The One With the Felt Pumpkin

Craft Time!

I've been seeing this super cute felt play Christmas tree on Pinterest. It's great for kids to play with independently. They can decorate and redecorate the tree over and over without messing with the real tree!

The tutorial online for the tree is here!

So I decided to make a big felt Jack-O-Lantern for the girls to decorate! I'm not hugely into Halloween, but I do love cutesy pumpkins. 

All you need is:

-1 yard of orange felt ($2.99)

-a few sheets of black felt  (25 cents a sheet)

-additional sheet colors of felt for optional "accessories" (brown for a stem, green for leaves, etc)

Total? Less than $5. Awesome.

All I did was cut the fabric into a pumpkin shape. (I just free-handed it.) 

To stick it to the wall, I tried a few different things. I read online to use command strips, but they didn't work very well.  I found that staples keep the pumpkin up there very well. 

Then I used black felt to make different shaped eyes, noses, and mouths. Wee! It took about 10 minutes for the entire project. 

Char decorating

Em decorating

(different piece options)

I really don't think that the girls understand the theory of decorating pumpkins, but they still are having fun. It gives them a new tactile experience. They love the way the felt feels.  We are also able to discuss the attributes of the pieces (oval, square, triangle) and body parts (eyes, nose, mouth) in order to gain new vocabulary!  I know that we will be able to pull this out again next year and they will really be able to understand and have a blast! You can't beat $5, either!

Hope you make one!

The One With Sensory Water Bottles

So in a moment of desperation the other day I just let the babies with my half-empty (I mean half-full) water bottle. Favorite. Toy. Ever. I love that kids love cheap random stuff that isn't meant to be a toy. They loved to slosh it around and crinkle it and gnaw on it all over. So I decided to fill other water bottles full of random household crap and give it a fancy name, "Sensory Water Bottles".  Works for me!

Here's what you need:
1. Empty water bottles (any size, even 2 liter bottles would work!)
2. Hot glue
3. Random household crap (not literally)
4. Electrical Tape
5. Food Coloring

The hardest part of this project was waiting. I'm the kind of person that once I get the "craft bug" I must create RIGHT THEN. If I'm feeling creative I will paint or re-arrange a room at midnight. But sadly, I needed to wait until my water bottles were COMPLETELY dry.  This took over 24 hours. Boo. I even tried to speed up the process with a hair dryer on the cool setting. Nope. If you don't wait until they are completely dry, would will have a cloudy and possibly moldy bottle.

Once the bottles were dry, I filled them up! I used:
-red food coloring in water
-green food coloring in water
-uncooked spaghetti noodles
-some random jingle bells I found
-colorful fuzzy pom pom balls
-uncooked beans

I tightened the bottles as tight as I could, then hot glued them to seal them closed.  Then I got paranoid and used electrical tape to super seal the lid on.  I'm still paranoid of them somehow choking on a bean or jingle bell, but I'll watch them. I really don't think that they can open them at this age. *

*please don't sue me if you make these and your Houdini baby somehow opens these up unsupervised

My babies LOVE these.  

Here are some fun aspects about sensory water bottles:
-They make all sorts of different noises (sensory input)
-They are different weights (the bean bottle is not full and heavy, yet the pom pom bottle is full and very light)
-They are super sealed and can float in the bathtub
-The girls love looking at the world through the colored water
-They can fit in the cup holders of their carseats/stroller for entertainment
-They were basically free to make

Hope you guys make some! They are fun! :)


***Also: You can also do this with 2 liters for older kids. Fill it up with mostly rice and add extra random things inside and ask them to find them. "Can you find the yellow button? Or the silver screw?" etc It's like a fun treasure hunt!

The One With the No Sew Birthday Banner

 This year I wanted to make a birthday banner for my hubby. I also want to use this banner for all the birthdays in our family. I think it will be a fun tradition for the girls to wake up on their birthday and see the fun banner and have a  yummy birthday breakfast.

I love banners/garlands on the fireplace. I think they are a good way to decorate for an event/holiday without having to decorate the whole house. These are the supplies I used:

1. Ribbon. I wanted something wide and colorful. I also made sure it had boy and girl colors in it, without being too girly or boyish. Colorful polka dots worked for me!

2. Felt. I love felt! I brought my ribbon over to the felt section of Hobby Lobby and picked out some coordinating colors. I also got white felt for the letters.

3. For extra fun, I got pom pom trim. (As in, the stuff that dangles off of sombreros!)  I don't know why, but I think this stuff is adorable. 

4. Hot glue.  I can technically kinda sew, but it's not pretty. Hot glue is my friend.

First, I hot glued the pom pom trim to the front of the ribbon for a fun textured look. 

Then I cut out a bunch of triangles out of the felt, and glued those to the back of the ribbon, making a pattern with the colors.

To make the letters, I typed the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" in all caps in a cute font. I made sure that the font had a lot of straight lines, because they would be easier to cut later on. I used size 150 font, but I forget the name of it. It wasn't fancy.  I printed the letters and cut them out.  Once they are cut out, I traced them backwards on the white felt with just a regular skinny Crayola marker. That way, you didn't see the yucky ink when you flip it over. 

Then I cut the letters out an hot glued them onto the triangles. Voila!

And here is my hubs with his birthday banner! I can't wait to take a picture with it every year!

My inspiration to make a family birthday banner is from a website called www.Icanteachmychild.com  Its my FAVORITE blog. It's from a Christian mom that used to be a reading teacher and now stays at home with her 2 boys. She has a lot of fun themed ideas, and sorts her arts/crafts/learning games/book activities by age! Love it! She has 2 boys, so a lot of her things are boy-themed, (but not all of them). All of her ideas are cheap too, like "match your pots and pans with their correct lid" etc. A lot of good rainy day activities are there as well. You should check her out!

The One with Adorable free Stuff

I'm having my very first GIVEAWAY!!!! Yep, I'm giddy.

I'm pretty excited because this stuff is adorable and could be used by anyone (not just moms).
I'll start with the non-mom stuff they have, and then get to the mom stuff.

The site is called www.CherryHillDesigns.com.  Their motto is "Label With Style". Who doesn't love labeling and organizing!?! Even if we aren't successful, we still strive to organize and have cute things, right? Thanks, Pinterest.

This giveaway is for a free $20 gift card!

What I'm newly excited about is their chalkboard labels. They are peel and stick, and are compatible with chalkboard markers as well. You can label just about anything with these. They come in a variety of sizes and shape choices (rectangle, oval, circle, scalloped). I know my teacher friends would think these are super cute! Sets range from $8.50-$10.50. Not bad! I want to order these so I can organize my pantry.

They also have address labels, gift tags, and other personalized household items. I appreciate that they usually give you a choice of cute fonts and colors.  I love their new iPad and iPhone cases!

For moms, they have the coveted waterproof labels. We own these. They can label anything from sippy cups, plates, pacifiers, bowls, toys, etc. We bought a set so we could tell the difference between Charlotte and Emily's bottles and pacis. They go through a beating! We wash them daily and they haven't peeled off in 8 months.  We also use the steam bags to sterilize their pacifiers and they still are sticking strong!

Labels are a "must" for moms of twins, or moms that have kids in daycare/church nursery.  These are much cuter than writing with a sharpie, and they don't rub off! We bought a set that has 48 mini labels for only $10, and haven't even used half of them yet! Adorable and affordable.

                                                                     (our tiny labels!)

They also have personalized melamine plates & bowls, diaper bag tags, clothing labels, and so much more. Their site shows you all of your font and color options.

I will randomly draw 1 winner of a FREE $20 gift card to this site!!!

Here's how to enter:
-Check out their website at www.cherryhilldesigns.com

-Comment below about what you would use your $20 gift card towards if you won! (anyone can comment, you don't have to sign in or anything)

-You get extra entries for:
           -"sharing" this blog link on facebook
           -liking Cherry Hill Designs on facebook
           -bravely commenting if we're friends on facebook but you're afraid to comment because you   think you're stalking me. You're probably not stalking me. It's cool. I like you. I deleted all the weirdos on my facebook.

Just leave a comment below for each one of these things you do. Example:

Comment 1:
Hey Liz! I'm Tina, your long lost friend. I'd buy a super cute owl label set for my baby with the $20!
Comment 2:
Tina again. I liked Cherry Hill Designs on Facebook.
Comment 3. 
It's Tina. I shared your blog link! Now I have 3 entries in your giveaway. 

The end. Easy, huh?
Get hypothetical shopping, people! :)

Giveaway ends at midnight May 9th (my birthday!)
Make sure you check back May 10th to see if you are a winner!