My Little Man turns 2 on Friday and we are having his birthday celebration on Sunday. I can't wait. He LOVES airplanes so I am doing an airplane theme.
And now for the Big News.... I will be starting up a Linky Party soon! Hopefully it will be up and running in the next few weeks so look for it! I can't wait to see everyone's amazing, creative projects and goodies.
Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week and weekend. I'll be up to my eyeballs in cake batter, fondant and cupcake decorations. I may even try cake pops! And I will definitely post all about it after the big day.
September 28, 2011
September 26, 2011
C is for Cars
This past week, worked on the letter "C". I finally found an activity that both my kids were able to do TOGETHER WITHOUT FIGHTING!!! (Cue the hallelujah chorus). We had fun using cars to paint.
I rolled out some paper and covered our dining room table with it. I placed some washable tempera paint onto some waxed paper in the middle of the table. I made sure to put a blob of color for each kid so there would be no fighting over who got which color. Can you tell that we are in the terrible two stage at my house?
I also put down some plastic under the table because even though the paints are washable, we've got carpet and I just don't want to deal with cleaning paint out of carpet.
Then the kids had a ball rolling the cars through the paint and onto the paper.
The mess of brown in the middle is the paint blobs after the activity.
After they were finished, I set up a "car wash" in the sink and let Madison get to work washing the cars. She scrubbed each one clean with a toothbrush and then set them aside to dry.
This was a fun activity that kept their little hands busy for at least an hour.
I rolled out some paper and covered our dining room table with it. I placed some washable tempera paint onto some waxed paper in the middle of the table. I made sure to put a blob of color for each kid so there would be no fighting over who got which color. Can you tell that we are in the terrible two stage at my house?
I also put down some plastic under the table because even though the paints are washable, we've got carpet and I just don't want to deal with cleaning paint out of carpet.
Then the kids had a ball rolling the cars through the paint and onto the paper.
The mess of brown in the middle is the paint blobs after the activity.
After they were finished, I set up a "car wash" in the sink and let Madison get to work washing the cars. She scrubbed each one clean with a toothbrush and then set them aside to dry.
This was a fun activity that kept their little hands busy for at least an hour.
Sharing at:
September 23, 2011
School Work Organization
Happy Fall!! Now that the kids are back in school, organizing all the papers they come home with can be overwhelming. Here is what I came up with:
This carrying case used to hold my scrapbook paper. I added some scrapbook stickers to the outside with my daughter's name and year in school. On the inside, it has dividers with tabs.
When my daughter comes home from school, I look through her papers and decide which ones we should display on her Art Display. All the rest goes into the carrying case, (where I can go through it later). Currently, I'm designating each month to a different slot. So far, it is working out well. If there are any papers/projects that do not fit in the carrying case, they go into an under-the-bed box.
How do you organize your kid's schoolwork?
This carrying case used to hold my scrapbook paper. I added some scrapbook stickers to the outside with my daughter's name and year in school. On the inside, it has dividers with tabs.
When my daughter comes home from school, I look through her papers and decide which ones we should display on her Art Display. All the rest goes into the carrying case, (where I can go through it later). Currently, I'm designating each month to a different slot. So far, it is working out well. If there are any papers/projects that do not fit in the carrying case, they go into an under-the-bed box.
How do you organize your kid's schoolwork?
Sharing at:
September 21, 2011
Alphabet Beanbags
My son is turning two next week. I have no idea how THAT happened so quickly! After agonizing over what to buy him for his birthday, I decided to make him something. I chose these Alphabet Beanbags that I saw on Pinterest, here and here (Don't you LOVE that site?) I do. I get most of my crafty ideas from there.
Materials
Fabric scraps of various colors
White fabric
Rotary cutter or Scissors
Sewing machine
Pins
Steam-a-Seam
Fabric glue
Corner turner
Iron
Letter template
Beans
Funnel
Directions
Cut out 52 5.5"x5.5" squares from your fabric scraps. Make sure you have two each of the same color/pattern. One for the front and one for the back of each beanbag.
Place your fabric squares right sides together, pin, and sew around the edges, leaving 1/4" seam allowance on each side. LEAVE A SMALL HOLE AT THE BOTTOM of one side to turn your fabric.
Trim your seam allowance, except for the seam allowance on the open edge. You will need this to turn under later. Trim the corners on an angle.
Turn your fabric square right side out, use your corner turner (or pencil) to poke out the corners and press.
Repeat for all 26 beanbags.
Using a computer, print out the letters of the alphabet in the font of your choice. Make sure it is an easy font to cut out without any intricate details.
Cut out the letter templates and trace each letter onto the Steam-a-Seam, making sure to trace them backwards. See the "J"... I messed up and had to do that one again :(
Follow the directions on your Steam-a-Seam and adhere the paper to your white fabric.
Once the Steam-a-Seam is adhered to the fabric, cut the letters out. You will now have a fabric letter with Steam-a-Seam attached to it.
Follow the directions on your Steam-a-Seam and attach the letters to the front of the beanbags. Usually, there is a backing that you peel off and then you iron the letter in place.
If you would like to top-stitch your beanbags, do it now before you fill the bags but leave the opening at the bottom.
Using your funnel (I made mine out of paper), pour beans into each beanbag. I used black-eyed peas and it took about 4 bags to fill 26 beanbags. I did not fill the beanbags very full....just enough to give them some shape.
To close the hole at the bottom, you have several options:
1.) Slip Stitch it closed (I am not a good hand-sewer so this option does not work for me)
2.) Use your sewing machine to continue the top-stitch. This gives your beanbags a tailored look. I attempted this with one beanbag but did not like how it was turning out (I'm not the greatest at sewing straight, even with a sewing machine).
Soooo... I did the following
3.) Fold the edges under and fabric glue them together. This gives your beanbags a "finished" look without showing any stitches. Its quick and easy.
And there you go.. Alphabet Beanbags. Perfect for your toddler to play with while learning the alphabet. Or, if your kid is anything like mine, he/she will use them as missles to launch at his/her older sister.
September 20, 2011
Red and Yellow and Green...Oh My!
My daughter's Pre-K class is currently learning all about apples. Here is a recent project they did in class:
First, read some books about apples. Our current favorite is Apple Countdown. Talk about apples...how they grow, how they taste, the different colors of apples, etc.
Write the words "red", "yellow", and "green" (for the different colors of apples) at the top of a piece of paper. You can also write it in pencil and have your child trace the words. Or, for an older child, have them write the words themselves.
Have your child look through magazines and cut out pictures of items that are red, yellow, and green.
Glue the pictures into the corresponding column. (She didn't finish at school, hence only one picture in the yellow column. We finished it up when she got home)
I like this craft because it includes color recognition, word recognition and cutting skills.
Happy Fall!
First, read some books about apples. Our current favorite is Apple Countdown. Talk about apples...how they grow, how they taste, the different colors of apples, etc.
Write the words "red", "yellow", and "green" (for the different colors of apples) at the top of a piece of paper. You can also write it in pencil and have your child trace the words. Or, for an older child, have them write the words themselves.
Have your child look through magazines and cut out pictures of items that are red, yellow, and green.
Glue the pictures into the corresponding column. (She didn't finish at school, hence only one picture in the yellow column. We finished it up when she got home)
I like this craft because it includes color recognition, word recognition and cutting skills.
Happy Fall!
September 19, 2011
Embellished Burp Cloths
Materials
Cloth diapers
I don't cloth diaper (gasp!) so I don't know all the terminology but I'm pretty sure they were pre-folds made by Gerber. Got them at Tar-jay.
Ribbon (gross grain)
Lighter or match
Scissors
Sewing machine
Directions
Cut your ribbon a little longer than the diaper and heat seal the ends with a lighter or match. The ribbon will shrink a bit when you heat seal the ends, so that is why you should add a bit of extra length to it.
Pin your ribbon in place, lining the edge up with the edge of the diaper. You can also unfold the diaper and place your ribbon on the seams.
Sew down one side of the ribbon, turn and sew up the other side.
Viola! Embellished burp cloths. So cute and easy!
Sharing st:
Momnivore's Dilemma
House of Hepworth's
Tatertots and Jello
Happy Hour Projects
Ladybird Lane
Fingerprints on the Fridge
Sharing st:
Momnivore's Dilemma
House of Hepworth's
Tatertots and Jello
Happy Hour Projects
Ladybird Lane
Fingerprints on the Fridge
September 17, 2011
Snack Bags
I have been on a sewing kick lately and wanted to share these cute snack bags that I made. They are quick, easy and you can coordinate them with any theme that you want. I followed this tutorial and here is the finished product:
Materials:
Fabric (one print for outside and another for liner)
Velcro
Sewing machine
Rotary cutter
Scissors
Iron
Pins
Corner turner
Directions:
1. Pre-wash and iron your fabric
2. Cut 4 pieces of fabric 7" by 6.5" with a rotary cutter
{two pieces for the outside and two pieces for the liner}
3. Cut two pieces of Velcro 6" each
4. Place one piece of Velcro 1/2" from the top of the right side of your liner fabric. Pin and sew in place.
5. Place liner fabric and outside fabric together (right sides together). Pin and sew 1/4" from the top {the edge that the Velcro is attached to}
6. Open the seams and iron flat. Ironing seams always makes your product look more professional.
Repeat steps 4-6 with the other two pieces of fabric
7.Attach the Velcro together, making sure that it is lined up and straight.
8. Pin the two liner pieces together and sew on three sides, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance.
{Do not sew the side that the Velcro is attached to.}
9.Place the two outside pieces together (right sides together) and sew around the three sides {not the side with the Velcro}, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance.
LEAVE A 2" HOLE AT THE BOTTOM TO TURN YOUR FABRIC.
{this is actually a picture of the liner pieces being sewn together but its the same for the outside too, except leave a hole at the bottom}.
10. Trim your corners at and angle and turn your fabric right side out. Use a corner turner
{or in my case, a blunt pencil} to poke out your corners and make them crisp.
11. Sew the bottom of the bag using the sewing machine or a slip stitch.
I love these bags and plan on making many more. They make perfect gifts too.
Sharing at:
Sharing at:
September 13, 2011
Guest Post: Rachel from "I Heart Crafty Things"
I'm so excited to have Rachel from "I Heart Crafty Things" guest post today. She has an amazing blog with tons of crafts for kids. I'm inspired by her creativity each time I visit. Today, she is kind enough to share two great crafts with my readers... and both are "Out of this World".....
Hi, this is Rachel from I Heart Crafty Things. I am a stay at home Mom to 3 super cute kiddos and you will quickly learn from visiting my blog that we LOVE doing crafts at our house. I always try to correlate our crafts with children's books and activities we do as a family. I've found that sometimes it gets difficult coming up with crafts that both my First Grader and Preschooler enjoy, but this Summer we had a Space week and we completed a couple projects that both my kids absolutely adored! I'm super excited that Kelly asked me to guest post today to share them with you. First, we created a Moon Masterpiece. I wanted my kids to have an understanding that the Moon had craters and texture, so we used a special painting technique to make our Moon have texture. You can see from this picture how cool it looks once it's all dry.
Our favorite Moon book we read was "Happy Birthday, Moon" by Frank Asch. Love this Story!!
It's about a Bear who thinks it would be fun to get the Moon a Birthday present. He climbs up to the top of a mountain to talk to the Moon and he really thinks the Moon is talking back to him, only it's really just his own echo. My kids LOVED this story. They giggled and giggled and it was lots of fun!
Let me show the secret technique to creating our Moon Masterpiece.
2. Mix together white paint with flour until it is the consistency of cottage cheese, and paint that onto your Moon circle. There isn't really a ratio of paint to flour. I started by putting my paint in a container first, then adding flour a little at a time until it reached the consistency of cottage cheese. It does require a lot of the mixture to paint the Moon so be warned you will be using quite a lot of white paint. Also, the idea is to paint it on thick and not smooth. The more texture, the better!
3. While the paint is still wet, press your circular plastic cap onto your Moon all over to create the craters. Then let the paint dry completely. Since it was thick, we let it sit over night.
4. Add some gold star stickers for finishing touches.
Andy's (6yrs)
Luke (4yrs)
2. Spray a couple sprays onto your black sheet of paper. This creates that Galaxy look to your picture. Let the paint dry completely. It was sunny outside so it only took like 10 minutes to dry.
It really only takes a couple light sprays. Ours looked liked this after spraying.
4. Cut out the circles and glue them onto your black paper.
5. Add whatever details you'd like to your Planets with crayons and glitter glue.
My boys loved using the glitter glue for a ring around a Planet.
Andy suggested we make shooting stars. He even came up with the idea to add the gold star on the end of the tail. He is a Genius, I know! hahaha And I totally copied HIS idea on my own Universe, I'm such a copy-cat. LOL!
Hi, this is Rachel from I Heart Crafty Things. I am a stay at home Mom to 3 super cute kiddos and you will quickly learn from visiting my blog that we LOVE doing crafts at our house. I always try to correlate our crafts with children's books and activities we do as a family. I've found that sometimes it gets difficult coming up with crafts that both my First Grader and Preschooler enjoy, but this Summer we had a Space week and we completed a couple projects that both my kids absolutely adored! I'm super excited that Kelly asked me to guest post today to share them with you. First, we created a Moon Masterpiece. I wanted my kids to have an understanding that the Moon had craters and texture, so we used a special painting technique to make our Moon have texture. You can see from this picture how cool it looks once it's all dry.
Our favorite Moon book we read was "Happy Birthday, Moon" by Frank Asch. Love this Story!!
It's about a Bear who thinks it would be fun to get the Moon a Birthday present. He climbs up to the top of a mountain to talk to the Moon and he really thinks the Moon is talking back to him, only it's really just his own echo. My kids LOVED this story. They giggled and giggled and it was lots of fun!
Let me show the secret technique to creating our Moon Masterpiece.
Materials you will need:
-black sheet of card stock paper
(I used construction paper but if I had to do it again I would pick card stock because of the thick paint)
-white crayon
-cereal bowl (to trace the Moon shape)
-white paint
-flour
-paint brush
-Empty bottle with plastic cap on it
(we used an empty water bottle)
-gold star stickers
Directions:
1. Trace your cereal bowl onto your black paper with the white crayon.
2. Mix together white paint with flour until it is the consistency of cottage cheese, and paint that onto your Moon circle. There isn't really a ratio of paint to flour. I started by putting my paint in a container first, then adding flour a little at a time until it reached the consistency of cottage cheese. It does require a lot of the mixture to paint the Moon so be warned you will be using quite a lot of white paint. Also, the idea is to paint it on thick and not smooth. The more texture, the better!
3. While the paint is still wet, press your circular plastic cap onto your Moon all over to create the craters. Then let the paint dry completely. Since it was thick, we let it sit over night.
4. Add some gold star stickers for finishing touches.
Our next craft was so fun that I went ahead and created one right along with my kids! (I love feeling like a kid again) I call it our "Out of this World" Craft. Hands down, creating our own Universe scene was the craft my kids loved more than any other this Summer.
Here is mine
Andy's (6yrs)
Luke (4yrs)
I am a HUGE fan of art that has several different layers to it like this one. I think it really gives children a chance to be imaginative and create exactly what they want to. After we finished this project my 6 yr old said, "Can we make this again tomorrow?" That is how much they loved it!
This is how we created this cool project.
Materials you will need:
-Black sheet of card stock paper
-spray bottle
(I bought one at Wal-Mart for .97)
-white paint
-water
-a variety of bright colored pieces of card stock paper to make planets
(we used red, green, blue and yellow)
-glue stick
-crayons
-glitter glue
-star stickers
Directions:
1. Put a small amount of white paint inside a spray bottle and dilute it down with water.
2. Spray a couple sprays onto your black sheet of paper. This creates that Galaxy look to your picture. Let the paint dry completely. It was sunny outside so it only took like 10 minutes to dry.
It really only takes a couple light sprays. Ours looked liked this after spraying.
3. Draw different sized circles onto a variety of brightly colored pieces of card stock. These are Planets so we didn't want them all to be the same size.
4. Cut out the circles and glue them onto your black paper.
5. Add whatever details you'd like to your Planets with crayons and glitter glue.
My boys loved using the glitter glue for a ring around a Planet.
Andy suggested we make shooting stars. He even came up with the idea to add the gold star on the end of the tail. He is a Genius, I know! hahaha And I totally copied HIS idea on my own Universe, I'm such a copy-cat. LOL!
And there you have it....An "Out of This World" Craft.
Here are a couple books that go great with this craft.
"The Planets in our Solar System" by Franklyn Branley.
"There's No Place Like Space" by Tish Rabe.
We love all the Dr. Suess Books at our house like this!
I hope you enjoyed our Space crafts! Make sure you stop by I Heart Crafty Things to say hello and see what else we've been up to.
Happy Crafting!!
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