Fun Halloween Crafts from Pinterest

I thought I would take a moment to share a couple of fun Halloween projects that the little bear and I have been working on.  Both of these were Pinterest-inspired crafts.

The Halloween Mummy Pops were a blast and so good!  Can't go wrong with chocolate covered Oreos.  I used the double stuffed ones to have more room for the stick and all.  I also used the candy melting disks as opposed to white chocolate chips.  I totally have the worst luck with the chocolate stuff, but the candy stuff is fool proof... at least for me.  The rest is spelled out pretty good in the Pin!

Next up are the Spider Pops.  My little bear is a huge Spiderman Fan, so when I saw these I knew I had to make them for his Pre-School friends.  My son has been having the most fun helping me make these and playing with the pipe cleaners.  Good thing I bought extras!  The picture pretty much says everything on these... I cut the pipe cleaner in half, then just used Elmer's White Glue to put the eyes on.

My little bear says Halloween is all about being spooky.  He says that both of the above are SPOOKY, SPOOKY, SPOOKY!  So what Halloween fun have you all been up to?

52 Weeks and Father's Day

I am rolling my act of kindness this week into my father's day gift giving.  I've had a cold all week, so my activities have been slowed down to say the least.

After some web surfing and pinning I came up with a great gift idea for both my father-in-law and my grandpa, aka Little Bear's Grandpa and Great Grandpa!  Both of these guys are impossible to shop for.  If you ask them what they want they will always tell you nothing, or don't spend your money on me.  

This year I decided to make them each a picture plaque, for lack of a better word.  Here is the one I made for my Grandpa:

The picture on the top is me and my two sisters with our Grandpa when we were younger.  The bottom two are his crazy great-grandchildren today.  Apparently the new generation cannot take a picture without at least two of the three having their mouth wide open... so I had to find a similar picture of us!  

Here is how my father-in-law's turned out:

He is going to kill me for putting him in the pictures, but I could not resist.  The one on the top is him and my hubs.  The one on the bottom is Grandpa and Little Bear.  My three guys.  I really am one lucky lady.  

Actually the little bear and I are both pretty lucky to have such great men in our lives.  I am forever grateful for them both.  My grandpa for teaching me so much, and my father-in-law for being such a great role model for his son.  

I had these printed up at Walgreen's, and put them into nice frames.  Of course I forgot to take a picture before I wrapped them.  I went with the father's day theme and added ties to the basic paper.  I think they turned out pretty cute.

Don't forget to give the great guys in your life an extra hug this weekend. 


Also, head over to My Three Bittles and see what every one else did for their acts of kindness this week!  

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Toddler Chore & Reward Charts

Since my little bear is now three and a half years old, I was thinking that it was time to add in some chores and personal responsibility.  I am a firm believer of starting him early on his path to being a proper functioning human being.  I know him pretty well and what he is capable of, so it was time for some age appropriate chores.

I decided to work on giving him some responsibility with an easy to read daily chore chart.  Since he can't read yet, pictures were a must.  I included the words for the added reading practice.  With the chores split between morning and bedtime, this has the added bonus of also teaching a beginning concept of time.   

download here

My son has always been very responsive to reward systems, so I also made a reward chart to go with the chores.

download blank version here

   
Each day he gets half of a star colored in for his morning chores, and the other half for his evening chores.  There are 40 stars, and when he is done then he will get a Buzz Light Year Action Figure that he has been asking for.  

The little bear just loves the whole set up.  He wakes up every morning and makes his bed without me even saying anything.  He loves that Buzz is right there on his chart to remind him to be a good Space Ranger.  

These chores are pretty basic, but I think they are a good start for toddlers.  I have included links so that you can download a PDF of the chores and the reward chart.  Please note that the reward chart is blank.  I left a space at the top for your child's name, as well as a spot at the bottom for their reward.  Get creative and use what ever works for your child!

I hung the stars as is on the wall of my son's room where he cannot reach it, then use a crayon to color in the stars.  For the chores, I mounted that on a piece of 12x12 card stock and then covered the page with clear contact paper to make it a little more permanent.  We are 20 days in and both are holding up really well.

What kind of chores did you start your little ones out with?  Do you find that having charts like this helps?     

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May Day Spring Mantle

The other day I stumbled upon a lovely May Day Wreath by Cathy @ Lemon Tree Dwelling and it got me thinking about adding some some May flowers to my house.  I already have a spring wreath on my front door, so the only other place I could think of was the mantle.  

The top of my fireplace is so dark, so I am always looking for new ways to add a pop of color.  I have also been looking for a project to use some of my home-made washi tape on, my May Day Spring Mantle was taking shape!

I have been all about "shopping at home" and just using stuff I already have.  It is good for my budget as well as good for the planet!  So off I went to see what I could find. 

Gunny Sack Tutorial

| Image Map

I found some large binder clips and covered those with a pretty purple tape.  Then I dug in my collection of fake flowers and made 5 lovely little bouquets.  Finally, I reused some old ribbons that came off of gifts that I never throw away.  My father in law laughs at me at Christmas because I horde all the used ribbons... but seriously the man always uses the best ribbons when he wraps!

Any who, here is the garland I came up with:

As you can see here, all I did was use the binder clips to attach the ribbons tied to each bouquet.  Easy peasy!

 

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Craft Day and Sponsor Love All Rolled up into One!

Rather than showing you all a new craft project today, I wanted to take some time to introduce you to a wonderful crafty blogger:  Angel at Sew Crafty Angel.

I am so happy to have Angel as a sponsor this month.  She generously opted for the Honor Roll spot, which means that her purchase also generates an extra donation to the April Charity of the Month.  She is more than a Crafty Angel to me!

Angel is the kind of blogger who you know you would just love to sit down and have a cup of coffee with.  In fact on Thursdays, that is just what you can do with her Coffee Date Thursdays!

May 2nd is Sew Crafty Angel's four month blogarversary.  Angel has a great line up of new blog hops and features in store to celebrate.  Everything from Mommie Mondays to a Friday Recipe Swap.  There is sure to be something that you'll love.  Here is a sample of some of the great posts you'll find at Sew Crafty Angel:

Click on the pictures for more details!

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Easy Peasy No Knots Fleece Blanket

My little bear has a serious love affair going on with all things related to super heroes.  His favorite is Spiderman, with Batman coming in a close second.  Since the Avengers sometimes work with Spidey, he thinks they are pretty cool too.  

One of his favorite movies is Captain America.  We have spent many evenings dancing to the USO song from the movie.  Two more things to add to that list of things I never realized moms had to do:  I know more about super heroes than I ever thought I would, and I have to sing and dance like a show girl for my little hero!
 

Any who, as part of his super hero obsession, little bear's bedroom looks like a Spiderman Comic book exploded in it.  We still have him in a toddler bed, which means finding super hero blankets the right size is just about impossible.   Thankfully, I am a crafty mom.    We stumbled upon some great Avengers fleece the other day at JoAnns.  I should say little bear used his spider sense to zero in on anything Spiderman related within 20 feet.  Seriously, the kid never misses anything.  The bolt of fabric was behind the cutting station, at the bottom of the "to be reshelved" pile.   He did need a back up blanket for his bed, so I decided to see what I could do with the fleece.  I did not want to do the normal knotted fleece blanket, because I knew he would be using it on his bed and all those knots and tassels drive me crazy!    

When little bear saw the finished blanket he loved it.  He literally danced his happy dance for 10 minutes, and then ran it right up to his bedroom.  He even insisted on making his bed the next morning!  Winner!  =) This blanket took me about an hour at most to put together.  It was fun and easy.  What is your favorite blanket to make these days?       





 

Check out the great campaign going on at Year-Round Giving this month.  For each new follower on Pinterest and Facebook, Year-Round Giving will donate $1 to Autism Speaks!  It has never been easier to support a great cause!        


 

 

Craft Day - Cereal Box Tray

This Cereal Box Tray really could not be any easier.  I threw mine together in less than 10 minutes, and love how more organized my kitchen counter looks now.  I'm thinking my vanity and bathrooms are all going to need one of these as well!

Repurposing cereal boxes is really all over the place and I am sure that I am not the first to do this.  I debated not even sharing this project, but to tell the truth it's simplicity is worth yet another post in the blogosphere!

All you have to do is cut off the face of a cereal box and cover it with what ever paper you like best.  The one tip I have is to leave some of the face of the box to be able to fold it over to give the sides of my tray extra support.  The picture below shows it better:

There you go, another easy peasy craft to try.  Let the kiddies make a few as well for all those odds and ends little toys that always get lost!

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Craft Day - Welcome Spring Wreath

Today I have a happy little project for your house - a Spring Welcome Wreath.

I had fun with this one, and I hope that it inspires you to have some fun as well!

  

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Shopping Bag Storage Container

I have those pretty little fabric shopping bags, that I always seem to leave sitting on my kitchen counter or in my car when I actually go shopping.  I think the little bear tends to use them more in his play kitchen than I do in my real life!  

Which means I also end up coming home with paper and plastic shopping bags.  I have learned through the years to re-use these as much as possible.  A brown paper bag works for us as a container for the recyclables before they go out to the can in the garage.  The plastic bags actually make great doggie poop bags, both on walks and for collection in the back yard.

The only problem I have always had with the plastic bags is the mess in storing them.  They always just got balled up and thrown under the sink.  Usually once every few months I would get sick of the mess and throw half of them away, only to repeat the process on a continuous loop.

The other day as I was eating my oatmeal and looking at the now empty container wondering if I could re-purpose it, an idea was born that would hopefully solve the mess of plastic bags - make a storage container for them ding dong!  Seriously, what have I been thinking to not do this years ago?

So here are the easy peasy step by steps:

You'll need a large oatmeal container, a couple sheets of 12x12 scrap paper, double sided tape, and an exacto knife.  Just cut out an opening in the bottom of the container big enough to pull out a bag with ease.  When done the bottom of the container will become the top of your dispenser.  Then cover the side, lid, and bottom of your container with the scrap book paper.  You could glue it, but I just used double sided tape.  Stuff your mess of bags into your container, leaving a bit of space so that the bags are not packed too tight.  Pop the lid on and now you can store your bags in a third of the space!

I love my new container.  Seriously the space under my sink is huge now.  I used to have to keep my stand mixer in the basement, but now that I have those bags under control it fits under the sink!  Yippee!
 
  

   



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