Ladies Night Out Idea!! FREE Class on Making a Modern Wall Planter

Get some friends together for this Do-It-Herself FREE class at Home Depot to Build this Modern Wall Planter. The class is in one week, on April 19th, so you have a week to gather your squad. They will have the supplies for sale and show you step by step how to create this project. SIGN UP TODAY!

Harry Potter Golden Snitch Valentine Box

As promised on Tuesday here is the Valentine box that my daughter made for this year. It is her last year of elementary school so this will be her last Valentine Box.

She is a total potterhead so she opted to make a Harry Potter themed Valentine Box. She had several ideas but this was the one she finally settled on. If you remember reading about our problems with using a punch ball in the Pokeball post, we had the same issues but this didn't claps quite as far because it was smaller already.

To make the wings she taped cardboard from a 12 pack box and then paper mache paid the taped joint area. Then she paper mache paid over the entire Wings to add texture to them as well.

She decided to use a paste made of flour and water where as my son used liquid starch as his paste. The paste she made seem to shrink a bit more and made it more textured. But it did seem to be a thicker and sturdier project with less coats. The final coat she had to do with starch because she needed to have a smoother area in order to put the letters on.

The letters are made using my Silhouette machine using the font I bought from the silhouette design store called lightning.

Pokeball Valentine Box

I really want to tell you that this was super easy to make but we learned a few new things about paper mache that we had not known before. We had thought we would try using punch balloons because they are typically more around then a regular balloon but found that as we got additional layers on it would compress in make it all bumpy. To be honest after our third layer when it started to compress it looked horrible. We had spent so much time working on it I wasn't sure how to get it smoothed out and look like a ball again.

What's a combination of ideas from my husband and myself I ended up putting a regular balloon inside after I quickly soaps the entire thing in water to soften it. Then I blew up the balloon inside the paper mache until it was inflated enough to pop out the bumps and give it around shape again.

It had outstretched some of the weak spots so we ended up putting on a layer over the weak spots and then another final layer over the entire thing.

The red is actually red tissue paper and the white is white tissue paper except for the center of the Pokeball which is painted white. The black stripe around is all painted black.

As long as this Valentine Box makes transportation to and from school for Valentine's Day my son is hoping to save it and make some kind of lid for it to be able to store stuff in. If it makes it home we will add a sealer to the inside and outside which will also help make it stronger. He is hoping he can alter this to use as a Cloverbud fair project for 4-H.

On Thursday, I will share the one that my daughter made. They didn't get them finished until Friday night, so we couldn't share them earlier.

Monster Valentine Box

This is my son's valentine box he made for last year's 4-h Valentine Party Meeting. It is a Monster that he made out of a show box. He wrapped it in mint green tissue paper and cut out paper teeth to glue on and made heart ear out of pipe cleaners and glues on eyes and adorned with foam heart stickers. I thought it turned out super cute.

Easy Halloween Manicure

This will probably be the easiest Halloween manicure you will find on the internet. All you need is black fingernail polish some googly eyes and some quick dry glue.

Simply paint your nails in the black polish and allow them to dry completely. You may need to paint two or three coats to get a solid black depending upon the brand of nail polish you use. Once the Polish is completely dry put on a drop of quick dry glue and press on some googly eyes. This will take a minute to completely dry and then you can go about your day showing off your creepy googly eye fingers.

Road Trip T-Shirts

We are off on another road trip soon and will probably take along these shirts I made for our summer road trip through CA, NV & AZ on our fall road trip through MN, SD, and WY.

These were the shirts I made for our family by importing images and text that I learned working with text in an image can be very tiresome and difficult. The complexity of some of the images was difficult to format and edit, and after lots of putzing around I learned that it is worth it to spend $3 to buy some new font so you get the look you want and not have to spend hours editting the font.

You don't always have to buy images and fonts though, below is information my mom emailed me about free images and fonts to use with your Silhouette machine. I thought I would share the info so my readers can see it, and I can easily look it up when I need to and not have to search through old emails.

http://www.fontspace.com/

http://www.dafont.com/

These both have preview boxes, so if you are looking for a particular look for a word, you can type that into the preview box and all the fonts will show what your message looks like. Be sure to do a search for the theme of your project.I have used these among others: http://www.fontspace.com/donna-j-morse/dj-kitchen, http://www.fontspace.com/nymphont/nymphette These are just your basic letters, unless you buy a commercial font. 

The following font place has a free font every week and it includes a "Premium Font License", so you get ( PUA Encoded meaning that it is fully accessible to everyone and all glyphs are available in Character Map on Windows and Fontbook on Mac.). These are swashes and flourishes you may want to add to some letters. 

https://fontbundles.net/free-font-of-the-week?ref=livesearch

If you have the current version of Silhouette software, Designer Edition, like I have, you can do this right in the program. This gives you the rundown on the new features. http://www.silhouetteschoolblog.com/2017/08/silhouette-studio-v41-released-update.html

https://apexembdesigns.com/cuttables/subject/all?keys=&commerce_price_amount=1&field_font_type_tid=All

This has a free design several times a week. I usually check it every day, and download the ones I think I will use at some point.

https://www.misskatecuttables.com/products/freebie-of-the-week/

This used to be a free one every day, but went to a freebie of the week.

http://freesvgs.blogspot.com/

This one has a lot of free files and you can do a search to see if there is something that works for your project.

https://www.silhouettedesignstore.com/ 

Don't forget the Silhouette store. They have a freebie every week and it goes directly into your Silhouette program. If you computer crashes, you are able to get back all of the files from the Silhouette store, usually automatically.

Girls Weekend Beach Tank Tops

I created theses custom tank tops for for our upcoming Girls Weekend. In the past I have made us coordinating jewelry, but this year I went for clothes. It's our first year doing Florida together, even if it is only for a weekend. We have done trips in MO, AR & MN together in the past.

Like the teacher t-shirts I made, I used heat transfer vinyl to make these. I used 2 fonts I purchased from the Silhouette Design Store and then cut out parts of images from other clipart in my silhouette library to add in the sun, stars and waves.

I don't like to make us all matchy-matchy, just coordinating and somewhat matchy. So, I purchased the same tank in four fall colors.

Some of the things I made in the past include:

• Pottery Pendant Necklaces
• Birthstone Color Beaded Earrings
• Hemp and Pearl Bracelets (like this one)
• Pottery Pendant Necklaces
• Wire Wrap Pearl Rings

I think I got them all listed and not I have gone in to clothing. I should really look in my jewelry box and find all of them I made to bring along to wear on this trip too.

DIY Cabin Sign

I made this cute sign to go inside of our cabin. We have some other moose decor and so I chose to continue with that. I used my Silhouette machine to print off sticky vinyl and place it on top of a canvas that I had painted. Then I lined the outside of the painting with black gaffer tape I really like how gaffer tape finishes off the outside of a painting

FREE Lowes Build and Grow - Christmas Ornaments

It's Christmas Time!

Look what Lowe's is offering up on December 3rd for their next Build & Grow!

Kids will have the opportunity to build 2 wooden picture ornaments with an adult. This will fill up fast. I noticed that Lowe's is not holding these Build and Grow events very often anymore. I saw a sign at our closest Lowe's that looks like the next one (after this) won't be until February. So, it looks like they are only doing there every other month now.

This would make a cute gift for your kids to give someone.

SIGN UP TODAY!!!

Boot Print Pottery Pendant

This is a super easy craft you can have a child do. You can even use Air Dry Clay and paint clear nail polish on it.

To make this pendant, form your clay in to a ball shape. Then have the child step on it gently until it flattened, but they have not touched the ground. Use a straw to poke a hole at the top and rmove the clay from the hole.

Allow to dry and then either paint or glaze however the clay you are using dictates.

Have fun!

Lowe's Build and Grow -- Pumpkin Carving Demonstration with FREE Pumpkin

SIGN UP NOW!!!

This is for THIS SATURDAY! Registration just opened yesterday, but I guarantee you that spots will be filled fast. This is a picture of the sign I took at my local Lowe's and it says that each child will gt a FREE mini pumpkin and sticker sheet. Plus you get to watch a pumpkin carving demonstration using a Dremel Pumpkin Carving Kit (perhaps they will give a coupon for those kits). We are already signed up and I am very interested in seeing how we can making carving pumpkins easier!

Creeped Out Dollar Tree Halloween Goblets

I absolutely love how these Halloween goblets turned out. You can buy these goblets at the Dollar Tree for a dollar apiece. They are just fine playing but I wanted to make them seem even more creepy and fun for our Halloween party. I used acrylic paint on these. The neon yellow and pink colors are glow in the dark paint.

And I also glued into place a couple of plastic gems on the ice and some plastic rhinestones on the teeth. I thought by adding a little bit of paint I really increased their creepiness tenfold.

Glow In the Dark Bowling

This was certainly fun to play and I wish you could really see how cool this bowling set looks at night, but it's hard to really capture that in photos but you can kind of tell from the top picture.

All you need are used water bottles that you refill with tap water and place activated glow sticks in the inside of each one. The water will offer refractive properties so the whole bottle glows, not just the stick as it appears in the picture.

This works pretty well as an outdoor bowling game, but you can also play it inside. Just be sure you have the caps screwed on tight.

Have fun!

Other fun ideas to use glow sticks include:

• Star Wars Valentine Card
• Ring Toss (Version #1)
• Ring Toss (Version #2)
• Dance Party Fan Light

Apple Print Kitchen Hand Towel & Loom Knit Towel Holder Instructions

My kids made these for their great grandparents. I like to have my kids make gifts whenever possible so that they are thinking about those special people in their lives.

I bought these very large kitchen towels from Fleet Farm. I had them print (stamp) on only one side that would be hanging out. We picked out 3 different fall colors in acrylic paint and then stamped with apple halves and wine corks (to add a different size and more interest).

I made the loom knit towel holder by casting on 6 pegs on a straight loom for 20 rows and casting off at the end.I doubled up my yarn to make it thicker and more sturdy. A button pretty easily slips through the stitches, so I just tied on in to place where I wanted it and put it through the stitches. To make the loop I used the Clover Wonder Knitter to make the length of looped I wanted. When I was done, I stitched the ends together to make the circle and then I hand sewed the loop to the hanger piece using yarn. I had previously used the Clover Wonder Knitter to make this Skinny Looped Infinity Scarf.

Oobleck Science Fun!

This is a fun experiment to try out when you are studying solids and liquids, as Oobleck has both the properties of a solid and a liquid. You can also teach a little bit about mixing colors by adding drops of different colors of food coloring to the water. Be sure to do this experiment in the kitchen or a room w/o carpet. If it gets in the carpet it can be hard to get out.

How to Make Oobleck

1 part water
1 1/2-2 parts corn starch
couple drop of food coloring (if desired)

Directions:

Start with putting your water in a bowl and stir in food coloring if you desire it to have a color. I used 1 C of water. Then measure out 2 parts of corn starch, you may only need 1 1/2 parts, so I  measured out 2 C of cornstarch. Slowly stir the corn starch in to the water. 

You can always add more food coloring after you have mixed together if you do not have as dark of a color as you wanted.

Fun DIY Glow-in-the-Dark Ring Toss

This was a fun project to let my daughter do. I handed her an empty Pringles can, some duct tape and a handful of glow sticks. I gave her these basic instructions: Decorate the can however you wish, then fill the can half full with some rocks from the driveway (to provide) weight, then make up glow stick rings and bring it to the yard and we will play ring toss that evening.

This was really inexpensive, as the only thing I had to purchase was 2 8-packs of glow stick bracelets from the Dollar Store. You need two bracelet lengths for each ring you intend to make.

It is a fun and easy project to give your family something to do in the evening.

DIY Harry Potter Book Costume Accessories

My daughter was Hermione this past year for Halloween. And these are all of the accessories that I made for her. I thought with the new Harry Potter movie coming out there might be some interest in costume ideas. Plus there is the new big Hogwarts and Harry Potter area at Universal Studios. I am hoping to take my kids there in a couple years when my youngest is more interested in Harry Potter and all of his stories.

So to start off with I made a tie in the Gryffindor colors using felt. Felt is a great fabric to use when making costumes because you don't need to worry about frame and can leave edges raw and they are fine. So to make that I all I did was cut out a tie shape used fabric glue and glued on the slanted stripes. On the back I glued on a pin that you would use in jewelry making.

I did sew the scarf because I wanted to make sure it would withstand washing since I was making it in duplicate because my son wanted one too. These are our school colors as well so I wanted them to have a fun scarf that was thick and warm to where in the winter or two outdoor sports games and show their school colors. On one of the pictures you can see where I flipped over to the backside. I cut full scarf length pieces in one color and then cut out rectangles in the other color and sew them into place. This was pretty easy to do since all of it was straight stitches so you needed minimal sewing skills. But now we have a striped scarf in both Gryffindor colors and our school colors.

Next I created a patch of sorts that is on the Robes of the kids in each of the houses at Hogwarts. I went online and found an image of the Gryffindor badge and printed it off on iron on paper. Make sure you flip the image before you print it so that the words appear the right way. Then I ironed it on to some white fabric and trimmed around the edges and finally I glued into place a pin just like I used for the tie and pinned it on to the robe. The robe we used is a small graduation type robe. In case the kids wanted to use that room for another type of costume I didn't want to iron the patch directly onto that so I made it up in a pin instead.

Finally I made wands out of Chopsticks and hot glue. These are pretty simple to make. Just Google which wand do you want to make so you know what it looks. These are two of the three that we made. All you need to do is apply hot glue onto a chopstick in the design of the one you are trying to create. Allowed the hot glue to dry completely and harden before painting and then just paint.

For the rest of her costume, I found a collared dress shirt and a jumper (instead of a sweater vest and pleated skirt) in the uniform section on Children's Place online. I borrowed a wig from a friend and bought her a time turner necklace from Amazon. I bought her a pair of maryjane dress shoes (which would be her dress shoes for the school year) and I just happened to have a pair of knee high socks in grey in my sock drawer.

Simple Patriotic Candle Display

By now you probably have noticed that I have come up with a variety of simple crafts and foods to make for Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day that are simple and use a minimal amount of supplies or ingredients. This idea is no exception.

You will need to make this at least a day in advance so the rice has time to dry again. To make the colored rice you need to mix rice and food coloring. I used 1 C of rice for each layer. Put the rice in a ziploc baggie then put in 3 or 4 drops of one color  and squish around until until well blended. Then spread out the rice in a single layer on a cookie sheet. It will need at a day too dry just to be sure it if fully dry.

Obviously, you need white rice you just leave it without dying it. I used a funnel to put the rice into the jar. Just a note that you should not put a lid over the top of this when storing it because the moisture will stay inside and it will mold. Then you can place a tea light on top. I did not have any problem with the rice scorching or anything, but you should always exercise caution when having anything with fire or flames.

Star Paper Plate Wreath

With a little bit of preparation, you can easily make this cute weath with your child in a short time.

I bought the cheap paper plates that have a circle indentation around the center. Start a hole for them so they can get their scissors inside and have them cut out that inner circle. While they were doing that I cut out Stars. Cut out squares in the size you want so that you can easily cut out stars using a template. I made a template and then cut out 3-4 stars at a time. Then let them glue them into place. I had some excess ribbon and just tied it in a bowl and let them glue that into place as well.

Super quick. Super easy. Super cute.

Lowe's Build & Grow - Kids Make a FREE Bird Feeder this Weekend

This bird feeder is just lovely! My son is already signed up and excited to go build it with his dad. It is THIS WEEKEND! Check the registration page to see if there are still spots available near you. When I checked yesterday, there was still 12 spots at the store nearest us.

I told my son he can pick to hang it up at home or at the cabin. I am not sure what he will pick.

SIGN UP FOR THIS LOWE'S BUILD AND GROW