Shake Your Mind Jar

Lexy and I are working on putting together a Calm Basket to help her when she has big feelings.  We found this idea on pinterest and thought it sounded cool.

We gathered our ingredients:

Plastic jar (we used an applesauce jar)
2 cups warm water
4 T. glitter glue (we used blue)
2-3 drops food coloring (we used blue)
extra glitter
bamboo stick/old spoon/whisk for stirring
hot glue

Put glitter glue in the jar.  Add the water and stir thoroughly.  Add food coloring and extra glitter and stir again.  Replace lid and shake jar, glitter should swirl and fall slowly to the bottom (add more glitter glue if it falls too fast).  Remove cap, put a bead of hot glue around the inside of the cap and replace cap.

American Girl Doll Sleeping Bag

Lexy is asking for an American Girl Doll for Christmas this year and has asked if I would make her a sleeping bag for her doll.  After looking at some ideas around the internet this is what I came up with...

You will need:

Two coordinating fabrics - will cut 13" x 38"

quilting batting

small amount of poly fill

Coordinating ribbon or bias tape

coordinating thread

Cut two coordinating fabrics and one piece of batting - 13" x 38"

Stack the two fabrics (right sides facing each other on top of batting and pin

Sew around two long and one short side  - leaving one short side open

Trim corners and excess fabric around sides

Turn right sides out - with batting in middle

Measure down 7 1/2" from open end and stitch straight across

Measure across and divide into 3 or 4 even sections - sew down almost to line

Put a little poly fill (stuffing) into each section - to make pillow

Round corners of open end and use ribbon or bias tape to close opening

Fold opposite end up to bottom of pillow (outside fabric on the inside)

Sew each side closed

Turn sleeping bag right side out

Chore Chart

Chore charts change so often as the kids grow or as kids are added.  I came up with this for my two girls but soon I will adapt it for three more.  We have a family dinner/meeting every Sunday to discuss our words, chores and plans for the week.

 1.  Words we are working on as a family.

2.  Weekly chores.  Kids pick one each week.  On our cleaning day (Sunday) they are responsible for cleaning this room as well as their bedroom.

3.  Daily chores.  Kids pick two each week.  They are responsible for doing these without prompting.  Some new ones will be added when we add kids (light helper, bath helper, line leader, etc.)

4.  Discipline chart.  Kids must move clothespin down a notch when told to for discipline.  This starts over each morning unless "grounded" has been reached. 
  

These chore cards list what needs to be done in each room for cleaning day.  The number of the listed chores that need to be done depends on the age of the child.  The initial sticks are used to fairly choose who picks their chores for the week (new ones must be chosen each week) first or to help when there is an arguement (who gets to pick the show to watch, who gets to pick a book at bedtime, etc.).

Hair Bow Hanger

Lexy's collection of hair bows were over taking her room and growing by the minute (thanks to me) :-) So I came up with a solution that I think works well!

I started with these...


a 5x7 picture frame
scrapbook paper
letter stickers
ribbon
paint
hot glue gun

I painted the picture frame. While that dried, I cut 3 lengths of ribbon with pinking shears, I made one ribbon longer than the other two. With the longer ribbon, I made loops (to hold head bands) and sewed them with a sewing machine. After the frame was dried a cut the scapbook paper to fit the frame and used the stickers to spell "BOWS" and put the frame back together. I then used the hot glue gun to attach the lengths of ribbon to the bottom back of the frame.

and I ended up with this...

Cute Lexy Outfit

I found a tutorial for using old hole-in-the-knee jeans to make new long shorts with a ruffle bottom (here is the tutorial... http://24-7-365.blogspot.com/2010/03/ready-for-summer.html), I decided to not only attempt those but to make a matching shirt and hair bow too! Keep in mind I have NEVER sewn anything more complicated than curtains and my monsters.

SHORTS:

TOP:

HAIR BOW:

All together it looks like this...

I don't think I did too bad!! AND Lexy liked them so much that she wore them to school the next morning! I'll have to work on the shirt applique thing since there was some puckering.

Doggy Party

For Lexy's 6th birthday party she asked first for a Halloween party, then an under the sea party...finally settling on a dog party.

I made these invitations (using scrapblog.com)...

We used blue, green and purple as the colors. Decorations included paw print balloons tied to dogs, paw prints down the middle of the table and dog pictures taped to the back of each chair...

I made dog ears and collars for each guest (and painted their noses black)...

We made a dog house out of a washer box...

Opening activity - coloring page with a dog house , the kids drew pictures of their dog and then showed everyone. Then we had big sister and two friends give everyone ears, collar and a black nose.

Games:

Feed the dog - threw dog biscuits into bowls at different distances.

Dog Trainer Says - growl, bark, wag your tail, walk, sit, lie down, roll over, jump, stay, beg, shake, etc.

Doggie Obstacle Course - jumping thru rings (hulas), over the chairs, around the tree (fake tree that they pretended to pee on), sleep in the dog house, eating dog food (see below).

Goodie Bags - bubbles, mini frisbee, noise maker, dog food (cocoa puffs and pretzels).

Present: Yep, a dog!

Apple Pie

On one of our family fun days this summer we went to a museum. One of the exhibits was a scaled down house and in the kitchen someone had made pretend apple/cherry pies. The girls loved the idea and wanted one for their play kitchen at home.

So this is what I did...

I found pie plate (ours is really a cake pan b/c all I could find was glass pie pans and that WAS NOT happening!

Then I found some clearanced apple fabric. I cut two circles out (used my pan as the guide) and then sewed them right sides together leaving a small opening. I turned the piece right sides out and filled it with dried beans. I then sewed the opening closed.

After that I got a piece of brown felt (the one at the museum used foam but I couldn't find that in brown) and cut a circle out of it with pinking shears and cut diamonds in it to make it look like the pie crust. How cute will they look rolling out their pie crust with a rolling pin!


All put together it looks like this...

I'd like to find some other fruit fabric to make more "fillings" and make different "crusts" for variety. The girls are going to have so much fun with these and look so cute "making" their own pies!

Brooke's 13th Birthday Invitations

Brooke wanted a fashion show themed birthday party this year so she and I came up with these invitations.


We designed it so the runway pulled out and said "You have been choosen to be a model at Brooke's 13th B-Day Fashion Show" and we used a sticker that looked like each girl. The party information (when, where, etc.) was typed up on the computer and glued to the back.

Brooke was proud of these and the girls really liked them!

Dinosaur Cake

For Lexy's 5th birthday she asked for a t-rex cake.



Supplies:
Wilton "Partysaurus" mold
4 cups icing (I had two cups white, 1 1/2 cups tinted green, 1/2 cup tinted orange)
tips and decorating bags

I definately have respect for anyone that makes these cakes for a living or on a regular basis. My legs hurt from standing, my hands hurt from squeezing the icing bags and I'm completely exhausted!!

Treasure box

Lexy asked for a treasure box for her 5th birthday so this is what I came up with.

Supplies:

box from hobby lobby (~$7)

green paint

letter stickers

sticky dinosaurs

I used a sponge paint brush to pain the entire outside of the box green, I left the inside natural. I then put the letter and dinosaur stickers on.

Dinosaur party invites

For Lexy's 5th birthday party I made these invitations.

Mailbox Art

I saw something similar to this on another blog so I thought I would give it a try.

Mailbox Art

Supplies:
Metal mailbox (I found these at Target in the $1 spot)
Mod Podge
fabric or scrapbook paper
Embelishments (ribbon, stickers, buttons, etc.)

How to make:
1. Measure around the main body and the width of the letterbox and cut scrapbook paper or fabric to fit. You will need to cut a slit and a hole to fit the section where the flag is joined...this can be tricky.
2. Using mod podge attach the paper/fabric to the letterbox. Once dry, put another layer of mod podge over the top.
3. For the front of the mail box, place the cover face down on the back side of the paper/fabric and trace around it. Again, cut out and using mod podge attach it.
4. Embellish with ribbons, buttons, stickers, name, etc.

Start with this...

End with this (fabric)...

Fill with candy or notes...

or this (scrapbook paper)...

again, fill...

These could be played with by the kids as is or you could use mounting squares to attach them to the wall in their bedroom to leave notes and treats.

Cars

Painted Wooden Cars

Supplies:

Wooden cars (can be found at Hobby Lobby, Wal-Mart, Target)

Paint

Brushes

Lexy stayed home sick from preschool today and was bored so we found these cars that we had bought about a month ago...

And pulled these out of the craft cabinet...

Lexy and I did this...

And this is the end result...

We both had a good time doing this project and Lexy LOVED playing with the "beautiful" cars that we painted!

Dinosaur Letter Picture Frames

Lexy LOVES dinosaurs, especially any T-Rex she "meets" so I set out to personalize her bedroom a little with some artwork on her walls.

I took some old pictures frames...

a little paint and artwork I made on the computer...

and WA LA this is how they look on Lexy's bedroom wall...

Inexpensive, easy and super CUTE!!!

Decorated Shelves

I finally got around to redecorating the top of our entertainment center and the shelves/wall above it. I think it turned out pretty nice! Now all I need to do is make the little curtain for the shelves in the side of the entertainment cabinet so that I can hide the videos!

Brooke's Room Makeover

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Grandparents Gifts

After going back to get a grandparents savings bank that I had seen (that was no longer there) we decided to make our own version for Papa & Grammy and Mamaw & Grandpa Tom for Christmas.

We got supplies...
Glass jar
Fabric
Glass paint (ours just says for all porous & non-porous surfaces)
sponge
paper (to print saying below)
Decoupage glue

Then painted the glass jar with the sponge...


Then we cut a circle and a strip to tie around jar our of the fabric with pinking shears and printed the saying...



You will cut the saying out and decoupage it to the painted jar. Cut a slit in the middle of the circle of fabric (for coins to go through). Place the fabric circle on top and secure with a rubberband and then tie the strip around the jar covering the rubberband.

Here's the finished product...


Papa & Grammy and Mamaw & Grandpa Tom all said they loved the gift and the girls are waiting for their first "spoiling" to take place!!!

Update 1/3/2011 - Since making these, Maamaw and Grandpa Tom have filled their jar two times.  The girls made quite a haul each time, getting about $80 each!!