Kraft Dinner Recipes

So with the self-isolation that we are living these days my kids have decided to put together a blog and YouTube channel that will present you a variety of recipes that you can do with Kraft Dinner.

The idea and leadership of this endeavor comes from our oldest son, Alexandre, who has decided to use their skills in making original recipes using Kraft Dinner with the use of technology - video, YouTube and blogging - in order to offer ideas in using a well known product on the market and creativity for making meals.

On his blog - https://kraftdinnerrecipes.blogspot.com/ - he already has three recipes posted.

Check his message below and do not hesitate to follow his YouTube channel and blog.




Enjoy and as we say in French - Bon Appétit!

Lego Neighborhood Book 2

Lego Neighborhood Book 2
By Brian Lyles and Jason Lyles
Published at no starch press

About the book

Enter the fantastical world of model building. The LEGO Neighborhood Book 2 is a full-color guide to creating intricate, bustling LEGO neighborhoods and cities.

In this second volume, a follow up to the runaway best-selling first volume, readers learn even more ways to create classic architectural styles using only LEGO bricks. In addition to creating entire buildings, LEGO model-building experts Brian and Jason Lyles also show readers how to create interesting architectural features like cornices, false fronts, porches, and detailed interiors and furniture.

With instructions for three buildings and many smaller builds, The LEGO Neighborhood Book 2is sure to provide hours of building fun and inspiration for readers of all ages.

My Thoughts

In the past I had the privilege to review the first book of the Lego Neighborhood and it had been a hit with my own children.   But when I was offered recently to review the second book, I immediately jumped on the opportunity to do so because I knew that the book was synonym of quality and fabulous to give ideas on how to build a fun city. 

The book offer six sections of incredible designs.

1) A residential neighborhood - In this section you will learn more about building the following buildings and items: American Colonial, Colonial interior, piano, boutique hotel, art deco apartment building, art deco interior, display cabinet, Italianate row house, barbecue grill, row house interior, modern house, modern interior, modern couch and a staircase entrance.

2) A commercial neighborhood – In this section you will discover how to construct a commercial neighborhood with these ideas: corner store, corner store interior, soda machine, small shops with alley, shop interiors, DVD rental kiosk and sign,, toy store and camera shop, Japanese restaurant and board shop, board shop interior, Japanese restaurant interior, ice cream shop, topping bars, small vendor stalls, window, Caribbean restaurant, Parisian corner café, and a traffic light.

3) Public places – In the public places section you will learn to build an embassy with its details, a Brick City park and its details, a War Monument and its details, the top of the tower as well as an Art Museum and its details.

4) Gallery – This section show you ideas for shops and diners, city houses, whimsical buildings, the Wild West, Ancient Persia, and a Pirate city.

5) A micro city – In the micro city section your will learn more about microscale, how to have a smaller standard, how to create emergency services, park school, neighborhood buildings, office buildings, factories, commercial buildings and a harbor.

6) Corner condominiums – This specific section will provide a list of material and step-by-step instructions to build a corner condominium.

 

The book will provide instruction for certain things shown in the book but most of the time you will be able to observe close ups of the building created for the neighborhood presented in the book.  Nevertheless, the pictures are very clear and will provide ideas for the avid Lego builder in your life.  This book offers plenty of ideas for your child to create buildings with details as well as putting finishing touches in order to make the neighborhood more alive and thriving.

The Lego Neighborhood book 2 is available at your favorite bookstore, even on amazon.ca and amazon.com.

 

Disclaimer: Thanks to no starch press for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes . I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Strictly Briks

Strictly Briks offers a wide range of products to help the building fun play to be even more interesting.  It includes Big Briks, stackable baseplates, standard baseplates, silicone straps and baseplates, unique shapes as well as briks sets.

Instead of having a build a model as seen on the cover of a box kind of product, Strictly Briks will challenge your child to become more creative while building with any shape or height he or she desire.   The building pieces in their kits or special products can be enjoyed with anything they usually play with whether a stuff toy, matchbox cars, or superheroes.   With Strictly Briks you kids can develop engineering, architecture or artistic skills. 

I have received the opportunity to review two of their products.  Without waiting more, let me present you the two items I have received.

Unique Shape Towers

These unique shapes (squares, triangles, and half-circles) can be very fun to use in any kind of building project.  Whether you desire to have a unique construction or simply build a fun tower to display some of your things, this set will allow you to create above and beyond what you can imagine.   This special set contains 36 base plates in a variety of shapes as well as 60 2x2 stackers.   The stackers will allow you to create fun shape towers or help you to build other cool things. 

The beauty of this particular set is that you can have various shapes and colors to play with.  You can create interesting towers which will allow you to display your collection of mini-figures (something I know my kids could do in an instant) or any other collection you might be storing in your room. The price of this specific product is 39.99$ US.

AlphaBriks and MathBriks Set – 200 Briks and a 10”x10” baseplate

As an homeschooler, I can see the benefits for this particular set in an instant.  Why? Well first of all it could help you to enhance spelling or math lessons at home or in the car.    This fun tool will indeed reinforce these skills for your child who loves to learn while manipulating items.  The letter and number pieces fit tightly on baseplates while at the same time are a snap to remove!

However, this is not the only thing you can do with these.   What I find particularly interesting (and what I had in mind when I chose this item…) was the possibilities of use that could be done when my kids are doing animations with their LEGO creations.  It has become an activity that my kids are enjoying – they make up a story and film it while moving their minifigures to “act” the story.  The letters and numbers in this specific set could help them to become even more creative in their storyline and add some fun components at the same time.

Another thing I have verified with our LEGO bricks.  Strictly Briks items are compatible with all major brands, including LEGO, Mega Bloks and K’Nex brand sets.   Minifigures or other pieces can easily snap on the shapes of Strictly Briks.

These kits are great to ad-on your already building bricks that you have at home and will allow you to build more interesting things with them.   Their versatile aspects make these products a great idea for birthdays or Christmas.

Strictly Briks items are available for purchase on their website or amazon.com. 

 

Disclaimer: I received the two Strictly Briks kits for review purposes from KidStuff PR and Strictly Briks. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Rory’s Story Cubes

I’ve been eyeing the Rory’s Story Cubes for a while when I decided to try to see if I could review them.   I was delighted to get a positive response and waited to receive them.   Each boxes contain 9 cubes which would permit the kids to let their imagination go wild by inventing stories using the cubes.   So I received the three different Rory’s Story Cubes to review: the original, voyages and actions.

But you might be wondering, “What are the Rory’s Story Cubes?”  Let me present you the three different ones available on the market.

Rory’s Story Cubes (Original)

Rory's Story Cubes is a pocket-sized creative story generator, providing hours of imaginative play for all ages. With Rory's Story Cubes, anyone can become a great storyteller and there are no wrong answers. Simply roll the cubes and let the pictures spark your imagination!   This specific set will help reinforce artistic expression, language and vocabulary development as well as creativity and imagination.

This set contains nine cubes with over 54 images.   In all you can have the possibility of creating over 10,000,000 combinations to create stories.   With these fun cubes, anyone can become a storyteller.  There won’t be any wrong ideas…  It’s easy to use since you simply have to roll the cubes and let the images spark your imagination.  There are infinite ways to play with Rory's Story Cubes. You can play solitaire or with others. Here are some suggested uses: Party game or ice-breaker, literacy development, speaking and listening skills, creative inspiration, mental workout, and problem solving.  

Fun ways to play with these cubes are:

1. Roll all 9 cubes and look at the face up images.  Pick an image that will be the starting point for your story.  Begin with “Once upon a time…” and continue on going through all nine cubes.
2. Think up a title or theme for a story.   Then roll all 9 cubes and try to tell the story that relates back to the title or theme.
3. Divide the cubes evenly among the players.  Starting with one player and going through all of them, take turns rolling the cubes and adding to the story based on the images.  Stop after nine cubes are rolled or continue rolling for additional rounds.

Rory’s Story Cubes Voyages

In this special set of Rory’s Story Cubes, prepare yourself to take a trip! This set contains nine iconic cubes that aim to inspire stories of epic adventure. Cast away on a desert island… Spin tales of a faraway land. With 54 images and millions of combinations, your journeys are bound to be endless!  Again this set is similar to the original edition and works the same way.    This specific set will reinforce creativity and imagination.  For this specific set you can play these games:

1. My fantastic vacation – recount a recent trip you went on but embellish actual moments with the images rolled.
2. Memorable Adventure – One person suggests a geographical location.  Taking turns, each player rolls one cube ad then says the following “On my way to (location) I encountered…”  First recount in order all of the things that previous players saw and then use the image you rolled to inspire one more element to the adventure.
3. The Trilogy – Can you work together to create an epic three-part story?   Evenly divide the cubes among the players and then decide on a common theme.   Each player uses their cubes to tell their part of the story.  The third player has to end the tale, tying up any loose ends.

Rory’s Story Cubes Actions

Roll into action! Rory’s Story Cubes Actions features 9 cubes that illustrate 54 every day verbs. Play with them solo or combine them with other sets of Rory’s Story Cubes to kick-start your creativity and set your stories in motion.  This specific set reinfroces language and vocabulary development, visual discrimination as well as creativity and imagination.   You can play different games with this set:

1. Past-Present-Future.  Use the action cubes as a way to practice verb tenses.  Tell a story that take place in the present.  Then tell the same story again as if it happened in the past or the future.
2. Lights, Camera, Action!  Pick the title of a popular movie.  Then, tell a story that integrates characters and/or elements from that movie using the cubes you rolled.
3. Re-Action – Instead of describing the action depicted on the cube, describe the opposite action.  Example:  your cube show someone crying then you will describe someone laughing.
4. Show Some Action.   When you use each action cube, mime or act out the action shown instead of saying it out loud.

The boxes are quite small and will easily fit in a bag if you travel somewhere.   With each combination, your child can create numerous stories in order to practice his/her imagination.   Out of the blue, my kids would pick up one,two or all of the set and play with them this summer while we were doing the hardwood flooring.   It was a great way to work together making up stories.  Often I would hear the younger ones laughing at what they came up with.   Even if these are geared for ages 8 and up, my 5 and 7 years old children had a blast rolling the cubes and making up stories based on the images they would get.    I also find that these could be fabulous to encouraged a reluctant writer.  It can bring up ideas for this child while he writes stories.    The best part is that you can mix the cubes to create from activities for your kids based on the three kits available!

Bottom line, I find these cubes very creative and fun to have.   You could also use them while traveling long distance in the car.    We are planning a trip to Florida maybe next year and you can bet that I will bring these gems with me.   It’s perfect to encourage the kids to write stories while driving.   Only things though, I need to plan a plastic container of some sort in order to keep all the cubes in one place and avoid loosing one.   On the other end, I could also choose to use the Rory’s Story Cubes app which is available on iTunes.

The Rory’s Story Cubes boxes are available for purchase separately or together at amazon.ca and amazon.com.

AMAZON.CA quick links purchase

AMAZON.COM quick links purchase

     

Disclaimer: Thanks to The Creativity Hub for sending me the products for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Discovering Scripture Journaling

Since I’ve discovered Pinterest I have been inspired in many ways – cooking, homeschooling, organizing my house, gardening eventually even with our current backyard, photography and drawing/painting.

Recently I have posted an example of one of the project I have done – the painting of the birds on a line.

I’ve also discovered scripture journaling which also develop my creativity.    I have based some scriptures on what I have found on Pinterest like John 3:16 and Galatians 5:22-23 but my husband challenged me to come up with something of my own…   I pondered and God put a scripture in my heart about a week ago or so.  It was perfect for the past week-end which was our Canadian Thanksgiving as well!  I’ve worked with pencils to sketch it and then added color.   I’m not a professional and I am learning…  Drawing the hand was challenging but even though one finger seem out of place I think I did a good job.   Hubby thinks he should buy me some lessons one day…

So here is the scripture I have done.

Psalm 107:1

Tell me what you think of it.  I would love to read your comments.

Blessings!