outline hands.

Decorate the hand prints. 

cut out the hand prints.

paint the dowling

draw the outline of your leaf and cut it out.

Wrap the first hand print around the top of the dowling and fasten with glue. Wrap the second hand print around the first hand print and fasten with glue. Curl down the fingers. If you want you can also add a pom pom to the center of the flower. Now using the glue attach the feather and the leaf together. Glue the leaf to the stem. You can also wrap some green wire or pipecleaner around the base of the leaf ( where it attaches to the stem ). Ta da! you now have a beautiful flower. Happy Mothers Day!

Before I became a full time mom, I used to run an art center for kids. It was amazing. What could be better than making art with kids all day!!! ( ya ya maybe not EVERYONE would agree ) but for me I loved every second of it. I was constantly coming up with crafts that not only would the kids have fun making but also making sure that for the most part I was also coming up with crafts that the parents would WANT to have in their homes. I know it can be tough trying to save everything your kid comes home with but I swear these parents were saving most of what I was sending home! The kids loved it and so did the parents. I also worked hard at coming up with fun new art ideas each class. I didn’t want the kids to get bored and it was important for me that “The Messy Monkey” ( my art center ) kept its good name in the comunity….people talk and as a small business owner I wanted all the talk to be good.

Now for these flowers. I know I just said I was constantly coming up with new ideas but for Mothers Day, these handprint flowers were an exception. I loved them. Still do. The thought of having a beautiful flower made out of your kid’s hand was too cute…and the thought of over the years having a bouquet of flowers made up of many years of your little one’s growing hands was to me beyond cute! They are so easy and as your child grows so will the flowers and the creative thought they put into making them for you! This year Poppy is still quite small so my flower will be simply white with a few scribbles but next year it may be a beautiful messy rainbow of colours!

You will need:

1 pair of scissors

2 pieces of construction paper, one for the hand prints and one for the leaf

1 piece of wooden dowling

markers

1 pen, preferably a fine point black sharpie, to outline the hands and to write happy mothers day and the year on the wooden dowling

1 hot melt glue gun, to glue on the flower ( hand prints ) and leaves ( construction paper leaf and feather )

1 feather, or more if you like!

1 paint brush

1 bowl of water

green paint

extras: 

green wire or pipe cleaner to wrap around the dowling just at the base of the leaf

pom pom ,to glue in the center of the flower

sparkles

oil pastels are a great alternative to markers, they are bold and vibrant. If you choose to use both to decorate the flower, remember always use markers BEFORE the pastels as drawing over pastel with marker will ruin your markers.

*note: these are just a few suggestions, please let your child run wild with their imagination. You can use all sorts of things to create beautiful unique flowers.

makes about 30 macaroons

2 large egg whites

1/3 cup pure maple syrup or honey

1/2 tsp organic vanilla

1/8 tsp organic almond extract

2 cups organic unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg whites, maple syrup, vanilla and almond extract. Add the coconut and stir until combined.

Using a tablespoon as a scooper, spoon out the mixture onto a parchment lined tray ( or 2 ) leaving about an inch of space between the macaroons. Bake for 15 minutes or until the bottoms and sides are golden brown and the tops are begining to brown. Once you have removed the macaroons from the oven let rest for a min of 30 minutes before removing from the pan. Enjoy

*note: these would be amazing with a little chocolate drizzled on top!

This was the perfect thing to feed my exhausted husband after he finished a long day of portaging a canoe all over the city for Amici’s Canoeheads For Kids event.

Recipe adapted from Thug kitchen

• 3 cups cooked chickpeas
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 crown broccoli, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 large lime

Spice blend:

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 1 1/2  tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425. Chop the onion, red pepper and broccoli making sure they are all just a bit larger than the chickpeas. Mince the garlic and set aside. Toss all the veg in a large bowl along with the cooked chickpeas. Add the oil and soy sauce; now mix in the spices making sure everything gets coated evenly.

Place mixture on a large baking sheet ( or two ) and bake for 20 min. Remove from oven; flip the mixture and add the garlic and bake for another 15 min. At this point or maybe before this point you will probably think the mixture is burning and if you are like me you may be freaking the fuck out thinking the whole meal is going to be ruined and then you wont have anything to eat for dinner and you will have wasted all this food not to mention your time…if you are like me you may even take it out of the oven early and hum and haw over whether or not you should put it back and let it cook for the correct amount of time. PUT IT BACK – it will be fine, as Thug Kitchen says “it’s supposed to look that way”. Allow the mixture to finish baking; now take it out of the oven and squeeze the lime juice over mixture. Make your burrito. I used a little yogurt, some salsa, avocado, shredded carrots and cucumber. Enjoy.