Bento Tips

Themed lunches for all three kids for Candlemas/groundhog day.

What you can make:
– themed bento – special bento for holidays or just on any given day: if your kiddo is crazy about something, google that + bento and you’ll probably get some ideas;) Then you just adapt them to the ingredients you have at home and that’s it.
– ABC (alphabet) bento that I described above
– you can shape the bread into animals (dinosaurs, pigs, fish, whatever your kid likes) and then bake or steam it
– you can make a classic bento from a rice ball and nori algae (you could put a piece of veggies inside the ball)
– calzone or any other stuffed bread is great because it holds the ingredients nicely

One of the ABC-lunches – this one was “letter D”: dosa (Indian stuffed pancake), dates, and dahi (Indian yogurt). I can’t believe how little they ate :D.

Some tips and what to avoid (I know most are common logic but sometimes it’s good to have a reminder;)
– quickly perishable foods that get squashed easily – especially if the kiddo will walk to school and carry their lunchbox in their schoolbag
– ice cream – no need to explain, right? 😀
– putting together foods of distinct flavors that don’t play together nicely. You can include a dessert in the bento box together with fruits and veggies (separated) but put it in a separate container (separate box) if the main dish is hearty otherwise the smell from that will infuse the gentle dessert. If the main lunch is something very simple like a rice pudding and fruits and vegetables, the dessert can be in the same container but separated, of course.

A bag for carrying lunch – big enough for a thermos flask for hot food (like soup, pasta, casseroles, chili con carne, baked beans, etc…) and a lunchbox for other foods: fresh fruits and veggies,… and there’s still room for a bread roll if needed;).

How to carry a bento? Now, that my kids are bigger, I like to combine several containers – they often get a hot casserole, leftovers, or soup in the thermos bottle and something on the side in a box (usually some fruits, veggies, a bread roll, or similar and a piece of dessert – but not always everything). Above is an example of how my little one is carrying his lunch in his lunch bag and an example of what’s inside the box:)

Veggies, a bread roll, dip in a separate container on the right, and salt cookies made from buttery dough (usually used for quiches).

Bento Tutorial

Don’t know where to start? Let’s make a simple bento together!

Let’s put together a cute little sea-themed bento for the little ones in your life (or even for the bigger ones who love the sea:). You don’t need any special equipment for this, you can cut everything with a knife but I show you a nice trick with a cookie cutter, too. So check the video and enjoy the rest of the summer!

Bento

What is bento, you might ask? Well, simply put, that is a nicely decorated meal that you take to school or work (and you get a tutorial on how to make one tomorrow;). It usually consists of all main categories of food: carbohydrates (originally rice but now it can be anything from bread to potato, pasta, whatever), protein (originally usually fish, nowadays also meat, milk products like cheese and yogurt, nuts…), lots of vegetables and fruits.

This mermaid-themed lunch covers all the categories: protein – fish (for the tail), rice (body) and noodles (pasta), veggies – lettuce and cherry tomatoes, fruits (strawberry), and dessert (a piece of chocolate). This was a lunch for a small child;).

Dessert is optional but needless to say, I often included it (we all have a sweet tooth and homemade dessert is usually not that unhealthy;) although I sometimes include something else as well (like a piece of chocolate).

This could pass as a dessert but it’s very healthy – berries and cottage cheese with lemon juice.

This approach worked well for me because I wanted my kids to have a balanced meal – but that is more important while kids are little. The funny thing is – now they do it themselves:).

The stuffed tomatoes that kids made:).

Bento was traditionally just a layer of rice with some meats or fish and veggies aesthetically placed on top that Japanese wives made for their husbands when they went to work.

One of my first bento boxes – a classic with rice balls and nori algae:)

But in recent years it became very popular among moms who make sometimes very elaborate lunches for their kids for school lunches.

Our first bento box that the kiddo designed and I put together and it actually won a competition.

It is not known in our country because kids have lunch at school (and many workplaces have kitchens or restaurants nearby) but I still made it for my kids since they weren’t fond of school lunch and the homemade version was healthier.

Steamed bread shaped in cute shapes can be a nice addition to a bento box.

It was also a way to get my kiddo through a period of adapting to school – she was looking forward to her bento – I made a bento with foods that started on one letter that they were learning that week each week (she usually went home early and only ate lunch at school when she had extracurricular activities afterward). But more on that on Sunday when you’ll get some ideas about different bentos and what to take into account;).

Tutorial – DIY postcards

Let’s make a postcard together!

As promised – a tutorial on how to make this postcard. It’s very easy, beginner friendly, and can be quite cute:) Of course, you can make it in any theme you’d like: seashells, ships, sea, and fish would be nice for a vacation card but I chose a flower for our gardening granny;). You can make these with kids because they are so easy to make and only use non-toxic materials:). Nothing fancy but so much fun! Enoy in sprinkling joy over the world;).

Watercolour Postcards

Every year we make postcards when we’re at the seaside. When we were kids we were sending postcards from wherever we traveled – everybody did it: kids, teens, and adults. We all signed each other’s postcards and had great fun reading and writing them. And it was always nice to come home to a mailbox full of postcards or get them waiting on your desk because parents were home earlier or get them in the middle of the school year sometimes since they traveled so long from far away lands. “Have you gotten my card yet?” was the usual conversation starter back in the day…

Let’s use some of the papers we created last week to make some cute postcards!

While I love email and it’s the practicality of immediate response, there is something magical about slow mail. I love the tactile quality of it and the hidden messages – the shaky handwriting when we wrote it on the boat or on the train, the quick signing of some friends, and the shy small signage, squeezed in the corners of others… The faded lines of pens on their last breath, the different colours of signage when everybody wrote cards together… There are so many things hiding in those few words that fit onto a card (or many words – I always ran out of space:D)

Handmade postcards are always appreciated:) With all the shaky lines, all the scrunched pieces,… people can somehow see past that:).

So I invite you to send a card to a friend – they will love it, I can guarantee:) If the cards are not very appealing where you live or where you are on holiday or if you want to change things up – make the cards yourself – I will show you how to do that tomorrow so come back:). It’s easy and it’s free:).

Little Good Deeds

I got a lovely comment on my last video with a wonderful idea that I just had to share! A kind follower said she’ll leave fairy gardens for the next campers to find:).

Fairy garden that sparked imagination of a lovely follower:).

Wouldn’t it be fun to find something like this the next time you go out? Let’s bring some happy to this world – it’s so easy:). You can even make something together with your kids, neighbours or whoever loves crafting with you.

Leave little gifts, gnome houses and fairy gardens in the woods – as long as they are made from solely natural materials, they will either get taken to a new home or become part of the forest:).

I have tried that a few times and it always brings me joy – whenever you make a little piece of art just from natural materials, leave it somewhere for someone to find – I’ve left drawings on bark in the forest and painted stones on beaches and they always disappear the next day:). I should leave some in someone’s garden…

You can leave a little fairy or gnome in someone’s garden. There are not many gardeners who plant flowers and wouldn’t like a flower fairy;).

If you do that just make sure the things are made from natural materials or somewhere that they can’t get overlooked and broken and become trash. The safest is to stick to the natural materials, though – there’s so much we can do from them!
*Although, I admit, polymer clay has its advantages – more on that tomorrow:).

When you leave things in nature, use natural materials in case it would get lost somewhere.

Fairy Garden Accessories

Learn how to make fairy gardens from natural materials.

The well and ladder are quick and easy accessories to make for your fairy garden.

Birthday Coupons

Just a quick idea for anybody celebrating birthday soon. We always like to give coupons for different things in our family – something that the recipient would enjoy. It could be anything from playtime with older sister to different chores (either something that a recipient usually does or something extra because kids know I’d like to have our apartment a bit cleaner :D). For my birthday a little while ago I also got the coupon for making ginger and lemon tea (from scratch) and some coupons for a massage but the best one was for “un-quarrelling”. Kids gave me a coupon that I can use when the quarrel and I don’t have the time or energy to moderate and they will resolve it themselves;). What a cool gift, wouldn’t you say?

Have you ever given or received a personalized coupon as a gift?

What kind of a coupon would you like to get? I really like these kind of gifts (we give each other other stuff, too but these are cute and we actually use them:).

Happy Mail from Scraps

Last year I reorganized my room from craft room with boxes everywhere into a studio with some furniture and nice sized desk:) It’s sooo much more comfortable! Now I get to have all my papers and cards in reach! So I am way more likely to use them and make some happy mail!

How to make a happy mail from scraps.

What is that? Well that’s a very nice concept: it’s like pen palling but with addition of small little things:) Usually stickers, cut-outs, patterned paper, washi etc… in a cool decorated folder or envelope. You can make it from scraps of paper leftover from other projects and even from things that normal people consider trash!

All this is made from scraps!

Want to see how it’s made? Check the video!

Sending is just as much fun as getting a happy mail! *If the pen pal receives it.

Unique Easter Gifts

I’m pretty sure most of you know more about the Easter than I do and you have probably seen so many egg dying techniques that it’s hard to decide which one to try… so I will attempt something a bit different: let me present you a less know tradition and some unique Easter gift ideas:).

The first are hot cross buns. These are delicious sweet bread buns that people in England traditionally eat on Good Friday. They are now associated with Easter but originate in ancient and pagan times when the four sections divided by the cross represented the four seasons. They are not known here but we love them – they melt in your moth and should be eaten immediately (at least according to my family;).

We have the Easter bunny who brings gifts into little baskets and hides them around the house. Traditional gifts include Easter eggs (but non of us is a fan of hard boiled eggs – so the bunny often brings blown-out Easter eggs;)), chocolate eggs (but we prefer “the real chocolate” and non of us is a fan of plastic things found in there) and the little rich bread sweets are usually eaten immediately so they don’t make it to the baskets.

So here are some unique gift ideas that the bunny can bring to your kids or other loved ones:
– handmade toys – either amigurumi (crocheted little toys) or knitted (the bunny on the second picture) or sewn… our bunny has tried them all and kids always love them!
– cleaning supplies: yes, you can give sponges as a gift! Choose some fun ones in bright colours or with a cute pattern – our kids always love that! Same goes for a fun toothbrush, nailbrush and so on… People in general (not just kids) usually really like those kinds of gifts because they are practical and fun – and not something that would end up laying around and collecting dust. Bonus of giving it to kids is that they like to help cleaning for a while:)
– art supplies: pencils, markers, crayons, chalks, sidewalk chalks,… those are pretty inexpensive and get used up quickly. Sideway chalks are especially welcome this time of year because kids will for sure use them during the summer break:)
– Easter decorations: little pipe-cleaner chicks, tiny nests made from straw or tiny twigs (sometimes you can find them in craft stores), flower fairies and so much more…
– homemade sweets in egg-shaped boxes or egg shaped cookies,…

I hope you found an idea or two worth trying and I wish you the happiest Easter with a lot of unique gifts and a lot of laughter of recipients:).