To Do: 

• Work out a rough daily schedule
  
• Tuesday school work 
  
• Daily maintenance 
  
• Grocery shopping 
  
• Weekly menu
  
• Drop by Yvonne's place
  
• Make Christmas ornaments
  
• Start first batch of beads for garland 
  
• Schedule Dr. appointments
  
• Take new pictures of the boys
  
• Make Notebooking notes for class

Mix 2 cups salt and 2/3 cup water in a pan. Stirring constantly, heat over a low flame for about 4 minutes. Do not boil. Remove from heat. Quickly mix 1 cup cornstarch and 1/2 cup cold water together and add this combination all at once to the heated mixture. Stir and mix quickly. If resulting mixture is not a thick paste, place back on low heat and stir for about a minute until mixture is the consistency of dough.

Treat like bread dough, knead on a flat surface until dough is a smooth and pliable mass. Can be stored in plastic or foil and kept in an airtight container.

Color can be added when dough is being cooked or while kneaded, or paint modeled objects when dry.

Drying time for a modeled object is 2 days at room temperature. For quicker results, preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and then turn the oven off. Place the modeled objects in the oven, preferably on a wire rack, and leave inside until the oven has cooled off.

For a finishing touch, smooth dry models by rubbing gently with fine grained sandpaper or an emery board.

To create beads for a necklace, punch holes with a toothpick while the clay is still pliable. You can also string the beads through a thin wire, letting them dry on the wire itself.

Clay can also be rolled out like cookie dough and cut with a cookie cutter.



Cinnamon Ornaments:
From this site

Materials:

 

1-1/2 cups ground cinnamon
1 cup applesauce
2/3 cup white school glue (such as Elmer’s)
flour
rolling pin
cookie cutters
ribbon
wax paper
drying rack
tassels
gift wrapped box
drinking straw
tooth picks

Steps:

1. Mix cinnamon, applesauce and glue together in a bowl.

    

2. Remove the mixture from the bowl and knead it with your hands until it forms a firm clay.

    

3. Let the cinnamon clay sit for about 30 minutes.

    

4. Dust your rolling pin, hands, or working surface with cinnamon, or use wax paper as a working surface.

    

5. Roll out cinnamon clay with a rolling pin to approximately 1/4- to 1/8-inch thick.

    

6. Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters (gingerbread men, stars, snowflakes). To hang the cinnamon clay ornament shape, use a straw to cut out a hole near the top and bottom of the shape. For garlands, create holes on the sides of the shape with a straw too.

    

7. Place shapes on a non-stick cooling rack or wax paper. Turn the clay over occasionally to dry evenly and flat.

    

8. Dry shapes for approximately five days. When dried, insert a ribbon through the hole of the cinnamon clay ornaments for hanging on a tree or adding to a package. Tassels may be added to the bottom for extra decoration. To make a garland, attach shapes together in a row with ribbon.

To Do:

• Work out a rough daily schedule
  
• Monday school work
  
• Daily maintanence
  
• Burn Christmas cd
  
• Grocery shopping 
  
• Weekly menu
  
• Drop by Yvonne's place
  
• Make Christmas ornaments
  
• Start first batch of beads for garland 
  .
  .
  .
  
• Dick around on LJ all day  /sigh