Blanket for Grandma

So ya know when you walk into Hobby Lobby needing one item for a project you are trying to finish and wind up getting something to do an entirely different project. That's how it was a couple of weeks ago. I went into pick up something and my daughter found music polar fleece. This wasn't just ANY polar fleece with random music notes no, this at the ALTO clef sign on it. (My mom plays viola, viola plays alto clef, the way she explains it is "ya know the notes in the white space between the treble clef and bass clef...that's what the viola plays, that's alto clef." Because it's such a rare symbol when we find things WITH that symbol we have to get them, only this time it involved an entirely new craft project.

So the girls and I set out to make a no-sew polar fleece blanket for grandma. These are a lot of fun to make and warm too. The girls couldn't resist getting a quick snuggle in under the blanket before wrapping it up for Grandma for Mother's day!

Easter Jelly Beans

Easter is a time to CELEBRATE the resurrection of Jesus! This year with my children at church, I have tried to help them create reminders about the true meaning of Easter. While the eggs and candy are fun, Jesus is the real reason we celebrate! Yet who can avoid all the candy of the holiday? The result is telling the Easter story using the colors of jelly beans.

There are several version of the "Jelly Bean Prayer" floating around out there but our kids have learned the colors of the wordless book and I wanted the jelly beans in our lesson to match closer to that. The result is the poem "Easter Jelly Beans"

Easter Jelly Beans

Orange is for the sun He made,

to give us light and heat.

Green is for the grass He made,

soft beneath our feet.

Black is for the wrong we've done,

filling our hearts with sin.

Red is for His precious blood,

that cleanses us within.

Purple is for the time of sorrow,

He suffered for me and you.

White is for a precious life,

By His grace has been made new

Yellow tells of heaven,

and streets paved with gold.

Pink reminds us of the promise,

of the greatest story ever told.

This little bag of jelly beans,

is not just an Easter treat.

It is a picture of a promise,

of Jesus' work complete!

The kids enjoyed learning about the real meaning of Easter (while getting to much on a few jelly beans) We also wanted to share what we learned with friends and the members of our congregation. So the kids packed individual bags of jelly beans for all the members of the congregation, (tip; Brachs' jelly beans have all of the above colors) we then stapled a copy of our poem. The result was a fun (and tasty way) to share about Jesus this Easter.

Have a very blessed Easter!

Easter Fun!

So what do you get when you mix 16 kids with mud and rocks and sticks?? Well an adorable Easter craft that is a good reminder of the meaning of Easter.

The idea came from a post I saw on facebook. The original was shared as a friend of a friend so I really have no idea where is originated from. It was to make an Easter dish garden.

Supplies are simple. A large dish (we used a saucer from a flower pot), rocks, 2-3 inch flower pot, a large stone, potting soil and grass seed. We made sure to use a good quality potting soil (like miracle grow) and a shade loving grass seed to avoid the whole "lots of sun light" issues some might have with a house plant. For the crosses you will need a few straight twigs, some hemp twine and garden shears.

Start with a layer of smaller stones in the bottom of the dish-this helps with drainage. Then to 1/2 half of the dish add larger stones and the small flower pot on it's side.

Wet down your potting soil till you have the consistency of well MUD. Even though the soil is messier this way it makes it easier to shape. Bury the flower pot in a mound of soil making sure to leave the side open. Put a good layer of grass seed on top of your mound of dirt. Then add your crosses.

To make the crosses, we cut down branches from my yard and then trimmed to side and bound them with hemp twine.

 Put your dish garden in a sunny window and use a spray bottle to water daily. Even after it starts grown continue spritzing. Trim the grass down as it gets to tall.

As you can see it's growing quite well we need to already trim it up cause you can't see the crosses. Simple project and great living reminder of Easter, plus it will make a great centerpiece for our Easter dinner table as well!  Happy Easter!

April Fools

Yup, it's that time of year again, when the kind, good hearted, mommy that I am, turns into a trickster! This year my inspiration came from an American Girl doll. (Well mini food for that American Girl doll :) Since April Fools Day falls on a Sunday I'm kinda limited on time to mess around with food and all so enter in the donuts. Not just any donuts, mini donuts. The idea is to tell the kids "cause we have to get out of the house early I picked up donuts for breakfast and that they can find them on the counter."

Now any trick has to have some background work, you will need:

2-3" x 4 " pieces of cardstock (I used white)
Glue Dots
Score Board (or a way to score the cardstock)
Scissors
15 Cheerios (or similar shaped cereal)
White frosting
Sprinkles
Toothpick if desired





With one piece of cardstock you will score at 1/2 " on all four sides.

The other piece of cardstock  will be scored at 5/8" on all four sides.

Next you will cut to the score line along the shorter score. (Cut on the left side on all four sides-see photo)

Then fold along all of your score lines. Fold the small tabs you created on the inside of the sides of your box. Use a glue dot to secure. Repeat with the other piece. You will notice one box is smaller than the other. You can fit the pieces together now to form your mini doughnut box.





Now onto the doughnuts:

Using the frosting, lightly dip the cheerio into the frosting and then into the sprinkles. If desired you can take a tooth pick and round out the center of the donut, but it isn't necessary.

Repeat with the other cheerios, and then place in your box. Close it up and get ready to have some kids mad at you (especially since they are now expecting donuts!!)






I'll let you know how it goes. I'm not only doing this for my kids, I'm going to bring them in for my kids in Children's Church tomorrow too! (I even have it as part of the object lesson for our Easter Story!) I'll let you know how it goes...or if I have to buy lots and lots of donuts! ;)

April Fools

She's THREE!!!

I so love when I get to make something crafty for someone special and they just LOVE it to pieces!!! My friend's daughter was turning 3 and remembering back my girls loved their play kitchen when they were little but I knew space was premium at my friends house and who really has room for a huge kitchen? Putting on my thinking cap, I wanted something that you could store all the pieces in, yet could be used to play with as well.

It needed to be small enough a child could pick it up with ease, yet large enough to hold food and dishes and such, not to mention have a flat surface for a "stove." Nothing seemed right till when looking at my craft shelf realized a Creative Options Album Tote was perfect.

It was small enough a child could handle it, yet big enough to hold what I wanted. The flat surface of the top would work perfect for a "stove", and the lower height means it could slide under the bed, plus the fact the top was hinged meant it couldn't get lost as well.

But as you see the surface looks nothing like a stove, so I needed to decorate it a bit.

To start I grabbed some vinyl sheets, my Fiskars Ultra Shape Express and a couple of templates. I used pink and black to make the burners and knobs. Black cause it seemed right and pink to match our pink "stove"

I kept things simple, layered circles, for the burners, and stars for knobs. Making sure the surface was clean I stuck things down, using a bone folder to smooth out bubble and wrinkles when necessary.

Then I added a couple of baskets inside to hold the food, they can also be taken out for shopping, or to turn into sink. As my daughter added, you can also lift the lid to be a dishwasher or an oven.

At the birthday party the present was a hit with kids and parents alike, as the birthday girl's dad said "we like presents we can put away" and the birthday girl was so excited to play with it she didn't even want to eat her cake!

My hero

It was a cold and snowy morning when my daughter, my nephew and myself had to get to the school by 7am to set up for a "Drive 2 Survive" teen safe driving expo. For living through our Illinois winters, this year had been surprisingly mild for the most part, but that morning after several days of warm weather we got hit with a snow storm. 10 minutes south of us got a dusting, 10 minutes north of us pretty much the same. Not us, we got frozen rain then snow.

So I'm driving along telling the two student drivers in my van about the need to slow down on roads like this when it was snowy and icy. The speed limit was 55. I was going maybe 30 when all of a sudden I had no control over the vehicle. We fishtailed for awhile then finally found ourselves hitting the ditch and then sliding forward sideways several feet hitting quite hard. Thank the Lord everyone was ok. We had landed with one tire up in the air spanning the ditch.

The first call I made was to our friend Andy, "Hey Andy ya know that big shiny new tow truck you got??? Ya wanna come play in the snow?" The 2nd call was to my husband (to let him know what happened) 3rd call was to my sister in law to have someone come get the kids and their projects and get them to school. After that I sat and waited for Andy to come rescue me.

And rescue me he did. Granted the tow truck got pulled a truck length and a half backwards before it caught and started pulling the van out of the ditch, and things got wobbly to the point I was asking the Lord to send angels to help hold things up and push the van out! Eventually my van was on the road again, but it had to be towed back to the shop there was some minor damage to the front and underside and he wanted to make sure nothing was leaking. I'm so thankful to have friends with tow trucks that let me call them at 5 to 7 in the morning to come rescue me!

When I finally got to the school, the Allstate agent gave me a tiny match box car tow truck to commemorate the events of my morning. I knew I needed to alter it a bit to give to Andy. A quick paint job (with red nail polish) and a few strokes of my label maker Altered the matchbox car to match Andy's truck and then I had to mount it and make a trophy fit for a hero!

Supplies used: "allstate" matchbox car, brother label maker, red nail polish, wood block, yellow and black cardstock (paper adventures) , toy trophy, Glue dots, Xyron X-machine and 510.

P.S. I was informed by Andy's wife that not only did this make his trophy shelf BUT it brought it with him on Sunday to show his son :)

Teacher Gift

David loves his speech therapist and at the end of the school year wanted to give her a gift! We decided to make her a dry erase calendar. These are super easy and people LOVE them.

take a 12 x 12 frame (or LP frame same sized) you need glass in the frame, plastic works but it's harder to clean at the end of the month. Create your calendar page put it into the frame and VOILA' fabulous handmade gift. David was so excited to have made it himself, he picked out the paper, punched the shapes, inked the edges, and helped put the whole thing together!

Supplies used: Patterned paper-Fancy Pants, white cardstock-prism, Ink-Quick Quotes, Prima Flowers, Doodle Bug buttons, embroidery floss, Fiskars -apron lace border punch and Flower Power squeeze punch, tape runner and Glue Dots!

His therapist LOVED it!!!

April fools!

So Angela over on Fiskateers issued a challenge for April fools day. The idea was to create food to fool your family. I had a crazy day but decided to try anyway. After sending the troops outside to play I gathered my supplies. I had to improvise a bit. But still turned out some realistic looking cupcakes. The goal was to make meatloaf and mashed potato cupcakes. I used a Pampered Chef easy accent decorator to make the "frosting" look like those expensive decorated types from the store. After some hesitation the kids really enjoyed their dinner.

Easter Surprises!

Easter is a time to celebrate the resurrection, spring, new life, new birth. It's a joyus time! I'm a gift person I LOVE giving gifts especially handmade ones(for those ones especially are ones from the heart) . I also love teaching my kids church kids about giving, especially gifts from the heart. For Easter we are surprising the congregation with butterflies.

The kids have spent the last several weeks working on the butterflies. First they painted the clothes pins, then they decorated them with glitter glue and gemstones and added google eyes. For the wings they filled ziplock baggies with flower seeds. Finally they assembled them pinching the baggies in the middle to form wings and adding chenille stems for the antennae attaching tags to share what they were about.

The butterflies are special for many reasons; not only have the kids made them but the butterflies help tell the story of Easter two different ways.

First Easter is a time to celebration the resurrection and new life. Just as a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. Jesus will change us into a new creation when we accept him into our life. Second the flower seeds celebrate not only spring, but remind us of how Jesus can help our faith grow more and more beautiful.

They can't wait to give them to their friends and family's next Sunday!

The poem reads:

(author unknown)

A tiny seed

just sits so still.

It hardly looks alive.

But when it's planted,

in the ground,

New colors soon arive

When Jesus lives

inside of you

He takes your

sin away

He helps your faith

in Him to grow

More beautiful

each day!

Gingerbread House!

What is is about kids and candy! Mine are no different they LOVE candy especially when they get to play with it! Today we made a gingerbread house. The kits were on sale at Aldi for$3.99 and came with everything frosting, precut pieces, even some candy to decorate! (We added more.) The only problem was when we were finished they thought they should get to eat the leftovers for LUNCH.

RIP dear Benny

Thank you for all the concern of little Benny. Sadly Benny hopped into another world. Probably due to complications from internal injuries. He was buried under the Orange blossom tree in the back yard. Emily and Mommy said a few words to remember the dearly departed.

Benny though you were with us a short time, you will always be in our hearts and memories.

Big Bite to the Rescue!

So my husband at times wonders WHY I have so many tools (coming from the guy that has a whole garage full makes a gal wonder....) This evening I got to use my wonderful scrappy tools to help save a living creature.

This evening my youngest son came to me telling me my cat Socks was guarding a baby rabbit. Thinking the poor little thing was dead I went to go shoo the cat away. Imagine my surprise to find the little guy sitting there in a panic, and with a broken leg! Not wanting the cat to get it I got some heavy gloves and put the little one in a box then proceeded to look up the information on animal rescue. The little guy (gal) was about the size of a hamster, it's ears were all perky and it's eyes open so it was old enough to almost fend for itself (but not around my cat!)

Knowing in most areas it's illegal to care for wild animals (including rabbits) in your home. I started looking for an animal rescue and rehabilitation specialist. Finding two somewhat in the area I put a call in and then set out to start waiting. (Wouldn't ya know it neither was home.)

When the call finally did come, we found that I was doing things right ( gotta love internet research.) The gal suggested a couple other things he (she??) could eat and then gave me the name of a Vet in the area that will treat him in the morning.

I went in to feed him and the little guy was getting quite agitated. Thus I needed to shut the lid on the box. Since it was attached and I didn't want to have to move the patient anymore than necessary, I was just going to poke holes with a knife but Benny (as the bunny has now been named) was getting quite upset at the process.

Then we remembered the Big Bite...strong enough to punch through the cardboard, long enough reach further in. I knew it would work! So my daughter ran to grab it and I started punching away! It's not pretty but it's functional! YEAH for the BIG BITE!!!!


Tomorrow (if he makes it through the night) I'll be delivering him to a vet in a neighboring town that does wildlife animal rescue. Until then Benny has limped his way into our hearts!

(For more information on the Big Bite click here)

Jumping for J.O.Y.

So I taught children's church this week. We talked about Joy (we are studying the fruit of the spirit) and we talked about finding joy by putting (J)esus first then (O)thers then (Y)ourself. We jumped for joy. To make a J we decided to jump up kicking our feet behind us. For an "O" it was suggested we touch our toes, but that wasn't moving, so we decided to do summersaults. Y was an easy one jumping up with our arms in a Y.

The kids had a blast, and they wanted me to do it too. So I did. That's when I realized that a 37 year old woman shouldn't do summersaults on carpet covered cement.....

(Granted I don't think the kids will forget the lesson!)