Rainbow Fish CD Suncatcher

Continuing our "under the sea" theme, we did a little up-cycled fish craft. Here's what you need to make one of your own...

Supplies:

CD

Googly eyes

Scrapbook paper

Tape or Glue

Scissors

String/Hole Punch (optional)

Draw and cut out the pieces of the fish on scrapbook paper.

Tape/glue all of the pieces, except the side fin, on to the front of the CD...which will now be the back. 

Secure the side fin with tape/glue over the hole in the center of the CD, on the shiny side...which is now the front of your fish. 

Add the googly eye, and punch a hole in the top fin for the string. 

Pin-tested, Toddler Approved: Colored Vinegar and Baking Soda

Bubs and I tested out a fun activity for toddlers using colored vinegar and backing soda, that I found on Pinterest. Of course, I can't find the original source, but I googled "colored vinegar and baking soda toddler activity," and found many matches. Here is just 1 of the 219,000 that Google came up with.  

You don't need much for this, and it will keep your little one entertained for at least an hour. At least that's how long it held Bubba's attention. 

All you need is baking soda, vinegar and food coloring, a medicine dropper, and a plate or rimmed baking sheet. The plates we used are from Ikea, and were just perfect. They come in a set of 4. 

He had so much fun watching the baking soda fizz every time he dropped the vinegar on it. I had fun getting some laundry folded while he was busy doing this. 

I think we'll try this baking soda and vinegar activity next. 

Egg Decorating

We had some friends over to decorate Easter eggs. 

I used my trusty chalkboard spray paint, to transform plastic eggs into a canvas for the kiddos to create beautiful works of chalk art. 

I got up extra early to make natural dye for Bubba, and boil 2 dozen eggs. 

I don't know what I did wrong, but the homemade dye didn't work too well. But he still seemed to enjoy it. 

We used a dye kit that I picked up at the dollar store for the rest of the kids, and they had a blast. 

They also got to decorate foam eggs with fun Easter stickers. 

I think my favorite was the chalk eggs. 

Have you decorated eggs yet?

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!

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!

Strawberry Delight

I promise the strawberry posts are coming to an end. 

Yesterday, we had our strawberry themed play-date with our play group. I co-hosted with my friend J. I swear, a lot of the time, we share the same mind....we both attempted to make Strawberry Shortcake Cookies.

I'm just gonna through it out there - Martha Stewart, sometimes your recipes just don't work. J said hers turned out a gooey hot mess. While mine, although edible, just don't taste like strawberry shortcake. 

Bubba even spit his cookie out. So, that tells ya right there, not a winner. 

My Strawberry Bread, however, was divine. 

Martha Stewart, can you say winner, winner, chicken dinner? 

Yea. It is. 

So make it. And definitely make it into muffins like I did, because I think it makes it better. {I made 2 dozen regular size muffins and 1 dozen mini muffins}

I also made a very easy Strawberry Lemonade - that I don't have a photo of; but the recipe is simple. 

4 cups water

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup lemon juice

1+ pint(s) strawberries

Puree strawberries in a blender; set aside. 

Heat water until just before boiling. 

Remove from stove and add sugar. lemon juice, and strawberry puree. 

Stir until combined. 

Refrigerate.

*I'm not exactly sure how much strawberry I used; but I think it was just over a pint. 

This sweet boy, is J's oldest son. Showing off his crafting skills, making a Scented Strawberry.

Such a super simple craft for kids. I used this berry template {I printed out two - cut the leaf off one, and used one for the berry}. Cut out the berry on construction paper or thick card stock. Paint it red, and add black dots for the seeds. 

Place the leaf on top while the paint is still wet. Sprinkle with strawberry scented Kool-aid or Jello. 

I can't believe I got these treat boxes made. I was literally sitting in my car at the park, weaving twine through the last few boxes to finish. But they are so cute! So I'm glad someone finished them. 

Of course, this is not an original idea {how I wish I could take credit for this}. 

I'm not exactly sure where this pattern originated, but I have seen it on a few blogs with a basic tutorial.

So here is what I did:

Cut out pattern on {your choice of} heavy card stock, and fold where the dotted lines indicate. I also folded straight along the top to create flaps where the string will be woven through to close off the top of the berry - and, ya know, give it the berry shape. 

Sorry I didn't make lines to show you this part, but you can see what I'm talking about in the pictures below. 

Glue tab to inside of box

Weave twine, ribbon, string through holes of berry.

Don't forget to fill your boxes with treats before tying it shut.

I used chocolate for Bubba, and jelly beans for all of our friends {I didn't want to bring chocolate to the park in the Florida heat - yuck; however, it did end up being a pleasantly cool morning, so that was nice}. 

Tie on leaf top.

Sweet strawberry treat boxes. 

I hope you have a "berry" good time making everything! 

Easter Egg Maracas

What was I thinking?

Like this kid really needed something else in the house to make a loud noise. 

Remember my box of Easter eggs?

Of course I will save some for the Easter bunny to hide, but there is no way she (the bunny is a she in this house) will be hiding all of them; so I've slowly been thinking of uses for all of them.

I used a few for the felt eggs.

I borrowed some beans from the box Bubba plays with to fill a few eggs. 

Then, I glued them shut so he couldn't get them open and make a huge mess. 

Remember to let the glue dry completely before letting your little one play with them. I have to mention that Bubba grabbed them before they were dry and managed to pop one open....so yea. it is worth mentioning. 

Even though they were glued shut, he still tried to open them because what is making the noise is far more interesting than shaking them, of course. 

Happy Noise Making!