Make Your Own Water Table

I posted this on my Fireflies and Jellybeans blog , (that is why the water marks on on all the pics) But I thought it would work here too!

I am taking a break from the Love Budget this week because we are having fun playing outside! :)

It is getting HOT here! And that means more time outside playing with water! I would LOVE to have a water table but I do not want to spend the $30-$60 to get one... so I made my own for FREE! I had ALL of this stuff at my house and I bet you do too!

Here is what you will need to make a little water table!

One big storage tote ( This is a sweater tote 41 gallon... but use you what you have!)

Water

Cookie sheet to act as a tray

Various water toys/cups:

Measuring cups

mini-strainer

watering can

foam fish stickers

bath toys

I looked around my kitchen and bathroom for about 5 minutes and found lots of fun things

I placed my big storage tote on two outdoor foot stools (little tables or chairs would work too. Or you could just leave it on the ground!) I filled it up with water and put all the toys in to play. All done! It is all ready to play with!

You can scoop out some fish with the net (mini-strainer)

Or pour water out of the watering can

Or watch your little one have hours of fun with the water!

It was a great summer activity. My son had SOOOOO MUCH fun! He was soaking wet too, so next time I think I will put him in his swim suit!

The other great thing about this water table is that it is easy to store! Just put all of your stuff back and store some stuff in your tote and you are set!

All Done!!!

I finished the felt play house with a week to spare! Hooray!

Have you ever made some thing that you just LOVE? I mean, I am so excited about how this turned out! I had visions of what this would turn out to be and they were not as good as this! Not to toot my own horn (toot toot!) but, I am in love with this play house!

Let me give you a tour:

Welcome to the front door.

Complete with a mail box...

...that opens and already has mail in it!

Let's stroll around to the side, with a tree and apples ready to be picked!

On to the back, where the tree and apples continue and you meet a friend Mr. Blue Bird.

Feel free to pick a basket of apples!

Come on around the the other side and stop to smell the roses!

It is NOT too girly, since one of the roses is blue!

Go ahead and pick a flower, and put it back for hours of fun... or use the flowers as drum sticks like my son likes to do!

Here is a close up of my MITERED edged Window... something a Carpenter would truly appreciate! I am very happy with how the windows turned out... I wish the ones on my house looked this good!

Another look at the apple tree.

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to visit soon!

Of course, I wish that I cute pictures of my Little King playing in his new house... but as soon as I took the camera out, he had a meltdown. But, he does love it and so do I!

Advent Calendar Craft, Cheap and Easy!

I know I already did a post about Advent calendars, but I wanted to share the one I just made this weekend (hey, better late than never, right?). The Advent banner I was using was really hokey and had very tiny pockets. I thought I could make something better...it just took a trip to the local dollar store. This Advent calendar cost me $4 to make:

I found the little boxes in the party favors aisle (in the baby section, no less!). They are mint green with white plastic handles. They came 8 to a package, so those cost $3. I found a bag of "Christmas Table Scatter" with glittery green foam pine trees which made a perfect box decoration ($1), then I added the numbers 1-24 using red and green permanent markers. KID 1 decided an A-B-B pattern would look nice (red-green-green) for the numbers, so that's what we did. I tied the boxes onto a length of wide red and green plaid ribbon using strips of fabric and various ribbons (all of which I scrounged from my craft closet). You could also just hang the boxes on the Christmas tree and let the kids hunt for the box of the day.

I think it turned out pretty nice! Here's the whole picture:

And a close-up:

I'm pretty happy with my dollar store Advent calendar! Now those little boxes are just begging to be filled! Our dollar store had small bags of chocolate coins and wrapped Christmas chocolates that will be perfect treats, and I've already got my list of daily Advent activities written on slips of scrapbook paper to stuff into each box. We're having so much fun with our Advent countdown!

Tri-fold card Tutorial

My friend Jeannine and I have a craft blog that we put FREE tutorials on weekly. It is called Fireflies and Jellybeans. Making crafty things is relaxing for me. I also enjoy the challenge of trying to make a new project! Since I love to craft and I am a teacher at heart, I also like to show people how to make crafty things.

I thought I would show an EASY card that you could make! If you have a peice of 12 X 12 paper you can make 3 at a time so it is also cheap to make!

The Tri-fold Card:

This Tri-fold card is an idea I got from my friend Amy, but she does not have a blog to show off her talents. I love it because not only is it easy to make it also does not need an envelope! I have added my touch to the card and you can add yours! If you need a thank you card in a hurry, this is the perfect card to make!

Materials :
12X12 paper
ribbon
coordinating scrap paper
embellishments (I like paper flowers)
circle punch (optional)
paper cutter (optional)
scoring tool (not pictured) - I use a skewer and a ruler

1.) Cut your paper into 12X4 strips

You should get 3 strips from a 12X 12 paper (great for 3 cards!)

2.) Make scoring marks at 4 inches and 9 inches on the top and bottom of the paper. I make mine pretty light so I can erase them later. If you have a scoring tool you can score at 4 inches and 9 inches.
3.) Line up your ruler on your two marks at 4 inches and use the skewer to score the paper. Do the same thing at 9 inches.

4.) Fold your paper into the middle at the scored lines
The flaps should overlap.

5.) Using the circle punch, punch out a circle in coordinating paper and attach your embellishment to it. Or you could stamp a monogram or picture on it too. Attach the embellished circle to the card hanging off the flap slightly


6.) Cut a piece of ribbon about 13 inches long and tie around the card to keep the flaps together.

Vua-la 3 beautiful cards! They are great to use and give away as gifts, just package three to 6 of them together and it is a great add on to any small gift and it means so much since you made it!


If you liked this tutorial, there are many like it over at Fireflies and Jellybeans!

Slowing Down

Somedays I don't know which way is up. Seriously. I just seem to spend all my time spinning my wheels. I add more to my "To Do" list than I cross off. I juggle a lot of stuff.

Just like every mom I know.

One thing that has really been life changing is to make time just to be with my kids every week.

A couple weeks ago, I took my planning period and went to help with THE Princess's class study on Dr. Seuss. After reading The Foot Book, THE Princess and her classmates rolled up their pant legs and got their feet painted.

Then, they listened to the story being read again, acting out with their feet what they heard.

There was a lot of giggling. Paint went all over the place, but mostly on the paper.

This was a rare moment where THE Princess didn't mind getting dirty (painty, actually). We cleaned up by giving each child pedicures (tubs of warm soapy water to soak their feet in) while they waited to have their feet scrubbed clean.

Last week, we made no-cook play clay. It's easy and fun. THE Princess mixes hers in a zip-top baggie to minimize the gooeyness. KOTJ and I mashed it up with our bare hands. Our recipe makes a great kid-sized amount and the more you mash it, the better it is.

[Play Clay: Mix together 2 tablespoons water, 1 tablespoon oil & as much food coloring as you like in a cup. Mix 6 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons salt in another cup or bowl (or baggie). Dump it all together and smoosh! ]

In another turn of events, KOTJ has discovered our dog's water bowl. He has taken to dumping and playing in the water about once a day. I just keep a towel nearby and let him splash it up!

I'm trying not to sweat the small stuff.

What fun stuff have you been up to lately?

Hands-On Lent for Preschoolers: The Resurrection Cross

This is our son, then age 4, making his resurrection cross last year for Lent. We made a big batch of white playdough, then colored a few balls of dough for decoration. I let him fashion the cross, cut the hearts with a cookie cutter, and recreate the scene as he saw fit.

There is a candle for each week, but it's done in reverse of the Advent wreath, extinguishing a candle for each week leading to Good Friday. I think we lit the whole cross each week, then blew out the appropriate number of candles until Good Friday, when all the candles were extinguished. Jesus died on the cross, and the world was plunged into darkness. On Easter Sunday, all the candles were lit again, representing Christ's resurrection and the Light of the World.

The colorful lumps around the bottom of the cross were the people who shouted mean things to Jesus, according to our son. His four-year-old interpretation of the crucifixion scene brought tears to my eyes. The crown of thorns at the top was his idea, as well as the red (pink) hearts where Jesus' hands were nailed to the cross.

We'll definitely be repeating this tradition this Lenten season. For older kids, perhaps they could give something up for each candle they extinguish, one per week, lending lots of opportunities to talk about Christ's ultimate sacrifice. His love was so great, He gave up His life for us.

How do you learn about or celebrate this religious season with your kids?

Cake Wrecks....Motley Moms Style

Okay, so I don't really think these cakes are cake wrecks. I actually think they are pretty awesome, considering that middle and high school kids made them. I really love seeing stuff like this in real life, it inspires me to be more creative.

Last Friday, I took a 44 of my high school students to the Youth Fair to participate in Working Booths. While they were working away, I walked around and looked at the entries. The following cakes were made my middle and high school students. There were some pretty cute ones...take a look!

This was one of my very favorites, the Ferris Wheel Cake! You could even make the kids on the ferris wheel look like the ones you are serving.

A sunflower cake made with twinkies. Cute!

Probably not the colors I would choose but wow, working with fondant is hard!

This one won a tri-color (judge's choice) and how cute. Again, the fondant is pretty impressive.

Any ideas on what the theme is? Polka Dots? Targets? Circles? Modern Art?

How cute is this Pond cake? How did they ever think of this? It would be great for someone who loves fishing. You have to look closely, these are little moose. I like their hooves! And it was made by a boy and won a tri-color!

This one is just plain hilarious. The Mudding Cake. I think if you live around here you know (or know of) and adult who would like this cake. And, what dirt loving kid wouldn't love it? Heck, I love it. (For the record, I don't mud, either.)

And that just covers a few of the cakes that were entered. They have tons of categories for sewing, canning, crafts, and animals. I could have spent an hour in the rabbit barn, some of those were just too adorable!

A Motley Gift, Indeed

Ladies, I have been so happy to be a part of Motley Moms this year. What great fun it has been. In honor of you, I have decided that you each need handmade slippers to pamper your tootsies. But, since times are tough, I have gone the frugal route and decided that a craft day was in order.

Before you proceed, please note that these are slippers for the discrete woman. They are soft and hygienic. They include non-slip grip strips on the soles with built in deodorant feature to keep feet smelling fresh. As a bonus remember that you will no longer need to bend over to mop up spills. They are disposable, biodegradable, and environmentally safe. They come in 3 convenient sizes: Regular, Light day, and Get Out the Sandbags.































Let me know if we actually need a craft night to create more of these fine slippers. I laughed so hard, I cried. Seriously.