fun fall leaf pictures

We made these a few days ago and our little girls loved them and it gave us something fun to hang up showing the changing leaves.  First we went on a little walk and everyone collected leaves, fall flowers, seeds, or small twigs. We brought them home, laid them out on the table and everyone started creating.  We found that it works best if you start to draw your creation and then put a dab of glue on the paper and then stick the leaves, flower petals, or twigs on the paper.  You can them finish drawing details if you would like.  Simple and really fun!

paper pencil

With school starting around the corner. What teacher wouldn't love to get this adorable personalized pencil. I found this idea at Creating Keepsakes Magazine. And then it just so happened that it was on Studio 5 this week. 

Supplies needed:

A roll of Rollo's candy

Hersey kiss

Yellow paper

aluminum foil

pink paper

scissors

tape or glue

and embellishments for the star and ribbon

Studio 5 has awesome instructions of how to assemble this cute pencil. While you are there check out all the other fun things they have for back to school.

paper beads

I remember making these when I was a little girl. So I thought that it would be great to teach my daughter how to make them. Better yet she loved them so much that we are making them for her American Girl Tea Party coming up this weekend. I think that the girls will fall in love with this fun craft. And they can go home and make many more.

Supplies                                

Paper (any kind)

Glue stick

toothpick

scissors

stretchy elastic

To begin you wan to cut your paper into small triangles as show in the picture. A 1/2in x 7 1/2in triangle. Keep in mind that the wider your triangle the  longer your bead and the longer your triangle the thicker your bead.  So it would be fun to have some bigger and smaller.  After you have cut your paper you begin with the fat end as you begin to roll it around the toothpick glue as you go. That will help your bead stay together. Pull it off of the toothpick and you will see that you have a nice hole to thread your bead on to your elastic.

Happy beading!

peanut butter play dough

This edible play dough mixes food and fun all in one.

Our favorite recipe comes from Disney's Family Cookbook.

Peanut Butter Play Dough

1 1/2 cups instant dry powdered milk

1 cup peanut butter

3 tbsp. honey

Mix all the ingredients together well and knead until smooth.  Store the dough in the refrigerator.

Play, create, eat and enjoy.

Tips:

There are two kinds of dry milk- instant and non-instant.  It is important to use instant.

The instant dry milk granules, may make the dough seem a little lumpy at first

but it will smooth out with kneading.

I like to measure the peanut butter and honey with a 1/4 cup cookie scoop. 

It makes it fast and easy to scoop, measure, drop into the bowl, and clean-up.

gone fish'n

Being a mom of 3 boys and knowing that is hard to find fun projets for them. Lets face it is fun to make cute stuff for girls and ideas are endless. Well I ran across this fun idea      From an Igloo and just had to try it. My boys love fishing. And now they can go fishing rain or shine. I made mine with numbers and letters on the fish so that my youngest can learn as he fishes. You can even make them in plain colors so that they can learn their colors as well.  Or play a math game for the older ones. Ideas are endless.

What you need
*wood dowel
*metal washers
*magnets
*yarn or string
*fabric scraps
*buttons
*drill
*sewing machine and/or needle and thread

We have had so much fun with ours. I hope you have just as much fun.

Happy Fishing!!

mini tie key chain

We loved this cute little key chain we found at Creative Itch.  

It is simple enough for the kids to make for Dad.

easy art smock

I am sure that I am not the only mom who is a little hesitant when my little one asks to paint. I have been looking for some kind of water proof art cover up for my little girls (some way to contain the mess). Well I thought up this the other day so here it is.

I started with a vinyl tablecloth I had on hand for a painting drop cloth. You know the kind with the fuzzy back. This is perfect because it is water proof, can be wiped clean easily, and no need to sew because the edges will not fray. You could probably get a few out of one tablecloth depending on the size.

I measured my kiddos to get the width and the length and then cut out this shape. Mine measured about 40 in long and 16 in wide. I traced a small bowl for the neck hole.

As you can see I just added velcro to the back and sewed a ribbon on the front to tie in the back. You could also glue the ribbon on to make this a complete no sew art smock. Since I have made this I have seen some cute polka dot, flowers, and stripe tablecloths in the Easter decorations in many stores so now would be a great time to find one. These are good for not just painting but any messy projects like egg dying, anything with frosting or glue, you get the idea.

Hope this helps you enjoy time with your little ones with a little less mess.

make a monster friend

A little late than never right. Sorry for the gap in posts. We were having a few technical difficulties and we were also busy Halloweening.

My girls have loved these so much that I thought I would post this anyway. I have seen something similar here at Family Fun.

First I had each child choose scraps of fabric they wanted. You will need two body shapes (whatever you would like). It might be fun to have your child draw a shape and use that. I just cut out a shape. Next you will need two legs, two arms, a pocket on the back (optional), and face materials (buttons, ribbon, beads, felt, etc.)

With the legs and arms already stuffed place all of the parts on the inside and sew around the body shape.

Leave a hole to turn it right side out and then stuff the body and sew up the hole. The most fun for my little one was creating it. They loved to design their own monster.

An after thought I had was to cut out a little felt heart and place that inside while stuffing the body (something similar the Build-A-Bear).

***These little monsters became very helpful at our house because they are not afraid of the dark and will help you at night if you get scared.