch kale

Here's the juicer we love...

Finger Food

Last week I got an email from Blurb, the amazing site where you can make your own photo-books in order to self-publish a coffee table book, make a portfolio, or just create an amazing photo-driven gift... Last year I used Blurb to make a book about my blog to take with me to Altitude Design Summit so that I could share a beautiful hard copy of my blog with my DIY colleagues and introduce my work to the media and brands that were there to meet bloggers.  I was new at the whole selling myself thing (I'm still pretty reluctant) so having the book as a tool to share my blog made things a lot easier for me, and as it turns out, made me memorable to some brands, including Blurb.  Oh, here's the book link in case you are curious. A while back, shortly after ALT, Blurb asked me if they could use my book as a marketing piece for their brand, because they really liked what I made, and I of course said yes. So I was pretty excited when they contacted me again, this time because they have decided to throw a party to showcase some of their favorite food books, and they want me to cook for some folks, and maybe even shoot a little video. Yes, I'm pretty excited.  I had to pick something from the book, which only has a small food section, and because it makes a great finger food, and it's pretty fun to look at I chose the sushi hand-balls AKA temarazushi from this post.  I'm working on making them a little more visually interesting for the table so it's what's for dinner around here right now.  Here' a freshened up tutorial.  Bay Area readers(Corner Blog), let me know if you might want to come to the party. I can invite a few folks. It's on October 14th from 6-9pm in San Francisco.  

You will need: short grain white rice, seasoned rice vinegar, nori(seaweed), a hole punch (that looks funny), some scissors, plastic wrap and whatever ingredients you choose to add. I use mango, avocado, and smoked salmon on mine, because they work as lunch food for my kids, but you can use raw sushi-grade fish or cooked shellfish to make it more traditional.

Prepare rice.  The ratio is 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cups water.  For best sticky rice, you want to rinse the rice ahead of cooking.  To do this just measure into a colander and run under room temperature water for a minute.  Put rice into a large pot with water, bring to a boil, cover and reduce to low heat and simmer for 20 minutes.  It should be puffy. Transfer rice to a bowl and drizzle with vinegar (about 1/8 cup). Cover with a cotton towel and allow to cool.  When it is room temperature, form into golf-ball sized portions, using water on your fingertips to prevent sticking. 

Here's where you get crafty.  I use a 1.5" circle punch and a single hole punch to cut my nori, but you can simply use scissors and cut the nori into 1-2" squares and make your own design. Get a bunch prepped, then it's time to assemble.

I used the top of the milk container to cut slices of mango, and used random cuts of avocado and thin slices of salmon, about 1.5" in length/diameter and draped them over the top of the rice ball, placing a nori piece on top, the I covered them in a 8" cut of plastic wrap and pressed it over the top, twisting at the back to form the ball tightly and incorporate the ingredients. In the original tutorial I dipped the nori in water before this step, but I don't think it's necessary.

And that's it, once they look smooth under the plastic wrap, pull them out and put them on a platter.  It's really pretty easy.

No Kid Hungry

I'm going to put down my scissors and take a break from all the quinoa and paper lanterns today, because I want to share some important information with you about the No Kid Hungry Campaign. September is a call to action month for childhood hunger. I didn't know this until very recently, but 1 in 5 children in United States is food insecure. 20 percent. It kind of blows my mind to think that is even possible in the United States. Here's a short video about why there are so many hungry kids, with information on what you can do to really help remedy this problem. It's not about donating money. I watched the video and then I signed a pledge to take reasonable, targeted action to change things. Mother Teresa said "If you can't feed one hundred people, then feed just one" and that seems pretty doable. Check it out and see what you think. If you are with me, click here to sign the pledge and take some small action to get the ball rolling. When you sign up, Jeff Bridges sends you a personal thank you video, and who doesn't want The Dude to tell them how great they are for helping to eradicate childhood hunger?

Old School: Making Fruit Roll-Ups

Let me start with the fact that I've seen this idea popping up all over Pinterest lately and it was one of those things I just had to try for myself.  The fruit roll-up was something I always wanted to have in my own lunch growing up, because it seemed candy-like, and it probably was, because it wasn't ever in my lunch. Making an all fruit version yourself takes very little prep time, because all you need to do is puree fruit in a food processor or blender, but they take hours in the oven at a low temperature to dehydrate into fruit leather.  Two baking sheets yields 12-14 roll-ups, and they last for up to 4 months, so it's a worth-wile weekend project. Next time I think I'll try some more adventurous combos like spicy mango-chipotle, or a super tart lemon-apple. Whatever the ingredients, here's the technique:

I made two types, mango and raspberry-apple.  Cube 2 mangos and blend to a puree in a food processor, spread to a thin, smooth layer on to a silicone lined sheet.  To make the raspberry-apple, puree 12oz of raspberries and 2 peeled, chopped pink lady apples.

Place in a cool oven, no warmer than 170 degrees, and allow to dehydrate over the course of 5-7 hours. Turn off the oven and cool to room temperature before peeling back.  Cut into 6" squares and roll up in wax paper, securing with a piece of tape.

 

It's the perfect snack to eat with your new buddy.  Look at these goofballs.  

Goat Cheese Macaroni

 

Oh it's that melancholy time of year. The summer abruptly comes to an end and school starts back up for our whole family. I began my classes on Monday, but for the men in the house today is the first day of school. It's our tradition to make comfort food on the eve of summer break's end, and this time around I really outdid myself- one can brag if their macaroni and cheese is considered "really yummy" and "I want this for breakfast" good. We've found that our dairy-free kid can tolerate goat cheese, so I used a goat cheddar for this dish (found at Trader Joes) and he was able to dig in with the rest of us. Here's our simple recipe that will hopefully become a comfort staple in your house all year round.

Goat Cheese Macaroni

12 macaroni pasta

10 oz grated goat cheddar (mild or medium)

3 tbsp butter (we use Earth Balance)+ 1/2 tsp for buttering dish.

1/3 cup milk (we use rice milk)

1/2 cup panko 

Sea salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

In in large pot boil 8 cups of salted water and cook pasta until al dente.  Strain and set aside.  In a sauce pan over medium-high heat melt butter, stirring in milk before butter begins to brown. Add shredded cheese and stir constantly until smooth and combined. Butter a baking dish and fill with macaroni. Pour cheese sauce over the top and with sprinkle panko, salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes until the panko is golden and crisped.