Superhero Father's Day Card

Here's a super quick and easy Father's Day card your kids can make.  Cut out your husband's face from an old photo, and glue it on to one of these clip art images.

Mother's Day Card: Floating Hearts and Kisses

Doily Heart Stencil T-Shirts

I saw this Valentine's Day kids craft idea last year in Family Fun magazine, but we didn't get around to it in time.  That turned out for the best though because this year the girls had an opportunity to do it with their grandmother, and now they all have coordinating shirts they can wear together on Valentine's Day.
Here are some tips we found for making this project go smoothly with kids:

Heart Shaped Granola Bars {Healthy Valentines Treats}

You know what I recommend?  Trial runs for homemade Valentines Day treats!  Ha ha...why not- right?  We did that the other day with these heart-shaped granola bars as I wasn't sure how granola dough would work with cookie cutters.  I'm happy to report that it works just fine (said through tasty granola crumbs).

I vote for making these above actual heart-shaped sugar cookies for the following reasons:

Potato Stamp Valentines

A while back, my mother-in-law suggested I try potato stamping with the girls.  It took me a while to get around to doing it, but now that we've done it, I wish we'd tried it sooner.  There's just something FUN about using food to do art.  (e.g. we liked stamping with okra and making magnets with colored pasta)

Getting the right shape in the potato can be a bit tricky.  I found that it worked best to:

Thumbprint Reindeer Ornament

Running out of time to make a homemade Christmas gift for family members?  Here's one that takes no time at all!

Michaels has some flat, paintable ceramic Christmas tree ornaments.We used them to make thumbprint reindeer and then let the kids paint the other side however they wanted with acrylic paints.

Christmas Lanterns from Baby Food Jars

Throwing away babyfood jars is something I like to avoid when I can.  They are a nice size and really so pretty without their paper.  MaryAnn F. Kohl has a brilliant craft idea for them in her book Scribble Art.  I did this project with a group of 3 and 4 year- olds and several of the lanterns turned out very pretty.

We covered the jars with tissue paper and mod podge.  I cut letters out of black construction paper for the kids to glue on to make them more Christmas-y.  (I had intentions of making a "love" lantern and a "peace" lantern as well, but haven't quite gotten around to those yet)

Mod Podge is non-flamable; so you could fill the lanterns with regular candles, but for kids' projects I really love the battery- operated tealight candles you can buy now.  They are safe and pretty convincing.

Any other fun ideas for reusing baby food jars?  (especially Christmas related would be fun!)

Thankgiving Banner: Fall Leaves

I'm woefully, woefully behind in posting, but I wanted to post about our Thanksgiving craft before it was actually Christmas. Since there was a lot going on this year, we didn't do our traditional sign with found items from nature like we have done for the previous four Thanksgivings.

 We did make a decorative banner using the pretty fall maple leaves my mother sent in the mail from Michigan. Just sharpie writing on each leaf and stuck to a couple of pieces of twine. Simple- and I think we will keep it in storage and see how it looks next fall.

I know it is a little late, but I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!

Father's Day Mug for Kids to Make

There's an idea that's been floating around Pinterest these days that I've been curious about for a while- color a ceramic mug with sharpie and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

So simple and exciting if true- but it made me wonder why anyone would bother to buy real ceramic pens if a sharpie works just as well.

With such a fun idea though and all the materials already in our house...definitely worth a try.  First, I used a black sharpie to draw a bubble letter outline for "I Love Dad" on one side and a blank face on the other side of a plain white, ceramic cup.  I baked it at 350 for 30 minutes, waited for it to cool and let my preschooler use our colored sharpies to decorate.

  Back in the oven for another 30 minutes.

So what were the results from our little experiment?

1.  The marker does not smudge when it is handled.  It didn't even come off when we ran it through the dishwasher.

But-

2.  If you work at it with your fingernail or with a rough sponge, you can get some of the marker to rub off.    Rubbing alcohol erases it completely.

3.  I imagine ceramic pens work better and don't rub off, but for a child-made mug for Daddy I think the sharpie is just fine!

I looked it up, and it does seem that sharpies are non-toxic, but since they are not manufactured for use on food items, I think playing it safe and keeping the pen marks out of the inside of the mug and away from the rim might be a good idea.

Looking for more Father's Day ideas?  

Fill-in-the-blank Father's Day letter
10 Ideas for Building Memories on Father's Day
Daddy Banner

Cinco de Mayo Crafts

Before we moved to Texas I don't think I even knew what Cinco de Mayo was. Now that we're here, we see signs of it everywhere.  (If you live in Austin, you might want to check out 10 Free Family Friendly Cinco de Mayo Events for this year from Free Fun in Austin)

I figured doing a simple Mexican flag craft with the girls this year was a good opportunity to sneak in a little geography and history.  We pointed to where Mexico is on the map and looked up the Mexican flag.  (The girls love pointing out flags when we drive in the car; I'm pretty sure they'll be noticing some from Mexico in the next few days)

 Here's how we made a festive Mexican flag drinking straw with kids:

1.  Cut a green and a white straw into several pieces.  Slit each piece down the side with a pair of scissors.  (Don't look too closely at my picture.  I didn't happen to have any white straws at the time; so I used a piece of ribbon for the white)

2.  Slip several pieces of white and green onto a red straw.

3.  Print two copies of a Mexican flag from your printer.  Glue their backs together and use a piece of clear tape to attach to the straw 2/3 from the top.

4. To make your straw extra fancy, cut a small piece from another red straw.  Cut fringes into each end of the piece with a pair of scissors.  Slit the piece all along one side with a pair of scissors and slip on to the straw just above the flag.

If you are in the market for Cinco De Mayo crafts you might also take a look at the Mexican jumping bean craft I wrote about a couple of years ago.  The template is provided as well as a video showing how it works.  (It feels alive in your hand and is so fun to watch)


My friend Rebecca's over at Quirky Momma also has some fun ideas on celebrating Cinco De Mayo with kids!


Does your family celebrate Cinco de Mayo?  I'd love to hear what kinds of things you do together!

Happy St. Patrick's Day: and a Shamrock Window Craft

For days I've been trying to think of something to do with the clover we pressed in an old book last week.  My first thought was to use it to decorate pretty little glycerin soaps, but we never made it to the craft store to buy the glycerin.

Finally, yesterday I decided we would make shamrock sun catchers.  I'm happy we did; today we have cheery little shamrocks hanging on our front windows, plus the craft was easy and enjoyable (and cheaper than buying the soap).

Pressing Clover for St. Patrick's Day

It was a gorgeous morning here in Austin; so the girls and I headed out to our front yard to pick clover leaves and pressed them in an old book.  We'll be using them to make a St. Patrick's Day craft soon.

Simple Valentines Day Hat

We made these super easy heart hats for a Valentines Day get-together on Tuesday. I cut the hearts out of scrapbook paper (a little sturdier than construction paper) and the girls decorated.

If you cut them the right size and your paper is sturdy, they will fit very well, but I didn't have all the kids in front of me to check head sizes; so some slipped down and became necklaces :-)

 Thanks, Kathy for the directions on this!

Carrot Hearts

The girls helped me peel the carrots (more fun when you buy the kind with the greens on)

and we followed the directions over at Sophistimom for making little heart-shaped snacks!

Mine didn't turn out as well as hers, but they were still fun to eat!

  

Heart-Shaped Foods II

1. Melon Heart Kabobs
2. Hot Dog Hearts
3. Cinnamon Rolls
4.  Heart-shaped egg

Heart-Shaped Foods- Part I

Well, I don't know about you, but after almost a month after Christmas I'm finally ready to begin thinking about another holiday. Valentine's Day can be awfully cute and fun for kids.  The only problem tends to be all the candy that tend to accompany it.  One fun way around all the Dove promises and sweet tarts is to find ways to slip hearts into every day food.

1.  These cherry tomato hearts are simple and adorable.
2.  Use a squirt bottle full of pancake batter to make these lacy heart pancakes.
3.  My sister made this heart pepperoni pizza three years ago.  Isn't it cute?
4.  Heart-shaped egg and toast from Martha Stewart to serve your sweetheart or little sweeties for breakfast.

I've been collecting simple ideas for heart-shaped foods for quite a while so you can expect to see a few more posts on this theme in the next few weeks.

What other ideas has your family tried for celebrating Valentine's Day in a low-candy way?

Festive Mini Pretzel Rods

Inspired by my friend Carissa at Carissa's Creativity Spot, the girls and I decided to make some quick Christmas gifts for the mailman and the new neighbors across the street (and of course there were all of those not-quite-perfect little rods that we felt compelled to eat ourselves :-)

1. First we crushed candy canes in a ziploc bag with a heavy rolling pin.  (The girls enjoyed doing this part, but needed quite a bit of help to get the pieces small enough.

2.  Then we melted some white chocolate chips in a makeshift double boiler on the stove.  (Large saucepan filled with hot water with a smaller saucepan nested inside filled with the chips)  I think doing it this way worked better than the microwave because it kept the chocolate smooth and melted for long enough for us to dip a lot of pretzels

3.  Next we dipped small pretzel rods into the white chocolate and sprinkled them with the candy cane pieces.  (This part was very fun for the girls too, but they needed some help making sure they let the excess chocolate drip off before they rolled them.

4.  Set to dry on a piece of wax paper.  (Only takes about 10 minutes)

(Yes, M has a tin bucket on her head.  Not sure why :-)

For our packaging, we tried a cute idea I saw on Pinterest a while back.  We just used small ziploc bags and stapled some holiday scrapbook paper on the top.  They turned out cute and tasty- the girls were proud to stick them in the mailbox.

   (We wanted to give some to the garbage man too as a Christmas thank-you, but couldn't figure out how to do that without getting up at 6:30am when he usually comes- any suggestions?)

Journey to Bethlehem Dinner

I'll probably end up reposting this idea every year in December- just because it's been such a meaningful, unique tradition for my family for so many years.  

A lot of people try to imagine what the first Christmas must have been like. Not as often, I imagine, do people think about what the first Christmas Eve was like. One of my family's Christmas traditions centers around that very idea.

Every year since I was little, my family has held a "Journey to Bethlehem" dinner on Christmas Eve when we think about Joseph and Mary's long trip before Jesus was born. We try to only eat foods that would have been available to them at that time and that people might be likely to eat when they are traveling and don't have time for a lot of preparation. For example, figs, dates, olives, goat cheese, nuts, grape juice, dried meat.

We also turn off all of the electric lights and use only candles and lanterns for the rest of the evening. Not only are the lanterns a good reminder of Mary and Joseph, but they also set a certain atmosphere that is very conducive to family-togetherness. Usually, after we are done reading the Christmas story from the Bible and sing some Christmas hymns, we spend the rest of the dinner talking about old family memories. It's always a special time.

A couple of years when all of us kids were little, we actually filled the basement with straw and slept on it overnight. Now THAT was a memory- very messy clean-up afterward though, as I remember!

Thankful Tree with Pictures

I decided we would try to make a pictorial Thankful tree this year while the girls are little.  For the last few days, I've been asking them to think of things they are thankful for and then giving them the camera to take pictures of their answers.

Today I made a tree out of butcher paper and let them stick the leaves on the tree

 My favorite so far is this leaf.

M's first answer to what she was thankful for was "I'm thankful I have a sister."  I just about melted with the sweetness of it.  :-)

Thankful Tree Inspiration

Tomorrow I'll be sharing our plans for this years' thankful tree, but for now, here is some wonderful inspiration from around the web:

1.  Children's hands make great fall leaves as shown by Crafts by Amanda

2.  You could make individual thankful trees out of paper towel rolls like they did at Motherhood Moments.

3.  Scrap the tree idea entirely and go with an erasable blessings board.  The tutorial is at Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss.

4.  I love this artfully done printable for a thankful tree.

5.  The Red Thread came up with the idea for this reverse advent tree.  Each day her family filled it with something that they are thankful for.

6. Parent's Yarn Thankful Turkey is so cute!
7.  I really like the look of the white spray painted branch at Better Homes and Gardens
8.  The Artful Parent shows you how she made her pretty leaf garland.
9.  This child-decorated thankful box is a good idea from No Time for Flashcards.