Teacher Book

Here's a SUPER cute Pinterest success that my friend, Meg did with her daughter for her teacher's end of the year gift.

Thanks for sharing Meg!!

This is just a simple soft case photo album.  I've gotten them at Wal-Mart for a $1 before.

Fun with Froot Loops

So, this was a fun rainy day activity that I wanted to share with y'all.  I know if you're anything like me, then rainy days are the WORST with little ones.  

My daughter had been working on patterns in school. Which got me thinking....

FROOT LOOP NECKLACES/BRACELETS!  It would be a fun activity and a decent snack.  

Bunny Tails... Easter Treat

Ok... this is so stinkin cute!  A friend of mine posted this picture on Facebook and I immediately asked her if I could share it with all of you.... she agreed!!!  

I know this will shock you, but it was a PINTEREST find.  I went and checked out where she got it from and you can actually get the printable from their site (and LOTS of other cute printables- DEFINITELY worth a look).  Just visit eighteen25 to get what you need.

Christmas Card Display Holder

OK...I have to be honest... I'm SUPER proud of this one and LOVE how it turned out.  I had seen on Pinterest how to put ink on wood, and I KNEW I wanted to try that.  *Then* I had this great idea.  To make a Christmas Card Display Holder...

Honestly, I am a little disappointed in my camera here (I mean, it couldn't be that the photographer HAS no idea what she's doing with the fancy camera, could it??  LOL).  But, I HAVE to tell you... I LOVE the way that it turned out!!!

Handprint Christmas Tree

So, I pinned this SO LONG AGO (here)... I just HAD to try it out with my little ones when I was on my desperate crafting search.  I REALLY love the way that it turned out.  If I were going to do anything different though, I would have gotten a larger canvas.  I think that the one I got was like 16x20 (maybe?!).  Bigger would have been MUCH better, you can always add more rows.  Anyhow, luckily my munchkins still have small hands so it worked out GREAT.  Had I had the larger canvas though, we could have added a row of hands for each adult in the house too.  Lesson learned.

So, I went to the craft store here and the canvases were on sale.  Who doesn't love a sale?!  For a 2 canvas pack, I paid $6.95.  Add in a bottle of green paint (washable of course) for $2.99 and I was set.  If only I had remembered my 50% off any item coupon... it would have been even better.  Oh well.  Another lesson learned.

Well, I'm SO grateful that the canvases came in a 2 pack.  If you look at the second picture, you can see where I tried to put my hands on and then had my little one stamping away... I had NO PLAN!  I visualized it perfectly in my head.  But, when it came down to it, it turned out AWFUL!  So, on to canvas #2.  Lesson Learned.

  

Finished Melted Snowman Ornament

So, they are dry and hanging... check them out... HOW CUTE?!  Can you tell which one my 18mo old did vs the 3 1/2 yr old?  HA!  But, I totally love them BOTH.  I mean, when a snowman melts, it probably looks a little more like the fist one than the second, don't you think?? Click here for the 'how to' on this fun craft.

Melted Snowman Ornament

Ok... so I was having a bit of a dry spell when it came to crafts.  So yesterday I went on an overload...  and had a BLAST!!  I remembered a craft that I used to to with my students every Christmas when i taught first grade.  See, it was a tradition at the school that each class made a different type of ornament and we would all decorate a common tree in the hall.  It always ended up looking SO GREAT!!  Anyhow, my standard class ornament was the melted snowman.  I just always thought that they looked SO CUTE, so of course when my angels made theirs, well... they are just the GREATEST!!!  Sidenote... a friend of mine has also made these as ghosts for Halloween and made them necklaces instead of ornaments... so there are LOTS of fun ideas with this. :-)

So, it's simple... get some glue (glue-all works better than the school glue, not sure why... but it does) and squirt some out onto wax paper.  Remember shape doesn't matter, it's a MELTED snowman.

This is my 18 mo old having fun with the glue :-)

I pre-cut the shapes, (an orange triangle and a black hat), let the kids grab some small twigs from the backyard, and had some google eyes.  (you could TOTALLY let older kids cut the stuff themselves and/or add more, buttons, black circles for a charcoal mouth, yarn piece for a scarf... etc...)  

You just let the kids add the pieces wherever... REMEMBER the snowman is melted, placement doesn't matter.

Add in hooks for hanging.  I used ornament hooks but paper clips would work fine too.

So here are ours drying...

I add glitter because the glue dries pretty clear.  Just helps a little.  I'll add the finished pics later today.  I JUST flipped them so the back would dry.  LOVE this one :-)

(CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FINISHED PRODUCT... SO CUTE)

Circle Chalkboards

Here's another FUN idea from my sister, Jenn!  THANKS GIRL!  Love you!

So, there was a blank space in their house that she turned into a fun way to display info between roommates.  They share info like when they're having people over, etc... GREAT idea!  In my house, I might use this as a great way to post the menu or things that the kids have going on that week/appointments.  Really, the possibilities are endless.

FUN Jewelry Display

So being creative is something that my mother has really instilled into each one of her children.  We've all taken what we've learned from her and really turned into people that love taking risks and trying to create things.  It's pretty fun.  So, I KNOW that my little sister (not so little anymore, perhaps YOUNGER would be a better description... for now anyway...LOL), Jenn, is a VERY creative person.  She's SUPER artistic and creates some AWESOME things.  I knew that she had just moved to Colorado (from our hometown in FL) and that she was decorating/organizing the mess out of her new home.  So I asked her to send me some of the neat things that she has been up to... she sent me a TON!  

Here's one of them...  A super cute way to display your jewelry.  Now, I've seen lots of different examples of this on Pinterest I guess it's just one of those preference type things.  Anyhow, here's hers and how she did it!

Pumpkin Lanterns

Thanks to HH reader, Heather for sharing this super fun and easy fall craft with us!!

Candy Corn Wreaths

Thanks to HH reader Cynthia, for sharing this adorable fall craft with us!  Can you BELIEVE it's fall?!  YAY!!!!

After seeing the cover of the Woman's Day magazine, Cynthia decided to create her very own wreath with her girls :-)

Painting Popcorn FUN!

Thanks to Living Locurto for inspiring this rainy day FUN!  We didn't have large marshmallows but man I WISH we would have!  And I can ASSURE you that we WILL be doing this again and we will be trying it with marshmallows.  

So here's the gist... you pour little cups of milk (we used regular milk... but you can use sweetened condensed milk too) and add food coloring.  You pop a bag of popcorn.  And... you paint it!

The cool part is... if the kids eat it... NO BIG DEAL!  

We didn't have paint brushes (this was TOTALLY a last minute craft because we were getting stir crazy with the AWFUL weather), so we dunked the popcorn.  Not as much fun to eat that way because it got mushy and whatnot... but I laid out a piece of wax paper and A decorated the paper with colorful popcorn and had a BLAST!  

Enjoy...

YAY!  Thanks HH readers for sharing pics of your adorable kiddos painting popcorn too!!  Glad you enjoyed it!!!

Bow Holder *CUTE*

Thanks to reader Kristin for sharing this ADORABLE idea!!  It's DEFINITELY useful (especially if you have a little girl who wears bows) and a cute decoration in a bedroom or bathroom.

Place a styrofoam ball in a plastic cup/pot <--- this one is white, you can paint or decorate it however you'd like (plastic is key... ceramic would be cute... BUT, would probably NOT last long- in my house, at least).

Trim floral stakes (found in most craft stores) and place them in the styrofoam ball.

Decorate with beads, ribbons, paint, etc... **don't forget the bows** (the flower bows look SUPER cute... but regular bow are SUPER cute too)

Finished product....ADORABLE!!!

Easter Egg Craft

Thanks to reader Courtney for sharing this super fun and CUTE Easter Craft!

This is a super easy craft that my 16 month old and I did together and loved it!  We used it as a time to work on her fine motor skills...putting eggs together is hard work for little fingers but she did great!  It can also be adapted  for older children- they can help putting in the string or wire, they can match up and identify egg colors (or mix them up for cool combinations!), or they can play counting games with the eggs (we need x-number for the tree...how many do we have?). 

First you will need supplies.  We got cheap colored eggs at Wal-mart...approximately $1.50 for 42.  Make sure you get the eggs with holes in the top and bottom!  You will also need some type of string, cord, or ribbon...we used clear jewelry cord.  It was $2 for a roll and we had plenty left over for other crafts.  You will also need scissors.

I poured out the bag of eggs for my daughter to play with...

...and I cut a length of cord about 8 or 10 inches (I just estimated... it doesn't have to be measured).  Then I put the cord in the eggs.  I put it through the bottom holes first, tied a double knot to keep it from slipping, and then went through the top two holes.  Tie a double knot in the top leaving a space between the egg and knot to hang on the tree.  *TIP* if you cannot get the knots to stay, clear tape is a great solution!



Now comes the FUN part... DECORATING!!


It was raining outside the day we did this craft so we decorated the trees and plants around the inside of our house.  My daughter LOVED hanging the eggs on the tree (and swinging the eggs around by the string! Haha).

Overall, this was a simple (and cheap) way to incorporate a little Easter fun into our craft time! 

 Variations on this:

*Putting candy or prizes in the eggs for a hunt for younger children who can easily see them hanging on the tree or bush.
*Allowing older children to decorate the plastic eggs with glue, glitter, markers (sorry...has to be permanent or paint to stay on the plastic in my experience), food sprinkles, feathers, buttons, or many other items you can find laying around the house.