Craft of the week

Tinker Bell Trinket Boxes

I am still here!! Life has been crazy, busy, and fun this week! We haven't had the time to do a project at home, it's too nice out to be inside crafting! This weeks craft is something we did in girl scouts!

You need: 2 16 oz 7-up bottles
1 pipe cleaner / chenille stick (cut in 1/2)
Stickers
Glitter Glue, etc....
(next time I would put ribbon around the cut edges for a nicer look)

You also need: Scissors or knife and a hole punch


We Cut the bottom of the bottle off for the daisies, older kids could probably do it. (the top makes a great sand scoop)

Punch two side by side holes in what will be the back of the trinket box. Do this to both the top and bottom.

The easiest method to attach the hinge was to fold the pipe cleaner in half then push the ends into each hole at the same time. The tricky part is threading them from the inside through the top holes then pull them back out. Twist to complete the hinge.

The girls then used glitter glue and tinker bell stickers to decorate their trinket box. We also made a sun catcher by threading plastic prisms onto a piece of fishing line.

They loved them! Twin 1 is using it for a bed for her pet (wind-up) chicken.

The best part for me is that they are made of recycled items. I think you could do so much with this project! You could add a gem or a tinkerbell figurine on the top then add a zipper for a closure rather than the pipecleaner. The ideas are endless!!

Tuesdays in the garden

Yes, this week I changed the name, Yesterday just wasn't a blogging day! We had a wonderful Easter weekend with family and friends in my home town. It was so much fun that I was exhausted and needed to spend yesterday cleaning and doing laundry.

I wish I could tell you more on the garden front.
The potato plants are doing really well in my kitchen window.
The onion plant looks 1/2 dead... my dear ol hubby kinda over watered it.

Last week was one of those weeks of good intentions. I put up the table, washed and brought out the seed starting trays... then realized I had no potting soil! I can't tell you how many trips to the store I made and came home to realize I still had not bought the soil! OOPSIE! Next week I promise to have done more! We are hoping to use the rototiller soon. I need to get these plants in!!!

On a side note, my daffodils are starting to open already. They are much earlier than they were last year! This week seems like it's going to be warm and spring like. I'm loving it!

Fab Fridays

A quick little note:

Happy Easter to those who celebrate! We are getting ready for a wonderful weekend of blessings, family, and food!!!

Life is good. Today is busy!!!! We had our first picnic and we flew the kites we made a few weeks ago!! There was a lot of wind and guess what, they really flew!!! We were excited!

Til next week!

Crafty Wednesdays

Popsicle Stick Puppets:

We have been on a puppet kick for a week or two now. We've made all sorts of puppets.

The first project was made with tracerkins.

We traced and cut out our puppets. Added a stick and details.....

Then it was puppet show time!!!!

Our next Puppet was thanks to the good night show on sprout. Thing 2 has found lots of good craft projects on the sprout website that we've created. This one just happens to fit our theme. It's a bat puppet!

We traced one closed finger hand on the folded line.

With it still folded we cut out the hand print.... we found cutting the thumb a little pointy helped it to look more like a bat.

Voila! Add a stick and some color and you have a Bat!!!

We love our puppets!!!!

Monday garden update

The Big Dig:
No, I'm not discussing my thoughts on the huge mess down in Boston! That would be a blog all on it's own!!!

This weekend's 60 degree weather, no rain, and very few commitments added up to a lot of progress in the garden!

We dug the expansion... the new garden now takes up almost all of one side of the house. Plenty of room for all the goodies we've planned. The girls again spent a full day picking rocks for a penny each. We probably won't have time to rent a rototiller until after Easter but that's fine. We are still way ahead of the game (for us anyway).

I took a few temp readings and the ground was 50 degrees. I'm going to take a few more readings during the week then I may start planting my cold hardy seeds... with row cover at night of course!!

We also raked the yard (the parts without snowbanks), burned some brush, cleaned out and edged the flower beds. I may be going to the gym now but I'm still so out of shape! All that yard work (and bike rides, soccer games, and other outdoor kid adventures) made me feel muscles I haven't felt in a while! Thank goodness for ibuprofen!!!

I know I promised an update on the experiments. I wanted to add pictures but I just haven't gotten around to it yet so that will have to wait until next week. Another sneak peek for next week... I've decided to start my seedlings inside!! Til then, stay dry in all the expected rain, enjoy all life brings, and plant something!!!

Fab Fridays

Oh the things I love!!!!

Here are my loves of the moment:

Pinkalicious and Purplicious!

We picked up these great books by victoria Kann at the school book fair this week. They are a daily read... 2 or 3 times daily read ;) Purplicious has a really good message about peer pressure.


Woodkins: We trudged into the depths of the basement this morning in search for new games. I keep them in rotation since I just don't have enough room to keep everything in our game cupboard. In one of the boxes were Sunshine's old woodkins. Fabric goes in the frame and when you close it voila! the doll is dressed. The twins are loving them, I can't believe I haven't taken them out before now. Sorry girls.



My kids: I know this is obvious!! I really love the things they think they know. Thing 1 just told me: "do you know that the black part of your eye is called a blimp? it gets bigger when you go in the dark and smaller when your in the light". She got part of it right. I'm quite impressed she knew that! During bring your mom to gym class the twins put together a huge detailed puzzle of the human heart and knew the names of the pieces!! I've brought out the anatomy books!! This is my love!

I have been spending a lot of quality time with them lately and I am an addict, I'm always wanting for more.... quality time that is, not the crazy times!!! LOL!!!

Watercolor artists: Wow, since our waterpaints came out a few weeks ago they haven't went back in! I brought their easel upstairs (from the defunct craft room in the basement) and they act as though it is brand new. They spend all their free time painting. Yesterday thing 2 wrote an I love you message to her twin sister and said "I do sissy, I really do love you!!" It was beautiful!

My garden experiments. They are growing!!! Wait for Monday to see... it's pretty cool ;)

My renewed interest in myself. I'm starting to take care of myself again. It was a long winter. Now I'm heading to the gym, drinking my water, writing down what I eat. I'm back in control baby and it feels so good!!!!

I've gotta run! Such a busy day.... I love that too!!!!
What do you love????

Crafty Wednesdays... april fools edition!

Wow, Blogger is playing an April fool's joke on me! I can't move my pictures so....

You get the whole trick in reverse!!!! Start at the end and work your way up....APRIL FOOLS!!! It's actually really scattered.... go figure! that's april fool's day for you!!! Good Luck!

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They didn't quite know what to think but daring "thing 2" gave it a try. The got a real kick out of it! I can't wait for sunshine to come home from school to tell me what she thought!

I'm always looking for ideas... tell me what pranks you pulled!!

When they came to snack they saw this sitting on the table. They weren't quite sure why. Then I explained to them this was their treat! I got lots of EEEEWWWWW's!!!

I cleaned out old playdough containers and stuffed in my "playdough".


These are the creations after we played with it!! Darn Blogspot...ggrrr

Do you want to feed your kids "playdough"?? Here's the recipe:

**Warning: This is NOT health food!!!

Molding Chocolate:

1 package white chocolate chips or 1- 12 oz bar white chocolate

3 cups confectioners sugar

1/3 cup Karo Corn Syrup

1 t. vanilla

a splash or two of milk

Melt chocolate (in a double boiler or like me the microwave)

add karo and vanilla. Slowly add the confectioner sugar stirring it as you go... you can use your hands and knead it! Add milk a splash at a time (I'd say a teaspoon is a splash) until it's the consistency of playdough.

It's actually used to make flowers, and details on cakes. It tastes better than marzipan or fondant.