Box of Noodles Costume.

My son wants to stick with the food theme for Halloween, this time we decided to make noodles.
I started making the box using white cardboard.
Painting the sign in front of the box.
Then glued all the parts together. This was my first attempt to put all the parts together, with the yarn on top for the noodles. Until I realized the cardboard was too flimzy and it was falling apart.
So I took the yarn out and had to reinforce the four sides of the box with foam board to make it sturdy. And closed with another piece of foam board on top to hold the "noodles".
To make more realistic, I cut white cardboard to make the flaps that suppose to close the box.
I folded some leftover cardboard in the shape of chopsticks.
Then covered with cardstock paper, with the color close to wood color .
And this is how I attached the chopsticks, using tape on the top board.
Then it was time to place the yarn to make the noodles. This time I decided first to place white piper cleaners and stick with tape around the top board.
This way I was able to run the yarn around the pipe cleaners and look more realistic.
And in the end I bent the piper cleaners and curled inwards to hold the yarn in place.
To add more color I made some vegetables and a shrimp using felt.
I placed a strap inside so he can wear it hanging from his shoulders.
And it is ready to be used.

It will be fun to walk around in the street like this.

Kawaii Cookies.

Other treasures I brought from Japan were these cute stamps I found at the 100 yen (1 dollar) store. Lucky I also found these animal faces at Amazon.com, if you want to order. Click here for the link. .
The faces are actually tofu stamps, but since I was making cookies at this time, I decided to try.
I found a good recipe of cookies here: All Recipes.
For the shape of the cookies I used my regular cookie cutters I got at the craft store.
The animal faces print very well after you dust in flour.
But the Japanese letters (hiragana) were a real challenge. Because first you have to find the tiny letters in the middle of all of them, then you have to arrange backwards in order to stamp in the correct way.

I ended up writing many cookies upside down, backwards or using the wrong characters.
Here one fail: to write cat is ねこ(neko), but I ended up writing れこ (reko), which does not mean anything. And one more thing, the こ　is upside down. <
So for the next one I made an extra effort to write correctly. It was not easy.
Then finally this one took me a long time to get it right. It says うれしい (happy).
So I decided the bear stamps are much easier to work with.
But everyone was happy with the mistakes. Because they got to eat the misspelled cookies before I took pictures, out of the oven.
Hopefully I will be better next time.

Solar Eclipse 2017 Party

Now I am a few hours after the solar eclipse and I can show how my solar projector worked. My cardboard and reading glasses solar projector did not disappoint and we followed the Sun get covered by the Moon for the whole time.
From the beginning at 1:23PM.

Get gradually bigger as time went on.
Until it got the maximum coverage in our area at 2:44PM.
All the excitement came together with my eclipse of the heart cake.
Cookies with brigadeiro (condensed milk and chocolate dessert from Brazil).
Sunny D, Sun chips, Sunkist, star rice krispies.
And all the other food the could not relate to the theme but the kids like to eat.
I don't remember ever seeing an eclipse in my life, probably because it has always been cloudy in the past.
But today just when the Sun, the Moon and the point on Earth were we stand aligned, we had clear skies. And we had a chance to be together and celebrate with our kids.
And that does not happen all the time.

Solar Eclipse 2017

Today is August 19, 2017 and we are approaching the Great American Eclipse 2017. For the crazy people making a big deal out of this, join me to prepare a party for this great event.
First, protection glasses are needed to avoid damaging your eyes forever if you really want to look at the eclipse. You need to make sure they are approved by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Reputable Vendors of Solar Filters & Viewers, and you can check the list on this link. They also say to check if they have an ISO number on the glasses to make sure they are real. I imagine there is really no more time to order online, but there are a lot of stores selling them (we saw them at Lowes).
Another way to watch the eclipse is using a Solar Viewer that projects the image of the Sun in a piece of paper. I followed the instructions on how to make it following T.R. Richardson's, from the 
College of Charleston 
Department of Physics and Astronomy. The link with the instructions is here.
Using his instructions, I popped a +1 lenses from reading glasses from the Dollar Store and made this contraption to project the Sun in white paper.
It is not looking very pretty, but I hope it works.
We are planning some food for the party, so I made signs to name each dish. These I will try to use round food, like meatballs, doughnut holes, cookies, round bread.

If you want to print these signs, just go to my link here: food signs 1, food signs 2, food signs 3 .
This sign I really don't know where to use, but I wrote it anyway. Maybe it can be the name of the party or the song we have to sing (the sign to print is with the page "food 3").
I made a sign to place on the table that the kids can help decorate. You can download here: Great Eclipse.
I saw this idea looking for space parties and I thought it was cute. Little favor bags with Milky Way and Orbitz gum (I couldn't find Eclipse gums). The link to print is here and the kids can also color.
I also made signs so we can hold to take pictures during the eclipse (I printed all in different colors construction paper).
The pages to print are here: Mooned and Date.
I made a little time sheet so we know when to run outside. Before that we will watch the livestream on the Science Channel or on the NASA website.
If you live in NY and want to follow this page, here is the link: NY Time. I wrote 72% but it may vary according to different sources. The little arrows and angle signs I made it by hand, because I don't know how to make it in the computer.
And I printed maps to follow the path of the eclipse throughout the country and little pinhole projectors shaped like the country and the state. Both you can find on the NASA website: pinhole projectors and map.
NASA's website have a ton of information, activities and ideas for the eclipse, so be sure to check: NASA.gov.
Even though we are not on the path of total eclipse, it will be fun to follow the trail on TV and have a great part of the sun covered.
We can't wait.