Crafty Chi Flowing…

Posted: November 12, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Arts and Crafts, Scrapbooking | Leave a comment
I have a few new loves in my life these days: yarn, a glue gun, felt, and Pinterest. If you haven’t checked out Pinterest **cough, cough MOM** check it out. It’s a crafters paradise with a gabillion ideas and projects (along with kiddo crafts, fashion boards, home decor ideas, and more). I noticed a surge in wreaths posted lately: felt, yarn, burlap. I loved them all. I feel a little, okay, a lot, out of my comfort zone with anything other than paper but I wanted to give it a shot. I ordered some burlap, hit up Joanns for a wreath form, felt, and a glue gun, and started in on my first wreath. First attempt:
I also bought some yarn and attempted wreath two. I absolutely LOVE this one. The different colors, textures. I ended up adding another layer of yarn around the wreath for added thickness and have since made a second to be hung on our front doors:
I have a new found love for felt flowers:
And wreath three. I wanted to make one with fall colors in honor of Thanksgiving. This one is currently hanging on our front door:
Learned a new flower technique for this one:
And lastly, a mini wreath. I have since found a little mason jar to put in front of our thankful owl. The boys and I will write on little strips of paper things we are grateful/thankful for and then read them or scrap them later. Or maybe even write them on a piece of paper and then attach to the frame with the date (roll it up and stick it next to the owl)…I am liking this idea.

Thankful Turkeys

Posted: November 6, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Arts and Crafts, Holidays | 1 Comment
Both boys were home sick all week last week, sick enough to have to miss school but energy enough to challenge my last nerve. In an attempt to keep them busy, indoors, we did a lot of arts and crafts. Project number one: Thankful Turkeys. A fun, multiple step project that took most of the morning. Drying time for the markers and paints worked nicely as snack breaks. Tyson began the project by cutting one inch strips of paper. Good practice for him: he had to slow down, line the paper up to the one, and cut carefully.
Meanwhile, Jake decorated lunch bags with his favorite dabber dot markers. The bags would become the body of the turkey.
Tyson decorating his turkey bag:
Each kiddo also decorated four strips of paper:
I then asked them what they were thankful for, knowing they are still a bit young to completely understand the overall concept.
The end result:
Jake is thankful for: Mommy, Daddy, and Tyson, Grandparents, Umizoomi, and Target.
Tyson is thankful for: Mommy and Daddy, Grandparents, his Transformers, and his toys and trains.

Big Boy CAR Room Art

Posted: November 6, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Arts and Crafts, Jake | 1 Comment
I made shadow boxes for the nursery before Tyson was born, they were easily transferable to Jake’s room when he was born. Now that there are two official big boys in the house, it was time to take down the sport’s themed nursery decor and put together two real big boy rooms. Step one: re-do the shadow boxes. Box one was super fun, Jake picked out some of his favorite cars. Now to decided what to do with box two…

Halloween

Posted: November 3, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Holidays, Jake, Tyson | Leave a comment
Batman and Optimus Prime

Christmas Advent Calendar

Posted: October 31, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Holidays, Scrapbooking | Leave a comment
I have been wanting to make an advent calendar for a long time but couldn’t decide on the overall format: fleece, paper, pockets, booklet…then I came across a set of magnet boards. And the Echo Park Times and Seasons collection. Inspiration struck.
A magnetic, interchangeable advent calendar:
We’ll count down the days to Christmas with numbered cards that can be put up each day. The two flower magnets can be rearranged according to where the number was placed:
The actual magnet board without any of the goods:
Two magnet flowers:
The goodies: number cards, magnet flowers, and embellishment cards:

The paper made this project. I loved the colors and patterns and non-traditional red and green.

Summer Bucket List 2011: Update

Posted: August 30, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Goals | Leave a comment

Not bad…having a defined set of goals really helped. A few of these will simply move over to a Fall Goals/Bucket List and a few will likely remain something to really shoot for in the future.

  1. Lawrence Hall of Science Dino Exhibit
  2. Take the boys to their first pro baseball game
  3. State Fair
  4. Lake of the Pines
  5. Sing in the car with the windows down
  6. Scandia
  7. Monterey Bay Aquarium
  8. Boys renamed this one: Adventure Day
  9. Purge and organize playroom
  10. Make a “Summer Bucket List” Scrapbook In the works
  11. Kid free weekend
  12. Scrap night
  13. Host a *Book Club* meeting Date set
  14. Get family caught up on dentist and doctor’s appointments
  15. Laugh til we cry
  16. Fix up backyard
  17. Bake a cheesecake from scratch
  18. Host play date
  19. Run through the sprinklers
  20. Join the lady friends for a first wine tasting outing Date set

Mud Dough

Posted: August 1, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Arts and Crafts, Fun Activity | Leave a comment
The boys love the idea of playing in the mud, but not so much the reality of it sticking to their hands. And clothes. And shoes. I found a recipe for mud dough and whipped it up for the boys. Super easy. They LOVED it:
Tyson immediately ran and grabbed a few of his construction trucks:
Jake grabbed his:
And they played and played and played….the best thing about this homemade dough, the more you play with it the better it gets.

Art Supply Caddy

Posted: July 20, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Arts and Crafts, Goals | 2 Comments
One of my goals this summer is to organize and de-clutter our house. The husband and I conquered the garage yesterday: donate, sell, trash piles abound. I conquered our kitchen this morning, which namely consisted of cleaning off our counters and organizing the boys’ art supplies. Thanks to Pinterest, I have wanted to make them art caddies for weeks now, but most of the art caddies pictured on Pinterest are for the older-won’t-draw-on-walls-or-furniture crowd. I took advantage of the Back-to-School sales and made my own preschooler friendly versions for the boys:
Ty’s art caddy:
Jake’s:
$3 shower caddy + $1 cups. I figure we can use the cup itself when water coloring. Sticks for glue projects, colored pencils and brushes. Crayons in pencil case.
I have had my eye on a set of four art trays at Lakeshore. They are substantially more than the $1 serving tray that serves the same purpose: easy clean surface, confined area for art supplies so that the crayons don’t roll off, and if dry time is needed for a project, I can simply keep it on the tray and find a place for it on the counter.
Best of all: both sets fit nicely, and out of the way, on top of the fridge.

Summer 2011 Bucket List

Posted: July 15, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Goals | Leave a comment
  1. Lawrence Hall of Science Dino Exhibit
  2. Take the boys to their first pro baseball game
  3. State Fair
  4. Lake of the Pines
  5. Sing in the car with the windows down
  6. Scandia
  7. Monterey Bay Aquarium
  8. Boys renamed this one: Adventure Day
  9. Purge and organize playroom
  10. Make a “Summer Bucket List” Scrapbook
  11. Kid free weekend
  12. Scrap night
  13. Host a *Book Club* meeting
  14. Get family caught up on dentist and doctor’s appointments
  15. Laugh til we cry
  16. Fix up backyard
  17. Bake a cheesecake from scratch
  18. Host play date
  19. Run through the sprinklers
  20. Join the lady friends for a first wine tasting outing

Father’s Day Present

Posted: June 16, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Scrapbooking | Leave a comment
In my head, this was going to be a quick, easy project. Snap a few photos. Print them out. Find a frame. Scrap the sentiment. Voila, done. Heh. Photo shoots with a two year old and four year old are anything but easy these days. It went a little something like this:
“Ty and Jake, do you want to help Mommy make something for Daddy? Father’s Day is coming up soon.”
NO. Want to play with cars.
“Do you guys want to just take a couple of quick pictures?”
NO. Want to play with cars.
“If you take pictures, we’ll go outside and play with the water.”
NO. Want to play with cars.
“If you take pictures, you can have some M&Ms.”
Ty is game. Shocking, I know. We head to the bathroom (for some reason I get the best pictures in there). And it then goes a little something like this:
“Okay Ty, I need you to hold this and smile.”
Promptly puts fingers over writing.
“You need to move your fingers so I can see what it says.”
Turns it around so HE can see what it says.
“No turn it this way.”
Turns it towards me, upside down.
Why am I doing this…
I fix it. He promptly puts it over his face.
“Ty, I need to SEE you.”
Pulls it down. Crazy face.
“Nice face, please.”
Nearly TWENTY minutes later, we have some contenders:
I asked each boy what his favorite thing to do with Daddy was and then wrote it on a chalkboard sticker:
Ty gets his M&Ms and it’s off to tackle Jake.
“Jake, do you want to take some pictures. You can have some M&Ms afterwards.”
He wants the M&Ms. Does NOT want to take pictures.
I beg. Plead. Bribe. He’s not interested.
Finally at bath, I give it another shot. Water and chalk don’t mix.
This is the best shot I have of Jake. I gave up trying after this one:

After the torturous photo session, the final product came out better than I had hoped.
Father’s Day Present:

Tried something new with the ribbon. Love the texture it adds:
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