A New Springtime

Time for Tots

It can be a challenge sometimes to keep toddlers busy while homeschooling the other childern. They normally want to be included in some kind of "school work" of their own so it is important to keep things on hand for them to learn and play with. Some things we have been doing lately  are:

Fort building - a simple card table with a sheet or blanket draped over it is usually good for at least a 2hr. play period maybe even longer depending on what they put in their new found home.

 Play silks -  Great for the imagination. Here they have been turned into a hammock for a doll.

 

 Even the older kids enjoy the play silks, I've had to remind them to let the lil' ones get a turn.

Workbooks and DVDs- Simple age appropriate activity books and videos based on books that have been read to the tots are awesome. I found the " Very Hungry Caterpillar" dvd at Target a couple of days ago for $5, it has 5 different Eric carle books animated on it. I have also found various "Angelina Ballerina", VHS at the Goodwill for $1.

Puppets- Making them out of paper and mount them on tongue depressors to have your own puppet show. We are really into this guy, The Lorax, since we went to see the movie a couple of weeks ago.

Counting and ABC Games- Homemade games are great for toddlers. A pack of small sized poster boards can be turned into fun learning games. This one is for number recognition and counting. We will use paper seeds and place them on each tree according to the number on each one.

"The Lorax Doodle Book" was a great grocery store find ( Big Y for locals). It had stickers in it which I used for the poster and plaenty of other activities for the kids to do.

 

It is never to early for little ones to start learning, they pick up on things especially when they are observing their siblings doing them. Malcolm, who is one, is always stimulated by watching Elle, age three, do her thing.

Happy tots make for a happy mom and a happy home!

Capturing A Moment

I just adore capturing moments like this...

 
It was such a darling surprise, I had put him down in the living room in his car seat to get a breather, and the next thing I knew he was sound asleep.

 

 During my pregnancy it was very difficult to motivate myself to do any extra handcrafts with the kiddos. The creativity was all put into the growing baby. Lately, I have been able to do a bit more artsy fartsy projects so I decided to work on making alphabet rocks with the girls.

 

 
So far we have made it up to the letter 'j' and added a couple of lady bugs.

 
We have also read and studied the art in Lon Po Po, a Chinese version of "Little Red Riding Hood"   drawings by Ed Young.

 
These are the drawings the kids did, imitating the illustrator's style.

 
Eliana has been giving art a shot, too. Of course she is much better at drama!

 
Here she is copying her baby brother, it's a play called, " I Want to be the Baby Again".

 
Do you see the resemblance?

 
For this drama called, " I Want to be the Muti-Tasking Mama", she deserves an Academy award!!

 
I think the cat has got the right idea. Forget the crafts, forget the multi-tasking and forget the drama; just stretch out and take a nap. If I could only be so lucky.

 

As the day winds down, I sit and look at my road side find, a simple black and white table.  It excites me because  I can set up my sewing area once again. Summer is coming and school will be out. In the extra time I would like to hear the whirl and rhythm of my sewing machine. I want to make some unique clothes for the babe and the other kiddos.

When life  becomes busy, hectic and  sometimes even chaotic I try to remember there are always some good moments to capture in between!

 

 

 

Something I Like To Do

Today, I actually squeezed in a bit ofcrafty painting. I had gotten a gift certificate to A.C. Moore for Mother's Day from teenager so I went there yesterday and picked up some bottles of paints. I wanted to bring some summer into the house so here is what we did. I say we because the girls couldn't resist a good craft moment.

 
We used the items to prettify the living room shelf. The girls painted the watering can and the wheel barrow that are hanging from the hooks. All of the items we had already but painting them gave them a whole new look and added a bit of freshness to our home.

 
I had this wooden box that I had been wanting to paint for a long time and here is how it came out.

 

 

I have been trying to incorporate more photos into the home decor and I just love it.

 
There is still some workto do on top of this hutch but we painted a couple of things and put them up until we can finish. Some flowers in the box will be nice to top it off.

 

 

This old scale is one of my favorite decorations; it was left in our home by the previous owners.

 
Abigail painted this rooster off -white, it was a rust color and didn't show up well against the mauve.  It felt good to do a couple of craft projects and make some old things new again and it was a great time spent with the girls. I hope you find some time to do something you like to do!

 

Enjoying the Moments

 Yesterday, we had a wonderful day. Hannah's Godmother came over to visit us and see Baby Malcolm. She brought some of her wonderful children one who is eleven and has Down Syndrome. She is a doll and she recited a poem to me that she had memorized. It was so good for me to see her. It gives me so much hope for my precious lil' tiger.

 

DH came home with  this adorable outfit. It is a gift from a friend he works he works with. We have been blessed with so many presents, prayers and support for Malcolm.

 

We are all enjoying taking turns holding him. We just can't get enough! I am truly learning to live in and enjoy each moment. Trying to give all my worries and expectations to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

 
Hannah was given some beads from her Godmother to make a pair of rosaries and that is what she did today. Abbey has been working on brushing her own hair and she has been doing quite well.
 
Eliana has been such a good sport and occupies herself by imitating big sister.

 
 Taking the time out just  to sit and relax can be so challenging but I think it is a much needed activity these days for our family. Lent is almost ended and these last few days are a good time for us to reflect on how much we have been blessed. A time to open our hearts and minds to God's love and mercy.

I am so thankful for my Catholic faith and all it has taught me and I know I have so much more to learn. I want to wish everyone a Holy Thursday and a Good Friday and may God's love be yours on these solemn days before Easter. Just as we see in the Crucifixion may God take all that may seem like a suffering and turn it into something beautiful. Enjoy every moment and know God is with us.

Vintage Pillowcase Aprons and Cupcake kit

 I have been wanting to make the girls aprons for awhile now but have never got around to doing it. I finally had a window of opportunity yesterday so I bucked down, got out the sewing machine and began. I started with this:

 
 A vintage pillowcase from GW that was $0.50. It is such a happy print and lends itself perfectly to becoming a little girl's fun apron for baking goodies.

 
  I cut off the cuff that was around the opening and added a small strip of fabric to mak the pockets a bit bigger. Next, I sewed three lines to make four pockets on the bottom.

 
 Each side had to be tuned in and sewn and then the ribbon was added for the tie backs and the neck. I added a piece of ribbon across the top to finish them off.

 
 To make the cupcake kit I found these cute mixing bowls at the dollar store, filled them with:

• paper cupcake cups $.079
• white frosting $0.99
• yellow cake mix $0.99
• colorful sprinkles( free from mom)
• the apron $0.50 for two (plus some elbow grease)
• set of 3 rubber spatulas $1.00
• wooden spoon 3 for $1.00
• mixing bowl $1.00

These two kits for were made for about a total of $15.00, these would make a great girly birthday present, too.

 Everything was placed in the bowl and wrapped with this snowflake cellophane (2 for $1.00). I hope the girls like them and ask to make more treats.

 

 Here is one of my lil' cupcakes. I think I better try to make her an apron, too. She will probably want to get in on the baking action. Well,off to the sewing machine I go.

 

Herbal Hot or Cold Pack

 A couple of years ago, I received an herbal hot pack from a friend of mine for Christmas. Over time it became one of my favorite things. Whenever I wasn't feeling well I would use it to soothe my woes. Since I had quite a bit of rice left over from making the bean bags, I decided to use it to make some of the herbal packs as gifts.

 You will need some herbs that are known to help relax. I used:

• Peppermint $2.10 oz.
• Lavender Flowers $3.00 oz.
• Chamomile $2.50 oz.

Total cost was $9.50.

This gives you quite a bit of herbs a bit more than 1/2 of the long ziplocks at the store. For the mixture I used:

• 3 to 4 cups of rice
• 1 Tbsp. Peppermint
• 1 Tbsp. Chamomile
• 2 Tbsp. Lavender

 
 The mix will look like this after it is stirred and it smells heavenly.

Cut some rectangles approx. 5" wide X 8  1/2" long. Leave an opening at the end. Fill with mixture, fold in raw edges and sew closed.

 
 You can use cotton fabric in all sorts of prints. These three are for the boys. They are great to use for aching sore muscles or sports injuries. They can be put in the fridge. I would recommend keeping it in a zip-lock so it won't get wet or pick up any other fridge smells.

 

 Here are two other ones, the floral is for a friend and the happy kite one is for Abba-Do.

 
 Hannah is going to get this pretty floral stripped one and baby Eliana gets the smaller one. I decided to make each kiddo one because they always want to use mine. They like to snuggle up with them, under a blanket or put then in the bottom of the bed under their covers.

 There are so many uses for these herbal packs. If you want to use it hot just microwave for about 1 minute, 30 seconds. It stays hot for about 40 minutes or so.

 

 
 I used mine last night and it has a special place on my nightstand for quick access. These make great quick, inexpensive useful, gifts.

 

 

 

 

A Chipboard Scrapbook Christmas Gift

 Grandparents always like to receive photos of their grandkids as presents. My mom treasures any pictures we give to her and DH's parents seem to feel the same way. I made a  mini chipboard photo album for my mom for Christmas using beachy photos from our summer vacation.

 
 The chipboard is basically thick cardboard and each page should be covered with scrapbook paper or painted. I did both in this one. It can also be embelished with stickers, stamps, shells, etc. depending upon the theme. I picked this one up at Target for $0.99.

 
 The page on the left is painted with acrylic craft paint and the right side is covered with the scrapbook paper.

 
 It is always a lot of fun to work on projects like this. It brings back to mind family fun times.

 
 Taking a stamp pad and gently touching the edges with it gives some dimension and character to the pages. I saw that on a "You Tube" video on how to make these. There are some really detailed ones out there. This one is quite simple.

 
 This is the last page and it is my favorite. The hat and the crocs are stickers and the words are stamped. I also put some tini fish tank gravel that looks like sand on the bottom and a real shell. I hope mom likes it and reminds her of all the good times we've had together!

 

 

Bean Bag Brigade

 I haven't really volunteered over the years to help out with fund raising or anything else for that matter when it comes to the kids sports. Getting them to the practices and games was about all I could handle.  Recently, at one of the games, I was talking to another mom and I got the job of sewing 100 bean bags for a bean bag toss which will help our team to raise some money.

 

The bean bags will be sold for $1 each and tossed into the middle of the gym at half time. Whoever comes the closest to the middle will get half of the cash from the sale. My mother, thank Heaven, helped me with the task. We had a great time cutting, numbering, sewing and chatting. It took us about three times getting together to complete the job but we got it done.

 
 I enjoy doing projects with my mom, we are like best friends but lately with her running the Pregnancy Care Center, Bethlehem House and me trying to manage a family and home we don't get to do as much as we would like too.

 
 It was bitter sweet when we finished but I'm sure we will have another mission sooner than we think. For now, we can retire our title as the Bean Bag Brigade and get ready for Thanksgiving.

 

If I Had A Hammer

Today was the day we finally got around to doing a bit of hands on work.  The boys pulled out the hammer and nails and got busy on this string art project.

 We haven't been doing many artsy things and sometimes it is hard to find ones that are boyish. They were thrilled when they got to saw, hammer and make their string designs.

 
 They really need to do this kind of work instead of sitting and doing workbook page after page. That is what we have been doing for most of my first trimester since that is about all I could handle. I am so glad to be beyond that now.

 
 Raphael was thrilled and at his ripe old age of 12, this is right up his alley. He has been getting into daddy's tools lately trying to come up with something to do with them.

 
Max's was so proud of his masterpiece, he showed dad as soon as he got home.

 
 I displayed them on the school shelf so I can see them while we are doing our work, hopefully it will inspire me to find some more hammer and nail projects.

Handmade Seashell Jewelry not Sold by the Seashore

 Vacations can be a bit costly so to save a few bucks while on your trip here is something you may want to try. Make your own souvenirs.

 

 I always love to browse in those quaint lil' shops but  I don't really have the budget for the prices they charge so instead I try to find things to buy before we leave thrift or new at a fraction of the cost and bring them along.

    
  ( a shop owner liked these, maybe I should of sold them to her lol)

 You can hide them in your bag so the kiddos don't know that they didn't come from the gift shop or boutique. Then when you get to the hotel pull them out before browsing or after and it's a win win situation.

       
  Since we were going to the beach and it was just the girls, I decided that jewelry would be a big hit. I went to A.C. Moore and for $25 loaded up on sea themed pendants, pretty blue and green beads and some cheap ribbon in aquas and of course pink for Abba Do.

    
    ( made by Hannah age 8)

 I told the girls before hand and they helped me pick out what they liked. After our night on town, we went back to our room and began making our version of the seaside treasures.

     
   ( made by Abba Do age 7)

We had a blast making them and the girls were so proud of themselves. We said we were the seaside princesses all dolled up with our sea turtles, sea horses, and starfish.

 

This was the one baby Eliana wore, she actually kept it on after a few attempts and a bit of coaxing.

  
      ( made by Hannah age 8)

 I think this is my favorite one. I helped put the beads on the bottoms of the pendants but Hannah designed it herself.

 I think our seashell jewels were special and even more memorable to us even though we didn't buy them at the seashore. It was quality time doing something on vacation instead of just blowing money in a shop.

 
  We made 10 pieces of jewelry for $25 and we saw similiar ones for $7 each. If we would of paid that price for them that would of added up to $70.  It pays to be frugal even on vacation.

See other great creative projects at The Shabby Nest, Frugal Friday Linky Party