Cute Little Hairbow Holder

After making all the hairbows for my daughter during the blizzard, I decided I better find somewhere to keep them.  I wanted to keep them so that I could easily tell what bows she had,  but I also wanted it to be cute.  I decided to make this cute little face; its just like one I had as a kid.

So, I took a piece of cardboard, traced a bowl to make a circle, and cut it out.  I covered the circle with stuffing (because I was out of batting).  I then took an old pillowcase and covered the circle, flipped it over, and hot-glued it to the cardboard.  I glued a piece of ribbon on the back to hang it from.

To make the hair, I took yarn and made 3 sections with 10 pieces each.  I tied them at the end and then braided them together (to keep it tight, I actually tied it to the cabinet while braiding).  I then glued the braid around the face and added some bangs.

To make the face, I cut eyes and a mouth out of felt and glued them on. 

 
There ya have it, a cute little face with cute little braids to hang all your hairbows on!

From the Mouth of Russ...

I just wanted to share a few Russ-isms.  He always keeps us laughing!!

Me:  "Don't put that up your nose?"  Russ:  "Ok, I'll put it up your nose".

Grandpa Jim:  "How are your chickens?"  Russ:  "Dead, they froze". (They didn't freeze, they were fine).

Me:  "What do you want for breakfast"?     Russ:  "Lobster and waffles".

Russ (from the bathroom):  "Hey momma, my poop really stinks".

Daddy:  "I drilled a tiny hole in the bottom of the angel so you can put it on top the tree".  Russ:  "Yea Mommy, its a heiny hole".

Russ (from the bathroom):  "Hey momma, my poop is blue and theres two of them".

Russ at 4:30am:  "I've never seen these cartoons before".  Me:  "Thats because you are never up this early". 
Russ: "Oh, well, I'm going to start getting up early so I can watch them".  Me:  "I don't hardly think soon".

After Russ ran and jumped head first over his Grandmother, landed on his head, and did a flip, I asked him:  "What was that"?  Russ replied, "Touchdown".

I dropped something and said, "Oh my".  Russ: "No Mommy, say D*mn it".

After throwing up, Russ wiped his mouth and said, "Tasty".

Tie Dying for Two Year Olds

I don't know about you, but I LOVE to tie dye.  And because I love it, well, I figured my son would, too.  The problem was how do you give a two year old bottles of permanent dye and let him go crazy in the house??  So, I had to get a little creative (and cross my fingers hoping it would work the way I wanted).  I have painted on paper this way, but never tried this on clothing.  Well, it worked and so now I'm going to share it with you!!

*Mix up your dye using the instructions provided with the package.  When the dye is mixed and ready to go, put the colors in an ice cube tray.  Obviously, you will use a different ice cube hole for each color.  Be sure to not overfill so the colors do not mix. 
*Put the tray in the freezer.  Wait a few minutes and check the cubes.  When they start to get a little bit of freezing on the top, stick toothpicks in each color.  If you add the toothpicks before the cubes start to freeze, they will not stand up straight (and if you do it too late you can't get them in).  After the toothpicks are added, carefully put the tray back in the freezer until the cubes are frozen solid.
*Prepare your area.  I just put a trashbag on the table and put the shirt on top of it. 
*When the cubes are frozen solid, remove them from the tray.  I arranged them on a plate and put them on the trashbag next to the shirt.   

Now your little one can use the cubes (holding them by the toothpicks) to paint the shirt.  Russ had his own little method that he came up with.  He would take each cube and place them on the shirt one by one.  Then, he would take them all off one by one.  He did this multiple times.  The longer the cubes were on the shirt, the more they melted leaving more color. 

We flipped the shirt and he did the other side.  When he had had enough, I had him place what was left of the cubes on the shirt, and I just folded it up inside the trashbag and let it set until the cubes were melted.  About 30 minutes later, we opened the shirt and IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! 

Be sure to check the instructions that came with the dye to see how to rinse and wash the shirt.

Hairbows for my Hairless Child

 My friends and I visit a discount ribbon outlet occasionally, and because prices are soooo cheap, we buy far to much ribbon.  Since we've been stuck in the house for what seems like forever because of this blizzard, I pulled out my ribbon stash.  See, Russ likes to take my ribbon and toss it around and has it all tied up in a knotty mess.  So, my original goal was to sort it all out and roll it all so that its nice and pretty and organized, but that seemed a little boring.  So, instead I started making hair bows. 

I know this is a little early since my daughter is only 6 months old and doesn't really have hair yet, but I couldn't help myself.

And this is my favorite of them all.  When we finally get to take her to Disney World for her first time, she will be ready!!

I'm not posting instructions for these bows because I really don't feel like typing them all out (I know, I'm being lazy).  But, if you want to know how to make any of them, just leave me a comment and I will email you instructions!!

No Cream Like Snow Cream

With over two feet of snow on the ground and more pouring from the sky, how can you not want to make snow ice cream??  We made some tonight and oh my, it was soo good.  Even my skeptical husband loved it (and had to go back for seconds... and thirds).

So, here is our recipe:  Mix 1 can sweetened condensed milk with about 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Gather a big bowl full of nice fresh snow (about a gallon or so).  Pour the milk mixture into the snow and mix well.  To make the best snow cream ever, you have to mix with a big icicle! 

When its mixed to your desired consistency, scoop, add chocolate syrup if you want, and eat!!

There is no better way to enjoy all this snow!!

And so you know, you can't freeze the ice cream in the bowl.  It just doesn't work very well.  But, you can take it and put it into icecube trays and stick toothpicks in them.  They make great popsicles.

Fun with Crayons

Now that Lexi is crawling I've had to spend hours picking up all the little things that Russ leaves on the floor.  I never realized how many broken crayons we have floating around here.  I couldn't stand the thought of throwing them away but didn't want to keep picking them up.  So, I decided to do a few projects with them that I used to do as a kid.

We started by sharpening the crayons down to piles of shavings, seperated by color.  Russ loved this part.  For some reason sharpening crayons is fun. 

Once we had the shavings, he arranged them on a sheet of wax paper that was on an ironing board.  After they were in place, we put another piece of wax paper on top.  Then, we placed a piece of foil on top of everything.

Take an iron and put it on low, and place it on top of the stack.  Do not slide the iron around!  Pick it up and move it from place to place, leaving it in each spot for a few seconds.  You can keep checking the crayons to see when they are the way you like.

Once finished, remove the aluminum foil and its sooo pretty!!  If you want, you can remove the top piece of wax paper, but remember that removing it will make the piece more fragile. 

We used the melted crayon art to make stained glass hearts.  We took colored paper and cut out hearts, then glued the heart on top of the artwork, attached a ribbon, and hung it from the window.  You can also fold paper into a card, cut a heart out of the front of the card, and glue the crayon art inside of the card so that it appears in the heart cut-out.  If doing the card, do not remove the top sheet of wax paper as it will break.

Our second crayon project was made using the tiny pieces of crayons that were too short to sharpen any further.  We just piled them into a muffin pan (ours was shaped like a butterfly, but any shape will work).  We put the left-over shavings in, too.  I then placed the pan in the oven at about 200 and watched for the crayons to melt, then removed it.  To get the piece out of the pan, just put the pan in the freezer for 5 minutes and it will pop out.  You can use the piece as artwork or as a new multi-colored crayon.

Oldie but a Goodie

I was sitting on the couch yesterday watching the 36 inches of snow fall from the sky, and a little birdie came and landed on my bird feeder on the porch to get a snack.  I felt  bad for the poor little thing;  with all the snow, who knows how long until it will be able to find food on the ground.  So, I decided that it was time to teach Russ how to make a pine cone bird feeder.  Luckily, we had gathered pine cones every chance we got through out the fall.  I know everyone has made these before, but I wanted to post it anyway to remind you all that we need to take care of the birds (and squirrels) in all this bad weather.

Russ loved this project.  Partly because he gets to feed the birds and partly because it got a little messy.  We had peanut butter everywhere, but oh well.  He had so much fun, that he wanted to make two pine cone feeders for the neighbors across the street. 

We made one for the chickens, too.  They really liked it!!

Its been awhile!!

I know its been awhile since I posted.  January was a rough month for us:  I had strep, Lexi was teething, trying to work in some exercise and lose some weight, Russ was being Russ :)  It felt like there was something always going on that kept me from getting stuff done.  When Russ was teething, I never knew it until the teeth broke through.  Lexi on the other hand hasn't slept since mid-December!  It has been rough.  My craftyest time of day has always been the time between kids going to bed and me going to bed, so when she isn't sleeping, well, I have no me time.

But, things are back to normal sleep wise, finally!  So, I plan on getting back into the swing of things very soon!!! 

Dough Ornaments AGAIN??

Ok, so I know I've already posted the dough ornaments.  But, I've had to make more initials since then for my children's playgroup, and while making them we created my favorite ornaments yet!  My son was taking the dough and smooshing it down on the baking sheet.  Well, I went to pull his dough up and re-use it and I noticed that his tiny little handprint was on the dough.  That gave me the idea of making larger ""cookie" shaped ornaments and putting the kids handprints into them. 

So, I smashed out the dough into a roundish shape (you can use a rolling pin and round bowl to cut the shapes if you want it to look a little neater).  I then pushed the kids' hands into the dough and baked.  You can find the recipe and baking instructions in my blog titled "Dough Ray me faa so la te Dough".

When they were baked and cooled, I took some paint and painted the inside of the handprints and painted their name and the date on them.  I finished them off by spraying glitter over them and sealed with a spray gloss, then hot glued a ribbon on the back for hanging (because I forgot to poke a hole before baking).

These are a great, easy, cheap idea for a present for grandparents.

Christmas Present for Grandmom your Little One Can Help Make

We are putting together some last minute Christmas presents, and these little pin cushions are too cute to not share.  Obviously, I like to make stuff that involves Russ, so this one is perfect. 

I took empty cans and let Russ paint them.  You can use any can, but I prefer the smaller ones.  These had red jalapenos in them.  Tomato paste cans would be good too, but I wasn't making anything with tomato paste.

After the paint dried, I made the pin cushion tops.  I took a piece of scrap fabric and cut it into a square.  I put a bunch of stuffing in it and tied it with a rubber band.  I then put hot glue around the lip of the can and stuffed the stuffing filled fabric into it.  Thats it! 

It may not be the most beautiful pin cushion in the world, but Russ painted it so I love it.  I just wanted something he could help with that was a little different than the normal gifts we make.  Can't wait for him to give them to his grandparents.  He is soo proud of them and I am soo proud of him!

The Finishing Touch

I'm just sooooo happy about FINALLY having a tree topper that I had to share this with everyone:

As I've stated many times before in my blog, our tree has all homemade ornaments.  Each year we try to come up with an idea for a tree topper, but we never carried out any of the plans.  So, for the past 4 years, we have had nothing on top of our trees.  Well, after we picked out our tree this year, we were walking through Home Depot, and I saw something that motivated me.  We were in the lumber section and I saw a wooden baluster (or whatever its called) that to me looked like an angel.  I asked my husband if I was crazy, but he saw my vision. 

So, I took the wooden piece and painted it white and skin toned.  I painted a face on the "head".  The screw was removed from the bottom and a hole was drilled so that it could be placed on the tree.

To make curly hair, I took brown yarn and wrapped it tightly around wooden dowels.  I then wet the dowels and put them in the microwave for 2 minutes (or until the yarn had dried).  When I took them out, I sprayed them with hairspray.  Once cool, I removed the yarn from the dowels and POOF, curly hair!!  Using a hot glue gun, I attached the hair to the "head" and hairsprayed it to keep it in place.  I bent a piece of wire to form the halo and hot-glued it to the back of the wood (I love my hot glue gun).

To make the wings, I took a coat hanger and bent it into shape (with the help of my husband because I couldn't get it exactly the way I wanted it).  I covered the bent hanger with a pair of white tights and tied it off to make it tight.  Then, I sprayed glitter spray over it and lined it with glitter glue and glued it on the back of the angel (glued my fingers to it as well).

Thats about it....  She is nothing fancy, but we love her anyway.  Russ said she is beautiful;  as long as he is happy, thats all that matters.

Dough ray me faa so la te Dough!

Yay!!  We made more ornaments!  These turned out sooo cute, at least I think so.  They are great fun for all ages;  Russ loved helping with these from start to finish.

So basically, you will make a playdough type dough mixture.  Just mix together 1 heaping cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, and 1/2 cup of water.  Mix it up with your hands.  The dough should feel like playdough if the consistency is right.  Just add more water or more flour until you get it right.  If you want colored dough, just add some food coloring.  Once mixed, sit it aside for awhile (trust me, its easier to work with if you let it set for about 30 minutes). 

Now its time to shape your ornaments.  You can do it any way your heart desires.  Of coarse, you can use cookie cutters or a knife to cut out the shapes.

You can roll out little "snakes" with the dough and then shape them.  I did letters for each of my kids' initials.  You can also twist the "snakes" together and form them into a circle for a wreath.  I haven't done this yet, but I want to twist a white one and a red one together and shape it into a candy cane (to make white dough, just add cream of tartar).

This snowman is made by rolling balls and stacking them. 

I also want to try cutting out a simple round shape and then carving an initial into it, or etching a picture into it.

Once your shapes are made, put them on a cookie sheet and bake at about 250ish for 2 hours.  Be sure to flip them every 25 minutes so they don't turn brown.  If you do a standing ornament, don't worry about it.

Take the ornaments out of the oven and let them set until they are completely cool before you paint them.  If you don't, the paint doesn't stick right.  If you have rough edges, just file them off with an emory board or sand paper.  After the paint drys, be sure to spray a clear coat over them for protection and to add a nice shiny finish.

If you do make these, please send me pics to post!!  I have sooo many more fun ideas for these;  I would love to see what every one else comes up with, too.

Do You Know the Gingerbread Man??

I simply LOVE this project.  Its for cute little "gingerbread" ornaments that you can hang on your tree and keep year after year.  The kids will love to help with this one.  Even if they can't help make them, they can definately help decorate them.  These cuties will smell like straight cinnamon, and the smell will last for years to come.

NOTE:  THESE ARE NOT EDIBLE.  You can try, but you will break a tooth as they set-up super hard.  Oh yea, and they contain glue so I doubt that would taste too good even if you could bite them (I know, kinda funny).  

Mix together 1 cup of applesauce, 1 1/2 cups of cinnamon, and 1/3 cup Elmer's Glue.  Yes, I know, thats a LOT of cinnamon!  When its nice and mixed, chill in the refridgerator for 30 mintues.  Have a cup of hot cocoa (or wine) while you wait....

Take the dough out of the refridgerator.  You'll need to sprinkle some cinnamon on your work surface to keep the dough from sticking.  You can do this on a board if you want;  I just use the counter.  Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick.  It can be a big pain in the butt getting the dough to set-up just right.  If its too cold, it won't roll correctly (trust me, you'll know if its not right).  Don't throw it away; just set it aside and wait until it warms up a little and try it again later.  My friend threw hers in the trash and then came to a playdate and told me what happened.  I had her go home and pull it from the trash, and it then worked just fine. 

Once its finally set right and rolled out to 1/4 inch thick, take your cookie cutters and cut out the shapes.  You can use any size cutters, large or small.  Letter cutters are also really cool to use.  Be sure to poke a hole in the top of each ornament (this is for the ribbon they will hang from later).  If you forget to poke the hole now, you won't be able to do it later as it sets up really hard.  Put the shapes on a cookie sheet and place the cookie sheet on a rack to harden.  It can take a few days  for them to harden all the way.  I set mine in the oven so they wouldn't be in the way.

When they are completely hardened, you can decorate them!!  Use any kind of paint, glitter, sprinkles, beads, or whatever you want. 

Adventures in Thanksgiving Travels

This past weekend we went to visit some of my family in southwest Virginia for Thanksgiving.  I love going down to visit everyone and have been making the trip pretty much my whole life (either from Virginia to Maryland or Maryland to Virginia depending on where I lived at the time).  It is 5 hours or so each way and after awhile you get used to it.  However, the trip is a little different than it was before I had a family of my own to travel with.


We took our four-door Silverado because its the only thing we own thats actually big enough for us to travel in.  So, in the front seat its me and my husband.  Between us and in the floor, we have stuff cramed into every bit of open space:  snacks and diapers and cameras and everything that can't go in the bed of the truck.  We do manage to leave just enough space for my feet.  In the back seat we have our two kids in their carseats, our bassett hound, and our big mutt/hound dog.  Its a full truck!!  Luckily, we have a nice large bed for all the luggage.  Oh, and this time we decided to bring home another chicken from my parents farm, so we had a chicken in a box in the back with our luggage (because we didn't look Beverly Hillbilly enough with the loaded down truck). 


Now, traveling with dogs does have its obvious down side, like having to walk them, get them water, and stuff.  But, add to that the fact that everytime we visit the farm they roll in every dead animal they can find before they get in the truck to come home.  So, we had the pleasure of smelling their nasty, dead animal scent the entire confined trip.


Because it was the Sunday after Thanksgiving we, of coarse, hit stop and go traffic several times.  And, if you've traveled with children, you know that everytime you stop the baby cries.  And everytime the baby cried the 2 year old grabs her or pokes her.  And everytime she falls back asleep, the two year old grabs her or pokes her until she cries again.


Finally, we were about 25 minutes or so from home and we got pulled over for only having running lights on (my husband turned the lights down at a traffic light we had just stopped at because they were going straight into the little car in front of us and he didn't turn them on afterwards).  So the cop walks over and comes to the window.  That made the dogs start barking like crazy, which scared the crap out of the sleeping children so they woke up screaming and crying.  The officer is trying to talk to us, but all we hear is screaming and barking.  The dogs are jumping over the baby trying to get to the cop so she is screaming louder.  I'm turned around trying to get her pacifier in her mouth so she can calm down and am trying to keep the dogs off of her.  Russ got excited when he realized what was going on and just started yelling police car, police car! 


I think they felt sorry for us, so they quickly sent us on our way.


Can't wait to make the trip again next year!!

Thanksgiving By Candlelight

I guess I should have posted this a little sooner so everyone could have saved their Halloween pumpkins, but with the kids being sick lately I am a little behind.  My friend Sarah and I like to make these candles for our Thanksgiving tables.  They are super easy to make and look oh so cute next to a big, fat turkey.

Take some little pumpkins or goards, cut them open on top, and hollow them out. 

Next, melt some wax.  If you don't have a big block of candle wax (I'm sure most of you don't), take all of your old candles you don't like anymore and all of the left-over pieces from candles you've almost burned out.  Melt the pieces in a double boiler.  If you don't have one, you can fill a pot with water & float a smaller pot inside of it.  Add the pieces to the inside pot.  Be sure to use a pot that you no longer use for food, though.  To color the wax, add old crayon pieces.

You'll need to get a wick (either a new one or one out of a candle you no longer need).  Spoon a small amount of the wax into the bottom of the pumpkin, and then push the end of the wick into it.  When it hardens, wrap a pencil around the top of the wick and lay it on top of the pumpkin.  This will keep the wick from moving when the wax is hardening.  After the wick is in place, fill the candle with the melted wax.  The easiest way is to use a disposable cup. 

Once the wax hardens some, the top of the candle will sink in a little; you will need to add a little more wax.

These candles are soooo easy to make and are such a nice touch to your holiday table!!  Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

How Many Santas Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb??

Each Christmas we decorate our tree with ornaments that have been made by our friends and family; we don't use any store bought ornaments.  After signing up for an ornament exchange on my friend's blog, mammatortilla.blogspot.com, I got motivated to start my yearly ornament making!!

Today, I decided to repurpose items in my house to make my Christmas decorations.  So, I searched the house for all of our burned out light bulbs and turned them into tree ornaments!!

For the snowman, I started off by glueing ribbon around the top of each bulb.  This will be used to hang the ornament on the tree.  I then glued felt around the bulb to form the ring of the hat & let the ribbon hang out of the top.  After the ring is on, go ahead and make the rest of the hat & glue it in place.

Next,  paint a face on the bulb and thats it!!

In the living room light, I had a long bulb that had burned out.  It looked to me like a Santa face, so thats where I went with it.  The Santa ornament is basically the same thing, but I started off by painting the entire thing white.  After the paint dried, I glued felt into a hat shape & put it on the top of the bulb, leaving ribbon hanging out as I did with the snowman bulb.  I took batting & twisted it into a "string" & glued it around the hat & to the end of the hat.  I then painted on the Santa face.

I'm so excited about these "recycled" light bulb ornaments.  I have a burned out flood light outside that I am going to make into an angel for the top of my tree (as soon as my husband goes out to get it for me).  I'll post pictures when its finished.  If any of you make any of these, I would love to see pictures!!

Its Getting Snotty in Here

Both of my beautiful babies have been hit with a yucky cold that is accompanied by viral eye infections.  Its some fun stuff.  They have snot pouring from their noses AND their eyes.  Everytime I catch up to Russ, he has it smeared from his forehead to his chin and from eye to eye.  At least Lexi hasn't figured out how to wipe it yet.  I've never cleaned so much mucus in my life as I have the last 3 days.  Russ' sleeves (and mine) are nice and slimy :)  Want to know what else is a little disgusting?  When you are nursing your baby and there is a string of snot leading from her nose to your boob when she pulls away!!

By the way, if you haven't tried them yet, check out Boogie Wipes.  They are the best thing ever.  They are like diaper wipes for the nose, but they contain a saline solution that breaks up the boogies when you use them.   

So anyway, the doctor gave us eye drops for both of them.  Thats an adventure in itself.  Putting the drops in Lexi isn't so bad; she is too young to fight or run from me.  Russ, however, is nearly impossible.  First, I have to catch him.  Then, I have to wrestle him over my knees.  Then, I have to try to get his eye open with one hand and have the drops ready in the other.  I'm lucky if I get one drop in before he knocks the bottle across the floor, and I'm suppose to get TWO drops in EACH eye??  And, I have to do this 4 times a day??  I've tried bribes and threats and begging and pleading, but seem to work.  Oh well, it will be my daily work out. 

Today, I'm thankful for the fact that my two babies just have colds and nothing more serious.

Its That Cookie Time of Year

Every year I like to bake lots of candy and cookies for Christmas.  Last year I didn't get to because I was newly pregnant and sooo sick.  Russ and I plan on making up for it this year by making even more than normal.  We started trying out some different recipes this week.  This is one of my favorites, and the kids really seem to like them, so I'm going to share. 

These are called stained glass cookies.  Start out with some sugar cookie dough.  You can either buy the store bought dough or you can make your own.  I use this recipe:

Mix 1 softened cup butter & 1/2 cup sugar until fluffy.  Fold in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract & 1 egg yolk.  Mix in 2 1/4 cups flour until dough forms a ball.  Refridgerate for 2 or more hours.

Preheat the over to 375.  The store-bought dough directions call for less, but you need to use 375!! 

This is the fun part:  take some Jolly Ranchers in colors of your choice and crush them up in a food processor.  Keep your colors seperate.  If you don't have a food processor, you can put them in a plastic bag and use a hammer.  You can use almost any hard candy.  We used candy canes for some of them.

Now, take your home-made or store-bought dough out of the refridgerator, knead until softened, and roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured counter.  Take a cookie cutter and cut out your shapes.  Place the cut-outs on parchment paper and place it on a cookie sheet.  If you don't use parchment paper, the candy will stick to the cookie sheet & not come off.  Use a smaller cookie cutter (or a knife) and take the center out of the cookie.

Take your crushed up candy, sprinkle it into the holes in the cookies.  Fill the holes completely! 

Bake at 375 for 7 to 10 minutes.

I didnt have cookie cutters, so I had to shape mine by hand.  The shapes turned out kind of funny, but you get the idea.

Potato Candy

A few of you asked me how to make potato candy, so here ya go!!

The only ingredients you need are powdered sugar, peanut butter, and a potato.  Start off by peeling, cutting, and boiling the potato.  After it is cooked and the water is drained, put about 1/3 of the potato in a large mixing bowl.  Add about 1/3 cup powdered sugar.  Mix.  Keep adding powdered sugar and mixing until you end up with a nice doughy consistency.  I can't tell you exactly how much powdered sugar or potato you need; just keep adding small amounts of both until you have a firm dough.  You can mix with a blender if you want, but I find that hand mixing works better.

Put you dough on wax paper thats been sprinkled with a small coating of powdered sugar (to keep it from sticking).  Then, roll the dough out thin with a rolling pen.

When the dough is nice and thin, coat it with peanut butter.

Finally, roll the peanut butter covered dough up into a log, and cut it into pinwheels.

The pinwheels turn out much prettier if you put the log in the refridgerator before cutting and if you don't let your 2 year old cut it for you!!