Father's Day Gift Idea #2

I found this idea on the Happy Home Fairy , who commented on a post from Jenuine Impressions.  You should check out Jenuine Impressions, because she has a great pic with all of her four kids!

Anyway, I love it! The hardest part was trying to get a two year old to hold her feet up so you could read the writing! But, in the end, we got a cute photo, paired it with a cute frame and made a wonderful gift for daddio (as the kids call him). Now he can keep at the office and think about us all day long!

Good luck!

Father's Day Gift Idea #1

Father's Day is coming soon so I have decided to dedicate this week to gift ideas for Dad. 

DADDIES DON"T READ MY BLOG FOR THE NEXT WEEK (that means you too Matt and Pop!).

I wanted the kids to make something usable and special for Father's Day, but as I wandered around AC Moore I was at a loss for ideas! Then, I saw some simple glass jars and immediately thought of CANDY!

So, we bought a couple of jars, some Enamel paint, stickers, ribbon and candy and set to work!

Step 1: I let the kiddos paint the jars however they liked and then I set them aside to try (the directions on the paint said to bake them, but i was afraid the glass might break, so I just let them air dry).

Step 2: Once dry, the kids put stickers all over their jars.

Step 3: I wrapped a ribbon around the top and filled with Dad's favorite candy.

It was totally simple and fun to make these jars!

Here are the supplies I used:

I hope your dad enjoys them too!

Outside-Inside Box

The standing rule in my house has been that outside items are left outside. The kiddos can find and carry around all the leafs, twigs, rocks, branches, etc. when they are outside, but when we get home, they are to leave them on the mat outside the front door.

Lately there has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth as AJ has fallen IN LOVE with a certain rock or leaf and it pains him to leave it outside in the 'cold'. :)

So, I came up with the 'outside-inside box'. I went to IKEA last week and bought two small plastic bins with lids (for $1.50 each). I let the kids paint them and decorate them with stickers this week and now they have a place to store all of their beloved outside treasures!

Hopefully, the box will calm AJ's aching heart and the lid will keep any possible buggies attached to the treasures out of my home!

Springtime Caterpillars

To me, caterpillars and egg cartons are synonymous. In fact, whenever I look at an egg carton I see two caterpillars waiting to be created! It was so common to me to make a caterpillar out of an egg carton that it never occurred to me to share our caterpillars with anyone! Then, a friend came over today and said "Oh, how cute! I never thought of that!"

So, today's post is for all those egg eaters out there who are looking for a way to recycle their cartons: Springtime Caterpillars.

We painted the caterpillars one day and then put the decorations on the next. For the back, we glued on sea shells- collected at the beach, and then squeezed more paint on top of them. You could also use sequins, sparkles, stickers or pom poms.

For the antenna, I poked two holes on top and threaded the pipe cleaner through one hole into the next so they wouldn't fall off!

Supplies:
-Egg cartons, cut lengthwise
-Paint
-Pipe cleaners
-Google eyes
-Glue
-Decorations

Still Life

About once a week I pull out an old beach towel, throw down some paper and let the kids paint. Usually it lasts for about 10 minutes, they fill up five sheets of paper, get bored and start painting themselves!

Yesterday, I decided to do things differently.

AJ received an art easel for his first birthday that has been sitting in the back of the closet for three years. I pulled it out and clipped a piece of paper to each side.

Then, I took some old egg cartons, cut them each in half and filled each 'cup' with a different paint color.

Then, put an apple on the counter and asked the kids to paint an apple!

They LOVED it!

I put out Easter eggs, apples, flowers, boxes, everything I could think of that was an easy shape! It was so great! They had SOMETHING to strive for in their painting! It was a blast and worth about 45 minutes of fun!

Yah for still life!

AJ's Apple

Si's Apple

Simply Elaborate Cash Register

I have wanted to make a cash register for the kids for a long time. Around Christmas time,  I saved a couple of boxes to use for this project, but it never happened.

Yesterday, I planned on playing store with the kids so I decided to pull out one of the boxes and use it for the money. I decided NOT to decorate it. After all, they're kids, they can use their imaginations, right? I just wanted a simple box for a simple cash register!

Then I decided that I should AT LEAST put buttons on the register. And, you can't put buttons over a logo, so I decided to cover the top with blank paper to make it look fresh and clean.

For the keys, I cut up a sponge that I bought from the dollar store. (This picture shows the 'big' keys. After the box was complete I ended up pulling all the 'keys' off and cutting them width wise, because they stuck up too much and kept falling off).

Then  I decided that I had to have a screen, so I took another box, cut the lid off of it and slipped it into a slit I made in the first box.

Then I decided that it didn't look like a screen and I needed to make it look metallic... so, I wrapped the screen in aluminium foil.

Then, it was kind of floppy, so I reinforced it with a piece of cardboard and some tape.

There, I was done!

But.... as I was cleaning up the supplies, I noticed that the bottom of the box that I cut up for the screen would fit really well in the big box. So, I cut a rectangle in the big box just large enough for the tray to slide into.

Then I decided that money would flop around a lot in the tray, so I needed partitions (I used the scraps from all the box cutting and a lot of tape).

Then I stopped! (I had no choice, Si woke up).

It really was quite easy! The kids really enjoyed opening the drawer and pushing the buttons!

Supplies:

Two boxes

Sponge

Tape (lots of tape)

Paper (to cover the top of the box)

Glue (to glue the keys down and the paper down)

Aluminum foil

Scissors/knife for cutting

Play money

Leaf People

I live in a condo, so any time that we can get out and get some fresh air, we take advantage of it. We load Si into the wagon and Aj pulls her around the complex looking at ducks and golfers (we live on a golf course).

The other day we went out for a walk and Aj started picking up leaves and handing them to Si and I like they were presents.  We ended up with a stack of leaves to throw back into the grass (because leaves are NOT allowed in my house) when I had a craft idea... leaf people.

I told Aj and Si that they could each pick one leaf to take home to make a special surprise.

When we got home, we rushed to the table where I pulled out glue, goggle eyes, crayons, pipe cleaners and paper. We glued our leaves, drew arms and legs and then glued on the eyes and mouth. Afterwards I cut them out and glued them onto strips of cardboard (I didn't have Popsicle sticks). Voila! Leaf people!

Craft Supplies:
Leaves
Paper
Crayons
Glue
Goggle eyes
Pipe-cleaners
Cardboard strips or Popsicle sticks