Monday, January 12, 2009

Hearts and Trees Winter 2008 Kit

This post will stay on the top, so scroll down for new posts.

Each kit includes the instructions and materials to complete easy and fun handicraft, art and nature study projects with a minimum of effort on your part. (Please note that you will need to provide common art supplies such as colored pencils or crayons, scissors, tape, etc, as well as a hammer.)


In this kit we have a fleece sewing project. Your child will learn how to draft their own mitten pattern out of paper, then cut and sew a pair of mittens. You have your choice of fleece colors!


There is also a metal punching project, inspired by Pennsylvania Dutch folk art designs. Your child will love using a hammer and nail to punch out the design into the aluminum.

A template is provided for your child to learn how to make his own stencil. Again the design is inspired by Pennsylvania Dutch designs, and included on the instructions page for this project is some general information about the Pennsylvania Dutch folk art style.

For the nature study portion of this kit, my mom has once again put together a wonderful lapbook to include in my kit. This lapbook focuses on mammals. Components of this lapbook include sorting pockets and cards to learn about 5 different classes of mammals, a "What Is a Mammal?" mini-book, a "Mammal Trivia" mini-book, mammal vocabulary, more mammal classifications, mammal babies and more!

An 8 page nature journal focusing on mammals is also included in this kit. In it you will find facts about 8 common mammals as well as space for you to record which species of that mammal live where you live, whether you have ever seen one and to sketch what the animal's tracks look like. (Links are provided to help you find this information.)

The art print for this kit is Edward Hicks' The Residence of David Twining. A notebooking page focusing on Edward Hicks, which includes a drawing project idea is also included. A notebooking page about neutral colors is also provided.
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In all there are 3 handicraft projects, 3 notebooking pages, an art print with corresponding drawing project, a complete lapbook and a nature journal focusing on mammals in this kit!

Complete Contents List:
  1. Instuctions and materials (fleece, needle, thread, pins) to sew pair of fleece mittens
  2. Instructions and template for a Pennsylvania Dutch folk art stencil project (with information about the Pennsylvania Dutch folk art style)
  3. Instructions and materials (aluminum, nail, cardboard for mat) for Pennsylvania Dutch inspired metal punching project
  4. 8 page mammals nature journal
  5. Mammals lapbooking pages (10 pages Note: file folder is not included)
  6. Edward Hicks art print (The Residence of David Twining)
  7. Edward Hicks notebooking page with drawing project idea
  8. Art element notebooking page focusing on neutral colors

These kits were gathered with children ages 6-12 in mind. Parents may need to help their students, especially younger children, with some aspects of this kit.

To purchase a kit you will just need to make a PayPal payment to my account. You can do that using the "Pay Now" buttons in my sidebar. Just be sure to use the button for the right number of kits you would like to purchase.

*****SOLD OUT!*****

All kits will ship within the next two to three business days after payment is received.

Please note that the price per kit has remained the same. The cost of shipping has increased partly because this kits weighs slightly more than past kits and because of the increase of USPS shipping prices.

If you are interested in purchasing any of the PDFs I am currently selling (they are in my sidebar) and you wish to make a combined payment for multiple items, feel free to email me for a total.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at amandachristina@yahoo.com.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

REDUCED SHIPPING FOR WINTER 2008 KIT!!!


I still have a lot of Hearts and Trees Winter 2008 Kits left to sell.

I have had some questions about the shipping cost of the kit. I have figured out a way to decrease shipping costs for 2 kits.
The new totals will be as follows:
  • 1 Kit- $14.80 ($11.95 plus $2.85 First Class Shipping)
  • 2 Kits- $29.60 ($11.95 each plus $5.70 First Class Shipping)
  • 3 Kits- $43.85 ($11.95 each plus $8.00 Priority Shipping)

There is a savings now of $2.3o when you buy two kits!! (Please note, now when you purchase two kits they will come separately in TWO First Class envelopes.)

For more information about this kit, as well as information about how to purchase one, please see this post.

In all there are 3 handicraft projects, 3 notebooking pages, an art print with corresponding drawing project, a complete lapbook and a nature journal focusing on mammals in this kit!


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More info here

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Edward Hicks and Pennsylvania Dutch- More Ideas

Because my winter kit focused on Pennsylvania Dutch style folk art and Edward Hicks, I have had some people ask for some more resources so they can learn more about Hicks and folk art. So in today's post I am including links to some resources you might find interesting.

Here are two lesson plans based on Edward Hicks:
(You may need to click through to the actual blog post if you are reading this in an email or reader since the Amazon links do not always show up.)


Here are some books on Amazon focusing on Pennsylvania Dutch:





I hope you find something you can use in these links. As always feel free to leave any additional suggestions in the comments section.

And I still have plenty of winter kits left, so if you are looking to get started in a study of Edward Hicks and the Pennsylvania Dutch folk art style, be sure to check it out. In all there are 3 handicraft projects, 3 notebooking pages, an art print with corresponding drawing project, a complete lapbook and a nature journal focusing on mammals in this kit!

Monday, January 5, 2009

Mammals Lapbook PDF For Sale Now


I am now offering the mammals lapbook that my mom helped me to design that is included in my Winter 2008 Art, Handicraft and Nature Study Kit for sale as a separate PDF. This lapbook focuses on mammals. Components of this lapbook include sorting pockets and cards to learn about 5 different classes of mammals, a "What Is a Mammal?" mini-book, a "Mammal Trivia" mini-book, mammal vocabulary, more mammal classifications, mammal babies and more!

If you would like to purchase the 10 page set of Mammal Lapbooking Pages as a PDF, I am offering it for $3.95. To purchase the PDF you can use the Pay Now PayPal button on my blog sidebar. This is not automated, so I will have to email the lapbooking pages to you once I receive your PayPal payment. The PDF will be emailed to you within 72 hours after I receive payment, usually sooner. (I currently do not have Internet access at my house.) The PDF will be emailed to the email account associated with the PayPal payment I receive.
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Be sure to check out the other PDFs I have for sale. Links are in the sidebar of my blog.
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If you have any questions about the Mammals Lapbook PDF feel free to email me at heartsandtrees@yahoo.com.

*Please note if you purchase these pages they are for your own personal use and are not to be distributed or sold.

Watercolor Techniques #8 Watercolor Splatters

So after a long break, I have put together another watercolor tutorial. In this tutorial you will learn how to make watercolor splatters. This is a lot of fun, even if it is a bit messy. So get out your watercolors and have a little fun.


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For tutorial #8 you will need:
(If you are reading this via a feed you will most likely need to click through to the post to watch the video.)

Feel free to share any projects you and your children complete using this watercolor technique. I love seeing what you all have done.

You can find my other watercolor tutorials listed in my sidebar.
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*And I still have some Winter Kits left, so be sure to check them out if you haven't already.*
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More info here

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Winter Nature Study and Snowflake Book Suggestions

I wanted to share with you all some book suggestions that I haverecently listed on my blog sidebar. Many people may have trouble with nature study in winter, and these books may help you, because they focus on nature study in winter:



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If you want to focus on snowflakes, here are some books you may wish to check out:







  • You may also want to check out my video here from last winter about how to catch a snowflake.
  • You may also want to make your own paper snowflakes. There are some instructions here.
  • There are some templates you can print to cut very fancy snowflakes here.
  • Here is a fun website where you can make your own snowflake: Make-a-Flake

Hope you enjoy these books and links. If you have any more winter nature study or snowflake ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments.

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And I still have some Hearts and Trees Winter 2008 Kits, so be sure to check them out, if you haven't already.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Jan Brett Links 2

There are tons of games and printables available on Jan Brett's website.

Here are a few more things you might want to check out:


I will be shipping all pre-orders of my Winter Kit on Friday, so be sure to get your order in by Thursday.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Jan Brett Links

Here are some links of activities you might enjoy based on Jan Brett's book The Mitten. My Winter Kit was mostly inspired by this book.

I hope you enjoy checking out these links. I will be back tomorrow with some more Jan Brett inspired ideas.


I will be shipping all pre-orders of my Winter Kit on Friday, so be sure to get your order in today if you are intersted. :)

Saturday, December 13, 2008

And the winner is....

The winner of my little conest is Phyllis from bergblog! Thanks to everyone who participated and shared about my Winter Kit and blog on their blog. I wish I could send everyone a goodie bag.
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This coming week is going to be Jan Brett week on my blog, so be sure to check back for lots of links and fun things to do. I totally forgot to mention that what inspired most of the projects for my Winter Kit was the book The Mitten by Jan Brett. That's why I decided to focus on mammals and why we are sewing mittens. And the artwork in the book is very Pennsylvania Dutch inspired, so I wanted to include that in the kit too.

I will be shipping all pre-orders of my Winter Kit on Friday, so be sure to get your order in today if you are intersted. :)


Monday, December 8, 2008

Hearts and Trees Contest

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In an effort to advertise my Winter 2008 Kit, I am hosting a little contest. To enter this contest you will just need to either use my button in your blog sidebar linking to my blog (the html code is in the scroll box below) or post about my kit or my blog with a link to my blog on your blog. You will then need to leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog.

I have a whole bag of handicraft and art goodies to send along to the winner.

The goodies include:


  • 1 watercolor set
  • a stack of 1/2 sheets of watercolor paper
  • some plastic canvas and a plastic canvas needle
  • some tissue paper sheets
  • three sheets of felt (0range, yellow and pink)
  • and whatever else I can find to throw in. :)

You can copy the html code in the box below to paste into your sidebar. I am not too technical, but if you have any trouble, I may be able to help you out. Thanks!



The contest will end Friday (the 12th). I will pick a random winner on Saturday the 13th. Thanks to all who participate! And you can find out more about my winter kit here. They are going fast, so purchase yours soon!