You can't see me!

Our youngest child, and only son, will be turning 3 in June. I am both happy and sad, like most mothers :o) 

His newest interest in wrestling. Not just any wrestling but WWE wrestling! What can I say.... he is 100% boy! A few of his favorites are John Cena (of course), The Rock, Sheamus, Big Show, and Kane.... just to name a few :o) 

When I asked him what kind of party he wanted he looked at me with that serious little face of his and said "Mom, don't know." So I started naming off stuff, Spiderman... Cars.... Construction (Diggers, Trucks).... and then I said wrestling! He shouted "Yeah! Yeah, Mom! Me want Cena party! Cena's great!" So a couple weeks went by and I asked again what kind of party he wanted and he still insisted on a John Cena party, not wrestling in general, John Cena! 

I sat down and made his invite for the party last night, graphic design is yet another one of my many crafty hobbies I enjoy doing! :o) I wanted to share the invite now, even though I am sure I will eventually share more Cena party pictures after the party, but I just couldn't wait that long to share this!!! I knew what I wanted in my head and upon searching and searching for what seemed like forever I could NOT find the fonts I wanted to use. So what did I do you might ask..... I made the font look the way I wanted it to look by simply editing it using my favorite program, gimp! When our son woke up today and after breakfast I showed him the invite, hoping to get his approval :o) He loved it!!! 

So what do you all think? Is this a worthy John Cena birthday invite??

Cherry Tomatoes anyone...??

I thought that I would post something a little different then my normal blog entry. Instead of sharing a fun craft to do with your kids I thought I would share one of my little kitchen tricks or tip, what ever you would prefer to call it.

My middle child, Abigayle (4 yrs) loves Cherry Tomatoes! Like LOVES them! She also loves to have them sliced for salads or tacos. Have you ever tried to slice a small tomato ? Seeds and juice squirts out all over the place! So here is my little tip on how to slice a small tomato such as a Cherry or a Grape tomato without making a huge mess and squeezing out the guts to the tomato.

First gather your materials :
- Tomatoes
- 2 Bowl Lids (need to be the same lid and have an edge/rim to them) *see picture
- Knife, I would suggest a larger knife then I used, but I have bad luck with knives so I like to use the same small one for everything I slice :o)
- Bowl or dish to place the nicely sliced tomatoes in.

First you start by placing a handful (or two) of tomatoes in the groove on the top of one of the lids.

 Then you will take and place the other lid on top of the tomatoes, tops of the lids need to be pointing towards each other. Now bare with me on the picture of me slicing the tomatoes. My 5 1/2 yr old was taking the picture and this was the best of 4 attempts :o) After you have your lids and tomatoes ready begin to slowly slice/work your knife though the center of the lids. Continue until you have sliced through to the other side.

And there you have it! Perfectly sliced tomatoes! Perfect for salads, tacos, nachos, etc.

Marbled Nails

I love pinterest as much as any other crafty person I am sure! Sometimes I find myself being a touch addicted to it and end up pinning the majority of my night away! Could be worse things I could be doing right....!?!

While pinning away I have stumbled upon several water marbled nails. Reading the directions and seeing how awesome it looks I thought to myself "Pin this, I will try that one day." While secretly knowing that most likely I wouldn't do it one day as many things that I pin I never will do... oh well :o) But, I actually decided to attempt this particular pin. My nails have been super strong lately and are currently long enough for something as stunning as this to be displayed on.

So I gathered my materials...

- Nail Polish (I tried several kinds until I found ones that worked) I used 2 colors but want to try 3 next time
- Q Tips and Tooth Picks  (these will be used to clean fingers and polish removal)
- Vaseline
- Cup of Water
- Paper Plate **this is just for trash reasons**

Now get comfy where you are sitting as this is not a quick nail job, but so worth it!!!

Fill your cup with luke warm or room temperature water, almost all the way full. Then you will need to swab the Vaseline all around your finger covering all your skin but not the nail. This will ensure the polish doesn't stick to you but the nail instead.

Now slowly dip your polishes in the water, do this by taking 1 drip from one color and just touching the surface of the water until the color 'spreads' outwards. Continue dropping 1 dip while alternating colors. I do between 10-15 drips. I also found it easier if all bottles of polish were opened and ready to grab for quick dripping.

Once all drips are in place you will have  a pretty circle of colors, grab a tooth pick and SLOWLY go from the outside of the circle towards the middle. Do this a few times to create your marbled look of choice. Then very slowly dip your nail in the part of the design you want on your nail, works best if the nail is on a slight angle towards the polish. While your nail is still in the water (under water) take your toothpick and gather all the polish by swirling in slow circular motions to clear it from your finger. Then remove your finger, slowly, and use a q-tip to clean your finger tip and remove all excess polish. Spot clean with nail polish remover if needed.

Be sure to top with a clear top coat after several minutes of air drying.  Continues these steps for all or as few nails as you wish.

The colors choices are endless and the more you do it the better you get. Can you imagine different color schemes for holidays?!?! How cute!!!

Now when I did this my camera was not charged so I had to use my daughter's iPad, the picture quality isn't the best but it shows the finished product! I didn't put a top coat on soon enough as when I was cleaning my bathroom the next day most of my polish chipped off before I could get better pictures.

And you know once my daughter's seen my nails they wanted theirs done the same way :o) I did try to do their nails and for being only 4 yrs and 5 1/2 yrs they sat still very good and ended up with some cute nails! The pictures are again not the best and due to the fact that their nails are so dang TINY the design didn't have much room to really show up. 

Here Come's Peter Cottontail...

Easter is coming early this year! Falling on the last day of March I had to rush my Easter crafts and do them while I still  had our St. Patrick's Day crafts out. For our first Easter craft of 2013 I decided to stick with one that I have already done with my children. The super fun and cute String Easter Eggs.

Lately I have been seeing people posting pictures of these online with candy in the eggs. I think that is a great idea but with the amount of work that goes into making these super awesome eggs... I would not want to destroy it to get the candy out :o) But hey, that is just me!!

To make this craft here are the following materials you will need :

• Balloons, I have found water balloons work best. They are smaller and more egg shape. Also a heck of a lot harder to blow up so be prepared for that!
• Glue (Elmer's Glue or Store Brand doesn't matter) 
• Embroidery Floss 
• Scissors
• Bowl & Spoon, plastic is easier to rinse off when finished.
• Water
• Needle
• (optional) Spray Starch *for added stiffness

To begin you need to decided how many eggs you would like to have when finished. Now add 4 to that number just to be safe :o) After all your "eggs" are blown up you will need to make the glue mixture used for the string.

I don't have exact measurements on this so I will do my best to explain it. Start with some water in your bowl, probably about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup. Then squeeze in the glue, don't be shy! I would say squeeze just less then half of a normal sized bottle of glue into the water. Then mix, you want it to be the consistency of milk, I would say 2% milk :o)

Now again, not sure on the measurements, you need to pick the string and cut a strip. I grab it in one hand and stretch my arms apart length wise 2 and 1/2 times and cut, I am 5'5" if that gives you a better idea of size ... Once you have your strand of string slowly put it in your glue mixture. Use the spoon to gently get all the string wet with the mixture. Once you are done you can start to wrap your balloon with the string. I gently run my fingers around the string so that not too much liquid is on it but enough is on there to make the string stiff when it dries.

As you are wrapping the string be sure to not wrap too close to the knot on the balloon, this will cause it to cave in when you are popping the balloon. I hang my balloons up to dry over night. When they feel good and dry you can do one of two things. You can either spray them with the spray on starch if you want to be sure they are stiff or you can start to pop the balloons.

Where I live it is still pretty cold here in Michigan when Easter is coming, so the cold weather helps me with this part. I take my "eggs" outside and cold air makes the balloons shrink just enough that I can run a needle between the balloon and the string, releasing them from each other. Once the balloon and string are separated I poke a hole or two or three in the top of the balloon by the knot. Once all the air is gone from the balloon you can remove it through one of the bigger holes on your egg. 

Do this to all your "eggs" and then decorate with them however you wish! I take sewing thread and hang ours from the ceiling :o)

Here is a picture from last year's eggs, 2012

And here are a couple pictures of our eggs this year, 2013.

Enjoy!! Remember, people have been adding little candies inside the balloons too, but I like them just the way they are, without the goodie :o)

The Luck of the Irish

Every holiday I like to sit down with my children and make a hands on craft for that special occasion.

When I think of St. Patrick's day the first thing that popped in my mind was leprechauns with their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow :o) Having a 5 1/2 yr old, 4 yr old, and 2 1/2 yr old I thought of a perfect craft that not only helps with their colors but is also fun to do at the same time!


Materials Needed For this craft :

• Colored Stickers of Some sort (I used foam shapes that were stickers)
• Cardstock (White)
• Crayons
• Pencil
• Rainbow Outline
• Scissors
• Garbage Bowl (optional) We use it for the backs of the stickers and paper scraps.

The first thing you will want to do is decide how big to make your final product, for me I just cut the cardstock in half length ways. This worked perfect for my family, cut 2 pieces in half and I had enough for myself and each of my three kiddos :o)

Then you will want to take your rainbow outline and trace it onto your cardstock. I did this by holding my outline to a window and my cardstock over top so I could see the outline to trace onto my cardstock.

After this I took my crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple) and just drew a line down the white center of my cardstock. I did this to show my children where each colored stick should go.

After I did that to all four of the rainbows, I then dumped a few handfuls of my foam shape stickers onto the table and told me kids to go to town :o)

I told them they could do them any way they wanted, granted my son who is the youngest took that as he could just stick stickers anywhere. Totally ok with me, at least he knows the colors, who said he needs to put them where they should go :o)

Continue to fill your rainbow with stickers. When you are finished grab some crayons and finish the scene by adding some grass and your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. My oldest and I decided to add some suns, clouds, and flowers too! She also decided that since pink is her favorite color it needed to be in the rainbow too! 

I hope you and your children enjoy this St. Patrick's Day craft as much as my children and I did! 

Thanksgiving Turkey Keepsake Craft

Now that Halloween is over it is time to be thankful.... and decorate with Turkeys! I love doing arts and crafts with my 2 girls and son and this year we decided to go along the lines of the Halloween spiders and make Thanksgiving Turkeys. 

Here are the materials needed for this craft :

• Construction paper - Brown for the turkey body, orange for his mouth, red for his "gobbler", white for the eyes, and whatever colors you want for the wings (We did, orange, yellow, red, and green)
• Ink Pen or Pencil - Used for tracing
• Scissors
• Glue

You can also add googly eyes for the turkey instead of just paper eyes.

Directions to Make your Turkey!

1. Trace your child's foot onto the brown paper.
2. Trace the child's hand onto a piece of colored paper for the wings. **You can either trace one hand and cut out numerous wings at one time by stacking the papers ---OR--- you can trace and cut each hand separately. We did our separate so my daughter could practice cutting with scissors**
3. After the turkey body and all the wings (we did 4 wings) are cut it is time to assemble.
4. Start by gluing 1 hand wing at a time to the back of the foot body. Continue until all wings are attached.
5. Now assemble the turkey face --- 2 eyes. 1 beak, and 1 gobbler

Voila! You now have a Thanksgiving Turkey Keepsake!!

Halloween Keepsakes

Every holiday I like to do fun crafts with my three little children. For Halloween we made keepsake crafts!

I decided we would do some Halloween hand spiders and some Halloween feet ghost. First you need to gather your materials.

Materials :

• Black & White paper (Also whatever color you want for the spiders eyes)
• White crayon & Pen for tracing hands and feet
• Scissors
• Glue or Tape

For the Spider -

After you get everything you need begin by folding your black paper in half. With white crayon trace your little one's hand but be sure to only do FOUR fingers, if you trace all five your spider will have 10 legs :o)

After you are done you or your child can cut the spider out. Open it up and there you have a nice spider body with eight legs. 

This is when you can add the eyes and my children added 2 white fangs, apply with glue or tape. 

All done!

For the Ghost -

Start by laying your white paper on the ground and then trace the child's foot with the pen.

After you are done tracing the foot either you or your child can cut it out. 

Finish off your ghost with 2 black eyes and a big spooky black mouth.

All done!!

Quick, easy, and fun Halloween keepsakes. Hang on your walls, fridge, or door for some decorations. When the holiday is over you can take them down and write the child's name, age, and date on the back. Put in a safe place so that when they are older you can look back and see how small their hands and feet were!! :o)