This Side of Sunny

Happy Valentine's Day 2013

We've been busy (obviously since I haven't posted about 2 months, not to mention the purchase of a new computer!).

Recently though, we were busy making Valentines for the boys' classmates and Amelia for her friend at daycare. Last year and this year, I let them pick something they wanted to do from ones I've pinned on Pinterest. After I realized they both picked ones that had me doing most of the work, I think we agreed to do store bought next year. They did turn out super cute though...

From Pinterest inspiration...

Source: familyfun.go.com

Rockets for Carter and his special shuttle he wanted me to make. Some chalk and glue guns- I think ours turned out even better.

 

Then here's what Coleman wanted to make...

Source: Chez Beeper Bebe blog- she even has printables ready for download!

His turned out pretty easy and I learned how to tie a slip knot!

Then he wanted to create a dragon box to keep his Valentines in... that was mostly him and me with the hot glue.

The dragon has wings, feet and even a tail.

All the kids made one of these for their teachers...

Source: Spoonful (used to be Family Fun)

Here is Amelia's for Linda at daycare...

May you feel the love from those around you here and from those who have grown angel wings. There is a saying, "Danger is my middle name"- well love is our last name, and we give it to you today.

 

 

last minute gift idea

I was inspired by a family member who made this cute and simple ribbon shirt for her little girl, which I thought would look adorable on Amelia.

Materials:

• Plain shirt
• Ribbon, varying widths
• Button for the top of the tree (sew this down)
• Scissors
• Fabric glue, I used Aleene's

How to:

1. Put a piece of cardboard in the shirt so the glue doesn't stick the shirt together.
2. Cut ribbon varying lengths, creating a triangle shape.
3. Glue down carefully- this glue stays on your fingers!
4. Let dry overnight, it says 48 hours until wear but who ever does last minute gifts with that much time?
5. Put on munchkin and enjoy!

Here's Justis' onesie (her cousin):

Amelia's turtleneck:

The girls wearing their creations:

Time to create

With the flurry of cleaning, laminating, 3-hole punching, reading, lunch packing that I've been doing for work, I felt the need to create something with the kids. I even braved the paints, alone, with two, make that three kids.

Something small, but something cute. Birthday cards cards made, a little late, but I think the cuteness might just make up for it. I had the boys keep busy completely filling up a paper with paint which later I cut to become the vases. This gave me time to have them do the handprints.

In fact, we made two more so Jake and I could have one to hang up at work. A toddler, a preschooler, and a 1st grader, oh my!

 

Mama's Day or Teacher Appreciation Gift!

I saw this in a magazine and thought, I could make that!

{photo taken from samflexsouth.com}

Well, let me tell you, that thought usually sends me down a rabbit hole to where I should have just ordered the vase online to begin with. Ever been there?

I thought these would be great for Teacher Appreciation Week at Coleman's school. It's cute, practical and inexpensive (or so I thought!).

Materials:

• Choose your wood size: 2X6 wood plank, cut into 6 inch sections or 4X4 cut into 5 inch sections
• Sandpaper, in various grits
• Chalkboard spraypaint (green or black)
• Wood drill bits
• Chalk

Steps:

1. Sand smooth wood pieces, this is where the labor of love comes into play. Little helpers come in handy for this step.

He didn't want to wear the mask like his brother (not like they were sanding up a lot of dust anyway). See the leftover plank in the background? Makes for a great car ramp the boys tell me.

Mama did a majority of the sanding. I got the pieces smooth and ready for spray paint.

2. Spray paint boards- I did this wearing a mask and outside on the grass. The grass has black paint on it but it will get mowed off later this week.

This is how they look after- I only spraypainted the sides of the skinny boards and went for all four sides of the square one.

As you can see, even with all that sanding, the wood is still not perfectly smooth. That only adds to the character of the piece right? I am going to sand off the overspray on the sides of the skinny boards.

3. Drill the holes.

Jake drilled a hole for me for the flowers with 3/8" bit. For the chalk holes and the skinny board, I drilled the holes with a 1/2" bit (who knew drilling was so fun?).

4. Fill the holes with flowers and chalk.

5. Write a cute message/drawing. Had to take the picture in my bathroom because the nighttime lighting in my house turns all my pictures yellow! I think the "vases" turned out cute, but they only became a "frugal" gift after the first one.

The boys are going to make me one for Mother's Day. Hubby's getting me jewelry! The square one is for Coleman's teacher, he wrote his name and drew a picture of a rainbow. Then he told me what to write for the other side:

Coleman came up with that on his own! I hope he's not the one giving the teacher a whole lot of "hard" work.

 

Valentine's Day delivery

My mom always bought little treats and toys for Valentine's Day. It wasn't about the stuff, I knew my parents loved me because the thought behind it. The message was clear: you are special and you are loved.

I had decorated little gift bags for the boys from previous years but decided with our new addition and our family complete, it would be great to have something that lasts. I saw these cute metal mailboxes from the $1 section at Target. They are perfect because they are not too big- I can put a few candies, a small car and a little note all inside the night before Valentine's Day.

The stickers also came from the $1 section. I put the names on and the boys decorated their own mailbox with truck and heart stickers. 

On Valentine's Day, I pray that my kids get the message... and if they forget, the little flag on the mailbox will tell them.

Stitches of love

Last night I had Jake bring out my sewing machine.  It was TIME!  Time for me to sew and relax, although by the slew of grumbles and the occasional cuss word you wouldn't think I was relaxing (in my defense, the bobbin was giving me a heck of a time but I whipped it right into shape!).

I wanted to make a lovey ribbon blankie for my neighbor, who just had a baby girl (yea for girls on the street!).  Here is my project laid out on my bed, aka worktable.  Notice how I didn't show you the mound of clothes I pushed off the bed so I could do my project.  I mean, first things first, right?

As I was sewing, it occurred to me that I was sewing on my mom's sewing table and using the machine that she had given to me for my 30th birthday (still 30 by the way).  That's the hard thing about losing someone who was not only your mom, but your best friend- no matter how hard you try- she's everywhere and in everything.  So I can be doing something as innocent as sewing a baby gift and suddenly she's there with me.

Only this time, it wasn't of memories of her being sick.  It was her teaching me how to sew.  It was her and I laughing over how ridiculous baby booties are.  It was her picking out fabrics with me and getting things to make cute onesies, celebrating the life that was soon to come.

My mom had been working on some projects for Amelia but was unable to finish them.  While I was home, I was able to use her machine to finish the projects she wanted to give to her first granddaughter.  Sewing on her machine connected me to her and helped begin the healing process. 

And now, I as I sew on my machine, I think of the good memories.  And slowly those will take over the others, one stitch at a time.

Cereal 'sand' painting

We had this sugar cereal that even the kids wouldn't eat.  What to do with it?  Turn into fine 'sand' and use it for crafts!  I got this idea from The Toddler's Busy Book, which you can buy here.  It's a great little book filled with simple ideas to entertain little ones.  However, I used this craft with an eight year old and she had a blast, especially cleaning up by eating it!

Supplies:

1. Colored cereal, crushed by blender, food processor or little hands (if you're brave)

2. Glue sticks

3. Paper

4. Large work surface, washable or vacuumable (I think I just made that up)

This is the fun part- you draw your picture with the glue stick.  You won't see it until you put cereal on it.

 

Ta da!  It was a doll.

I wrote this...

This is a great edible art project, sans gluestick. :)

Here are some tips/ideas:

1.  Dump of the cereal sand into a larger bowl or a large sheet of paper.  It was difficult to shake the cereal sand off into the tiny bowls I had used.  A funnel might be useful as well.

2.  Use this as a way to use up stale cereal or tiny bits of leftover cereal.

3.  Have a gluestick for each kid.  The gluesticks will get used up quite a bit for this project.

4.  Have fun, and remember, there's always the vacuum.

Sensory activities

If you haven't noticed already, I love gooey, messy crafts.  Kids are naturally into these things too.  They can't resist touching something wet or sticky.  This craft is easy and can have many different applications... Oobleck, goop, whatever you want to name it.  It's just lots of cornstarch and a little bit of water.  It looks liquidy (is that even a word?), but is solid when poked.  You can grab a chunk of it in your hand and watch it drip down.  It's awesome stuff.  Or as Jake informs me, it's called Non-Newtonian substance (did I mention he's a science geek?). 

Yesterday's activity started with one cup of cornstarch, food coloring and water added slowly until we got the right consistency.

The mixture was in the bags so they could squish it.  The duct tape at the top kept the seal secure.  But then I got the brilliant idea to add it to their trays and well, you know the rest.

They had a blast, me not so much.  Cleaning, that is.  Of course I loved putting my hands in the mysterious mixture that is solid to the touch but became liquid when squeezed.  Makes for some interesting cleaning... tried to scrape it off the table but it would liquify instead and ooze to another spot. 

I let the kids play with shaving cream today- still messy but actually helps clean the table at the same time.  Now that's working smarter, not harder!

Then again... maybe not.

Probably should just stick to crayons and coloring books. 

Who knew?

Who knew an innocent activity could go from this:

to this...

to this...

 

to this?

I'll have to explain tomorrow because I am TIRED from cleaning my carpet (yes, it's stupidly under our temporary dining table), chairs, walls, kids, clothes, floors, cabinets, etc.  :)

Jeweled Salt Dough

Who doesn't love to make squishy playdough?  This one is made out of kitchen ingredients so if the little people decide to eat the dough instead of their snacks, they'll be okay.  I just printed this recipe off the internet and we were rolling, literally!

Simple to make, this kept the kids ages ranging from 3-9 busy for at least an hour.  They had fun driving cars, making sculptures and sticking jewels in it.  I didn't have any googly eyes, but they would be fun too.  The possibilities are endless!

The kids loved how this playdough felt warm in their hands from the water.  The next dough we'll make is one with Kool-aid mix because I love how yummy the smell is!  Plus no need to add in messy and staining food coloring.  I'll post on that this week sometime.