This, my friends, is what my kids did all weekend (and last weekend and the one before). What are they doing? Making magic potions, of course!

My creative, talented, and lovely friend Helen, and her son, made this amazing Magic Potion Kit.  My son was very lucky to receive it for his birthday. It couldn't have been more perfect. Previously my son had been making odd mixtures from glue and dirt and soap and whatever else he could scrounge up. Now he had ingredients never before seen to man, replete with pipettes and giant caldron!

The magic potion kit has all the things a 6 year old could want:

• messy things
• exploding things
• yucky things
• magical things

The magic potion kit also has everything a mother could ever want:

• non-toxic things
• easily clean-up-able things
• cheap and easily replaceable things
• quiet children engaged in creative play

1. danger! live slime  2. unicorn tears  3. moth wings and bat claws  4. juicy eyeballs 5. magic potions  6. bat tongues  7. dragon skin  8. ground up vampire bones 9.a great big caldron full of magic!

I love how every bit of this gift is handmade, most of it is recycled, and all of it inspires creativity. What more could you want?

I may have talked you in to making toasted coconut butter, but now you're yelling, "Meg, what am I supposed to do with this stuff anyway?!" Besides eating it straight from the jar, which I find myself doing often, toasted coconut butter is lovely melted and stirred into oatmeal (with some chopped, dried mango sprinkled on top); made into a PB&TCB; melted, swirled into yogurt, and poured on top of pancakes; or added to a coconut based curry to deepen the flavor. But my favorite way to eat toasted coconut butter is in bon-bon form.

coconut banana bon bons

gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, but oh so good

ingredients:

• 1 or 2 bananas
• 1/2 cup or so toasted coconut butter
• 1/4 cup toasted coconut (optional)

directions:

1. melt the toasted coconut butter in the microwave at half power (or if you don't have a microwave, in a double boiler) 
2. slice the bananas into thick 1 to 2 inch pieces
3. roll the bananas in the melted coconut butter and place on a cooling rack to let the excess drip off. 
4. for an extra thick coating of coconut butter, wait until the first coat is hardened (or pop in the freezer for a few minutes to speed up the process) then dip again
5. before the coconut has set up, roll the edges in toasted coconut
6. eat immediately!

The kids are crazy for these! My youngest asks to make them almost everyday. Even though he is only 3, he probably could make them himself at this point!

Do tell me if you make them. I'd love to know what you think!

The temperature has dropped and fall is finally on it's way! It must be time for another edition of KCWC.  Kids Clothes Week Challenge is a bi-annual event here on elsie marley where I challenge you to sew one hour a day, each day for 7 days.  The idea is that we all have the urge to sew clothes for our children, but we don't always give ourselves the time to do it.  If you commit to sitting in front of your sewing machine, or tracing patterns, or cutting fabric, for one hour each day, then at the end of the week you will have some very well dressed kids. And a very proud mama too!

If you would like to know more about kcwc you can check out the kcwc faq page. You can also head to the elsie marley flickr group to check out creations from kcwc past or see all my posts on kcwc here.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up! How do you sign up?  Just leave a comment on this post telling me that you are in. Then go tell all your friends to sign up too! Spread the word on twitter, instagram, pinterest, tumblr with the #kcwc hashtag. Slap a button on your blog or on your facebook page. Link to this post and try to get all your facebook friends who sew to join too. I bet your mom would like to be invited. Last year I think there we had almost 700 people sign up. Can we make it to 800? 900? Now I'm starting to sound like a politician! Go knock on some doors for kcwc!

kcwc buttons:

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I never seem to remember to buy sidewalk chalk, but we always have the ingredients on hand for chalk paint. Making chalk paint is super easy; drawing with chalk paint takes a bit of practice.

Our first attempt turned out mostly colorful blobs, but the second time was a success. I was doodling quilt squares [sewing nerd!] and my kids wanted to learn how to make them too. They told me their log cabins had roofs, obviously.

chalk paint

materials

• muffin tin
• corn starch
• food coloring (the cheapy kind, not the gel kind)
• water

directions

1. Put one tablespoon of corn starch in each muffin tin cup.
2. Mix in a tablespoon of water (or a smidge more) into each cup.
3. Put one drop of food coloring in each cup.
4. Mix well.
5. Grab a paint brush and go outside!

Be warned, fingers and toes will get painted.

But other cool stuff will be painted too!

Making hula hoops is surprisingly simple and cheap to boot: some polyurethane pipe, a connector, and duct tape. Done.

I scanned some random directions quickly when I was in the hardware store, but there are many good tutorials for making hula hoops out there. This video by Elizabeth Mitchel--who is awesome by the way--tells you how it's done.