Easter Centerpiece

I saw this beautiful photo on Pinterest and showed it to Katie. [Unfortunately, I can’t find a link to the original source. If someone knows, feel free to comment and I’ll link to it!]

I asked her if she wanted to recreate it with me, and she said yes! We spent a Sunday after work at Michaels and picked out some moss and terra cotta pieces to use. We found some white rocks in Katie’s rock collection, and also at Leftovers. We borrowed the rest from a neighbor’s landscaping (with permission!).

Katie dug up some dirt from the yard, and Jackson collected twigs for the crosses. We started by putting dirt in the shallow dish and embedded the small terra cotta pot sideways in it.

I mounded the dirt up around it as best as I could, and then put moss on top. I pushed some rocks in place while Katie was busy clipping the twigs so they were the right size for the crosses. I wrapped twine around the twigs, and we pushed them into the moss. The finishing touch was finding a big, round rock to place in front of the empty “tomb.” Here’s how ours turned out:

We had enough supplies to make two, so we made a small one and a larger one. I love the way they look, and I’m excited to display one of them throughout Holy Week on our kitchen table. I think I’ll take the other to work with me.

Advent Calendar

I have an unexplained fascination with Advent calendars. Maybe it’s because I like To Do Lists so much, and Advent calendars are a physical way to cross something off a list. To me, opening another door in a countdown box is like getting mail on a Sunday!

Years ago, a friend had a LEGO Advent calendar for her kids. I bought our first one in 2010. They are expensive (about $40), but who doesn’t like LEGOs? The problem is I have two kids, and I’m too cheap to spend $80 for 24 days of fun. So in 2010, I also had 24 Christmas books that we read each night after the kids took turns opening a door in the LEGO calendar.

In 2011, I still had the plastic insert from the inside of 2010’s box. Click here to see what I did with the plastic insert last year, in addition to buying the 2011 LEGO calendar.

This year I used the same plastic insert, but made it Better! Than! Ever! and had to share.

Last year’s insert was transparent. Even though it was covered in tissue paper and wrapping paper, it was too easy for peeking eyes to see inside. So this year, I started by spray painting it red. That helped!

I folded 24 pieces of paper into origami half-boxes to fit the top of each hole. It sounds crazy, but I figure if I do it once I won’t have to do it again. Since the lids are snug in the holes, I decided they needed a handle or a knob for pulling them out. This is my brilliant addition:

I took spherical thumb tacks and poked them through the center of the box lids, then put a pencil eraser on the pointy end of the tack (the underside of the box lid) to hold them on.

I punched circles out of matching paper and wrote the door’s number on it before gluing the circle to the box lid and sticking it in the appropriate day’s spot.

What’s inside the countdown doors? Little globes with Ickee Stickeez inside (Squinkies with suction cup bottoms) that I found on clearance, plus a gluten-free chocolate coin. (I realized too late that white chocolate coins have gluten, so Katie had to open the odd numbered doors with the white chocolate coins and Jackson opened the even numbered doors that had regular chocolate coins.)

I bought the regular LEGO Advent calendar again this year so the kids could take turns opening both calendars. Turns out the kids loved my homemade one way better than the store-bought one. Next year, I’m planning to skip the $40 price tag and turn this year’s empty into another winner!

Giving PresenCE – Personalized Game Pieces

Our family participates in the [Advent Conspiracy]. The four tenants of [AC] are Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, and Love All. For the past few years, we’ve been trying to find creative ways to give Christmas gifts that are gifts of presence, not just a present. In the days leading up to Christmas, I’ll be sharing some of these ideas with you.

I have been wanting to make personalized game pieces since I saw this post at stitch/craft last year. It has taken me all year to do so, but I finally did it! Here are the ones I made with photos of my family members.

I did another set of faces for the kids.

It was really easy to make these. I printed photos onto cardstock and cut them into shapes, with a little bit extra at the bottom to use as a “post.” I glued another of the same photo on the back, to make them double-sided. I cut a slit into a bottle lid (like the kind you use for a water bottle or a plastic Coke bottle), then slid the photo into the slit. That’s it!

I made a second set of game pieces, using photos of LEGO people I found online by Googling LEGO images. I printed these, cut them into rectangular shapes, glued another on the back, then attached a binder clip to the bottom. I removed the binder clip prongs, and now the pieces stand on their own. I think these are good backup pieces in case we have a friend over who plays a board game and we don’t have a photo piece for him to use.

These game pieces are gifts of presence because they encourage us to spend time as a family hanging out and playing board games.

Giving PresenCE – LEGO Necklaces

Our family participates in the [Advent Conspiracy]. The four tenants of [AC] are Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, and Love All. For the past few years, we’ve been trying to find creative ways to give Christmas gifts that are gifts of presence, not just a present. In the days leading up to Christmas, I’ll be sharing some of these ideas with you.

My kids *love* LEGOs, just like every other red-blooded American kid I know. When I saw these cute LEGO necklaces at The Long Thread, I couldn’t wait to make one for Katie. And then I decided to make matching mother-daughter LEGO necklaces! Here’s how they turned out.

It really was very easy. I got some LEGOs from the kids’ stash, bought a pack of silver bails at Michaels craft store, and got some E6000 glue. I stuck those bails on the back, and strung them on a ball chain Katie already had, and voila! I’ll be giving the necklaces to Katie in the jewelry box pictured, along with some extra little LEGO pieces so she can change the “jewels” around on her pendant.

How exactly does this necklace set fit into the [Advent Conspiracy] way of gift-giving? First, it’s a gift of a shared interest. (I like playing LEGOs too, you know!) Secondly, it cost me less than $10 to make, so I have money I’ve saved that I can donate to Living Water International. Cheers all around!

Giving PresenCE – Mommy & Me Treats

Our family participates in the [Advent Conspiracy]. The four tenants of [AC] are Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, and Love All. For the past few years, we’ve been trying to find creative ways to give Christmas gifts that are gifts of presence, not just a present. In the days leading up to Christmas, I’ll be sharing some of these ideas with you.

One of the most well-known Advent Conspiracy gift ideas around our church involves a bag of coffee. An adult son bought his dad a bag of coffee (fair trade, of course) and gave it to his dad for Christmas. What makes this a gift of presence, you ask? The catch was this: the dad wasn’t allowed to drink the coffee unless it was with his son. The two men spent the next year having coffee regularly, and the son got to know his dad and discuss life with him in a relaxed way.

I’ve always loved that idea, but I couldn’t figure out a way to make it suitable for other ages or relationships. Then I saw this post about making personalized six packs. I decided to tweak it a bit, and came up with this.

It’s an empty cardboard Starbuck’s Frappuccino bottle holder. I covered it with regular white typing paper and glued some strips of red paper on the outside, then added the words “Mommy and Me” and “Treats to eat with me only!” Then I took four empty jelly jars and filled them with four different types of candy (I used Skittles, Mike & Ike, gummy bears, and pretzel M&Ms) and made labels for each jar lid.

I’m giving it to the kids for Christmas, and letting them know it’s only for eating together. Maybe we’ll have a regular game night or a special storytelling afternoon, and gobble up our treats together. The key word in that sentence is (say it with me now): TOGETHER!

Note: I got the jelly jars and cardboard carrier at my favorite place, Leftovers (of course). But it’s easy enough to do on your own with whatever empties you have on hand!

Shower Door into Dry Erase Board

After Dan took down the old glass shower doors (which I wrote about in this post), I decided to repurpose one of them in the kids’ craft room. I cleaned it really well, mounted it to the wall with some 3M Command Strips, and gave the kids dry erase markers to draw on it.

One of the cool things about it is it isn’t mounted flush against the wall. Since it goes straight to the ground, it has a little gap behind it because of the baseboards at the bottom of our walls. This means there’s enough room between the wall and the glass to put a piece of paper behind it for tracing. In this photo, I used a binder clip to attach a photo of Mickey Mouse from a coloring book.

I traced it, then removed the paper.

The kids have enjoyed drawing on it, wiping it off, and starting over. And I’m glad I got to upcycle something that would have been headed to the dump!

Christmas Countdown

Today is December 1, which means the start of some annual traditions in our family. Last year was the first time we bought a LEGO Advent calendar. The kids *loved* opening a door every day and putting together a new LEGO creation. When Christmas arrived and all the doors were opened, I had an empty plastic box and decided to hold onto it. I’m glad I did!

I gave it a second life this year by adding some toys to it and making it a new Advent countdown. Katie wrapped the sides and back for me.

Then I took it into hiding and added the toys before covering the holes with two layers of tissue paper. The tissue paper is easy for poking holes in and receiving the countdown toy. I brought it to Katie so I could take a photo of it, and this was the photo I got:

This was the moment she realized (without ANY clues!) what exactly is in each little compartment. She knew just by the sound the box made when she wiggled it. HOW did she get so darn smart?

I’ll let you in on the secret too: each compartment holds a Squinky that I got from a gumball machine. I found a machine that sells the Squinkies (we also call them Squishies) for a quarter each. That means I spent a grand total of $6 for 25 days’ worth of fun. WAY cheaper than the 2011 LEGO Advent calendar! (But don’t worry, I bought the 2011 one as well. I’ll need an extra box for next year, right?!)

Embroidered Map

Thanks to Pinterest, I saw this really great idea about embroidering a map. I had supplies already on hand and made my first one last week!

I have a friend who went to visit her oldest child at college for the first time since he left home. The morning she drove away, I put this in her mailbox and told her to check it before she left. I used a map of the United States (that I got from Leftovers), two strands of red thread (doubled over to make it four strands thick), and put it in an inexpensive 4x6 frame.

Next time, I will try to use a map that isn’t a driving map, because the red thread didn’t stand out as well as I would have liked against the red color of the interstate route.

But all in all, I think it turned out pretty well!

Helmet Mohawk

Last spring, I saw this post on Make about making helmet mohawks. Today, Jackson and I finally got around to turning his bike helmet into a mohawk.

We took a trip to Hobby Lobby, in search of faux fur. The only kind they had was more felty than furry. It wouldn’t stand up enough to evoke a mohawk on Jackson’s helmet. So we browsed the trim aisle and found some funky trim that would work. Jackson picked his favorite color, we had a yard cut and headed home to find my glue gun.

It was very easy to apply the trim to the helmet. I just piped a row of hot glue, an inch at a time, and stuck the trim to it. Jackson was BEYOND excited to have a helmet mohawk, and begged to go outside and take a spin on his bike to try it out. 

The smile says it all.

Days of the Week Dial

I was at my favorite store (Leftovers) and found a wooden clock frame. I dug through a bucket filled with miscellaneous wooden pieces and located a wooden arrow, and decided to make them into a days of the week tool for Jackson.

First, I stretched my brain and figured out how to make a circular days of the week diagram. I had to search deep in my memory to find the math and figure out the circumference of a circle. Then I split the circle into seven equal parts and used the chart application in Microsoft Word to graph a pie chart. I added day labels, and printed out my diagram on regular typing paper. I painted the wooden form with white paint and asked Dan to drill a hole in the wooden arrow. I painted the arrow blue.

I decoupaged the diagram onto the board and waited for it to dry, then assembled the arrow spinner. I had to experiment with different ways to keep the arrow straight without being too lose to flop around. I used a brass brad, a pony bead and a washer on the front of the board.

On the back, I used a washer and a pony bead, then spread the brad prongs apart and tightly folded them over.

Each morning when Jackson wakes up, he loves to turn the arrow to find the correct day.

He reads the word and walks over to his closet to find the bin labeled with the corresponding day, where his pre-selected clothes are waiting.

“Make It Your Own”

And I feel like I should follow that title up with a resounding, “Yo, dog!” like the judges on American Idol.

But you know that’s NOT what I mean I say “make it your own.” I’m talking about taking something that’s not quite personal and adding to it so it’s unique to your little family.

This week, I realized back in February I promised to blog about a certain little game I made. (Read that post here.) Did I ever do that? Nope. So, here’s my post, fulfilling my promise six months late!

My kids love playing Cariboo, and it’s one of the few games that doesn’t drive me crazy after three rounds. [NOTE: Go check out the link to Cariboo I included above. It says the game sells for $191 on Amazon. Whah?!] This is how the game looks regularly.

You draw a playing card that has a shape or letter or color on it, and you find a door in the game that has a matching shape/letter/color. Use a little key to open the door and see if there is one of six balls inside the door. If so, put the ball in the vertical blue cache on the right side of the game. When all six balls are placed in the cache, a treasure box opens and the game is over.

I decided to step it up a notch and personalize our Cariboo. First I removed the cards on the door covers. I used photos of our immediate family members and sized them in Microsoft Word, and then tinted the photo one of three colors. I included the person’s name under their photo, then printed them off on white cardstock. I cut the papers into the precise door shape, then slid them in place. Next, I took regular typing paper and printed colors and letters for the playing card pieces.

Once I figured out the door sizes, it was pretty easy to personalize the game for my kids. Now they get to play a game that helps them not only learn family member’s names, but how to spell those names too.

Holy Yoga Eye Pillows

My friend Jill is starting a new journey in her life. She is being trained as a Holy Yoga instructor. I am not a yoga lover, but she talked me into taking a Holy Yoga class with one of her friends who is already a trained instructor. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected, and I liked the Christ-centered approach to yoga.

At the end of class, there was some meditation/prayer time. Jill’s friend passed out lavender-scented cloths for each participant to use to cover her eyes during meditation. Later, Jill was brainstorming some ideas for these cloths with me, and asked if I could think of way to make some eye pillows that would be hygienic enough for use in class when she becomes a teacher. This is what I came up with:

I found some cheap, white broadcloth fabric. White fabric is key, so it can be bleached. I cut these into 4.5” x 9” rectangles, then sewed them on three sides. I turned them inside out, filled them with Poly Pellets, and sewed them shut. The finished size is about 3” x 8” after a big seam allowance. (I don’t sew incredibly straight.)

I made a sample pillow first, and threw it in the laundry twice to check how well the pellets hold up in a washing machine. I air-dried it after the wash, and the pillow held up just fine.

These are so easy to make, affordable (I figure about $1.20 each for materials), bleachable/hygienic, scent-able (I think she can spritz aromatherapy scents on the outside), and I think they will be a beautiful tool during Holy Yoga prayer time.

Summer Fun Cupcake Decorating Kit

Tomorrow is Katie’s last day of second grade. Today is the class party; my last visit to her class for the year. Katie already delivered one gift to her teacher a few days ago - these hand sanitizers.

I also make Katie’s teachers the same gift every year: a special movie. Every time I volunteer in class, I take photos of the kids and the teacher. Then at the end of the year, I set the photos to music and give the teacher a copy as a memento of her year. This serves a dual purpose: Katie now has a collection of movies too. Each year, the class watches the movie at the end of year party, and the kids enjoy seeing a recap of their year. This year, one of the parents graciously donated 20 blank DVDs for me to burn enough copies for every kid in the class to have one.

Besides the movie, I wanted something special to take to the teacher today when I go to the class party. I saw a cute cupcake decorating kit on Pinterest last week. (LOVE that site, by the way! Thanks, Michelle!) I can’t find the original link to it, so I can’t link to it here. But I took the idea and ran with it, buying some cute items at Joann’s last night.

I found a transparent paint can for $3.50. I found a mix of cupcake liners and picks, spending about $7 for 200 of them. A jar of red glitter sprinkles was on sale for $1.71, and I found a pack of foam cupcake stickers for $1. That brings my total for this teacher gift to $13.21. I added my own ribbon and tag that says “Summer Fun Cupcake Decorating Kit.”

I can’t wait to give it to the teacher and wish her a relaxing summer!

Cupcake Carrier Tutorial

It’s the second Monday of the month, and time for me to contribute over at JC’s Loft.
Remember those *cute* party favor/crafts the kids made at Jackson’s birthday party two weeks ago? Click here to read the tutorial explaining how to make them. Check it out and let me know what you think! {Update: The JC's Loft blog was closed and the link no longer works. If you would like instructions, leave a comment and your email address and I'll be in contact. I'm sorry for any confusion!}

Jackson’s Cupcake Party

A month or so ago, I asked Jackson what he wanted to do for his birthday. His immediate response: “Have a cupcake party!” I am not quite sure what a cupcake party is, so he clarified and said, “I get to invite five friends and have cupcakes!” (And, yes, it was emphatic, with an exclamation! point!) I tried to get more details out of him, but the only other requirements for such a party was: “Play with my toys. And my friends bring presents.” Ah, of course. Can’t forget that!

If you remember from last year’s party, I have a *slight* dislike of birthday parties. (In fact, when I asked Jackson the original question about what to do for his birthday, I was hoping for a response like, “Let’s just stay home and order pizza.” Yeah, right.) The good news is this year, he decided on the guest list himself and gave me lots of wiggle room by specifying only one other thing: cupcakes. So I set out to plan a cupcake party.

SLAM ON THE BRAKES RIGHT HERE! Turns out a cupcake party for BOYS isn’t so easy. Google “cupcake party” and you’ll get lots of pink, frilly ideas. So I just threw together some ideas I like from random web and blog samplings, and called it good. Here’s what our two hour party entailed:

1. Greet each guest and give them a party badge to wear, with Jackson’s photo on it. Why party badges? Because I found them at Leftovers for next-to-nothing cheap! They just seemed like something fun the kids could wear.

2. Playtime, including chaotic balloon chasing. I read on FamilyFun’s website that if you throw tons of balloons onto the floor of any party, it doubles the fun factor. So true!

3. Decorate cupcake carriers. (For the life of me, I can’t find the link to this idea. I saw it at least a year ago on a blog, but can’t remember which one. If anyone ever finds the source, please let me know so I can link it!) I was going to let the kids use glue and glitter and other fun decorations, but if you’ve ever crafted around me or know anything about me, you know I DESPISE glitter. So the kids used only stickers, which turned out to be totally sufficient.

4. Decorate cupcakes to put in carriers and take home. The idea of sprinkles rolling around my kitchen floor is *almost* as terrifying as the thought of glitter running amuck around my house. So the kids decorated their cupcakes on cookie sheets, which helped to contain the rogue nonpareils. (Now I finally know how to pronounce that!) Then, of course, Jackson got hold of a jar of sprinkles that didn’t have a handy sifting cap on it, and he dumped a huge pile of sprinkles on his cupcake. There ain’t NO cookie sheet that could contain that mound of chaos!

5. Eat snacks in cupcake tins, a la Muffin Tin Mom. Jackson picked his favorite foods to eat: Cracklin’ Oat Bran cereal, marshmallows, animal crackers, cheese cubes, apple slices, grapes, celery and carrots. I don’t have enough six-hole muffin tins, but my friend Beth had the brilliant idea to use the plastic carriers that the store-bought cupcakes are sold in. I cut those in half and let the kids use them and then we threw them away for fast cleanup. Sweet!

I also made some cute cupcake straws like these here, but then I realized the straws wouldn’t fit in the kids’ juice pouches. I made the adults use them instead.

6. Decorate a second cupcake – this one for eating!

7. Cupcake hunt. I printed out ten cupcakes (clip art) per child with each child’s name printed on them. Each child had his own color too. While we ate snacks, Katie slipped into two other rooms and hid the cupcakes in some very sneaky places. After snack, the kids were set loose to find their cupcakes.

8. Pin the candle on the cupcake. I used a large cardboard cupcake decoration I bought at Deals, and printed candle clip art for the kids to stick on the cupcake blindfolded. Our friend Alex didn’t want to play, so his mom agreed to be his substitute. The kids got a kick out of telling Michelle where to place her cupcake.

9. Presents. This is one of the reasons I dread birthday parties: I can’t stand when the kids smother the birthday child by clamoring to see the present that’s being opened. It really makes me crazy. In my Google search for cupcake parties, I found this link which had the idea to invite the child whose present is being opened to sit beside the birthday boy. Bonus idea: take a photo of the kids together with the gift, to be used for thank you notes later. BRILLIANT! It worked like a charm for us, also because we used the ottoman as a buffer between the gawkers and the gifts.

10. Playtime and head home. Our two hours was almost up by this point, so the kids played for a few more minutes and then we were done. As a party favor, each kid took home his own cupcake carrier with a cupcake inside. (I like edible favors instead of filler toys.)

Even the Grinchy party-hater side of me was pleasantly surprised with how well this party turned out. Most of all, Jackson loved having his friends over to play and eat cupcakes with him. And that’s what counts!