February Favorites: Apollo, H.I.V.E., and People (Who are Hopefully Not Me) Dying in Caves

This was a February Failure. The kids and I LOVE Supernatural, but we could barely make it through just a few of these episodes, yikes.

 Syd told me that I would love the Trials of Apollo series. She encouraged me to re-read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and then to read the whole of the Heroes of Olympus series so that I would be caught up. She reassured me that no, we didn't ever have to talk about the Kane Chronicles; we can just pretend that they don't exist, blech.

She even waited to read the final book in the Trials of Apollo series so that I could read it at the same time, even though it took me months to get there.

And it was so worth it when in February, I dove into this series and read it all, the final one together with Syd:

Riordan's series sometimes take a while to pull together, so I did agree with several of my Girl Scouts (who offered their opinions after seeing me reading The Lightning Thief during our fall campout--THAT'S how long it's taken me!) that the first book, and arguably even into the second book, isn't the greatest or most compelling. But if you hang in there, which I did at Syd's encouragement, it suddenly gets REALLY good REALLY quickly. And although the series is solidly for children, I was surprised at some of the gritty, realistic themes that it explores. The handling of child abuse, from both the victim's perspective and from the perspectives of peers, felt real and important, as did the pervasive issue of parental neglect. And the books contain my absolute favorite type of character, the solid anti-hero who we love anyway and we hope he's good at heart even though he's terrible on the outside, but wouldn't you know it, he grows and changes and becomes awesome on the outside, as well. BUT he never forgets how terrible he used to be and he still has to continually deal with the ramifications of his prior behavior, while figuring out how to feel about the rest of his toxic family who behave the same way but definitely won't be growing and changing.

Here's what else I read in February!

Here are Will's favorite books from February:

I love how Will's mind slips seamlessly between children's sci-fi, vintage fantasy, and the classics. She's no snob, and although she does have distinct preferences, they're never decided by what genre or reading level a book is.

Here's what else she read in February!

I'm randomly obsessed with caves again, as writing lesson plans for a speleology study for Will reminded me of this long-held obsession. It's probably not the healthiest field of study, since at least half of my obsession actually revolves around cave disasters and how people die in caves. Remember Floyd Collins?

Yeah, that's what I'm mostly obsessed with. There are loads of local, incredibly dangerous caves near me, and I've spent a lot of useless time that I should have been spending doing something productive instead reading reports of people having disasters or near disasters in these caves, including one kid form our local university who got left inside a cave for something like three days after his caving club forgot him, and another nearby cave that yet more university students drowned in back in the 1970s. For the past three or so decades, statewide cave conservation groups have been encouraging local landowners to shut down casual trespassing into their caves, and some conservation groups have even been able to take over ownership of some caves. There's one local cave in particular that a conservation group bought the property for; I was curious about its exact location, so I got on Google Earth. On Google Earth, you can look at historical views, and it was so interesting to see a comparison between a 1991 satellite view of this location, in which the trail to the cave site is easy to see because the ground cover is completely beaten down to dirt and there are cars parked everywhere, to a view from this year, in which the trail to the cave and the area around it is now invisible, as green as the rest of the land. 

So along with my Google deep dives, and the literal college textbook on cave geology that I'm currently reading, I'm also revisiting the Thailand cave rescue story (for the THIRD time), with this awesome podcast series:

If you've read any of the books written by the rescuers, none of the information in the podcast is particularly novel, but the storytelling is very good. I usually listen to podcasts via Bluetooth speaker when I'm working with my hands AND the kids aren't working on school, and Will, especially, will occasionally pipe up with a comment from another room, where she's apparently listening as hard as I am. It's riveting!

The kids are a little less invested in this caver's YouTube channel that I keep watching, but I am not going to stop until I have seen every one of his practically narration-free cave videos!

My interest in speleology is kind of contradictory, as I have absolutely no interest in exploring caves myself. I'm claustrophobic, one of the many curses of an ill-spent childhood, and I have no desire to be the subject of a podcast or book about my ultimately unsuccessful rescue attempts. 

Do you remember that I'm also afraid of drowning?

So that's why it seems pretty obvious that of COURSE I'm taking my Girl Scout troop on a cave tour via kayak this weekend...

If you don't hear from me next Monday, Google "Cave Rescue Indiana" for the latest updates!

How to Sew an Easy Strip Quilt

This tutorial was originally posted on Crafting a Green World.

Denim quilts are about the warmest, snuggliest quilts you'll ever nap under. They're comfortingly heavy like those weighted blankets that people love--so heavy, in fact, that you'll find you can skip the batting altogether when you're making a denim quilt! 

Denim quilts also tend to be super soft, since they're most often made from well-loved and well-worn blue jeans. They tend towards all cotton, so that's a plus for those of us who prefer natural fabrics. And if you put it out into the world that you'd like to have some old jeans to craft with, old jeans WILL come to you--I have relatives I don't even remember who call every now and then to ask me if I want their old jeans! What an awesome way to save on new material AND save some great aunty once-removed from tossing her ripped jeans in the dumpster! 

You can make some marvelous quilt creations from this upcycled denim, but my favorite type of denim quilt is also the easiest: a strip quilt is super quick to create, and when you sew it entirely from upcycled denim, you can achieve a really cool ombre effect.

Supplies & Tools

To make your own strip quilt out of upcycled denim, you will need:

• Blue jeans. Using a random collection of gifted jeans will generally result in a good variety of blue tones, perfect for making an ombre quilt. I tend to break down my jeans for crafting and storage, and for this project, I use just the jeans' legs. Save those back pockets, zippers, and bulky seams for other projects!
• Cutting/measuring supplies. You'll want a self-healing cutting mat, a meter stick, chalk, and scissors or a rotary cutter.
• Sewing machine with jeans needle. My sewing machine does NOT love sewing denim. One thing that I do to make it easier on my machinery is install a sharp jeans/denim sewing needle, one designed specifically for helping home sewing machines muscle through all that thick cotton.
• Flannel fabric matching your quilt top's dimensions. To keep this quilt quick and easy and not too hard on my poor old sewing machine, I am NOT binding it--gasp, I know! This means that the backing fabric just needs to match the dimensions of the quilt top.

Directions

1. Do the Math To make your own quilt top, you first have to make some decisions:

• What size do you want your quilt to be? I, for instance, am sewing two quilts that will match the dimensions of a Twin XL mattress, and one quilt that will match the dimensions of a king mattress.
• What seam allowance do you want to use? I'm using 1/2."
• What width do you want your strips to be? They can be any width, as long as it's uniform.
• Add double the seam allowance to your strip width to find the total width that you should cut each denim strip.

2. Cut the Denim Strips 

 As long as your strips are the same width, each one can be a different length--in fact, it adds to the fun of making a strip quilt to have a lot of strips of different lengths! You can also decide if you want to cut your strips so as to avoid worn knees or holes, or if you want to keep them. I'm cutting out grass stains and giant rips, but I'm actually keeping a few worn spots in my denim strips. It's not hard to tack a small hole so that it doesn't continue to unravel, and it adds character to the quilt.

3. Begin Piecing the Quilt's Rows 

 Because I want an ombre quilt, I first arranged my denim strips into light, medium, and dark piles, each of which will take up an approximate third of the quilt. You can arrange your tones anyway you like, or make it random! Sew denim strips together at the short sides until their length matches the desired width of your quilt, ironing each seam open. Piece together another row out of strips, then sew the two rows together, again ironing the seam open. You can continue to sew each row onto the quilt as you make it, or sew all of your rows individually before piecing them into the quilt top. My sewing machines hates sewing thick fabrics and therefore sometimes feeds unevenly, so I also have a little trick: I cut each of my denim rows too long. I line them up carefully at one side, but I don't bother to trim the other side until my quilt top is finished. At that point, I can trim it to size and it looks as if I had everything matched perfectly from the beginning! 

4. Pin the Quilt Top to the Backing 

 Iron the quilt top and the backing fabric. Lay the backing fabric right side up, then place the quilt top, right side down, on top of it. If you have trouble keeping the backing fabric taut and smooth while adjusting the quilt top, consider that I sometimes will literally tape the backing fabric to my floor with masking tape while I'm working with it. 

 It does not help when the cat decides that the quilt top is his personal playscape and takes a running dive at it with his claws out, but it helps in other, non-cat scenarios. 

  5. Sew the Quilt Top to the Backing 

 Use a 1/2" seam allowance to sew around the perimeter of the quilt, leaving an opening in one short side, about a third of its length, unsewn. Turn the quilt right side out through the opening (this is also known as binding a quilt "pillowcase style"), then iron the seams to set them. Fold the raw edges of the opening to the inside, and iron to crease them. 

  6. Edgestitch and Tie Your Quilt 

 You don't have to edgestitch around your entire quilt, but you do need to edgestitch that opening closed, and so if your sewing machine can possibly stand it, it does look nice to edgestitch it all the way around. 

 Technically, we're not making a quilt but a tied blanket here, since instead of quilting it, you're going to use embroidery floss to knot together the quilt top and backing at intervals. Here's the detailed tutorial for how to tie a quilt. 

What you've got now is a very warm, very soft, VERY heavy denim and flannel quilt. Whether its made from your partner's (or your great aunty's!) beloved jeans, or simply old jeans that you've scored from the thrift store, it's gone from trash to an heirloom, thanks to you! Now go throw it down in some quiet field tonight, and lie on it and look at the stars. You deserve it!

P.S. Want to know more about the books I'm reading, the quilts I'm sewing, my adventures in life, and my looming mid-life crisis? Check out my Craft Knife Facebook page!

Tent Tidy from Fat Quarter Quick Makes

 Here's another thing I've sewn for spring camping!

I used this book for the project--

--although I stopped referring to it after getting the measurements, which is why the hanging loop isn't centered (frankly, I'm lucky that it's as close to center as it is, because for no earthly reason that I can determine it didn't even OCCUR to me to attempt to center it!). 

I did, however, also sew interfacing into both the body and all the pockets of the hanging organizer, something that the tutorial didn't call for, and I'm really pleased with how much structure the interfacing gives the finished product:

I think this tent tidy IS actually going to be very useful for tent camping. I am forever not remembering where I've put my car keys, my pocket knife, and my phone, and losing my lip balm, and every morning I wake up dreading that perhaps I've rolled over onto my glasses and crushed them, and look! This organizer has exactly the right number of pockets for all those things!

My poor children are also still sleeping in their same IKEA bunkbeds of a decade ago, however, and absent the nightstands that better-maintained children all own, Syd requested a hanging wall organizer for herself. She also requested a room of her own, which... it could happen, but definitely not while Matt is busy doing graphic designs and Zoom meetings all day in the playroom.

A hanging wall organizer in the fabrics of her choosing, though? THAT is something I can make happen!

Some New Festive Pegasus Festival Flags

 I've been thinking spring lately! 

I've been thinking about gardening, and sitting outside with Matt drinking cocktails and working crossword puzzles. Hanging out on a quilt, reading and eating snacks. Minding my own business inside while the kids have actual human friends over outside, keeping their distance and keeping their masks on.

Maybe even backpack camping, just my family and our dog way out in the woods, far away from all the fretful things!

Thinking about gardening and camping got me in the mood to sew cute things for gardening and camping. A little earlier, I'd also gone down a random rabbit trail of looking at festival flags online (I miss going to concerts!), so there I found myself, making miniature festival flags that will be easy to mount in my garden, on the kids' treehouse, or to mark my tent stakes. 

Fortunately, since it's pouring outside today, they also look particularly nice popped into a painted soda bottle!

Since I have plenty of this fabric, I've got a few of these pennant flags listed in my Pumpkin+Bear shop. I think it would be really fun to do a whole set of mythological beasts, fitting right in with my current Rick Riordan-inspired mythology obsession.

If I ever do it, I'll post it on my Craft Knife Facebook page!

How to Make a Chalkboard Easter Egg

This tutorial was originally published on Crafting a Green World back in 2017.

 This is one of the easiest Easter egg crafts that you can make, and one of the longest-lasting, too! You'll love the ability to decorate your chalkboard Easter eggs in a different way every year. 

Heck, if you have kids, they'll enjoy decorating these chalkboard Easter eggs in a different way every day! 

 To make the chalkboard Easter eggs, all you need are: 

  wooden or papier mache egg. These are commonly found at craft stores now. I like to avoid buying plastic eggs, but if you already have some on hand, you can use many kinds of chalkboard paint on plastic--check out the instructions on your paint for details. 

  chalkboard paint. Eco-friendly chalkboard paint does exist, but I haven't personally tried it, as I'm still working through the 32-ounce can of Disney chalkboard paint that I bought years ago--that stuff really lasts! I've also not tried tinted or homemade chalkboard paints, but again, they do exist.

 Chalkboard paint is super easy to apply. Yes, you can apply primer first, especially if you have primer tinted toward the color of chalkboard paint that you're using, but for the particular wooden eggs in this project, some were unfinished new wood and some were previously painted white, so I didn't bother with primer. 

 You're also meant to use a foam brush or foam roller to apply your chalkboard paint, but with these small surfaces, I used a regular bristle paintbrush that I had on hand. I might have had to apply an extra coat or two over what I would have had to do with a foam brush, especially on that white egg, where my brush strokes showed up exceptionally well, but after four coats, even the white egg was covered cleanly, and the paint on such small surfaces dried quickly enough that the two extra coats weren't a huge waste of time. 

 There are a lot of tutorials that tell you that you have to condition your chalkboard before you can really draw on it, but unless the instructions on the container of chalkboard paint call for this step, I don't do it, and personally, my projects have never suffered from "ghosting" or any other of the ills said to be caused by lack of seasoning. 

 I love these chalkboard Easter eggs because you can decorate them as elaborately as the Easter eggs that you see in children's picture books. And if you used white or light brown chalkboard paint, the effect would be even more realistic!

P.S. Need even more ways to get festive for Easter? Check out ALL my Easter crafts here!

It Only Took Me Two Years to Make This Diagonal Denim Strip Quilt

 Because I get distracted...

I get so habitually distracted that one of my New Year tasks is to look through last year's planner and transfer all of my WIPs from the previous year to a new list in the front of my new planner. This year's WIP list holds 21 items, which... that's a lot of projects to have started and not finished...

But but BUT that list actually used to have TWENTY-THREE items, but I did finally update the kids' Girl Scout vests with their new badges and patches AND I finally made the broken dish pendant I'd been wanting.

Of course, the big kid's Girl Scout vest already needs another new badge sewn onto it, but whatever. Instead, let's focus on THIS awesome project that I knocked off my list this month!

Not gonna lie: I started this quilt for the younger kid, and this quilt for the older kid, AND a still-unfinished quilt for my bed two years ago, thinking that I'd give myself just loads and loads and loads of time to piddle my way through them by Christmas. I like to give everyone a cozy present on Christmas Eve, and homemade denim quilts would fit the bill just fine!

Yeah... no. I gave everyone giant fuzzy slippers instead. And THIS Christmas Eve I gave them all STORE-BOUGHT fuzzy blankets, gasp! I even had the big kid's quilt already completed by that time, but the little kid's was still a pile of denim and flannel. 

Finally I decided that the quilts would make a cozy Valentine's Day present for the kids, so I buckled down and spent most of a day basically making the little kid's quilt from start to finish:

For the big kid's quilt, I'd done horizontal rows, and I'd tried for an ombre effect, but I don't really love it. For the little kid's quilt, I tried diagonal rows, and I love it so much that I feel a little guilty that the big kid's quilt isn't so good, yikes:

In case you ever come over to my house and wonder why I have literal masking tape on my literal family room floor, it's so that I can lay out a quilt whenever I want. I am literally just that classy!

And as always, back-to-front binding is THE way to go:

I am so pleased with how this quilt came out!

It's super cozy and warm, it's comfortingly heavy, it was dead easy to make because it doesn't even require batting, and because the entire top is upcycled jeans, the only costs were for the flannel backing, the thread, and the approximately one zillion jeans needles I broke sewing over those one zillion seams:

I'd say that diagonal rows are now my go-to denim quilt design, but the quilt that I'm planning for my bed is going to be a square, and I'm currently obsessed with the idea of sewing it in a log cabin design.

Maybe I'll even have it finished in time to show it to you within the next couple of years!

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, road trips to weird old cemeteries, looming mid-life crisis, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!

Easy DIY Envelope: One Piece of Paper, Four Folds, and Three Swipes with a Glue Stick!

The other day, I was expecting a few members of my Girl Scout troop to drop by (for a safe and socially distant outdoor transfer of Girl Scout cookies, because 'tis the season!), and I randomly realized that it was also the Lunar New Year. 

Thanks, Facebook!

Obviously, any children encountered on the Lunar New Year are children who must be gifted red envelopes with money inside, because I do not fool around when it comes to holidays. 

Because I also have the Depression-era hoarding skills of my Nana, I have an equally random little stash of two-dollar bills. In my opinion, two-dollar bills aren't even literal money--they exist solely as Tooth Fairy and birthday card currency. The sole difference is that Tooth Fairy bills have glitter on them, birthday card bills are folded into some cute origami shape, and red envelope bills are ironed until they're nice and crisp.

So now I've got a two-dollar bill for each kid, they're all nice and crisp, and all I need is the red envelope! 

You can download free red envelope printables, but my printer already runs on gold dust and angel hair and I already have to beg it for half an hour before it will print out so much as a math worksheet; I ain't begging it to print a bunch of red envelope templates and then having it go belly-up halfway through until I run out to buy it another forty-dollar ink cartridge. Instead, here's a dead-easy way to DIY an envelope from one square piece of paper and a little glue:

Notice that this first fold isn't even perfectly even, and it doesn't even matter!

It also doesn't matter if you want these side flaps to end up on top of or underneath the bottom flap.

If you want the envelope to look a little tidier, you can round all of your points before you glue everything down.

And that's totally it! You can of course make any size envelope simply by changing the size of the square, and use any paper simply by trimming it to be square. I will be sad at you if you ever buy another envelope!

Woodburned Easter Eggs with Watercolor Stain

This tutorial was originally published on Crafting a Green World in 2017.

 A great way to avoid buying plastic Easter eggs is to make your own stash of eco-friendly Easter eggs that you can re-use year after year, or embellish store-bought Easter eggs made with natural materials, such as wood, ceramic, or papier mache. 

 We've done all of the above, including making DIY papier mache Easter eggs and wool felted Easter eggs, but I enjoy adding to our stash every year--for one thing, I've got two kids to whom I'm hoping to pass down our beautiful handmade eggs, so I need a good stash, and for another, I'm never quite sure that we get *every* single egg back from every single Easter egg hunt... 

 One of the easiest ways to have a beautiful stash of heirloom Easter eggs is to buy wooden eggs and then embellish them. To wood burn and stain them, you'll need just the following: 

  wooden Easter eggs. I'm a HUGE fan of Casey's Wood Products, and I've purchased a ridiculous number of wooden objects from them over the past several years, including pretty much every size of wooden egg. I look for the items made in Maine, and of second-quality. 

  wood burner. I own this one, and although I don't love it, the price was certainly right, and it's worked for me for probably six years by now, so I certainly don't have much to complain about. I really want these alphabet brands that you can use with a wood burner, and if they fit mine, then that would certainly raise my opinion of it! 

  watercolors. Use liquid watercolors if you're wanting to stain the wood, and any watercolors if you're wanting to paint on details. The method itself is super easy, and a great family activity. 

1. Draw your design in pencil. This is something the the whole family can do while sitting around the table together. Add in some music or an audiobook and you've got the perfect hour before bedtime in my family! 

My kids prefer to draw scenes onto their eggs (I have one kid who draws dragons on everything, including every holiday decoration for the past three years), but I think these eggs look really interesting with little designs and patterns,  zentangle-style, done all over them. I especially like it because it's something that you simply can't do with most eggs, so it adds to their interest and appeal.

 You might want to watch against penciling in too many tiny details, as you'll soon be wood burning them, but I've actually found that my wood burner can get quite a bit of detail if I use a light touch. 

 2. Wood burn your design into the egg. If you're wood burning noobs, you can designate a "practice egg" for yourself so that you can play around with the wood burner and get a feel for it. It doesn't really work to use any old scrap of wood for practice, because the wood burner will burn each type of wood differently. 

 My kids have been using the wood burner since they were both pretty small; they still don't totally have the hand for it--they tend to press too hard and have a lot of stop-and-starts--but they're quite capable of doing it, and they love it. 

  3. Embellish with watercolor. If you're looking to stain your egg all over, you can do it with any color of liquid watercolor--my tutorial for that is here. 

If you want to paint details onto your egg, you can do that with any watercolors and a small paintbrush. Manage your expectations by realizing that the watercolor will flow along the grain of the wood, often unexpectedly, so don't expect rigid lines demarcations except where you've wood burned. 

  Optional: Seal the completed Easter egg. Oh, my gosh, y'all, I get so many questions about this! People really, really, REALLY want a non-toxic, eco-friendly, food-grade wood sealant that will stand up to a kid putting a stained and sealed toy into her mouth. 

I am sitting right here and killing that dream for you. Your sealant can be non-toxic, eco-friendly, and food-grade, OR it can stand up to a kid putting it into her mouth. If your kid is still putting her toys in her mouth, just... don't stain it those beautiful watercolor colors until she's older. If a kid mouthing your Easter eggs is not a concern for you--and if you're head-scratching right now, I promise you that it's such a concern for SO many people that I had to write it first--then check out the following options for sealing your wooden Easter egg. 

  1. Don't seal it. It doesn't really need it if it's just coming out to play around Easter time. 

  2. Use this homemade beeswax wood polish. Test it on your practice egg first. I, personally, don't love sealing stuff with beeswax polish, but a lot of people do, so there you go. 

  3. Use a polyurethane alternative. Here are a few to play with. 

  4. Use a non-eco-friendly product. I know, I know, but it's my personal philosophy that if we use eco-friendly products whenever possible, then we have the wiggle room to use something not eco-friendly whenever it's legitimately the best solution. Sealant and aerosol spray mount are two products that I do own and use, simply because I haven't yet found acceptable, eco-friendly alternatives. If YOU know of great, eco-friendly alternatives, let me know right this second! 

 I store our stash of Easter eggs year-round with our other holiday decorations, and bring them out sometime after St. Patrick's Day every year, when they once again strike us as new and colorful and festive and fun. Sometime after Easter, I might buy a few more plain wooden eggs to have on hand, because the next year, we're for sure going to want to decorate some more!

P.S. Need even more Easter crafts? Here are all my Easter tutorials right there in one place!

A Quick and Easy Carnival Unit Study

 

Check out the glory that is homemade king cake on this Fat Tuesday that features a full foot of snow on the ground! Earlier today, I was outside attempting to shovel the porch, then the steps from the porch to the driveway, then the godforsakenly long driveway from the garage down to the street. I've been shoveling it practically daily this month, it feels like, when there was, you know, an inch or less of snow on the ground, and it always takes me something like an hour and it sucks.

But whoa. Shoveling a foot of snow is a whole other beast! I was all, "OMG this is hard. This is totally why I've heard that people have heart attacks shoveling snow every winter. OMG AM I HAVING A HEART ATTACK?!?"

Just when I was about to, I don't know... just, like, sit down in the snow and give up, pretty much, a totally random neighbor that I have never seen before in my life literally rolled up my snow-covered driveway in his tractor with an honest-to-god SNOWPLOW attachment on the front and was all, "How about I get your driveway for you?"

Friends, I cannot even tell you how thrilling it was to finish shoveling my porch steps while watching this guy plow my whole driveway for me. Like, right before he showed up it had become clear to me that I was NEVER going to get this driveway shoveled, it just was not in the realm of my possibility, and then BOOM! Half an hour later and I'm tucked back inside the house all warm and comfy and with a skid-free driving surface.

Also, I just need you to know how embarrassing I am. The guy introduced himself, told me who his wife is, and I have just now realized that not only do I not remember his name (I remember his wife's name, though?), but I distinctly remember that I definitely, absolutely did not introduce myself in turn. Just... WTF, ME?!? Peopling with other people is so hard!

ANYWAY, now that I've gotten you to join me in cringing in embarrassment (I'm definitely going to be remembering this in 40 years when I have 2:00 am insomnia...), check out this super fun, super easy, and pretty quick unit study that I pulled together to do with Will yesterday and today. We can pretend like it's part of her AP  Human Geography study, since it's a comparison/contrast of the traditions that surround the same religious holiday around the world, but it's also just really fun, and a chance to admire the spectacle of some beautiful performance art, and an excuse to listen to beautiful music, eat delicious food, and, if you're feeling wild, even dress up a little!

WORLD CARNIVAL BADGE ACTIVITIES

I found this fun Girl Scout badge to award Will after our carnival study. Depending on how strict your local uniform police are, it's appropriate for the front or back of a Girl Scout's uniform (it's going on the front of Will's uniform, because that's how we roll). Or it could just be a cute little patch for a kid's jacket or bookbag!

• New Orleans, Louisiana, holds the largest Mardi Gras celebrations each year.

• This year, even though the parades are cancelled, New Orleans is still doing a lot of fun activities. Check out their website here:

• https://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/

• Watch videos of parades from prior years:

• https://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/videos

• Definitely look at the Yardi Gras photos!

• https://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/news/parade-of-homes-2021-style

• Here’s a really good article about house floats from NPR:

• https://www.npr.org/2021/02/16/967761058/in-a-year-without-parades-mardi-gras-in-new-orleans-is-all-about-house-floats

• The king cake is a beloved Mardi Gras tradition. Read about it here:

• https://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/history/king-cakes

• Make sure you learn the following information:

• When/where they were invented

• What’s the secret inside them, and what it means

• The traditional colors, and what they represent

• Do an Instagram or Google Image search to find examples of king cakes.

• Make a homemade king cake using one of these authentic recipes:

• https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/eat-drink/article_075cd21c-55b3-56e5-b62e-c514de40b4f0.html

• If you’ve got Spotify, here’s a playlist of festive New Orleans music:

• https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Z8rT8bVkHdD78TIs19Mee?si=g6JKTjvmRcGUn9n3SGDrdg

• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, holds the largest Carnival celebrations each year.

• Read this webpage to explore the various traditions of the Rio Carnival

• https://www.riocarnaval.org/rio-carnival/what-is

• Samba schools are about more than just dancing! Read about them here:

• https://www.riocarnaval.org/rio-samba-school/rio-samba-schools

• Search YouTube for streams of previous years’ parades entering the Sambadrome.

• Read here to see what you should search for, such as the children’s parade and the winners’ parade:

• https://www.riocarnaval.org/samba-parade/samba-parade

• Be aware: topless nudity is very common in the adult parades. 

• YouTube is also a good place to search for a beginner samba lesson. Can you figure out how to do a part of the dance?

• If you’ve got Spotify, here’s playlist of festive Brazilian music:

• https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Ulu7CI97mVnnvil3yBAhO?si=Lced7e7XT5etxlvcvJmTQQ

• Venice, Italy, holds one of the oldest Carnival celebrations each year.

• Read more about its history here:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Venice

• Masks are a very important tradition in the Venice Carnival. You can try making your own mask, or just read these tutorials to explore the process:

• Here’s a bauta mask made from cardboard, aluminum foil, and papier mache:

• https://www.instructables.com/Make-a-Bauta-Mask/

• Here’s a plague doctor mask made by sewing, although you could trace the pattern pieces onto cardboard and use tape, hot glue, and paint:

• https://totallythebomb.com/heres-a-free-pattern-to-make-your-own-quilted-plague-doctor-mask

• If you have Spotify, here’s a Putumayo playlist of Italian music:

• https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4sIMtfPQMRtWedyb8F83dt?si=ahRQ_kupSqym1XgboH7W5g

• Check out this website of other Carnival celebrations across the world:

• https://seeker.io/carnival-2021/

Since I really only wanted to do this unit as a fun study on what would otherwise mostly have been a school-free day for Will (mwa-ha-ha!), we didn't put in the time to make either of the Venice-style Carnival masks--although I am reserving the right to make myself that quilted plague doctor mask at a later time! 

Also, that king cake took plenty of time to make! I showed Will how to dye white sugar, but otherwise she baked the whole masterpiece from scratch completely by herself, and it is DELICIOUS.

Although, when I asked her if she'd put a prize inside the cake she said no, because she didn't want anyone to get it and then feel like they had to host a whole party themselves and make another whole king cake, since it's so much work.

Sweet, thoughtful, literal kid!