Fishy Fishy

I have been searching and searching for quiet books and quiet activities for C to start playing with when we are out. Quiet books are online for $50. I am not spending that much on something that I could make. But I continue to struggle to find the exact activities that I want as well as ones that don't require a sewing machine. I may be crafty...but I have limited sewing skills.

Anyways, I found this adorable activity on Doodle Craft

So I went to work...and here's what I came up with. Honestly, it probably cost $5 to make 1 whole game. Make sure to use your crafting coupons :). My one suggestion would be to pick felt pieces that are a little darker in shade because you can see the magnets through the yellow and light orange felt.

Materials needed:
* Felt - Various colors
* Magnets (enough for two magnets per fish, plus some for the fishing pole)
* Scissors
* Glue gun
* Dowel rods
* String
* Glitter Glue (optional)

 Cut out 2 fish per color and glue the magnets in the head and tail of the fish. Glue the other side of the fish to make little fishy magnets.

 Add some glitter glue to add some scales to your fish.

I then took string and attached it to the dowel rod and glued the magnets to the end of the string and ta-da...a cute little game. I showed it to him today and he loved it. Now, I have to tuck it away for our trips so that he doesn't get bored with it.

Let's Catch Up

So since I just posted about Valentine's day, let's just keep the ball rollin since who knows when the next time I will post will be. December was full of baking yummy things and experimenting with all of the fun ideas found on Pinterest like these from Not So Idle Hands

They were actually pretty easy to make.

I actually bought the mini candy canes (which were on sale). Put them on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet in the heart shape and then just piped in some melted chocolate. Sprinkle with any colored surgar you have hanging around. Let it set. And ta-da, you have a cute little gift.


Here's how mine turned out:

I also had some chocolate left over and so I also piped some trees on the paper and used them as decoration on a chocolate cake (my Nana's famous chocolate cake).

I got lots of compliments. Enjoy!

Valentine's Day Healthy Treat

First, I realize that it is now March, but let's be real, I have an 18 month old and literally this is first time that I have downloaded my pictures since February.

Now, I was a bad mom last year and sent my kid to day care without Valentine treats for his little friends. He came home with all sorts of snacks and treats which of course mommy enjoyed. Well I would not make the same mistake this year. But of course everything is sugary candy...which of course, I love, but I also want to teach little C a little better eating habits. So I thought and searched for cute valentines on Pinterest.

I found some pretty cute ones. But realized that I liked these the best from

Tutto Bella Blog

It also helped that I had Cuties on hand and baby C loves them. I think he would eat 20 of them in one sitting if he could.

So based on these little cuties, I came up with this:

I had the bags left over from my wedding stuff and used a little bit of scrap paper. But really any little baggie could do.

Huge hit with the kiddies at the daycare. I even brought the extras to work with me and people seemed to like to change from the candy.

My new Halloween Wreath

Halloween…I can’t believe it’s already October and that the leaves are changing. Halloween decorations are out and about. I am hoping to go to a pumpkin farm too.

Well my latest search on Pinterest has led to some fun Halloween wreaths. I love a good wreath but they can get sooo expensive if you were to buy them.

Here are a few that I found on Pinterest that I was fond of.

You can buy this one on Etsy 

Or this cute Chevron one that you can find at Tatertots & Jello

So that got me thinking that I could make my own. I love the idea of the first wreath and how “Classy” it looks.

 Here’s what I ended up with:

Guess how much it cost me? A whole $2. My accountant husband loves that for sure. Although, I am pretty sure he would rather that I not spend any money or time on stuff like this, but you can’t win ‘em all.

Anyways, here’s my little tutorial on how to make this gem

Materials:

·        Various Felt Colors – I bought 1 8x10 sheet in white, black, gray, orange, and marigold ($0.20 each)

·        Wreath – I found this one at the dollar store. Now I had to do a little digging to find one that wasn’t broken, but they sell these all over the place (more expensive). I think this is why people wrap theirs in yarn. There are all sorts of tips on Pinterest for getting the base for the wreath – take a look

·        Glue Gun

·        Glue Stick

·        Scissors

·        Ribbon (use whatever you have laying around)

·        Piece of Paper and Marker – enhancement

Directions

·        So the first thing that I needed to do was make the fun flowers. I found some great tutorials online.

These beauties are from Keeping LifeSimple.

And I also liked these from Do More With Less: A day out...and a spiral felt flower tutorial

I wanted a combination of the two…

The gray and orange ones were way easier to make but the other flowers make for a nice dimension. You can find more specific instructions for how to make the flowers on the blogs above.

Then I just glued them on the wreath

Once that piece was done, I wanted to add in something extra, so I simply wrote “Boo!” on a piece of paper and attached it to the wreath

Not too shabby for $2, huh. Once Halloween is over, I can switch out the “Boo!” for “Give Thanks” or something. Pinterest strikes again!


This project is also linked here...See Vanessa Craft is one of my favorites and she has some awesome crafts

New Blog Topic: The Joy of Pinterest

Well once again, I have realized that I am horrible with the blogging. It's just not in my nature...and I don't think it will ever be. BUT...you want to know what I have realized...that I freakin' love Pinterest. I mean, I could get lost looking at that site for hours. And that is a problem. I may need a Pintervention soon, but until that point, I am going to share some of the things that I have found and actually made on Pinterest. This way we can see if these wonderful things actually work or if the people who post them are really too talented for all of us.

First on my list - October means Halloween and you can never have too many Halloween decorations. So I saw this little gem and thought, this can't be too hard right?

https://picasaweb.google.com/101228210398772412134/Halloween?authkey=Gv1sRgCOeJ07KO9eHGMA&feat=directlink#5589872348469580786

So the one thing that I don't LOVE about Pinterest is that people can post pictures of awesome and super cute things without the instructions on how to really make the item....

So here are the instructions (ps...I didn't take pictures as I was making this because I was running around making sure that my one year old didn't spill the paint)

Materials Needed:

* Orange Plate - I found mine at the Dollar Store

* White Paint

* Paint Brush - I used a foam one and a thin brush

* Black Sharpie Marker

* Orange Glitter Puffy Paint (enhancement)

* Small Child with feet

Instructions:

1. Depending on the age of the child, you will want to make sure that they are in some area where they can't run away and get paint on the floor. I strapped mine in his high chair - he couldn't get away even if he wanted to. 

2. Paint one of the child's feet with the white paint.

3. Press foot on plate - I brought the plate to the foot versus having the child step on the plate, You will see that the foot print isn't super clear, but it gets the job done. 

4. Clean off that foot.

5. Re-peat steps 2-4 with the other foot. Or use another child's foot if you have more than one kid.

6. Out line the feet with a thin white line - I would recommend using a white paint pen, if you have one, but I didn't so I used the paint...I think the paint pen would have make a cleaner line like in the example above.

6. Let the paint dry. I let it dry overnight. 

7. Use a black sharpie to write on the ceramic plate. You can then make eyes and a mouth on the "ghosts" too. Now, this is when the paint wore off a little and got stuck on the marker, so just take your time with this step. 

8. Enhance with orange glitter. 

9. There are some sites that have a similar project that discusses "setting" the marker by heating it in the oven, but I was unsure how the paint would react to it, so I am not going to do that. But feel free to experiment. 

Cost: $1

I had all of the other materials around the house.

Here's how mine turned out. 

So Blessed

Well we are extremely blessed and fortunate to have so many wonderful people in our lives. And we know everyone is so excited to meet the new baby. We are too!

Yesterday was our shower and I am completely exhausted but whole-heartily grateful for everyone's presence and thoughtfulness.

I of course took pictures, but not of myself or any of the guests, but of the centerpieces, cake, and cookie favors (the important things?!?)

So here they are...

 This is the great cake that we got from Kirsten's Bakery http://www.kirstensdanishbakery.com/

Each table had the Hungry Caterpillar stuffed animal and part of the story as the centerpiece. Some of the guests even won them to take home.  

 These cookies were the favors for the guest. Also from Kirsten's...so cute and so tasty.

And of course, I had to recognize just some of the important people in the baby's life like Grandma and Nonnie, Auntie and Great Grandma and Gigi.

It was such a wonderful day...makes me more and more excited for his arrival.

The Scratch Offs

I finally have pictures of some of the things that I am creating for the baby shower and wanted to post them. So here are the scratch-offs. (I referred to these in a previous post). First make two designs - one for the winner and one for the non-winner. Since our theme is the Hungry Caterpillar, I used the caterpillar as the winner for the scratch-offs. Then go to a craft store and find clear contact paper - I think I found 6 sheets for $6 and I didn't use all of it for this project. I used a scrapbooking circle punch and punched out enough circles for each of the "tickets." They become clear stickers that you place over the part to be scratched off.

Then take craft paint and mix it with dish soap. Typically 2 parts paint to 1 part soap and paint over the part that is covered by the contact paper. Let dry and ta-da! You have some fun scratch-offs.

Here is an example - they actually scratch off pretty easily. It's a fun and in-expensive little game to play.

And speaking of games to play, here is a picture of the Game Program that I made for the shower too. I was able to print them in color for pretty cheap at bestvaluecopy.com - they are awesome and I highly recommend them.