Sunday, May 29, 2011

A sappy gift

This is a gift full of elite inside jokes, so don't feel bad of you don't "get it" on a deeper, hilarious level.

But I thought the ideas could work for other people with outstanding senses of humor.


The awesomeness of the mustache pen was accomplished with hot glue, a little bit of felt and clippings of yarn.

The best suggestion box evah is made following this origami post it note boxes tutorial, cutting a teensy slit in the top, and by adding a little strip of self stick magnet on the back.








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sew many ways

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Sunday, May 22, 2011

Spray Bottle Savvy


Spray bottles are better than squirt guns for water fights. Just sayin'.

They are also fun to paint with. A little liquid watercolor added to plain old water goes a long way.

PS-this is totally about the process, the paper turned out totally warped and unappealing, but they sure were fun to make.

Mother's Day Garden Pictures

These are what we made at preschool for Mother's Day.




I love them because they are beautiful, personalized, and hit a slew of developmental skills such as dictation (when you write down your child's words to show the connection of meaning and print while showcasing how important their words are), showing appreciation, fine motor (tracing, cutting, using a dropper, gluing), and vocabulary (object and color naming, parts of a flower).

The dictations were so sweet. Here are a few of my personal favorites:

* She gives me a kiss.
* She feeds me.
* My mom gives me Spongebob, and pizza, and cake, and board games, and soda, and bubbles! Yeah! Lots of stuff!
* My mom is going to take me to...{dramatic pause} the bouncy house!
* Builds me cookies.

The stem is made by tracing the child's hand and forearm.
The petals are made by folded up coffee filters which were painted with liquid watercolors with droppers.
The children can add details such as leaves and grass by tearing or cutting scraps of paper.
Die cuts of various garden bugs and flowers were available for added embellishments and as backgrounds for the dictations about what we love about our mothers.

Story Stones

The eggs for our more traditional hunt were each filled with a hand drawn story stone. To make the pictures I used fine tip Sharpie markers. I look forward to adding to our collection over time. I already see a need for a ninja and cyclops to join the crew.


At first, CB thought the stones told one set story. She recovered quickly and was soon off and running in telling her own tale which involved the rain putting out the dragon's fire. BBD joined in with a story about a train running into a mountain.

Check out Valerie's post for her inspiring take on story stones.

Scavenger Treasure Hunt


I made a treasure map, ripped it into sections, and put each section in an egg. Each clue led to the next, with the last stop being their baskets.

I also made a duplicate map on regular paper and used color coded stickers to help me hide them in the correct order.


Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Bobbypin Vases


For the Grandmothers for Mother's Day I made bobby pin vases.

I love how simple and versatile they are. And that I can upcycle some jars.

The grandchildren provided the initial artwork. But were not so cooperative for the photo op.


I found the idea and tutorial over at Skip to my Lou.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Dry legos are over rated

"I am giving them water cause they are thirsty.
I don't want them to dry out."


"I am giving the flowers bumble bee juice. {whisper of explanation} The flowers call the water honey."

I make my boy proud. "My mom turned on the water." And that feels mighty good.




Come play...


play academy