Summer Diary Day 73: Paper Mache Part 1

Dear summer diary,
I wanted to do a large paper mache project with the girls this summer. With only 25 days left until school, we better get our crafty bums paper mache-ing. We borrowed a book from the library for inspiration & have decided on a big dog. It'll be our family pet. We have designed the dog we want & gotten a list of supplies we need. Tomorrow we'll begin the foundation of the doggie.
♥
Nikki

Summer Diary Day 72: What's in your Purse?

Dear summer diary,

After my bedroom decluttering earlier today, the girls both snatched up one of the many purses I was purging. We decided to look inside each other's purses to see what was in them. I always think it's rather adorable to see the things my kid's tote around. Hope it's amusing to you as well...

Pazely's Purse:
(Pazely said: "I have everything I need in here, except for mommy, daddy, Zoey, food & clothes.")

• 2 lipglosses

• 1 Rootbeer lipsmacker

• 1 pencil

• 1 pen

• ice cream eraser

• world map eraser

• mini notebook (with a sketch of our main street)

• light-up sock monkey snow globe

• cell phone (it's not working)

• nail clippers

• fool's gold

• animal stencil

• green strip of fabric that she sketched

• 3 old keys

• $20.13

• pink coin purse (she took it from me!)

• set of doggie trading cards

• lipstick case (which she also took from me!) filled with a penny, seashells, acorns & 2 straight pins

• purple fangs

• a red/yellow/green pin that says "Congo"

Zoey's Purse:

• glasses with case & cloth

• vanilla flavored chapstick

• 2 plastic balls

• 1 bouncy ball

• bird whistle

• mirrored compact

• bunny sticker

• green whistle with wrist strap

• 2 bolts & 2 plastic tube thingies (from an experiment at summer school)

• cross maze game

• nail clippers (what is it with these girls & the nail clippers?)

• 2 dress-up rings

• 1 felt butterfly pouch (that she made) filled with a "lucky leaf",  a tiny acorn & a note that I gave her when she was in a bad mood at me one day that read: "I love you. Be happy, OK? It's gonna be a good day!" I didn't realize it, but she keeps it & says she looks at it whenever she needs cheering up.

My purse:

• a tin of "Crafty Girl" mints
• iPhone charger
• checkbook
• my paycheck from last week
• glasses case (which houses my polaroid "macro" lens)
• 5 band-aids
• the car key---with its handmade keychain from July's Crafty Night
• my other set of keys
• 2 coupons for JoAnne's & one for Old Navy
• 3 hair bands
• 1 fancy hair bobby
• $4.33
• knitted coin purse (which did not hold any of that $4.33. haha!)
• 6 shades of lipgloss
• mini owlie journal
• Princess doodles book (from Tia for my flight home from Wa. in June)
• 1 pencil
• 8 inkpens (I'm a writer. Can you tell?? Hubby gets so frustrated because he can't ever find any pens around the house. Oops.)
• 1 knitting needle (YAY! I thought I lost it!)
• 2 pair of P.F. Chang's chopsticks (There's not a P.F. Chang's around here within a couple hundred miles--- at least. These were in my purse for some crafty project I was working on.)
• extra camera memory card
• biz card from a trophy shop
• a neon information card about some glass blowers we saw in Keystone, SD last week
• an unused $10 gift card from Bed, Bath & Beyond from a Christmases ago
• 2 driver's licenses (I lost one, got a new one sent, & then found the lost one)
• 2 debit cards
• Red Robin rewards card
• health insurance card for my girls

• my Media Pass for Nebraska school events
♥
Nikki

30 Bags in 30 Days: Day 4: My closet

It's been 8 days since my last active "30 Bags in 30 Days" purge. And, though this project might have been intended to get completed 30 days in a row, I'm breaking the rules & spreading the 30 days out a bit. It's just been too busy around here to get it done every day.

 I was in a funk today. I decided to take advantage of that funk & attacked my bedroom closet. I found that being in a funk was rather helpful in letting me discard things that I otherwise might have been attached to. I decluttered to the tune of 2 trash bags full: 1/2 a bag of garbage & 1 1/2 bags of items to donate to our church garage sale.

The bags of items are already starting to pile up in the basement downstairs.
It's really rather inspiring.

♥

Summer Diary Day 71: Penny Carnival

Dear summer diary,
Today the girls accompanied me to the Penny Carnival at our small town fair. I set up a photo booth & took polaroids while they ran around & played games. It was a hot afternoon, but a glad one.

Most of the props I have are the girls' dress up clothes. A few were purchased from the $1 store. I even made those ever-so-popular "moustaches on a stick". (There's even a pair of lips in there.) I also got the chance to borrow an amazing box of wigs for today's occasion. (*Thanks Oneva!!*) I need to get my own collection of wigs---they are SO MUCH FUN!!

My whole set up is not intimidating at all. I attached a vintage sheet to an expandable curtain "rod" & stretched it across two ladders. I had to tape it due to the wind. For fun, I draped a handmade bunting across the sheet.
It was a small event, so I didn't have very many photo booth takers. That's OK though. It was fun watching my girls bounce around & having a day of summer fun.
I didn't get a chance to play at all!! So, I'll have to pull out all the props & have some silly dress-up fun too...

P.S. Funnel Cake. Boo-yah.

♥

Nikki

Summer Diary Day 70: Dirt

Dear summer diary,
The opposite of clean. That is what is fun to most kids. Mine included. And today Zoey & Pazely played in it. Dirt, that is. All afternoon & into the evening. "Until the streetlights came on."---so to speak. And though Zoey looks somewhat miserable in that photo---she was not. She was giddy before I took the picture, & squealing after I took it. I love that dirty messy face.

A close relative to dirt is sand.

If you want to see a REALLY cool picture of grains of sand, click HERE. 

Everytime I look at that photo, I keep thinking about how much fun God must have had when he created this world.

♥

Nikki

Summer Diary Day 69: Burger Eating Contest

Dear summer diary,

Tonight was the event we've been working so hard for! (Burger Battle 2...& burping contest)

And Zoey took part in every way possible.

She ate. (2 1/2 burgers)

She drank.

 She burped.

That's my girl!

♥

Nikki

Keep Calm...

I'm not a fan of these "Keep Calm" posters.

Except for maybe THIS ONE.

And THIS ONE.

And definitely THAT ONE up there.

♥

Summer Diary Day 68: Dance

Dear summer diary,
Tonight the fam headed next door to our church. A big crew was helping to set up for an event we're having tomorrow. (Wednesday, July 27th @ 6pm!!) It's a burger eating & burping contest. We had this BURGER BATTLE last year & it was AWESOME!! Anyway, during all the setting up of the tables, the decorating of the walls, & the eating of my pistachio torte, someone cranked the music really loud.
And the kiddos went berserk!
They danced & danced & danced & danced. And then danced some more.
So today, crank it...& boogie.
♥
Nikki

Summer Diary Day 67: Let them Loose

Dear summer diary,
Today the girls created whatever they wanted. I have a bunch of supplies I collect & have saved for them: water bottles, toilet paper tubes, plastic canisters, etc. And whenever creativeness strikes, they head for their art table & start constructing. Mommy doesn't give them step-by-step. Mommy doesn't interfere one bit with her crafty rules. It's just them & their toilet paper tubes. And paint & tissue paper & glue & rubber bands & glitter & markers & happiness!!
♥
Nikki

Summer Diary Day 66: Chalk Portraits

Dear summer diary,
The girls were playing with sidewalk chalk & I immediately ran outside to partake in the fun & to lead them in the fun project of the day. We created sidewalk portraits, inspired by THIS picture found on pinterest.

♥
Nikki

Summer Diary Day 65: Mommy's Day Out

Dear summer diary,
Sometimes mommies should have a break. And today was one of those days. I went on a day trip with some girly friends to Keystone & Hot Springs, SD. We had a BLAST!!! To view all my pictures, click HERE.

♥

Summer Diary Day 64: Dragonflies

Dear summer diary,

My 8 year old had a great idea today. We've been on a dragonfly kick lately. They're EVERYWHERE around here! So the girls grabbed their nets & we went outside & had some nature fun! Not only did we find dragonflies, but crickets & butterflies & moths & froggies & even a little broken speckled bird's egg.

♥

Nikki

30 Bags in 30 Days: Day 3: Dining Room

I love how I can pick & choose from my 30 Bags in 30 Days list.

(I'm thinking the weekends will be reserved for the hefty cluttery rooms. Except not this weekend. I'm leaving tomorrow on a day trip with some gal pals to Keystone, SD. No idea what's there. But I'm bringing my camera, so I'll have pics to show later!) 

Today was another busy day. So, the dining room was my decluttering room of choice. Again, not much there. A dining table. A rug underneath the dining table. Crumbs. A few accessories. And our music CD's. Music is a hard one to declutter. But I managed to get rid of several CD's & a few other items hidden away that I haven't touched in years.

Bag 3 down. Woohoo!

This feels good people!!

♥

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♥

Summer Diary Day 63: Rock Painting

Dear summer diary,

I'm not sure where I originally saw this idea. But I've had it in the back of my mind to do with the girls one day.

All you do is grab a box with a lid. We taped pieces of cardstock, cut to size, to the inside of the lid & to the inside bottom of the box, using painter's tape. Place some rocks in the bottom of the box & squeeze a dollop of acrylic paint on top of each rock. (You'll have to experiment with how much or how little you like.)

Put the lid on the box &, holding tightly, shake the box.

Shake it like you mean it.

You can keep taking the lid off & peeking at your artwork until you get it to your liking. If you want to add another paint rock, you can do that too. Pretty soon, you'll have an instant collection of abstract masterpieces!

♥

Nikki

30 Bags in 30 Days: Day 2: Living Room

I had a busy day, so I chose a room on my "30 Bags in 30 Days" list that was a bit on the easy side to declutter: the living room. There's not a lot there. My piano, a giant couch, the TV & that's pretty much it. Although, there IS a little side table with a HUGE stack of mags on it. I flipped through the mags, tore out a few great ideas I found inside, & then tossed them. I ended up filling one more bag. YAY!

By the way, if you knew Mr. WhiMSy love, you'd know how much he loves getting rid of garbage. He loves throwing stuff away. (In fact, I've learned that before I start hunting for something missing that I've lost, I ask the Mr. FIRST if he threw it away.) So, when I explained to him this project I'm doing, he was IN LOVE with it! Those bags & bags I'm filling up are making his heart go *pitter, patter*. Who knew this would be a romantic endeavor as well?

P.S.  And tonight for dinner, I made Penne with Roasted Asparagus & Balsamic Butter as a result of yesterday's pantry cleaning. (All that pasta, remember?) Except, I used rotini 'cause that's what I had. I love asparagus. Absolutely love it. Not the most healthy dish with all that butter, but something different than dumping marinara on top.

♥