DIY Pallet Hearts

Throughout this past Christmas season I saw all these adorable Christmas Trees popping up made from a simple pallet. Well I ran out of time and did not get ours made, but I have plenty of Christmas Decorations and so I'm not sure that I really needed the pallet tree. But with the beginning of February arriving I pulled out our Valentine's decorations and well there is NOTHING for outside. I really get sad or slightly depressed when we take down all the beautiful Christmas decorations and then there is nothing.  I know lots do not like or enjoy Valentine's Day but it is a day in which to share a little bit of God's love and remember some of the good that still exists in this world.

So I took a pallet, drew a large heart on it and grabbed the jig saw. In a matter of minutes I had my heart cut out and the silhouette too. I added some barn red paint to the heart and viola! A Simple heart for outside my house!

Math Garden

A few weeks ago I was working with my niece on matching her numbers and counting to 12. Well I was looking for a fun way for her to practice and maybe one that I didn't have to help the whole time. So we made our Number Garden(which later became the Math Garden).

We took an egg carton and turned it upside down. I had my niece use a marker on each egg cup draw green grass. While she was making grass I was making flowers. I grabbed some popsicle sticks and sticky backed Fun Foam Flowers. I placed a flower at the top of each stick. The where the leaves were to be I wrote numbers 1-12 on the sticks. When she was done with the grass, I then wrote numbers 1-12 on the top of each egg cup and cup a small slit the width of a popsicle stick.

The bottom of the carton with green grass on sides and numbers and slit in egg cup

Our simple flowers- my niece liked the ones with glitter centers better

 

Our Number Garden turned Math Garden

Now all she had to do was "plant" my flower garden, by matching the numbers on the sticks to the numbers on the egg cups.  Once she had finished matching the flowers to the holes, we would count them and check to see if they were correct.

This worked great for my 4 year old niece, but the Math Garden began when my son came home from school. Now Garrett is in 3rd grade and was working on multiplication. My niece had randomly placed the flowers back into the egg carton when we were all done the last time. When Garrett got home, he saw this and asked what it was. I explained that it was my "Math Garden" and he had to Multiply the flower times the number on the egg cup and give me the answer. If it was correct he could "pick the flowers."  This was a fun and quick way to randomly practice math facts in a couple of minutes.

Now that I have looked at it for a while- this could work for matching numbers, counting, addition, subtraction, & multiplication. And now my niece is leaving her numbers messed up when she is done so that Garrett has to practice when he comes home- it's like their own little game between them.

Vintage Handkercheifs turned Tissue Covers

As my in-laws were sorting things, my mother-in-law handed me a bag of vintage handkerchiefs that had been hers - (she knew that I would do something with them). Some of them her mother had added the crochet work around the edges and some she had added the delicate stitches.  After searching the web for a while, I thought that covers for small tissue packets would be nice and something that would be used. But the patterns I was finding online were for large tissues, as seen here, http://beachvintage.blogspot.com/2010/09/project-day-hankerchief-tissue-holder.html

So I adjusted this idea and folded the handkerchief's a little smaller so that they would fit nicely in a book bag or purse.

The 2 white ones were slightly larger than the blue one, so here is how I folded those handkerchiefs.

Lay handkerchief in front of you looking like a diamond not a square. Then Fold the right point to the center and also the left point to the center( you might need to overlap these points depending on the width.). Have your travel tissues close by to make sure that you have pulled them to the width that you need. (leave it a little bigger than the tissues) Pull the bottom point up towards the center but You will Pull it up til the crocheted edges can be folded forward to make a triangle on the front- it will look like an open envelop. Here I stitched along the bottom point and stitched the folded sides all together. I also stitched 1/4" seam along both sides. Then the top point folds down and makes the double row of ruffles.

On the blue one, there was only fancy stitching on the one corner, so I Started just like the first one by having a diamond, folding in the side points and double checking with my package. Then I folded the bottom point part way up and then folded it  up again to make a straight edge, just like an envelop. I stitched both sides and then had the fancy top just drop down.

It might sound complicated, but take a handkerchief and start folding- I didn't worry about hidden seams and I didn't cut any of the handkerchief incase someone wanted to use it some day as a whole handkerchief- a few stiches could be removed and little harm has come to it.

Vintage Doily Angels

This past October, my in-laws had an auction and we had all been given the opportunity to sort through things that had meaning. Well I had taken some doilies but I just couldn't let my husband's grandmother's handiwork leave the family. I have 2 nieces on that side of the family and 2 sister-in-laws that I thought would appreciate them the most- if only I could find something unique to do with them.  As I Searched Pinterest I found this beautiful picture and knew that it is what I wanted to make out of the doilies. Here are the directions that the pin was connected to http://grandmotherspatternbook.com/?p=9509

Once I got to the directions- I was shocked- because it was the actual crocheting pattern and that is something that I don't know how to do and certainly by mid December didn't have time or desire to learn. But this is what I wanted these angels to kind of look like.

So I adjusted and here is what I came up with.

I had a few limits, first I only had a few doilies left to work with and I wanted to make sure that I ended up with 4 angels (I forgot to take a picture of 1 before shipping it).  But if you are interested in the adjusted version here are the directions.

Vintage Doily Angel

1. I washed all the doilies and tried to get any stains out and then air dried them.
2. I had a Styrofoam cone 4-6" tall, that I covered in plastic wrap so it wouldn't stick.
3. I took the larger doilies and used them for the dresses. I soaked them in liquid starch and draped them over the Styrofoam cone.
4. While the dresses were drying, I picked out the wings. These I fan folded in the middle and hand stitched a few stiches to make sure that they would stay folded and pulled together.
5. I soaked the wings in liquid starch and laid them flat until they dried.
6. Once everything was dry and I had pulled the cones out from the inside, I used my hot glue gun and attached a wooden round knob to act as the head, the size depends on the size that looks best with your doilies.
7. I then was able to determine at what height I wanted the wings and I hot glued them onto the body.
8. I finished the angels with small flowers glued around the bottoms and a small cluster near where the hands would be to make that illusion with a small bow.

These was really a simple project, but very meaning full when you know where the doilies came from.

 

 

Valentine's Ideas

We are having yet another snow day, but we have things to do. Garrett's teacher was kind enough to send home the Valentine's Day list of students and asked that they make a Valentine's Day Box. Well Garrett has decided to do Duck Dynasty, but I hate putting lots of money into Valentine's Day Cards when we can make them or print them for free- just the paper and ink. A few years ago I posted of a great little website that has free printable so here is the link again to that posthttp://schickfunideas.blogspot.com/2012/02/valentines-day-preparation.html

and here is the link to the free greeting card website that has all sorts of characters
http://www.familyshoppingbag.com/free_printable_greeting_cards.htm#.UvJrJ5WYZHg

 But with any computer and a few graphics you can print your own unique Valentine's and with a little thought into the sayings and what your kids might be into.  We have had John Deere, Firetrucks , now Duck Dynasty- those are just Garrett's.  Snacks and crafts are a completely different thing. But why not try your hand at making your own Valentine's.

Another place that you could use is Wordle. Here you type in words and then they arrange them in fun designs of different sized fonts and colors. Have you kids make a list of words that are used around Valentine's Day, type them in and see what comes up- it's pretty cool.  Here's the site to check out http://www.wordle.net/

Click here to see my Valentine's Wordle

But be creative and have fun!!!!

Pop Bottle Piggy Bank

Tonight as Cub Scouts we discussed how to use your money. To save, spend, donate and invest. Well after discussing with the parent providing that part of the activity, we thought that a divided bank would be really neat for the boys, but they were a little pricey to just give away. So I came up with this divided bank from a 2 liter pop bottle.

Take a 2 liter and wash it out. Then mark 2 1/2" down the side. You will cut with a craft knife about 1/2 way around and the width of the thickness of cardboard that you are using, at those 3 2 1/2" marks.  Between those marks going with the length of the bottle, you will cut small splits where the coins will be dropped in. You will need 4 of those slits. You will also need to drill a small hole in the bottle of the bottle for the tail

supplies needed

You also need:
 2 googly eyes (we used the peel and stick eyes);
 a small circle of adhesive pink fun foam (cut to the size of the bottle cap)
a black marker
1 piece of pink construction paper (cut into triangles)
3 circle discs, cut slightly bigger than the diameter of the bottle
1 pink pipe cleaner, cut in half
hot glue gun



You add the eyes to the neck of the bottle making sure that they are toward the top of the bottle where the coins would be dropped in. The take the marker and add the nostrils to the pink nose. Peel the paper backing and place on bottle cap. Take the pipe cleaner 1/2 and wrap around your finger to make it curly. The place the end of the pipe cleaner into the drilled hole in the bottom of the bottle.
Take your construction paper triangles, fold a tab across one side, and using a glue gun place the ears slightly above the eyes on the neck part of the bottle. The add the cardboard discs to the large slits in the side of the bottle.

You now have a piggy bank that is divided to divide your money or to sort your money. Just a simple activity to help reinforce money management to children.

Diaper Cakes

Sometimes the best part about being invited to baby showers is getting those creative juices flowing. I had that opportunity this past week.  I started making just a diaper cake. I had made one before and it wasn't too difficult, so I figured a simple 3 layered cake would be fun. And so I made the simple diaper cake.

 

But something didn't seem complete. So I was looking around on Pinterest at other diaper cakes and then the light bulb kicked on. The grandpa(to be) of this little one is a mechanic and a tow truck driver. And what little boy doesn't love - MATER the tow truck? So here was the idea, but how to pull it off. Well, my friend, Kellie stopped in and offered her assistance on Monday and we ended up with the basic shape before she left. Then it was the outside coloring and wheels. The coloring came from 2 flannel blankets, that I made so they were close to the right color. And then the wheels. After several attempts that made it look like a monster truck, after several phone calls to friends to give suggestions,  I figured it out that the wheels went into the fenders and that they had to come up over the blankets for the correct shape. So here is my MATER in diaper cake form!

School and Sharpies

Even from a distance, you can see the name on the lid of the pencil box!!!

As we get ready for school around here, I label most everything - in case they would misplace it or temporarily loose it. But in the last couple of years, I have had problems labeling their backpacks because the inside lining was black. Nothing shows up on black. But this year Sharpie came to the rescue or at least it came to my mind. I purchased silver sharpies at Christmas Time and yes I still had them. I quickly grabbed the silver sharpie and wrote names right in the backpacks on the inside. It worked great so I grabbed the black pencil box and did the same. Yeah for Sharpies in silver - you can see them on black!!! It worked great for labeling stuff for school!

Coffee Filter Butterflies

While Garrett was home form school, it was May Day. Usually we deliver baskets of flowers to some of the neighbors, but with the seasons and flowers being all confused, Garrett and I made coffee filter butterflies to share with our neighbors.
This is usually really simple, but we had 1 small problem, I didn't think about his new markers being "washable." Very seldom do I purchase the washable type of markers. Kids are going to get markers on them anyhow and it does come of eventually. Well we tried the first filter and the color washed right out of it. Oops - okay let's get older markers and try again.

These are the markers that worked! not washable!

After the first little mistake, we then made several colored coffee filters, where you put color on the filter with a marker and then with an eye dropper add a few drops of water so the colors run together.  I did try to figure out how to dry these inside. When I saw the suction cup hooks that we use in our shower for scrubbies. I moved one to each end of the shower and stretched a string between the strings. miniature clothespins that we use for our art clothesline and we were set. Garrett could add the water and hang them up by himself.

We had all sort of colors

We then took clothespins, the slide on kind and added faces. When the filters were dry, we folded them to make our wings and slid 2 filters on each butterfly. We made cute little envelopes with hangers and then waited til May 1st to go hang them around the community. These worked really well and turned out adorable.

The Flowering Cross - book and activity

I stumbled on a great Easter Activity when I purchased the book "The Flowering Cross" by Beth Ryan at a local discount store. This story is about a little girl who befriends the neighbor man and gets him to attend church on Eater with her. At the church they have a flowering cross, where flowers are placed on the cross during the service. The neighbor then goes home and makes a smaller version of this cross for on the Easter table.

The lessons in this book are incredible. First that children can lead others to our Lord. Second, that we are to reach out to our neighbors in love. And third, that on Easter Sunday the cross of Jesus became a living cross.

Now as a kid our church had a cross, that was filled with potted flowers for our "Living Cross." So when I found this story I knew that it was to help remember what I had experienced in my youth. But I hadn't seen the pattern at the end of the book for the tabletop cross. When I got home I found the pattern. Luckily for me, my husband is a wonderful woodworking and he easily made me a couple crosses. I was able to share with 2 other homes this story this year, but I went back and bought a few more book, so I can pass this along to a few others.

But here is what our Flowering Cross looked like this year and hopefully we will get to share this for many years to come and with many others.

Dr. Seuss Game

Yesterday I emptied an oatmeal canister and immediately started thinking about Dr. Seuss and the Cat in the Hat. This canister is perfect for a very simple Seuss hat. I simply took some red paper and wrapped it around the canister. I then cut 1 1/2" strips of white paper and just taped them into place. I then cut a circle on red and cut out the center for the hat brim.  I started with the hat and then what were we going to do with that?


 I sat it on the table and thought, thought, thought
Then a thought, should we, ought?
A ball pitch, bean bags, then the red flags
The catapults and bean bags!!!

A word is called and a rhyme is made
Then the bean bags shot can be made
Can it hit the hat
Or will we hear "rats!"
Get the bag into the hat
It is simple as that!


The boys both had a great time coming up with words that rhyme. Garrett was really into it but had a little bit of trouble getting some rhymes, so we pulled out our Leap Frog Word whammer. I put in a word and then Garrett had to change a letter to make it rhyme. This was a great 45minutes of learning, because the launching of bean bags held his attention to getting rhyming words. So make a rhyme and then get a chance to launch the catapults. A lot of fun with a lot of learning all at once!

Our President's Day activities

With having the boy's off school on Monday, I immediately thought of things to do that would keep us discussing our President's and what they did for our country. We were blessed to be able to spend a day in Washington, DC this summer and so I challenged the boys to remember what their favorite monument and then to build it from cardboard. We also had finger puppets of Washington and Lincoln and at supper they needed to raise the correct puppet for the answer to the trivia questions.But here are our monuments.

School Party treats

Our school has a "nutrition policy" that we can't send in any homemade treats and no treats with sugar in the first 3 ingredients. Well that really limits things for Halloween and Valentine's day and makes it that parents can get creative. 

One year Robert made "gum people" http://schickfunideas.blogspot.com/2011/02/roberts-school-valentines.html this was an idea from Family Fun Magazine

Another year we made Shrinky Dinks http://schickfunideas.blogspot.com/search?q=shrinky+dinks as zipper pulls or pins.

But a couple of other ideas for school acceptable treats

Juice pouches or boxes with it labeled as "You're squirting fun" 

At this point in the year the kids can us a sharpened pencil  - "You are a Sharp one" written on a paper heart with 2 little slits that the pencil can be poked through

Or a cute Valentine's eraser - take double sided tape and tape it to a heart cut out and then write - "There's no mistake Valentine"

These are just a few ideas that might make preparing for a school Valentine's Day party a bit easier!

Groundhog Day

Garrett had discussed Groundhog Day yesterday at school and they had made predictions. So this morning, when he got up he wanted to watch for the groundhog on TV. So breakfast was in the living room, no big deal. But after Phil had predicted 6 more weeks of winter. Garrett went running upstairs and came back with his groundhog puppet that we made a few years ago. I was surprised that he even knew where to look for the puppet, but he had the puppet and was checking for shadows all over the house. As he was looking for shadows I quickly pulled together a little groundhog day pin that he could wear to school. Just 2 small scrapes of 2 shades of brown felt. I cut 1 into a square and rounded the top corners so that it would look like the stump. Then I took the darker brown and cut a half oval about the size of my thumb. With a black marker, I added lines to make the stump look like a tree and then I hot glued the groundhog, peeking up from behind the stump. I added 2 googly eyes and a small pin back to the back. It's not a fine piece of art, but was great for a 5 year old who was excited about groundhog day.

 As soon as the glue dried we pinned it on and then out the door Garrett went for school this morning. Sometimes it helps to have a few supplies on hand.

Love Buds

With it being the beginning of the "Love Month," I decided that this year, I would try to remind my boys how much I love them and what about them I love. I had picked up a package of heart post0its a few weeks ago when I saw them on sale. (At the time I didn't know what I was going to do with them, but they were cute!) This came to me today as I was outside on a beautiful February day looking for the first signs of spring - yes I actually have snowdrops up and daffodils poking their heads through the ground.  I came in and found the construction paper and quickly cut out 2 trees, each out of just 1 piece of paper. Simple cut the main part of the trunk and then using the scrapes I cut and taped branches onto my trees. With a black marker, I added some quick lines to make it look like bark. Then upstairs to the bulletin board where we do fun things on. I put up some blue sky and then placed my 2 trees. In the next month they will start to have beautiful "love buds" of pink and white hearts with a little message for each of the boys.

Our "Love Bud" trees

It is so important to remind our kids that we do love them and that no matter what they do that may drive us completely crazy - there are a million things that we love about them and wouldn't trade for the world! Let's take this month to remind our kids how much we really do love them. Will you join me in expressing our love to our children? If so, please share your ideas for how you are going to share that love. Is it a note in their lunchboxes, a chocolate kiss on their pillows? But let's love up our kids!

Hasbro game coupons!!!

Hasbro has announced the Hasbro Great Fun and Game event now through the end of Feb. Check out coupon savings and giveaways at www.hasbro.com/fun  This is a great time of year to pull out a board game for the evening. I have also found that board games are a great way to reinforce skills learned at school. Have you used the scrabble board to practice spelling words? Or Yahtzee to practice adding? For Garrett, we are having trouble with identifying a few numbers so out came an old game Rack-o - in which you have to put numbers in order from 1-60 depending on what cards you are dealt. So out they came. And we have been working on those for a few days and it is amazing the improvement, by just playing games.  For some of the older kids, depending on the subject, let them make their own game.

Have them take a piece of cardboard or large construction paper and draw a game board. They can make spaces to draw question cards or move back spaces. Then they can make the question cards or they can have it that on each turn they read a question and depending on a correct answer, then they can move the number of spaces that are rolled on a dice.  This idea works well for history, social studies, science, math facts, and spelling words.  They are having fun and learning - what a great way to take the stress off of learning and putting the fun back in!

Find It Activities

For those who like the Seek and Find books, here is a great game that can be made at home or purchased, depending on who might be using this game. Last week in Jr. Church, Garrett made a "find it "game with a baby food jar. The creative woman who had the lesson last week, was cleaning out her cupboards and had sprinkles that she felt should be tossed out. Instead, she had the kids put them into baby food jars and then add small beads, seashells, confetti shapes, etc. These turned out great!

I have also made clear plastic containers, a bit bigger and used sand instead of sprinkles in our containers. I had the boys collect small things from around the toy box and other things to put into the sand. The boys had a great time hiding plastic dinosaurs, small erasers,  broken crayons, etc. But there is also a commerical game that can be bought for gifts or just for fun. Each game is themed and we have had a great time with ours. To find out more about the commerical "Find IT' games go here,

http://www.finditgames.com/products.asp?itemid=616

These are great for in the car, to just have sitting around the house, for when you go camping or other places that you might need to kill a little time, but don't want to take up a lot of space. They are fun for both kids and adults. So check them out and have fun!

Holiday projects

I haven't been on this blog much in the last month, let alone in a timely fashion, but I had a few projects that I needed to finish for Christmas gifts. Now that they are completed and given, I can now post them here and share what I've gotten done!!! This is a double sided t-shirt quilt for my brother-in-law. He gave me 50 5K and marathon shirts and asked for a quilt. Well here it is!!! Boy was a double sided quilt like that difficult. I just knotted it instead of quilting it, But was very pleased with the finished product.

Here is one of 3 bed bags that I made. These are actually large pockets with little pockets inside. This has a matching pocket behind it and then there is a piece of plain fabric between the two. The plain fabric goes under the mattress and then the pockets hang out over the box springs on both sides. The kids can put pens/pencils, glasses, books or whatever they want in their bed bags.

 And then there is the dress-up buckets that I made for my niece. I also made a bucket for storing tractors in for my nephew, but didn't get a good photo. It's amazing what you can do with Mod Podge, some fabric and a bucket. Plus, I added the dress up items to the bucket too! But these make great storage and are inexpensive! Here is what I wrote about these the last time I made one- http://schickfunideas.blogspot.com/2011/01/creative-storage.html

So you see, I was a little busy trying to finish up projects. But what fun gifts to give!!!

Christmas gifts that kids can make

Well it is that time around here. We have begun the process of making Christmas gifts. I try to challenge the boys to make something for our families. I try to have them do different projects so they aren't giving the same thing.

Here are some ideas that have been hits:
Bracelets - they are so simple and depending on the age and resources can have a wide variety. Last year we found charms that told the Christmas Story in Oriental Trading. So Robert made "Christmas Story" Bracelets.

Christmas Ornaments -  There are so many different types of Christmas Ornaments to choose from. Several Years ago, Robert found some string art patterns online and we then cut light weight wood and made little string art ornaments. Garrett has some plastic ornaments (also found in Oriental trading) and we used multiply colors of paint and then the paint swirled together and made some beautiful ornaments.

Soups in a jar - Garrett made "Love Soup" in a Jar a few years ago. We went to the store and bought supplies according to the recipe that we found online.  We then spent part of a day with measuring cups, ingredients and jars and in a little bit of time had all of his gifts done. He also got to practice simple measuring.

Easy Baby Gifts

Hooded towel

Recently in our neighborhood there have been a few additions, new babies. I am always looking for gifts that are practical and used a little longer than the first few months. So I have started making large hooded towels. These aren't very difficult as you only need a washcloth, a bath towel and some binding material. I cut off the edges of the washcloth and get it square. Then fold it in half. The folded edge becomes the edge of the hood, while the other 2 sides meet with the sides of the towel when put on an angle. I then zigzag the washcloth to the towel. Then I use a binding strip that starts at 2 1/2" which is folded and pressed in have and then I fold in the edges to the center and press. I open the 1/2 fold and wrap that around the edge of the towel and zigzag all the way around the towel, for a finished look. These are great gifts as there is not much worse than a wet squirmy baby and not enough towel to help get the baby dry and help keep you dry too. These towels can be used for years to come as I still have boys using their hooded towels now and then. These would make great Christmas gifts too!