Lights out! Ghost out!

It’s almost Halloween, and with that decorations are starting to appear along side pumpkins. Today Jackson and I went to the Gulfarium Spooktacular for halloween festivities. Free admission for kids in costume is something that I can never say no to. C’mon who doesn’t like free or cheap when you can get it?  We were able to see all the same great shows with a halloween flair, plus extra spooky activities.  Between the sunken submarine you got to go on to the skeleton find it kept Jackson entertained for almost 3 hours.  Jackson decided to dress up as Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas) and of course I painted his face at 9 am, but the time we get to the Gulfarium he is freaking out because some of it has smudged. How many times can I say do not touch your face!?!  Even though we left before the costume parade (pretty glad about that one) I still think he had a great time. He was still talking about the talking pumpkins (pumpkins with a projector on them) tonight at dinner.

While we were at the Gulfarium we learned how to make a few easy Halloween crafts. One was a spider from a paper plate. The other one that I will be giving a tutorial on was a ghost.  Spooky I know!  This is something you can use to give your yard a little more life and hopefully won’t cost anything extra since most items are found laying around the house.

 

Watching the pumpkins sing

 

Had fun on the maze

 

Had to meet his skeleton friend.

Got to see a bird take a bath

 

What you need:

Scissors

Clean and dried empty milk jug (does’t matter what size)

Black construction paper (or a black sharpie)

Glue stick

Plastic bag (Walmart, Target…)

Screw Driver

Fishing line

 

Step 1:

Make sure your milk jug is clean and all stickers are removed.  One the base of the milk jug you will make 2 holes. Make them as close to the middle as your can.  Add fishing line through the holes to be able to hang when finished.

Step 2:

Draw on your black construction paper a face for your ghost. We make a nice ghost but you can make it however you would like.  Cut out the pieces of the face individually.

Step 3:

With your glue stick, glue your face onto your milk jug. Make are your jug is upside down, otherwise you will have an upside down pumpkin.  If you plan on using a sharpie, just draw on the face now.

Step 4:

Take your milk jug lid and your plastic bag. You will place the lid inside of the plastic bag then place the lid on the jug like your normally would. If you really want to get creative, add a glow stick inside of the milk jug to make it glow. 

 

 

Crayon Easter Eggs!

This year was a last minute rush to color easter eggs. We had thought of doing the shaving cream easter eggs like last year, but wanted to do something else.  So in a house with NO FOOD COLORING .. what do we have a lot of? CRAYONS!  I had seen where you can put crayons in the hot glue gun but with a few kids that doesn’t seem very safe. So the eggs were still warm and I tested an egg.  It melts and you can smear!

 

Check it out.. again make sure your eggs are still warm!

Our stock of crayons…

 

 

Grandma helping out.

 

My test egg… I love how it melted

 

Our eggs.  It’s fun to smear the melted crayons to give it a stained look.

 

 

 

Put me on a canvas!

To put pictures on canvas is expensive… or so we thought.  There is an easier way than buying the canvases from some online printing store…  DO IT YOURSELF!

Supplies needed: 

Blank canvas

A printed picture same size of the canvas.

Mod Podge

Foam Brush

 

Here’s How:

Step 1: Gather your supplies

 

 

Step 2:

Place a layer of Mod Podge on the canvas. Then gently place your photograph on top of the canvas.

 

Step 3:

Add a layer of Mod Podge on top of the photograph. Make sure to get the edges. Once the 1st layer is dried, add a second. It will dry clear. When you add your Mod Podge brush it on in the same direction.

It will dry clear when done.

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the dried product. Will be updated.

 

 

Star Wars Snowflakes

We did it! We finally did it! Last year we saw this A-M-A-Z-I-N-G snowflakes in the shapes of your favorite Star Wars characters! We are complete Star Wars geeks in this family. Jackson is obsessed. Even more now since they merged his Angry Birds with Star Wars.

Thanks to Anthony over at Anthony Herrera Designs he gives step by step instructions on how to fold and cut this awesome snow flakes.

So far we have only made C3-PO and Yoda, and let me tell you this is hard work!  I did find a trick though after I finished C3-PO, cut the small stuff 1st! Then cut the outer edge. This gives your hand something to hold on to while you cut with your fancy Xacto knife.

 

Best of luck on your cuttings and holidays! Merry Christmas and May the force be with you with this craft!

Santa’s Countdown to Christmas!

Action Jackson is getting to the age where visual displays help to let him know when something important is coming up. Well Christmas is only days away. I have never done an advent calendar and don’t really like the idea of all the little toys or candies in there. Mainly because they will all be gone before Christmas arrives.  So instead I went to Joann’s and found a felt santa.  Since I wanted to do a countdown somehow I thought that I get some white pom poms and glue them each day onto Santa’s beard. Here’s what we did:

Step 1: We had to glue all the pieces of Santa together. The pre-made kit can be bought at Joann’s for $10. We put it together with Glue Dots.

Step 2: Line up all your pom poms in the order you want them. You should have 24 (Since Santa comes on Christmas Eve).

Step 3: One by one take off the pom- poms and number with a sharpie. 24 should be at the end of the beard to make it full when it is finished.

Step 4: Hang him up and add a pom pom each day! We have been using the glue dots and they work just fine.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

Gobble! Gobble! Shake Your Tail Feathers!

I haven’t posted anything in a few weeks so it was about time we did a craft.  Finally getting settled enough to bring the crafts out and have some fun. Today was glitter explosion! I don’t know what I would do without our craft tray I got many months ago. It keeps 90% of all the glitter in the tray, rather find that 10% around the house rather than all of it!

While going through my craft supplies I found a couple of old hand prints I had cut out of Jackson’s a few months ago (I’m guessing I really don’t remember when I cut them out). Since Thanksgiving is the next holiday we will celebrate I figured I might as well turn those hand prints into some turkeys!

 

What you need:

• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Paper towel tube
• Glitter
• Glue 

Step 1:  Make your handprints

Trace your child’s hand and cut it out on the construction paper. Sorry I don’t have pictures of this step since it was already done. 

Step 2:  Glue

Place glue all over the hand prints, one at a time since it tends to dry fast in a thin layer.  We used clear school glue. 

Step 3:  GLITTER!!!! 

You can decorate any time you want, but we used glitter. Gold, copper, silver, blue, green, and purple is what we used.

 

 

Step 4:  DRY

Allow your turkeys to dry other wise the fingers will bend.

Step 5: Cut your tube

Cut your card board tube from 1 1/2 inch – 3 inches. Depending on how many turkeys you are doing.

 

Step 6: Glue the Turkeys! 

Glue your turkeys on to your tubes. The bottom should stand to the bottom of the tube so that it is standing straight.

 

 

We added some  sequins as eyes. Over all I think they came out pretty cute and Jackson really enjoyed playing with glitter.  These would be great for Thanksgiving as place card holders or decorations.

 

Have fun making yours and send pictures if you want!

Thrifty Halloween Decorations

It’s a few days away from Halloween! This is one of my favorite holidays!  While I would love to decorate the outside of my house like all my neighbors, we just don’t have the money for that. Plus I like decorations very inexpensive! OR FREE!

This week we have made outdoor lanterns for the sidewalk and we have made spooky silhouettes for Jackson’s windows.  Both were made with items from around the house!

We will start with the silhouettes. Sorry I didn’t take pictures of the process since it was super simple. All we did was use Contact Paper. Yup that is it!  I heard you can even use Press N Seal paper too. For us all we had to do was draw on the back side of the contact paper our spooky shapes and cut it out!  We made ghost, pumpkins and bats.  Once you cut it out gently peel the backing off and stick it to your windows! That is it. How super simple!  At night just have a light shining through the back of the curtains so people from the street can see your spookiness!

Spooky Outdoor Lanterns

Yes another easy and (cheap) project. I collect everything, jars mostly, but my craft room is full of random stuff. Thankfully I had several jars for this project.

What you need:

•     Empty clean jar
•     Tissue paper ( green, orange, white) We actually used orange crepe paper (streamers) for the pumpkin. 
•     Mod Podge
•     Scissors, paint brush
•     Black construction paper
•     Black duct tape

You might want a paper plate or something to rest your jar on while you work. 

Take you a section of tissue paper ( like a quarter of a sheet) and cut it in to strips. You will be placing them vertical on the jar, make sure they are long enough.

Take your jar and start brushing on the Mod Podge.

Once you get your jar covered ( or you can work in sections)  start laying your strips of tissue paper. After each strip laid coat a layer of mod podge on top and repeat until the how jar is covered.

Once your Jar is covered with Mod Podge  draw a face on your black construction paper and cut it out.  Finally Mod Podge it on your jar as well.

Next take your black duct tape and tape around the mouth of the jar.

 

Just let dry and your are all done. Drop a tea light or a battery operated tea light inside and let it light you walkway!

Where do I live?

As our children get older the more questions they have. A big one they might as is “Where do I live?”.  Jackson has recently become obsessed with space. As parents, his father and I are super proud. But it started me thinking he knows earth, he knows how to give me directions to Target or Publix, but does he really know where he lives? So I set out through Pinterest to see if there was somehow to give him a correlation between Earth and where we live. And thanks to Teach Mama, she did just that. Breaking down the sections to make it easy on kids.  You start at our house, to your street, city, state, country, continent, and planet.  She even gives you a downloadable file that has the different sized circles to make it easy.

What you need:

•  Downloadable file from Teach Momma
• Construction Paper (This is what we printed our planets off on, trimmed to size)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Whole Punch and something to hold everything together. (We used a D-ring that I was able to slide the pieces of paper in individually and then super glued it shut)

Step 1:

Print your circles out

Step 2:

Collect your print outs for each location

Step 3:

Color and decorate

Step 4:

Glue

Step 5:

Whole punch and connect.

Now that we have finished with this location, I think we will have to do one with all the planets.

Resources where we got our maps:

Street and City maps- Google Maps

Continent- www.yourchildlearns.com

Planet – Google Images

State and Country – www.50states.com

Let’s Make Memories

Baby clothes, if you have had a child before then you know how clothes just seem to magically add up.  However, they don’t wear them for very long, but you still have your favorite outfits! Photo shoots, birthdays, hitting milestones, you have those outfits that you remember everything that happens in them. What happens with the child out grows them? Well if you don’t give them away, you might save them for if you have another child, or save them to give to your child for when they have children of their own. Well I saved several pieces from newborn to 24 months and I didn’t want to keep them in a box anymore. I had some pieces I had to keep ( like his frog suit) in one piece, I just could not cut up. Some of his others I was painful to cut up but I did it. I MADE A QUILT OUT OF HIS BABY CLOTHES! This was my 1st real quilt.

My husband has a quilt that his mamaw made for him when he was little. Well that quilt is sitting right next to me. We use this thing constantly. I wanted Jackson to have something that he could take with him and have for always. Now my husbands quilt is probably a queen size, I wanted Jackson’s to be large just not that large. I was hoping for a twin size. It turned out to be in between a twin and a toddler size. Which is ok because Jack and I can both curl up with it on the couch.

 

Supplies:

• At least 50 articles of clothing ( remember the smaller the size of clothes the smaller the quilt it will be)
• Fabric for your backing
• Fabric for your border
• Embroidery Thread or Yarn
• Batting
• Iron
• Heavy Duty Starch or Interfacing
• Rotary cutter and mat
• Cardboard or plastic forms (I did 2 plastic forms, 5×5 and 6×2)

I am not putting how much fabric you need for your front and back because it really all depends on the size of your quilt.  This is what I went with for colors though.

Make sure all of your clothes are washed before you start.

Step 1:

Take a mental picture of your clothes and what size forms you have to cut them with. My newborn clothes I had use the 6×2 form on most of them just because they were so small.  It is easier when you cut just to lay the clothing on the mat and cut 2 pieces instead of one, just incase you need a few scraps for a fill in.

 

Step 2:

Stat laying out all of your scraps. You can kind of get an estimate on how big the quilt will be or if you need more clothes.

I had some clothes that had badges or little feet on them that I cut off and would sew on top to get it some dimension.

Step 3:

Now that you have everything where you want them, you need add your starch and iron your fabric. Then go back to your rotary cutter and make sure there aren’t any odd edges and everything matches up.

Step 4:

Start sewing one row at a time. 1/4 inseam at best. Do all your rows just like this. Then once each row is sewing you can start sewing the rows together.

 

 

 

 

Step 5:

I needed to work with a border on mine just to get it additional size.

 

Step 6:

Cut your back fabric to fit to size.

 

Step 7:

    Lay your interfacing between your clothes and backing and pin so that it doesn’t move while sewing on your border.

 

Step 7:

Slip on your border. I started by sewing the sides and then the top and bottom.

 

 

Step 8:

Start using your thread or yarn and tying your batting to your top and bottom fabric.  I did ties every 5 inches across and every 2 inches down in a staggering pattern.

 

You are done.

I love how this quilt turned out. Jackson even cuddled up with it the 1st time. He knows it is his quilt. It is very japanese, but since that is where we lived the 1st year of his life I love it!

 

 

Go Away Monster Spray!

We are at the stage of monsters. Monsters under Jackson’s bed (even though there are drawers under his bed) and in his closet (again no closet doors) are starting to go wild in an active 3 yr olds imagination. It doesn’t help when he loves Monsters Inc. We used Febreeze last night to spray the monsters last night but that was a little too strong. So we had to come up with something else…

What to do: Have a spray bottle and some essential oil (we added peppermint) and fill with water. Decorate the bottle and have your child lightly spray their room for monster’s every night.

 

 

 

 

*** Update – We have been spraying his room for a few weeks now when he goes to bed and he always tells me ” No more monsters in here!”. That is exactly what I like to hear.  I like to know that he isn’t so scared anymore, it makes mommy and daddy’s job a lot easier at night. ***