Bunchland

Melt them, shave them, or mold them; crayons make a great Valentines

Crayon Stained Glass Cards

You’ll need: waxed paper, a pencil sharpener, crayons, a bone folder, and a warm iron.

Remove the paper from crayons and shave them using a pencil sharpener. Sprinkle the waxed paper with the shavings. (The more wax you sprinkle, the more opaque the colours will be). Fold the paper in half, then fold along the edges to prevent the melted crayon wax from leaking. Iron the folded wax paper on a medium setting until the shavings melt. To prevent leaks, place a few sheets of scrap paper on the top and bottom. Cut the “stained glass” wax paper slightly smaller than the card and tape it closed using double sided tape.  Read more...

Catherine Romano blogs about crafty projects for kids and parents

This week, my plan was to create a little city. I love model cities (the Queens Museum of Art has a great model of New York designed by Robert Moses), and my son likes to imagine driving trains and buses through neighbourhoods, so I thought this would be a fun craft project.  This is what we’ve made so far.

Materials:

• Recycled boxes from household products
• Construction paper
• White Glue
• Scissors

Process:
1. Collect recycled boxes from around the house.
2. Sketch out a general idea for your city (What kind of buildings will you include? Which box is best suited for each kind of building?)
3. Cover each box with a sheet of construction paper. Add decorative details such as windows, flowers, doors.  Read more...

Your Sunday Morning plan:

EAT:

These Cardamom-scented oatmeal pancakes in the New York Times sound far too good to pass up.

You’ll need:

• 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup chopped almonds
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups cooked oatmeal
• 1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
• Vegetable or olive oil, for frying
• Honey, for serving

Combine flours, oats, almonds, baking powder, cardamom and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg and milk together, then stir in the cooked oatmeal and apricots. Add this to the dry mixture. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add a thin layer of vegetable oil. Spoon on the pancake batter and flip pancakes after 2-3 minutes. Keep cooked pancakes warm in a 200 degree oven while you cook the rest. Serve with honey.  Read more...