A few more crafts for Valentine's Day

Here are a few more. This first one is just one I came up with off the top of my head, but I'm sure has been done in a million different ways.  First, I had my kids make a list of ten people that they love. Next, they wrote the names of each person on a heart. Then, they glued the hearts to a paper plate.  Once dry, they added some glitter (VERY MESSY!).  These are so beautiful and sparkly, and the photos do not do them justice, but here is how they turned out:

The next craft is a variation on this: http://www.dltk-holidays.com/valentines/mlacing.htm Shhhhhh!  It's for daddy on Valentine's Day - they each had to write why they love their daddy in the center of the heart, punch holes all the way around and then lace the string through.

You can't read the yellow in this photo, but the end of that reads "playing video games."

 And of course, my rainbow girl with her rainbow markers - this took her forever to finish - but it's pretty and colorful!

We are such a mushy, gushy, lovey, huggy family.  Valentine's Day is one of our favorites. The kids get candy, a new book (an accidental tradition that started when Bridgette was three, and kinda stuck), and a card on Valentine's Day.  What does your family do?

Hug your babies today!

Stacy

It's been a while...

So, it's been a while.
Almost two months!
We've had a busy two months.
Something had to give.
And while we've been doing fun crafts around here, the blog just hasn't been updated like it normally is.
Life is like that.
Even though I love to blog - I'm a "wordy" kinda gal...when life pushes back and gets full, it's the first thing I shove off my plate.
Sorry for those of you who check back often.
I'm back on again - and hopefully will start blogging more often.
It's a good outlet for me, and if nothing else, gives me a few moments of quiet in a day of crazy.  :)

So.
Valentine's Day!
Yes, we've been crafting, although not as much as we normally do this time of year.
Here are some we've done and loved - first, a penguin made from hearts!  Big kids can trace and cut these out on their own.
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/valentines/mheartpenguin.htm

Do you have love bugs at your house?  We do!  http://crafts.slides.kaboose.com/266-our-favorite-valentine-s-day-crafts/8   The final step on these doesn't call for hot glue - but it's what we used to hold them together faster and better. Even Jake (5) can handle a low-temp hot glue gun.  They can be found at the dollar store, and work great for projects like this!

This next one is a "mommy put-together" craft, but cute to do something as a family, and neat as a memory to look back on when they are old.  We hung ours in the middle of our craft wall.  I found it here:  http://crafts.slides.kaboose.com/266-our-favorite-valentine-s-day-crafts/16

That's all we've done for Valentine's Day so far, with two more in the works...and a few others we might get to before Monday. If we do, I'll post them and the links so you can make them too!
Here are a few winter things we've done.
Mittens in snow:

Snowflakes...way too many of these floating around the house - but here are a few they did:

And winter handprint wreaths.  These are about to be replaced with Valentine's Day wreaths, so I wanted to get a photo before I took them down!

And these are just too fun not to share. I haven't been putting too much up here from our homeschool curriculum, but these are Brazillian Carnival Masks that the kids made. They came out awesome!

Phew!  How's that for a catch up?

I'm doing great since surgery in December, and am finally back to jogging two miles each morning, which feels great. I've lost some more weight, but that is another post for another time.  The kids are good, hubby is good, and I can't complain.

I hope you are doing well!

Stacy

Still here, still crafting....just busy!

So - our last week has led up to this:

Opening night of Oliver!!  It was a smashing success, and we had fun all weekend long performing for near full audiences!
We've also continued our crafting.  We made this last week, but I ran out of time to blog about it:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/74543/five_easy_thanksgiving_crafts_to_do.html?cat=24
Now, before you decide not to do this because it says it is for the preschool crowd - think again!  My kids loved this craft, and there are things you can do it make it more age appropriate.  First, have them write the words to the poem as their handwriting for the day.   Second, have them paint their own hands!  They'll love it!  Third, have them cut and glue the papers together. Adding these few extra steps really does make it a "big kid" project. Here is how ours' turned out:

Here is an "up close" shot of the poem we used:

Cute, huh?  And a keeper.  :)
We're finishing another craft today that has taken us all week long!  Happy Crafting Everyone!!
Stacy

A Craft A Day until....Thankgiving!

This is the completed version of this project http://www.craftsnactivities.com/Craft_Ideas/strawhatturkey.html  which, if you're tracking with us, should have been started a few days ago.  :)   I always try to tie in a book when we do a craft, and while this book is really about a turkey dressing up in costumes, it's still a turkey - so it fit with the craft. This book is very silly, and any age would love it:

A few tips on this one:
*give your kids super sharp metal scissors to work with when cutting the felt - kiddy or plastic scissors just won't do the job*
*I found that with the tacky glue, the rest of the pieces stuck nicely...except for the feet.  The paperclips worked so well on the sticks that we used them for the feet as well.*

*A note on the feet too - my kids had a really hard time with figuring out how to do the feet.  I ended up showing them how to do one of theirs, letting them do the other, and then "fixing" it when it was done. The feet are remarkably difficult to do.  If I were to do this over (or with younger kids) I would just make the feet for them.*
Here is how ours turned out, enjoy!

This might be my most favorite Thanksgiving craft ever - so CUTE!  These ones are "keepers".  I'm not sure how I'm going to hang them yet - maybe a string on the back or a thumb tack. Either way, they are too, too cute, and I'm thrilled with how they came out!

Two more days until Oliver opens!  Prayers for health and rest would be appreciated!

Stacy

A craft-a-day until...Thanksgiving!

We started this craft http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/fall/pumpkin-seed-pumpkin.asp yesterday, when we painted several pumpkin seeds orange, green and brown.  To make this a bit "older kid" friendly, let them trace the pumpkin shape and be in charge of the glue.  :)   They aren't totally dry in these photos, but they came out pretty cute!  If I were to do this again, I would have had them paint more seeds.  For some reason, Alex has way less than the other two kids - they all look a little "sparse", but I didn't want to take the time to have them paint more seeds. 

This craft really is good at any level.  It worked their little fine motor skills out for about 20 minutes as they glued and placed each little seed.  :)

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Stacy

Rainy Day Fun

Need something fun to do on a rainy day?

I couldn't think of a thing to do, so after church, I started cleaning out closets...when I ran across the flower girl dress Bee wore in a family wedding recently. I realized that I didn't have any candid shots of her in it, and it wouldn't fit soon...so my closet organizing was put on hold and we ran out between the raindrops to get some photos of my beautiful girl.  (Thanks, Jeni, for the idea to have a photo shoot!)   Of course, the boys had to get in on the action, so I found some clothes for them to wear.  Each child had their special time with mommy, and two of the three thought this was a very fun way to spend our afternoon.  My appologies to child #2, who doesn't enjoy having his photo taken...I guess they can't all be photogenic.

Here are some tips to make photographing your kids enjoyable:

1. Keep your expectations low.  Sometimes they just aren't in the mood.
2. Go outside and use natural light.
3. If your backgrounds are sketchy, make your photos black and white - it covers a multitude of sins.
4. (From the most awesome photographer I know, Deb http://www.dlyndlphoto.blogspot.com/ ) Don't always make your child smile and say cheese - sometimes you can get adorable shots when they aren't looking at the camera.
5. Have fun - when you start getting frustrated, the fun gets zapped away.

Here are a ton of photos from today. Enjoy my babies!!
Stacy