Bringing spring to you!

Are you feeling tired of winter? Got the winter blues and can't WAIT (literally) for spring to get here? Well I have a spectacular project for you that brings a little spring to you!

I know I've been gone for awhile - my in-laws are visiting and so I've been quite busy and distracted. But I will get back into regular blogging soon. Anyways, for Christmas my husband's grandma (and mine too of course), purchased me a subscription to Better Home and Gardens Magazine! I am pouring through my first copy and found a GREAT idea to freshen up your home while winter may continue outside.

I hoped to get pictures for you too however as many of you know I got a new camera for Christmas and went hog wild with it and so now my card is full with about 1,400 pictures on it, yes I'm not kidding, and so I need to empty my card before I can get any more pics on here. However is the idea:

Materials Needed:
- branches off a deciduous tree - cut about 1 or 2 feet long
- shallow container, dish, whatever
- fresh water
- floral foam
- Scissors (sharp)
- And decorative rocks (optional)

What to do:
- Place floral foam inside the shallow dish you have chosen
- Cut some tree branches about 1 to 2 feet long and place into floral foam in any arrangement you like
- Fill with fresh water
- Cover top with decorative rocks to cover foam and make it look nicer
- Every 2-3 days cut fresh ends off the branches and replace water
- This will "force" the branches to bud giving you some greenery and a little spring made at home!

I'm putting mine together today so hopefully by the time they bloom I will have space on my camera to get a pic! Hope you enjoy the project!

Craft Series #3

I think I have wasted enough time since my last craft post so here is a cute simple project to do for your little kiddos. My children are 3 and 1 and this was perfect for my 3 year old. I put the entire thing together in like 15 minutes and it kept him entertained all through the cooking of dinner and afterwards! So a kid kept entertained all evening - I think it is well worth it!

It is a Puppet Stage - Puppets included!

I will admit I took the shortcut route and simply went on Nick.com and printed out the Backyardigans puppets they had. They were about three inches tall and so you just had to print them out, cut them out and attach to any type of stick. They of course recommended Popsicle sticks but I was out of those so grabbed some straws. Anything a child can hold it up with will work! I even just taped the straw on instead of dragging out my glue gun and making a mess.

The stage simply consisted of a shoe box. You set the shoe box on it's side (throw the lid away) and on the bottom part cut a rectangle out from the edge. The picture is bad - but hopefully you can still see how I did it. (If not go to Nick.com and look up the Backyardigans puppets - it will explain how to do it too)

Then print out any background you want for your puppet adventure - beach, jungle, city, etc. Glue the background onto the inside of the box on all three sides.

You can also get creative and cut pieces of fabric to glue on the top edges of the stage to make curtains for the stage.

Now you can be as creative or as simple as you want. My child being 3 it wasn't worth much more effort because I knew it would be destroyed by the next day but if your kids are older and gentler they might enjoy being a little more extensive with the design. You can find any animal or people figure to print out or paint your own! Attach a Popsicle stick or anything that will work to hold the puppet with. you can even paint clothes or hats on your figures to match the background you chose. If you want to make a castle for a princess you can add glitter to your puppets or make her a crown! Just have fun with it!

Hope your kids enjoy their puppet stage!

Craftiness Series #2

Okay I did promise I would share how I made my kid's Halloween costumes so this will be the 2nd post of my craftiness series!

The elements I used can be turned into almost anything you want and can also be used for other things than Halloween costumes. I will explain at the end.

Okay the first thing we did was the head. (I say we because I THOUGHT it would be fun to let me kids, 3 yr and 1 y., to help me paper mache and paint - not the best plan but THEY had fun) Here were the steps to making a paper mache dinosaur head:

1. Blow up a balloon. (I taped the bottom of mine to a plate so it would stay still on our table while I worked on it.)

2. Rip up pieces of newspaper and paper mache onto balloon. Since my son is young I didn't think he would go for a full over his entire face mask so we just did the top so it would sit on top of his head. There are several recipes for paper mache but the easiest and the one I used was simply liquid starch. Just pour some liquid starch into a paper bowl and start painting it on.

NOTE: Do only about 4 layers of paper and then do a layer of white computer paper so it easier to paint later.

3. Once dry crumple up two pieces of paper into balls and tape onto sides of mask for eyes. Then paper mache over them to create the eye sockets. Let dry. Once completely dry pop the balloon.

4. Once the balloon is out and it is dry, you may paint any color you want. I picked green but brown would be another common dinosaur color. Don't forget to paint the eyes and nostrils. NOTE: I almost forgot I also folded white paper into triangular points for teeth and just applied a little more liquid starch to attach on the inside of the mask.

5. Punch two holes on each side to tie a piece of string through so you can tie it under their chin.

Second component of the costume was the body. It was made out of a pillow case!

1. Take an old pillowcase and dye it the color desired (you may not need this step depending on the color of your pillowcase) Use hot water and don't forget to add the salt! Also make sure your washer and dryer are empty because you will have to wash them afterwards!

2. Then cut arm holes and a hole for their head - make sure it isn't too big because it needs to rest on his shoulders to stay up.

3. Then for mine because my son is very young I was able cut a slit up the middle of the bottom of the pillowcase and sew the edges to create legs. He was able to slip his entire body through the head hole at the top. If they won't be able to slip through the top you could always cut down the back of it and sew a zipper in or even simpler just attach a Velcro strip.

4. Other Options: You could also paint a tummy onto the front in a different color than the body. Such as if you did a green dinosaur a yellow tummy would be cute. Whatever color you will make the spikes would be the color for the tummy also.

The third part was the tail.

1. Take another pillowcase - dyed the same color as the body (dye both pillowcases at the same time - one box of dye is plenty for both)

2. Cut a tail out of the side of the pillowcase and flip inside out to simply sew up the other side leaving the large end of the tail open.

3. Flip the tail out covering your sewing and then fill the tail with stuffing. One big bag is only like 3 or 4 dollars at a craft store. NOTE: straighten out a wire clothes hanger and put through the tail before stuffing so you will be able to bend and shape tail later.

4. Once stuffed full sew up the end and then sew the entire tail onto back of pillowcase body.
For some reason it cut the bottom of my picture off when I rotated it around so sorry you don't have the full picture!

LAST STEP:

1. Cut out spikes from cardboard and paper mache with white computer paper. Once dry paint yellow or again any color you choose.

2. Super glue (yes you need it that strong if you want them to actually stay on) the spikes all the way down the tail and back of the body.

All DONE! After doing this I realized the possibilities are endless on costume ideas for animals. Probably monsters and anything else too for that matter. You could do a zebra - add ears to the mask, or a camel -add humps instead of spikes and shorten the tail etc... I made a bunny costume for my little girl, taking out the mask and purchasing bunny ears headband and by making a tail out of cotton balls and a hot glue gun.

So have fun creating your next Halloween or play costume for your child and let me know if you come up with other creative ideas to this costume!

Craftiness and just plain fun!

It seems as holidays are fast approaching and as the weather is cooling I have found myself doing more crafting, baking, and just interesting things with my kids! So I have decided I would like to do a short series on a few crafts/ideas/recipes I have tried lately - one being the Halloween costumes I promised I would explain.

So my first one is a short and simple idea (since I don't have much time) of which no credit can be given to myself. My sister-in-law, Elizabeth, gave me this idea when she was here a couple months ago. She was going into our bathroom and of course I started explaining away my bedroom because I am changing the decor but don't have the mula to do it all in one bang and so half our room is Americana and the other is more modern black and red color scheme. Those two don't exactly mix. I was saying something about my blue curtains and how it would be awhile before I could buy new ones and she said well do you not like these curtains or is it just the color. I had no clue where she was going with the question but said, "no the curtains are just fine but I need black." And she wisely responded, "Why don't you just dye them black instead of buying whole new curtains."

Talk about feeling stupid (not Elizabeth's point) but I just thought to myself, "Why didn't I think of that?!!" So Elizabeth you will be happy to know I have bought the dye and will be dyeing them tonight! I got some practice on my son's Halloween costume and am prepared to do an excellent job now!

So no step by step for this project but just an idea - if you are changing decor and are okay with something currently there but need a new color just buy a $2-$3 box of Dye at Hobby Lobby or Michaels and voila! New Curtains! or pillowcases, or whatever you desire!

I will give a couple tips before you start though in case you have never done dyeing before:
1. Make sure you have 30 minutes to sit or stand still and stir your mixture constantly!
2. Wear rubber gloves and an apron or clothes you do not care about (even when you are careful splashes do happen!)
3. Make sure your washer and dryer is empty because you will need to wash them when you are done.
4. If you are going from a dark to a light color buy the Color Out box and do that one first.
5. And don't forget the salt!!

Have fun!