Easter Egg Tree

I love those little Easter egg trees. But they are just so tiny, and just so breakable when Bubba's little hands come in contact with them. 

So I made a larger version

Using a few of the million plastic eggs I'm trying to get rid of, baker's twine, and the branches from our Resolution Tree.

I added a bit of crinkle paper for grass. 

Now, every time I look at the tree, I think of that song that goes "and the green grass grew all around, all around, and the green grass grew all around." It may also have something to do with listening to the For Our Children: the concert CD {yea, another throw back to my youth} with Bubba and hearing that song over and over. 

Tray Makeover

I picked this tray up at GoodWill to replace my favorite a tray that Hubby "accidentally" stepped on.

I primed and painted it a light blue/turquoise. 

I picked up this color in the clearance paint section at Lowe's for $0.50. I didn't have a use for it when I bought the color, but I just loved it so much I couldn't pass it up for that price. Always, always, always check the clearance shelf! Especially, if you just want to stock up on a few colors to have on hand just in case, and you aren't picky about the color. 

{The frame is for a weekly to-do dry erase board that I am working on. Hopefully it will be done soon!}

One of the things I loved about the old broken tray were the handles. So I wanted to re-create that with this tray. 

I tightly wrapped jute twine around each handle, and periodically would secure it with dabs of hot glue. 

I seriously love this color. It is so light and airy - perfect for the Spring and Summer! 

Happy Friday Y'all!

Color Matching

While I was pulling out our Easter decor, Bubba found these three egg shaped candy dishes. You would have thought it was Christmas morning by the amount of excitement that was pouring out of him. 

Since I really didn't have a use for them {I don't leave candy out, because little hands would get it and eat it all at once}, so I grabbed some pom poms and we did a little color matching. 

A few times he just took handfuls of pom poms and dumped them in a dish. Before he grabbed another handful, I asked him which colors didn't belong in the dish, and had him move them to the correct one. 

I love spur of the moment learning activities. Fun and easy! 

Thursday Things

(1) I realized that I never posted a Thursday Things last week. I'm such a slacker.

(2) I know I'm skipping ahead a holiday, but I love this Mother's Day printable.

(3) I'm a little late on talking about this, but Pinterest has recently updated their terms of use, most likely due to all the chatter about copyright infringement. The Paper Mama wrote a great post about how to pin responsibly. {And she provides a few buttons to place on your own site to show if you are pinterest friendly or not - so sweet of her!}.

(4) Trying to find time to make Resurrection Eggs for Bubba. Good ideas here and here. Both include printables for the bible verses. 

(5) A few articles on raising confident, well-rounded boys at Huffington Post, Momformation Blog (from Baby Center), and Baby Center's 10 tips for raising a well-rounded boy.

(6) I could not express my concerns about raising a future adult male better than the article on Momformation. I know that this is a task I cannot undertake on my own - I pray everyday for the Lord's help to raise Bubba to be a responsible, respectful man. With Him I have no worries that Bubba will have a bright, and successful future. 

(7) One of my favorite Etsy shops, CREATE STUDIO, is offering free domestic shipping this week to make room for her next line. 

(7.5) Go check out her adorable, handcrafted products! I absolutely LOVE my cell phone case. I use it everyday - I keep my ID, credit card that I use the most, and phone in it at all times in my bag, that way I can just grab it out when I don't want to carry my purse. 

(8) While browsing Etsy for learning kits for Bubba, I came across a crocheted sex ed kit. I laughed hysterically at first. Then, thought that one day I think it would come in handy. 

 The weekend is almost here!

Happy Thursday!

EyeBombing

Have you heard of EyeBombing? I read about it a few weeks ago over at Make and Takes. 

I thought it looked like a lot of fun, but knew I would probably never get around to doing it. Let's face it, I would never remember to throw some googly eyes in my bag before I left the house. 

Last night, I went to an awesome local restaurant for a book club meeting {for a book I did not read}. When I went into the ladies room, lo and behold, this was staring back at me in the stall:

I was so excited to see one in person! I had to run back out to the table to grab my phone so I could take a picture.

Okay, I'm sold. I will, from now on, be carrying googly eyes in my bag so Bubba and I can EyeBomb. 

Have you seen these anywhere? Or have you done it?!

New use for a fitted sheet

Have I ever mentioned that my friend, Sil, is a freaking genius?

We have both been in love with the idea of upholstering our bed frames for quite awhile. 

Then one day recently, a brilliant little tidbit popped out of her mouth. Our convo went something along the lines of this:

"Oh, btw, I don't have to upholster my bed frame anymore."

"Oh, really? Why is that?"

"I just used a fitted sheet. It worked perfectly."

"Omg, Sil. That is the best idea ever. I'm so doing it."

So I did it too.

I originally planned on using  a yellow sheet, but couldn't find one. I think this would also look adorable with a patterned sheet, like with a stripe or something. Again, something I couldn't find (that was relatively inexpensive) in a king size. 


The sheet I used is from Walmart, and I think was somewhere around $10-$12. I can't remember exactly, and I already threw away the receipt. 


My friend is full of great ideas. 


Thanks, Sil!

Art Easel Face Lift

 I recently picked up an art easel for Bubba at a yard sale.

While he was certainly happy using it in the state we bought it in, I knew it needed some work. The chalkboard needed a new coat of paint, there were scribbles on the legs, and the whiteboard was stained. I also was not to thrilled about the multi-colors. 

So, I took it completely apart. That is the best solution, right? 

I primed and painted each piece. 

While the paint was drying, I covered the white board with felt, and added a new coat of paint to the chalkboard. I had pictures to show these steps, but someone deleted them before they were transferred to my computer. ::cough, cough, Bubba, cough, cough::

I love the outcome! 

The color is so much lighter and fresher than before. Not to mention that the colors go better with the decor in the house.

New Arrival

This is certainly not going to be Hubby's favorite post. {Sorry, honey}

It's no secret that I am raising a little boy. And, while I always wanted a boy first, part of me is dying to have a little girl. Too dress up, have tea parties, play with Barbies and baby dolls. 

But this has nothing to do with wanting a little girl. This is about raising a little boy to be a kind, caring, compassionate, strong, sensitive man. A man that knows it's alright to have feelings, show emotion, and know that he won't be weaker because of it. 

This is what I told Hubby, when Bubba told him he got a baby.

Meet Baby {I know, not the most original name}, the newest addition to our family.

This was taken almost a year ago at a friend's house. Different doll, and well before we got Baby. 

I know some people get dolls for their little ones when they are expecting a second child. Let me be clear, I am NOT expecting. He just liked to play with dolls when he went to homes that belonged to little girls. Don't get me wrong,  he certainly played with the other {gender neutral} toys too. 

I didn't run out and purchase a baby doll right away though. Have you seen the price of dolls? I found one on sale at Target - the sale price was $12. Yea, I'm not spending $12 on a doll for a boy. 

After months of me talking about getting a doll, a friend {who has 2 little girls with a ton of extra toys} gave me a brand new un-opened doll. I have great friends, and they have great kids.

Now, Baby plays with Bubba's cars and trains, watches movies, and sleeps with him - occasionally. He doesn't carry her around all the time. As with all of his toys, he goes through phases of playing with her.


I know some folks are dead set against boys playing with anything too "girly," and that is fine. But, I see it as  Bubba learning about caring for another person - which is important {uhhh, I'm thinking he may have his own real live baby one day, not to mention we all should learn that it is important to act selflessly for others}. Saying things like, "Baby need to eat," "Oh, Baby need rest now," "I change Baby diaper." And, really, I don't get why it's totally fine for a girl to be a "tom-boy," but it's just horrible if a little boy shows any kind of nurturing, or emotional characteristics. {These are just my opinions, please respect that our views can be different}.


I really have no need to worry. If you have ever been around him for any period of time, you know that he is all boy. I know this is just a phase.


It's a phase I kind of like though. :)

The Case of the Muddy Footprints

Bubba picked out a mini magnifying glass while at Lakeshore Learning, and was quite obsessed with it for a solid week. We also, coincidentally, had randomly picked out Berenstein Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone book, the day before. So naturally he wanted to be a detective too. 

{Side-note: I sometimes randomly pick up books while at the library. It's hard to take time to look for a book, when this little guy is running in all directions. He hasn't mastered library behavior yet; at least he has the quite voice down though.}

While he was sleeping, I mixed up some mud, and made footprints on a couple extra-large sheets of construction paper. 

I used a couple different shoes, some dinosaurs, and a baby doll. I even threw on my own footprint. 


{Warning, this is mud, so it will, of course, get messy. Do this outside if you are that concerned. I conveniently did this project the night before kitchen cleaning day, so I knew my floors would get cleaned the next day, and I was not worried about the mess.} 

The next morning, Bubba woke up with his magnifying glass ready in hand - that's right, he slept with it. 

He studied the prints for a minute, then matched the items with  their print.

Then he got to make muddy footprints of his very own. 

Kids Prayer Journal

Do you keep a prayer journal? I recently started. It was one of my New Year resolutions. I bought this adorable journal, and absolutely love it! Exactly what a beginning journaler needs.

I recently saw a post on Play, Eat, Grow about prayer journaling with kids. Although, Bubba is still to young to write down his prayers, I thought it was a fabulous idea to get him in the habit of praying, talking to God, and learning that God is always listening.

I wrote versus about love, gratitude, grace, etc. on some of the pages. I read them to him, then let him draw his prayer. 

I made his pretty similar to mine. With just a few sheets of construction paper cut in half, a sheet of scrapbook paper for the front and back, and 2 rings to hold the ages together. 

He said he was thanking God for the bugs. I guess since I kill enough of them, he needed to thank God for the living ones. 

Thanks to Play, Eat, Grow for such a wonderful idea!

Thursday Things

(1) I made {turkey} Cheeseburger Soup for dinner the other night. While, the weather here is kind of warm for soup, it still hit the spot. 

(2) I also made these delicious, garlicky croutons; I left out the rosemary - I didn't have any, and I'm not a huge rosemary fan anyway. Also, I used the crust from a whole loaf of bread {I would just save it in a bag in the fridge every time I made Bubba a sandwich, until the whole loaf was gone}.

(3) I've had to stop myself multiple times from consuming the whole bag of croutons at once. They are that yummy, and I am that in love with croutons. 

(4) These Cold Peanut Noodles are next on my list of things to make. {This gal has some seriously good recipes...I have not yet been disappointed}.

(5) I think I'm going to make a Child Training Bible. 

(6) I cracked the screen on my phone....what a bummer. 


(7) Luckily, it was up in the corner, so I can still use it with no problem; and I'm due for an upgrade in July...fingers crossed a new iPhone is released by then (or relatively soon after).


(8) Just add it to the list of all the things breaking around here. You can also add our pool filter to that list. I think we're up to 5 new expenses. Awesome. I love being a homeowner. 

(9) Future love birds.

Happy Thursday!

Stuffed Paper Bag Clover

For Valentine's Day, I intended to make this grocery bag valentine; but never got a chance. The days seemed to just fly by...

So I decided to try it out a 4-leaf clover for St. Patrick's Day.

If you made my Lucky Clover Bunting, then all you need is 2 of the paper clovers you cut out from the grocery bags. 

If you didn't make it, well, that's kinda not cool. 

No, I'm kidding. 

{Or am I?} 

All you need to do is trace this clover pattern on to a grocery bag, and cut it out. Then paint it, and let dry before using. I also mentioned in the last post that when the paint dries, the edges begin to curl. My solution was to place a few heavy books {my handy year books} on top to make them flat again. 

So, we all know that I am a novice seamstress. Because of that fact, I decided not to use my sewing machine to sew the pieces together like Camilla over at Family Chic did for her heart. 

Let me just say, that was a big mistake. Huge. 

I started working on this, like, I don't know, 2 weeks ago. I'm not a very fast hand sewer either.

However, don't let my lack of experience and slowness deter you from this craft. It really is cute, quick, and easy {if you use a machine, or sew pretty fast by hand}.

St. Patrick's Day is close! What fun things have you been making for the day?

Somersaulting Leprechaun

Since I promised no more posts about strawberries, I suppose it's time to move on to St. Patrick's Day.

I found a way to combine my new found love of felt with my need to create imaginative ways to use a box of plastic eggs with this little craft.

You'll need {from felt} 2 of each (front and back)- shirt, pants, hat; 2 hands and 2 shoes, 1 black strip for the belt {I realize my belt is not quite long enough, I trimmed the shirt after I attached it}; 1 black strip for the hat; and 4 gold squares for the buckles. Also, a plastic egg, and large marble. 

Place the marble in the egg. Then, hot glue, or use double sided tape to attach the felt together and around the egg. 

He would probably look cute with a little red beard, too. 

Our little leprechaun has a little trouble flipping. I really should have used a heavier marble, but that one was all we had on hand. I think a stone may have worked as well. 

Happy Crafting!