Toilet Paper Pumpkins

I made these Friday afternoon after work. They were SO EASY it literally took about 15 minutes to make both. And look at how cute they are! Can you believe they're made out of a roll of toilet paper? I just used fabric I had laying around that was the closest to fall I could find, but if you are better prepared for this craft you can find some super cute fall colors at fabric stores right now.

Here is the tutorial. Have fun!

Click here for the tutorial on the glitter candlesticks in the photo!

Pillow Pile!

Saturday afternoon Danny wasn't home so it was just Sam and me. A family friend had stayed over the night before so the blankets and pillows were in a pile on the couch which gave me the idea for a little spontaneous fun. I piled up the pillows, throw pillows and blankets into a big mound in the living room and let Sam jump on it. He had so much fun running and leaping onto the pile! He would collapse on the pile and say "ni- night!" Well you don't have to ask me twice! I layed the blankets out on the living room floor, closed the blinds to block out the bright AZ sun, and my little Samwich and I took a nap together on the living room floor.
There's something so fun about "camping out" in another room of the house. Maybe next time we'll build a fort and the three of us will have a camp out together :)

Glitter Candlesticks Tutorial (with pictures)

I posted about these a while ago here but I made some new ones for fall last night and decided to put pictures to the steps.

What you'll need:

Elmers Glue
Baking pan (to catch the glitter)
Wooden candlesticks from craft store
Paintbrush
Fine Glitter
Small bowl

Mix 2 parts Elmers glue 1 part water in a small bowl and mix with paintbrush

Paint on glue/water mixture in sections. Start at the bottom.


Keep working in sections all the way up candlestick


When you're done, spray with acrylic (outside- it'll be smelly) so the glitter doesn't rub off on your hands.

Now you're done!
These are for decoration only- acrylic and wood are flammable so don't light the candle stick.

Make Homemade Scented Playdough!

We made this playdough in our Pre-K class last week and it was so much easier than expected! The kids loved helping make it. Cheap, easy and scented- I may never buy the store brand again!

What you'll need:

Flour
Vegetable Oil
Salt
Unsweetened Kool Aid
Water
Gallon-sized Ziplock bags


What you'll Do:
Pour 1 cup of flour into a large bowl

Pour 1/2 cup of salt into the bowl

Pour 3 teaspoons of vegetable oil into bowl

Pour unsweetened Koolaid into bowl. (Grape smells great)

Heat 1 cup of water to a boil and pour into bowl

Stir flour, salt, oil, Koolaid and water together

Knead the dough with your fists

Put it in a big ziplock bag and you're done!


If the dough is too sticky, add flour and salt until it's the consistency you want.
Have fun!

Food Coloring Flowers

Going along with this week's theme of COLORS, our Pre-K class is doing a flower dyeing experiment. Each child chose a color and dropped drips of food coloring into a plastic cup filled with water. We then added white carnations to the water to see if they absorb the water and change color!

This is what they look like so far... it's been a subtle change, these flowers must not be very thirsty!

This is a super easy and engaging activity to do with small kids, and really teaches observation.

Sweet Lesson in Colors

This week in our Pre-K class we're learning about colors! We did this easy activity with yummy frosting. It really holds the kids' attention!


All you need is:
White frosting
Graham crackers or cookies (whatever works!)
Food coloring

Just put a clump of white frosting on a few plates and have the kids add food coloring to each pile, making different colors. We mixed colors (red+yellow=orange etc) to show the different colors you can make. Even though a package of food coloring comes with green, it was more fun for the kids to see the green appear before their eyes when they mixed yellow and blue.

After the different colors are made, take graham crackers or sugar cookies and let the kids spread it over the top. (You could have them dip it in the frosting if that's less messy.)

Yum!
Easy way to teach colors during snack time.

Stuff Swapping Party Idea

Today while doing laundry I had that oh-so-common thought "I have too much stuff!!!" So I got to thinking, what if I did a Swap Party? I could host a "Girls Night In" and invite a bunch of girls over who could all bring their castaways they don't want anymore. Then we could all go through each others' stuff and take what we want. It's a great way to "shop" for free, while getting red of stuff you're tired of. And hubby can't get mad because you're not taking up any more room in the closet (you already dominate) because you're getting rid of stuff too! The loot no one wanted could then be donated. I would do a drop off to Goodwill or maybe a womens' shelter.
But why stop at clothes? I think it would be just as fun to get to pick through your friends' old picture frames, home decor, jewelry, un-used makeup (like that time you thought you'd try that hot pink lip gloss)nail polishes, books, shoes (Lord knows I have a few

thousand pairs I could part with!)

Maybe even leftover crafting supplies you know you'll never need again.

So I've got some stuff to think about! I think this could be fun. Is this something you would ever host or attend?

Burlap Bloom Tree Tutorial (kind of)

I made these cute burlap bloom tree last week, I just haven't gotten a chance to share it. I made it from a tutorial online that I can't seem to find anymore. I didn't take pictures as I made it, figuring I'd just link their page to the post but now that I can't find it I will try to explain as best as possible (it's pretty simple).

What you will need:
Wooden Dowel
Styrofoam Ball
Terracotta pot
Paint in one color of choice
Flower arrangement foam
Burlap
Fabric in varying patterns/colors
Thread and Needle
Ribbon
Spanish Moss
Hot glue gun
Push pins to use as anchors for flowers (optional if using hot glue gun)
Buttons

What to do:
1. Paint your terracotta pot so it's dried and ready to go. Set aside.

2. Cover the Styrofoam ball with burlap. Cut a long strip about 5 inches wide that will fit around the ball. Glue in place. Cut slits in the overhang of the strip so you can glue those pieces down the sides and avoid puckering. Add burlap in patches until whole ball is covered.

3. Take your dowel and put a drop of glue at the top. Stick the ribbon to the glue to hold it in place, and begin wrapping ribbon all the way down the dowel. Glue at bottom when done.

4. Push dowel up through styrofam ball. (You may need to cut a small hole in the burlap)

5. Put flower-arrangement foam in bottom of terracotta pot and stick dowel through. At this point you should have an empty "tree".

6. Make flowers. These are a lot easier than they sound. Cut strips of fabric about 2-3 inches wide and about 12 inches long. Thread your needle and by hand, go in and out of the fabric along one side of the strip. When you get to the end, pull the fabric down the thread and it should coil. Wrap the "swirl" shape around until you like the form, then take remaining thread on the needle (still attached to flower) and thread through flower to hold it in the shape you want. The great thing about this project is it's totally customizable so you can really use any kind of fabric flowers you want- feel free to switch it up to a more familiar one.

7. Thread or hot glue a button into middle of flower. I stuck pushpins into button holes to anchor the flowers where I wanted them on the ball. This way I could move them around later if there were any bald spots. Keep sticking your flowers on, all over ball.

8. Hot glue Spanish moss to the top of your foam in the terracotta pot.

9. Find it a home that gets it lots of attention! If only I had a mantle, mine would be on it!

I hope this was easy to follow... contact me if you have any questions!

Fabulous Friday Link up Party!

Knock Knock! It's Frrrrriiiiddaaaaayyy!!! T.G.I.F Everyone!
This Friday has taken years to get here! (Or maybe it just seems that way?) But I've been sick all week and I'm looking forward to some much-needed days off from the kiddies. I love em, but man are they germy!

This Friday I was invited by Saving Money & Living Life! to link up to their weekly Fabulous Friday post where we share something fabulous from our blog. I chose my paint can craft tutorial found here because since I started making them to hold presents for kids' birthday parties, people started asking me how to do it and then making their own super cute ones!

Make sure to head over to Saving Money & Living Life! to be inspired! There's lots of great stuff over there!

PS- My doormat isn't always so dirty- it had just rained. I swear! :)

Wednesday Wish List

You know how all year long you see things that you want soooo bad but then as soon as your birthday or Christmas is around the corner and people are actually asking you what you want, you can't think of anything? Well here it is September 1st and I have a few things I have my eye on. So heads up hubby... you've got plenty of time to start planning! ;)

Okay, I don't know if this is the exact model I want but I DO know I want need a professional camera STAT! This becomes more and more apparent every time my close-up photos of projects come out blurry. Blurry makes me ANGRY! Not to mention, photos are kind of a huge part of memories. Should we trust our precious moments to a blurry camera? (am I selling it well?)


And what better to go with my new awesme camera, than an adorable camera strap from SheyB ? This one just so happens to be my fave.


And this amazing necklace from Lisa Leonard would be perfect with my two loves' names on them; Dolce & Gabanna. Just kidding! Danny and Sam of course! :)


So that's my list so far. I'm sure I'll find lots more to add to it. What's on your list?