Some days I totally feel like I rock this whole mothering thing. (And some days I feel like a complete failure; but alas, that is another post for another day because this morning I killed it.).

My almost-four year had been really into boats these days and really into the idea of one thing pulling another. Seeing how hot it was I knew we'd be dragging out that kiddie pool and wanted to make something with him to play in the water with. Enter Pinterest! (This should illicit laughs from those of you who know me. I can't count how many times I start a sentence with “I saw this idea on Pinterest...")

Together he and I settled on a boat made from wine corks (yup, plenty of those lying around-don't judge), Popsicle sticks, toothpicks and foam squares. I was thrilled to find a craft that I actually had all the components to. That alone made me feel like Donna Reed (aside from the glass vase full of wine corks)! Here's what we came up with:

Items used:

12 similar sized corks

9 toothpicks

10 popsicle/craft sticks

3 square pieces of foam

6 inch piece of string

Hot glue gun

Directions for the sail ship:

1)       Attach six of the corks in pairs using the toothpicks (might need to poke a hole with knife first), and line them up leaving a small space between each pair.

2)       Using the glue gun and three of the sticks glue them an equal distance apart onto the corks.

3)       Using a knife to start the hole, insert a toothpick into the center of each cork.

4)       Thread the square foams, through the toothpicks to make them look like sails.

5)       Attach the string by tying it to the back end of the boat.

Directions for the raft:

1)       Attach the corks in the same method as above but leaving no space between pairs.

2)       Using the glue gun attach the remaining seven sticks.

3)       Super glue the other end of the string to the underside (need a lot of glue).

Voila!

My son was so excited to pick out which trains and vehicles would be carried on the raft, and I felt like one crafty mama!

A few tips:

-          I used a lot (A LOT) of glue to fill in the gaps between the corks and the sticks. Otherwise they would come off easily with any sort of play.

-          I made an identical one for my 20 month old, which she took apart in about 2 minutes. Turns out it’s more for the preschoolers, not toddlers.

My four year old and two year old love to make crafts. As soon as breakfast is done they ask what we are making that day. Some days I have crafts planned out and ready and other days I walk into the supply pantry and hope I am struck with inspiration.

Here are a few of our recent crafts. We hope that they inspire you!

Pictured above is a watercolor painting. We made the first letter of each child's name with painter's tape before we painted. We painted the whole paper, even over the tape. When the paint was dry we carefully pulled back the tape. My children were amazed by this magic.

Here is another water color painting. This one was meant to look like the ocean.

We made the fish by gluing magazine  strips on a paper fish shape. My four year old had a lot of fun cutting the strips and then lining them up. Note the tires on the fish - they inspired my son to tell great stories about his fish.

This idea came from Pinterest.

I put out color paper squares. I told my son to use one square for each letter of his name.

We turned the squares into a rocket and then used chalk to write on the black paper.

My two year old's hands make a beautiful butterfly. We used dot markers to make the body. My kids loved to paint their own hand and then rub their two hands together to make two wings.

We like to use tissue paper for making crafts. Doesn't this ice cream look tasty?

We colored paper triangles for our cone, but you could also just use brown paper or paint a cone.

Lastly is a craft/activity that we do a few times a week. I let my son cut a picture out of a magazine (or I have a few already cut for him to choose from, or he draws a picture) and then we write a story about it.

We have done this for years and have all of the stories in a 3-ring binder. We love to write stories this way!

Have fun crafting!

It is amazing to think how quickly this winter has passed by and that we are already thinking about and planning for Easter. This year Easter falls on the last Sunday of March, so I thought it would be fitting to use my March post to give you all ideas on how to reuse Easter eggs in your home; from home décor to teaching tools for kids, Easter eggs can be reused well beyond the Easter holiday.

Easter eggs can double as a small snack container.

Eggs can be reused as lights, just use your old Christmas lights, drill a hole in the top of the egg and you have a cool new lighting option for your patio or deck!

Sticking with the home décor theme, you can also reuse the eggs as tea light holders. Adding the wood adds a nice contrast. Since the eggs usually don’t come in white, you can simply use spray paint or primer to make the eggs white.

The last home décor idea allows for a nice spring centerpiece. Wrap twine around the eggs, finish with glue from a hot glue gun and you have a new and improved centerpiece!

Use eggs as a teaching tools for your children! You can use them to assist in reading OR

You can use the eggs to make sound shakers to enhance listening skills and can double as a sensory activity.

Sharing ideas on how to reuse items in your home is my passion, but by no means do I want to (or should) take credit for all of the ideas that I share and/or use. Some of the ideas above are from friends and some are from good old research on Pinterest.

My two children love Eric Carle books.... so we searched the house for all of our books and games by this author and set forth on a really fun week with friends!

The kids loved this caterpillar craft. They used lots of tape to make paper rolls and had fun using a paper hole punch.

We read dozen of books by this Massachusetts author and made coordinating crafts.

One day we read Pancakes Pancakes and then made butter, just like Jack in the book. Simply put 1 cup of heavy cream in a sealed jar and SHAKE. The kids shook the jar for awhile and then I finished the job. We added a dash of salt and enjoyed our butter on homemade pancakes for lunch.

We made three kinds of pancakes- blueberry, pumpkin, strawberry. The children voted on their favorite. The winner was strawberry.

After reading
The Very Hungry Caterpillar we made beautiful butterflies with dot markers and painted hands.

I found lots of Eric Carle printables on Pinterest and on he web.

We practiced writing we colored, and we made our own Eric Carle puzzles.

The children practiced both writing and drawing when we made our own Brown Bear books, with animals of each child's choice. We had pink flamingos and purple skunks!

At the end of an author study I help my 4.5 year old write a letter to the author. This is a nice way to close the week and recap all of the books that we read and activities that we did. Online you can find mailing address for almost every living author. We have even heard back from a few authors.

What book collections do you have that could be the start to a really fun author study?

This is the easiest way to dress up a sandwich...
with fun parts from
Mr. Potato Head!

Did you know that you can buy food coloring markers?
They can turn anything ordinary into something extraordinary!

Much to my dismay my 3 1/2 year will not sit for more than 10 minutes and do art projects with me.  For weeks I have been combing pintrest, longingly looking at all the intricate and beautiful Valentines Day crafts, knowing they don't stand a chance with my wild little boy. Finally on Saturday morning it hit me- I already had everything I needed to send grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins perfectly sweet, homemade Valentines.here is what I did:  I got out the stack of previously colored on pictures and gave my 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 year a stack of uncolored construction paper and some markers and crayons to go wild. Then, I  started cutting hearts.  I let Liam pick where the cuts would be made and he loved gluing the cut out hearts with his trusty glue stick (the one crafting piece that will entertain beyond 10 minutes ). I folder the papers in half to make cards and viola! I glued both the cut paper and the hearts to another piece of "decorated" paper. Recycling at it's best! No scraps!

Homemade, sweet Valentines Day cards- toddler style. Take that Pinterest!

Tis the season for red, white, pink, and glitter all over! While I don't ever make plans with my husband, or expect a gift, I do love to shower my kids with extra extra love on Valentine's Day.

It's also a nice time to share our love with friends and family through art. Here are a few very simple crafts that you can make with kids of any age.

For this craft we put clear contact paper onto a paper heart cut out. The kids then put colorful tissue paper all over. When they were done we put one more piece of contact paper on the back and trimmed the heart. This makes a lovely sun catcher. Challenge older kids to make a pattern with their colors.

If you do not have heart shaped cookie cutters use an old toilet paper roll that you pinch into a heart shape. Make a line of heart prints and then write Valentine's Day... one letter in each heart.

Work on fine motor skills by lacing a paper heart. Paper, yarn, and a hole punch are all that are needed. We tie the yarn at the starting point and wrap the other end with tape so that the yarn won't fray.

We cut out paper hearts and then wrote the names of people we love. We used tiny pictures from my Shutterfly index to decorate each heart. These look great hanging from our dinning room chandelier.

This is a great project for young children or those that need to wiggle while they create. Put a heart cut from card stock into a ziplock bag with a few drops of paint. Have your child shake the bag to spread the paint all over. Both sides will be painted so hang these up where you can enjoy both views.

Write a special message in white crayon and paint with watercolors. The crayon will resist the paint and that my friends is magic!

Don't throw away your heart scraps! We glued them onto folded paper and painted them to make beautiful cards.

Have fun and lots of love this Valentine's Day!

Don't throw away the holiday cards that you received this year. Keep the precious family photos and festive cheer.

Here are two suggestions on how to reuse your cards.

I save almost every card I receive. After we have hung the card up and enjoyed it for awhile I cut the card in half and add hole punches around the outside of the front of the card. This makes a great lacing activity for my preschooler and toddler. My preschool son now likes to add the holes himself. Simply tie one end of a piece of yarn and wrap the other with a small piece of tape (this makes sure it won't fray).

We will often send our newly laced cards to friends and family. The blank space on the back can be used to write your message.

Inspired by Pinterest I made a book of the holiday photo cards we received this year. I punched holes into the cards and tied them together with a string and a card stock cover. I know my kids will have fun looking at these picture cards all year!

“It’s the most wonderful time, of the year.” For many the holiday season is a joyous time, spent with family and friends; eating delicious homemade food and sharing stories and laughs. For the unorganized person the holidays can be stressful. One of the most common questions I receive (year round) is how do I organize and store my wrapping paper? Wrapping paper comes in extra long rolls, causing difficult storage opportunities. Ribbons and bows unless tightly wrapped into a compartment can often get tangled and lost. If your like me, I wrap very rarely, but prefer to use bags (which also can fit into the same storage). I prefer to use storage organization that can be zipped (less dust) and tucked away in a closet. **Make sure you measure or read the specs before you buy this organization storage, most of them come in the extra long length to accommodate those extra long  wrapping paper rolls, but not all of them do. My favorite option is below.

(www.amazon.com)

If you are looking for ideas on common household items that can be used as wrapping paper organization here are a few suggestions.

Use any craft organizer for wrapping paper. If you have a shoe organizer laying around you can utilize that as well.














(www.pinterest.com)

These wire baskets are cost effective and often found throughout ones home in different closets. If you condense them all in one space you can use it for wrapping paper. This example shows a clothes closet, but often a spare closet or even a utility closet can work better.


(www.pinterest.com)

If you have an extra hamper laying around you can always use it to store wrapping paper! I would suggest using a large zip lock bag or other type of bag with zipper for bows and ribbons. As seen above a pencil holder can double as a place to store tape, scissors and name tags.

And remember, stop and enjoy the holiday season, it’s about sharing time and laughs with family and friends not about presents or perfection.

My children are lucky enough to see their extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, great grandparents and more, every few weeks. They all live one or many hours away so while we can't make it there for lunch as often as we we want to, we try our best.

I have made a few simple crafts and games for my children to help make far away faces more familiar.

Family Matching Game

Take copies of family photos and play a matching game. We change this game as often as we get new pictures.

Family ABC's

I made this a few years ago for my son and can see that we need an updated version. I used pictures that we had and a few more taken specifically for this purpose and made an ABC book.

I made sure to use an Aunt for A, and Uncle for U, and had to get creative for a few pictures. I used a picture of my son vacuuming for the V page and one of a cousin eating watermelon for W.

Re-purposed Puzzle

When this puzzle became too easy and a bit boring for my son I cut family pictures to fit in each shape. Simply trace the puzzle piece on your picture and cut to shape. Tape or glue into place.