2 cards and a memory book!

I made these for a competition and didn't make it so I thought I'd share them anyway!!

On a Craftin Spree

Okay, so I don't post FOREVER and now I post a craft everyday. I go is spurts. With Mother's Day coming up I have been trying to figure out projects the kids could do for grandmothers. I found this frame at Wal-Mart. The kids had a blast with it. Kayden kept digging his fingers down into the clay so we would have to re-roll it. Which is nice, if you mess up you just roll over it again. It is the softest clay I've ever used, which was nice for delicate little fingers. After we did the hand prints we stuck it in the oven on 275 for 15 minutes, let it cool and put in the cute little picture of the kids. It was fun, fast, and easy!

Finally Creative

I just have to say that I LOVE Paper Pals. I found this cute idea in the store. Karen took time to teach me how they were made and Kaycee and I went to town. It was so easy and so much fun. She was so excited to be able make her teachers gifts.

Everytime I go into Paper Pals I am greeted by smiels from both Shawna nad Karen. they don't forget a face. I only wish I had the time, money, and free hands to spend more time in the store. It is so much fun and inspiring. I love the colors, atmosphere, and inspiring environemnt of their store. If you haven't been there you need to go. They have so many great ideas. They have fun classes and even great ideas online.

More V-day crafts

Here are some more fun Valentines Crafts. For my Activity Day Girls this week we made these and the "You color my world" crayons from an earlier post. They must have enjoyed it, because the mom's had to drag them away after our time was up. Then the kids ended up making some for their friends too!

I LOVE Plaster of Paris. I bought some heart shaped candy molds this year, and put the hook in the back again, and made necklaces. I also made some smaller hearts (another mold) that are about 1" across and made "conversation hearts" out of those, and then glued a pin to the back to wear on your shirt.

This was a way cute idea I found on http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=12116 . I love Family Fun on the web and their magazine! I even made some for a couple coworkers and Than's office mates! So obviously fun for adults too!

Monkey Bread

So this technically isn't a "craft," but the kids do LOVE making it, so I thought I'd share! It's called Monkey Bread, because the little monkey's help to make it. It's very tasty and a great FHE treat!

The recipe calls for 3 cans of the ballard biscuits. Open 1 1/2 cans and cut them into quarters.

Have the little monkeys roll the quarters in a mixture of:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 tsp cinnamon

In a greased bunt pan, place the first 1 1/2 cans of rolled and coated biscuits in the bottom of the pan.

Shred one apple and place on top of the 1 1/2 cans. You can add nuts or raisins too if you like (but we don't like!)

Then cut, roll, coat, and place the remaining biscuits on top of the apples.

Melt 3/4 cup of butter (very healthy!!!) into the remaining sugars & cinnamon mixture. Pour over the top of it all, and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Let cool 10-15 minutes, then invert on a plate. We like to eat it with toothpicks. Enjoy!

Valentines for kids

So I have been having withdrawls from my lack of doing anything crafty lately. Between the packing, moving, unpacking, working, kids, house stuff, and being 7 months pregnant life is alittle nuts. So this week I told the boxes that I was taking a break, and needed a "Crafty Afternoon." So after Trestin layed down for a nap, we worked on the kids' Valentines. Garrick had gotten his class list for his V-day party on the 13th, so we got a head start. And of course Aleksia wants to send some too, so here is what we came up with;

Garrick wrote on his foam tags, taped a candy to it, and then punched hole in it and attached a pencil. Here is two of them for his "best friends," Meghan and Sam!

Aleksia making her's for Grandmas & Grandpas, friends, and a couple cousins. She can write "ALE" then we have to finish the "ksia."

Here is another idea (from Family Fun Magazine, so I can't take credit for it) that we made. I finally found a heart mold, so I was able to make these this year. We are going to make them as one of our Valentine Crafts for my "Activity Day Girls" activity next week (I'm in charge of bi-monthly activity for the 8-11 year old girls at church). Here is what we did;

After removing the wrapper, the kids broke each crayon into four pieces, the had fun "mixing them up" after each crayon they put in.


I was finally able to find a mold, at Michael's. The kids put about six crayon pieces in each heart. These I did to kinda coordinate colors. The kids' where all sorts of colors, and turned out cute too.

The "recipe" said to bake them at 250 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Well I bought the cheep crayons, and they took a lot longer. So I ended up having to bake ours at 350 degrees for 15 minutes (basically cook it till they melt). When I took them out, it looked black. But after they cooled, the back still looked like a brownish/black, but the fronts looked cute! Then we glued them to a circle we cut out using a cup as a template, and wrote on the front "You color my World" and on the back "To & From." then taped the heart on. Then the crayon can be removed easily and used. Enjoy!

Some paper crafts.

OK so I thought I'd finally post the pictures I took a while ago to put up here!! Here are some paper crafts I made some from a class, some from ideas I took from someone else. Hope these help the creativity flow this season or if you can't find the time maybe after the new year!! This is the front with flap open.

Here is a paper bag book (but no like one I'd ever seen before, I love the handles). This is the front.

First page opened.

2nd opened.

3rd open.

4th.

and the back.

This is the front of a paper bag book. It's hard to read in this picture but it says Beach Fun! and the little tag says splish splash.

2nd and 3rd page opened with the side pocket page pulled out.

4th and 5th page opened.

6th and 7th, with side pocket page pulled out.

Side pocket not pulled out.

The back.

OK this is the front of an altered CD case!!

Here is the back.

Opened up.

Closer look at the left side.

Closer look at the right.

This is that folded thing open.




Hope I didn't overwhelm anyone with all the pictures! I promise next time there won't be as many!