Newspaper Crowns

After being inspired by the bounty of children's crafty books I recently borrowed from the library, this is the first project I attempted. Today is Pazely's REAL birthday, & I thought it only appropriate we make some party crowns.

The project simply calls for newspaper. That's it. BUT, the girls & I painted a watercolor wash over ours to make things a bit more schnazzy. You can do your painting before the crown is cut out, or after.

Crease your paper as seen in the picture. The folds should be at the top & left side. Measure 6 inches in...


...& cut all the way up.

Now lay your paper flat so you'll have a doubled piece of newspaper, approximately 22" long x 6" tall, with a fold at the bottom. Fold that in half, from short end to short end. Keep folding the paper this way until you end up with a folded bunch that's about 1 1/2" across.

Measure 2" down & you'll be cutting from that mark diagonally across. See the shaded area? That will be chopped off.

Like so. You can also create a rounded corner by arching your diagonal line.

Right under that 2" mark, you can cut out a design if you like. Half a heart, half a star, half a diamond or circle, etc. Once you cut it & open it up, the whole design will be revealed.
Like so.

Now wrap the crown aruond your child's head (or your head) & staple in the appropriate spot to hold the crown in place. (Don't staple it TO the head though.)

You can decorate with gems & jewels if you want.

Then let the royal riot begin!

The star one would look cute painted red, white & blue for the 4th of July!

♥

P.S. Oh, the book I learned this from is called "50 Ways To Have Fun With Old Newspapers" by Bill Severn

P.P.S. Happy Birthday Pazely!!

Summer Fun Craftin'!

The girls & I made a trip to the library yesterday. We got so many books & videos I could barely carry my super duper JUMBO bag out the door. And, the dork that I am, I weighed them when we got home. 27 pounds of library goodies! I borrowed so many books about kiddie crafts--I can't wait for some summer fun craftin' with my girls! I had to take a picture from one of the books & show you. The "supplies" list cracked me up: a nail...electrical tape...a graham cracker. You know, the usual crafty supplies.

I'm gearing up to show you lots of fun & simple projects to fill these wonderfully lazy days of summer!

So, stay tuned!

♥

Week in Review

The fam & I like to go every year to our local Cool Desert Nights car cruise. This year I packed a picnic dinner & we set out early (2 hours early), picked a great spot, spread our blankets on the sidewalk & ate our yummy meal while busy traffic sped by. We were 2 hours early so we could get a nice spot under shady trees. It's always kinda funny to sit out by the road & eat dinner. An old truck pulling the cutest little chubby stubby camper drove by in this parade-of-sorts & I decided I need one when I grow up. {haha!} I'm seriously gonna start throwing my pennies in a jar to save up for something like that. Now I just need to convince Mr. WhiMSy love that road trips are fun & camping is not evil.

I'm working on getting together a "Littlest Pet Shop PARTY!" post. The party was a dream-come true to my little one. Although it went different than I expected, it was fun to plan. PHEW! What a crash I had when the party was over!

And of course what is summer without more bbq's, jet-skiing, water play, family get-togethers, & outdoor fun? My 17 year old nephew is also in town, visiting from New Orleans. I have officially inducted him into my Jumpy Hall of Fame. And he's showing me all the latest dance moves the teenagers are doing these days. The Stanky Leg?? (I'd show a video, but the song has naughty words. I don't do naughty words.)

We had such a busy fun week! But I'm afraid these jam-packed days full of jolly good fun often include cranky wee ones who've overdosed on all the giddy goodness!

*Click on the picture mosaic for a photo play-by-play.
♥

Playdough!

Yesterday Pazely asked me to make playdough. And so I gladly came to her rescue. (Thanks to the cream of tartar that happened to be in the ole cupboard---waaaay in the back of the cupboard.)

I forgot how easy it was to make playdough. It seriously took about 5 minutes.

Dump in all these ingredients over medium heat:

1 CUP warm water

1 CUP flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1/4 CUP salt

1 teaspoon oil

food coloring

Stir, stir, stir...& very quickly the soupy mess turns to the lovely consistency known as "playdough".

(The girls & I separated the dough into 3 small balls & then added our colors---smooshing with our hands until it was all kneaded into the dough.)

Here's a link to a recipe I used. There are 8 different playdough recipes listed. The one we tried was the "Traditional Playdough". Zoey is eager to make the edible Peanut Butter Playdough.

Summer

BED IN SUMMER

by Robert Louis Stevenson

In winter I get up at night

And dress by yellow candle-light,

In summer, quite the other way,

I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see

The birds still hopping on the tree,

Or hear the grown-up people's feet,

Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,

When all the sky is clear and blue,

And I should like so much to play,

To have to go to bed by day?

{found in my copy of "A Child's Garden of Verses" Copyright, 1929 Illustration by Eulalie}

Littlest Pet Shop Party Favor Bags

I was able to whip through the making of the party favor bags due to the small gathering that will be attending my birthday girl's party. I'm feeling slightly guilty about that. Invitations were sent too late. Wee friends are otherwise preoccupied. So, it will be a fun day with family instead. Cousins, big & small, (my 17 year old nephew just flew in from New Orleans! SO excited to spend this next week & a half with him!!), & great grandma & uncles & aunts & mimi & papa. Don't forget mommy & daddy & sister!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I followed along this Etsy How Tuesday video tutorial for some easy peasy drawstring favor bags. (The "how-to" starts at the 48-second mark.) I purchased my fabric at Walmart. One yard made 4 nice sized bags with a large strip of fabric left over. But, best of all, Mr. WhiMSy love thought they were pretty cool!

Getting these bags done was my biggest hurdle--& they weren't even that hurdle-ish. Everything else from this point on will be a piece of cake! Or, at least a piece of cupcake.

4 days & counting...

3 Cheers for the Pinwheels!

My red, white & blue pinwheel cupcake picks have been nominated for this week's round of voting in the "Americana Decor" poll on Etsy!

Go vote for your favorite by CLICKING HERE.

Voting ends June 29, 7am {Etsy time}.
♥

Littlest Pet Shop Party Invitations

Despite the self-inflicted last-minute-party-planning status I find myself in, I'm quite pleased with the party invitations. I must tell you that the end result happened by mistake. After hassling with the photo, I couldn't seem to keep the really cool polaroid effect that I had created using poladroid.net during the ordering process through Walmart. Not all of the white sides of the polaroid were showing up--just the top & bottom. Don't know why. Wasn't sure how to fix it. Didn't have time to stress about it. Hmph! I sent the photo anyway, over the internet, --by way of 1 hour processing. After picking up the photos, (which were much darker in person than on the computer. I hate that...), I ended up slicing the top & bottom white parts off & was left with the lovely aged-looking photo. First, I cut a white, blank, folded 5"x7" card in half--like a giant postcard. Then, I printed all the party information on one side. After distressing the card with ink, I placed the photo in a way that it sort of resembled a polaroid. A giant oversized version, but still.

If I had textured paper it would have made the invitations even more excellent. But the party is in 5 days. (Shame on me.)

In fact, I've gotta run. The sewing machine is glaring at me. I found THIS excellent video tute online for sewing favor bags.
♥

Week in Review: June 15-21

First day of summer? It was so cold that was hard to believe! We had a lovely Father's Day anyway. At the park. Eating take-out Chinese & jet skiing. Random, right? That's how I like it!

♥

And what is up with Mr. WhiMSy love wanting me to snap all these photos of him now? Up until just recently he was such a stinker butt when I tried to take his picture. Now he's all up in my face & nagging. I'm not complaining at all! It's just funny.

♥

The girls & I went to the Farmer's Market for the first time this season. I could come home with flowers or sweet breads or handmade soaps every time & be a happy camper. What? There's veggies too? I didn't notice from behind my GIANT bag of kettle corn.

♥

I'm gearing up for my 2nd week of summer break. Now that my BFF is back from Mexico (hola amiga!) we might do some park hopping. I scouted out a big ole list of parks in the area---from the tiny neighborhood parks to the community parks---& we may just have to bag lunch it all summer from park to park until we've exhausted our list.

♥

I may be M.I.A. for a while as I plan like heck for a certain little girl's birthday party this weekend. Eek! I'm pretty certain the words "simple", "modest" & "easy as pie" will describe the end results.

♥

Here's to a happy {warm} Monday my friends!

(*Click on the picture mosaic for a photo play-by-play.)

Happy Father's Day!

A few random bits about my dad...

*As a kid, if I really, reaLLY, REALLY wanted to do something & I had a choice to ask mom or dad, I asked dad.

*I love hanging out with my dad. He is so silly. And goofy. And when he laughs really hard: It. Is. The. Best.

*I once tricked my dad into eating dog jerky. He liked it & would've eaten the whole stick if I hadn't been keeled over bursting with laughter.

*My dad has a tattoo on his right shoulder of the Playboy bunny. As a kid, I used to take a marker & trace a bunny body on it.

*After mom tucked me, my bro & sis into our beds, dad always had a nightly routine: after getting all squeaky clean in the tub, he'd come in our rooms & shake his wet hair on us.

*Our family went on a vacation to Disney World when I was 7. I caught my dad sneaking money INTO the wallets of his wee kidlets.
*When I see cozy, comfy, long-sleeved, plaid, buttoned-up, collared, flannel shirts, I think of my dad.

*I think, when I was a kid, if dad had his way we'd have food fights every night for dinner. Mom kept it real.

*My dad & I took a backpacking trip when I was 17. Just he & I. Great memories. I made my dad a journal/photo-book filled with sketches & diary entries from our trip. It's the most favorite thing I've ever made.

Dad, I really think I'm the luckiest girl in the whole universe.

Everything a good heart in this world should have, you have given me.

I love you!!

Party Planning

I am sooooooo far behind on planning Pazely's "Littlest Pet Shop" birthday party, which is the 27th! I have never been this late in sending out invites. Mostly it's cousins & family attending, but I still like to make it official with a proper snail mail invitation.

I played around with some of her toys today & took random photos to use on the invitations. I ran the photos through the super neato polaroid maker at http://poladroid.net/.

You can take a peek at all my Poladroid Pet Shop photos HERE.

I'm sending them to Walmart, via the internet tonight, & will pick them up tomorrow. I'm having a bit of trouble keeping all that wonderful polaroid border when I'm ordering though. Wish I knew how to fix it. ARGH!

Anyway, I'm printing all the pics for thank-you notes but her invites will all have the same photo: Pazely's favorite.

Watercolor & Contact Paper ART

The girls & I had some summer crafty fun after reading about this project over at Blissful Kids.
It was the perfect kid craft: simple.

♥

Vintage Bottle Cap Badge WINNER!

Congrats Beckie!!

I'll send one your way.

Cross my heart.

♥

Tiny Art

So, Zoey--my 6 year old--came up with this silly idea.

But you know what?

It was nice that I got a break from having to come up with ALL the summer entertainment.

At least for a second.

Besides, Barbie's got some mad finger painting skills.

Kid's Books

I was so excited to receive this book in the mail today! It's "The Old Farmer's Almanac for KIDS" & it is full of facts, ideas, experiments, projects...

...AND it features a picture I took of wind chimes from THIS TUTORIAL last summer! Cool huh?

Also check out the Almanac 4 KIDS website. It is SUPER fun!

I know it'll be a great resource for my kids & I this summer.

And it got me thinkin'....

What other book recommendations do you have or suggest, pertaining to fun stuff for kids or kids summer activities? Anything from educational to silly to crafty will do.

Ladybug LOVE.

The girls & I recently headed outside & searched the big tree in our front yard for ladybug eggs, larva & pupa. Our tree was covered in them & it was quite fun to go on a ladybug scavenger hunt through the leaves & branches to find them all-- in all their stages of life.

My recent Kindergarten graduate had been learning all about ladybugs during her last trimester of school, so I was fairly educated on the subject.

The only thing I didn't get a picture of were the larva we collected.

THIS SITE has some great information about the stages of ladybugs & how to care for them.

This photo shows that the larva has attached itself to a leaf, & has begun the pupal stage. There's a lot going on in that protective outer shell. Soon, a ladybug will emerge!

For collecting our temporary ladybug pets I grabbed some canning jars & covered the top with pink tulle secured with a rubber band.

Check out THIS LINK to Familyfun.com for some ladybug fun.

Schoolyard Safari is a SUPER source for ladybug anatomy, facts, lore & more!

♥ ♥ ♥

Celebrate Summer!

They're HERE! Get 'em for the 4th of July or for Summer-time FUN!!

♥ ♥ ♥

Here's a fun PINWHEEL poem exercise.

Do you remember the PINWHEEL television show?

PINWHEEL wreath craft for wee kids.

Paper PINWHEEL wreath.

Crayola Patriotic PINWHEEL Coloring Page.

Pastel PINWHEEL cookie recipe.

Week in Review

We had a few days last week practicing the lazy-day summer routine. But today we start our first full week of summer break. And it begins with swim lessons for the girls this morning. I debated what time to schedule their lessons, but I decided that for this first 2-week session I'd do an earlier morning class because it forces me to roll out of bed & get ready for the day.

I'm getting the calendar out this week & writing in all sorts of fun ideas the girls I can do around town. Maybe while I watch my little tadpoles swim today I can plan our lives for the next 3 months.

And I realized last night how FAR behind I am on planning my youngest's birthday party. Eek! & Ugh!

Don't forget about my Vintage Bottle Cap Badge Giveaway. I was tickled that they were featured on THIS BLOG. I'm a big fan of Amanda from Bake it Pretty & am so happy she liked 'em so much to make one her own. I totally ♥ the movie UP. I'd love to see it again. And I DON'T say that about very many movies.

Happy Monday!

*Click on the picture mosaic for a photo play-by-play.