Made by hands, expressed from the heart.

Monday, June 30, 2014

A Valeria veio me visitar!!!! - Today in Portuguese

Depois de 20 anos sem encontrar a minha querida amiga Valeria, ela veio se aventurar com a sua linda familia aqui pelos meus lados.
Foi muito bom ver o quanto a gente nao muda depois de tanto tempo, e ver a vida de cada uma na fase adulta, mais madura.
Claro que para esse momento especial, aprontei uns petiscos e umas cores alegres na mesa.

Preparei a salada com queijinhos no dia anterior, e usei vegetais da minha horta.

Preparei meatballs e Cogumelos Recheados com paezinhos da padaria.
A salada de frutas tambem ficou uma bem decorada, porque eu coloquei esses palitinhos do Michaels.
E cake pops e para saborear e para decorar.

E entre uma memoria e outra, dos tempos de faculdade, e das aulas de danca de salao, foi tao ver que continuamos as mesmas. Foi muito bom te encontrar Valerinha, e conhecer a sua familia! Espero te encontrar de novo!
E mesmo mais "amadurecidas", o senso de humor continua o mesmo.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Kindergarten is almost over...

School is almost over, and we really wanted to send a small, thoughtful gift for Mrs. Shumsky. She is a very sweet kindergarten teacher, and all the kids, as well as the parents, love to have her.
I really didn't want to send her sweets, like I usually do, or a gift certificate, sometimes my other option.
So my son saw the strawberries in our garden and wanted to bring them to her. And this is how I had this idea.
We first collected different herbs, little carrots and the strawberries from out garden.
Then I had him making labels for each one of them.
We labeled the herbs.
I wrapped everything in wrapping plastic (those you use to make baskets).
And placed everything in a gift box...
...along with my card saying thank you, for making Anderson's first year in Elementary School so great.
We will miss you Mrs. Shumsky. Booo-hooooo...

Friday, June 13, 2014

Super power donuts.

My son would live at Dunkin' Donuts if he could, to the point that the nice manager knows him and recognize us in the street.
But once an a while, I try to give my family something more nutritious. So I make a big mix of all my good for the body ingredients, and try to trick them to eat.

Since I had quinoa, but not the flour type, I put it through my Nutribullet, but I believe any coffee grinder or processor will do it.

I also did the same with oatmeal.
So I used 1/4 cup of each ingredient:
-quinoa flour
-oatmeal flour
-protein powder
-whole wheat flour
-spelt flour
-coconut butter
-honey
All mixed with:
-1 egg
-1/2 cup milk
-1 tsp baking powder
After mixed, I baked on my doughnut baking pan on 380 F degree oven for 20 minutes.

To serve them, I tried to make them look different. So I used cinnamon on one, then powder sugar, cocoa powder, and white frosting (using protein powder mixed with powder sugar and a drop of milk) with sprinkles.

And at least for today we ate healthy, so tomorrow we can indulge.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Mutt Puppy.

I just finished another miniature made with polymer clay.
At first, it suppose to be a Chihuahua, then it looked more like a Pit Bull. But in the end I decided to call my puppy a mutt, because I love mutts.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

The Very Hungry Catterpillar made at home.

I have my kids drawings and paintings all over the house. And even though I feel bad putting them in the garbage, there is just so much paper you can have over the years.
But once and a while I see something I want to save.
My son saw the story of The Very Hungry Catterpillar on Mrs Shumsky's class, and made some drawings on paper.

In the end I had a bunch of little drawings spread around the table.
So I decided to place them together in a book. To make more colorful, I glued each on some scrapbook papers I had in my craft storage.

I glued 2 pages together to make front and back, and used a hole puncher to make 2 holes in each page.

I used a thin ribbon to tie them together...

... and the book was ready.
*I just noticed I made a mistake on the end of the book. So I'll have to untie the ribbons and switch the page before the last one. But it will have to be later, because the laundry is waiting for me.