Valentines Day!

 

Need some quick and easy Valentines? I know I did. Nothing like walking in on a Monday and  realizing you need to have 45 Valentines ready by Thursday. Almost an epic Mom fail moment. Enter frantic Pinterest searching and a mad dash to the grocery store.

 

Last year I used this chip Valentine for my daughter’s class. She really like them and everyone was super happy about getting CHIPS. I decided to revise the idea to make them faster to cut and to use less of my color ink. I printed them on brown craft paper and we stapled them in place. [ Also in my mad rush I have printed these with the wrong spelling twice! Geez. Serenity NOW! Third try is the charm right? ]

 

 

This is the first year that my boys have had separate Valentines. Such a tiny reminder that my babies are growing up. They are still in the same pre-school class, so their Valentines needed to be different but relatively equal. So I settled on applesauce and cereal. The boys gave me the thumbs up, so off I went to Pinterest to see what cute printables already existed.

[Note that I am not giving out candy. This is a result of just having thrown out three leftover buckets of Halloween candy ( don’t worry, all chocolate candy was eaten). All these items are considered treats in our home and not normally on the menu. For me, I have an easier time allowing the occasional chip treat than handing my kid a pixie stick. Is one really worse than the other? I don’t know but it makes ME feel better. The kids are happy, I am happy. End side note.]

I found these great printouts at Creating Awesome Free Things. All I added was the little heart and name. The just print, cut and stick. WooHoo. Just 10 more to go!

Next I found these great tags from Smashed Peas And Carrots. This time all I added was my little ones name. Easy easy. Print, cut and tape.

 Yes! 45 Valentines ready to roll.

Happy Valentines Day!!

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Nature Nature Everywhere

My kids are nature collectors. Rocks, sticks, fossils, acorns, and anything else that finds it’s way onto our walking path. I love this about them, they get it from me after all, but I don’t actually like nature bits scattered all over the house. Some of what we find is really just mess and I secretly toss it into our backyard. Other things are truly awesome wonders. What to do? I want to encourage my nature explorers but maybe not find a load of acorns under someone’s bed. I want something neat, tidy, kid friendly, easy to access but not out in the way all the time.   Inspiration came while wondering around in Hobby Lobby. While looking at Christmas decorations and such, I ran across this craft paper box thing (nice description). It is advertised as a base for an advent calendar. But what I see are 25 drawers of nature storage! You could get crafty with the outside or you can keep it plain. Since this sits on a hutch in my dinning area I chose to keep it blank. I like the clean look of it. That, and if I labeled the drawers, I would have to look at my sloppy handwriting every time I sit to eat at the table. Not good for my OCD.   I love how clean it looks. You can find instructions for the handprint owl HERE. My kids love to bring it down and look through all the boxes. It also provides a much needed space for all their little nature wonders. I will still probably find pockets full of acorn and rocks, but now we have a special spot for the really great stuff we find.

So there you have it. A nature discovery box. Simple and clean. I can not wait until the weather warms up so we can get back into nature and find some more cool stuff! I have dreams of a curiosity cabinet full of wonders from our family hikes.

Now get out into nature and find some stuff!

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Kawaii Style Food For World Thinking Day- Japan

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What is Kawaii you ask? Kawaii is a Japanese term used to describe a level of cuteness or lovableness that is common in Japanese pop culture. This “cuteness” is applied to fashion, behavior, food and even things like buses.

Girl Power

My daughter recently turned seven. Up until this point she has been completely unaware of the opinions of others. This summer I noticed her sweet little feet were standing on the doorstep and I used the opportunities that God placed in front of me to prepare her for the ugliness that lays on the other side.

It started with a comment about liking “boy stuff”. The boxes toys are placed in, the isle it is on, these things have started to register with her. The media has crept into her tiny world through advertising on a toy box. I can not control every tiny detail of her world. Something will always worm its way into our home and lives. I will censure when I can, but it is also my job to build her up. To show her the way.

So before we reach the days of Teen Magazine I want to use my own “media” to impress upon her the awesomeness that is being a women in our family.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting = YUMMY!

Last week, I shared the fabulous Zebra Cake For A Safari Party. Now, it’s time to talk about frosting. Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting. It is relatively simple to make, so I am just going to jump right in.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups confectioners sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature

9 ounces chocolate, grated.

3/4 cup sour cream

Zebra Cake For A Safari Party

A major part of every party is the cake. This year was no different and I felt ready to step up my game. Bring on the Zebra Cake!  You will have to forgive me on the darkness of the baking pictures. I made the poor choice of starting my baking a 9pm that led to my laying in my bed at 11 pm listening for the oven timer to ding. Boo. I am glad I did it, but I am not a night owl.

Three Little Indians

While I can not go back and share with you the patterns( or complete lack of ) and the how to’s, I still want to share my little ones Halloween costumes from last year. It all started with this vintage Indian girl I ran across on Pinterest. I just love her. What better costume for a girl who loves all things nature.

I worked with a simple dress pattern but modified it for my needs. The dress is made from felt and I painted right on the dress with acrylic craft paint.  The felt is great because you can cut tassels without the fabric fraying. Plus there is no need for any hems. We caught all the spears in a Mardi Gras parade. How convenient! Her belt is braided yarn with a wooden bead and feathers from her nature collection.

How To Train Your Dragon Party

Well here I am again blogging! It took about a week for me to come to terms with the fact that for me to enjoy my kids being home 24/7, I had to give up on having a clean house and blogging for the summer. Now the kids are back in school and I have a weird amount of free time on my hands. Weird in that I haven’t a clue what I should be doing. So since I have an actual moment to myself I would LOVE to share with you the awesome How To Train Your Dragon party we had for my oldest!

Freezer Paper Shirts and Getting Ready for DISNEY!

To celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary my hubby and I are taking our little family to Disney World. We will be visiting The Magic Kingdom and The Animal Kingdom. Then, once we are done bathing in luxury, we are going to camp on the beach for two nights.( Lord Be with us!!!) To save some cash, I have been sweeping Pinterest on money saving tips.

I found this pin from Dana Made It. I love them! I really like the simple vintage look to them. They are perfect for our day at Animal Kingdom ( yes I plan to dress them safari style).

If you get your shirts from Wal-Mart then they cost less than $5 each to make. When you have to multiply everything by 3 or more it can be pretty pricy. I want to pull out all the stops on our trip but I don’t want to blow loads of money doing it. So less than $15 for three shirts vs. $15 per shirt. Deal. Hand me the paint. You can go HERE to follow the same instructions I followed. ( Plus, when their Daddy buys them ice cream and they dribble it all down their front and ruin their shirt on its first wear, I can smile, take a pic, and not worry about $45 down the drain. )

I will note that Dana Made It is unsure of where she got her Mickey and Minnie images. BUMMER! They are so cute. Bellow is the one I used for the shirts I made.

 

Protecting Your Seeds

It is finally time to be in the garden again. How I have missed spending the morning out in my yard! I have had a garden every year for the past 7 summers. Even for the two summers that we were renting I lucked out and had a great spot to garden in our neighborhood community garden. It was in this garden that I came to understand the awesomeness of raised garden beds.

So when it came time for our new garden to be put into our home yard, it had to be raised beds. We checked out Ana White to she what she had to offer in the way of DIY.